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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Reminiscences of a South African Pioneer, by
+W. C. Scully
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: Reminiscences of a South African Pioneer
+
+
+Author: W. C. Scully
+
+
+
+Release Date: November 26, 2007  [eBook #23638]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK REMINISCENCES OF A SOUTH AFRICAN
+PIONEER***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Charles Klingman
+
+
+
+REMINISCENCES OF A SOUTH AFRICAN PIONEER
+
+(1st Series Wanderjahre)
+
+by
+
+WILLIAM CHARLES SCULLY
+
+Author of
+"By Veldt and Kopje," "Kafir Stories," "The Ridge of the White Waters,"
+"Between Sun and Sand," Etc., Etc.
+
+With 16 Illustrations
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+T. Fisher Unwin
+London: Adelphi Terrace
+Leipsic: Inselstrasse 20
+
+First published in 1913.
+(All rights reserved.)
+
+
+
+
+"Ignoranti quern portum petat, nullus suus ventus est."
+
+SENECA.
+
+
+
+To
+
+ELAINE, GERALD, ERNEST, MIRIAM, LILLA, AND BETTY,
+
+THIS RECORD OF
+
+THEIR FATHER'S EARLY WANDERINGS OVER THE
+
+YET-UNVEILED FACE OF SOUTH AFRICA
+
+IS INSCRIBED
+
+
+
+FOREWORD
+
+The reminiscences set down in this volume have been published serially
+in The State of South Africa, in a more or less abridged form, under
+the title of "Unconventional Reminiscences." They are mainly
+autobiographical. This has been inevitable; in any narrative based upon
+personal experience, an attempt to efface oneself would tend to weaken
+vitality.
+
+Having lived for upwards of forty-five years in South Africa usually in
+parts remote from those settled areas which have attained a measure of
+civilization and having been a wide wanderer in my early days, it has
+been my fortune to witness many interesting events and to be brought
+into contact with many strong men. Occasionally, as in the case of the
+earlier discoveries of gold and diamonds, I have drifted, a pipkin
+among pots, close to the centre around which the immediate interests of
+the country seemed to revolve.
+
+The period mainly dealt with is that magical one when South Africa
+unnoted and obscure was startled from the simplicity of her bucolic
+life by the discovery of gold and diamonds. This was, of course, some
+years before the fountains of her boundless potential wealth had become
+fully unsealed. I was one of that band of light-hearted, haphazard
+pioneers who, rejoicing in youthful energy and careless of their own
+interests, unwittingly laid the foundation upon which so many great
+fortunes have been built.
+
+An ancient myth relates how the god Dionysus decreed that everything
+touched by Midas, the Phrygian king, should turn into gold, but the
+effect was so disastrous that Midas begged for a reversal of the
+decree. The prayer was granted, conditionally upon the afflicted king
+bathing in the River Pactolus.
+
+South Africa may, in a sense, be paralleled with Midas both as regards
+the bane of gold and the antidote of bathing but her Pactolus has been
+one of blood.
+
+Midas again got into trouble by, refusing to adjudge in the matter of
+musical merit between Pan and Apollo, and this time was punished by
+having his ears changed into those of an ass.
+
+Our choice lies before us; may we avoid the ass's ears by boldly making
+a decision. May we evade a worse thing by unhesitatingly giving our
+award in favor of Apollo.
+
+With this apologia I submit my humble gleanings from fields on which no
+more the sun will shine, to the indulgent sympathy of readers.
+
+W. C. S.
+
+PORT ELIZABETH, SOUTH AFRICA, January, 1913.
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+Foreword--My father's family--"Old Body"--Dualla--A cruel experiment--"Old
+Body"--and the goose--Cook and kitchen-maid--Scull and monkey--My mother's
+family--Abbey view--The Bock of Cashel--Captain Meagher and early chess
+Sir Dominic Corrigan--"Old Mary" and the sugar--Naval ambitions--Harper
+Twelvetree and the burial agency
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+Improved health--Jimmy Kinsella--Veld food--I abscond--Father Healy on
+conversion--Father O'Dwyer and his whip--Confession--Construction of a
+volcano--The Fenian outbreak--Departure for South Africa--The tuneful
+soldier--Chess at sea--Madeira A gale--The Asia
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+Arrival at Cape Town--Port Elizabeth--First encounter with big game
+Grahamstown--Severe thunderstorm--King William's Town Natives and their
+ponies--Social peculiarities--Farming--The annual trek--Camp-life
+Surf-bathing--Self-sacrificing attitude of Larry O'Toole--Capture of
+an ant-bear--The coast scenery--A moral shock--School Chief Toise--Rainy
+seasons--Flooded rivers
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+Trip to the Transkei--Tiyo Soga and his family--Trip to the seaside--The
+Fynns--Wild dogs--Start as a sheep farmer--My camp burnt out--First
+commercial adventure--Chief Sandile--Discovery of diamonds--Start for
+Golconda--Traveling companions--Manslaughter narrowly escaped--Old De
+Beers--Life at the Diamond Fields--Scarcity of water--First case of
+diamond stealing--I nearly discover Kimberley Mine--The rush to Colesberg
+Kopje--My first diamond--Its loss and my humiliation--Kimberley claims
+dear at 10--Camp-life in early days--I. D. B.--Canteen burning.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+My claim a disappointment--Good results attained elsewhere--A surprised
+Boer--"Kopje wallopers"--Thunderstorms--A shocking spectacle--"Old Moore"
+and his love affair--The morning market--Attack of enteric--I go to King
+William's Town to recruit Toby once more--A venture in onions--Return to
+Kimberley--The West End mess--The Rhodes brothers--Norman Garstin--H. C.
+Seppings Wright--"Schipka" Campbell--Cecil John Rhodes--A game of euchre
+The church bell--Raw natives--Alum diamonds--Herbert Rhodes and the cannon
+His terrible end.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+Big gambling--Von Schlichmann--Norman Garstin--The painter of St.
+Michael's Mount--Start for the gold fields--"I am going to be hanged"
+Plentifulness of game--Snakes in an anthill--Nazareth--Game in the High
+Veld--Narrow escape from frost-bite--A shooting match--Lydenburg--Painful
+tramping--"Artful Joe"--Penalty for suicide--Pilgrim's Rest--Experiences of
+"a new chum"--Tent-making--Explorations--The Great Plateau--Prospect of the
+Low Country--Elands.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+Extended rambles--View from the mountain top--An unknown land--The deadly
+fever--Gray's fate--Lack of nursing--Temperature rises after death
+Pilgrim's Rest in early days--The prison--The stocks--No color line--John
+Cameron in trouble--The creek "lead"--Plenty of gold--Wild peaches
+Massacres of natives in old days--Kameel--His expressions--Life on the
+creek--Major Macdonald--The parson--Boulders--Bad accidents--A quaint
+signboard--"Reefing Charlie".
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+Work on "the Reef"--Shaft-sinking in a swamp--Wolff and McGrath--A case of
+snake-bite--Tunneling--Humping green timber--John Mulcahy--His Gargantuan
+breakfast--His peculiar habits--His end--The rush to "the Reef"
+Cunningham's lead--My bad luck--Peter and his appetite--"Mr. William
+Bogis" Fabayne, the cave-dweller--A bellicose bridegroom--Knox and his
+revolver practice--A senseless toast and its sequel--A terrible accident
+Alick Dempster and the Police News.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+Expedition to Delagoa Bay--A rencontre at Constantinople--Morisot and the
+lion--Game in the Low Country--The Barber encampment--Lion's attack by
+daylight--Lions in the donga--The lion's voice--Ways of the lion--The lion
+an eater of carrion--Tyrer and the buffalo--Veld fires--A piece of bad
+luck--The Low Country rivers--Snakes--Hyenas--Louren Marques--Funeral of
+Pat Foote--Discovery of gold near Blyde River--Anticipated affluence
+Disappointment
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+Prospectors start for Swaziland--Rumors as to their fate--MacLean and I
+decide to follow them--Precautions against lions--The Crocodile River--The
+Boer and the pessimist--Game and honey--Crocodiles--Difficulties in
+crossing the river--MacLean nearly drowned in the rapids--I go on alone
+First sight of De Kaap--A labyrinth of dongas--I reach Swaziland--Baboons
+On the trail of the prospectors--The mystery solved--'Ntshindeen's Kraal
+Swazi hospitality--How I became celebrated--A popular show--Repairing guns
+Character of the Swazis--Contempt for money and love of salt--Prospecting
+My welcome outstayed--A dangerous crisis--Return to the Crocodile River
+The rhinoceros--Our bearers decamp--We abandon our goods--Attacked by
+fever--Terror of partridges--Arrival at Mac Mac.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+Weakness after fever--I engage in commerce--Bats--The commandeered cat--My
+commercial ineptitude--Tom Simpson surprises--Wolff--Close of my
+commercial career--Saulez--His thrashing of the bullies--Gardiner holds up
+the bank--Nicknames--Conferring a patent of nobility--"Old Nelly"--"A poor
+man's lead"--"Charlie Brown's Gully"--Swindled by my partner--My discovery
+on the mountain--A lonely time--Waiting for rain--Disappointment and
+despair--Abandonment of my work--Departure--Once more a tramp.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+On the road--Heavy rain--Mosquitoes--Natal--Thunderstorms--A terrible night
+Maritzburg--My cash runs out--A halcyon day--Hospitality--D'Urban--Failure
+to get work--The Fighting Blacksmith and the eccentric old gentleman
+Narrow escape of the latter--East London--Experiences in a surfboat--A
+Perilous venture--I enter the Civil Service--Further reminiscences
+deferred--Au revoir.
+
+
+
+L'ENVOI
+
+INDEX.
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+FACING PAGE
+
+PORTRAIT OF THE AUTHOR . . . . Frontispiece
+
+SPRINGFIELD
+
+THE LAKE, SPRINGFIELD
+
+PORT ELIZABETH IN THE SIXTIES
+
+PORT ELIZABETH IN 1912
+
+4 THE OLD OX-WAGON
+
+KIMBERLEY IN 1873 (LOOKING SOUTH)
+
+PORTRAIT OF THE AUTHOR AT THE AGE OF FOURTEEN
+
+KIMBERLEY MINE IN 1873
+
+KIMBERLEY MINE IN 1912
+
+CHURCH STREET, PRETORIA, IN 1873
+
+THE LOWER CAMP, PILGRIM'S REST
+
+THE CHEEK, PILGRIM'S REST
+
+PILGRIM'S REST IN 1897
+
+SITE OF CAMP ON CROCODILE RIVER IN 1875
+
+FALLS OF THE UMGENI, NATAL
+
+
+
+The views of Kimberley are published by the kind permission of the De
+Beers Company, who courteously supplied them.
+
+
+
+
+
+REMINISCENCES OF A SOUTH AFRICAN PIONEER
+
+
+
+Foreword--My father's family--"Old Body"--Dualla--A cruel experiment--"Old
+Body"--and the goose--Cook and kitchen-maid--Scull and monkey--My mother's
+family--Abbey view--The Bock of Cashel--Captain Meagher and early chess
+Sir Dominic Corrigan--"Old Mary" and the sugar--Naval ambitions--Harper
+Twelvetree and the burial agency
+
+
+
+I was born on the 29th of October, 1855; at least I have been told so,
+but the register of my baptism cannot be traced. This circumstance
+placed me in a somewhat awkward position a few years since, when
+proof of my age was urgently required. The place of my birth is a
+house in Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin then the home of my maternal
+uncle-by-marriage, Richard Scott. Evil days have since fallen upon
+that part of Ireland's metropolis; the locality is now inhabited by a
+class of people to whom we should in this country apply the term "poor
+whites." When I recently visited the spot I found that the house had,
+like most of those in the vicinity, been divided into tenements. The
+upper portion of what had once been a frosted-glass partition was
+still in the hall, and on this my uncle's crest was visible. The
+premises were in a filthy condition, and the inhabitants looked more
+than ordinarily villainous. On the steps a red-faced crone sat pulling
+at a clay pipe, and a reek of stale porter came through the hall
+doorway.
+
+My father's family, I am told, have been located in the County
+Tipperary for many generations. I believe they made a great deal of
+money as contractors to the army of King William in the campaign of
+which the Battle of the Boyne was the decisive event, but the greater
+part of this they dissipated about a century ago in lawsuits. I have
+heard that the costs in one case they lost amounted to over 100,000.
+The little I know of the family, has been told me by dear old Sir
+William Butler, with whom I became very intimate when he was in South
+Africa. He always said we were related that we were "Irish cousins" but
+we never were quite able to define what the relationship was. Sir
+William and Ray, father had been great friends in the old days.
+
+I have been told by, a relative that the many, Scullys who are
+scattered over the south of Ireland fall into two categories the
+round-headed and the long-headed; that the former are, as a rule,
+fairly well off, but that the latter are usually poor. I regret to say
+that I belong to the long-headed branch.
+
+My paternal grandfather was a soldier, and my father was brought up by
+Rodolph Scully, of Dualla. "Old Rody," who kept a pack of harriers
+which my father hunted, was a well-known character in South Tipperary.
+He departed this life when I was about six years old yet I seem
+to remember him very clearly. A small, wiry, dapper man with a
+clean-shaven red face, a cold, light-blue eye and fiercely beetling
+brows, he occasionally filled my early childhood with terror. He
+usually wore knee-breeches, buckled shoes, a frieze coat, and a white
+choker. He had a most furious temper, and was consequently dreaded by
+his relations and his domestics. I remember once seeing him administer
+a terrible thrashing with a hunting-crop to a stable-boy for some
+trivial fault.
+
+My recollections of Dualla are very, faint; such fragmentary, ones as
+survive are almost solely connected with its kennels and stables. There
+was, I know, a turret at one end of the house. I believe the original
+idea was to build a castle, but on account of scarcity of funds the
+construction was continued on less ambitious architectural lines. An
+unpleasant story used to be told in connection with this turret, which
+was of considerable height. Old Rody, one night when in his cups, made
+a bet that a goat, thrown from the top, would land uninjured on its
+feet. The cruel experiment was tried. It may be some satisfaction to
+know that Old Rody had to pay the bet, but it would be more if we knew
+that he had been made to follow the poor animal. Once my people were on
+a visit to Dualla. Old Rody, who was much addicted to the pleasures of
+the table, was especially fond of roast goose. This, to satisfy him,
+had to be done to a particular turn. On the occasion in question the
+bird was brought to table slightly overdone, so Old Rody told the
+butler to retire and send up the cook. No sooner had the butler left
+the room than Old Rody picked up the goose by, its shanks and took his
+stand behind the door. A dreadful silence reigned; the guests were as
+though stiffened into stone. The cook, a stout, red-faced woman,
+entered the room in evident trepidation, wiping her face with her
+apron. As she passed her master, he lifted the goose and hit her over
+the head with it as hard as he could. The bird smashed to pieces, and
+the woman, covered with gravy and seasoning, fled back, wailing, to the
+kitchen.
+
+On another occasion a neighbor, whose name happened to be Cook, came to
+spend the day at Dualla. He brought with him his two children, a boy
+and a girl, of whom he was inordinately proud. Old Rody and Cook were
+sitting on the terrace, drinking punch; the children were playing on
+the lawn.
+
+"Now, Scully," said the proud parent, pointing to his boy, "isn't he a
+regular Cook?"
+
+"Oh! begor' he is," replied Old Rody, "and the other's a regular
+kitchen-maid."
+
+Near the close of a not at all reputable career Old Rody "found it most
+convenient" to marry his housemaid. He survived the ceremony only a few
+months. His widow, disappointed in her expectations of wealth for the
+estate cut up very badly, indeed emigrated to Australia, where, I
+believe, she soon married again.
+
+There is a story told of Vincent Scully (father of the present owner of
+Mantlehill House, near Cashel), who was a Member of Parliament for, I
+think, North Cork, which I do not remember to have seen in print.
+Another M.P., whose name was Monk, had a habit of clipping, where
+possible, the last syllable from the surnames of his intimate friends.
+One day, he met Vincent Scully in the House of Commons, and addressed
+him.
+
+"Well, Scull, how are you today?"
+
+"Quite well, thank you, Monk," replied Scully; "but I cannot conceive
+why you should snip a syllable from my name, unless you wish to add it
+to your own."
+
+My father quarreled with Old Rody, who went to Italy, where he had some
+relations. He meant to remain for a few months only, but it was upwards
+of six years before he returned. He then read law for a while. Getting
+tired of this, he went "back to the land."
+
+My mother was a Creagh, from Clare. Creaghs used to be plentiful in
+both Clare and Limerick. The civic records of Limerick City show that
+for many generations they took a prominent part in local municipal
+affairs. My mother's father was a soldier too. The Creaghs have always
+favored the army. A few years ago eight of my mother's first-cousins
+were soldiers. At the Battle of Blaauwberg just before the capitulation
+of the Cape in January, 1806 a Lieutenant Creagh was slightly wounded.
+This was either my grandfather or my grand-uncle, Sir Michael Creagh.
+Both brothers were in the same regiment, the 86th Foot, or "Royal
+County Downs."*
+
+*I have since writing the above ascertained that it was my grand-uncle
+who was wounded.
+
+My earliest recollections are of Abbeyview, near Cashel, where we lived
+until the early sixties. The celebrated "Rock," with its many monuments
+and the grand ruins of its once-spacious abbey, were visible from our
+front windows. We had another place, not far off, called Clahalea. I
+remember that the ploughing there used to be done with Italian
+buffaloes.
+
+In the early sixties we moved to a place called Springfield, situated
+just at the northern outlet of the "Scalp," a very rugged pass in the
+Wicklow Hills. The stream which divides Wicklow County from that of
+Dublin ran through a small portion of the place, the house being on the
+Dublin side.
+
+As I suffered from weak health up to my twelfth year, I was not allowed
+to go to school; consequently I ran wild. I was seven years old when
+I learnt to read, but it was a long time before I could write. There
+was a small lake on the estate which was full of fish; every stream
+contained trout. The hills abounded in rabbits and hares; in a
+larch-forest, since cut away, were woodcock. Pheasants used often to
+stray over from Lord Powerscourt's demesne, which was separated from
+our ground by a much-broken fence. These my father strictly forbade me
+to snare, but I fear I did not always obey him. Pheasants roasted in
+the depths of the larch-wood, and flavored with the salt of secrecy,
+were appetizing indeed.
+
+One ridiculous incident of my childhood suggests itself. For a boy, of
+eight I was a fair chess-player. A friend and distant relative of ours,
+Captain Meagher brother of Thomas Francis Meagher, who was a general in
+the Confederate Army during the American War stayed for a time at an
+inn in the village of Enniskerry, which was two or three miles away. He
+was a frequent visitor, and I used to continually worry him to play
+chess. One day he told me that he never played this game except very
+early in the morning, and that if I would come down some day at 5 a.m.
+he would have a game with me.
+
+But poor Captain Meagher little knew who he was dealing with. Next
+morning, at a quarter to five, I was in the street in front of the inn.
+The season must have been early spring or late autumn, for it was
+pitch-dark and very cold. I trotted up and down the village street,
+chess-board and chessmen in hand, trying to keep myself warm until five
+o'clock struck. Then I went to the inn door and sounded a loud rat-tat
+with the knocker. No one answered, so I knocked still louder. At length
+I heard a slow and laborious shuffling of feet in the passage, and an
+old woman, wrapped in a patchwork quilt and wearing a white nightcap,
+opened the door. She regarded me with hardly subdued fury.
+
+"Phwat d'ye want?" she asked.
+
+"I've come to play chess with Captain Meagher," I replied.
+
+"Oh! glory be to God!" she gasped, and tried to shut the door in my
+face. But I dodged under her elbow and fled up the stairs, for I knew
+my friend's room. The woman followed, ejaculating mixed prayers and
+curses. I tried the Captain's door, but it was locked, so I thundered
+on the panel and roared for admittance. I shall never forget the look
+of dismay on the poor man's face when I told him what I had come for.
+However, he was very nice over the matter; he made the old woman light
+a fire and provide me with hot milk and bread. But my disappointment
+was bitter when I found that he was quite ignorant of the game of
+chess.
+
+The most celebrated physician in the Dublin of those days was Sir
+Dominic Corrigan, who, however, was as much famed for his brusqueness
+towards patients as for his skill. Being in weak health, I was often
+taken to him, but he invariably treated me with the utmost kindness.
+However, a highly, respectable maiden-aunt of mine had a somewhat
+different experience. She went to consult him. After sounding her none
+too gently and asking a few questions, he relapsed into silence. Then,
+after a pause of meditation, he said
+
+"Well, ma'am, it's one of two things: either you drink or else you sit
+with your back to the fire."
+
+In one of the outhouses at Springfield dwelt an old woman, a
+superannuated servant. I remember her under the name of "Old Mary." The
+room she occupied was small, and contained but little furniture. Yet it
+was always neat and as clean as a new pin. Old Mary used to sit all day
+long in a high armchair, knitting, and with a black cat asleep on her
+lap. She was a terrible tea-drinker, and was very fond of me, but I ill
+requited her kindness by continually plundering her sugar-bowl. The
+latter she took to hiding, but I, engaging her the time in airy
+conversation, used to ransack the premises until I found it. Eventually
+it became a game of skill between the hider and the seeker. I can now
+see the old woman's eyes over the rims of her spectacles as she laid
+her knitting down and ruefully regarded the development of the search.
+But at this game, owing to the restricted area, I always won.
+
+I went away on a visit; soon after my return I went to call on Old
+Mary. To my surprise, there stood the brown earthenware sugar-bowl,
+half-full, unconcealed upon the table. After a few minutes I stretched
+forth my hand to help myself to its contents. Old Mary looked at me,
+and said in a deep, serious voice
+
+"Masther Willie."
+
+"Yes," I replied.
+
+"I always spits in me sugar."
+
+Horror-struck, I rose and fled.
+
+It was, I think, in my tenth year that I determined to join the Royal
+Navy. An uncle of mine had presented me with Captain Marryat's novels
+complete in one immense volume. I felt that a life on the ocean wave
+was the only one worth living. Accordingly I offered my services to the
+Admiralty as a midshipman. As I could not write (a fact I felt myself
+justified in concealing from the First Lord), I got old Micky Nolan,
+who was employed as a clerk in the village bakery, to pen the
+application for me. Micky, who had seen better days, was quite a
+capable scribe when sober.
+
+My qualifications for the post applied for were set forth in full. I
+was, I said, quite an expert navigator, my experience having been
+gained in a boat on the Springfield lake. But I candidly confessed that
+my parents were unaware of the step I had determined to take, and
+accordingly requested that a reply might be sent to Michael Nolan, Esq.
+For several weary weeks I trudged daily to the bakery, vainly hoping
+for an answer.
+
+Having for some time felt the pinch of increasing poverty, I was keenly
+anxious to obtain some lucrative employment. One day I read an
+advertisement in the Freeman's Journal which seemed to offer an opening
+towards a competence. For the moderate sum of one shilling (which might
+be remitted in postage stamps if convenient to the sender) a plan for
+earning a liberal livelihood would be revealed. There was no room for
+any doubt; the thing was described as an absolute certainty. An easy,
+congenial, reputable employment, not requiring any special educational
+qualifications, why, the thing would have been cheap at hundreds of
+pounds. Yet here it was going begging for a shilling. In my case,
+however, the shilling was the great difficulty. My sole sources of
+pocket-money were the sale of holly-berries for Christmas festivities;
+florists used to send carts from Dublin and pay as much as three
+shillings per load and a royalty of a penny per head which I used to
+collect from rabbit snarers who worked with ferrets. But Christmas was
+far off, and rabbits were breeding, so my golden opportunity of
+acquiring an easy competence would probably be lost by delay.
+
+My parents were unaccountably unsympathetic; they absolutely refused to
+provide the shilling. But a friend heard of my plight (not, however,
+from myself), and furnished the cash. He little knew the misery he was
+calling down on my unsophisticated head.
+
+I posted the shilling's-worth of stamps to the specified address and
+awaited a reply in a fever of anticipation. Within a few days it
+arrived; we were sitting at breakfast when the letter was delivered. My
+heart swelled with joyous expectation. Now I would show my skeptical
+relations how wrong-headed they, had been in thwarting my legitimate
+ambitions towards making a start in life; now I was about to taste the
+sweets of independence.
+
+The missive was bulky. As my trembling fingers tore open the envelope,
+a number of closely printed slips fell out. I read these, one by one,
+with a reeling brain. Then I laid my head on the table and burst into
+bitter tears. My stately castle of hope had tumbled to pieces, and I
+was buried beneath its ruins.
+
+The circulars were signed by one "Harper Twelvetree"; the printed slips
+outlined a scheme for establishing a burial agency. I had to open an
+office at the nearest village and, when I heard of a death, direct the
+attention of the bereaved to one or other of the undertakers in the
+vicinity. For thus obtaining custom I was to claim a commission on the
+funeral expenses. This ghoulish suggestion was the sole outcome of my
+sanguine expectations.
+
+It is hardly too much to say that this matter caused me deeper and more
+long-drawn-out misery than any other episode of a somewhat chequered
+career. I have dwelt on it at length because I think the relation
+reveals a moral. At that breakfast-table began a course of torture
+which lasted for several years. To say I was chaffed by everyone, from
+my father and mother down to old Larry Frane, an ex-soldier who
+occupied the lodge at our big gate, gives no idea of the true state of
+things. The ridicule was continuous, searching, and universal. I was
+the laughing-stock of the neighborhood. Anonymous letters from supposed
+persons in a moribund condition, offering to guarantee the delivery of
+their prospective remains in consideration of a small immediate
+advance, reached me from various quarters. If I went into a hayfield,
+one laborer would speak to another, somewhat in this fashion
+
+"Jerry, have ye heerd that ould Biddy McGrath was prayed for on
+Sunday?"
+
+This would be accompanied by a meaning look at me. I would stalk off
+with apparent unconcern, seeking some place where I could fall unseen
+to the ground and weep. I was afraid to go to Mass at the little upland
+chapel at Glencullen. It is usual in Roman Catholic churches to pray
+for the welfare of departed souls and for the recovery of those people
+afflicted with sickness who are thought to be in danger. I used to
+imagine that the priest glanced meaningly at me when he made
+announcements on these subjects. This, of course, was nonsense, but
+several times I noticed members of the congregation looking at me and
+tittering.
+
+I became solitary in my habits, for I dreaded meeting a human being.
+For a time my health suffered to a serious degree. My tribulations
+increased to such an extent that I seriously contemplated suicide. I am
+convinced that this period left an indelible mark, and that not an
+improving one, on my character. Where sensitive children are concerned,
+chaff may be useful in hardening them, but it should not be carried
+beyond a certain point.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+Improved health--Jimmy Kinsella--Veld food--I abscond--Father Healy on
+conversion--Father O'Dwyer and his whip--Confession--Construction of a
+volcano--The Fenian outbreak--Departure for South Africa--The tuneful
+soldier--Chess at sea--Madeira A gale--The Asia
+
+My health having improved in my eleventh year, I was able to extend the
+range of my walks abroad. The surrounding country was full of interest;
+the scenery was lovely. The region through which the boundary common to
+Wicklow and Dublin runs is full of beauty spots, and the deeper one
+penetrates into Wicklow, the more delightful is the landscape. The
+Dargle, Powerscourt Waterfall, Bray Head, and the Sugarloaf Mountains
+were all within rambling distance of Springfield. A few miles away,
+on the Dublin side, were various ruins full of rusting machinery.
+These had been the sites of paper and flax mills, shut down owing
+to England's fiscal policy of the early nineteenth century days.
+Lead-smelting and shot-making was carried on at a spot a few miles to
+the eastward. It was a great delight to see the melted metal poured
+through a sieve at the top of a tower and raining down into an
+excavation with water at the bottom. I remember the manager of the
+works once showing me an immense ingot of silver. It was lying on a
+table in his office between two flannel shirts, the edges of which
+were just able to meet over its sides. There was a small lake and a
+trout stream close to the works; of these I had the run.
+
+Many spots in the neighborhood of Springfield had legends attached to
+them. I remember one large rock in the Scalp which was known as the
+"Soggarth's Stone." It was said that a priest had been killed there in
+"ninety-eight." At a spot where two roads crossed, on the way to
+Enniskerry, could still be traced the outlines of the graves of several
+suicides; one of these had the remains of a very old oaken stake
+sticking diagonally from it. Every storied spot fascinated me, but
+although many of my friends among the peasantry tried hard to make me
+believe in the fairies or, as they called them, "the good people," I
+never placed the slightest credence in what was said on the subject.
+
+I had a faithful henchman in Jimmy Kinsella, a lad of about my own age,
+who belonged to Springfield. Jimmy was the only one of my circle of
+acquaintances who refrained from persecuting me concerning the "burial
+agency" episode. Should these lines ever meet his eye, he will know
+that I still cherish grateful memories of his chivalrous forbearance.
+But I fear poor Jimmy could never have learnt to read; he was one of a
+sorely poverty-stricken family of about a dozen children. His ordinary
+costume consisted of a very ragged coat and breeches, the latter not
+quite reaching to his knees, and usually held at their proper altitude
+by a "suggan," or rope of hay. Jimmy was the only well-fleshed member
+of his family, and for being thus distinguished he had me to thank.
+
+I must, as a child, have had the forager's instinct very strongly
+developed, for I very early noted the amount of more or less appetizing
+food lying about ungleaned in what, in South Africa, we would call "the
+veld." For instance, there was a large grove of hazel-trees from which
+vast stores of nuts could be collected in the season. This nut-grove
+was still standing when I visited Springfield a few years ago. These
+nuts we used to gather and, like the squirrels, hoard in various
+places.
+
+The seasons brought forth other acceptable items of food. Mushrooms
+grew plentifully in the grassy hollows near the lake, and wild
+strawberries were to be found on almost every southern slope. There was
+one small area where the strawberries grew in wonderful profusion. A
+few years since I revisited this spot in spring. I found the fruit as
+plentiful as ever, but somehow the flavor of the strawberry did not
+seem to be so rich as it was five-and-forty years ago. Blackberries
+were abundant on the edge of every thicket; on the heights of the
+Scalp, over which we poached without restraint, haws and sloes grew
+plentifully. It must not be inferred that Jimmy and I did not lay the
+garden under levy, for we did. Apples, pears, gooseberries, and such
+common fruits, we helped ourselves to freely, but I had given my word
+not to touch any of the rare varieties such as plums and greengages.
+These were trained, vine-wise, along the walls.
+
+But we seldom lacked animal food, for we could always snare rabbits or,
+except in the depths of winter, catch fish. The lake was full of perch,
+roach, and eels; every mountain stream contained trout. On rare
+occasions we would find Lord Powerscourt's pheasants in our snares. I
+am sorry to say that in winter we would eat blackbirds, which we caught
+in a crib made of elder-rods. This I always knew to be a disgraceful
+thing to do, and it was only when very hungry indeed that such a crime
+was committed.
+
+Tired of the ways of society, Jimmy and I determined to have done
+with civilization, so we built, with infinite pains and some measure
+of skill, a large hut in the deepest and loneliest part of the
+larch-forest. Larch-boughs and bracken were the materials used. To
+this hut I surreptitiously conveyed a few utensils such as knives,
+mugs, etcetera, as well as a change of clothing and some cast-off
+garments as a fresh outfit for Jimmy. We disappeared early one
+afternoon, and, after a lordly feast of roast rabbit and mushrooms,
+sank to sleep on a fragrant bed of carefully selected fronds of dry
+bracken.
+
+At about midnight I awoke with the glare of a lantern in my eyes. My
+father had come with a search party, and I was led, howling with wrath
+and disappointment, back to the haunts of conventional men. My absence
+had not been thought remarkable until ten o'clock had struck. Then a
+messenger was dispatched to make inquiries at the Kinsella cottage.
+Patsy, one of Jimmy's numerous brethren, betrayed us. He had, a few
+days previously, followed our tracks to the secret lair. Poor Patsy,
+subsequently had reason to regret his treachery.
+
+One escapade of Jimmy's and mine nearly had serious consequences. I had
+been reading about volcanoes, so was filled with ambition to construct
+one. I unearthed a large powder-horn, belonging to my father, which
+must have contained nearly a pound of gunpowder. This I poured into a
+tin, which I punctured at the side. Into the puncture I inserted a fuse
+of rolled brown paper which had been soaked in a solution of saltpeter.
+The tin was placed on the floor in the middle of the tool-house; around
+it we banked damp clay in the form of a truncated cone, leaving a
+hollow for the crater. The latter we filled with dry sand and fragments
+of brick. We lit the fuse, and, as might have been expected, a
+frightful explosion resulted. The windows were blown completely out of
+the tool-house. Jimmy and I were flung against the wall and nearly
+blinded. Several fragments of brick had to be dug out of our respective
+faces.
+
+Father Healy, celebrated as a wit, occasionally visited our house. His
+church at Little Bray was noted for the excellence of its choir. The
+following story, was told of this priest: He was one night dining with
+an Anglican clergyman, with whom he was on intimate terms. Just
+previously two Roman Catholic priests, one in England and the other in
+Ireland, had joined the Anglican communion. This double event, which
+came up as a topic of conversation at the dinner-table, was, naturally
+enough, the occasion of some satisfaction to the host. Various views as
+to the psychology of conversion or, according to one's point of view,
+perversion, were mooted. Various possible motives, spiritual and
+temporal, underlying such a change, were discussed. Eventually the host
+asked Father Healy for his opinion.
+
+"Faith!" replied the latter, "I don't think there's any mystery about
+the thing at all."
+
+"How do you mean?"
+
+"Well, when one of our men goes over to you, it's always due to one of
+two causes."
+
+"What are they?"
+
+"Punch or Judy," replied Father Healy laconically.
+
+Although Glencullen Chapel was the nearest to Springfield, the house
+was in the parish of Enniskerry. Here a certain Father O'Dwyer was the
+incumbent. Father O'Dwyer was a very irascible man of powerful
+physique; he was as much feared by the godly as by the ungodly.
+
+He kept a big whip in the vestry, with which to chastise evil-doers; of
+this I had ocular demonstration.
+
+One Sunday, when High Mass was being celebrated by another priest, a
+stranger, I was sitting in the carriage, which stood waiting for the
+conclusion of the ceremony, in the road outside. I had attended early
+Mass, and arranged to drive home with my people. A number of boys were
+playing marbles outside the church-yard wall, in a blind alley. The
+vestry door opened and Father O'Dwyer came out, clad in his soutane and
+carrying the well-known whip. He crouched and crept along the wall, out
+through the gate and to the entrance of the alley. The boys were so
+intent upon their game that they never noticed his approach until he
+was close upon them. Then they sprang up with wild yells, but the lash
+descended on them like a well-aimed flail; they rolled over and over in
+a writhing heap. After the heap had broken up and its shrieking units
+scattered, the irate priest calmly pocketed the marbles and, whip in
+hand, stalked back to the vestry.
+
+Confession to Father O'Dwyer was an ordeal much dreaded by the younger
+members of our family. As we were his parishioners, he expected us to
+attend to our religious duties at his church, but we endeavored by
+every possible subterfuge to perform such at Glencullen, where the
+priest was more sympathetic.
+
+My father used to tell a story of the confessional which always amused
+us. When a boy, he occasionally visited relations in Dublin who were
+exact in the matter of regular confession. It was, in fact, the rule of
+the household that not alone every member, but the stranger within its
+gates, should confess each Saturday night. As it is on Saturday night
+that most people confess, a number of penitents were usually sitting in
+church awaiting their respective turns. On one occasion my father was
+sitting near a cubicle into which a rather disreputable woman had just
+entered. He heard the muttering of the voices of the priest and the
+penitent alternately; once or twice the former emitted a long, low
+whistle, indicative of extreme surprise.
+
+Another story was told me by a relative. The episode is said to have
+occurred at Cashel, but I do not guarantee it in any respect. Whether
+it is true or not does not much matter.
+
+Part of the ritual of confession is this: The penitent repeats a
+formula of three sentences: "Mea culpa mea culpa mea maxima culpa,"
+striking the breast with the closed hand as each sentence is uttered.
+On this occasion the words of the penitent, an old countrywoman, could
+be distinctly heard outside the cubicle. They were: "Mea culpa, mea oh!
+dammit I've bruk me poipe."
+
+In 1867 befell the Fenian outbreak. At Glencullen, about a mile from
+the back of our house, was a police barrack. This was attacked one
+night, but not captured, although the valiant attackers forced some of
+their prisoners to stand in the line of fire, between them and the
+building. The police had closed the windows with feather beds and
+mattresses, and these the Fenian bullets could not penetrate. Within a
+few days the fiasco of a rising was at an end. I do not think any of
+the people in our neighborhood joined it. When the rebels retreated
+along the Wicklow road, they threw several pikes over the wall close to
+our lodge gates. The preference on the part of the Irishman of the last
+generation for the pike as a fighting implement was remarkable. He
+regarded it as quite superior to the rifle.
+
+My father had never been well off; each passing year had left him more
+and more deeply involved. In 1867 a disastrous lawsuit with the Marquis
+of Bute over some mining rights in Wales almost brought ruin to our
+door. It was decided to emigrate. The advantages of New Zealand, Buenos
+Ayres, and South Africa were all considered. But a letter from Cardinal
+(then Bishop) Moran, of Grahamstown, decided our fate: the Cape Colony
+was to be our destination.
+
+My three sisters were all senior to me. The eldest accompanied us to
+the Cape. The second had, the previous year, gone to India. The
+youngest, who was in delicate health, remained behind with an aunt. My
+brother, who was younger than I, stayed at school in Ireland.
+
+So one lovely day, in early November of 1867 we embarked at Dublin on a
+small paddle-steamer called the Lady Eglinton. Our immediate
+destination was Falmouth; there we had to join the S.S. Asia, one of
+the old "Diamond Line." Memory is a curious thing; although I can
+recall minute details of most of my uneventful life between my sixth
+and twelfth years, the circumstances of this voyage, the first in my
+experience, have passed almost entirely away. The only memory that
+remains is connected with a ridiculous episode.
+
+There was a drunken Irish soldier on board. He was a good-natured
+creature who made himself most embarrassingly friendly towards all and
+sundry of the passengers. Eventually he tried to embrace one of the
+ladies. For this misdemeanor, which I am persuaded was based on no evil
+intention, he was trussed and tied down on the hatch, close to the
+wheel. But the man must have been a philosopher, for his bonds
+distressed him not at all. For several hours he lifted up his voice in
+continuous song. His repertoire was extensive and varied. To this day I
+can clearly recall the words as well as the tune of two of his ditties.
+One related to the history of a pair of corduroy breeches, year by
+year, since the close of the last decade, each year being treated of in
+a couplet. The first verse ran thus:
+
+"In eighteen hundred and sixty-one
+Those corduroy breeches were begun."
+
+Eventually, in the then current year, 1867 "Those corduroy breeches
+went up to heaven."
+
+But they must have come down again, for it was prophetically, related
+that, in 1868 "Those corduroy breeches lost their sate."
+
+Following this came a lyric, having for its theme the pangs of despised
+love and the faithlessness of the fair. Its refrain ran:
+
+"Oh, surely the wimmin is worse than the min,
+For they go to the Divil and come back agin."
+
+Towards the afternoon the minstrel sank into slumber. To judge by the
+expression of his face his dreams must have been happy ones.
+
+The Asia was awaiting us at Falmouth. By the light of subsequent
+experience I now know her to have been a very second-class craft even
+for the sixties but to me then she was an Argo bound for a Colchis,
+where a Golden Fleece awaited every seeker. There were a number of Cape
+colonists on board. Among them may be mentioned Mr. and Mrs. "Varsy"
+Van der Byl, the Rev. Mr. (now Canon) Woodrooffe and his wife, Mr.
+Templar Horne who was afterwards Surveyor-General and Mr. D. Krynauw,
+who still enjoys life in his comfortable home just off Wandel Street,
+Cape Town. Mr. Krynauw added to the gaiety of the community by making
+clever thumb-nail sketches of all and sundry. But Mr. Woodrooffe was
+the life and soul of the ship. He seemed to have as many
+accomplishments as the celebrated Father O'Flynn, with several more
+thrown in.
+
+Among his other acquirements Mr. Woodrooffe had an excellent knowledge
+of chess; he was, in fact, by far the best player on board. I often
+challenged him to play, but he considered a small boy such as I was to
+be beneath his notice, so kept putting me off. However, one day I
+happened to be sitting in the saloon, with the chessmen in their places
+on the board, waiting for a victim. Mr. Woodrooffe chanced to come out
+of his cabin, so I captured him. But no sooner had we begun to play
+than two charming young ladies appeared and, one on each side, engaged
+my opponent in a conversation which, naturally enough, was more
+interesting than chess with me. Accordingly, he paid little or no
+attention to the game. I, on the other hand, was in deadly earnest.
+
+I moved out my king's pawn; then the king's bishop; then the queen. My
+heart was in my mouth; surely so experienced a player was not going to
+walk open-eyed into such a booby-trap. But the sirens had lured his
+attention away. Next move I gave him "fool's mate." That moment was one
+of the proudest of my life; I had beaten the champion, the Admirable
+Crichton of games of skill, the man whose word was law in all matters
+relating to sport in our little community.
+
+Unfortunately, however, I was too young and inexperienced to support my
+triumph with becoming dignity. I rushed up the companion stair shouting
+the news of my victory at the top of my voice. I told it to the
+captain, the officers, the passengers, and to such members of the crew
+as I was acquainted with. But I was astute enough never again to offer
+to play chess with Mr. Woodrooffe, and even to decline when he
+suggested our having a return game.
+
+The Biscayan tides were kind; but no sooner had we passed Finisterre
+than a gale struck us, and for many woeful days the Asia behaved
+like a drunken porpoise. I do not think a single passenger escaped
+sea-sickness. The gale continued until the night before we reached
+Madeira. I shall never forget the enchanting prospect which Funchal
+afforded as we glided to our anchorage in the early morning. The
+misery of the previous week was forgotten in the rapture of a moment.
+The sky was cloudless and the contours of the lovely island were
+bathed in opaline light. What joy the first sight, smell, and taste
+of the tropical fruits brought. Cold storage, by bringing all
+descriptions of exotic fruit to Europe, has robbed travel towards the
+tropics of one of its keenest delights.
+
+We passed to the westward of Teneriffe in perfectly clear weather. The
+recent storms encountered by us had extended far to the south;
+consequently the great peak was clothed in dazzling snow to an unusual
+distance below its summit. The impression left on my memory by that
+mountain mass, with the snow-mantle glowing in the rose-red light of
+sunset, will never fade. I can well remember being sadly disappointed
+at the first view of the Southern Cross. The voyage was uneventful
+until we reached the vicinity of the Cape, where we again encountered a
+most violent south-west gale. For two days we steamed against a
+tremendous sea. Wave after wave swept our decks; all the passengers had
+to remain below. I remember the ladies sitting huddled together at
+night in the companion, and the ship's doctor (I think his name was
+Williamson) regaling them with gruesome tales of shipwreck until the
+more nervous of the listeners began to wail aloud. So bad was the
+storm, that cooking was almost suspended. The menu consisted solely of
+"sea-pie" a comestible apparently composed of lumps of salt-beef stuck
+into slabs of very tough dough, and the result boiled in a hurried and
+perfunctory manner. Two days after the cessation of the storm, the Asia
+steamed into Table Bay.
+
+The Asia, poor old tub, lies at the bottom of the Bay of Bengal, where
+she foundered with all hands when engaged in the cattle-trade. Peace to
+her iron bones. Most of my fellow Argonauts, long before this, must
+have sunk into that sleep from which there is no earthly waking. Few,
+if any of us, managed to find the Golden Fleece. Those who, like
+myself, are still seeking it, are treading that downhill path which
+grows steeper at every pace, and which leads to that valley, filled
+with grey shadow, out of which none return. To them I hold out a hand
+of greeting in the spirit. Perhaps, when the Great Cycle has been
+traversed, we may meet again. Perhaps in another Argo we may voyage
+from Sirius to Mazaroth, through seas of golden ether adventurers from
+world to world instead of from continent to continent.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+Arrival at Cape Town--Port Elizabeth--First encounter with big game
+Grahamstown--Severe thunderstorm--King William's Town Natives and their
+ponies--Social peculiarities--Farming--The annual trek--Camp-life
+Surf-bathing--Self-sacrificing attitude of Larry O'Toole--Capture of
+an ant-bear--The coast scenery--A moral shock--School Chief Toise--Rainy
+seasons--Flooded rivers
+
+It was about the middle of December when we reached Table Bay. With the
+exception of the old Slave Barracks, in which the Supreme Court sits, I
+do not think a single one of the present Adderley Street buildings
+existed. Bree Street is more or less unchanged, but immediately to the
+eastward of it modernization begins. The most interesting building to
+me was the old Fruit Market, facing the Parade. I think it stood on the
+present site of the Drill Hall. The variety of strange fruits there to
+be found, the grotesque dresses of the Malays, and the babel of uncouth
+speech exercised a fascination the memory of which has never faded.
+
+The costume of the average Malay woman has remained unchanged; it is
+surely the most hideous of the many sumptuary hideosities for which
+fashion is responsible. This is the more deplorable for that the Malay
+women, when young, are often extremely pretty. The color scheme they
+affect is good; these women usually dress in light, flimsy silks of
+varied hue. Such materials are used at all events among the well-to-do
+for skirt, bodice, kerchief, and coiffure. But under the skirt, which
+hangs from just below the arm-pits, there must be at least a dozen
+petticoats. The result is a figure resembling a misshapen cone. I
+believe this costume is an exaggerated imitation of that of the
+"merchant's" wife of a little more than a century ago, and that it was
+adopted by the Malays when the Dutch sumptuary laws were repealed.
+
+We were hospitably entertained by the families of some friends we had
+made on the voyage. One day we spent with the Hams, an old Cape family
+whose homestead, long since "improved" away, stood not far from the
+present site of the Mount Nelson Hotel. Constantia, also, we visited,
+and were presented with some of the famous wine there grown.
+
+At this time the only railway in South Africa was a single line between
+Cape Town and Wynberg. It was said, but I do not know with how much
+truth, that the building of this line was due to the accidental
+circumstance that a ship, bound for Australia with railway material,
+was wrecked in the vicinity of the Cape.
+
+After a delay of about a week we set sail for Port Elizabeth, the end
+of our voyage. We left considerably more than half of our passengers in
+Cape Town. The parting with some of these was a sad experience; during
+the course of the long voyage we had made many friends. We reached Port
+Elizabeth on Christmas Eve, and were carried ashore through the surf by
+natives. Immediately after landing, we passed a yard full of old
+lumber. Protruding from a chaos of ancient rubbish was a signboard,
+bearing in dingy letters the legend: "Joseph Scully, Coach Painter."
+This is the only occasion upon which I have come across my name in
+South Africa. We landed at once, but some of the passengers elected to
+remain on board the Asia until next morning. This they had ample cause
+to regret, for a severe south-easter set in during the night and
+rendered communication with the shore impossible for several days.
+
+Port Elizabeth, although then a thriving town, had not yet earned the
+title "the Liverpool of South Africa." I doubt as to whether its
+commercial self-righteousness had developed to the extent of adopting
+the sobriquet "the Honest Port." My most salient memories are of
+hospitality, wool, hides, pumpkins, and sand. So far as I can recall,
+neither Main Street nor the Market Square was paved. That useful but
+ungainly ship of the southern deserts, the ox-wagon, was much in
+evidence. When the wind blew, as it did nearly all the time we were
+there, the dust arose in one continuous cloud, and grit reigned
+supreme.
+
+But the hospitality of the Port Elizabethans was a thing to be
+remembered with great pleasure. No sooner had we landed than
+invitations poured in on us. This was not merely complimentary it was
+the outcome of genuine kindness and a desire to be helpful. There was
+no ostentation, but just the natural expression of a simple desire to
+welcome and assist the stranger newly arrived within the gates.
+Hospitality was one of the cardinal South African virtues in those
+days. It has been truly said that even a quarter of a century ago a man
+might ride from Cape Town to the Limpopo without a shilling in his
+pocket, and be well entertained all the way. Things have, however, much
+changed in this respect. I suppose this was inevitable; true
+hospitality is a plant which seldom survives the hot stress of the
+struggle for riches.
+
+Grahamstown was our destination, so an ox-wagon of the largest size and
+with a team to match was hired to convey us and our belongings to the
+city, which has since become so celebrated as the abode of saints. Our
+first outspan was in the valley of the Zwartkops River, close to a big
+vlei, which was surrounded by dense, scrubby jungle. I had a small
+single-barreled rifle, so I loaded this and went off in search of big
+game. In anticipation of our translation to Africa I had done a good
+deal of rifle practice at Springfield, and had thus become a fair shot.
+
+But now, to my great disappointment, I could find nothing on which to
+exercise my skill. After a long, hot, circular walk, in the course of
+which I had not seen a living thing, I found myself once more on the
+edge of the vlei, within a hundred yards of the wagon. I was so thirsty
+that I found it impossible to pass the water without drinking. The
+margin of the vlei was very muddy, so, placing my rifle against a tree,
+I stepped from one tussock to another, so as to get within reach of
+deeper and, therefore, clearer water. I bent down to drink, placing one
+hand on a tussock and the other on what I took to be a stone, about six
+inches in diameter. But when I touched it the supposed stone emitted a
+terrible "quor-r-rr-k," and squattered away. It was an immense bull
+frog I had tried to lean upon. I sprang up and fled. Such was my first
+experience of African big game.
+
+After a six days' trek we reached Grahamstown. We failed to observe
+any, saints, but, on the other hand, met a number of very kind sinners,
+who did a lot towards making our stay a pleasant one. For a week we
+were the guests of Judge Fitzpatrick and his wife. The judge and my
+father had occupied chambers together as young men in Dublin. "Sir
+Percy" was then a boy I should say about three or four years my junior.
+The judge's orchard was all that could be desired by hungry boys; the
+flavor of the apricots there growing will never be forgotten by me.
+
+We took a house as a temporary measure, my father in the meantime
+endeavoring to secure a suitable farm. In this he was unsuccessful, so
+after six weeks we hired another wagon and started for King William's
+Town. The rains had been heavy, and the drift of the Fish River on the
+direct road was consequently impassable, so we took the longer route
+and crossed by the old wooden military bridge at Fort Brown. This
+bridge was swept away by the great flood of 1874. A great iron girder
+structure has been put in its place.
+
+Just before fording the Keiskamma River we encountered a most terrible
+thunderstorm. Whilst making all due allowance for inexperience, and
+having since sampled some heavy weather of various sorts in the
+tropics, I am of opinion that this storm was the worst I have ever
+seen. Early in the afternoon of a hot bright day, snow-white,
+solid-looking clouds began to collect around the peaks of the Amatole
+Mountains. These grew rapidly until they coalesced in a dense, compact
+mass. After remaining stationary, for some time, this began to move
+slowly towards us. It was black beneath, but dazzlingly white at the
+summit. It swept down with accelerating speed. The air throbbed with
+that most awe-inspiring sound, the guttural murmur of approaching hail.
+For some minutes the rain descended in drowning sheets. Then the hail
+smote us like a roaring cataract. The wind was so furious that the
+wagon tilt was almost torn to pieces. But, as terrifying agencies,
+these were as nothing to the lightning which appeared to stab the
+ground so closely and incessantly all around us that escape seemed an
+impossibility and to the thunder, which kept up a continuous bellow,
+punctuated by stunning crashes. The storm lasted far into the night;
+then the clouds rolled away, leaving an absolutely clear sky. Next
+morning was cloudless, and was followed by a lovely day. We searched
+far and near for evidence of damage, but all we found was a shattered
+mimosa-tree. The bark and the wood were lying about, frayed into their
+ultimate fibers; they looked like teased-out flax. Curiously enough
+they showed no sign of burning.
+
+After a trek lasting eight days we reached King William's Town, which
+even then was a flourishing place. Three regiments were stationed
+there--the 9th and 11th Infantry and the old Imperial Cape Mounted
+Riflemen. Of the latter, the rank and file were principally Hottentots,
+but the officers were European. This regiment, an excellent one in
+every respect, was shortly afterwards disbanded.
+
+We settled down for a stay in King William's Town, to enable us to take
+our bearings. My father made various trips throughout the district,
+looking for a suitable farm. Red-coated soldiers and red-blanketed
+natives were everywhere in evidence. The liquor-shops (canteens they
+were called) did a roaring trade. Every morning hundreds of natives,
+mounted on wiry ponies and clad in nothing but trousers and red
+blanket, would gallop into the town by every road. In the afternoon
+they would gallop back again, nearly ail more or less tipsy. The ponies
+were excellent animals; in breed they were identical with the famed
+"Basuto pony," for which long prices are given today. It is a great
+pity that these ponies have been allowed to become practically
+extinct in the Cape Colony. For hardiness and docility they were
+unequalled. Like so much else, they melted away in the coffers of the
+canteen-keeper.
+
+Socially, King William's Town was in a most curious condition. The
+military absolutely ruled the roost. Trade, whether wholesale or
+retail, carried the Mark of the Beast, and no one connected therewith
+was recognized. Neither beauty, intellect, nor wealth was allowed to
+count against the disgrace involved in one being in any way connected
+with commerce. I will give an illustration showing how strong this
+preposterous feeling was.
+
+My sister was very popular with the military set. (We were poor enough,
+in all conscience, but we had not disgraced ourselves by, contact with
+trade.) She struck up a friendship with the daughter of the proprietor
+of a large business. He belonged to an old and much-esteemed colonial
+family. The girl was pretty, accomplished, and amiable. But she was
+"left out" of everything. Dance after dance was given, but Miss X never
+received an invitation. My sister was distressed at this, and, when a
+large military dance was projected, used every ounce of her influence
+towards having her friend invited. But all her trouble was in vain.
+
+What made the situation hopeless was the circumstance that the
+civilians accepted it with contemptible humility. It was almost
+pathetic to observe how people, just on the border-line, received with
+humble thankfulness such crumbs of recognition as were occasionally
+thrown to them. Snobbery increases in offensiveness when it is
+transplanted.
+
+Living was exceedingly cheap. I think the price of meat was twopence
+per pound. I have seen hundreds of bags of excellent potatoes offered
+on the morning market and taken away unsold because no one would bid a
+shilling per bag for them. Most people were poor, but they seemed
+somehow to be comfortable enough. There was no such thing as pauperism.
+Even the poorest could afford to keep horses. Journeys were generally
+performed on horseback, luggage being carried on a pack-horse, led by
+an after-rider. I had a splendid pony, which cost only 3. He grazed on
+the town commonage; besides grass, he never got anything to eat but an
+occasional handful of mealies. Yet he always was in good condition. On
+this pony I regularly followed the hounds for some months for the
+military kept a pack of foxhounds with which duiker antelopes were
+hunted and was usually in at the death.
+
+After a time my father managed to hire what was believed to be a
+suitable farm near MacLean Town. It was called "Sunny Slope" and it
+belonged to Mr. Benjamin Norton, who lived on the farm adjoining. Here
+we began farming with about eight hundred sheep, and a few head of
+cattle. The farm contained long, gentle, undulating slopes, divided by
+shallow kloofs full of forest. The pasturage was rich and water was
+plentiful. But our farming was not successful; it was hardly possible
+that it could have been so. Farming is a trade, and has to be learnt.
+Moreover, wool went down in price and the sheep contracted various
+diseases. However, the latter evil was overcome with the kind
+assistance of our neighbors.
+
+In the days I write of, the whole of the coast of British Kaffraria
+between the Kei River and the Keiskamma, with the exception of the then
+insignificant town of East London and a small area in its vicinity, was
+almost uninhabited. It was the custom for practically, all Kaffrarian
+stock-farmers to trek down to the coast with their stock for the three
+winter months. Then the range of forest-clothed sandhills forming the
+coastline held a succession of camps. The scenery was enchanting; every
+valley brimmed with evergreen forest, and between the valleys sloped
+downs, clothed with rich grass.
+
+Game was abundant, and the lagoon at the mouth of every stream piercing
+the line of sandhills teemed with fish. The trek period was looked upon
+as one of holiday. Care was thrown to the winds; picnics, hunting, and
+sea-bathing were the order of the day. Social gatherings took place
+alternately at the various camps not too distant from each other. More
+or less impassable estuaries, where the larger streams broke through to
+the sea, divided the coast tract into so many separate blocks.
+
+Horses were plentiful; probably every individual, not too old or too
+young to ride, had at least one mount available. Young men and maidens
+thought nothing of riding ten miles to tea, and riding back in the
+starlight when the gathering broke up. Homely song and the strains of
+the now much despised concertina mingled with the softened thunder of
+the surf, and, borne by the mild breath of the sea wind, no doubt
+surprised the wild creatures whose sanctuaries we had invaded. I have
+since heard some of the greatest singers and instrumentalists, but no
+music has ever given me such joy as those rudimentary strains listened
+to at night in a clearing of the forest near the mouth of the Gonubie
+River, with the chastened resonance of the Indian Ocean surf as an
+accompaniment.
+
+I often recall our bathing. The beach was level and sandy, not a reef
+nor even a rock was within sight. Immense rollers fugitives from the
+wrath of far-off tempests used to sweep in continuously. Just before
+breaking these would tower aloft, their fine-drawn crests poised for an
+instant in the sunlight. Our favorite sport was among these waves. We
+would buffet our way out to the breaking zone. Then, as the mighty,
+walls of glistening water swept up, we would drive through them, one by
+one, or else lie flat on the water in the hollow, side to the advancing
+wave. In the latter case the wave would pick the bather up with a
+sudden swing, poise him for an instant on its trembling crest, and then
+whirl him round and round as it swept restlessly shoreward. This
+whirling was so rapid that I have occasionally almost lost
+consciousness when in the grip of an unusually, powerful breaker. We
+never considered that we were doing anything venturesome; the sport
+described was followed by all and sundry, quite as a matter of course.
+Nevertheless, I think the boys used to venture out farther than the
+men. Sharks we never thought of. It was not considered possible that we
+could be carried out to sea, for the greatest difficulty lay in keeping
+oneself from being flung back on the shore by the rapidly advancing
+waves. I wonder whether bathers nowadays venture out as far as we did.
+
+The friends with whom I usually stayed were the Barbers, who lived at
+Grey Park, a few miles from Sunny Slope. I mean Mr. Hilton Barber, now
+of Halesowen, near Cradock, and his brothers Guy and Graham. The
+latter, one of the truest friends I ever had, is, alas! long since
+dead. He fell a victim to pneumonia at Johannesburg in the early days.
+Related to or connected with the Barbers were the Atherstones,
+Cummings, McIntoshes, and Dicks, whose tents usually, stood in the
+vicinity of the Barber encampment.
+
+I recall one incident which caused a great deal of laughter. Mr. Guy
+Barber was then engaged to his present wife, who was Miss McIntosh, a
+girl of remarkable beauty. A certain Mr. Larry O'Toole, who had come
+out in the Asia under my father's protection, was staying at a camp in
+the vicinity. One day a wild-duck shoot was in progress. Larry, who
+knew little or nothing about shooting, was of the party. The sportsmen
+took their stations around the margins of a large, sinuous vlei. The
+ducks, after being disturbed, flew up and down. Miss McIntosh, with her
+fiance, was on horseback opposite Larry, on the other side of the
+water. Some ducks flew past and Larry fired. The birds were untouched,
+but the horse ridden by, Miss McIntosh was severely peppered and began
+to plunge violently. In the course of a severe reproof for his
+carelessness, Larry was asked by Guy Barber:
+
+"Now, supposing you had blinded or otherwise badly injured Miss
+McIntosh, what would you have done?"
+
+"Oh! begor," replied Larry, "I suppose I'd have had to marry, her."
+
+Poor Larry O'Toole! We met, years afterwards, in a remote mining-camp.
+He ventured into the Low Country beyond the Murchison Range at the
+wrong season, and contracted fever. In the delirium which supervened he
+blew his brains out. Larry had a brother, Edmund, who had been a
+sailor, and who joined Butler's Horse in the Zulu War. He gained the
+Victoria Cross the day before Ulundi. Together with the late Lord
+William Beresford ("Bill," as he liked to be called, alliteratively )
+he saved a wounded man from the spears of the enemy. For this exploit
+the cross was offered to Lord William, but he refused to accept it
+unless a similar distinction were conferred on O'Toole.
+
+The latter had a varied career. I once hailed a cab in Cape Town and
+found he was the driver. He told me he had saved 200 at cab driving.
+But I judge from what I subsequently heard that the money did him no
+good. He, like so many others of "the legion that never was listed"
+with whom I have foregathered, has long since closed his earthly
+account.
+
+One occurrence I heard of among the seaside camps merits relation. It
+should be mentioned that the extraordinary, story reached me at
+second-hand. The incident is said to have taken place one season when
+I did not visit the coast.
+
+At the end of the sixties no zoological garden contained a specimen of
+the South African anteater. I do not know whether any such institution
+contains one now. However, a very liberal price was offered for a live
+specimen. This extraordinary creature is almost strictly nocturnal in
+its habits, and is consequently extremely difficult to capture. One day
+a man with whom I was acquainted was riding through the veld a few
+miles from his camp. To his surprise he noticed a large ant-eater.
+Mindful of the reward offered, he sprang from his horse and seized the
+creature by one of its hind-legs.
+
+The ant-eater has hardly any means of defense, its formidable claws
+being used solely for digging. But its strength and its digging powers
+are almost beyond belief. In sandy soil one will bury itself in a few
+seconds. In this instance the captor had to exert all his strength
+merely to keep the animal above ground. He was, in fact, only able to
+do this by means of continually shifting his position, a process
+involving constant and exhausting effort. He bethought him of the rein
+fastened to his pony's halter. With great difficulty he loosened this,
+and tied it in a noose around the ant-bear's loins. But matters were
+not improved; the digging went on more vigorously than ever.
+
+At length he realized that it was impossible to prevent the animal from
+burrowing out of sight. One expedient remained. The pony, had a long
+and bushy tail. He doubled the end of this, and securely fastened the
+rein to it. Then he hastened to his camp for the purpose of fetching a
+spade and calling people to assist him.
+
+On returning a strange spectacle met his view. The pony was sitting on
+the ground, erect, after the manner of a biped. Its head was in the
+air, its hind-legs were extended horizontally, its fore-legs were
+waving impotently up and down'. The ant-bear had carved its way deep
+into the bowels of the earth, gradually but relentlessly dragging the
+hapless pony down until its posterior parts hermetically sealed up the
+burrow. It was, in fact, only the smallness of the latter which
+prevented the animal from being completely buried. Eventually, however,
+the rein snapped, and the pony was thus released from a durance
+probably unique in equine experience. But I wish to make it quite clear
+that I guarantee nothing in connection with the foregoing remarkable
+tale, except that I have related it as it was told to me.
+
+I often picture the rounded sandhills stretching from the Gonubie Mouth
+to the Nahoon, with the dark, olive-green boskage that clothed their
+curves with beauty, and the veil of orange tinted mystery that at dawn
+hung like a curtain across that region where sea and sky awaited,
+breathless, the advent of day. I suppose the placid lagoons still
+mirror the drifting pageants of cloudland, while the purple kingfishers
+flit from rock to rock, or poise, fluttering in the air, before they,
+plunge into the crystal water.
+
+I imagine that at windless nightfall the rich, throbbing organ-tones of
+the Indian Ocean surf toll all the darkling glades. I wonder do the
+green, flame-winged loories today call hoarsely through the aisles of
+greenery, and the bushbucks bark their angry challenges from the deep
+and tangled hollows. I wonder do the monkeys, when the forenoon waxes
+sultry, swing chattering from bough to bough down the hillside, seeking
+their daily drink in the coolest depths of the kloof, and do the great
+Nymphalis butterflies, with wings of ochre and pearl, flit among the
+tree tops!
+
+But so much I know that a part of my youth which in some strange way
+seems to have acquired an individuality, of its own dwells, and will
+for ever dwell, among these scenes. And I shall never be so ill-advised
+as to seek it, for the wraith, like a mocking dryad, would flit from
+tree to tree, as beautiful and as elusive as the rainbow.
+
+While living at Sunny Slope I paid my first visit to East London, the
+occasion being an agricultural show. I accompanied the Norton family.
+We traveled in an ox-wagon through the loveliest imaginable country.
+Our course lay mainly down the valley of the Nahoon River, in which the
+vegetation was then much richer than it is today. The little town of
+East London was confined to the west bank of the Buffalo River mouth.
+Where the town now stands, on the east bank, there was not a single
+house in 1868. So far as I can recollect, Tapson's Hotel was the only
+building between Cambridge and the sea. This building was still in
+existence a few years ago. The Buffalo River had to be crossed by means
+of a pontoon; the road to this was cut through dense jungle. Judging by
+the spoors crossing the road this jungle must have been full of game.
+
+After the show a large picnic was held in the forest at the well-known
+Second Creek. The guests were conveyed to the spot by a paddle tug, the
+Buffalo. This vessel now lies, a melancholy wreck, half-submerged, at
+the mouth of the Kowie River.
+
+At the picnic I sustained a severe moral shock. A certain doctor with
+whom I was acquainted an elderly and much respected resident of King
+William's Town looked upon the wine when it was red, and became
+violently uproarious. My ethical orientation became disturbed; all my
+canons got confused. I had seen this man wearing the insignia of
+municipal dignity; he had been mayor of his town during the previous
+year. Now he was acting the mountebank, to the huge amusement of a lot
+of yokels.
+
+I knew that disreputable Europeans and natives occasionally became
+intoxicated, but here was my first experience of a respectable person
+committing such a lapse. The shock was so painful that my enjoyment was
+completely spoilt. I crept to a thicket, from which I could see without
+being seen, and observed the old gentleman's antics with amazed horror.
+He insisted on making a long speech, interspersed with snatches of
+song. This only came to an end when some of his friends seized the
+tails of his frock-coat and hauled him down. Then he was carried,
+protesting loudly, to the tug.
+
+It soon became abundantly clear that our farming could not prove a
+success, so Sunny Slope was given up, and we returned to King William's
+Town. Here my father, with the remainder of his capital, purchased a
+property in the Alexandra Road, close to the present railway-station.
+Sheep had fallen heavily in value; our flock could not be realized
+without incurring a ruinous loss, so it was kept for a time on the town
+commonage. Eventually, it was handed over to a native chief named
+Toise, who lived on the other side of the Buffalo River, about five
+miles away.
+
+I was put to the grammar school, where I studied for something more
+than half a year. This, it may be remarked, is all the regular
+schooling I ever had. Mr. John Samuel, who afterwards became a school
+inspector, was the head master. Dr. Theal, the historian (then Mr.
+Theal), was in charge of the second division, or, as it was called, the
+lower school.
+
+It was my duty to ride out every Saturday to Toise's kraal for the
+purpose of counting the sheep. So far as I can remember, none were ever
+stolen a fact of some significance considering that the whole country,
+almost as far as the eye could reach in every direction, was densely
+populated by "raw" natives. But the unhappy animals suffered from scab
+and various other diseases.
+
+Toise, albeit addicted to strong drink, was a gentleman in all
+essentials. He was a tall, dignified, and remarkably handsome man; his
+hospitality and courtesy could not be surpassed. A calabash of
+delicious amaas (koumis) was always ready for me on my arrival, and a
+feed of mealies provided for the pony. I believe that subsequently
+Toise became ruined, morally and physically, through the drink habit.
+He was only another of the countless victims of "Cape Smoke."
+
+In the days I write of, the climate of the Eastern Province was totally
+different from what it is today. From October to March thunderstorms,
+accompanied by torrential rain, were of frequent occurrence. Early in
+the afternoon clouds would appear over the mountains to the north-west;
+between three and four o'clock these clouds, now forming immense,
+towering masses of cumulus, would sweep down towards the sea, pouring
+out torrents of rain on their course. Between five and six o'clock all
+these meteorological alarums and excursions would be over, the sky
+would be again clear, and the sun again shining hotly, on the drenched
+earth.
+
+Hailstorms occasionally happened. I recall a very remarkable one that
+passed over that portion of King William's Town known as "the German
+Village" in, I think, the summer of 1869. The hailstones, which were of
+immense size, did not fall very thickly. Moreover, the area of the town
+over which the storm passed contained no houses but thatched ones.
+Great lumps of ice, all of the same shape, but of various sizes, began
+to rain out of the sky. The shape was that of a full-blown rose; it
+suggested that each had been formed in a tiny vortex-mould. Some of the
+lumps measured four inches across. Dr. Egan, at the Grey Hospital,
+secured one monster which weighed a pound and three-quarters.
+
+The throbbing roar heralding the approaching hail cataract was a thing
+never to be forgotten. I heard of no fatalities among human beings, but
+a flock of sheep was wiped out at a spot where the storm concentrated.
+This happened on a high, abrupt hill about twenty miles away.
+
+In those days streams such as the Kat, the Koonap, the Buffalo, and the
+Keiskamma were really rivers; often they foamed down in mighty brown
+torrents. As there were no bridges, except the occasional military,
+ones, post carts would often be delayed for days at a time, and one's
+letters would sometimes arrive more or less in a state of pulp. The
+whole country was covered with rank vegetation up to June, when nearly
+all the grass would be burnt off. It is to the cessation of this
+immemorial practice one noted by, all the voyagers along the south-east
+coast that I attribute the enormous increase of the tick pest.
+
+One of my favorite diversions, when the Buffalo was in flood, was to
+ride to a spot near the upper end of the town and there strip. I would
+tie my clothes into a bundle and entrust them, with my pony, to another
+boy. Then I would jump into the river and allow myself to be carried
+down by the torrent. All one had to do was to keep well in the middle
+of the stream and avoid contact with occasional uprooted trees.
+
+Once or twice I found myself, when thus swimming, unpleasantly close to
+puff-adders and other snakes which had been washed by the flood out of
+their hiding-places in the holes piercing the river-banks. But such
+reptiles were always too much stiffened by the cold water to be capable
+of doing any injury.
+
+Meanwhile the boy, with my clothes and the pony, would be waiting for
+me at a stated spot some distance below the wool-washing yards to the
+south-east of the town. I should not now care to venture on such an
+excursion.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+Trip to the Transkei--Tiyo Soga and his family--Trip to the seaside--The
+Fynns--Wild dogs--Start as a sheep farmer--My camp burnt out--First
+commercial adventure--Chief Sandile--Discovery of diamonds--Start for
+Golconda--Traveling companions--Manslaughter narrowly escaped--Old De
+Beers--Life at the Diamond Fields--Scarcity of water--First case of
+diamond stealing--I nearly discover Kimberley Mine--The rush to Colesberg
+Kopje--My first diamond--Its loss and my humiliation--Kimberley claims
+dear at 10--Camp-life in early days--I. D. B.--Canteen burning.
+
+It was in the June holidays of 1869 that I undertook my first real
+adventure. I then accompanied Mr. Samuel and two of my schoolfellows on
+an expedition to the Transkei, which at that time was still practically
+independent Kaffirland. The Fingoes were in a sense under British
+protection, and Mr. Fynn was resident with Sariii (usually known as
+"Kreli"), the celebrated Goaleka chief.
+
+The Kei River was the colonial boundary. Traveling on horseback we
+crossed the river by a drift some distance below the site of the
+present Komgha Bridge. One of my companions was Tom Irvine, now a
+partner in the firm of Dyer and Dyer, of East London. The other was
+Alfred Longden, whose father was Wesleyan missionary near the site on
+which the town of Butterworth now stands, Richard Irvine had a trading
+station at the Incu Drift. The old building still exists. When we
+arrived there the tobacco crop had just been harvested, and the trader
+was kept busy from early morning until late at night buying tobacco at
+the rate of a penny per pound, the price being taken in the form of
+trade goods.
+
+We moved on to Tutura, the mission station of that remarkable man Tiyo
+Soga. Mrs. Soga and her sister, Miss Burnside, received us with the
+best hospitality. Their dwelling consisted of a row of huts which were
+connected with each other by means of wattled passages. The huts had
+doors and ordinary windows.
+
+The Sogas were just on the point of starting for the seaside on their
+annual holiday when we joined them. Their destination was the mouth of
+the Kobonqaba River. We decided to join the party. I rode most of the
+way, some forty miles, at Mr. Soga's side. He beguiled the time by
+reciting Wordsworth's poetry, which at that time I had never heard of.
+As each fresh aspect of the magnificent scenery unfolded itself he
+would pause and declaim some appropriate quotation from "The
+Excursion."
+
+I have seldom been so impressed by any one as by this Kaffir, who, born
+in absolute barbarism, had acquired culture both deep and wide, and
+then returned to try and civilize his people. At the time I met him Mr.
+Soga was hard at work translating, for the benefit of the Natives, the
+Bible and "Pilgrim's Progress." The Kaffir language is eminently suited
+to the former; good Kaffir linguists will tell you that many of the
+Psalms sound better in Mr. Soga's version than in English. His
+rendering of "Pilgrim's Progress," too, is a masterpiece.
+
+Tiyo Soga was a tall man of slender build and with a stooping figure.
+Even at the time I tell of a short, hacking cough gave evidence of the
+consumption which some years later caused his death. He was not alone a
+deeply cultivated scholar, but a Christian gentleman in the fullest
+sense of the term.
+
+We passed Kreli's kraal, but the chief was in retirement under the
+hands of a witch-doctor, so we did not see him. The scenery along the
+watershed between the Kei and the Kobonqaba is wonderfully beautiful.
+The weather was calm and clear; the ocean like a world of sapphire
+fringed with snow. The populous villages of the Natives stood on every
+ledge; sleek cattle grazed in every valley. The people looked
+prosperous and contented. We met civility everywhere; milk was offered
+us at every kraal. I visited the same locality a few years ago and
+sojourned for a few weeks near the site of the old Soga camp, but the
+season was summer, and both ticks and snakes were in evidence to a most
+unpleasant degree. The natives also had changed; no longer were they so
+civil or so hospitable. Revisiting the scenes of one's youth is usually
+an unsatisfactory experience.
+
+We spent a week with the Sogas, and then went to the camp of the Fynns,
+a few miles away. Here, also, we were hospitably entertained. There
+were three Fynn brothers, and their aggregate height was nineteen feet.
+Late one afternoon, when returning from a ride, I had my first sight of
+wild dogs. In crossing a deep, bushy kloof by a bridle-path I reached
+an open space. Here I saw five large, smoke-colored animals. Two were
+squatting on their haunches, the others were standing. I passed within
+about twenty-five yards of them. They made no hostile demonstration,
+neither did they attempt to run away. When I related my experience at
+the camp, I was told that the animals I had seen were wild dogs, a pack
+of which had for some time been marauding in the vicinity.
+
+I returned to King William's Town via Tsomo and Tembani. We traveled
+mostly, by night. My companion for I had left Mr. Samuel's party was a
+trader. He carried four hundred sovereigns in a holster. We off-saddled
+at several kraals, and on each occasion the gold jingled audibly, yet
+we never felt the slightest uneasiness. In those days it was a common
+practice for traders to send large sums of money by native runners from
+the heart of Kaffirland, yet I do not think there is a single instance
+of such a trust having been betrayed.
+
+When I reached King William's Town it was quite evident that our sheep
+were not flourishing. They were, in fact, dwindling daily. Something
+had to be done, so my father hired a farm about ten miles away, in the
+direction of Kabousie. I volunteered my services as caretaker of the
+flock, and to my intense gratification this offer was accepted. The
+farm had no homestead, so I was given an old bell-tent, purchased at a
+military rummage sale, to live in.
+
+My assistant was a Kaffir lad named Toby, whose memory is kept green,
+so far as I am concerned, by his enormous lips. These resembled
+sausages strung across his face literally from ear to ear. I now
+considered myself to be a full-fledged farmer. An old sheep kraal was
+put into a state of repair. Toby and I built a wattle hut, and a
+shelter for the pony. The hut was so small that Toby, had to lie curled
+up in it; if he stretched himself, either head or heels had to be out
+in the cold.
+
+After the novelty had worn off, the monotony of my life became
+appalling. There were no neighbors with whom to foregather; there was
+no game to shoot; the surrounding country was uninteresting to a
+degree. Far away, just peeping over the rim of the horizon, were the
+peaks of the Amatole and Kabousie Ranges regions of enchantment,
+cliff-crowned and forest-clothed towards which my soul vainly sighed.
+But an accident quickly brought this chapter of my life to a tragic
+close. One very, windy day I went out with the sheep, leaving Toby at
+the camp to cook the dinner. The blasts were so strong that it was
+impracticable to light a fire in the open. Toby, suggested lighting
+one in the tent, and to this I unwisely consented, warning him,
+however, to be very careful lest our dwelling should catch alight.
+
+On my way home, a couple of hours later, I could not see either the
+tent or the hut. The country was level and quite bare, so the tent had
+always been a conspicuous landmark from any, spot within a mile or so.
+For a time I thought I must have lost my way. But no; there was the
+kraal. I came to the conclusion that the tent had been blown down. When
+I reached the spot all I found was two circles of ashes. The tent and
+the hut had been burnt down bedding, clothing, provisions everything
+except the gun, which I had taken with me, and the saddle which was in
+the pony's shelter down in the kloof had been consumed. Toby had
+bolted. I burst into tears and flung myself to the ground. Night fell;
+I could not endure the loneliness, so fled from the desolated spot. I
+was at the time not quite fourteen years old.
+
+Shortly after this catastrophe I trekked with my flock to a small farm
+near what is now called Kei Road, but which was then known as Hangman's
+Bush. Here there was a homestead. But the place was surrounded by small
+fields cultivated by German peasants; consequently the sheep were
+continually trespassing and being sent to the pound. Before many months
+the flock had to be disposed of at a ruinous loss. Thus ingloriously
+ended my first and last adventure as a stock-farmer.
+
+My next essay, towards wooing fortune was in the line of Kaffir
+trading. I hired myself to a trader, whose shop was in the Gaika
+Reserve, close to the kraal of the celebrated Chief Sandile, not far
+from Tembani. Sandile, who possessed enormous influence with his
+powerful and war-like tribe, was a man utterly wanting in dignity. He
+was club-footed, and consequently went very lame. I remember being once
+sent on a message to his kraal. He came to know that I had a threepenny
+piece, so began begging for this. He paid no heed to my refusal, but
+clung to my stirrup-leather and dragged himself after me for nearly
+half a mile, begging in the most abject terms. I am glad to be able to
+say that I kept the coin. But Sandile was a brave man; he died the
+death of a soldier in the Gaika Rebellion of 1878. He was killed in a
+skirmish in the Pirie Forest, near King William's Town.
+
+My career as a trader was shorter and even more inglorious than that as
+a farmer. Within a month I was discharged as utterly incompetent.
+Although I resented this at the time, I am now convinced that the
+dismissal was well-merited.
+
+It is difficult in these days when Cook & Son issue excursion tickets
+to the Zambezi, and beyond to realize the mystery and glamour that hung
+over the greater part of South Africa forty years ago. I can remember
+how as a child I used to pore over the maps of the period so poor in
+detail, occasionally with "elephants for want of towns" and wonder as
+to whether, after I had grown up, I might hope one day to reach the
+Orange River. Farther than that my wildest anticipatory dreams did not
+take me.
+
+But at length the dazzling sheen of the diamonds unearthed on the banks
+of the distant Vaal, thrilled every one with a desire for adventure.
+Before we could realize the process, the caravan crowded road was open
+to all; thus one of the ramparts of mystery, had fallen.
+
+We have all become more or less accustomed to diamonds nowadays, but
+forty, years ago a diamond stood rather for crystallized romance than
+for a form of carbon worth so much per carat. It stood for the making
+of history, for empire, and for unbounded wealth. We knew that wars had
+been waged for the possession of such gems, that blackest crime nor
+oceans of blood could dim their piercing luster. We felt that every
+celebrated stone, whether shining on the breast of a lovely woman or
+blazing in the scepter of a king, was a symbol of power, a nucleus of
+tragedy, a focus of human passion.
+
+It is, therefore, no wonder that the disturbance of our uneventful
+South African life a life as simple and as serene as any lived on the
+face of the earth caused by the realization that diamonds had actually
+been discovered near the borders of the Cape Colony, raised a flood of
+wildest excitement. This flood soon swept in a wave of men over the
+wide, sun-scorched plains of the glamorous North.
+
+Many of my friends had ventured to the new Golconda, and I was fired
+with desire to follow the gleam. At length I met a man who, after much
+persuasion, consented to let me accompany him on a contemplated trip to
+the Vaal River. This was William Brown, who will be remembered by most
+old Kaffrarians. Brown was a farmer of sorts, usually squatting on
+Government land, and occasionally occupying a hut on the fringe of the
+Isidengi Forest, not far from Kabousie Nek. I had now and then stayed
+with him there, and had spent many days wandering with my gun through
+the lovely woodland that surrounded his dwelling.
+
+Living in another hut in the vicinity was a very strange character
+called "Jarge"; his surname has completely escaped me. Jarge was a very
+old man. Hailing originally from Somersetshire, he had never lost the
+dialect of his early years. Many an hour have I spent at his saw-pit,
+listening to recitals of his fifty-year-old adventures, some of which
+were most unedifying. I remember being much amused at an expression he
+used. He had met with a large leopard; the animal behaved in a
+threatening manner. On being questioned as to his feelings on the
+occasion, Jarge replied: "O, zur, I beed awful frowt."
+
+Brown's preparations for departure were slow; my patience was severely
+tried. But at length everything was ready. The caravan consisted of two
+Scotch carts, each drawn by six oxen. With these we started on our long
+journey, crossing Kabousie Nek by a road of a gradient steeper than
+that of any other I have traversed in a vehicle. We were accompanied by
+another strange character a man named Dixon, who had lived for many
+years at the foot of the Kabousie Mountain. Dixon had been a military
+tailor at Gibraltar. He had a red face and fiercely protuberant
+eyebrows, a curled up moustache, and an imperial. When he became
+intoxicated, as he occasionally did, Dixon grew more solemn than any of
+the various judges it has been my privilege to meet. Twenty years
+afterwards I saw, him at the front in one of the Kaffir wars. He must
+then have been nearly seventy years of age, yet, literally, he did not
+look a day older than when we first met.
+
+We struck a bad snowstorm on the top of the Stormberg; had we not been
+able to drive the oxen into a sheltered kloof they would assuredly have
+perished. We shivered sleepless all night under one of the carts in a
+freezing gale. Next morning was cloudless; the ranges far and near were
+heavily, covered with glistening snow. A few days later we picked up
+two men, who were tramping towards the diamond-fields. One was named
+Beranger; I believe he was the son of a former lessee of Covent Garden
+Opera House. His companion was a man named Hull, an ex-publican from
+Lambeth. With these two chance companions we entered into a sort of
+partnership; for some months after reaching the diggings we all worked
+together.
+
+On our way through the Orange Free State we saw immense herds of
+springbuck and an occasional herd of blesbuck and wildebeeste. As we
+were badly armed, very little game fell to our guns. In those days it
+was lawful for travelers to shoot game anywhere along the roadside for
+their own consumption; a farmer would no more think of objecting to a
+stranger shooting a buck on his veld than a gardener would object to
+one destroying a caterpillar.
+
+When we reached the fields we found the "dry diggings" at Du Toit's Pan
+and Bultfontein in full swing. "Old De Beers" had only been "rushed" a
+few days previously. So we decided to try our luck at Bultfontein
+instead of going on to the Vaal River, as we had originally intended.
+We outspanned in the middle of the Du Toit's Pan "pan"; this, of
+course, was a purely temporary camp. I was, much to my disgust, left
+in charge of the carts while the others went on to look for a permanent
+location.
+
+Here it was that I nearly killed one of my friends. We had foregathered
+on the road with three brothers named Dell; they belonged to the
+well-known family of that name in Lower Albany, and were proceeding to
+the fields in a small wagon. We had met them about a fortnight
+previously, and ever since the two caravans had traveled together. We
+had become very intimate; the younger brother, Sam, was my particular
+friend. He taught me to smoke, and that was the cause of the trouble.
+
+Finding "Boer" tobacco too strong for my unaccustomed nerves, I had
+beguiled the weary hours of my vigil by soaking about a quarter of a
+pound of strong tobacco in boiling water in a large pannikin. After the
+soaking had gone on for some considerable time, I took the tobacco out
+of the water, squeezed it, and set it out in the sun on a board to dry.
+The liquor remaining in the pannikin was just the color of milkless
+coffee made with vlei water. William Dell, the eldest brother (he
+afterwards lived at Shilbottel, in the Peddie district), had gone to
+the camp with the others. He returned alone. The afternoon was hot, and
+Dell was extremely thirsty. When he got near his wagon he called out
+for water. Unfortunately there was no one at the wagon. Seeing an
+opportunity of paying off a score, I called out: "Here is some coffee,"
+and offered the pannikin containing the tobacco juice.
+
+Poor Dell thanked me with effusion, seized the vessel eagerly, and took
+a big gulp of its contents. At once he flung the vessel into the air,
+fell to the ground, and began to contort violently. I looked on,
+horror-stricken at the effect of my practical joke. After a few
+frightful seconds vomiting set in; this, no doubt, saved the sufferer's
+life. I had quite unwittingly, of course administered a most virulent
+poison. In the midst of his convulsions I caught William Dell's eye,
+and read something suggestive of murder in it. So I made for the open
+veld, and stood not upon the order of my going. Late at night I
+returned to the vicinity of the camp and, after some difficulty, opened
+communication with Sam. He acted as ambassador to William, and the
+latter was good enough to forgive me. Thus I escaped the thrashing I so
+richly deserved.
+
+Our plans were changed almost immediately; we decided to try our luck
+at Old De Beers. Next day we trekked thither, and pitched our camp on
+the plain to the south-westward of the mine. This plain was studded
+with very large "camel thorn" trees. Before the axe had wrought
+universal havoc, the landscape surrounding the dry diggings was well
+wooded and highly picturesque. At the spot we selected for our
+encampment two especially large trees stood; between these we pitched
+our tents.
+
+I felt quite at home. Camped in the vicinity were many old Kaffrarian
+friends Barbers, McIntoshes, Cummings, and others. We started work
+immediately on the eastern side of the mine. Claims were to be had for
+the mere trouble of marking out and the payment of a license; probably
+not more than two thirds of the surface of the mine had been "located."
+We found a very few diamonds; all were small, and none were of any
+particular value.
+
+Fuel was plentiful; at night camp-fires twinkled far and near. Around
+these happened some of the pleasantest gatherings I have ever attended.
+The nights were usually clear and calm however the wind may have
+swirled the gritty dust during the day and the stars shone as they only
+shine when the dew-moist air of upland South Africa underlies them.
+Every one capable of making music, whether by means of violin,
+concertina, or voice, was much in demand. Coffee and rusks circulated
+freely. Quite a number of diggers had brought their families from the
+Colony; thus, many a pretty girl in print dress and "cappie" joined the
+firelit circle. Most of us were young and free from care. Life was full
+of romance, for Fortune scattered her favors with an occasionally
+lavish hand. Every few days one would hear of some lucky digger finding
+a "stone" worth perhaps several hundred pounds. And in those days money
+was money in South Africa; that is to say, its purchasing power was
+probably three times as great as it is now.
+
+Our most serious difficulty was in the matter of the water-supply. No
+wells had as yet been dug, and no drinking water was obtainable nearer
+than Wessel's Farm, seven miles away. It was part of my duty to repair
+thither once a week with a Scotch cart and fetch two hogsheads full. So
+far as I can remember, this quantity cost six shillings at the well.
+Sometimes people were in great straits for something to drink. However,
+all were helpful towards one another. I have often known some stranger
+or another come to the camp with a small tin pannikin and beg for
+permission to fill it at one of our casks. Such a request would never
+be refused. After the first well in the vicinity of the mine had been
+sunk, water was sold from it at the rate of a shilling per bucket, and
+at morning and evening the crush was so great that people had to wait
+perhaps half an hour before they could be served. I recall one occasion
+when, the need for a sudden superficial ablution having arisen, I ran
+over to the liquor-shop tent and bought a bottle of soda-water for the
+purpose.
+
+I have a very clear recollection of the first case of diamond stealing
+on the part of a servant that came under my notice. A certain Major
+Bede, an American, who worked at the north end of the mine, caught a
+Hottentot in his employ in the act of secreting a stone. The major
+recovered his property, but the thief wrenched himself from the grasp
+of his captor, bolted like a rabbit between the sorting-heaps, and
+gained the open veld. A general view hallo was raised; I should say at
+least a hundred and fifty men streamed out and joined in the pursuit.
+
+The Hottentot easily distanced them all, but unfortunately for him a
+man mounted on a small pony appeared on his right front. This man,
+seeing that a chase was in progress, headed the fugitive off. The
+latter was brought back, tried on the spot, and sentenced to receive
+fifty lashes. He was triced up to the wheel of a wagon; an elderly man
+he had been in the Royal Navy appeared with a cat o' nine tails. At
+every stroke the culprit called out, in derision, "Hoo-lay." Although
+terribly punished he never uttered a cry. I remember being struck by
+the curious circumstance that the ex-seaman should have taken the
+trouble to bring his "cat" with him to a mining camp. He must have had
+an affection for the horrible thing.
+
+I will now relate how I very nearly became the discoverer of the
+world-famed Kimberley Mine. Being somewhat slightly built, I was not
+of much use at heavy work in the claim, so it was arranged that our
+Hottentot boy, David, should take my place, I taking his in the matter
+of herding the twelve oxen. This arrangement suited me exactly. Small
+game abounded, and I had the use of a gun. My favorite pasturage area
+was the big shallow basin to the westward, within the perimeter of
+which was a low, oblong rise covered with long grass, and at the
+eastern end of which stood a grove of exceptionally large camel thorn
+trees. This rise afterwards came to be known as "Colesberg Kopje";
+eventually it was named "Kimberley," after Lord Kimberley, who was
+Secretary of State for the Colonies at the time of the annexation of
+the diamond-fields. On it were usually to be found hares, Namaqua
+partridges, korhaan, and an occasional steenbok. Ant-bears and jackals
+had been at work at various places. One burrow was exceptionally deep,
+and the gravel thrown up from it looked exactly like that of the claim
+in which I had been working. I determined to do some prospecting on my
+own account at this spot.
+
+Unfortunately, however, I mentioned my intention at the camp. One of my
+peculiarities as a youngster was a morbid sensitiveness in respect of
+anything like chaff. This was so marked that the least attempt at
+teasing was enough to send me away in a state of misery. My mates knew
+this, and accordingly often made me the butt of their cheap witticisms.
+When I spoke of the burrow and the resemblance of the gravel at its
+mouth to the diamondiferous soil in which we were working, this was
+made a pretext for derision.
+
+Day by day I was bantered about my supposed diamond-mine; mockingly I
+would be asked how many carats my last find weighed, and so on.
+Consequently, I was afraid again to mention the subject. Had it been
+possible secretly to obtain the necessary appliances for prospecting,
+and to get them away without the knowledge of my mates, I would have
+done so. I often thought of asking some of my friends in the other
+camps to lend me tools, but the dread of my enterprise becoming known
+and being made the subject of more chaff deterred me, so I kept putting
+the thing off.
+
+However, I never abandoned the intention of one day carrying out the
+"prospect." But I delayed too long; the clue dangled by Fortune within
+my reach was grasped by other hands.
+
+One day when I drove my oxen to their usual pasturage I noticed that
+the camel thorn grove had been invaded. A tent had been pitched there,
+and the smoke of a fire arose from the camp. This annoyed me
+exceedingly; not because it in any way interfered with my intention of
+prospecting I could still have done that freely, and the tent was
+nowhere near my burrow but for the, to me, more important reason that
+the advent of a camp right in the middle of my preserve was bound to
+spoil my shooting. The camp turned out to be that of Mr. Ortlepp, of
+Colesberg, and his party. Mr. Ortlepp I afterwards got to know, but at
+that time we had not met. So for the future I avoided the area in which
+I had been accustomed to spend most of my days, and sought new and more
+lonely pastures.
+
+But game had now become so scarce that I usually left my gun at home.
+Early one afternoon, when I was herding my cattle on that ridge which
+runs south-east from Kimberley in the direction of Du Toit's Pan, I
+noticed a stream of men flowing from De Beers towards the north-west,
+and at once correctly inferred what had happened. Diamonds had been
+discovered by the Ortlepp party, and a "rush" was in progress. Leaving
+the cattle to fend for themselves, I started at a run across the veld
+towards the objective of the rushers. My burrow! on that my thoughts
+were centered; I longed to reach the spot before any one else had
+pegged it out. Three or four tunes I paused to take breath, and each
+tune I managed to pause in the vicinity of some patch of scrub, so that
+I could therefrom cut pegs wherewith to mark out my "claim." When I
+reached the kopje which, by the way, never was a kopje at all men were
+swarming over it like ants over a heap of sugar. But I noticed with
+delight that my burrow and the area immediately surrounding it were
+still unappropriated. Accordingly I got in my pess, enclosing a square
+with sides measuring approximately thirty one feet six inches (or
+thirty Dutch feet), the burrow being exactly in the middle. Then I fell
+to the ground, panting from exhaustion.
+
+I remained on my claim until darkness fell. One by one I watched the
+prospectors depart; I was not going to risk being dispossessed of my
+burrow, so stuck to my post as long as a human being was in sight. I
+had managed to get a message through to Brown, some time before sunset,
+asking him to send David out to look for the oxen. When I reached the
+camp I was roundly pitched into for my foolishness in abandoning the
+cattle and running after "wild cat." However, my blood was now up, so I
+told Brown that for the present I would do no more cattle herding, as I
+meant to return next morning to my claim. Brown forbade my doing this,
+and ordered me to resume charge of the cattle, but I defied him.
+
+The stars were still shining; there was, in fact, no hint of dawn in
+the sky when I reached my claim next morning. I was first in the field,
+having reached my destination some time even before the fire was lit in
+the Ortlepp camp. I brought with me a pick, a small circular sieve, a
+piece of plank about eighteen inches square for use as a sorting-table,
+and a small iron "scraper" an instrument used in the sorting of sifted
+gravel. Day soon began to break, so I filled my sieve and separated the
+sand from the gravel, placing the latter in a heap on the plank.
+
+There was not enough light for sorting; I sat on a tussock and watched
+the east grow white.
+
+But the morning was chill, so I sprang up and went to work with the
+pick, uprooting the grass and bushes. Day waxed and a few men appeared.
+When I thought the light strong enough, I crouched down and began
+sorting the gravel on the board. With the scraper I separated a small
+handful from the heap, and spread it out so that every individual
+pebble became visible. These would be swept off the board and the
+former process repeated. But before I got half-way through the heap my
+heart leaped to my throat, and I almost swooned with ecstasy there in
+the middle of the spread-out gravel glittered a diamond. It was very
+small, not much more than half a carat in weight, still, it was most
+indubitably a diamond.
+
+I searched in the pockets of my somewhat ragged coat for a scrap of
+paper wherein to wrap my treasure. Then I put the diminutive parcel
+away very carefully, as I thought. I finished sorting the heap of
+gravel and again filled the sieve. I sorted this and loosened more
+ground. I worked hard and feverishly, loosening the ground with the
+pick, filling the sieve with my bare hands, sifting out the sand, and
+sorting what remained. However, no more diamonds could I find. I had
+brought in my pocket a lump of roster-koek (a lump of unleavened dough,
+flattened out and roasted on a gridiron). This I munched as I worked.
+More and more people arrived. Soon the thudding of picks and the
+"whish, whish" of sieves sounded from every direction.
+
+Some one shouted. I looked up and saw numbers of people running towards
+a certain spot. I leapt up and ran too. A diamond had been found, and
+around the lucky finder an excited and curious crowd soon collected.
+The stone, a clear yellow octahedron of about ten carats' weight, was
+passed from hand to hand to be admired and appraised. After an
+enthusiastic "hip hip hurrah" the crowd dispersed, each one eager to
+test his claim.
+
+I hugged my secret; no one should know of my good fortune until after
+my partners had arrived and I had confounded their skepticism. I
+rehearsed the prospective scene in imagination; what a lofty lecture I
+meant to read them on the unreasonableness of their incredulity. Within
+a few minutes another shout rang out; another crowd collected. Once
+more a diamond had been found. This sort of thing went on, at more or
+less short intervals, ail day long.
+
+It must have been nearly eleven o'clock before Brown and Beranger
+strolled up. I watched their approach.
+
+"Well, have you made our fortune?" asked Brown.
+
+"I have found a diamond," I replied loftily.
+
+"What!" he said, with a start. "Where is it?"
+
+I searched through all the pockets and interstices of my coat with
+trembling fingers. I turned every pocket inside out, but no diamond
+could I find. I vainly searched the surrounding surface of the sand.
+But all in vain; my treasure had disappeared. Brown and Beranger smiled
+superciliously, and strolled back to De Beers. That was to me an hour
+of bitter humiliation.
+
+However, as the day went on, more and more diamonds, some of
+considerable size, were found. Indubitable evidence of this having
+reached my partners, they came back post-haste in the hope of being
+able to mark out claims. They even went so far as to peg one out. This
+was on the western edge of the kopje, clean outside the diamond bearing
+area. But this circumstance was not yet known, for here the red soil
+lay nearly ten feet deep over the bed-rock. However, we exchanged this
+worthless site for a piece of ground in No. 9 Road a half claim
+belonging to Alick McIntosh. The latter piece of ground turned out to
+be very valuable.
+
+Whilst affecting still to disbelieve in my find, my partners now
+treated me with more respect. Towards them I assumed a patronizing
+attitude. They no longer tried to force me to do cattle-herding. Day by
+day the finds grew richer and more important. So far as I remember, it
+was on the third day that Government sent officials to verify
+boundaries and make a general survey of the surface of the mine. Each
+individual had been, I think, permitted to mark out two claims. But the
+"rush" had been so swift that very few had been able to avail
+themselves of this privilege.
+
+A certain amount of "hustling" was attempted; "roughs," who had come in
+late, occasionally tried to bully those who looked "soft" out of their
+ground. Being quite a youngster, I was, naturally, the kind of game
+these gentry were seeking. However, I sought and obtained help among my
+Kaffrarian friends, so when two glib tongued scoundrels endeavored to
+claim my burrow on the score of prior occupation, they were soon hunted
+off. Messrs. Tom Barry and George Ward were entrusted by the Landdrost
+with the survey. Ward, who had been in the Austrian Army, was an
+exceedingly handsome man. He was killed in the Kaffir War of 1879, not
+far from the Taba 'Ndoda.
+
+I think it was on the third day after the rush that Brown, who was the
+only moneyed man among us, first expressed his full belief in the mine.
+We were seated under a camel-thorn close to the edge of the kopje, and
+were just about to begin our midday meal. Brown, who had been unusually
+silent, put down his rosterkoek and pannikin of coffee. Then he stood
+up, saying:
+
+"Yes; there are diamonds here, right enough. I'll go and buy another
+claim."
+
+In about half an hour he returned, looking very hot and ill-tempered as
+he threw himself down on the sand.
+
+"I'm damned if they're not asking ten pounds apiece for claims," said
+he; "did you ever hear of anything so ridiculous?"
+
+Within a few weeks it was amply proved that the new mine was one of
+enormous richness. Day by day large and valuable stones were unearthed.
+On some sorting-tables the finds ran up to as many as five and twenty
+diamonds per day. People flocked in by thousands from the surrounding
+camps. At Du Toit's Pan, Bultfontein, and De Beers claims were
+abandoned wholesale.
+
+As though by magic the vast plains surrounding "New Rush," as it now
+came to be called, became populous. A great city of tents and wagons
+sprang up like mushrooms in a night. There was at first no attempt at
+orderly arrangement; each pitched his camp wherever he listed. How,
+eventually, streets and a market square came to be laid out is more
+than I can explain. I would not like to guess at the number of people
+and tents surrounding the mine three months after the latter was
+rushed, but the tents alone must have figured to many thousands. Money
+literally abounded. I have more than once seen fools lighting their
+pipes with bank-notes, thus giving the banks concerned a present of the
+face value. One of the men I saw indulging in this pastime I came
+across a few years later in a remote goldmining camp. He was then
+almost starving.
+
+Sanitary arrangements did not exist. Although disagreeable in the
+extreme, this did not matter so very much as long as the weather was
+cool and dry, but later, under the summer sun and the then frequent
+thunder showers, fever began to take its toll. The epidemic was called
+"diamond-field fever," and was supposed to be a malady peculiar to the
+neighborhood. But I am convinced that it was neither more nor less than
+ordinary enteric the inevitable concomitant of the neglect, on the part
+of a crowded community, of ordinary sanitary precautions.
+
+The character of the population soon changed. At first the ordinary
+colonist predominated the kind of man who had hitherto led the simple
+life, in most cases that of a farmer. He was very often accompanied by
+his whole family. At that time many a farm, especially in the Eastern
+Province, must have been tenantless, or else left in charge of native
+servants. But as the fame of the rich and ever richer finds went
+abroad, a cosmopolitan crowd of wastrels and adventurers poured in from
+the ends of the earth. However, there never was in those early days
+anything like the lawlessness that afterwards as much under British as
+under Republican rule prevailed on the Rand. The great stay of law and
+order was the individual digger, and this element of stability has
+always been missing at the goldfields, except in the few instances
+where alluvial mining has been pursued.
+
+The first serious result of the changed conditions was the development
+of illicit diamond-buying, "I.D.B." as it came to be called. This was
+due to white men of the undesirable class tempting native servants to
+steal from their masters' claims. The clearing-houses for this kind of
+trade were found to be the low canteens. When the evil had reached a
+certain pitch and there was no adequate law to deal with it, the better
+class of diggers took the matter in hand, according to the methods of
+Judge Lynch, and burnt down the more notorious establishments. This was
+done calmly, judicially, and without any unnecessary violence.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+My claim a disappointment--Good results attained elsewhere--A surprised
+Boer--"Kopje wallopers"--Thunderstorms--A shocking spectacle--"Old Moore"
+and his love affair--The morning market--Attack of enteric--I go to King
+William's Town to recruit Toby once more--A venture in onions--Return to
+Kimberley--The West End mess--The Rhodes brothers--Norman Garstin--H. C.
+Seppings Wright--"Schipka" Campbell--Cecil John Rhodes--A game of euchre
+The church bell--Raw natives--Alum diamonds--Herbert Rhodes and the cannon
+His terrible end.
+
+My "burrow" claim, which was situated near the north end of No. 7 Road,
+did not turn out to be the fountain of riches I had anticipated. As a
+matter of fact we never found another diamond in it. Under its thin
+crust of limestone was an inconsiderable layer of very poor
+diamondiferous gravel. Beneath this lay a mass of blue shale, of the
+variety known as "floating reef." The latter filled the claim, as well
+as several of those adjoining it, to a depth, as it turned out, of
+between forty and fifty feet. Below the shale the ground proved to be
+rich enough. But within a few weeks of the rush we sold this piece of
+ground for 40 pounds.
+
+However, our half claim in No. 9 Road paid very well indeed. For
+several months our finds there averaged from three to five diamonds per
+diem. None of the stones were large; the heaviest weighed only about
+fourteen carats, and the general quality was exceptionally poor.
+Nevertheless, we sold the proceeds of about four months' work for
+nearly 600 pounds. Of this I received one quarter.
+
+It is curious now to reflect that we, in common with many others, were
+convinced that it would never pay to work to a greater depth than about
+ten feet. At first every claim holder sank a "paddock," its dimensions
+being about eight by twelve feet. The ground lifted out was then sifted
+on the yet unbroken portion of the claim. The largest clods were
+extracted by means of a sieve with a very wide mesh, and then
+pulverized in a very perfunctory manner with clubs and pick-heads. The
+result was cleared of sand in a sieve with a fine mesh, the contents of
+which were poured on to a table, usually measuring about five feet by
+four, and sorted. It was in the course of this sorting that most of the
+diamonds weighing from ten carats downward were found. Larger stones
+were generally observed either when the ground was loosened in the
+claim or else in the large sieve. But there can be no doubt that
+millions of pounds' worth of diamonds were thrown away, owing to the
+clods not being properly pulverized.
+
+I remember the case of a very old Boer, who was practically a pauper,
+finding a 90-carat stone when scratching on the side of a rubbish heap.
+The finder's agitation was so great that he picked up his treasure and
+bolted incontinently. A few people who saw what had happened gave
+chase, and within a few minutes his following had increased to several
+hundreds. The old man sped down the street, rushed into Crowder's
+store, sprang over the counter, and took refuge among some sugar bags
+which lay beneath. For a long time he could not be persuaded that the
+crowd was actuated only by curiosity, and had no furtive intent.
+
+As may be imagined, the detritus in the claims soon became a serious
+embarrassment. Many claims were heaped up to such an extent that
+further work, pending the getting rid of the rubbish, became
+impossible. For those whose holdings lay close to the edge of the mine
+the problem was simple enough; all they had to do was to keep one or
+two natives, with barrows, removing the sand and gravel as soon as
+these had been sifted and sorted. But for those such as ourselves,
+whose claims lay more or less in the centre of the mine, the problem
+was a very different one. It sounds hardly credible, but after
+consultation we came to the conclusion that it would never pay to clear
+the ground by removing the rubbish, so we solved the problem by filling
+in the "paddock" we had sunk with the ground excavated therefrom, and
+opening another alongside. We unanimously decided that the portion of
+the claim we had sunk to a depth of about eleven feet was done with as
+a paying proposition. However, it was not very long before we were
+ridiculing our miscalculations in this respect.
+
+According to the mining regulations, a portion of every claim had to be
+left standing. These portions, respectively, lay to the right-hand side
+of one claim and the left of another. Together they formed roadways
+running right across the mine. There were, I think, fourteen such
+roadways. They ran parallel with each other, and provided, for a time,
+access to every claim from the edge of the mine.
+
+There were so far no laws regulating the diamond trade, so a swarm of
+itinerant diamond buyers were let loose on the community. Many of these
+were young men, who were averse to manual labor, but whose business
+instincts were acute. "Kopje Wallopers" was the generic term by which
+such dealers were known. The equipment of a kopje walloper consisted of
+a cheque-book, a wallet known as "a poverty bag," a set of scales, a
+magnifying-glass, and a persuasive tongue. In the course of a morning
+one's sorting-table might be visited by a dozen of them. Naturally
+enough they tried to make the best bargain circumstances permitted, but
+on the whole their dealings appeared to be fair enough.
+
+During the summer months the vicinity was occasionally visited by
+violent thunderstorms, with deluging rain. Such were always welcomed,
+for they laid the almost intolerable dust. Considering the severity of
+these storms there were but few accidents from lightning. However, I
+recall one occasion when three fatalities resulted from three
+successive flashes. One almost unbearably hot afternoon in 1872 a
+small, globular, solid looking cloud passed slowly over the mine.
+Otherwise, the sky was almost clear. There was not a drop of rain.
+
+Within the space of about eight minutes the three strokes fell. The
+first killed a mule just at the edge of the mine; the second struck two
+men, Europeans, who were engaged in stretching a wire rope at the
+western end of the mine; the third killed a Native who was sifting
+gravel about fifty yards from where I was standing. The stroke pierced
+his neck from back to front at the base of the skull; then it ran
+across the sieve which he was holding in his hands and over which he
+was bending. It melted every third wire in its course, and made a small
+hole, such as might have been made with a red-hot brad-awl, through the
+wood. The unfortunate victim afforded a shocking spectacle, for his
+tongue swelled enormously and protruded from his mouth for about nine
+inches.
+
+I well remember the first wedding which took place at "New Rush." It
+must have been in the summer of 1871. Close to my dwelling an enormous
+circus tent had been pitched, and this was hired for the occasion. A
+dance was held in the evening, but it ended in disaster, for a heavy
+thunderstorm broke, with violent wind, and the tent collapsed on the
+guests. Had a torrential rain not been falling a horrible catastrophe
+might have occurred, for the reason that the festive scene was lit with
+paraffin lamps. However, the canvas was so completely soaked that it
+could not ignite. But the dancers were held, prone on the ground, by
+the weight of the sodden material for quite a long time, and the ladies
+afforded a sorry spectacle as they were hauled out, one by one, by
+their rescuers. The name of the bridegroom was Cooper. I was destined
+to meet him at Pretoria a few years afterwards under very extraordinary
+circumstances. The episode will be related in due course.
+
+A well-known man at Du Toit's Pan in the early days was "Old Moore." I
+forget what his profession was. Moore was quite sixty years of age, and
+was exceedingly corpulent; nevertheless, he was amorous to a degree.
+There was a remarkably pretty barmaid at Benning and Martin's bar, and
+with her Moore fell in love. This circumstance was a source of great
+amusement to the local gilded youth. A plot was concocted, the lady
+consenting to take part in it.
+
+A certain D approached Moore and persuaded him that it was only fear of
+her employers on the part of the damsel that prevented her receiving
+his addresses more kindly, but that if an elopement could be arranged
+she would be willing to accompany him. At the same time the manner of
+the fair one altered; she met her admirer's gaze with a disingenuously
+languishing eye, she pressed his hand at meeting and at parting, she
+replied to his frequent letters in fervent if ungrammatical terms. Old
+Moore was in the seventh heaven of delighted anticipation.
+
+D acted the part of mutual friend. The details of the elopement were
+duly arranged; it was to take place on the following Saturday night,
+after the bar had closed. The lady's absence would thus not be noticed,
+the bar being closed on Sunday. By Monday the lovers would be over the
+Boshof Hills and far away across the wide plains of the Orange Free
+State. Old Moore acquiesced ecstatically, and engaged, at a very heavy
+cost, a cart with a spanking team of horses.
+
+At the specified time, 12.30 a.m. on Sunday, the equipage stood ready
+at the appointed spot. Soon a cloaked figure, heavily veiled, was seen
+to approach with faltering steps, leaning on the arm of the mutual
+friend. The latter whispered to the impatient lover that the lady felt
+her position keenly, and begged that she might be left to herself for a
+time until her feelings became composed. Shrinkingly and in silence she
+climbed into the cart. Moore followed, and a start was made along the
+Boshof road.
+
+The first stopping-place was at a wayside hotel a few miles out. Here
+Moore alighted for the purpose of obtaining some refreshment. On
+returning to the cart he was astonished to find that his companion had
+so far recovered from her nervousness as to be able to alight as well.
+She was standing in the road. A full moon, appropriate to the occasion
+in more senses than one, was shining. Feeling that the time had arrived
+when he might assume the privileges of a lover, Moore approached and
+attempted to slip an arm around his charmer's waist. To his
+astonishment, however, she lifted up her skirts and began to dance a
+"can-can" in the road. It then became apparent that her legs were
+clothed in trousers. The lady was at home in bed; she had been
+personated by a graceless young cub whose stature was about the same as
+hers.
+
+The morning market at "New Rush" used to be crowded by wagons loaded
+with game. Most of this was shot on the flats beyond the Boshof Hills
+that range which is visible, about ten miles to the north-eastward,
+from Kimberley. I have seen hundreds of springbucks sold for a shilling
+apiece; blesbucks and wildebeeste for half a crown. The tails of the
+latter were in great demand for use as "chowries" wherewith to keep off
+the flies. I have seen a pound of fresh butter sold for seventeen and
+sixpence, a dish of peas for thirty shillings, and a head of cabbage
+for thirty five. The latter prices were, of course, quite exceptional.
+
+Shortly after the summer of 1871 set in, I, in common with many others,
+went down with enteric fever. Doctors were plentiful enough, but there
+was no hospital, and nurses were unknown. However, with the help of a
+sound constitution I managed to keep alive on a diet of black coffee
+and roster koek administered by our Hottentot, David. My most painful
+recollections of that horrible time are connected with the plague of
+flies. These gave one no rest, night or day, for at night the slightest
+movement of the canvas set them buzzing. Better men than I died in
+every direction. I got the notion that I, too, would inevitably die
+unless I could manage to get away, so by an effort of will I crawled
+out of bed and took a passage in the coach for Queenstown.
+
+I collapsed a few hours after starting, but the other passengers were
+very kind. The coach was so arranged that they sat facing each other in
+a double row, so they made a couch for me with rugs laid on their
+knees, and on this I rested. I reached Queenstown more dead than alive,
+but a few days of rest there picked me up, and I managed to survive the
+post-cart journey to King William's Town.
+
+A few weeks at home, followed by a trip to the seaside near the
+Tshalumna Mouth, completed my recovery. No sooner was I well than an
+overpowering desire to return to the diamond-fields took possession of
+me. A military rummage-sale was held at King William's Town, and at
+this I noticed a "condemned" commissariat wagon, which seemed (barring
+that it wanted a coat of paint) to have nothing whatever the matter
+with it. It was knocked down to me for 5, and I spent 8 on having it
+repaired and painted, and in providing the necessary tackle. This wagon
+was the best wagon of its kind I have ever owned or traveled in. What
+caused it to be classed as "condemned" was a problem none but a
+military man could hope to solve. I also purchased eight strong oxen.
+
+One day when strolling along one of the King William's Town streets I
+gained a sense that something large and familiar was approaching.
+Memory began to stir; yes it was Toby's mouth expanded into Toby's
+wholesale smile, and with Toby's long-lost self behind it. He had grown
+into a man in the interval since the conflagration and his flight. At
+that time the plays of Shakespeare were the only serious literature I
+had read. Unbidden, the song of the Page to Mariana which in some
+freakish fashion I had always connected with Toby's physiognomy tripped
+from my tongue
+
+"Take, O, take those lips away,
+That so sweetly were forsworn."
+
+Toby was fortunately disengaged, so we struck a bargain on the spot. He
+agreed to accompany me back to the diamond-fields as driver or leader
+of my team, as occasion might demand. I next sought around for
+something to take with me in the way of trade something that would
+ensure profit. I eventually decided upon onions. Colossal varieties of
+this wholesome but malodorous vegetable were grown by the German
+farmers in the vicinity, and were to be purchased at a reasonable rate.
+I obtained twenty full sackfuls, piled them on my wagon, and started.
+My cargo smelt to heaven but what of that? I could always, except in
+the rare event of rain, sleep well to windward. Nevertheless my nose
+suffered great distress during the course of that journey. But the
+circumstance that I realized 400 per cent, profit on my venture
+consoled me.
+
+I had also acquired a sporting Snider carbine and four hundred
+cartridges. This weapon was the worst but one of all the many kickers I
+discharged during the years in which most of my spare time was devoted
+to killing game. The exception was an elephant gun which I used some
+years afterwards, and which made my nose bleed every time I discharged
+it. After firing ten shots from my vicious little Snider my shoulder
+would turn black and blue. But it could drive a bullet straight, as
+many springbucks on the plains of the Orange Free State had good cause
+to know.
+
+It had been arranged that at Kimberley I was to be the guest, for a
+time, of Major Drury, formerly of the Cape Mounted Riflemen. I fancy
+that Major Drury must at the time have been on leave, for when I met
+him years afterwards he was in an Indian cavalry regiment. He belonged
+to a "mess" at what was known as the "West End." The members of this
+mess were camped together on a rise a few hundred yards from the
+western end of the mine, in the middle of an immense, straggling city
+of galvanized iron and canvas.
+
+It was when Major Drury's guest that I first met Cecil John Rhodes.
+Major Drury, Dr. Thorne (formerly of Queenstown), Mr. George Paton (who
+afterwards represented Barkly West in Parliament), Mr. H. C. Becher
+(subsequently well known in Hatton Garden), Mr. Rhodes and the latter's
+brother, Herbert Rhodes, all belonged to this mess. Soon after my
+arrival came Frank Rhodes, a bright-faced lad of eighteen, but who
+looked considerably younger. He had passed the necessary examinations
+and was awaiting a nomination to the army. I have never met any one
+possessing such charm of manner as did Frank Rhodes at this period. He
+was, I fancy, a year or so younger than his brother Cecil.
+
+Herbert Rhodes, the eldest brother, was a tall, lean, hatchet-faced man
+of, I should say, about twenty seven. Although sparely built his
+strength was considerable, and he was a splendid boxer. Cecil Rhodes
+was long and loose limbed, with blue eyes, ruddy complexion, and light,
+curly hair. He was, I think, some three or four years my senior. The
+Rhodes brothers occupied a large tent stretched over a skeleton
+framework and measuring about sixteen by eighteen feet. I fancy the
+site of our camp was the spot known afterwards as "St. Augustines,"
+where a mine was subsequently opened.
+
+Within a few yards of the mess tent were camped Norman Garstin and his
+partner "Tommy" Townsend. Garstin has since become noted as a painter.
+He is, or recently was, the patriarch of the artist colony at Newlyn.
+Although Garstin and Townsend did not belong to the Drury Rhodes mess,
+they were very intimate with the members thereof. After the completion
+of my term as Major Drury's guest, during which I slept in my wagon, I
+pitched a tent a few yards away, and messed for a time with Garstin and
+his partner. Soon afterwards the original mess was broken up and
+reorganized. Several members left and others took their places. Among
+the latter were Garstin and I. Another member was Hugh McLeod, who is,
+I fancy, still living at Kimberley. I struck my tent and went to live
+with the Rhodes brothers in theirs.
+
+Everything connected with any phase in the life of a man such as Cecil
+John Rhodes is necessarily of interest, so I will endeavor to recall
+what I can of our mutual relations. I received several kindly favors at
+his hands, but we never became really intimate. He was even then
+somewhat intolerant in discussion. While Rhodes was already a man in
+mind and body, I was still a boy, and an ignorant, self-opinionated,
+argumentative one at that. Moreover, I was given to practical joking,
+and I played off one practical joke upon Cecil Rhodes of which I am
+ashamed to this day. When we met, after not having seen each other for
+nearly a quarter of a century, I felt sure he still remembered this (to
+me) discreditable episode. However, with Frank Rhodes, whose age was
+nearer mine, I was more in sympathy. We were, as a matter of fact,
+intimate friends the whole of the period upwards of a year during which
+we dwelt together. Herbert Rhodes was generally away on some adventure
+or another. He appeared to be one of those men to whom constant change
+was an imperative necessity.
+
+I can very clearly picture Cecil Rhodes in one of his characteristic
+attitudes. After dinner it was his wont to lean forward with both
+elbows on the table and his mouth slightly open. He had a habit, when
+thinking, of rubbing his chin gently with his forefinger. Very often he
+would sit in the attitude described for a very long time, without
+joining in whatever conversation happened to be going on. His manner
+and expression suggested that his thoughts were far away, but
+occasionally some interjection would indicate that, to a certain
+extent, he was keeping in touch with the current topic. Indeed, it
+often seemed to me that the larger part of his brain was dealing with
+something of which no one else had cognizance. Mr. George Paton used to
+banter him severely for this peculiarity, but the banter was always
+taken in good part.
+
+My first transaction with Cecil Rhodes was over the sale of my wagon.
+Within a few months of my arrival the discovery of gold at Marabastad
+was much discussed, and an expedition thither, under the leadership of
+Herbert Rhodes, was organized. There was difficulty in the matter of
+procuring a suitable wagon; eventually I was persuaded to lend mine for
+the trip. When the expedition returned, about four months afterwards,
+the wagon was a wreck. Naturally I demurred to taking it back.
+
+The question arose as to what compensation I was to receive. It was
+known that the vehicle had cost me only 13, but I had, shortly after my
+arrival, refused an offer of 35 for it. I now demanded 30. Cecil Rhodes
+offered 25, which I declined to accept. After discussing the matter
+several times we agreed one afternoon to settle the dispute by means of
+a game of euchre. If Rhodes won, the price was to be 25; if victory
+declared for me, 30 had to be paid. The first two games out of three,
+"seven up," to decide.
+
+A bag of mealie-meal stood in the corner of the tent; I laid this prone
+so that it might do duty as a table. Rhodes and I sat down on the
+ground, one at each side of the meal bag, and the game began. At first
+luck was on the side of my opponent; he ran away with the first game
+before I had scored a point, and was soon "all but" in the second. Then
+fortune favored me and after a hard tussle I won. When at Groote Schuur
+in 1894 I reminded Mr. Rhodes of this occurrence, and found that he
+remembered it in every detail.
+
+Among the visitors to our mess tent I recall several who have since
+played prominent parts on the world-stage. Among these may be mentioned
+Mr. H. C. Seppings Wright, now an artist on the staff of the
+Illustrated London News. He occasionally made use of a strange
+expression: "Some day I mean to go home and get the drawing." He
+apparently meant by this that he intended learning to draw. That Mr.
+Wright did "get the drawing" is quite evident from the work he turns
+out and the position he holds. I have a vivid recollection of an
+excellent pair of top-boots and a very wide scarlet cummerbund which he
+used to wear.
+
+Another frequent visitor was Archibald Campbell, who afterwards
+distinguished himself in the war between Russia and Turkey, fighting
+for the Turks. He came to be known as "Schipka" Campbell on account of
+some daring deed connected with the defense of the Schipka Pass, when
+he was under the Command of the traitorous Suleiman Pasha. Archibald
+Campbell's brother Alister was another guest, also the former's
+partner, Reginald Fairlie, who subsequently became a painter, and was
+the hero of a very sad and exceedingly dramatic romance. I shall have
+occasion to refer to Archibald Campbell later.
+
+Mr. J. X. Merriman dined with us several times. He was at the time in
+partnership with Mr. H. C. Becher. Mr. Barry, the first Recorder of the
+Griqualand High Court, afterwards Sir Jacob Barry, Judge President of
+the Eastern Districts Court, also was our guest. Of the original
+members of the mess there are, so far as I know, only four alive. These
+are Mr. George Paton, Norman Garstin, Hugh McLeod, and myself.
+
+I well remember one Saturday midnight when the Rhodeses, Campbell,
+Fairlie, Garstin, and I returned from a mild spree at Du Toit's Pan.
+Close to our camp was a Wesleyan church built of galvanized iron, and
+with a rather discordant toned bell at one end. My companions threw me
+on to the roof and forced me, under stress of pelting stones, to climb
+up the steep pitch and ring the bell. When the indignant inhabitants of
+the surrounding tents swarmed out my friends decamped, leaving me
+stranded. However, the sand was soft, so I dropped down and managed to
+escape.
+
+Cecil Rhodes had a rusty black pony named "Bandersnatch" which
+I occasionally rode when shooting, game being more or less
+plentiful within a few miles of the mine. He also owned one of the
+strangest-looking dogs I have ever seen. It had no vestige of a tail,
+and, generally, it bore a strong resemblance to an exaggerated guinea
+pig.
+
+In the days I write of Cecil and Herbert Rhodes were working a claim
+near the north end of No. 10 Road. They found a fair number of
+diamonds, but no large stones. I was working on shares a small piece of
+ground in the same road, the property of Gray Barber. By this time the
+rudimentary plan of sorting the gravel on one's claim had, of
+necessity, been superseded. Every digger had a depositing-floor to
+which his ground was carted or harrowed. Of the original surface of
+the mine only the roadways were left standing, vast chasms of varying
+depth lying between. The "stuff" a green, tenacious, decomposed rock
+of the consistency of very tough pot-clay, but granular and abounding
+in mica would be loosened with a pick, hauled up to the level of the
+road by means of bucket, rope, and pulley, and then conveyed to the
+depositing-floor.
+
+The bulk of the native labor at the diamond-fields was drawn from
+Bechuanaland and the northern Transvaal. Many of the natives from the
+latter vicinity belonged to the Baphedi tribe, whose chief was the
+celebrated Sekukuni. These people used to arrive in an unspeakably
+miserable physical condition; they had traveled hundreds of miles
+almost without food. Literally, they were nothing but skin and bone.
+But after a week's feeding on impoop, as they called the mealie-meal
+porridge which was their staple food at the mines, they began to pick
+up. At the end of a month they would be sleek and in first-rate fettle.
+
+It is practically certain that before leaving home these people had
+been instructed in the art of diamond-stealing. That such was the case
+may, I think, be inferred from the following incident. A friend of
+mine bought six "boys" (we used to buy these creatures from the
+labor touts at 1 per head), and put them the same day to work on his
+depositing-floor, smashing lumps of "stuff." He and I were sitting
+on a heap of sittings watching the poor creatures, who were in an
+unspeakably wretched condition. They were perfectly naked, except that
+each wore the usual stert reim. In the course of conversation my
+friend and I began speculating as to whether one of them would know a
+diamond if he saw it.
+
+Just then a certain kind of "sell" was often practiced. One would cut a
+piece of alum into the ordinary octahedron form and scrape it so as to
+round off the edges. Such a production would make a capital imitation
+of a white, frosted stone. The "sell" was practiced thus: You would go
+to the sorting table of a friend, stealthily insert the lump of alum
+into his heap of gravel, and watch until he found it. The first thing a
+man usually did when he found a diamond was to put it into his mouth so
+as to remove the dust. The face of a man thus "sold," when he tasted
+the alum, was not a pretty sight.
+
+On the occasion in question I happened to have in my pocket a carefully
+prepared lump of alum which, had it been a diamond, would have weighed
+about fifteen carats. After indicating to my friend what I was about to
+do, I walked up close to the heap of clods, bent down as though to tie
+my bootlace, and set the mock diamond on the ground. Then I returned to
+where I had been sitting. For a minute or so no one was working near
+the spot, but soon one of the natives shambled away from his companions
+and came towards it. He put his foot on the lump of alum and shambled
+on, but the lump had disappeared. My companion wanted to spring up at
+once, but I restrained him. The native went on pounding clods for a few
+minutes, and then made off as though to pass behind a big heap of
+rubbish. We followed and seized him suddenly from behind. He had the
+lump of alum firmly grasped between his toes.
+
+Cecil Rhodes's depositing-floor was large and very conveniently
+situated close to the edge of the mine. He very kindly gave me a
+portion of it to use, thus lightening my labors considerably. But a
+catastrophe happened. One Sunday morning a shock was felt; this was
+followed by a rumbling roar. There was talk of earthquakes. Soon,
+however, we found out what had happened, the whole of the northern
+portion of No. 10 Road had collapsed into the chasm on its western
+side. Had this happened on a weekday, at least a hundred men would have
+lost their lives; probably I would have shared their fate. This
+occurrence put a stop to my work. Expensive tackle including staging,
+stretched wire ropes, windlass, and iron pulley-travelers now became
+necessary for getting out one's stuff. As my little capital was quite
+inadequate to all this, I surrendered the claim to its owner.
+
+Herbert Rhodes was a restless being, a stormy petrel ever on the wing
+seeking adventures. I was told a few years since of an escapade which I
+will here relate. While believing the story, to be literally true, I do
+not guarantee its authenticity.
+
+It is believed that in the caverns of what used to be Sekukuni's
+country considerable stores of diamonds, taken back from the fields by
+Baphedi laborers in the early days, lie concealed. Now, Sekukuni was a
+warrior of parts, he defied for several years the Transvaal, when the
+administration of President Burgers attempted to levy tribute on him in
+the form of hut tax. It was his great ambition to obtain a cannon for
+the defense of his mountain stronghold. Accordingly, towards the end of
+the seventies, he offered a heavy price, no less than a pint of clear,
+flawless diamonds, to any one who would supply such a weapon. Herbert
+Rhodes heard of the offer, opened communications with the chief, and
+agreed to provide a cannon on the terms specified.
+
+Gun running the supply of firearms to savage natives is rightly looked
+upon as the unpardonable sin by men whose opinions are worth regarding.
+But this case fell not into the ordinary, category of gun-running. A
+cannon, for purposes of offence or defense, would have been of no more
+use to Sekukuni than a gramophone. However, the chief did not know
+this. He possessed the diamonds, but they were of no use whatever to
+him. He desired the artillery; this could not have been of any use to
+him for the purpose he had in view. The gun was, as a matter of fact, a
+weapon so utterly obsolete that it could have been of no use to any
+one. Logically, therefore, the transaction proposed amounted to x minus
+against x minus. But the diamonds would have been of great use to
+Herbert Rhodes, while the cannon would have been as a symbol priceless
+to the chief; he would have slept sounder the nights through in the
+realization that he possessed an engine capable, at least, of making a
+tremendous noise.
+
+The gun, it appears, was conveyed to Lourenco Marques in a small French
+barque, Herbert Rhodes accompanying it. At night it was lowered into a
+boat, which was rowed up the Maputa River to a specified landing-place.
+Sekukuni had sent an induna bearing the pint of diamonds and
+accompanied by a number of carriers, with directions to keep to the
+valley of the Olifant River as far as the Lebomba Range, and then to
+skirt the eastern slope of that range to the Komati River. Here they
+were to await a message telling of the arrival of the gun.
+
+Herbert Rhodes was not alone a first-rate boxer, but was unduly fond of
+giving practical illustration of his skill. On board the barque he
+quarreled with another man and gave the latter a severe thrashing. This
+man nursed revengeful feelings. Having found out about the forwarding
+of the gun, he managed to slip ashore early on the following morning
+and give information to the authorities. The Portuguese commander at
+once made preparations to send a company of soldiers for the purpose of
+apprehending the gun-runners. In the meantime a man at Lourenco Marques
+who was in Herbert Rhodes's confidence dispatched a swift runner ahead
+to warn Rhodes of his danger. This runner arrived some considerable
+time before the soldiers, so Rhodes had ample time in which to make
+preparations.
+
+The way he dealt with the difficulty was simple and ought to have been
+effective. He tied a rope to the gun and a piece of twine to the rope.
+Then he flung rope and gun into the river, fastened the end of the
+twine to a floating fragment of wood, lit a cigarette, and sat down to
+await developments. In due time the Portuguese force arrived. The
+officer in charge was accompanied by an interpreter. Rhodes and his
+companions were at once arrested. The former protested hotly, and
+inquired in indignant terms as to the reason for such an outrage. When
+informed of the charge against him he affected the greatest
+astonishment, and challenged the officer to institute a search. This
+was done at once, and thoroughly; needless to say, nothing of an
+incriminating nature was found.
+
+The officer now changed his tone, becoming very apologetic. He probably
+knew by experience that for a blunder such as this evidently, was, he,
+rather than his superior, would have to bear the brunt. But Rhodes was
+implacable; the world, he said, would ring with the outrage. As soon as
+the British Government learned of the disgraceful manner in which one
+of its subjects had been treated, a man-of-war would be sent round from
+Simon's Town to knock the Portuguese shanties about the Portuguese
+ears, &c. The officer, now thoroughly frightened, became more and more
+abject. However, Rhodes determined to get full change out of him before
+climbing from his high horse. But he delayed too long; he failed to
+make use of the loophole of escape that Fortune showed him.
+
+Rhodes forgot three things, namely, that the Maputa is a tidal river,
+that several hours had elapsed since the gun had been heaved overboard,
+and that the tide was falling. One of the soldiers, in strolling about,
+noticed something unusual just beneath the surface of the water. To
+this he called the attention of a noncommissioned officer. The latter
+investigated further, and the gun was hauled out. Rhodes now tumbled
+incontinently from his high horse and the officer at once mounted it.
+The search party marched back in triumph to Lourenco Marques, escorting
+Rhodes and his companions as prisoners. The companions were placed at
+once on board their ship.
+
+Herbert Rhodes, now in sorry case, was incarcerated in the fortress.
+This, in the seventies, was a horrible place in which to be confined.
+The cells were small, dark, and verminous; the flagged passages full of
+man-traps in the form of unexpected steps. I do not know what part of
+the building the prisoner was confined in, but if his cell were
+anything like the one from which, in 1874, I helped to carry the dead
+body of my poor friend Pat Foote, he was not to be envied. However, the
+durance apparently did not last long. The captive probably made himself
+disagreeable a thing he could do most effectively. He was, perhaps,
+found to be an embarrassment. Possibly that potent solver of
+difficulties, palm-oil, may have greased the bolts of his dungeon so
+effectively that they slipped back some dark, convenient night. At all
+events he got away after a comparatively short imprisonment. Nothing
+has been recorded as to what became of the pint of diamonds.
+
+Herbert Rhodes came to a terrible end. A few years after the event just
+related, he was living in a hut on the shores of Lake Nyassa. One
+night, accompanied by a friend, he returned from a journey. Desiring
+refreshment he found none available except some Johanna rum in an
+unopened keg. This liquor is extremely strong and highly inflammable.
+Rhodes knocked in the bung; some of the spirit spurted out and became
+ignited.
+
+The keg burst and the contents wrapped the unhappy man in a sheet of
+flame. After this had with difficulty been quenched, a messenger was
+dispatched to Blantyre, some forty miles away, to call for medical aid.
+I believe it was Dr. Jane Waterston, now of Cape Town, who came to the
+sufferer's assistance. But he died in great agony shortly after her
+arrival.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+Big gambling--Von Schlichmann--Norman Garstin--The painter of St.
+Michael's Mount--Start for the gold fields--"I am going to be hanged"
+Plentifulness of game--Snakes in an anthill--Nazareth--Game in the High
+Veld--Narrow escape from frost-bite--A shooting match--Lydenburg--Painful
+tramping--"Artful Joe"--Penalty for suicide--Pilgrim's Rest--Experiences of
+"a new chum"--Tent-making--Explorations--The Great Plateau--Prospect of the
+Low Country--Elands.
+
+I was told the following tale on good authority. Three men held a claim
+jointly in the "New Rush" mine. They worked it for about six months,
+and found a considerable number of diamonds. The weather grew hot and
+the camp unhealthy; many were dying of fever. Duststorms raged, and the
+flies became almost intolerable. All three wanted to get away; they
+longed for the coast and the cool sea-breezes. One of the partners
+proposed that two of them should go away on a visit and the third stay
+behind to keep the claim going, the question as to who should stay
+being settled by lot. Another proposed, as an amendment, that they
+should toss "odd man out" who was to own the claim; then each could
+please himself. No sooner said than done. Three coins spun into the
+air, and two third portions of a claim, worth even then about 2,000,
+were lost and won within the space of ten seconds.
+
+As might be imagined, gambling was very rife. I well remember one night
+looking on, awe-struck at the magnitude of the stakes, at a game of
+loo. The play took place at an eating-house called "The Gridiron," the
+proprietor of which was an ex-cavalry man named Richardson. The
+building was of the usual eating-house type; it had a wooden frame
+covered with canvas. At right angles to a central passage were tables
+with benches at each side, the tables being cut off from each other by
+partitions.
+
+At the game in question there were four players: Richardson (the
+proprietor), H. B. Webb (a noted diamond dealer), his partner Joe
+Posno, and the celebrated Ikey Sonnenberg. Some idea of the magnitude
+of the stakes may be formed when it is stated that at one time 1,700
+was in the pool.
+
+A man I knew fairly well was Von Schlichmann. He had been secretary to
+Count Arnim when that unfortunate nobleman was German Ambassador to
+France. When Arnim fell, the possibilities of the diplomatic career,
+for which his secretary had been intended, were destroyed. Von
+Schlichmann was a man of extraordinary strength, and was remarkably
+handsome in both face and figure. His curled yellow hair was thick,
+long, and silky in texture. One of his favorite ways of showing his
+strength was to get four men to grasp handfuls of his locks, each with
+one hand, as firmly as they could. He would then sway his head round
+with a jerk, and the four would fall, sprawling, in different
+directions.
+
+I think it was in 1875 that Von Schlichmann went north and entered the
+military service of the Transvaal. It was, I know, when preparations
+were being made to attack Sekukuni. I was one of those enrolled in the
+expedition that escorted the arms and ammunition for that campaign from
+Delagoa Bay to Pretoria in the latter part of 1874. So far as my memory
+serves me, Von Schlichmann arrived early in the following year. But he
+was killed in one of the attacks on Sekukuni's stronghold. When leading
+his men a bullet pierced his lungs. He lay exposed on the flat rock on
+which he fell, waving his sword and encouraging his men to advance to
+the attack, until blood choked his utterance. One of my best friends, a
+man named Macaulay, was shot on the same occasion. He received a bullet
+in the brain from which he, unfortunately, did not die until after
+several hours of great agony. Macaulay was noted at Pilgrim's Rest as
+the first in the locality who used dynamite in mining operations.
+
+But I have allowed myself to run ahead too fast, so must hark back to
+Kimberley, as "New Rush" had now come to be called.
+
+One of my most intimate friends was Norman Garstin, a man whom to know
+was to love. Once he nearly frightened me to death. He had a habit of
+sleeping with his eyes wide open, but of this I was quite unaware.
+Returning home late one night I struck a match and saw him lying on his
+back, his eyes fixed and glassy. I seized him by the shoulders and,
+much to his disgust, dragged him into a sitting posture. Garstin was
+an accomplished draughtsman. His caricatures, which were never
+ill-natured, and his black and white "parables" brought him wide
+popularity in the days when we foregathered.
+
+The Cape Times was started by Garstin in conjunction with the late Mr.
+F. Y. St. Leger. I forget exactly when this happened, but I think it
+was in the late seventies. After he had severed his connection with the
+Cape Times, Garstin went to Europe, where he studied serious art for
+several years. I was his guest at Newlyn, Penzance, in 1899; at the
+time of my visit he was patriarch of the well-known artist colony
+there. Garstin's pictures, although they have never been "boomed," and
+have consequently not reached public favor, are thought very highly of
+by other artists. To record that they have been hung in the Royal
+Academy is like saying of an author's books that they have been on sale
+in a railway bookstall. Two very beautiful examples of his work which I
+specially recall are "The Scarlet Letter" and "The Lost Piece of
+Silver."
+
+Garstin told me a very significant tale. He kept an art school at
+Newlyn. One day an intelligent young Cornish miner came and asked to be
+received as a pupil; he at once paid a quarter's fees in advance. Then
+he informed Garstin that he wanted to learn to paint pictures of St.
+Michael's Mount. Garstin, finding that his pupil was ignorant of the
+very rudiments of painting, endeavored to explain that some preliminary
+training was necessary; but the young man would not argue the point.
+St. Michael's Mount, and nothing else, was to be the subject; all he
+wanted Garstin to do was to show him how to begin, and afterwards give
+him an occasional direction.
+
+Canvas, easel, brushes, and paints were all purchased according to a
+list which Garstin supplied him with. He wanted, he said, everything of
+the best. A pupil is a pupil, especially when he pays in advance, and
+when pictures are not as saleable as they should be, so Garstin did all
+he could to further this particular pupil's desire. The latter was very
+apt; after a comparatively short time he was able to turn out some
+daubs, the meaning of which could be more or less recognized.
+
+When he had outraged St. Michael's Mount from one side, Garstin's pupil
+attacked it from another. St. Michael's Mount at early morning, at high
+noon, at dewy eve, and at all intermediate hours; St. Michael's Mount
+in spring, in summer, in autumn, and in winter; St. Michael's Mount
+lapped by a calm sea, or smitten by spuming waves. He made uncanny
+progress. Before the second quarter was at an end this remarkable pupil
+had produced several presentments of the celebrated Cornish
+excrescence, which were not much worse than average lodging-house
+oleographs, and were quite as suggestive of their subject as is
+Turner's celebrated masterpiece. When the quarter came to an end, the
+pupil announced that he considered he had now learnt enough.
+Accordingly he left.
+
+Shortly afterwards Garstin was astonished to hear that his former pupil
+had set up a studio on his own account at St. Ives, a few miles away.
+It was quite true. Here he sat all day long, painting pictures of St.
+Michael's Mount in assorted sizes. I forget how many pictures he
+finished each week, but the output was large. This is the explanation;
+Johannesburg at the time contained many Cornishmen; to the average
+Cornishman St. Michael's Mount is what Mecca is to the Moslem.
+Garstin's shrewd disciple had his daubs framed and sent to the Rand.
+Here they were all absorbed, fetching prices which left an average
+profit of 5 each. And all this time Garstin's own beautiful creations
+were wanting purchasers.
+
+In 1873 rich alluvial gold was reported to have been struck in the
+Lydenburg district, which was then the extreme limit which civilization
+had reached in the north-eastern Transvaal. I decided to go and try my
+fortune at the scene of the discovery. While passing through Pretoria I
+met a man in the street whose face I thought I knew. He advanced
+towards me with outstretched hand. Yes, it was Cooper the man during
+whose wedding festivities the big circus-tent had been blown down. He
+greeted me with great effusion, a circumstance I thought remarkable, as
+I had not known him well. The day was warm, so I suggested that we
+should have a drink together. He agreed with alacrity, so we adjourned
+to the nearest bar.
+
+"Well, Cooper," said I, "how are you getting on here?"
+
+At once his face fell.
+
+"Very badly indeed," he replied, and heaved a sigh.
+
+"Why, what is the matter?"
+
+"Well, the fact is, I am going to be hanged."
+
+I thought he was joking, but it was not so; he was actually under
+sentence of death. He had gone on the spree and started painting
+Pretoria red some months previously. When a constable attempted to
+arrest him, he drew a revolver and shot the unfortunate officer
+fatally. In due course he was tried, found guilty, and sentenced to be
+hanged by the neck until dead.
+
+"But, Cooper," I queried, "why don't they hang you?"
+
+"Well," he replied, "they don't like hanging white men up here, and
+just now President Burgers is laying out a rose-garden. I understand
+that kind of thing, so I go down every day and attend to the work. I
+was just taking a stroll when I met you."
+
+"Look here, Cooper," I said with emphasis, "if I were you I would clear
+out without delay. The State Attorney may change his mind; some new man
+may take on the job a man with strict ideas. Clear out while you can."
+
+"Oh, I don't think there's any danger," replied Cooper, but he looked
+uneasy.
+
+"Was it a white man or a black man that you shot?"
+
+"It was a white man, right enough."
+
+"Then clear out while there is still time," said I.
+
+Some months afterwards I met a Pretoria man named Brodrick at Pilgrim's
+Rest. I inquired about Cooper. What Brodrick told me proved the
+soundness of my advice. The Executive Council had suddenly awakened to
+a sense of its duty, and decided to allow the law to take its course.
+Fortunately Brodrick and some others got wind of this, so they managed
+to get the culprit out of gaol. Mounted on one horse and leading
+another, Cooper rode for his life westward towards Bechuanaland,
+pursued by the Transvaal police. However, he escaped. I have never
+heard of him since.
+
+Game was plentiful at certain places along the road. I remember a
+locality called "Leeuw Dooms" where blesbuck, wildebeeste, and quagga
+were in almost incredible abundance. As far as the eye could reach the
+veld was dappled with herds of these and other animals. So far as I can
+remember, this place was about three days' wagon journey beyond
+Pretoria.
+
+Before reaching Pretoria we outspanned near the winkel of a man named
+Jacobi, a former resident of Cradock. This was within a few miles of
+where Johannesburg stands today. I remember Jacobi telling me that a
+nugget of gold had been found in the drift of a river close to his
+house. Here I had an adventure.
+
+I took my rifle and strolled down the riverbank after some reedbuck,
+which I had been told were to be found there. I wounded a buck; it
+hobbled away with difficulty. I ran after it, but the grass was long,
+and I had a difficulty in keeping the animal in sight. In my course
+stood an ant-hill about four feet high. Endeavoring to get within view
+of the buck, I sprang to the top of the ant-hill, but it was hollow,
+and the crust collapsed under me. I looked down and found that several
+snakes were crawling and writhing about my feet. I had some difficulty
+in getting out, for as soon as I got foothold on the edge it broke
+under my weight. The weather was cold, and the snakes had taken refuge
+in the cavity.
+
+I reached the town of Nazareth (now called Middelburg ) early one
+morning. The houses numbered, I should say, from thirty to forty, and
+stood somewhat wide apart from each other. In making my way to a shop
+which stood about in the middle of the township, and which had a very
+high stoep, I noticed that the streets were full of game spoors. I
+spoke of this to the storekeeper.
+
+"Oh, yes," he replied, "the game comes in here every night. Look
+there."
+
+I glanced in the direction indicated. Just beyond the outskirts of the
+town were herds of wildebeeste, blesbuck, and quagga grazing quietly
+about, like so many herds of cattle. But they were not so tame as they
+looked, as I found later in the day, when I went towards them with my
+rifle.
+
+In passing through the High Veld, as the country to the north-east of
+Nazareth was called, I first saw the spoor of a lion. I left the wagon,
+which had been obliged to make a very wide detour for the purpose of
+avoiding swampy ground, and was making straight across country towards
+a point close to which I knew the road passed. On my left was a very
+large leegte, a shallow, nearly level valley. For miles of its course
+this was filled with swamp, out of which tall reeds grew.
+
+Game was very abundant. I shot several blesbuck and wildebeeste, I am
+sorry to say, for the gratification of mere lust of slaughter, as I
+could not possibly carry away the meat. In passing over a graveled
+ridge I noticed a dried drop of blood. I looked more closely and found
+the tracks of some large animal. This I followed, in the direction of
+the reeds, until I reached some sandy ground. Then I saw that the track
+was undoubtedly that of a lion. The animal had evidently killed during
+the previous night and carried the meat to its lair among the reeds.
+But this was a mere guess; I did not pursue my investigations.
+
+Next day I left the wagon long before daylight, and started for another
+tramp this time along a course I had mapped out the previous afternoon.
+It was bitterly and unseasonably cold. There was no wind, but the
+hoar-frost lay almost as thick as if a fairly heavy shower of snow had
+fallen. I was wearing veldschoens, but had no socks. As I trampled
+through the grass the frost spicules from the tussocks I brushed
+against filled the spaces between the leather and my feet.
+
+I began to suffer excruciating pain. I thought day would never break.
+My feet felt as though they did not belong to me. Soon they ceased to
+be painful, but the pain-area had traveled up my legs. Having heard of
+frost-bite and its serious effects, I became much alarmed.
+
+Day broke at length. There was so far no game in sight. I thought of
+kindling a fire, but could find no fuel. Just ahead a low, narrow dyke
+crossed my course. I crept to this on my hands and knees, and peered
+through the stones. Yes, there stood a small herd of blesbuck; they
+were not more than eighty yards away. With great difficulty, for the
+light was still bad and I was shaking like an aspen, I got my bead on
+the largest buck. I fired; the animal sprang into the air and rolled
+over. I hobbled forward to where the creature lay. It was stone dead;
+shot through the heart. I pulled the carcass up to a convenient stone,
+cut it open with my hunting knife and thrust my feet into its interior.
+During the ensuing half-hour I think I suffered more intense physical
+agony than I have ever endured in the same period of time. My feet must
+have been very nearly frost-bitten, and the process of circulation
+being restored was exquisitely painful. I verily believe that my life
+was saved through the accident of those blesbucks being behind the dyke
+and close enough for me to be able to kill one. The sun was high in the
+heavens before I was able to resume my journey.
+
+One day I came across an encampment of Boer hunters. Tired of killing
+game, they were indulging in the diversion of a shooting-match. I was
+cordially welcomed, and invited to join in the competition. The farmers
+had brought their families with them; some dozen or so wagons had been
+outspanned together, and several tents had been pitched.
+
+Girls, some of them very pretty, dispensed coffee in kommetjes to the
+competitors. The competition was arranged on very peculiar lines. The
+targets were circular, and could not have measured more than about five
+inches in diameter. The range was a hundred paces. Each competitor lay
+on a feather-bed, which was covered with a kaross, and rested his rifle
+on a pile of pillows. The price of a lootje that is to say, the fee for
+entry was sixpence, and each could take as many lootjes as he liked.
+The number of shots fired in each case was five, and these were fired
+in succession. The prizes were sheep, sacks of meal, and small casks of
+vinegar.
+
+In spite of the smallness of the target there were but few misses.
+Shots were judged to a hair's-breadth, and the judging was perfectly
+fair. Strangely enough I managed to win a sack of meal and a barrel of
+vinegar. As these were of no use to me, I exchanged them for fifteen
+shillings and a hundred Westley Richards cartridges. My shooting caused
+me to find favor in the eyes of these farmers; I was cordially invited
+to remain and hunt with them for as long as I liked. I might have done
+worse than accept; the life they were leading was a lordly one.
+However, I had to bid them a regretful farewell. Then I tramped on
+after the wagon.
+
+The people with whom I was traveling did not go beyond Lydenburg, so
+from there I had to tramp to Pilgrim's Rest, my destination, a distance
+of about forty miles. I tied my worldly possessions into a "swag" a
+process in which I was skillfully assisted by an old miner, with whom I
+casually foregathered. Then I set forth with three companions, likewise
+casual acquaintances. We all belonged to that despised class known as
+"new chums" that is, men who were without practical experience in the
+art of goldmining.
+
+We started early in the afternoon. Our pilgrimage was a painful one; my
+swag was heavy, and the straps galled my unaccustomed shoulders. After
+walking about fifteen miles we camped in a small grove of trees. Here
+we shivered through an apparently interminable night around an
+inadequate fire. None of us were experienced bushmen, and we had
+neglected to gather sufficient fuel. The wind was cold, and I had not
+then acquired that toughness of fiber and insensibility to extremes of
+heat and cold which long wanderings and many hardships afterwards gave
+me.
+
+Two only of my companions are worth recalling. One was an ex-larrikin
+from Melbourne, who went by the name of "Artful Joe"; his real name I
+never learnt. Joe had been the victim of a horrible accident in the
+Kimberley mine about a year previously. He had fallen from one of the
+"roads" sixty feet sheer on to a sorting table at the bottom of the
+claim. Both his legs had been broken in several places. I was not
+present when the accident occurred, but I witnessed the tedious and
+terrible process of hoisting the injured man out of the pit and
+conveying him to the hospital. With the exception of a slight lameness,
+and of being more or less bandy-legged, Joe had not suffered much
+permanent injury.
+
+He sang many comic songs to cheer us up during that night of dolor,
+filling the intervals between the ditties with anathemas against his
+South African luck and realistic stories of his Australian experiences.
+He had lived, he told us, for several years by earning pennies in the
+Melbourne streets. Outside the sculleries of the large hotels, or where
+banquets had been held, barrels of 'feast fragments used to be set. In
+these barrels the street-public were allowed to "dab" with a fork, at
+the rate of a penny a time, for discarded fragments of food.
+Occasionally a rich reward would fall to the enterprising "dabber."
+Joe's most dazzling stroke of luck happened once when he dabbed out a
+whole fowl (feaoul, he called it). This must have been rendered
+possible through some extraordinary lapse of culinary carefulness.
+The description was so appetizing that I am sure the wraith of that
+long-digested bird hovered over our meager banquet.
+
+The second pilgrim was a Jew named L.
+
+He was extremely short of stature, but wore the biggest boots I have
+ever seen; literally, they covered him to the waist. L, never having
+previously roughed it, was the greatest sufferer; his misery was so
+great that he wept bitterly, refusing to be comforted. He sickened us
+through his utter want of grit. When, towards morning, he slept, I took
+his boots and hid them behind a bush some distance away. His
+lamentations on missing them were long and loud.
+
+The third of my companions was a mere tramp, sodden with drink a man
+utterly without significance, except as an example of what to avoid.
+
+Some months afterwards, at Pilgrim's Rest, L attempted to commit
+suicide by hanging himself. He was cut down before life was extinct,
+and on recovery was prosecuted for felo-de-se. At the time Major
+Macdonald, the Gold Commissioner, happened to be away, his place being
+temporarily filled by Mr. Mansfield, the postmaster. The terms used by
+the latter in sentencing L caused great amusement.
+
+They were as follows:
+
+"As you have been guilty of an attempt only, I will fine you 5, but if
+you had succeeded I should have felt bound to pass a much more severe
+sentence."
+
+"Artful Joe" and I were the only two members of the party who were fit
+to travel next day, so after leaving the others the largest share of
+our joint stock of provisions (meal and tea), and restoring the boots
+to their disconsolate owner, we went on. We abandoned the road and
+traveled by a footpath across country in the compass direction of our
+objective. It was in the middle of a calm, sunny afternoon that we
+reached the eastern edge of the mountain plateau overlooking the Blyde
+River Valley. The prospect was a magnificent one. North and south the
+great mountain ranges rolled away, seemingly to infinity. Before us,
+winding down through the range on the opposite side of the valley, lay
+Pilgrim's Creek, the goal of our long endeavor.
+
+Between two and three miles from where the creek flowed into the Blyde
+River lay the little township. Among the farther sinuosities of the
+valley were groups of tents. With the eye of imagination we could
+almost detect the nuggets gleaming at the bottom of the stream. We had
+not yet learnt the gold-diggers' variant of a well-known proverb:
+"Nothing is gold that glitters."
+
+We scrambled down the steep mountain-side, between patches of forest
+and over reefs of quartz. The latter had a special interest for us; we
+were now in the land of gold and who could tell where the clues of
+Fortune were not to be picked up? That afternoon the world was full of
+glorious possibilities.
+
+We waded across the Blyde River drift and ascended the slope towards
+the town, which nestled behind a stony rise. Soon, with light hearts
+and lighter pockets (mine contained but seven shillings), we trudged up
+the one and only street. Here and there stood a digger, or a
+storekeeper, glancing with amused contempt at the raw "new chums." I
+happened to be wearing a pair of new moleskin breeches that were
+several sizes too wide for me. These were the occasion of a good deal
+of derisive comment. One man sang out to a friend across the street
+
+"Say, Jim, them looks like town-made legs and country made trousers,
+eh?"
+
+Joe's limp, also, was the subject of ribaldry. On the whole we must
+have been a strange looking pair. Feeling rather small under the
+scrutiny (not bethinking us that within a very few months we would be
+putting on similar airs of superiority towards weary tramps arriving
+under like conditions) we were glad when we had passed through the
+township. We strolled up the winding valley, admiring the landscape and
+wondering how we were going to set about earning a living. The scenery
+was enchanting, but scenery by itself is not a satisfying diet.
+
+On our course up the creek we passed numbers of parties at work. Owing
+to the rugged nature of the Pilgrim's Valley, the pathway zigzagged a
+great deal. Some acquaintances of mine were said to be working among
+the terraces high up far beyond the Middle Camp and their tent was my
+objective. Once we heard a cheery hail from the bed of the creek, and
+saw a man waving a tin pannikin at us. This meant an invitation to tea,
+which we gladly accepted. The claim was worked by a couple of
+Australians; they were on a fair lead, so they told us. They gave us a
+supply of tobacco, and told us to call round again as soon as we "got
+stony," and they would see what they could do for us. This evidence of
+sympathy gave me, at least, a feeling of confidence which I badly
+needed.
+
+We reached the Middle Camp; as we passed Tom Craddock's bar a stalwart,
+bearded, and more or less inebriated digger came out with vociferous
+welcome and insisted on our going in and drinking at his expense. In
+the bar was a man I knew; seeing him had the effect of making me feel
+more or less at home. We sat and rested for a few moments; then I got
+hold of the idea that we were expected to stand return treat to our
+host and his friends. In this I was, as it happened, quite mistaken.
+Joe had no money whatever, so I had to pay. My capital was now reduced
+to two shillings.
+
+The man I met in the bar, whom I knew, told me that the friends I was
+seeking had, a few days previously, moved down creek. We had passed
+their camp without knowing it, a couple of miles back. Joe and I were
+now dog-tired, so decided to go back to a warm nook we had noticed in a
+kloof on the way up, and spend the night there. We reached this spot
+just as night was falling, and "dossed" down. Fuel was plentiful, so we
+made a lordly fire. We worked up our remaining meal into dampers and
+cooked them in the ashes. We found there was enough tea left for two
+brews; one of these we prepared at once. Then we filled our pipes with
+some of the kind Australians' seasonable gift, and sat puffing in a
+condition of mind that approached contentment.
+
+It had been tacitly assumed that Joe and I were to be mates, although
+nothing definite had been said on the subject. We conversed for a while
+after supper; then silence fell upon us. I spoke several times to Joe,
+but he did not answer. Just as I was wrapping myself in my blanket for
+the night, Joe turned abruptly to me and said:
+
+"Look here, I ain't your sort; you'll get a better mate. We'll shake
+hands in the morning and say goodbye."
+
+When I awoke in the grey dawn Joe had already risen, lit the fire,
+packed his swag, and brewed our last pinch of tea in the billy.
+We drank to each other's good fortune in silence. Then, after a
+hand-press, Joe humped his swag and strode away, leaving me with
+moistened eyes. I felt I had lost my only friend. I have foregathered
+with much worse men than "Artful Joe."
+
+Early that day I found my friends, some men I had known at Kimberley.
+They agreed to allow me to work with them for my keep, my services then
+not being worth more. I knew nothing whatever about gold-mining, and,
+not having performed any manual labor for some time, my hands were
+soft. Every new chum had to undergo the purgatorial experience of
+having his palms blistered and re-blistered until continued contact
+with the handles of pick and shovel made them horny. However, I soon
+matriculated at the sluice-box, and was able to do a fair day's work.
+Then, as my friends could not afford to pay wages they were, for the
+time, off the "lead," I sought another employer. Work was easily found.
+The uniform rate of wages for Europeans was an ounce of gold per week,
+the value thereof being about 3 12s. 6d.
+
+With my first earnings I bought some double width unbleached calico and
+a palm and needle. By means of these I made myself a small tent. The
+cost of the material was about seventeen shillings, and the work was
+easily finished in the course of four or five evenings. I had not been
+living in this tent for more than ten days when a man, who was about to
+start on a prospecting trip, bought it over my head for 1pound 15s. I
+must have made, and sold at a profit, quite a dozen tents during my
+stay at Pilgrim's Rest. In fact I soon got to be known as "that chap
+who always has a tent to sell." When a purchaser came along I would
+deliver the tent at once, and move my few belongings to the dwelling of
+some friend or another who happened to have room to spare.
+
+I lived very sparingly indeed; two shillings per diem paid for my food
+and tobacco. I hoarded every penny like a miser. I longed to prospect,
+to explore; but before attempting this it was necessary to have a few
+pounds in hand. On Sundays it was my habit to walk to the top of the
+"Divide," the backbone of the mountain range. On one side of it lay
+Pilgrim's Rest, on the other "Mac Mac," another mining camp so called
+on account of most of the diggers there in the first instance having
+been Scotsmen. From this lofty coign I could occasionally get far and
+faint glimpses of the mysterious "Low Country," which was just visible
+(in clear weather) over the intervening precipice-edged plateau which
+lay beyond the Mac Mac and Waterfall Creeks.
+
+Sixty miles away to the north-east, but clearly visible in the rarefied
+mountain air, towered the mighty gates through which the Olifant River
+roared down to meet the Letaba. On their left the great ranges rolled
+away to the infinite north-west. What direction first to explore in?
+That was a difficult question to decide, seeing that the field for
+adventure was equally enticing in every direction.
+
+Beyond the deep valley in which Mac Mac nestled arose gradually a
+great, shelving tract. In rough outline it resembled a plateau, but the
+explorer found it to be much broken up and intersected by ravines, some
+of which were impassable for miles of their length. This plateau was
+very extensive; in fact, it stretched indefinitely to the north-east,
+the only break in that direction being the distant gates of the
+Oliphant. But on the south-east it ended in an enormous precipice,
+occasionally several thousand feet in sheer height.
+
+The view from the edge of this precipice was marvelous. From the lower
+margin of the mighty wall the broken hills, covered with virgin forest,
+fell away with lessening steepness to the plains. These, also, were
+covered with trees; here, however, the woodland had a different
+character, for there was little or no undergrowth. The plains stretched
+away, to an immense distance. It was in this tract, far below the gazer
+on the cliff-edge, that romance dwelt in the tents of enchantment. Over
+it roamed the buffalo, the koodoo, and the giraffe. In the dark hour
+just before dawn the dew-laden boughs shrouding it trembled to the
+thunder-tones of the lion as he roared over his kill. Above all, its
+thickets of mystery had hardly been trodden by the foot of civilized
+man.
+
+Even on the plateau itself large game was occasionally to be found.
+Some lion, more enterprising than his fellows, would lead his mate and
+her brood up one of the dizzy clefts in the precipice to prey on the
+cattle which, in seasons of drought, the Lydenburg farmers occasionally
+sent here for the sake of the rich pasturage.
+
+One morning, when brewing a billy of tea in a small rocky basin, I
+heard the sound of trampling. Looking round I saw nine elands
+descending the side of the depression and making straight for me. They
+came to within about eighty yards and then stood. The leader was an
+immense bull by far the largest I have ever seen. All looked as sleek
+and fat as stall-fed cattle. My only weapon was an old Colt revolver.
+How I cursed my bad luck in not having a rifle. After gazing at me for
+a few seconds the elands galloped on, changing their course slightly to
+the right. They passed within less than fifty yards of my fire.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+Extended rambles--View from the mountain top--An unknown land--The deadly
+fever--Gray's fate--Lack of nursing--Temperature rises after death
+Pilgrim's Rest in early days--The prison--The stocks--No color line--John
+Cameron in trouble--The creek "lead"--Plenty of gold--Wild peaches
+Massacres of natives in old days--Kameel--His expressions--Life on the
+creek--Major Macdonald--The parson--Boulders--Bad accidents--A quaint
+signboard--"Reefing Charlie".
+
+As the days lengthened out I began to extend the scope of my weekly
+rambles. Instead of starting on Sunday I would do so on Saturday
+afternoon, as soon as work in the claim had ceased. Four hours stiff
+walking would take me over the Divide, and almost across the plateau
+beyond the Mac Mac River. At some suitable spot I would camp for the
+night. Next morning's dawn would find me on my way to the edge of the
+beetling cliff. However, sunrise was rarely a striking spectacle from
+there, for the reason that usually and more especially in the morning
+the Low Country was shrouded in haze. It was later, when the sun had
+climbed high and the haze had somewhat dissipated, that the prospect
+grew most enthralling. But haze, although its density varied
+considerably from time to time, was rarely absent from the regions
+lying eastward.
+
+This almost continuous barrier to very distant vision used to annoy me
+considerably, for my eyes strove greedily to gather up details of the
+most remote tracts within their range. Once, on an unusually clear day,
+I caught sight of the Lebomba about eighty miles away. The very name of
+this then mysterious region used to thrill me with romance. How I
+longed to explore its heights which, after all, turned out not to be
+so very high and to plunge into its seaward hollows. How I girded at
+the vapor that almost continually shrouded it. But I am now inclined
+to believe that the glamour which made the prospect seen from the
+cliff-edge so rich, was largely due to the diaphanous impediment to
+complete vision. This, by hiding or allowing only a bare hint of the
+details, gave full play to the imagination.
+
+It must be borne in mind that in the early seventies the vast stretch
+of country below the mountain range was practically an unknown land. No
+map of it existed; its geography was but vaguely rumored of. We knew
+that great rivers the Crocodile and the Komati, the Olifant, the
+Letaba, and the lordly Limpopo, in whose depths Leviathan and Behemoth
+wallowed flowed through its enchanted pastures, and that wild game of
+infinite variety and plentiful beyond the desire of the keenest hunter
+nightly slaked their thirst at these mysterious streams.
+
+And yet for more than half of the year that dream-like and translucent
+haze which spread like a pearl tinted veil over the romance-filled
+woodland tract, was a veritable shadow of death. In the earlier days
+men bent on sport, on prospecting or on adventure, pure and simple,
+climbed light-heartedly down the steep mountain stairs at all times and
+seasons little reckoning that it would have saved them much needless
+misery if they had, instead, leaped headlong from the towering cliffs.
+For from November to May, fever stalked abroad over the plains and
+among the foothills, seeking human prey, and hardly any who ventured
+during these months into the dominion of the fever king escaped his
+blighting grip. The few who managed to save their lives were doomed to
+months or even years of misery.
+
+This could only be learnt by bitter experience.
+
+In the autumn of 1873, five and thirty men descended to the Low
+Country; of these I think twenty seven died. During the following year
+we took warning, and none, with the exception of the Alexandre party,
+attempted exploration before June. Consequently there were not, so far
+as I remember, any fatalities; from June to October the Low Country was
+healthy enough. But the memory of other people's experience fades
+quickly; in 1875 some of us again undertook the trip too early. Six
+started, one of these happened to be my "mate," who did not go down as
+far as the others, and so escaped. The others were Thomas Shires, Meek,
+Schwiegardt, McKinnon, and myself. I started on the 5th of April, at
+least two months too early, the others about the same time. Of the
+five, the three first mentioned died where they took the infection.
+McKinnon and I managed to get back; we reached Mac Mac on the same day,
+as it happened, traveling by different paths. Poor McKinnon, who was of
+robust, powerful physique, died about a month afterwards. I, whose
+build was extremely light, had a comparatively mild attack, but I felt
+its effect for years. Of the men who recovered, the great majority were
+of the lean kind. It was, in fact, proverbial that the less flesh one
+had on one's bones, the better were the chances of recovery.
+
+One extremely sad case was that of a man named Gray, whom I knew well.
+He went down with fever at the poisonous Mattol Marsh, about thirty
+miles from Delagoa Bay, in 1873. His mate went on to Lourenco Marques
+to get supplies and hire bearers, leaving the sick man alone in a small
+tent, with a limited supply of food and water. The mate got drunk and
+remained so whilst the money he had with him lasted, a period of about
+ten days. Then first he bethought him of Gray. Assistance was sent, but
+it arrived too late; Gray was dead of thirst and starvation. I found
+his grave the following year. Some pitiful Christian had made a rough
+cross by tying two boughs together, and had stuck it into the sand at
+the head. What made Gray's case sadder, if possible, was the
+circumstance that letters were even then awaiting him at Lourenco
+Marques with the news that he had inherited a fortune.
+
+There can be no doubt that the heavy mortality among those who returned
+to camp ill with fever was due to the fact that no medical man was
+available that is, in the early days and that we knew nothing whatever
+of the principles of nursing. One instance I recall illustrates this
+very forcibly. A man had been ill with fever for upwards of two months.
+The case was a bad one, but at length the patient appeared to rally.
+One night he sat up in bed and announced that he had completely
+recovered and was extremely hungry. On being asked what he would like
+to eat he begged for bread and sardines. These were immediately
+provided, the bread being coarse and brown. He ate with avidity, and
+every one present felt the greatest satisfaction. Within a few hours he
+was dead.
+
+One weird circumstance connected with these fatalities was this; in
+some instances the temperature of the bodies would rise after death and
+continue to rise for several hours. This, I have been told, was due to
+the fever ferment in the blood and tissues developing unchecked, and
+its products setting up strong chemical action. It was hard, in these
+instances, to believe that death had actually taken place, so attempts
+at resuscitation used to be resorted to. I was afterwards told by a
+medical man from Barberton that a similar phenomenon was noticed there
+in fever cases the temperature sometimes rising after death to 110
+degrees Fahrenheit.
+
+Pilgrim's Rest, during the first few years after gold had been
+discovered there, was an interesting and delightful place. Those whose
+experience of mining camps is limited to ones in which the syndicate or
+the company holds sway, can form no idea of the life of a community
+where the individual digger is dominant. I am prepared to maintain that
+life was healthier, saner, and on the whole more generally satisfactory
+at Pilgrim's Rest in the early seventies than it is in any South
+African community today. There was, of course, the inevitable
+percentage of loafers, idlers, and scoundrels, but these were kept in
+their proper place. Public opinion was a very effective force; in
+matters affecting the general welfare of the community, opinion quickly
+translated itself into action when the occasion demanded it. Thus the
+blackguards knew perfectly well that if official justice occasionally
+halted, its unofficial equivalent was apt to be short, sharp, and
+decisive in its operation. The prison was a bell-tent containing two
+sets of stocks. Under ordinary circumstances a prisoner was
+accommodated by having both his legs secured. However, occasionally,
+when an unusually large number of culprits were run in, they had to be
+content with only one wooden anklet apiece. No color line was drawn,
+except, to a certain extent, in the matter of the application of the
+"cat." Natives and colored men were flogged for whatever offence they
+happened to be found guilty of. Europeans were fined, with the
+alternative of imprisonment, except in the case of a serious offence
+such as tent-robbing, for instance. For such a crime, an almost
+unpardonable one in a scattered r mining camp, where tents had very
+often to be left unprotected the white man got his five and twenty as a
+matter of course. I only knew of one case of tent-robbing by a native.
+This was in the early days. The culprit was shot on the spot and thrown
+down a disused shaft. No questions on the subject were asked.
+
+I will illustrate what I mean by saying that no color line was drawn. I
+once had a mate, John Cameron, a Highlander from Skye. John usually
+became inebriated on Saturday night, but would turn up very early on
+Sunday morning. One such morning he did not appear. While I was at
+breakfast a passing digger told me that my mate was in gaol for
+assaulting a policeman.
+
+I started off to see what could be done. The gaol was about four miles
+from where I lived. I arrived there in due course. There was no one to
+prevent my entering, for the prisoners were secured so well in the
+heavy, iron-bound stocks that escape was an impossibility. I found poor
+John secured by one foot and lying on the ground between two similarly
+secured Kaffirs. He was in a horrid condition, as, being a powerful
+man, it had been found necessary to stun him with a club before his
+arrest could be effected.
+
+It was a fortunate circumstance that I knew Major Macdonald, the Gold
+Commissioner, fairly well, and that he was owing to a successful game
+of poker the previous night in an unusually good temper. He penciled an
+order for John's release. After some difficulty I found the gaoler and
+got him although with a bad grace, for John had acted in a really
+outrageous manner to obey the order.
+
+All nationalities were represented among the diggers, but English South
+Africans predominated. Soon, however, an increasing population of
+Australian, New Zealand, and Californian miners poured in. The "field"
+was a rich one. The "lead," which zigzagged perplexingly down between
+the valley terraces, carried plenty of gold. It was, of course, uneven,
+some parts of it being much richer than others but I do not think that
+there was any portion of the lead which it did not pay to work. But the
+lead and the bed of the creek in which the water actually ran zigzagged
+quite independently of each other. That is to say, at the time when the
+gold was carried down and distributed by water along the bottom of the
+valley countless ages ago, the stream then flowing although it followed
+the same general direction took in detail a course quite different from
+the one it followed when the busy gold seekers defaced its banks in the
+days I write of.
+
+Much more gold was found than is generally supposed. I remember four
+very quiet, reticent men who worked out three and a half rather shallow
+claims just in front of what was known as the Middle Camp. They never
+spoke of what they were finding and it would have been a most serious
+breach of local etiquette to make any inquiry upon such a subject but
+upon leaving they authorized the manager of the bank to make public the
+fact that they had divided, on dissolution of the partnership, gold to
+the value of 35,000. Many others also did well, but none to the same
+extent as the partnership referred to. Some very large nuggets were
+found. I personally handled one which weighed 10 lb. It was unearthed
+by the late John Barrington, afterwards of Knysna.
+
+The wild peaches which grew so plentifully in the vicinity of the Blyde
+River Valley were a godsend to indigent "Pilgrims." How the trees
+originated is a mystery. But there they were, on the "flats" of
+Pilgrim's Creek, along the Blyde River terraces and in many of the
+surrounding Valleys, groves of trees bearing luscious peaches of the
+yellow clingstone variety. Although the trees were ungrafted, unpruned,
+and, in fact, had not been interfered with by meddling man since the
+germination of the stones that gave them auspicious birth, the size and
+flavor of the fruit were ail that could be desired.
+
+One gold-bearing creek was called "Peach Tree," on account of the
+number of trees there growing. Near the upper end of the worked portion
+of Pilgrim's Creek was a dense orchard that bore splendidly. But, alas!
+they grew over "pay dirt," and in consequence were ruthlessly uprooted.
+I am positive that the occurrence of these trees was quite
+adventitious; they did not appear to have been planted with any regard
+to order, nor as a rule were they found in localities suitable for
+homesteads.
+
+I have often speculated as to the origin of these peach-trees. Did some
+thoughtful old voortrekker carry peach stones in his pocket, and, as
+Admiral Rodney was wont to do with acorns, plant them here and there
+for the benefit of posterity? Or did some small boy voortrekker,
+munching, from the pocket of his blesbuck-skin jacket, dried fruit sent
+up by some kind tante from the far south, carelessly throw aside a
+stone which had been accidentally included, and was that the ancestor
+of those trees which used to afford us so many delightful feasts?
+
+About half a century before the days I write of, the then thickly
+populated region surrounding these goldfields was turned into a
+shambles and a solitude by, the horde of the terrible Ma 'Ntatisi,
+chieftainess of the Bathlokua. This tribe was driven from its territory
+at and around the sources of the Vaal River by the Amahlubi, at the
+beginning of the upheaval caused by Tshaka, the Zulu king. On many a
+level mountain terrace can still be seen the circular stone walls
+indicating where populous villages once stood. Many clans, some large
+and some small, had inhabited the fertile valleys of the Drakensberg
+between what is now Wakkerstroom and the Olifant River. They lived in
+comparative peace with one another. Occasional tribal fights took
+place, but the victors never attempted to ruin the vanquished or to
+take their territory.
+
+Ma 'Ntatisi's horde literally obliterated these communities. Probably
+the number of people who escaped the slaughter did not amount to five
+per cent of the whole.
+
+Old "Kameel" was one of the survivors. He was a native who, with his
+family and a few goats, lived at a kraal on a ledge to the right of the
+creek, about half a mile above the Lower Camp.
+
+Kameel showed me the cave, overlooking the Blyde River Valley, in which
+he and his mother had hidden themselves while spear and firebrand were
+erasing his tribe from the face of the surrounding country. This cave
+could only be entered by climbing up the trunk of a white ironwood-tree
+and stepping on to a ledge from one of its branches. Other fugitives,
+Kameel told me, sought the hiding-place during the night, but his
+mother, fearing that their tracks would be followed, escaped with her
+children to another refuge during the darkness. It was fortunate that
+they did this, for the spoilers found the tracks leading to the cavern
+and massacred every soul it contained. Probably today it still conceals
+the gruesome pile of bones principally of women and children which I
+saw in it in 1874.
+
+Kameel was a character in his way. He had spent his life a law unto
+himself and his family on the little ledge where the kraal he inhabited
+stood. Being, in spite of his years, a strong active man and a skilled
+hunter, Kameel was in great demand among those who, like myself,
+endeavored to combine sport with prospecting on their trips. He
+accompanied me on several of the longer expeditions which I undertook.
+
+Through listening to the conversation of his employers, whose language
+was apt to be "painful and frequent and free" on slight provocation,
+Kameel had picked up some stock expressions which were very amusing. I
+cannot, unfortunately, bowdlerize the best of these without spoiling
+them, so I will endeavor to give a few examples of the less forceful.
+If, for instance, Kameel wanted to indicate size, importance, force, or
+greatness as an attribute of anything whatever from a flash of
+lightning to a hippopotamus or an attack of fever he would say
+"Helovabigwaan," using that term as an adjective. To express
+disapproval or disgust, he would exclaim "Toodamaach," and shake his
+head emphatically. The first time I heard the latter expression was
+when, after a long, painful, and really clever stalk against a heavy
+wind, I missed a splendid koodoo bull at a distance of about ten yards.
+The miss was due to a bad cartridge fired from an unspeakable rifle,
+but Kameel held it to be my fault and despised me accordingly.
+
+It was a quaint little cosmos, this community of gold seekers in one
+form or another whose tents made white the broken slopes of the winding
+Pilgrim's Valley. We were exceedingly unconventional in most respects,
+but the essential decencies of life were observed among us as well as
+they were in any other community of which I have been a member. As time
+went on many of the diggers brought their families to the creek. I can
+remember several pretty girls whose dwellings were so many shrines for
+respectful worship. A disrespectful word towards a woman would have
+entailed serious consequences to the user. One lady, a Miss Russell,
+worked a claim very successfully. She eventually married the owner of
+the claim adjoining hers, a Mr. Cameron. He, if memory does not play me
+false, represented Pilgrim's Rest in the Transvaal Volksraad. There
+were no franchise troubles in those days.
+
+As memory dwells on this period, the people with whom I foregathered
+become very real and very human. I suppose that, in the natural order
+of things, most of my fellow-pilgrims have reached the end of their
+pilgrimage. Those mighty limbs and strong thews which held crowbar and
+pick to be mere playthings, are dust; those feet which scaled, untired,
+the highest and steepest ranges are at rest for ever. Yet my
+recollection of these people is as clear as though it were yesterday,
+and not five and thirty years ago when I saw them last.
+
+The head of the community was the Gold Commissioner, Major Macdonald.
+He was at once fountain of justice, dispenser of such patronage as
+existed, and collector of taxes. "Mac" was an American, and had fought
+in the War of Secession on the Confederate side. He was not an ideal
+administrator, but his hands were clean, and he would always do one a
+good turn if it lay in his power. A tall, thin man with a stooping
+figure, a goatee beard and iron-grey ringlets showing under the brim of
+his slouch hat, Major Macdonald's appearance exactly suggested the
+conventional Yankee of the period of Sam Slick. He played a good game
+of poker, and was never, so far as I know, seen without a cigar in his
+mouth. I believe he died a few years since at Uitenhage, where he held
+the railway cartage contract.
+
+There were several ministers of religion on the creek, but it is
+nevertheless to be feared that we were a rather irreligious lot. All
+old Pilgrims will remember the Rev. G B, whose church stood in the
+lower left-hand corner of the Market Square. Mr. B belonged to the
+Church of England, and was, for those comparatively unenlightened days,
+an advanced ritualist. He furnished his church with those symbols which
+used to fill all good Protestants with horror, but to which they have
+recently become more or less accustomed. In the matter of vestments and
+altar observances he flew absolutely in the face of the Court of
+Arches.
+
+Mr. B was a gentleman and a good fellow, but was sadly weak in the
+matter of drink. This weakness was a source of general amusement, in
+fact, it rather tended to increase the parson's popularity with the
+diggers. Whenever he went up the creek on pastoral visitation bent,
+every one would be on the qui uive, and as he returned men would lie in
+wait for him with proffers of alcoholic refreshment. By the time he
+reached home Mr. B would be more or less intoxicated, and several of
+the perpetrators of this sorry conspiracy would assist him to bed.
+
+However, I must try and avoid the tendency to set down a mere catalogue
+of abnormal human specimens; I had rather ramble with the reader
+through the now shadowy thickets of a vivid and virile past, following
+a payable memory "lead," and examining such nuggets of interesting
+experience as we may pick up on the way. For the period I write of has
+passed, leaving scarcely a recognizable sign. The individual digger,
+the hardy, hearty, independent man who took toll of the riches of the
+earth by the might of his own arm and for his own proper benefit
+without intermediary has gone for ever, and the soulless corporation,
+the boomster, and the politician have taken his place. I, for one,
+think that South Africa is poorer for the change.
+
+Pilgrim's Creek was not what is known as "a poor man's diggings." Here
+and there, especially on the terraces or beds of wash lying above the
+water flow, lay a few claims which were comparatively easy to work. But
+most of the alluvium in and about the bed of the creek ran deep, often
+from ten to twenty feet. The most serious difficulties were presented
+by the boulders, which were thickly distributed through the wash. It
+would, indeed, be more correct to say that the wash was sparsely
+distributed between the boulders.
+
+Any stone which could not be lifted out by two men without tackle came
+within the definition of a boulder. Thirty, or even forty, tons was no
+very unusual weight for these blocks of smooth, water worn quartzite.
+Every one, no matter how large, had to be shifted, the reason being
+that whatever gold there was lay on the bedrock, and thus beneath all
+the wash. The bedrock was granite, but was so decomposed and friable
+that one could dig it out like so much cheese.
+
+One way of getting rid of a mammoth boulder was by excavating a pit in
+the bedrock, sending the stuff dug out away through the sluice-box, and
+then rolling the monster into the excavation. But this was always
+dangerous work; the pit had to be sunk close to the boulder one wanted
+to bury, and the latter was apt to break down the soft edge and roll
+in, smashing the workers into jelly. Some terrible accidents of this
+kind took place.
+
+The lack of a surgeon occasioned the loss of many a good life and limb,
+for accidents were frequent. There was an unqualified practitioner in
+the Lower Camp. His signboard, mounted on a pole outside his tent, bore
+the legend: "Surgeon, Barber, and Tentmaker."
+
+Despite his quaint advertisement, which carried a suggestion of the
+Middle Ages, A was no quack. He was, I think, a graduate of Trinity
+College, Dublin, and had undergone a certain amount of medical
+training. He saved many a life, perhaps mine included, for he pulled me
+through my bout of fever. But several of his serious operations went
+wrong. This may have been due to lack of proper appliances, and to our
+rough but by no means ready methods of nursing. I remember the case of
+a friend of mine whose leg got horribly crushed at Waterfall Creek and
+had to be amputated. Mortification set in and he died.
+
+One of my mates was the celebrated Charlie Durnan. "Reefing Charlie"
+was the name he was usually known by. He was a most active and
+occasionally a successful prospector. It was he, I fancy, who years
+afterwards discovered the Pigg's Peak Mine in Swaziland. Charlie's
+weakness was drink. He and I ate the mealie-meal porridge of poverty
+among the Blyde River terraces for a couple of months. During this time
+we never earned enough to pay for the salt which seasoned our insipid
+repasts.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+Work on "the Reef"--Shaft-sinking in a swamp--Wolff and McGrath--A case of
+snake-bite--Tunneling--Humping green timber--John Mulcahy--His Gargantuan
+breakfast--His peculiar habits--His end--The rush to "the Reef"
+Cunningham's lead--My bad luck--Peter and his appetite--"Mr. William
+Bogis" Fabayne, the cave-dweller--A bellicose bridegroom--Knox and his
+revolver practice--A senseless toast and its sequel--A terrible accident
+Alick Dempster and the Police News.
+
+In 1874 a certain corporation, I think it was called "The Gold Fields
+Exploration Company," had an office at Pilgrim's Rest. Edward Simpson,
+formerly of Port Elizabeth, was the manager. Simpson died at Pretoria
+about fifteen years ago. He was a good friend to me, but was,
+unwittingly, the occasion of my failing to make a very rich "strike."
+The company was carrying on prospecting operations in the vicinity of a
+high saddle on one of the subsidiary ranges north of the Mac Mac
+Divide. I was engaged at the usual remuneration of an ounce of gold per
+week, and instructed to join two men, Wolff and McGrath, who were
+already on the spot.
+
+The scene of our work was called "The Reef." [Years afterwards known as
+the Jubilee Mine.]  No reef had been discovered there, but it was
+believed that one existed. The saddle was steep and narrow, especially
+on the northern side, where the rocky gully that scored its flank fell
+into a more or less swampy basin. Our first work was the sinking of a
+shaft in this swamp. Several nuggets had been found in the interstices
+of the bedrock in the gully, so it was believed that the basin
+contained a rich deposit.
+
+One nugget which I found was the most beautiful thing of the kind I
+have ever seen. It was shaped like a curved ostrich feather, and was as
+bright as though it had just been turned out of a jeweler's shop.
+Simpson had this nugget mounted as a brooch for the lady to whom he was
+engaged to be married.
+
+The sinking of the shaft was both difficult and dangerous. We struck
+water at about six feet, and then had to make frames from green timber
+cut in the vicinity and sink them, backed by slabs, as we took the
+shaft down. The water flow was very strong, so we had to bale
+continuously, night and day, for we dared not let it rise. We worked in
+four-hour shifts, with relays of native laborers. After sinking sixty
+feet, and nearly losing our lives in trying to save the shaft from
+buckling, the water drove us out and the work had to be abandoned. I
+still believe that there is gold, and plenty of it, at the bottom of
+that swamp.
+
+Wolff was a Dane of gigantic thews. He had been a sailor. McGrath was
+an Australian gold-digger. One night the latter stepped barefoot out of
+the tent and was bitten on the instep by a snake. He collapsed almost
+immediately. We sent a runner down to the Lower Camp, which was nearly
+six miles away, for assistance. There was no qualified medical
+practitioner to be had; however, an amateur came up and treated the
+patient with strychnine. We had, in the meantime, scarified the injured
+part and applied ligatures above it. McGrath escaped with his life, but
+the greater portion of his instep rotted away, and he became a physical
+wreck. For a tune he completely lost the use of the muscles of his
+eyelids; for months he had to use his hands when he wanted to open or
+shut his eyes.
+
+After abandoning the shaft, Wolff and I were instructed to drive a
+tunnel into the hillside on the southern fall of the saddle. We took
+this work under contract, at so much per foot. The driving involved the
+use of props and slabs; these had to be cut and trimmed in a forest
+situated more than a mile away, beyond a deep valley on the northern
+face.
+
+South African timber is notoriously close-grained and heavy;
+consequently the humping of those green balks through the valley and
+over the saddle to the tunnel was almost the heaviest and most painful
+work I have ever perspired under. Felling the trees and dressing the
+timber was child's play compared to it.
+
+One day while engaged in felling I had an adventure with a mamba. Wolff
+and I were working in a steep sided gully which contained small,
+isolated patches of timber; he was felling a tree about fifty yards
+above me. It crashed down, its crown striking a patch of scrub. Out of
+this a large mamba glided and came down the gully, straight for me. I
+could not climb out, so I made myself as small as possible against the
+gully-side. The snake passed within a few feet of me, but made no
+attempt to attack.
+
+Snakes and leopards were very plentiful about our camp. A large python
+dwelt in a krantz within less than a hundred yards of our tent. The
+creature was often seen, but it always escaped when we ran over with
+our guns on receiving a report that it was sunning itself. The trees
+were covered with the claw marks of leopards.
+
+Before very long a few diggers came and prospected in the vicinity of
+the saddle for surface gold. Among them was one of the strangest
+characters I have ever met. His name was John Mulcahy. Originally from
+my own county, Tipperary, he had gone to California in the early days
+of the "placer" mines. He and Bret Harte had been mates. Mulcahy had
+prospected far and wide among the Rocky Mountains, and had even crossed
+the Yukon River on one of his trips.
+
+Solitary in his habits and possessed of a most violent temper, Mulcahy
+was usually disliked by those with whom he came in contact. But he
+attracted me very strongly. Aged, I should say, about forty five
+yellow-bearded, exceedingly handsome, strong, and tall there was,
+nevertheless, a suggestion of something sinister about him. To me he
+unbent considerably when we were alone.
+
+Once in a burst of confidence Mulcahy told me that he had left
+California to escape the attentions of a certain widow, the
+proprietress of a saloon, who had fallen in love with him. He related
+how she had pursued him to a remote camp, burst into his tent one
+morning and, before he could resist, thrown her arms around his neck,
+and given him a kiss "you might have wathered a mule at."
+
+Mulcahy and I first met at the Rotunda Creek Rush, and when that abode
+of "wild cat" collapsed, we arranged to take a prospecting trip towards
+the Olifant River. We made a start, but after a week were driven back
+by some of the worst weather I have ever experienced. The climax came
+when we were caught one afternoon on a high mountain plateau by a
+succession of violent hailstorms. We crept under the lee of a rock for
+shelter, but our fire was smashed out over and over again by hurtling
+masses of ice, so we shivered in darkness through what seemed to be an
+interminable night.
+
+As the weather remained unsettled, we decided to return to camp and
+there refit. Besides, we badly needed recuperation after the more than
+ordinary hardships we had undergone. We arrived at the Lower Camp one
+morning at about nine o'clock, more than half-starved. I shall never
+forget my wolfish sensations as we flung down our swags at Stopforth
+and Bowman's eating-house and called for breakfast. I then enjoyed the
+heartiest meal of my life, after which I sat back pulling at my pipe
+and noting with astonishment the amount of food which Mulcahy consumed.
+
+I thought he would never stop; plateful followed plateful in an
+apparently endless endeavor to sate the insatiable. However, all things
+must come to an end; so, eventually, did Mulcahy's Gargantuan meal. As
+he paid the prescribed fee of two shillings, I thought Stopforth looked
+pensive.
+
+After resting for some ten days, and the weather having in the meantime
+cleared, we made another start. We had decided to commence our journey
+after a good meal, so struck our tent early one morning at the Upper
+Creek, and tramped down to the Lower Camp, once more to bestow the
+doubtful favor of our custom upon Stopforth and Bowman.
+
+We put down our swags at the door and entered. It was barely eight
+o'clock, so no other customers had arrived. The eating-house was a
+large marquee tent, with rough tables and benches on either side of a
+passage down the middle. At the end of this passage a square piece had
+been cut out of the canvas, and it was through the resulting aperture
+that plates were passed to and from the kitchen. Bowman it was who
+presided over the cooking while Stopforth did the waiting.
+
+We took our seats at one of the tables and called for breakfast.
+Stopforth stood for a few seconds and regarded Mulcahy with a somber
+eye. Then he strolled slowly down the passage and called through the
+aperture:
+
+"Bill."
+
+"Hullo?"
+
+"Breakfast for ten; here's this son of a back."
+
+My partner was enormously pleased at this compliment to his prowess;
+for months afterwards he used to chuckle at the remembrance of it.
+
+After Mulcahy moved up to "The Reef" he kept more than ever to himself,
+discouraging advances even from me. This, we afterwards found, was due
+to his having struck rich gold from the very first, and to his desire
+to keep the circumstance from being known. He worked his cradle at a
+small spring about a hundred and fifty yards away. To this spring he
+had scarped a footpath along the mountain side, and over this footpath
+he harrowed his stuff. He seemed seldom or never to sleep. It was his
+custom to knock off work comparatively early in the afternoon. Until
+about nine o'clock he would stroll about. Then he would recommence
+work, and we would often hear the barrow going all night long. Most of
+the daytime he spent cradling at the spring.
+
+Occasionally, in the evening, this strange being would come and stand
+near our tent. Wolff, who hated him, strongly objected to this; he
+thought the man came to listen to our conversation. My theory, which I
+fully believe to have been the right one, was that the lonely creature
+sometimes felt an irresistible longing for human companionship.
+
+The belief currently held regarding Mulcahy was to the effect that he
+had been a noted "road agent" that is to say, a highway robber in
+California. One incident, of which I was a witness, might be taken to
+indicate that at least he had something very heavy on his conscience.
+
+One evening Wolff and I were watching the approach of a very violent
+thunderstorm. Just as it broke, and while we were in the act of
+fastening the tent-door, Mulcahy appeared and, to my surprise, asked if
+he might come in. Wolff gave no answer, but I replied in the
+affirmative. Mulcahy entered, and the three of us sat down, Wolff and I
+on one bunk and the visitor on the other. The table was between the
+bunks.
+
+Our tent had what is known as a "fly"; that is to say, a second roof
+pitched about six inches above the ordinary one. The rain came down in
+torrents and the wind blew with great violence. The inner roof remained
+dry, except where the outer one flapped against it. This contact
+happened just over where Mulcahy was sitting, and occasioned a wet mark
+resembling, in rough outline, the head, shoulders, and outstretched
+arms of a human being. The mark was fully visible to Wolff and me, but
+could not be seen by Mulcahy, although the canvas on which it appeared
+sloped immediately over him.
+
+Wolff, who was a big, heavy man, very slow of speech, said in his
+halting, broken English
+
+"Mulcahy, dere is de ghost of dat last man you shot in California."
+
+Mulcahy turned, shot a glance back towards where Wolff's eyes were
+directed, and fell forward on the table. When he lifted his face it was
+drawn and the color of ashes; his eyes were full of horror. It was a
+terribly dramatic scene.
+
+Shortly after this Mulcahy took a partner, a man named Friese. They
+found a great deal of gold.
+
+The last time I saw Mulcahy was in 1876, at East London. I was then
+working on a surf boat, and in passing under the stern of a steamer,
+the anchor of which was being weighed, I noticed a yellow bearded man
+leaning over the rail. His face was not turned towards me;
+nevertheless, I felt I could hardly be mistaken as to his identity. I
+called out his name; he turned, and I saw that it was Mulcahy, right
+enough. He recognized me at once, and apparently was delighted to see
+me. We conversed for a short while, but my boat was soon worked away on
+the warp, out of earshot. I afterwards heard that Mulcahy had taken
+several thousand pounds sterling with him to Cape Town, and that there
+he purchased a liquor-shop in a low quarter of the city. Shortly
+afterwards he died insane.
+
+The tunnel at the saddle having to be abandoned on account of our
+striking a mass of loose rock through which it was impossible to drive
+without more expensive appliances than we possessed, Wolff left the
+service of the company. I was anxious to leave too, because alluvial
+gold had been struck in rich patches on and near the saddle. But
+Simpson made a point of my remaining for a few weeks longer in his
+employ, for the sake of protecting the company's supposed interests.
+
+I wished to peg out, on my own account, the site where my tent stood,
+but this I could not do so long as the claims of the company were held
+in my name. On the very day the company suspended operations all the
+vacant ground on and about the saddle was pegged out. Most of those who
+"rushed" the vicinity were New Zealanders from Hokitika. The site on
+which my tent stood was appropriated by a man named Cunningham. When
+ground was required for mining purposes, any one tenting on it had to
+remove.
+
+Within five minutes of Cunningham's first pick-stroke, he struck the
+"lead." On merely turning over the surface sods the nuggets could be
+picked out like plums from a cake. The bedrock was soft soapy shale;
+there was no "wash" in the ordinary sense of the term. Loam, with which
+small, angular fragments of quartz were mixed, covered the bedrock to a
+depth of about six inches. But this bedrock turned out to be scored by
+a small gutter or channel a few inches deep and about eighteen inches
+wide, which ran for about twenty feet through the middle of the claim.
+The surface soil gave no indication of the existence of the channel.
+
+The bottom of this channel was literally paved with nuggets. The stuff
+it contained gave an average of over four ounces to the pan; it had to
+be harrowed to Mulcahy's spring, there to be cradled. Within a few
+weeks the claim was worked out, for there was no gold to be found
+outside the channel. But the gold won by Cunningham was worth over
+4,000. The legs of my bunk had actually been sunk in the richest part
+of the ground, they must have literally been touching some of the
+nuggets. This was but one of the several occasions upon which I all but
+grasped the skirts of Fortune.
+
+Soon a water-race was brought in from the opposite side of the valley
+on the southern slope of the saddle a distance of about four miles.
+Then ground-sluicing operations began. I again took service, this time
+with a party of New Zealanders. I never knew how much gold was found by
+them, but the amount must have been considerable. I was not permitted
+to be present at any "wash up," but in the stages just previous to that
+climax I used to see nuggets lying thickly about whenever the water
+cleared. No one, even though he were one of the partners was allowed to
+pick up gold before the end of the "wash up," all had to come into the
+pan.
+
+My best friend among these men was a gigantic Swede who was called
+Peter. He had another name, but, as he said himself, it would be
+necessary to take a pinch of snuff before you could pronounce it
+properly. Ordinarily the most good-natured of men, Peter became an
+elemental savage when hungry. If then spoken to his only reply would be
+a snarl quite likely to be followed by a blow. However, as Peter ate,
+his normal placidity gradually returned. When fully satisfied he would
+say leaning back with a smile and a sigh of satisfaction.
+
+"Now a little child might play mit me." To show how little surnames
+counted for in those days I will mention a trifling incident. My tent
+mate among the New Zealanders went by the name of Bill. One Saturday
+afternoon I remained at the tent, the other members of the party having
+gone down to the Lower Camp; a native brought up a parcel containing a
+blanket and addressed to "Mr. William Bogis." I sent the boy away,
+saying that I did not know of any one bearing that name. Next day Bill
+was swearing at the storekeeper for not having sent up a blanket he had
+bought. I innocently related what had happened, and then Bill swore at
+me. "Mr. William Bogis" had been my tent-mate for several weeks and I
+was unaware of the fact.
+
+In 1889, when traveling from Kimberley to Johannesburg by coach, I
+picked up an old newspaper at a wayside hotel. In it was a paragraph
+giving an account of how a prospector named William Bogis had been
+blown to pieces in a shaft somewhere in Northern Bechuanaland. I have
+no doubt this related to my old mate.
+
+A very curious character at Pilgrim's Rest was a man named Fabayne,
+whose dwelling-place was a cave under a cliff about half-way up the
+creek on the northern side. Fabayne was well-connected, his father was
+a Church dignitary, a dean, I fancy and was evidently well off; for he
+allowed the scapegrace son 200 per annum, paid quarterly. Fabayne was a
+university man and an accomplished scholar, but he had gone the pace at
+an unusually rapid rate. When I knew him he was a hopeless drunkard.
+
+Whenever Fabayne drew a 50 installment he would place 45 in the hands
+of the keeper of a certain bar, and 5 with a butcher whose shop was in
+the vicinity. He would then get drunk and remain so as long as the 45
+lasted. During the continuance of his spree it was his custom to remain
+on the bar premises night and day, and to stand treat to all and
+sundry. It was understood that the bar-keeper was to fire him out as
+soon as the deposit became exhausted. This usually happened in about
+three weeks. He would then return to his cave.
+
+The 5 was meant to keep him in food and clothes until the next
+installment fell due. He used to fetch a sheep's pluck every day and
+make soup of it in a billy. The butcher used his own discretion in the
+matter of clothes, but when Fabayne grew more than ordinarily ragged I
+fancy the bar-keeper contributed towards his outfit, a thing he could,
+under the circumstances, well afford to do.
+
+A complete inventory of the belongings of this strange being would have
+included a pick, a shovel, a pan, and an old sluice-box, none of which
+he ever used, also a blanket, a big knife, a billy, and a Greek
+Testament. The cave, although draughty, was comfortable and fairly dry.
+Now and then I shared it with Fabayne; generally on those occasions
+when I sold my tent. He was a charming companion, not alone was he
+exceedingly well-read, but he was sympathetic and helpful to a degree.
+I have many a time seasoned my mealie porridge with his pluck soup, and
+found the seasoning good.
+
+When "getting off" after one of his quarterly sprees, Fabayne's habits
+were apt to be trying to one like myself, without an allowance, and who
+had to work hard and constantly to keep body and soul together. For
+instance, he would sometimes sit half the night through, at the mouth
+of the cave, declaiming Sophocles. I could not understand a word he
+uttered, but his elocution was good, his voice was well modulated, and
+the sonorous periods of the choruses from the "Antigone" and the
+"Elektra" were effective by virtue of their mere sound.
+
+This sort of thing was all very well up to about nine o'clock; after
+that, however, it became annoying. But it was impossible to stop him. I
+used to pelt him with fairly heavy stones, and although I must
+sometimes have hurt him rather severely, he took no notice. Fabayne
+admitted that he was deliberately drinking himself to death; trying to
+argue him out of this intention proved to be of not the slightest
+avail.
+
+I recall a wedding which had a sequel very characteristic of its
+environment. A certain digger his name has escaped me, although I knew
+the man well married a rather pretty girl. The ceremony took place in a
+little church that had recently been built near the Middle Camp, and in
+which the Rev. Mr. B used occasionally used to officiate. This church
+stood on a small knoll, a straight pathway leading steeply up to it
+from the creek.
+
+By common consent every one within sight struck work and assembled
+close to the church for the purpose of giving the bride and bridegroom
+a cheer on their emerging. I should say that from thirty to forty men
+lined the pathway on each side. Nearly every one had provided himself
+with an old boot for the occasion. After the knot had been tied the
+happy couple passed down the hill between the lines of their cheering
+friends. Then, at a given signal, we all let fly the boots in a volley
+taking care, of course, that neither bride nor bridegroom was hit. Then
+one man picked up a fairly heavy boot from where it had fallen and
+deliberately hurled it at the bride, striking her on the back. The
+perpetrator of this outrage was, needless to say, a discarded suitor.
+
+The bridegroom turned round, took off his coat which he handed to the
+bride to hold and rolled up his sleeves. He knew quite well who had
+thrown the missile. A ring was at once formed, and the fight began. It
+only lasted, however, for three rounds. The bridegroom was victorious;
+he escaped without a scratch. The other man was, as he richly deserved
+to be, severely punished. It was, however, just as well for him that
+this was the case, otherwise we would have ducked him in the muddiest
+tail race within reach. As the victor marched off with his proud mate
+he received an immense ovation. I regret to have to record the fact
+that the officiating parson was taken down to Tom Craddock's bar and
+there made very drunk indeed.
+
+When I camped near the Big Rock on Slater's Claim there lived, on the
+flat where the creek widened out under Gardiner's Point, an American
+named Knox. He was a tall, swarthy man of immensely powerful physique.
+Originally a sailor from, I think, Martha's Vineyard, he had deserted
+from his ship in the early days of the diamond-fields.
+
+Knox was a quiet, inoffensive man, except when under the influence of
+drink. Then he was, in local parlance, "a holy terror." He would get a
+keg of Mauritius rum, a most ferocious intoxicant, open it, fasten up
+his tent, and go to bed. For several days thereafter Knox would not be
+dangerous, unless you tripped over the tent-ropes or tried to open the
+tent. However, he eventually reached a stage during which if he heard
+footsteps anywhere in his vicinity he would fire his revolver in the
+direction of the sound. The canvas sides of his tent were riddled with
+bullet-holes, I only remember one case in which damage actually
+resulted, it was that of a native who got a bullet through the calf of
+his leg.
+
+After a time people "in the know" avoided the vicinity of Knox's tent
+whenever he was on the spree. Sometimes, when in the later stages of
+his cups, Knox would fire in all directions apparently for the purpose
+of relieving his feelings. However, as there were no tents very close
+to his, this did not matter so very much. Many a time have I heard the
+old Colt revolver barking at intervals through the evening, but the
+performance was taken quite as a matter of course. One would merely say
+to another:
+
+"Hullo, there's Knox at it again. I suppose he'll be out to-morrow or
+the day after."
+
+I remember something which caused much comment early in 1875. I can
+vouch for the details, so far as I relate them. On New Year's Night,
+1874, three men met at a bar known as "The Half-way House," which stood
+where the creek narrowed and made a sharp turn a few hundred yards
+above the Middle Camp. The late John Barrington, afterwards of Knysna,
+was one, another was a man named Marshall, the name of the third I have
+forgotten.
+
+Just before midnight they drank to a profane and senseless toast,
+"Before this day twelve months may we all die in a tail-race and be
+covered by tailings." "Tailings" are the waste products of the
+sluice-box, the sand and gravel carried away by the stream of water
+which flows over the "ripples."
+
+About four months afterwards the man whose name I have forgotten was
+out prospecting among the higher ranges to the north of the creek. He
+fell ill and endeavored to return to camp, but a bitterly cold rain set
+in and he perished miserably. Soon afterwards Marshall, who had been in
+the Low Country, went down with fever. The attack was comparatively
+light, so he soon got better. But one dark night, while still somewhat
+weak, he went out to visit a friend. Not far from the tent of the
+latter a "head-race," which is not just the same as a "tail-race," had
+recently been dug. As the digging had been effected while Marshall was
+laid up, he was unaware of the existence of the excavation.
+
+The head-race was about eight feet deep; it was wide at the top, but it
+narrowed down to about a foot's-breadth at the bottom. Into this chasm
+poor Marshall fell headlong, and his shoulders jammed where the channel
+narrowed. Owing to weakness he was unable to extricate himself, and his
+head, being downward, damned the water up so that it drowned him. The
+tent of the friend he had intended to visit stood close by. This man
+noticed that the flow of the water stopped several times and then went
+on again with a rush. This was caused by the struggles of the unhappy
+Marshall as he was drowning.
+
+Nothing happened to John Harrington, whom I met fourteen years
+afterwards in Cape Town, but in view of the two fatalities he was
+somewhat uneasy until the following New Year's Day had arrived.
+
+Another terrible accident was the one in which a friend of mine named
+Blenkins lost his life. I have a very clear recollection of the
+circumstances. The thing happened on the afternoon of the day on which
+I returned from the "rush" to Rotunda Creek.
+
+Blenkins was working on the high terrace known as Gardiner's Point. A
+large quartzite boulder it was afterwards found to measure nearly
+thirty tons stood embedded in the face of the claim, about three feet
+above bedrock. This boulder had been stripped on one side.
+
+Many attempts had been made towards causing it to drop forward, with
+the view of rolling it down the face of the terrace. No one knew, of
+course, how much of it was still concealed by the yet undisturbed
+gravel. Poor Blenkins very unadvisedly sat down before it and began
+loosening the wash underneath with a driving-pick. Suddenly the boulder
+fell forward and pinned him to the bedrock, from the waist downwards. I
+was at work in the creek below. I heard a shout and saw men running
+from every direction up the face of the terrace. I joined the stream. I
+shall never forget what I saw when I reached the scene of the accident.
+It was hours before we succeeded in shifting the boulder. We only
+managed this by excavating a pit in the bedrock and rolling the monster
+into it. Whilst doing this two other men nearly lost their lives.
+
+My poor friend was alive and conscious all the time. The only mercy was
+that he did not suffer physically; he was too badly crushed. He died
+soon after being released. Blenkins was extremely popular. His tent
+stood within about fifteen yards of mine.
+
+The professional digger of those days was a being sui generis. Shrewd,
+frugal, industrious, and capable of taking care of himself while in his
+accustomed environment, he was apt to become as helpless as a child
+when he reached unfamiliar surroundings. Thus, a successful digger
+wishing to invest his "pile" was often the prey of the first specious
+rogue he met.
+
+Poor Alick Dempster! All old Pilgrims will remember him and the rich
+little "pocket" he struck close to John Barrington's claim, and just
+below the "Half-way House." Dempster was a digger of the old school. He
+disbelieved in banks, so always kept his gold in his tent. Whenever he
+wished to go anywhere, no matter what the distance, he walked. He
+preferred nuggets and "dust" to notes or specie; when he made a
+purchase he liked to weigh out the equivalent of the price across the
+counter from his chamois leather bag. He usually got drunk on Saturday
+night, but not to such an extent as to lose his reason.
+
+After his "pocket" had been worked out Dempster decided to revisit his
+native country, Scotland. So he entertained his friends at a farewell
+banquet, packed his swag with 220 ounces of gold carefully secured in
+the middle and started on a tramp to Durban. A lot of his friends
+accompanied him to the Blyde River Drift, and there gave him a parting
+cheer. Even now I can see him sturdily walking up the hill after he had
+crossed the river, and pausing to wave his hat to us in farewell.
+
+Dempster arrived safely in Durban and booked his passage to England.
+But the enforced idleness on the voyage preyed on his mind; the strange
+surroundings irked him; he took to drink badly. One day, when in the
+Bay of Biscay, he rushed on deck carrying his leather bag of gold.
+After flinging this into the sea he leaped over-board. Dempster was
+fished out; the gold, of course, went to the bottom.
+
+A few months afterwards a striking and realistic picture of poor Alick
+Dempster's escapade occupied the place of honor in the Police News.
+Little detail was given, what there was resembled a nightmare. Just
+touching the water and causing a tremendous splash was a
+conventionally, designed gold-bag labeled "800." In the air, descending
+from the ship's rail, in what the late Lewis Carroll would have
+described as an Anglo-Saxon attitude, was a figure purporting to be
+Alick himself, but it was hardly a recognizable portrait.
+
+This work of sensational art caused great excitement in the camp. There
+was only one copy, and that was in immense demand so much so that the
+owner found himself suddenly famous. Prompted by a simple desire to be
+obliging, he pasted the picture on the lid of a packing-case, and
+printed the legend "This is Alick Dempster" beneath it in large
+letters. A native was hired to carry the board up and down the creek,
+beating an old tin billy to attract attention. This thoughtful
+proceeding was much appreciated. One may wonder as to how it struck the
+native.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+Expedition to Delagoa Bay--A rencontre at Constantinople--Morisot and the
+lion--Game in the Low Country--The Barber encampment--Lion's attack by
+daylight--Lions in the donga--The lion's voice--Ways of the lion--The lion
+an eater of carrion--Tyrer and the buffalo--Veld fires--A piece of bad
+luck--The Low Country rivers--Snakes--Hyenas--Louren Marques--Funeral of
+Pat Foote--Discovery of gold near Blyde River--Anticipated affluence
+Disappointment
+
+I am here met by the difficulty that many of my exploring, hunting, and
+prospecting adventures during the years 1874 and 1875 have been
+described in one or other of my published works, either as stated fact
+or fact disguised as fiction. Nevertheless, I will endeavor to recall a
+few as yet unrecorded reminiscences of adventure by flood and field
+during that period.
+
+In June, 1874, I joined an expedition to Delagoa Bay, which was
+organized by President Burgers for the purpose of convoying ammunition
+and other war materials to Pretoria. An attack upon Sekukuni, the
+Baphedi chief, had been decided on. This, however, was not attempted
+until nearly two years had elapsed. The undertaking was a difficult
+one, and involved some interesting experiences, but as I have already
+published an account of it under the title of "A Forgotten Expedition,"
+[In "By Veld and Kopje."] I cannot deal with the episode here, in
+detail.
+
+Quite recently I came across a reminiscence of this trip in an
+unexpected quarter. In his "Recollections" Mr. David Christie Murray
+relates how, when dining at the Hotel Misseri, in Constantinople, at
+the time of the Russo Turkish War, he witnessed a meeting between a
+French officer, Captain Tiburce Morisot, and Archibald Campbell
+afterwards known as "Schipka" Campbell. These men recognized each other
+as having met in South Africa, the occasion being a visit of Campbell
+to Morisot's camp, and the roasting of a giraffe's heart at the
+camp-fire.
+
+I happened to be present at the occurrence evidently referred to; the
+episode took place on the very expedition which I mentioned above. But
+the detail as given to Mr. Murray is quite wrong. The party was not
+composed of "Frenchmen cutting a military road," nor was Morisot in
+charge of it. He was, as a matter of fact, merely one of the gang, the
+same as I was. We were on convoy duty near the Komati River. It was a
+marrow-bone and not the heart that was roasted. I have a very clear
+recollection of the incident. The skin of the giraffe was the largest I
+have ever seen; it had been found necessary to cut it in two before it
+could be removed.
+
+Morisot, by the way, had a startling adventure with a lion. We were
+camped at the Crocodile River Drift; lions were more plentiful in the
+neighborhood than I have ever known them elsewhere; all night long they
+growled or gruntled around our encampment. The river bank, close to the
+water, was very sandy, and the spoor on the sand strip, which lay about
+two hundred yards from the wagons, showed that many lions used to pass
+to and fro over it every night. It was our habit to light six large
+fires as soon as the sun went down.
+
+Morisot said he wanted to shoot a lion, so one day he dug a shallow pit
+in the sand, within about twenty yards of the water. Just before
+nightfall he took his rifle and went away in the direction of the
+drift. Nothing happened for a couple of hours; then we heard the sound
+of approaching footsteps evidently of some one running and husky gasps.
+Shortly afterwards Morisot, minus his rifle and hat, rushed into camp.
+He was in a condition of ghastly terror; his jaw had dropped, his face
+was ashen, his eyes were glazed. He tottered to his sleeping place and
+crept under the blankets.
+
+Morisot could never be induced to tell us what had happened to him.
+Next morning, however, we found the spoor of a very large lion at the
+edge of the pit. My own idea is that Morisot went to sleep and was
+awakened by the lion growling within a few inches of his face. One
+could hardly blame him for being demoralized under such circumstances.
+
+Those who nowadays travel by rail through the denuded tract between
+Delagoa Bay and the Drakensberg can form no idea as to the marvelous
+richness of animal life on those plains in the early seventies. More
+especially was this the case in the level wooded area extending from
+the inland slope of the Lebomba Range to Ship Mountain. Blue
+wildebeeste and quagga were so plentiful that we seldom wasted
+ammunition on them. Buffalo abounded, sometimes in very large herds.
+Waterbuck were always to be found near the rivers. Elephants existed,
+but were very wild and usually were scarce. Giraffe were numerous, but
+difficult to approach on foot.
+
+The Komati and the Crocodile were then wide, swiftly flowing streams;
+in winter their water was crystal clear. Along their banks the dense,
+evergreen boskage lay soft and rich as velvet. In these enchanted
+thickets koodoo, sable, and other beautiful antelopes of the rarer
+varieties were always to be found. Impala were as numerous in the areas
+lying along the river courses as were springbucks on the upland
+southern plains.
+
+Shooting stories are proverbially as unreliable as fishing ones. I have
+hitherto avoided relating my own slaying experiences. They do not, I
+suppose, differ from those of other men who followed big game in the
+days when rifles had not reached anything like their present pitch of
+deadly perfection. I think, however, that every old hunter might tell
+of things he has seen which would be interesting enough if he only
+could get people to believe them. Personally I could relate some which,
+although literally true, are so grossly improbable that I candidly
+confess I would not believe them myself had I not seen them happen.
+
+I will give a specimen of these Munchausen-like anecdotes, just to show
+the reader how well-advised I have been in suppressing the series. On
+one occasion, when camped about ten miles from Ship Mountain, one of my
+friends among the Balala [Landless and weaponless waifs who wander over
+uninhabited tracts. Lit., "people who are dead."] came in to report
+that a very fine tsessaby bull was to be found in a kloof some four
+miles away. The meat of the tsessaby is more delicious than that of any
+other game, so I went forth without delay. My gun was a double-barreled
+one, the left barrel taking a Snider cartridge and the right a
+cartridge with a round bullet, only to be used at close quarters.
+
+Before I had gone five hundred yards from the camp I noticed two very
+large blue wildebeest bulls on my left. They were not more than two
+hundred and fifty yards away. According to all precedent they should
+have decamped at once. Instead of doing this, however, they kept a
+course more or less parallel to mine. Suddenly, however, they turned
+and came towards me in a most threatening manner, so much so that my
+Balala companion climbed into a tree and I laid myself prone behind an
+ant-hill, covering the leading animal with my rifle. They, stood at a
+distance of about eighty yards. I fired, hitting the leader just where
+the neck sank into the chest; he fell dead.
+
+The other wildebeest ran away for about fifty yards; then he wheeled
+round and stood facing me. Just as I was about to fire he turned and
+stood broadside on, gazing at the carcass of his mate. I fired, aiming
+just behind the shoulder. The bullet "klopped" hard. The animal reeled,
+ran about fifty yards to my right, and once more stood, again broadside
+on. Again I fired, and once more the bullet "klopped." Then the
+wildebeest made a swift rush for about sixty yards and collapsed. After
+falling it lay perfectly still.
+
+I found that my bullets had struck within two inches of each other. I
+cut the carcass open and found that both bullets had pierced the heart,
+not alone pierced it, but torn it to literal ribbons of flesh.
+
+The critical reader, especially if he has ever hunted big game, will
+find that the foregoing tale contains three improbabilities and a
+manifest impossibility. Although the circumstances happened exactly as
+related, I do not expect to be believed.
+
+About four miles to the north of our camp, near Ship Mountain, was a
+leegte several miles long and of varying breadth. It was more or less
+full of reeds; it also contained several extensive patches of low,
+dense jungle. This leegte was the main refuge for lions which ranged
+over a large extent of surrounding country; every morning their fresh
+spoors could be traced to it. But owing to the density of the cover
+they were seldom seen. On one occasion a hunt was organized by our
+people acting in conjunction with a party of hunters who were camped
+about fifteen miles away, and who had lost some oxen through lions,
+whose spoor had been followed to one of the jungle-patches.
+
+The marauders had been traced to one end of the cover, so we put in
+some beaters between where we supposed them to be and the rest of the
+reed-jungle area. The beaters lit a row of small fires along the line
+they occupied. Eventually a lion broke to the open, like a driven buck,
+close to where one of the hunters was standing. The latter fired, and
+hit the lion in the tail.
+
+The effect of the wound was very startling. No longer was the lion a
+shrinking fugitive, disgusted at having been disturbed before his meal
+of the previous night had been digested, and only anxious to get to
+some other hiding place. Now he was a tornado of fury with flaming
+eyes, gleaming teeth, and erect mane. Emitting short, coughing
+thunder-growls of wrath, he charged straight for the one who had fired
+the shot.
+
+The man dropped down his rifle and sprang into the branches of a tree.
+The latter was too small to afford complete safety. The lion began
+springing at the demoralized hunter, trying to claw him from his
+insecure refuge. However, a skilful shot from another member of the
+party brought the furious brute to the dust. A surprising sequel to the
+incident was this: the man who had fled up the tree claimed the lion's
+skin, on the score that he had drawn first blood.
+
+About fifteen miles away from one of our camps was that of the Barbers
+and Cummings, old Kaffrarian friends of mine. I once walked over to see
+them. A sort of kraal-fence of horns around their encampment was
+evidence of the splendid sport they had enjoyed. Mr. Hilton Barber had
+had a narrow escape a few days previously. When on horseback he had
+been charged by a wounded buffalo. Mr. Barber was flung off. His horse
+was killed, but the buffalo fell to a well-directed bullet fired from
+the fallen rider while the poor horse was still impaled on the cruel
+horns.
+
+The Barber party had encountered few, if any, lions up to the time of
+my visit. A few days afterwards, however, a remarkable thing occurred.
+The encampment being outside the tsetse fly area, the party had brought
+both cattle and horses with them. One day all the hunters were away on
+horseback. The oxen, in charge of a native herd, were grazing hi the
+immediate vicinity of the wagons. In the middle of the forenoon a troop
+of lions came up openly and deliberately, and attacked the cattle,
+killing several. One or two were pulled down on the very edge of the
+camp. This was an almost unprecedented occurrence.
+
+One very important incident of my visit was the gift to me of a pair of
+boots by Mr. Hilton Barber. I had, for weeks previously, been using
+sandals of buffalo hide, and my feet used to get terribly scarred by
+thorns. I shall never forget the comfort of that pair of boots.
+
+Our camp, some ten miles to the westward of Ship Mountain, was almost
+on the edge of a donga, with sheer sides about ten feet deep. At the
+bottom was a water-hole the only one within a radius of many miles. On
+pitch-dark nights the lions would often come up this donga to drink. It
+was eerie, indeed, to lie in the flimsy tent listening to the growls
+and gulps of the great brutes within less than ten yards of where we
+lay. I often tried to muster up courage to light a flare, creep to the
+edge of the donga, and try a shot. By daylight the idea seemed feasible
+enough, and not very dangerous. But I never got so far as to translate
+this idea into action. There is, I think, nothing so calculated to
+imbue one with a sense of personal insignificance as the knowledge, on
+a dark night, that lions are in one's immediate vicinity.
+
+Leaving the brazen toned roar, which is but seldom heard, out of the
+question, the lion's ordinary voice seems to be emitted by some
+being of incalculable immensity. It resembles a series of deep,
+half-smothered detonations linked together by querulous gruntle. It is
+difficult to realize that the sound originates from anything less huge
+than a mammoth.
+
+Three times only have I heard a lion roar wrathfully. The sound is
+harsh and shattering, and is pitched in a higher key than that of the
+growl. To me the growl was far more awe-inspiring than the roar; it
+carried a suggestion of stealth combined with latent ferocity and
+unimaginable force in reserve. The adjective "thunderous" does not fit
+the roar at all; the latter suggests, more than anything else, the
+tones of a mighty, cavernous brass trumpet. Most terrifying, however,
+is the suspicion that a lion is silently padding round your camp just
+before daybreak, debating with himself as to whether he will or will
+not attack.
+
+Yes, it was "when the phantom of false morning died" that I always
+dreaded the lion. Indeed, in the early part of the night, when the
+awesome voices were audible often in several directions at once, there
+was little or no danger. But just before dawn the silence suggested
+sinister possibilities. An examination of the ground after day had
+broken would occasionally show that a lion had circled round the camp
+over and over again, apparently unable to key up his courage to the
+attacking pitch. But experience shows that the lion sometimes does
+attack, and when this happens it is almost invariably in the dark
+interval just before the east begins to pale.
+
+The reason for this is easily discovered if one looks at the thing from
+the lion's point of view. I am convinced that leaving out the cases in
+which a lion is a confirmed man-eater, is wounded, or is cornered this
+animal never attacks man unless (1) when it is too old or stiff to
+catch and pull down game, or (2) when game of every description
+simultaneously vacates a given area and stampedes to a great distance,
+a thing which not infrequently happens.
+
+Here, then, we have a desperately hungry brute; he may, possibly, have
+gone several days without food. He winds a camp of human beings,
+creatures he knows to be edible but which, I firmly believe, he hates
+the idea of eating as much as the ordinary man would hate the idea of
+eating a monkey. But the lion has been prowling all night, has perhaps
+prowled for a succession of hungry nights, and he knows that day is at
+hand. Moreover, he knows that at dawn the last chance of his having a
+meal will have gone.
+
+Accordingly a conflict is set up in his mind. His dislike of human
+flesh plus that dread of the human species which he shares with the
+whole brute creation is on the one side, his ravening hunger on the
+other. Increase the hunger-pressure to a certain pitch, and the lion
+will attack. I have not forgotten that "The Man-Eaters of Tsavo" used
+to take their human toll early in the evening, but not alone had they
+deliberately adopted man-eating, so to say, as a profession, but long
+impunity had made them careless.
+
+I knew a man who once lay sleeping in a patrol tent near Pretorius Kop
+on the Delagoa road. The night was chill, so he folded a gunny bag over
+his feet to keep them warm. In the morning, at the critical time,
+something seized him by the foot and pulled him out of the tent. He
+knew at once what had happened, a lion had caught hold of him. Close to
+where he lay stood a billy half full of cold tea. He grasped this in
+passing, and, as soon as he was clear of the tent, belabored the lion
+over the face with it. The brute dropped him and made off. The man's
+ankle was slightly bruised, but the skin was not broken. This proved
+clearly that the lion was an old one with teeth worn down to mere
+stumps.
+
+The first time I heard a lion roar was when two of them had pulled down
+a sick ox about a hundred yards from my tent. Another lion approached,
+and the two in possession roared apparently to warn off the intruder.
+It was from the spoors, which I examined after day had broken, that I
+inferred the details. To judge by the tracks the last-comer was a very
+old animal.
+
+The next occasion was when a donkey, which was tied to a tree within
+four paces of where I was sitting over a very small fire, was carried
+off. Two lions sprang on the poor animal simultaneously; they made no
+sound until they had dragged their prey into the bush, a distance of
+about twenty yards. Then they roared together, their raucous voices
+mingling in a most peculiar and awe-inspiring duet. Very soon they
+dragged the carcass to a spot about forty yards farther on, where they
+ate it. They roared at intervals during the repast probably as a
+warning to me not to interfere with them. The third instance happened
+when a lioness was shot through the spine and thus disabled. Her voice
+was the most terrible of all.
+
+There are many instances recorded among the natives of lions becoming
+habitual man-eaters. I have heard of whole communities being broken up
+by the brutes. It was useless for the unfortunate people to move from
+one spot to another, as the man-eaters invariably followed them. The
+Amangwane horde wandered for eight years mostly over the plains of the
+Orange Free State after having been driven out by Tshaka. It was
+related to me by some of the few survivors of that awful pilgrimage
+with whom I have foregathered, that for years man-eating lions followed
+them, taking toll of the unhappy stragglers. After a time this was
+taken quite as a matter of course.
+
+I have often seen it stated that lions will not eat carrion. This is
+quite erroneous; I am inclined to think that they occasionally prefer
+meat that is tainted. I have known them gorge at the carcass of an ox
+which had died of tsetse bite, and which had lain putrefying for
+several days, when there were sick oxen in the immediate vicinity to be
+had for the mere trouble of killing.
+
+I was one of those who, in 1874, rescued the fever stricken Alexandre
+party from their ghastly camp on the seaward slope of the Lebomba. Of
+the original eight members, three were dead, and the survivors were so
+weak and spent that they were unable to do more in the matter of
+interment than scoop shallow trenches within a few yards of the
+shelter, lay the bodies of their dead companions therein, and cover
+them up with sand. Yet these were unearthed several times by lions,
+which grew so fearless that the firing of a shot would not always scare
+them away. Once the lions came up and regarded the unfortunate beings
+in broad daylight, and then, as though they had deliberately made a
+choice, proceeded to unearth a corpse.
+
+Most of this took place during the absence of the one member of the
+party who was still able to move about, but as he had to fetch water
+every day in a demijohn from a spot eight miles distant, he was usually
+away. However, the account of their experiences given by the sick men
+was amply corroborated by awful but quite indescribable evidence.
+
+The rencontre of Morisot and Campbell at Constantinople reminds me of a
+somewhat similar experience. When I was camped near Ship Mountain, a
+messenger arrived one night from the camp of the hunters recently
+alluded to, asking whether we had, by any chance, a man among us
+possessing any surgical knowledge. One of the party, a man named Tyrer,
+had been gored by a buffalo and badly hurt. Unfortunately we could give
+no assistance such as was needed.
+
+The accident had been a peculiar one; not alone was the nature of the
+injury unusual, but so were the circumstances under which it had been
+inflicted. Tyrer, on his way to the camp late in the afternoon, had
+wounded a very large buffalo. On the following morning he went to the
+locality where the animal had disappeared, with the intention of taking
+up the spoor. Here the jungle was very dense. Suddenly he came face to
+face with the creature he was seeking. It charged, and was upon him
+before he had time even to lift his rifle. Tyrer dropped the latter,
+and, with the strength of desperation, grasped the horns of the monster
+close to their tips.
+
+Then began a terrible wrestling match. The buffalo was exceptionally
+large, probably it was old and correspondingly stiff, for on no other
+grounds can one account for Tyrer having been able to save his life.
+Gross and unwieldy as it looks, the buffalo in its prime is as active
+as a cat. But Tyrer's antagonist was apparently unable to bend its
+neck, and get its head beneath its chest, so Tyrer was for a time able
+to hold on. His native bearer had dropped the spare gun and climbed
+into a tree.
+
+At length Tyrer was shaken off and flung in a heap on the ground. In an
+instant the buffalo picked him up on one of its horns, flung him into
+the air and rushed away. The result to poor Tyrer was a terrible injury
+one which I do not care to describe. Some weeks later the injured man
+was carried past our camp on a litter. He was afterwards conveyed to
+Natal, and thence to Europe, where a skilful operation set him right.
+
+In 1889 I went to Johannesburg. While there I met an old friend,
+Charles Currey, then head of the Department of Lands and Mines, in the
+Cape Civil Service. We arranged to take a trip together to a place
+called Struben's Mill, which lay behind some hills on the right-hand
+side of the Main Reef to westward of the Golden City. Currey was bent
+on sketching; I on collecting ferns. The afternoon grew hot, and we
+longed for a cup of tea. Seeing a house high up on the hillside, with
+smoke issuing from its chimney, we decided to call there and try our
+luck.
+
+We were hospitably received by the man in charge; he at once provided
+the desired refreshment. He and I found that we knew a great deal of
+the same country, so we began exchanging reminiscences. I told the
+story about Tyrer, and added that I had often wondered as to what had
+become of him. Our host, who had listened to my long relation with an
+impassive face, then remarked
+
+"Yes; you have got the yarn pretty right. My name is Tyrer."
+
+I shall never forget Currey's look of astonishment.
+
+Veld fires were occasionally things to be reckoned with in the Low
+Country. Looking from the cliff-crest of the mountain range over the
+immense plains, one was apt to think that these were covered with
+dense, continuous forest. But a closer acquaintance corrected this
+impression. There was little jungle, but there were many large trees
+and these usually stood somewhat far apart. When among them it was, as
+a rule, possible to get a clear view over a radius of about two hundred
+yards. Now and then one reached an area in which the trees were very
+high indeed, with clean boles running to a height of thirty to forty
+feet. But the ground was covered with long, coarse grass, which was
+tinted a soft green in summer, but in winter was yellow and dry. At all
+seasons the haulms were so hard that the toes of one's boots wore out
+with distressing quickness. It was in winter that the grass fire became
+a real danger.
+
+Great tracts perhaps hundreds of square miles in extent might be swept
+by a conflagration. If, during the course of one of these, the wind
+happened to be blowing towards you from the direction of the fire, the
+danger was apt to become real and imminent. There was only one
+alternative; you had either at once to find some spot comparatively
+clear of grass and there wait until the flame-storm had swept past, or
+else to set the grass alight where you were and then take refuge on the
+burnt area.
+
+Occasionally the trees caught alight and afforded striking spectacles
+at night. I think that when this happened the tree was very old, and a
+considerable portion of the trunk, from the ground upwards, was
+decayed. I remember once noticing an extremely large tree which had
+caught alight from a grass fire that had swept past. I returned along
+the same track more than six weeks afterwards. The grass was springing
+up luxuriantly, it had reached a height of several inches. But the tree
+was still burning. I camped near it; the tall, massive trunk, glowing
+on the windward side like a column of ignited charcoal and sending out
+a great tress of flame to leeward, was a sight never to be forgotten.
+
+The unfortunate balala "the people who are dead" those miserable
+fugitives from savage justice, or, more often, remnants of clans
+scattered in war, often perished in veld conflagrations. They wandered,
+naked and weaponless, in the neutral areas lying between the
+territories of the different tribes, preferring the mercy of the lion
+and the hyena to that of man. The appliances of these people for
+kindling a fire, and thus sending the conflagration on for the purpose
+of creating a zone of safety, were often quite inadequate for dealing
+with a sudden emergency.
+
+I only know of one instance of a white man falling a victim to a veld
+fire. I forget this individual's name, although I knew him well. He,
+seeing the flames approaching, reached what he thought was a place of
+safety, for the grass was very sparse, and he reckoned on being able to
+beat out the fire as it approached him. But he had not taken into
+account the contingency of the wind freshening and flinging forward
+sheets of flame from the places where the grass was longer. This
+actually happened. He got badly, but not fatally, scorched. A
+search-party found him and he was assisted back to camp. Next day he
+was placed in a rough litter and carried by four natives in the rear
+of the little caravan. The day was sultry, and he suffered great pain,
+so he persuaded the natives to set down the litter in a shady place,
+meaning to get them to carry him on when the afternoon cooled.
+
+The rest of the party proceeded on its course, unaware that the injured
+man had been left behind. A grass fire was seen to sweep over the
+country just crossed, but no particular notice was taken of it. In this
+fire the unhappy loiterer had been burnt to death. His bearers, when
+they saw the flames approaching, lost their heads, and, instead of
+burning a patch to be used as a refuge, fled. There are, surely, few
+cases on record of such bad luck as this.
+
+The most enchanting scenery in the Low Country was to be found in the
+vicinity of the rivers. These, considering that they are African, do
+not lie very far apart. Yet sometimes there were long stretches of
+waterless country to be traversed, and severe suffering from thirst was
+a possibility occasionally realized. Besides, as we were practically
+explorers in a country without human inhabitants or recognizable
+landmarks, we might unwittingly pass the bend of a winding river and
+thus recede from badly needed water. The general landscape was, as a
+rule, so flat, and the trees were so high, that one could draw no
+inference as to the whereabouts of a river from the configuration of
+the country.
+
+But what joy it was, after a long, hot, fatiguing tramp, during which
+water had to be doled out in sips, to reach a mighty stream, perhaps
+several hundred yards wide, where one might drink one's fill, wash the
+grime from one's clothes and person, and loll in the shade of lordly
+trees.
+
+In writing of those old days I find it hard to realize that the
+localities described are still in existence. I suppose the rivers are
+yet running in the old channels, but as the rainfall has been steadily
+decreasing they are not likely to be today the full, impetuous torrents
+of liquid crystal that I remember. Moreover, the game, that rapidly
+moving, kaleidoscopic pageant of varied animal life which made their
+forested banks a wonder and a joy, has disappeared.
+
+Of all the lovely scenes through which I have wandered, the landscapes
+along the Olifant and the Letaba dwell in my memory as the loveliest.
+In those one-time almost inviolate retreats were to be found everything
+best calculated to delight the heart of the hunter or the lover of
+nature. I am, of course, assuming winter as the season, for in summer
+the worm "that pierces the liver and blackens the blood" made these
+regions almost uninhabitable for Europeans. But from June to October,
+inclusive, the country was healthy, the sky rarely held a cloud, the
+sun shone mildly, and the night was seldom, if ever, cold.
+
+Although the banks of the Low Country rivers were usually heavily
+wooded, one found here and there wide grassy glades opening to the
+waterside. The country being flat, the river-courses were usually wide,
+with many large rocks standing high out of the water. Between these
+the streams eddy and wind. Sometimes one would camp near a rapid, and
+below this a deep pool was invariably to be found; in such pools the
+sea-cows, snorting and champing, might sometimes be heard throughout
+the night.
+
+The process of crossing rivers was believed to be dangerous on account
+of crocodiles, which were often to be seen in large numbers. These
+reptiles, however, seldom did any damage except in the vicinity of a
+native kraal, where they used occasionally to seize women and children
+who came down to fill their pots and calabashes with water. I once saw
+a dog taken by one; at least, I assumed that such was the case. The dog
+was swimming across a deep channel between two shallows when it gave a
+yelp and disappeared. There were many crocodiles in the river where
+this happened.
+
+The rivers were full of fish, but I never carried any tackle, so could
+not catch any. But the natives of the lower reaches of the Olifant, the
+Letaba, and the Limpopo often spear them. Snakes I seldom saw in the
+Low Country. This may be accounted for by the circumstance that most of
+my wanderings there took place in winter. During the course of my
+various trips I did not see more than seven or eight snakes altogether.
+
+Curiously enough, I saw three of these within the space of a few
+minutes. Near the Lower Letaba I reached a circular depression the end
+of a long, winding, dry water-course late one afternoon. The spot was
+so beautiful that I decided to camp there, instead of going on several
+miles farther, as I had intended. In the depression was a clear pool
+surrounded by great rocks and tall trees. The ground in the vicinity
+was carpeted with bright green grass.
+
+After selecting a spot for my camp, I sent one of the bearers to
+collect fuel, and the other to fetch water for the purpose of making
+soup. The pool was less than fifty yards away. I heard the second
+bearer give a yell; then he came running back, shouting that he had
+seen a big snake. Picking up my rifle, I ran to the spot he indicated,
+and saw about six feet of thick python disappearing among the creepers
+which lay tangled over the rocks. I fired at the creature but missed
+it.
+
+In returning to the camping-place I nearly trod on a large puff-adder;
+this I killed with a stone. Almost immediately afterwards the boy who
+had been sent for firewood came up with a vicious-looking black and
+yellow serpent squirming, broken-backed, on his stick. This was more
+than my nerves could stand, so after filling the billy and the canteens
+with water, we retired to a spot a few hundred yards away, up the
+hillside. Here the vegetation was less rank, so we felt safer.
+
+Next morning, just before daybreak, we heard a lion killing close to
+the water. After day had fully broken, I went down and found some
+hyenas breakfasting on the remains of a waterbuck.
+
+Sleep's worst enemy in the Low Country was the hyena. The voice of this
+beast is horrible; it begins with a guttural growl and ends with a
+high-pitched screech. Although cowardly to a degree, hyenas would often
+come to within less than a hundred yards of the fire. Occasionally they
+might be heard on several sides at once, uttering their unspeakable
+yells. We always noticed that the smell of roast meat attracted them;
+when meat was boiled, they were not nearly so troublesome. A shot would
+always send them scampering to a distance, but cartridges were not
+things to be wasted by the traveler in the Low Country.
+
+On arriving at Lourenco Marques in 1874 I met a man named Good, whom I
+had known slightly up country. I have been told but I do not guarantee
+the statement that he was the original of Rider Haggard's "Allan
+Quatermain." From Good I heard sad news; poor Pat Foote, one of my best
+friends, had died in the fortress during the previous night. I went up
+at once to see his remains; they lay on a wretched truckle-bed in a
+dingy cell.
+
+The funeral took place that afternoon. The grave was dug among some
+cocoanut palms out beyond the fetid swamp which lay in those days a
+crescent of foulness on three sides of the town. A wall separated the
+swamp from the houses, and over this wall the sewage used to be cast.
+Poles, bearing human heads, stuck out here and there. The swamp was
+crossed by a causeway.
+
+The proceedings were marked by a melancholy lack of dignity. Several of
+those forming the cortege were drunk. Among them was a Portuguese
+officer. The military guard at the causeway gate failed to present
+arms, so the officer rushed at the men and belabored them with a stick.
+However, poor Foote was too sound asleep to be disturbed by such
+trifles. I wonder whether, besides myself, any who took part in those
+squalid obsequies are alive. I believe the palms which shaded that
+lonely grave have been long since cut down and that the town has
+extended over the site.
+
+In the early part of 1875, after I left "The Reef," I worked for a
+short time near the head of the creek. One day a friend named McCallum
+came and showed me a piece of gold he had picked up on a headland which
+jutted over the Blyde River near Peach tree Creek. Next day was Sunday,
+so we went together to the spot and took a prospect. The result was
+most encouraging; not alone was there a good yield for the amount of
+wash we had panned, but the quality of the gold suggested that it
+belonged to a genuine lead. Next morning we struck our tents and moved
+down to the scene of the discovery. As the area was not far enough from
+the nearest proclaimed diggings to entitle us to an extended miner's
+right, we just marked out a claim apiece and made no report of the
+matter. We pitched our tents in a little grove of peach-trees below the
+bluff, close to the river bank.
+
+The thing was a "surface" proposition; that is to say, the wash was
+only a few inches deep; it lay on a soft slate bottom. We fixed our
+sluice box in a rapid of the river which was some two hundred yards
+from the claim, and was reached by a footpath we scarped down the face
+of the bluff. We hired a couple of boys to carry down the wash. I did
+the pick and shovel work, which included the filling of the gunny-bags.
+McCallum washed out each installment as it arrived. This was the
+easiest contract I ever took on; it meant about one minute's work
+alternating with nearly ten minutes' rest, all day long. The first
+couple of days' work gave splendid results; from the gravel cleared off
+a space about eight feet square we got, so far as I can remember, about
+a pound weight of gold.
+
+Naturally, we considered that at length our fortunes were made. Our
+claims measured together forty five thousand square feet, the area we
+had cleared was but sixty four. The latter number, when worked into the
+former, went nearly seven hundred times. And the surface appeared to be
+exactly the same over the whole area.
+
+Assuming that any reliance could be placed on arithmetic, we were
+potential capitalists. We began to speculate as to what we would do
+with our money. 14,000 apiece was a large sum. I think McCallum decided
+to go to Scotland, there to recommence some lawsuit he had been obliged
+to drop for want of funds. My own firm intention was to organize an
+expedition to the Zambezi not to go "foot-slogging," as I had been
+doing in the Low Country, but with properly equipped wagons, the most
+modern armament, salted horses and all the rest of it. Well, for one
+night, at all events, we enjoyed ourselves. I do not think we slept at
+all.
+
+But we never found so much as another half-ounce of gold in those
+claims; we had struck the one little "patch" they contained. We hired
+more boys, we ran prospecting trenches in every direction, we worked
+late and early often carrying the bags of wash down the scarped
+footpath ourselves, long after the boys had knocked off. But all was in
+vain. Our pound of gold melted like an icicle in the sun. We were, in
+local parlance, "bust."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+Prospectors start for Swaziland--Rumors as to their fate--MacLean and I
+decide to follow them--Precautions against lions--The Crocodile River--The
+Boer and the pessimist--Game and honey--Crocodiles--Difficulties in
+crossing the river--MacLean nearly drowned in the rapids--I go on alone
+First sight of De Kaap--A labyrinth of dongas--I reach Swaziland--Baboons
+On the trail of the prospectors--The mystery solved--'Ntshindeen's Kraal
+Swazi hospitality--How I became celebrated--A popular show--Repairing guns
+Character of the Swazis--Contempt for money and love of salt--Prospecting
+My welcome outstayed--A dangerous crisis--Return to the Crocodile River
+The rhinoceros--Our bearers decamp--We abandon our goods--Attacked by
+fever--Terror of partridges--Arrival at Mac Mac.
+
+In the early part of 1875 a large party of Australian prospectors
+started from Pilgrim's Rest to seek for gold on the north-eastern
+borders of Swaziland. They took with them a light wagon which could
+easily be taken to pieces and a span of oxen. They were accompanied by
+guides. At that time little was known of the country beyond the
+boundaries of the Transvaal on its eastern side. Swaziland was, in
+fact, an unknown region. But rumor was rife as to fabulously rich
+deposits of gold in the tracts lying to the east and south-east of
+Lydenburg. There were, needless to say, no maps of the country in
+question. But under such circumstances the less known of any given
+region, the greater its fascination.
+
+Some six weeks having passed without news of the party, the camp
+seethed with wild report as to its fortune. Some maintained that the
+Swazis, who were believed to be averse to the opening up of their
+country, had wiped out the intruders. More or less circumstantial
+details of the supposed massacre were current, but critical examination
+proved such to be quite without foundation. Then came wafts of rumor to
+the effect that the prospectors had "struck it rich," but were
+determined to keep the strike to themselves. My youthful imagination
+inclined to the latter view. I had a friend who knew the Swazis well,
+and he held it to be unlikely in the last degree that a party of
+peaceful prospectors would be molested. Accordingly, I made up my mind
+to get on the trail of the adventurers and stick to it until I found
+them.
+
+My "mate" at the time was a man whom I will call MacLean. That was not
+his name, but it will do as well as if it were. MacLean belonged to an
+old Scottish family, and had brought a suit before the House of Lords
+in which he claimed a certain peerage to which great estates and many
+titles were attached. He failed through being unable to prove the
+marriage of one of his ancestors. We had made a small strike of gold on
+one of the terraces of the Blyde River, but this was soon worked out,
+and we spent most of our gains in pursuing a vanished "lead." After
+some hesitation MacLean agreed to accompany me.
+
+Our united means amounted to less than five pounds sterling. This we
+invested in flour, tea, strong boots, and other indispensables. We
+possessed an old gun a double-barreled fowling-piece that had once been
+a flint-lock. The spring driving one hammer was too weak to discharge a
+percussion cap, that of the other was just strong enough to cause
+detonation on an average twice out of three attempts. We could get no
+bullet mould the gun being of an unusual caliber so we used to chop off
+chunks of lead and roll them between flat stones until the requisite
+degrees of size and rotundity had been attained. By using stones with
+the surface slightly roughened we could always reduce the size of the
+bullet, but the work of doing so was laborious in the extreme.
+
+We hired two Bapedi boys to carry some of our goods. One was named
+Indogozan; I forget the name of the other. They turned out to be lazy
+scoundrels, and gave endless trouble by loitering. On weighing our
+"swags" at Mac Mac the day we started, Maclean's and mine tipped the
+scale at fifty-six pounds each. Those of the boys weighed,
+respectively, about fifteen pounds less.
+
+We descended the mountain range at Spitzkop. The trail was easily
+found. After entering the Low Country we halted each night at a camping
+place of the party we were pursuing, and built our fire on the cold
+ashes of their one-time hearth. Occasionally we reached some obstacle
+over which no wagon could possibly have been drawn, and where there
+were evidences that these practical explorers had taken the vehicle to
+pieces and carried it over. Game was not very plentiful; even had it
+been so our gun was not of the kind to do much execution. As we
+approached the Crocodile River Valley lions began to make themselves
+heard at night. MacLean was nervous; I fear it was my habit to trade on
+this. It was he who used to collect an immense pile of fuel every
+night, and I felt I could turn in and sleep soundly fortified with the
+knowledge that the watch-fire would not be left untended.
+
+At the Crocodile River we met with a serious check. There was no drift,
+and the stream was still swollen from the summer rains. Drawn up on the
+opposite bank was a raft, by means of this the prospectors had crossed.
+We camped and considered the situation.
+
+We found two men with a wagon at the river. The owner of the wagon was
+an old Boer named Niekerk; he owned a farm in the Lydenburg District,
+but spent most of his life wandering about in search of game. Niekerk's
+companion was an ex-man-of-war's man named Rawlings, one of the most
+ill-tempered and pessimistic beings I have ever met. He was small,
+hatchet faced, and foxy in appearance. His face was much disfigured by
+a bullet-wound through both jaws received, so he said, in a skirmish
+with slavers near Zanzibar. Rawlings's disposition suggested a possible
+descent from Mr. Squeers and Mrs. Gummidge.
+
+Niekerk and Rawlings were a strangely assorted couple. They could not
+quarrel, for the reason that Niekerk had no English and Rawlings no
+Dutch. Niekerk held stoutly to the theory that all Englishmen were mad,
+more or less, and excused his companion's peculiarities accordingly. He
+had met Rawlings tramping in the Transvaal and given him a lift.
+Rawlings was not particular as to locality, having inverted the theory
+of Dr. Pangloss, and settled to his own satisfaction that this was the
+worst of all possible worlds, he held all places to be more or less
+equally vile. So he had followed Niekerk grumblingly down the mountain
+pass leading to the Low Country, and had been wasting his pessimism on
+the desert air of the Crocodile River Valley for several weeks before
+our arrival.
+
+Game was here more plentiful. I borrowed Niekerk's rifle and shot a
+waterbuck and several klipspringers. Our camp was surrounded by immense
+domes of granite, and each morning the summit of almost every dome was
+occupied by several klipspringers. The bearers were much delighted,
+they had hated our diet of unvarying askoek. We also found quantities
+of honey. Honey-birds were numerous, and ever ready to oblige by
+pointing out a bees' nest. The scenery, was very beautiful. To the
+north-west towered some of the loftiest peaks of the Drakensberg. The
+bare, granite domes around us were almost hemispherical in shape. They
+arose out of swamp rooted forest. The vegetation was very rich.
+
+The problem as to how we were to cross the river now became very
+pressing indeed. We could not afford to waste any time, as our food
+supply was extremely limited. The weather was hot and moist, so we
+could not manage to dry any meat; the flies got at it at once. One of
+two things had to be done: we had to cross the river within a very few
+days or else turn back. And turning back was a thing I had always hated
+doing.
+
+The river was indeed a formidable obstacle. It showed no signs of
+subsiding, for thunderstorms still broke on and behind the mountain
+range. In the vicinity where the raft lay the channel was about a
+hundred yards wide and was very deep. The current here was sluggish,
+but just above was a long and dangerous rapid with many rocks
+projecting from the water. On these rocks crocodiles of various sizes
+used to bask with half opened jaws. Around the head of each saurian
+several little birds would flutter and hop, occasionally entering the
+toothed death-trap without the least apparent fear. These birds were
+useful in picking parasites from between the monsters' teeth.
+
+One day in exploring the river bank above the rapids in search of a
+drift, I walked along the edge of the water immediately at the foot of
+a steep sand-dune about fifteen feet in height. The top of this, but I
+was unaware of the fact, was occupied by a large number of crocodiles
+of all sizes, they ranged from one to about fifteen feet in length.
+These took alarm and flung themselves into the water, both in front and
+behind me. One cut me across the shin with its tail in passing. I carry
+the mark of the cut to this day.
+
+To return to the problem of crossing the river. We had brought with us
+some strong, light, hempen rope for the purpose of lowering our swags
+down steep and difficult places. This, with infinite labor we unwound,
+separating the strands and joining them again lengthwise. The result
+was still too short for our purpose, so we sought in the forest for
+monkey-ropes. These we crushed, and, after separating and partly drying
+the fibers, we twisted the latter into a strong, light cable.
+
+When we judged that our cable, plus the line a was long enough to reach
+the other side, we attempted to carry one end of the latter across the
+river for the purpose of towing back the raft. Over and over again one
+of the bearers and I made the attempt, but when we got about three
+parts of the way across, the slow, steady pressure of the current would
+fill the bend of the line and sweep us down stream. We had spent most
+of the previous day in shooting at crocodiles on the rocks in the
+rapid, for the purpose of driving them from the neighborhood. We had
+wounded several. On the day of our attempt not a saurian was to be
+seen. Nevertheless, I felt extremely nervous. The carcass of one
+monster we had wounded afterwards washed up; it measured upwards of
+sixteen feet.
+
+After our repeated failures to carry the line across, nothing remained
+to be done but to attempt a crossing at the rapids. This we succeeded
+in doing, but the attempt nearly cost MacLean his life. He was an
+indifferent swimmer. The day was blazing hot. I stripped, but MacLean,
+disregarding every one's advice, insisted on swimming in his shirt. We
+had to creep slowly from rock to rock, through tumbling water, with an
+occasional short swim through a deeper channel. The river was here much
+wider than at the scene of our former attempt.
+
+When we were about half-way across MacLean stumbled. As he attempted to
+recover his foothold, facing the time down-stream, the current filled
+his shirt from behind and carried it over his head. Then he rolled
+helplessly down the rapid towards the deep reach. I floundered after,
+and succeeded in overtaking him. He was quite exhausted; it was only
+with great difficulty that I succeeded in getting him to the bank,
+fortunately to that side on which the raft lay.
+
+After a short rest we launched the raft, or, as it turned out to be, a
+sort of square, flat bottomed boat, with sides only a few inches deep,
+and built of planks. But it was shrunken and gaping from the heat, and
+at once filled with water. It was sufficiently buoyant to float when
+empty, but would not sustain any weight. We drew it out again; caulking
+was out of the question, so we collected dry reeds and tied them into
+bundles with grass ropes made on the spot. We fastened these bundles to
+the bottom and sides, and launched our galley once more. This time we
+propelled her triumphantly, but very slowly, to the other side, where
+landing was comparatively easy. We had found in her two rough wooden
+paddles.
+
+I had, by this time, been exposed stark naked to the sun for over five
+hours. I felt and no doubt looked like a raw beefsteak. Maclean's foot
+had got severely hurt in the course of his adventure, and he was much
+bruised and battered.
+
+Accordingly it was decided that I should go on with Indogozan and his
+companion, leaving MacLean behind.
+
+So next afternoon the Pessimist and MacLean ferried the two bearers and
+me across. The Pessimist bade me a doleful farewell, and suggested that
+I should leave any mementos for my friends behind, with instructions as
+to their disposal. To comfort him I wrote the names and addresses of my
+nearest relations on a leaf torn out of my pocket-book, and gave him
+the latter. He was absolutely certain that the prospectors had met
+their doom under the Swazi spears, and that a like fate would be mine.
+
+My course lay along a winding pathway until it topped the first ridge,
+then it turned abruptly to the left to avoid a swampy hollow. However,
+a rhinoceros, startled by my approach, plunged through this hollow,
+clearing a pathway through the dense brushwood, so I followed his
+tracks and ascended the hill on the other side. Here, as I expected, I
+again found the old trail. That rhinoceros saved me a detour of several
+miles.
+
+Night was now falling; the full moon arose as I stepped forward
+briskly; the trail lay clear across the long grass. It led mainly
+uphill for about fifteen miles, with occasional undulations. Once I
+heard lions roaring in the distance. The bearers begged of me to halt
+and allow them to light a fire, but I was so delighted at being safely
+across the river that I determined not to stop. However, we eventually
+reached the edge of an almost precipitous slope, which fell into a
+hollow brimming with dense, snow white mist. A solitary tree stood at
+the very edge of the steep; here I decided to camp.
+
+When I awoke next morning I was wet through and chilled to the bone.
+The mist was so dense that objects six feet away were almost invisible.
+After some difficulty we managed to gather twigs from the tree
+sufficient to make a "billy" of tea. The light waxed; a strange and
+undefinable sensation thrilled me. I seemed to be near some surprise.
+For a considerable time the air was perfectly still. Then, suddenly, a
+movement became noticeable; a sudden breeze sang out of the west, and
+the mist-shroud rolled away, leaving a perfectly clear atmosphere.
+
+To my dying day I shall never forget the sight that met my gaze. I was
+just on the northern verge of the Great Kaap Basin. It is in extent
+probably thirty miles long by twenty wide, and is shaped somewhat like
+a pear the larger end being scooped out of the mighty mass of the
+Drakensberg. At the narrow end the hills dwindled somewhat, but
+straight across the widest part of the valley the dark-blue mountains
+of Swaziland were piled in abrupt immensity, shimmering through an
+opaline medium which I cannot describe as haze, for the atmosphere was
+as clear and limpid as a dew-drop. This medium seemed to make the more
+distant salient contours miraculously palpable, and to fill every
+hollow with richest mystery.
+
+Tier upon mighty tier the Delectable Mountains arose, the higher peaks
+shining in the new sunlight. I must have felt like Linnaeus when for
+the first time he saw a field of gorse in bloom.
+
+With a glad and hopeful heart I followed the trail in its zigzag course
+down the steep mountain-side, which was vocal with the chanting call of
+myriads of partridges. Covey after covey flushed around me; the whole
+country, far and near, seemed to be alive with them. Before the end of
+that trip I got to hate and dread partridges more than any living
+thing, but that morning I loved them.
+
+Now arose another difficulty: the bottom of the Kaap Valley, towards
+the centre, was a labyrinth of dongas, and the trail, hitherto so
+definite, split up into innumerable strands. These crossed and
+re-crossed each other bewilderingly, like the fibers of an unraveled
+rope. The dongas were both wide and deep; in many instances they were
+quite impassable. Occasionally I would find myself on the tip of a
+promontory, the sides of which were precipices perhaps several yards
+high. These were footed in jungle, which sometimes was quite
+impenetrable. However, like Theseus, I eventually managed; to win
+through, although no kind Ariadne came to my assistance. But I had
+hopelessly lost the trail.
+
+It was dusk when I reached the foothills of the Swaziland mountains.
+Far off, as I approached, I could see the twinkling lights at the
+kraals on the high ledges. I camped at the foot of a very high, naked
+peak of granite, which was almost sheer on the side facing me. This
+peak turned out to be densely populated by, baboons. At intervals, all
+night long, pandemonium reigned among these brutes. Occasionally a
+general fight seemed to take place; then stones would come crashing
+down the face of the precipice, sometimes falling in dangerous
+proximity to the camp. Once or twice the wrath of the community was
+apparently directed against one individual, who would be hunted round
+and round the upper zone of the peak. When caught this (presumable)
+delinquent's yells of anguish would peal shrilly above the hoarse
+chorus of his pursuers' angry voices.
+
+Next morning I struck eastward along the base of the foothills,
+searching for the trail. The country was intersected by many pathways,
+but none of these showed signs of a wagon having passed. It seemed,
+moreover, inconceivable that a vehicle could have ascended such a
+lofty, steep mountain range as the one which towered on my right. I
+noticed some cattle grazing on a high ledge, so I wended thither. Here
+I found three herd-boys, and they gave me the information I was
+seeking. The prospectors had ascended the mountains through a valley
+still farther to the eastward and had gone on. They had been heard of
+very far ahead still going. With somewhat damped enthusiasm I followed.
+
+Well, I kept like a hound on the trail of the prospectors right through
+Swaziland. When the trail turned suddenly westward, I threw up the
+sponge, for I immediately and correctly inferred what had happened: the
+party had given up its quest and returned, taking a course through that
+part of the Transvaal known as New Scotland. Their prospecting could
+not have amounted to much. I often, long subsequently, wondered as to
+what their feelings were when they heard of the discovery of the Sheba
+Reef, for they must have walked over almost the very spot.
+
+Sadly, and with chastened feelings, I began to retrace my steps. My two
+Bapedi were in constant dread of their lives, for an old and deadly
+feud existed between their tribe and the Swazis. They followed me like
+my shadow, sometimes in a most embarrassing manner. Having been on my
+forward journey hospitably entertained at the kraal of a prominent
+induna named 'Ntshindeen, I decided to return there and rest. I felt
+half-dead from fatigue and semi-starvation. My clothing was in rags.
+The only, supplies I had left were a little meal and some salt.
+
+At 'Ntshindeen's kraal I spent a few halcyon days. For one reason or
+another, possibly on account of my extremely youthful appearance, I was
+treated with great consideration. A very large hut, the whole inside of
+which was lined with the finest basket-work, was given me to occupy. It
+was the beginning of the season of green maize; every morning an armful
+of luscious cobs was deposited at my door. An immense earthen pot of
+honey and a skin milk sack were placed at my disposal. All day long I
+would drowse under a tree which stood within a few yards of the hut
+door, with Indogozan or his companion waving a bough to keep off the
+flies. I only woke up to eat or to smoke. The prospectors were
+forgotten; so were MacLean and the Pessimist. I tasted, to the fullest
+extent, the sweetness of long-needed rest.
+
+But the evenings were somewhat trying to one of my bashful temperament.
+My fame had spread abroad; from distant kraals people flocked to see me
+every night. For the one and only, time in my life I knew what it was
+to be celebrated.
+
+One very old woman, a "doctor," took me under her patronage. I would
+lie near a small fire towards the back of the hut, the two Bapedi
+crouching behind me. The old woman, with a sheaf of dry reeds in her
+withered hand, would squat on the floor near my head. Then the hut
+would fill up with men and women, who would arrange themselves in a
+crescent shaped mass, with the front rank lying down, the next
+crouching, those farthest from me standing.
+
+The old woman would select a few suitable reeds from the bundle, light
+them as a torch, which she held so that I would be illuminated, and
+deliver a lecture. All my points would be gone over in detail the
+unusual color of my eyes, the whiteness of my skin, and the length of
+my hair were the occasion of much comment. By request I would take off
+my shirt or pull up a leg of my much tattered trousers. Farther than
+this modesty prevented my going. Sometimes a similar ordeal would have
+to be gone through several times in the course of an evening.
+
+The only work I did was in the matter of repairing guns, of which, by
+the way, the Swazis possessed but very few. I had a knife, the handle
+of which contained a screwdriver and various other tools; the condition
+of my own gun necessitated the carrying of a nipple wrench. The latter
+was a very old instrument; it had sockets graded to fit nipples of
+various sizes. The trouble with the Swazi guns was almost invariably
+dirt or rust. Some I put right without much difficulty; others were
+quite beyond the possibility of repair.
+
+After a somewhat wide experience I can truthfully say that the Swazis,
+at the time I knew them, were the finest savages I ever came in contact
+with. They were gentlemen in all essentials, they were manly, brave,
+and independent. The white race had not yet degraded them by contact
+with its corroding fringe.
+
+The following incident will serve to illustrate their courage: Six of
+'Ntshindeen's men, armed with nothing but spears and sticks, came upon
+a full-grown lion among the foothills through which I had journeyed.
+The brute was a well known depredator among the herds. He had, in fact,
+given up killing game in favor of the easier pursuit of killing cattle.
+He had also killed two herd boys. The six attacked without hesitation.
+They slew the lion, but in the struggle three men lost their lives. Two
+were killed on the spot; the third had his arm chewed to a pulp. He was
+brought back to his kraal, but gangrene at once set in, and he died on
+the third day. The other three were badly mauled, but they recovered.
+
+The Swazis knew nothing of money, except that it was supposed to be
+worth something in parts remote from their then-isolated land. The
+value of cash was gauged according to size; you could get more for a
+penny than for a sovereign but not much for either. Gunpowder, lead,
+and caps they were, of course, anxious to obtain for even if an
+individual did not own a gun, it was always possible to borrow such a
+weapon.
+
+But the thing they valued above all else was salt. Their country
+contained no saltpans, and they were cut off from the sea by a strip of
+pestiferous jungle, which, moreover, belonged to the Portuguese or was
+supposed so to belong. Fortunately I had brought with me a small bag of
+salt; it contained about a pound in weight. Men used to come from long
+distances to beg for a pinch. As I did not want the bag to be seen, it
+was my practice, when salt was asked for, to enter the hut and bring
+out a small pinch in my hand. On such occasions the old show-woman
+would watch for me, and after I had transferred the salt to the one who
+came for it, she used to seize my hand and lick out the palm.
+
+After a week's rest I began prospecting in the neighborhood. I must
+have "panned" in the present Sheba Valley and all over the vicinity, in
+which Barberton now stands. It was only alluvial gold for which I
+sought; there was a theory current among diggers of those days that
+South African quartz contained no metal. It was thought that quartz
+reefs had been subjected to such heat that all metals had been
+expelled. "Color" I found almost everywhere I tried, but no coarse
+gold.
+
+Soon after I commenced prospecting I noticed a change in the demeanor
+of the natives; they no longer treated me with the same friendliness.
+In this matter they were, it must be confessed, actuated by sound
+instinctive considerations; it was the subsequent discovery of gold
+that caused their sad deterioration. 'Ntshindeen, who was always my
+good friend but who often had to be away from home on the king's
+business, gave me a confidential warning to beware of the boys, as they
+did not like me. This dislike was shown mainly in a petty persecution
+of my two Bapedi, to whom insulting remarks were often made. I felt I
+had outstayed my welcome, so prepared to depart.
+
+Accordingly, one morning I packed the swags, distributed the remainder
+of the salt among the elders of the kraal giving the old woman who used
+to lick my palm an extra allowance bade farewell to my kind hosts, and
+started. About five and twenty big boys several of them almost men in
+stature surrounded my little party. All these boys had sticks; several
+carried assegais. Just below the kraal, on the steep hillside, was a
+fence with an open gap; through this I had to pass. The boys ran
+forward and collected just beyond the gap. A number of men stood
+together, about a hundred yards away. It was abundantly clear that
+trouble was coming.
+
+Several boys collected behind me as I approached the gap. I sent the
+two Bapedi through first. They went in fear and trembling; I followed
+immediately after. As the second of my bearers passed through the gap a
+big boy sprang forward and seized his swag. I at once struck the
+assailant a smashing blow on the chest with the butt-end of my gun. He
+fell headlong among his companions. I then, with deliberation, cocked
+both barrels, walked slowly forward, and told the Bapedi to follow. The
+boys opened a passage through their ranks and we passed through. Then
+the men began to shout and jeer, and the boys, stung by this, ran down
+the hillside after us, brandishing their sticks. One poised his
+assegai, as though he were about to throw it, but I leveled my gun at
+him and he swerved. I then turned, and we went on without further
+molestation. But the war-cry pealed forth, and for a long time we could
+see people running hither and thither among the kraals.
+
+I believe that on this occasion my Bapedi had a narrow escape, although
+I do not think any harm was intended to me, personally. A few months
+afterwards a prospector named Coffin was in the same vicinity. His two
+boys, also Bapedi, were killed in his presence.
+
+I had for some days been suffering from intestinal disturbance and a
+slight headache, so strongly suspected that I had contracted fever. It
+took me sixty long and fatiguing hours to get back to the Crocodile
+River. I arrived there after dusk, and shouted for the raft. MacLean
+and the Pessimist soon paddled across. The latter was, I am quite
+convinced, much disappointed at my having turned up. During supper,
+while I was relating my experiences, the Pessimist interjected the
+remark that I was a liar. After a more or less drawn battle, MacLean
+and Niekerk restored peace, so that both supper and narrative were
+finished without further interruption. But Niekerk, who had been unable
+to understand the words which gave rise to the disturbance, was
+confirmed in his ideas as to the essential insanity of the English.
+
+Our little patrol tent stood about ten yards from the tail of Niekerk's
+wagon. One morning at daybreak a big black rhinoceros stood grunting
+and sniffing in the space between. The barrel of Niekerk's rifle
+protruded slowly from the wagon-tilt. When the animal felt the sting of
+the bullet it swung round and went off at a gallop along the river
+bank. Rhino could not have been much hurt, for his spoor was to be seen
+a few days afterwards fifteen miles away, and it was still the spoor of
+a running animal. Game was now scarce, so Niekerk decided to shift his
+quarters.
+
+As we had done no prospecting to speak of, it was decided to explore
+the Crocodile Valley, in the direction of the mountains, before going
+home. We accordingly once more crossed the river, and proceeded against
+the stream along its southern bank, panning as we went. "Color" was to
+be found everywhere, but no sign of "pay." On the second morning we had
+an unpleasant surprise; the Bapedi had bolted during the night. They
+had taken nothing of our belongings. I was very wrathful; but time
+brings perspective; today I am inclined to think that these boys were
+justified in clearing out. They had been terribly frightened in
+Swaziland, and when we again crossed the river they may have thought,
+naturally enough, that we were going back.
+
+In sadness we sorted our belongings, selecting the indispensable and
+the more valuable; we cached the remainder in a krantz cleft. I wonder
+if it is still where we hid it? Then, the flood having somewhat
+subsided, we went westward along the river bank until we found a
+fordable spot. Here we crossed and, feeling much chastened, tramped off
+in the direction of Pilgrim's Rest. As we struggled on we tried to
+comfort ourselves with a foretaste of the vengeance which we would
+wreak on Indogozan and his companion when we caught them. However,
+catch them we never did.
+
+It now became quite clear that I had contracted fever. Headache,
+dizziness, internal pains, and deadly weakness had me in their grip.
+Partridges got on my nerves, and became the terror of my life. The
+country was full of these birds, which were very tame. The whirring
+scream of a covey, when it flushed around me, almost caused
+distraction. On such occasions I have often dropped flat in my tracks.
+
+In its early stages, fever is generally more or less intermittent; the
+subject generally feels either worse or better than he really is.
+Eventually, however, by hook or by crook, I got back to Mac Mac.
+MacLean went on to Pilgrim's Rest. I collapsed, and lay in my patrol
+tent, alone and untended, for several days. Then Mr. (afterwards Sir
+Drummond) Dunbar and his kind wife look me in, and tended me like truly
+Good Samaritans. I was as tough as nails. The attack proved to be a
+comparatively light one, so I managed to pull through.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+Weakness after fever--I engage in commerce--Bats--The commandeered cat--My
+commercial ineptitude--Tom Simpson surprises--Wolff--Close of my
+commercial career--Saulez--His thrashing of the bullies--Gardiner holds up
+the bank--Nicknames--Conferring a patent of nobility--"Old Nelly"--"A poor
+man's lead"--"Charlie Brown's Gully"--Swindled by my partner--My discovery
+on the mountain--A lonely time--Waiting for rain--Disappointment and
+despair--Abandonment of my work--Departure--Once more a tramp.
+
+After rallying from my bout of fever I felt terribly weak. I was kindly
+looked after for a few weeks by some friends, but it was imperatively
+necessary that I should, at the earliest possible date, once more begin
+to earn a livelihood. I was now absolutely penniless. Manual labor was,
+for the time, quite out of the question. The least physical exertion,
+more especially if it involved bending down, caused a sickening sense
+of dizziness and loss of vision. For some little time I resembled one
+of those dolls whose eyes disappear when placed in any but an upright
+position.
+
+A Natal firm, R. T. N. James & Co., had a store on top of the steep
+hill, just where the up-creek road left the Lower Camp. Mr. Shepperd,
+the manager, was a friend of mine. One day he saw me at Mac Mac, and,
+taking pity on my condition, offered me work in the shop. I jumped at
+the chance.
+
+So next Sunday I started for Pilgrim's Rest. The path, which could only
+be traversed on foot, led over the big divide, and involved a heavy
+climb, followed by a steep descent. I took all day for the journey of
+nine miles. It necessitated a terrible effort. Fortunately, however,
+the day was cool. Several times I was on the point of fainting, and was
+obliged to lie down. Strangely enough, it was the descent that I found
+more distressing than the climb. The tendons just above my knees had
+become slackened through weakness, and refused to act as a brake. I
+shall never forget that walk.
+
+The business was a general one in the most comprehensive sense of the
+term. We sold groceries, drapery, hardware, butcher's meat, bread, and
+strong drink. The building was a large one of galvanized iron. It stood
+on one side of the road, Mr. Shepperd's dwelling-house was on the
+other. The store was overrun with rats. I had to sleep on the counter,
+and the beastly vermin ran squeaking over the premises all night long.
+Often they awoke me by running across my face. I dreaded those rats
+more than ever I did the lions hi the Low Country.
+
+A friend, hearing of my plight, commandeered a cat at Mac Mac, and
+brought it to me in a bag late one Saturday night. That Eastern
+potentate we all have read of in our childhood was not more grateful to
+Dick Whittington than I was to this benefactor. The shop was closed at
+11 p.m., so, after shutting every place of exit, I let the cat out of
+the bag. Although very wild and fierce, after the long imprisonment and
+the rough journey, it soon settled down to work.
+
+That night was one of great enjoyment both to the cat and to myself. I
+lay awake for hours listening to this good angel preying on the Hosts
+of Midian which had so grievously tormented me. Next morning rats lay
+dead all over the shop, each with its head bitten off. The cat showed
+signs of scandalous repletion, but it, nevertheless, fought the good
+fight all through Sunday. It came up at my call to be stroked as though
+I had known it from kittenhood. It never made the least attempt to
+escape. Soon there was not a rat or a mouse on the premises.
+
+Commerce never attracted me. At the store of Mr. James I thoroughly
+hated my work. Mr. Shepperd, the butcher, the baker, and I formed the
+staff. The butcher and baker, respectively, killed and baked by night,
+and sold the products of their skill by day. I was principally
+responsible for the grocery and hardware branches. But I could never
+wrap up a pound of sugar neatly, however hard I might try; and the
+entries I made in the books of the firm would, I am sure, have puzzled
+the best actuary. Although a good deal of merchandise passed through my
+hands, I fear I must have done the business a lot of harm, for there
+were many complaints on the part of customers as to the manner in which
+their orders were executed.
+
+I well remember the case of a man who came very late one Saturday night
+to purchase a pair of boots. The foot-gear then affected by the digger
+was enormously heavy and had heel-plates almost as thick as horseshoes.
+The boots were joined in pairs by pieces of string, and hung by these
+on nails stuck in the rafters, the latter being about twelve feet above
+the floor. When a pair had to be lifted down, a long bamboo, with a
+spike at right angles to the end, was placed under the string.
+
+This particular customer was difficult to fit; pair after pair was
+hooked down, but none were just what he wanted. As bad luck would have
+it, he happened to look up as I was Endeavoring to get hold of a
+particularly large pair which were hanging just over his head. The
+connecting string broke, and one of the boots, iron heel-plate
+downwards, caught him across the bridge of the nose and cut him to the
+bone. For this purely accidental occurrence I was severely blamed, yet
+I never could see that I was at fault.
+
+Tom Simpson, the butcher, was a character in his way. He was a
+middle-sized, wiry, foxy-colored man, with a squeaky voice. His habits
+were retiring, and his manner was shy. He was, in fact, about the last
+man one would have thought capable of "putting up" a fight. However,
+a somewhat wide experience has taught me that appearances in this
+connection are apt to be deceitful; the quiet, unassuming man is very
+often a dangerous customer.
+
+One Sunday afternoon Simpson and I were taking a stroll together. We
+met Wolff, who had been my mate at "The Reef." Wolff was a man with the
+appearance of enormous strength, but he was slow in movement and
+muscle-bound. He very seldom touched alcohol, and the slightest
+indulgence made him quarrelsome.
+
+Wolff stopped me, and we had a conversation, about nothing in
+particular. Simpson was in a hurry to get back to the scene of his
+work, so he asked me if I were going on with him. Wolff, who evidently
+had been drinking although he was by no means intoxicated resented
+this, and made use of some very insulting language. Simpson made no
+reply, so Wolff gave him a hard slap across the face. Simpson retreated
+a few steps, rolled up his sleeves, and stood in an attitude of
+defense. Wolff rushed at him like a furious bull, and I began to wonder
+as to where I would be able to borrow a wheelbarrow for the purpose of
+taking home the Simpson remains.
+
+Then followed a most astounding spectacle. For a few minutes Simpson
+acted strictly on the defensive, retreating before his antagonist and
+guarding himself from the sledge-hammer blows. I noticed that he was
+very smart on his feet always a good sign in a boxing-match and that he
+was cunningly drawing Wolff uphill after him. Wolff began to breathe
+hard and to perspire; I felt that the barrow might not be wanted after
+all.
+
+Suddenly Simpson's tactics changed; he got in over Wolff's guard and,
+in as many seconds, planted six terrible blows on the latter's face.
+With both eyes closed, his nose streaming blood, and his lips badly
+tattered, Wolff collapsed a melancholy object-lesson of the truth of
+the preacher's text: "The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to
+the strong."
+
+About four weeks brought my commercial career to a close. The manager
+and I parted good friends, but he made no secret of his satisfaction at
+getting rid of me. I was as unskillful in the matter of tying up
+parcels at the end of my term of service as I was at the beginning. But
+I had been of some use in the matter of clearing the store of rats. The
+cat and I had become very good friends; it was quite a wrench parting
+with that devoted animal. If the progeny, which were expected to arrive
+soon after I left, only inherited the keenness and skill of their
+mother, there ought not to have been a rat left, a year afterwards, in
+the Northern Transvaal.
+
+279
+
+
+
+Reminiscences of a
+
+Tom Simpson and his David-like victory over Goliath-Wolff reminds me of
+another man who was very skilful in the use of his hands. He went by
+the name of Saulez. I know his real name, but will not mention it,
+although I am absolutely convinced that its concealment was not due to
+any unworthy cause. Saulez was young, very slightly built, fair-haired,
+and almost effeminate in appearance. But he was the wickedest and most
+wonderful fighter I have ever seen floor a bully. Although he
+thoroughly enjoyed using his fists, he never sought a quarrel. There
+were four men in the creek who were always spoiling for a fight. They
+were rather dreaded, for on Saturday afternoons they used to go from
+bar to bar, looking for an excuse to thrash somebody. In the natural
+course of events Saulez met them, and a fight or rather a series of
+fights was the result. He thrashed them soundly in detail without
+getting so much as a scratch.
+
+A couple of weeks afterwards, three of the four laid in wait for Saulez
+and tackled him collectively. He again thrashed them, and with the
+greatest ease.
+
+On another occasion Saulez struck a man by mistake. He immediately
+apologized, but the man refused to be placated. Saulez then offered to
+allow the aggrieved party to strike him, promising not to return the
+blow. But there was a condition attached: if the man took advantage of
+the offer Saulez would afterwards "go for" him. The man, who was
+powerfully built, thought he had the game in his hands, so he hauled
+off and struck Saulez a terrible blow between the eyes. But he soon had
+cause to regret his action, for he got a most severe thrashing.
+
+I once saw a very smart thing done by an old Australian digger named
+Gardiner. He was the one after whom "Gardiner's Point," just below the
+Middle Camp, was named. One afternoon he appeared at the Lower Camp
+with a barrow, a pick, a shovel, a pan, and four pegs. The latter he
+gravely hammered into the ground, enclosing a square with sides of a
+hundred and fifty feet. In the middle of this stood the local branch of
+the Natal Bank. Gardiner then entered the bank and gave notice to the
+manager to remove the building, as the site was required for mining
+purposes. This proceeding was strictly in accordance with the Mining
+Law. The person giving notice in such a case would, of course, be
+obliged to pay the expenses of removal.
+
+Before the manager had time to recover from his surprise, Gardiner went
+to a spot on the right-hand side of the steps leading to the bank
+entrance, loosened a couple of square yards of the surface ground,
+shoveled it into his barrow, and trundled the latter down to the
+nearest part of the creek. After a short time he returned and informed
+the manager that, as he had changed his mind, the bank need not be
+shifted. Then he pulled out his pegs. Here is the explanation: Most of
+the creek gold was crusted with flakes of ironstone, so that when
+nuggets were brought to the bank for sale, they used to be placed in a
+large iron mortar and pounded. The pounding was done by a native always
+at the spot from which Gardiner removed the surface ground. This
+practice had been followed for a very long time, and Gardiner inferred
+that small particles of gold must have escaped from time to time under
+the loose cover of the mortar and through the central hole in which the
+pestle worked. The amount of the "wash up" was three and a half ounces.
+
+Quite a large number of the diggers were known by nicknames; in most
+instances these quite superseded the original patronymics. Most men who
+knew the Transvaal thirty years ago will remember "Count" Nelmapius.
+The title was subsequently dropped, but for years it was used, and
+apparently enjoyed, by the holder. It may be of interest if I describe
+how the patent of nobility came to be conferred in this case. The thing
+happened at Mac Mac, in a hostel known as "The Spotted Dog," which was
+run by old Tommy Austin. Half a dozen diggers were lounging in the bar.
+Quoth one "I hear a new chum's turned up today."
+
+"So. What's his name?"
+
+"Oh, I did hear it, but I've forgotten. It sounded like Nellapius, or
+Nelampus, or something of that sort."
+
+"I expect he's some foreigner," said old Austin; "let's call him the
+Count."
+
+Accordingly, Count he became, and Count he remained for many years. Up
+to the middle eighties the papers invariably referred to this
+individual as Count Nelmapius.
+
+Many other nicknames come to mind as I think of those old days. "Yankee
+Dan," "Boozer," "Texas Dan," and "Old Nelly" are specimens. The latter
+was a strange character. He was seventy years of age, but was as active
+as a cat and as strong as a buffalo. He was, except Sandow, probably
+the strongest man I have ever seen. Bred from a navvy stock, Old Nelly
+had wandered over the world for many years, from one mining camp to
+another. He invariably got drunk on Saturdays, and, whenever he could
+afford it, on other days as well. For some reason, which I could never
+fathom, this strange being took a fancy to me, and used to inflict on
+me long homilies on the dangers to which youth was exposed. He
+continually urged me never to get drunk on anything but beer. When I
+suggested the application of his principles to himself, he would say
+"Ah! lad, but oi'm different."
+
+Whenever he had money in hand Old Nelly would spend it in drink. I once
+asked him how long he had been doing this sort of thing. His reply was
+"All me loife, lad, all me loife."
+
+I left the James Emporium with about 2 in my pocket. I was still too
+weak to be able to earn wages; ague used to recur regularly every
+fortnight. So I decided to go down and "fossick" among the Blyde River
+terraces. Here was "a poor man's lead," out of which one could make
+about a pound a week by working hard. By working easily I thought I
+might be able to earn about half that sum. This would be enough to keep
+body and soul together. So I spent most of my 2 in buying a
+wheelbarrow, and in this I trundled down more than half a ton of wash
+every day to the rapid in which my sluice box was fixed. I managed to
+earn about two shillings per day.
+
+One afternoon I saw several diggers going over to one of the terraces,
+where a man I knew named Charlie Brown was working in a shallow gully.
+I saw that a "rush" was in progress, so joined in. The gully was short;
+it contained but seven claims in all. As I got my pegs in at one end of
+a claim, another digger was putting his in at the corresponding corner
+opposite. There was nothing to do but take up the claim in partnership.
+
+My partner was a Swede, who went under an Irish name. I hated him from
+the beginning, feeling that he was a rogue. We harrowed the stuff down
+to old Lochhead's race, where we hired a water right. Our wash-up for
+the first week was a couple of ounces of gold. I worked in the claim
+while my partner attended to the sluice-box. He became more and more
+offensive. Soon a friend of his came along and offered me 15 for my
+share. I accepted the offer.
+
+It is quite certain that I was swindled, that my partner had found much
+more gold than he divided with me. The lead was both narrow and
+shallow, so that the claim was soon worked out. The gold found in it
+sold for over 1,400. "Charlie Brown's Gully" was one of the richest of
+the smaller leads that were struck.
+
+Immediately after leaving the Lower Camp, when proceeding up-creek, if
+one looked squarely to the right, a high saddle between two mountain
+peaks was visible. I had several times walked over this place and been
+struck by its similarity to the formation at "The Reef," which I have
+already described. On the day after I sold out at "Charlie Brown's
+Gully" I again visited this saddle and took a "prospect." There was a
+small spring some distance down the mountainside. I bagged about fifty
+pounds of wash, carried it down to the spring, and panned it out. The
+result was most encouraging; I found several small nuggets of rough
+gold.
+
+Reaching the top of the saddle involved a breathless climb. There was
+no water in its vicinity nearer than the little spring I have
+mentioned. This was a mere trickle at the base of a big rock. However,
+by "puddling" I managed to make a small dam which would at night
+collect enough water to admit of a limited amount of panning or
+cradling by day.
+
+For several consecutive days I ascended the mountain. The wash, which
+consisted of rough quartz pebbles mixed with earth, was about nine
+inches deep; it lay on a soft slate bottom. The wind blew hard and the
+wash was dry, so I lifted shovelful after shovelful of the latter as
+high as I could and let it trickle slowly down. The object of this was
+to winnow out as much of the sand as possible. After picking out nearly
+all the pebbles, I placed about forty pounds' weight of the residue in
+the gunny bag and humped it down to the spring. Load after load I
+carried down. It was then too late to do any panning, so I stumbled
+down the mountain side in the gathering gloom.
+
+Next morning I recommenced my humping. Early in the afternoon I panned
+out all I had carried down. I found nearly half a pennyweight of gold
+in the heel of the dish. This was a splendid prospect. It was evident
+that the ground was rich. On the following days I took a prospect from
+a different spot on the saddle, with a similar result. I should,
+perhaps, explain that the finding of "rough" gold in a new place is
+always an event of considerable significance. Fine gold, or, as it is
+called, "color," does not count; it is to be found everywhere.
+
+Here, then, was payable gold; that is to say, it would have been
+payable had there been water in the neighborhood. The prospect I had
+taken was an extremely rich one. What was to be done? After long
+consideration I decided to excavate a reservoir on the hillside in the
+vicinity of the deposit, and trust to its being filled with rain. The
+month was October; thunderstorms were due. So far, however, the season
+had been exceptionally dry.
+
+With the assistance of a couple of boys, hired for the purpose, I moved
+my tent and other belongings up to the saddle. My commissariat
+arrangements were simple mealie-meal and sugar, being all I required in
+the way of food. Bush tea grew all over the mountain; I could pluck
+sackfuls of it within fifty feet of my tent.
+
+I marked out the site for my reservoir just below the gravel deposit,
+at a spot where the fall of the hillside was about one in fifteen. Then
+I sank an approximately level trench, the upper end to be flush with
+the bottom of the reservoir, and the lower running out to the surface
+of the ground. In this I placed a long wooden box which was open at the
+lower end, and had a small flood-gate working in a vertical slide at
+the other.
+
+I then excavated my reservoir, working longer hours than I have at any
+other time. When completed it was thirty-five feet long, ten broad, and
+four deep; but of course the holding capacity was much greater than
+these dimensions would imply, owing to the excavated ground being
+banked on the lower side, thus forming a dam wall.
+
+I was quite alone, but I seldom felt lonely. I worked so hard that I
+slept soundly from the moment I finished supper until day broke.
+Sometimes I was so weary that I would fall asleep as I sat, with a
+half-consumed plate of porridge resting on my outstretched legs, and
+would wake up at dawn in this position.
+
+The rains were overdue, but at first I did not mind this, because dry
+ground is easier to lift than wet, and I was anxious to have my
+reservoir completed before the heavy thunderstorms set in. At length
+the work was finished, so I set my sluice-box in position below the
+vent. Then I spent some days in opening out shallow trenches from the
+dam along the sides of the mountains to left and right, so as to catch
+the storm water.
+
+But the rain still held off; an occasional thunderstorm would trail
+over the ranges, but none came to the saddle. Sometimes it was as
+though an invisible hand held them back; I had more than once seen a
+rain cloud heading straight for the saddle, only to swerve to right or
+left, and pass sometimes within a few hundred yards of it.
+
+I loosened quantities of wash, and harrowed it to the sides of the
+trench in which my sluice box lay embedded. I computed, taking the
+prospect I had as my basis, that there was upwards of two hundred
+pounds' worth of gold in those two heaps.
+
+Having now come literally to the end of my resources, I again started
+carrying down stuff to the little spring and there panning it out. But
+the spring was failing on account of the drought, and the little
+puddled dam hardly collected enough water during the night to admit of
+panning. The result of a fortnight's unspeakably hard work was about
+four shillings' worth of gold. The trickle of water diminished daily,
+until the spring yielded barely enough for my drinking. Then my boots
+began to wear out under the strain of clambering up and down the steep,
+rocky path. So I plied my barrow barefoot, only using my boots when I
+went down to the spring for my daily supply of drinking-water.
+
+Few (excluding, of course, those suffering from actual thirst) have
+ever longed for rain as I did. But the sky remained pitiless, and from
+my mountain eyry I could see the valley bottoms growing sere and
+yellow. Then I suddenly turned against my work; for a few days despair
+and I tented together. I lost heart, for that Fate seemed to have
+declared against me. During previous seasons I had seen torrents
+foaming down the gorge from the saddle; the mountain tops between which
+it lay had been the favorite haunts of thunderstorms. It was now late
+in December, and not a drop of rain had fallen. When I look back at
+myself then, from where I now am, I seem a very pathetic figure.
+
+On Christmas Eve I struck my tent, packed my swag, and descended the
+mountain. The spot at which I expended so much useless labor has since
+become well-known as the Theta Mine, one of the best gold producers
+belonging to the Transvaal Gold Mining Estates Company.
+
+Within a few days I unexpectedly became possessed of about 10. But I
+was at the end of my tether in the matter of mining. I made up my mind
+to leave the goldfields; to return to the old Cape Colony, via Natal,
+as a tramp.
+
+So in the afternoon of the 3rd of January, 1876, I climbed up the long
+and steep mountain out of the valley of the Blyde River, along the very
+pathway by which "Artful Joe" and I had descended with our hearts full
+of hope. My dreams of affluence had eventuated in nothing; my hard work
+had been thrown away. Three times had fortune tantalized me by placing
+rich gifts almost within my reach and then snatching them from my
+outstretched hand.
+
+When I reached the rocky summit I threw my heavy swag to the ground and
+gazed back with dimming eyes. A lump rose in my throat. It had, after
+all, been a man's life that I had led. I had made many friends and but
+few enemies.
+
+As I gazed, the sun was low behind me, and the immense valley at my
+feet was filled with gloom. Deepening purple shadows were stealing up
+Pilgrim's Creek in a slow brimming flood. Through this the scattered
+tents gleamed white, here and there a tiny sparklet showed where some
+digger was preparing his evening meal. . . . I knew the occupants of
+these tents; with some I had shared danger, with others toil.
+
+I was loath to leave them all. One last look and the scene was
+obliterated by a sudden gush of tears.
+
+Then I once more humped my swag and started on my long journey through
+the cool night, under the inscrutable stars.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+On the road--Heavy rain--Mosquitoes--Natal--Thunderstorms--A terrible night
+Maritzburg--My cash runs out--A halcyon day--Hospitality--D'Urban--Failure
+to get work--The Fighting Blacksmith and the eccentric old gentleman
+Narrow escape of the latter--East London--Experiences in a surfboat--A
+Perilous venture--I enter the Civil Service--Further reminiscences
+deferred--Au revoir.
+
+My swag was heavy, but my frame was tough. It was early in the forenoon
+of the following day when I reached Lydenburg. Having had to purchase
+boots, socks, flannel shirts, and a waterproof, more than half of my 10
+had melted away; it would be necessary, therefore, to exercise the
+strictest economy.
+
+From Lydenburg and through the Eastern Transvaal I was fortunate in
+finding wagons going Natalwards on which I could load my swag. Once or
+twice I got a lift myself but this I was not particularly anxious for.
+I had my small Low Country tent with me. For its capacity this was the
+lightest thing of the kind I have ever seen. It weighed with poles,
+pegs, and whipcord guys about six pounds. Its height was two feet six
+inches; its poles were of bamboo which had been split in two and
+rejoined, the split pieces being relatively reversed. Its pegs were
+made of a very hard but comparatively light wood which I had found in
+one of the forests of the Blyde River Valley.
+
+When about half-way to the Natal border I encountered heavy rain.
+One-tenth of the thunderstorms that broke over my luckless head would,
+had they but visited the mountain saddle a couple of weeks previously,
+have made an independent man of me. This was quite typical of my luck.
+
+Mosquitoes were a terrible plague in the Transvaal. I shall never
+forget my experiences one night close to the source of the Vaal River.
+The sun was hardly down before the tormentors came out in myriads. They
+seemed to thrive on smoke; at all events they were less incommoded by
+it than I was. I closed my tent up tightly and placed some live embers
+inside. On these I laid some tobacco and damp grass, at the same time
+pulling at my pipe as furiously as I could. 'But all was in vain; the
+wretched insects crowded in as though they enjoyed the dense reek.
+
+Although dead tired after an exceptionally fatiguing day, I struck the
+tent, repacked my swag, and tramped on until morning. Then I left the
+road and made for a kopje about a mile away, on which were some very
+large rocks. I flung myself down under a ledge, and was fast asleep
+almost before I reached a recumbent position. It was late in the
+afternoon when I was awakened by the heat of the sun. Then, after a
+hearty meal of askoek and tea, I tramped on again until another morning
+broke.
+
+I passed Laing's Nek and Majuba Hill, the slopes of which were destined
+within a few years to flow with the blood of brave men, and to be the
+scene of feats of arms which startled the world, and, in a certain
+respect, revolutionized warfare. But it was water that was there
+flowing on the day I passed, for the whole range was lashed by a
+succession of furious thunder storms.
+
+From Newcastle onward I adopted a different system one which enabled me
+to travel much more quickly. At Newcastle I went to the Resident
+Magistrate's office, and through the police secured the services of a
+strong native to act as carrier of my swag as far as Ladysmith. I left
+ten shillings the amount of remuneration agreed upon with the Chief
+Constable, to be drawn when the native returned with a note from me
+certifying that he had done his duty. It was a wonderful relief to be
+free from the straps which had galled my shoulders for so long. The
+distance to Ladysmith is, I think, about a hundred miles. We covered it
+easily in three nights.
+
+At Ladysmith I disposed of my tent for ten shillings, which was less
+than a quarter of its value. But my money, was rapidly running out; the
+heavy rains had on several occasions driven me to ask for shelter, and
+this always meant spending money. At Ladysmith I engaged another native
+to accompany me to Maritzburg. This was necessary; had I attempted to
+travel alone I should certainly have lost my way.
+
+The heat for it was now midsummer was extremely trying. I accordingly
+made it my rule to travel by night, trusting to being able to get a
+sheltered place wherein to sleep by day. This kind of accommodation
+which I was usually fortunate in being able to secure did not cost
+anything. When I bought food at a farmhouse I would usually ask to be
+allowed to lie down in one of the sheds.
+
+The thunderstorms were a serious embarrassment. In the comparatively
+flat Transvaal they did not matter so much, but among the convoluted
+hills which are such a salient feature of the Natal landscape, some
+kloof which ordinarily held a mere rivulet was apt to be suddenly
+filled by, a roaring torrent. Occasionally I was hung up for hours at a
+time by such obstacles.
+
+At a small village, the name of which I forget, but which must have
+been about forty miles from Maritzburg on the Ladysmith side, I was
+detained for two days by a cold, drenching rain. I was forced to take
+refuge in the hotel. Here the cost of accommodation for myself and my
+bearer depleted my capital almost to vanishing-point.
+
+The weather cleared, and I made another start, but the condition of the
+roads was such that I was unable to travel at more than half my usual
+rate. Next day, just after I crossed the Umgeni River, the rain came
+down again. I intended to get to Maritzburg that night, but was only
+able to reach the heights from which that town is visible. We entered
+the forest on the left-hand side of the road and camped. After enormous
+difficulty we managed to kindle a fire and make some tea. There was
+plenty of dead wood lying about, so we made a roaring blaze and sat as
+close to it as we could. That night was a miserable one; the rain never
+ceased for a moment, so sleep was quite out of the question.
+
+It was still raining when we started next morning. We reached
+Maritzburg after a tramp of a couple of hours. I went to an hotel on
+the market square, kept by a man named King. He promptly refused to
+take me in; this did not surprise me in the least, for I must have been
+a sorry object. However, on my explaining the situation and producing
+my few remaining shillings, the proprietor relented so far as to let me
+have some food and allow me to sleep in a forage store. He nevertheless
+insisted on taking away my pipe, tobacco, and matches. He wanted to
+lock me in, but this I would not stand. I slept warm and dry, at least,
+I was dry when I awoke next morning.
+
+In the afternoon the rain ceased, so I again set out. My capital was
+now reduced to one and ninepence. Just before sundown I called at a
+farmhouse a few hundred yards from the road and asked for work. Here I
+was kindly entertained, and given a corner of an outhouse wherein to
+sleep, and some bags and straw wherewith to make a bed. But I insisted
+on paying for my entertainment by working. Before darkness fell I
+mended a fowl house, and I got up early in the morning and chopped a
+lot of firewood.
+
+After a hearty breakfast of delicious bread, butter, and milk I made
+another start. But that day I loitered. The sky was bright, the sun
+shone mildly, the wind was warm and caressing. I wandered slowly along,
+enjoying the incomparable scenery, and feeling that the world, which
+had hitherto shown me its rough side, was not such a bad place after
+all. I began seriously to regard the universe from the standpoint of a
+professional tramp to realize that there is something to be said for
+the philosophy of the unmitigated vagrant.
+
+At an especially enticing spot I turned out of the road and strolled
+for a while along the bank of a stream. I stripped and plunged into a
+swirling pool. Then I washed my entire wardrobe and spread it out on
+the grass to dry. I lit my pipe, laid myself naked under an erythrina
+tree, and praised the gods for the gift of life.
+
+When my clothes were sufficiently dry I dressed and went on. It was now
+fairly late in the afternoon. I caught sight of another farmhouse, so
+I went to it. The men-folk were away, but a dear old lady of ample
+proportions and kindly countenance was standing in her garden mourning
+the damage wrought therein by the heavy weather of the past week. I
+asked for a spade and a rake; within little more than an hour I had
+vastly improved things. Vegetables and flowers, which grew side by side
+in an eccentric jumble, had been flattened out by the rain into a
+wallow of mud. I obtained the cover of a packing-case; this I split up,
+and a judicious use of the fragments, together with some string, soon
+showed that little irreparable damage had been done.
+
+Two small children, a boy and a girl they were grandchildren of the old
+lady made my task entertaining by virtue of their quaint and original
+talk. However, they rather embarrassed me by bringing quantities of
+biscuits and coffee, being distressed when I was unable to consume all.
+At dusk the proprietor of the farm, with his wife and a baby, returned
+in a cart. They warmly seconded the old lady's invitation for me to
+stay over the night. So I slept in a real bed an experience I had not
+enjoyed for years. I hope that kindly roof-tree still stands firm, and
+that the little children have not alone prospered, but taken after
+their immediate forbears.
+
+Next morning I started very early, for I felt I had dawdled enough. I
+passed down the long, lovely Intshanga Ridge, and must have walked
+well, for I reached Pine Town fairly early in the afternoon. Here I met
+a man whose name I have forgotten; he also was about to walk to
+D'Urban. We did not, however, go together, for the reason that I had
+made up my mind to go by a direct route over the Berea, whilst he had
+some special reason for taking a more round-about course.
+
+I passed a number of coolie huts, each standing in a little pineapple
+patch. I spent ninepence of my capital in the purchase of a dozen
+pines, getting three separate lots of four at three-pence per lot. It
+was late in the afternoon when I reached D'Urban. The date was the 27th
+of January, so I had spent twenty four days on the road. Considering
+the weather I had encountered, I had not done so badly. Next morning I
+read in a newspaper that the man with whom I had foregathered on the
+previous day had died from the effects of the bite of a mamba; the
+reptile had attacked him as he was walking through the bush close to
+the town.
+
+I knew two men at D'Urban. One was Mr. Jack Ellis, at present of the
+firm of Dyer and Dyer, East London. The other was a man named Sims, who
+had been known on the diamond-fields as "The Fighting Blacksmith." He
+was of small stature, but possessed great strength, and was skilled in
+the use of his fists. Mr. Ellis was in those days not by any means the
+prosperous merchant he is today. Nevertheless he gave me what
+assistance he could, and thus earned a claim on my gratitude which I
+shall not forget.
+
+Sims was working at his trade, but was not making more than a bare
+living. I walked from one end of D'Urban to the other looking for work,
+but times were bad and employment correspondingly scarce. Besides, I
+knew no trade but mining, and was utterly without such education as
+would have fitted me for office employment.
+
+Three dolorous weeks I spent at D'Urban. Once I got a job with a
+roustabout gang ballasting a ship, but the wages were only two
+shillings a day; besides, the job did not last. The problem for me to
+solve was, how to get away to East London. Once there I would be with
+my family. Every morning I would go to Sims's shop to see if he had
+succeeded in getting me anything to do.
+
+At length tidings of joy Sims thought he had secured for me a suitable
+billet. Could I drive four horses in a cart, he asked? Well, I had
+certainly driven a pair of mules in a Scotch cart with fair success and
+I could, in a way, handle a team of oxen. But when Sims explained the
+situation further, my heart sank. An eccentric old gentleman, lately
+from England, had purchased a cart and four and wanted some one to
+drive him to King William's Town. This meant traversing the Native
+Territories, where, at that period, the present fine highways were not
+in existence. In fact, the only roads were, as I happened to know, a
+series of criss-cross tracks leading from one trading station to
+another over an extremely mountainous country. And I had never driven
+two much less four horses in my life.
+
+However, beggars cannot be choosers; moreover, Sims appeared to
+consider that I was unduly conscientious. He thought I should be able
+to learn how to handle my team before starting. Besides, the practice I
+would get in driving over the high-roads of Natal before reaching the
+more difficult country ought to make me an efficient whip. There was
+something in this idea, and if Sims and the old gentleman were prepared
+to take the risks, why should not I? So a bargain was struck, and I was
+provisionally hired. My remuneration was to be 5 for the trip, plus all
+expenses while on the road.
+
+But on nights I used to be harassed by doubts. Which was most likely to
+be the result, I would ask myself, assassination or suicide? Most
+probably both, conscience would shriek. However, Providence
+occasionally interferes to protect the innocent; the old gentleman trod
+on the edge of a step and sprained his ankle severely. Thus do
+unspeakably great blessings sometimes come painfully disguised. That
+eccentric old gentleman little knew that in twisting his ankle he was
+saving his neck.
+
+There was no hope of his immediate recovery. To an elderly person a
+sprained ankle necessitates lying up for weeks. The steamer for East
+London, the old Basuto, was due in a few days. I could not bear the
+thought of hanging on any longer in idleness, so inquired as to where
+the agency of the Union Line was to be found. Then I boldly presented
+myself before Mr. Escombe, the agent, explained the plight I was in,
+and asked him to let me have, on credit, a deck passage to East London.
+
+Fortunately Mr. Escombe knew something of my people. He invited me to
+sit down, and seemed interested when I told him something of my
+adventures. He let me have the passage ticket on credit, I promising to
+remit the price out of the first money I earned. So next day I embarked
+on board the Basuto, and in the afternoon of the day following reached
+my destination.
+
+After a short visit to Breidbach, near King William's Town, where my
+people were at that time staying, I returned to East London and entered
+the service of the boating company. The work was not congenial. For one
+thing, although sea sickness has never troubled me on board ship, I was
+constantly ill when in a lighter. Moreover, the boatmen with whom I had
+constantly to associate were unintermittently foul-mouthed and
+blasphemous. I was not easily shocked; the men with whom I had for
+years foregathered were much given to realism of speech, as well as to
+picturesquely lurid verbal illustration. But this was different; the
+language of these men was crammed with filth for filth's sake, and
+flat, pointless profanity. I have no doubt that my inability to avoid
+expressing disgust made them worse than they otherwise would have been.
+
+It was my habit to get up at 2.30 a.m., breakfast on coffee and bread,
+and then report myself at the wharf, where I was due at 3 a.m. About
+half an hour later we would man a lighter, pick up a thick Manila rope
+from the bottom of the river, lay it between the chocks, and haul out
+across the bar to the roadstead where the ships were anchored. From the
+main warp others branched off in various directions, and by means of
+one of these we would get as close to the ship which we were
+discharging as we could. Then the lighter would be towed alongside.
+
+All going well, we were usually back at the wharf at 2.30 p.m. with the
+boat loaded. But things did not invariably go well; the wind had a
+habit of springing up suddenly, and the breakers 011 the bar would
+follow suit. Under such circumstances we often had to cast off from the
+vessel's side and anchor in a tumbling sea, with only a small portion
+of the appointed cargo on board. Perhaps, if it were not considered too
+dangerous, Captain Jackson might come out with the harbor tug and tow
+us in; otherwise we ran the risk of having to remain all night on the
+lighter.
+
+The work was apt to be very dangerous indeed. It was nothing so very
+unusual for a boat to capsize on the bar and for half the crew to be
+drowned. Once only had I to swim for my life; on that occasion all in
+the boat escaped. But a few weeks afterwards a lighter capsized under
+almost similar circumstances, and either four or five of those on board
+lost their lives.
+
+My most striking experience in this connection happened one day towards
+the end of my term of service with the boating company. We were
+alongside a French vessel, the Notre Dame de la Garde, taking in boxes
+of Gossage's blue mottled soap. Before we had received more than a
+quarter of our appointed cargo, the wind and the sea rose suddenly
+together. We had to cast off from the vessel, and in getting clear the
+lighter shipped some water. Before we got the hatches fixed, a number
+of the boxes had broken up, and the fragments, mixed with bars of soap,
+were awash. It was about eight o'clock in the morning when we cast
+loose and dropped our anchor.
+
+The wind increased to a gale; this brought a bitterly cold rain. We
+bobbed and curtsied at the end of our cable until about four in the
+afternoon, listening to Gossage's products churning and lathering down
+below. It grew colder and colder; we were wet to the skin and almost
+numbed. A consultation was held, and it was unanimously decided that
+the risk of drowning was preferable to the certainty of slowly
+perishing to death; therefore we would make a dash for the harbor.
+
+To use the warp was, of course, out of the question, so we rigged a
+sail from the big hatchway tarpaulin. We lashed the hatch-battens
+together in the form of a parallelogram, fastened the sail to this, and
+stayed the structure by means of various devices. We slipped our cable
+and made for the bar. Wind, tide, and sea were all with us; had the
+tide been unfavorable, the attempt would have spelt almost certain
+death.
+
+There was more than a mile of open sea between where we had anchored
+and the breakers. The port-office signals were against us, but what did
+we care? When people on shore realized what we were attempting, they
+came down by hundreds, in spite of the rain, and thronged the
+breakwaters on either side of the harbor entrance.
+
+We ran gallantly, straight before the wind. I never thought a lighter
+could sail as ours did. As good luck would have it, we reached the
+worst part of the bar just after one bad set of breakers had passed,
+and before the arrival of the next. But there was no child's play in
+the matter. We had one very tense moment; the boat was flung sideways
+in the turmoil, and nearly got taken aback. However, a providential
+buffet on the port bow gave us a set in the right direction; once more
+our tarpaulin filled, and we drew slowly and laboriously out of the
+area of danger. I looked back and saw the angry combers roaring after
+us, as though enraged at our escape. As we ran into the harbor, the
+people Who were watching cheered themselves hoarse.
+
+Upwards of four months were spent at this purgatorial work. Then
+release came unexpectedly. One day I got a letter from the Civil
+Commissioner, Mr. Orpen, asking me to call at his office. I went, and
+to my amazement he read me a telegram from Captain Mills, who was then
+Under-Colonial Secretary, offering me the post of clerk on probation to
+the Resident Magistrate of Tarka, with a salary of 120 per annum.
+
+Were I now to be offered the Prime Ministership of the Union my
+surprise would hardly be greater than it then was. Curiously enough I
+was on the same day offered a post in a mercantile firm, that of Joseph
+Walker & Sons, at a salary of 7 per month. But, for family reasons, the
+difference of 3 per month was just then an important consideration, so
+I accepted the first offer, a step I have ever since regretted.
+
+I had grave doubts as to my ability to do the duties required of me.
+While at East London I had worked every day at a copy-book, striving to
+improve my handwriting, but my fingers were more at home with the
+trigger and the pick than with the pen. Moreover, my spelling was
+phonetic and wonderful. Although I knew most of Shakespeare's sonnets
+by heart, I did not know a single rule of English grammar. This
+ignorance has remained with me to the present day, but I cannot say I
+feel it much of a handicap. However, there was no examination to pass,
+and my chief would have to put up with my shortcomings for the present.
+I had faced lions on the Lebomba and crocodiles in the Komati; why
+should I quail before a mere magistrate?
+
+It may be advisable to explain how my appointment came to be offered.
+My father and the then Lord Carnarvon, who happened to be Colonial
+Secretary, had been friends in the old days. Lord Carnarvon wrote to
+Government House, Cape Town, asking that something might be done for
+us. My father was beyond the age-limit; I, clearly, was not.
+Responsible Government had arrived; nevertheless, a certain amount of
+informal patronage was still occasionally exercised.
+
+Thus it was that I, after a strange and varied apprenticeship in some
+of the roughest of life's workshops, became cogged down as a little
+wheel in that clumsy, expensive, and circumlocutory mill, which,
+consuming much grist but producing little meal, is still believed to be
+an indispensable adjunct to our civilization.
+
+Here I must break off. But my reminiscences are by no means complete;
+some day and I trust before very long they will be brought up to date.
+
+Whether or not the supplementary volume will reach the printer's hands,
+depends on how far the public becomes interested in the work of which I
+am now writing the last words of the closing chapter.
+
+After careful consideration, I have come to the conclusion that so long
+as the official collar galls my neck, I cannot adequately deal with the
+period during which I have been a public servant; I would have to walk
+too delicately. [I have since modified this decision.] For one of the
+disadvantages of being in the public service lies in the circumstance
+that it is impossible to speak or write of experiences gained therein,
+without embarrassing reserve.
+
+But the days of my retirement are rapidly drawing nigh; when they
+arrive, and the collar drops, I shall have much to say about many
+things, for my life as a public servant during six-and-thirty years has
+been an interesting one. Most of it has been spent in places as far as
+possible from centers where conventionality reigns.
+
+My still unrecorded experiences include, inter alia, war, hunting, the
+administration of native tribes in remote areas, rovings under special
+commission in those waterless regions to the north-west through which
+the boundary common to British and German territory runs and perhaps
+most interesting of all, a microscopic study of human infusoria
+inhabiting isolated and therefore stagnant towns and hamlets.
+
+I intend to retire soon with a typewriting machine and some beehives,
+to a little farm I have acquired in a sleepy locality on the south
+coast. There I hope to be spared for some few years to develop the
+economic products of the honey-bee, to meditate on the Universal
+Postulate, and to watch, from afar, my children cultivating the
+difficult fields of Experience. May their task be easier than mine has
+been!
+
+Having thus taken the public into my confidence, I will say
+
+AU REVOIR.
+
+
+
+L'ENVOI
+
+As a pack of wolves is the hungry Past;
+It hunts Man laden with hopes and fears;
+Its bay swells loud with the hasting years,
+Till the red fangs sink in his flank at last.
+
+The bay grows louder, the flame ringed een
+Glow with greed as the night sinks, black;
+Swerve and double still o'er your track
+The pitiless, questing nostrils lean.
+
+Mark, O brothers, before I fall,
+I fling this sheaf of script to your care;
+Take and read it; I fain would share
+My scanty gatherings with you all.
+
+With all with the hunted, whose eyes search mine
+In vain for the hint of a 'scaping clue;
+With those still tranc'd, where the skies bedew
+The half-op'd blossoms that round them shine.
+
+Take my sheaf it was gleaned with toil
+From fields now dimm'd in a long-sped day;
+In a clime where naught but dim shadows stray
+Yet its grain may sprout from a kindly soil.
+
+
+
+UNWIN BROTHERS, LIMITED, THE PRESS, WOKING AND LONDON.
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK REMINISCENCES OF A SOUTH AFRICAN
+PIONEER***
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