Part 13 (1/2)

My course lay along a winding pathway until it topped the first ridge, then it turned abruptly to the left to avoid a swampy holloever, a rhinoceros, startled bya 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 ; the full moon arose as I stepped forward briskly; the trail lay clear across the long grass It led mainly uphill for about fifteenin the distance The bearers begged of hted at being safely across the river that I detere of an almost precipitous slope, which fell into a hollow bri with dense, snohite e of the steep; here I decided to cah and chilled to the bone

The mist was so dense that objects six feet aere alather twigs froht 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, aout of the west, and thea perfectly clear atht that e of the Great Kaap Basin It is in extent probably thirtyby twenty wide, and is shaped sohtyAt the narrow end the hills dwindled soht across the widest part of the valley the dark-blue mountains of Swaziland were piled in abrupt ih 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 holloith richest hty tier the Delectable Mountains arose, the higher peaks shi+ning in the new sunlight I must have felt like Linnaeus when for the first tilad and hopeful heart I followed the trail in its zigzag course down the steepcall of es Covey after covey flushed around me; the whole country, far and near, seeot to hate and dread partridgesI 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 ied; 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 caranite, which was al me This peak turned out to be densely populated by, baboons At intervals, all night long, pandeht see down the face of the precipice, soerous proximity to the camp Once or twice the wrath of the coainst one individual, ould be hunted round and round the upper zone of the peak When caught this (presuuish would peal shrilly above the hoarse chorus of his pursuers' angry voices

Nextthe base of the foothills, searching for the trail The country was intersected by on having passed It seemed, moreover, inconceivable that a vehicle could have ascended such a lofty, steep ht I noticed soe, so I wended thither Here I found three herd-boys, and they gaveThe prospectors had ascended the h 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 ard, 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 a subsequently, wondered as to what their feelings hen they heard of the discovery of the Sheba Reef, for they must have walked over als, 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 followedbeen on my forward journey hospitably entertained at the kraal of a prominent induna named 'Ntshi+ndeen, I decided to return there and rest I felt half-dead fros

The only, supplies I had left were a little meal and some salt

At 'Ntshi+ndeen's kraal I spent a few halcyon days For one reason or another, possibly on account of reat consideration A very large hut, the whole inside of which was lined with the finest basket-work, was given reenan armful of luscious cobs was deposited at my door An immense earthen pot of honey and a skinI would drowse under a tree which stood within a few yards of the hut door, with Indogozan or his coh to keep off the flies I only woke up to eat or to sotten; so were MacLean and the Pessi-needed rest

But the evenings were so to one of my bashful temperament

My fame had spread abroad; froht For the one and only, time in my life I knehat it was to be celebrated

One very old woe 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 e the down, the next crouching, those farthest fro

The old woht them as a torch, which she held so that I would be illuone over in detail the unusual color of th of my hair were the occasion of much comment By request I would take offof my much tattered trousers Farther than thisSoh several ti

The only work I did was in the uns, 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 ofof a nipple wrench The latter was a very old instruraded to fit nipples of various sizes The trouble with the Swazi guns was alht without much difficulty; others were quite beyond the possibility of repair

After a someide experience I can truthfully say that the Swazis, at the ties I ever caentlemen in all essentials, they were raded the incident will serve to illustrate their courage: Six of 'Ntshi+ndeen'sbut spears and sticks, cah which I had journeyed

The brute was a well known depredator aa 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 Tere killed on the spot; the third had his arrene at once set in, and he died on the third day The other three were badlyofin parts reed according to size; you could get n 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 frole, which, uese or was supposed so to belong Fortunately I had brought with ht Men used to co 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 shooman would watch for me, and after I had transferred the salt to the one who came for it, she used to seize an 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 aers of those days that South African quartz contained no ht that quartz reefs had been subjected to such heat that all metals had been expelled ”Color” I found alold

Soon after I coe in the deer treated me with the same friendliness