Part 12 (1/2)

The unfortunate balala ”the people who are dead” those e 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 ofa 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 eency

I only know of one instance of a white et this individual's na the flaht 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 hiency of the wind freshening and flinging forward sheets of flaer This actually happened He got badly, but not fatally, scorched A search-party found him and he was assisted back to cah 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, et them to carry him on when the afternoon cooled

The rest of the party proceeded on its course, unaware that the injured rass 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 fla a patch to be used as a refuge, fled There are, surely, few cases on record of such bad luck as this

Thescenery 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 so stretches of waterless country to be traversed, and severe suffering from thirst was a possibility occasionally realized Besides, as ere practically explorers in a country without huly pass the bend of a winding river and thus recede froeneral 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 frouration of the country

But what joy it was, after a long, hot, fatiguing tra which water had to be doled out in sips, to reach a hty streaht 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 re, 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-ti best calculated to delight the heart of the hunter or the lover of nature I a winter as the season, for in summer the worm ”that pierces the liver and blackens the blood” ions almost uninhabitable for Europeans But from June to October, inclusive, the country was healthy, the sky rarely held a cloud, the sun shone h 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 h 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 chaht

The process of crossing rivers was believed to be dangerous on account of crocodiles, which were often to be seen in large nue 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 ater I once saw a dog taken by one; at least, I assu across a deep channel between two shallohen 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 circus there took place in winter During the course of ht 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 ca 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 ofsoup The pool was less than fifty yards away I heard the second bearer give a yell; then he ca snake Picking up my rifle, I ran to the spot he indicated, and saw about six feet of thick python disappearing aled over the rocks I fired at the creature but -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 ca black and yellow serpent squir, broken-backed, on his stick This wasthe billy and the canteens ater, we retired to a spot a few hundred yards away, up the hillside Here the vegetation was less rank, so we felt safer

Nextclose to the water After day had fully broken, I went down and found so 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 theytheir unspeakable yells We always noticed that the smell of roast meat attracted them; when meat was boiled, they were not nearly so troubleso 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 htly up country I have been told but I do not guarantee the stateard's ”Allan Quatermain” From Good I heard sad news; poor Pat Foote, one ofthe previous night I went up at once to see his rey cell

The funeral took place that afternoon The grave was dug a some cocoanut palms out beyond the fetid shich lay in those days a crescent of foulness on three sides of the town A wall separated the swae used to be cast

Poles, bearing human heads, stuck out here and there The sas crossed by a causeway

The proceedings were nity Several of those foruese officer The ate 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 pal 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 naold he had picked up on a headland which jutted over the Blyde River near Peach tree Creek Next day was Sunday, so ent together to the spot and took a prospect The result was ood yield for the aested that it belonged to a genuine lead Nextwe struck our tents and moved down to the scene of the discovery As the area was not far enough fros to entitle us to an extended ht, we just marked out a claim apiece and made no report of the rove of peach-trees below the bluff, close to the river bank

The thing was a ”surface” proposition; that is to say, the as 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; itwith nearly ten ave splendid results; froht feet square we got, so far as I can reold

Naturally, we considered that at length our fortunes were ether forty five thousand square feet, the area we had cleared was but sixty four The latter number, orked into the former, went nearly seven hundred times And the surface appeared to be exactly the sa that any reliance could be placed on arithan to speculate as to ould do with our e suo to Scotland, there to recoed to drop for want of funds My own firanize an expedition to the Za in the Low Country, but with properly equipped wagons, the most modern armaht, at all events, we enjoyed ourselves I do not think we slept at all