Part 34 (1/2)
The Griquas, on being questioned, replied, that the best plan would be to send a e to the Matabili capital, where Moselekatsee resided, requesting per the monarch to send some of his principal men to receive the presents which they had to offer;--that it would not take long to receive an answer, as it would only be necessary to deliver theto Moselekatsee, at the advanced post That officer would ie, ould arrive much sooner than any one they could send themselves Bree, if our travelers wished it This was agreed to, and that afternoon they mounted their horses, and crossed the river
By the advice of the Griquas, the camp was shi+fted about a mile further up the river, on account of the lions
The weather now threatened a change; ain dispersed The next day the weather was again threatening; thunder pealed in the distantflew in every direction; but the rain, if any, was expended on the neighboring hills
A strong wind soon blew up so as to try the strength of the canvas awning of their wagons, and they found it difficult to keep their fires in at night They had encarass, and abounding with elands and other varieties of antelopes: here they re of the Matabili, and went out every day to procure game On the Sabbath-day, after they had, as usual, performed Divine service, they observed a heavy smoke to ard, which, as the as fresh, soon bore down upon them and inconvenienced therass had been fired by some means or another, and as it threatened to come down upon the enca down the grass round about them When they had so done, they went to ard sorass in several places; the grass burned quickly, till it arrived at where it had been beaten down, and the fire was extinguished That this was a necessary precaution was fully proved, for as the night closed in, the whole country for miles was on fire, and the wind bore the flames down rapidly toward them
The sky was covered with clouds, and the darkness of the night made the fla with a loud crackling noise, sweeping over the undulating ground, now rising and now disappearing in the hollows, the whole landscape lighted up for ress of the flames, and every now and then observed a terrified antelope spring frooria, suddenly the storm burst upon thee hailstones and thunder and lightning The as instantly lulled, and after the first burst of the stor of the flae of rain descended, and in an instant every spark of the conflagration was extinguished, and the pitchy darkness of the night was unbroken by even a solitary star
The next ht and clear, and after breakfast, they perceived the Hottentots who had been sent on their e to Moselekatsee, on the opposite bank of the river, accompanied by three of the natives; they soon crossed the river and came to the encampment The natives, ere Matabili, were tall, powerful ular features; their hair was shorn, and sur attached to the scalp, and the lobe of their left ears was perforated with such a large hole, that it contained a sirdle of strips of catskins, and they each carried two javelins and a knobbed stick for throwing
They were heartily welcoe quantity of eland-steaks, and filled their boxes with snuff As soon as they had finished eating, and drawn up a large quantity of snuff into their nostrils, they explained through the Griquas, who could speak their language, that they had coreatest of all monarchs in the world, Moselekatsee, ished to knoho the strangers were, what they wanted of hiht
Swinton, as spokesman, returned for answer that they were hunters, and not traders; that they had coreat athat his majesty had animals in his country which were not to be found elsewhere, they wanted permission to kill some, to show upon their return to their own people what a wonderful country it was that belonged to so great a ht beads and copper wire, and knives, and boxes forfire, and snuff and tobacco, all of which they wished to present to the great monarch; a part as soon as they had received his permission to enter his territory, and another part when they were about to leave it A handsome present of the above articles was then produced, and thesurveyed the articles with solad when he saw all these things, and that he had desired theht come into his dominions with safety, and kill all the animals that they pleased That his majesty had commanded one of them to remain with the party, and that as soon as he had received his presents, he would send a chief to be answerable for their safety The Matabili then packed up the articles presented, and two of the The third, who reht cross the river and enter the Matabili country as soon as they pleased
A debate now ensued as to whether they should go with their whole force or not The Matabili had informed theiraffe, which they were in search of, and as there would be so the river, and they had every reason to expect that it would soon rise, the question hether it would be prudent to take over even one of the wagons The opinion of the Griquas was asked, and it was ultion only, with fifteen pair of oxen, and that some of the Griquas should accompany them, with Swanevelt, Omrah, and Mahomed;--that Bremen and the Hottentots should reons and the rest of the Griquas, until our travelers should return
This arrangereeable to the Hottentots, who did notthe Matabili country, and were very happy in their present quarters, as they were plentifully provided with good ed so as to carry the bedding and articles they ons Their best oxen were selected, and eight of the fleetest of their horses, and on the followingascertained from the Matabili the best place to cross the river, our travelers set off, and in an hour were on the other side
There was no change in the country during the first day's journey; the same variety and brilliancy of floere every where to be seen The eland and the other antelopes were plentiful, and they were soon joined by parties of the natives, who requested them to shoot the animals for them, which they did in quantities even sufficient to satisfy them
Indeed if they found the down an eland, and the natives were iht devour the animal, which was done in an incredibly short space of time The Matabili who had conducted theave any order, it was instantly obeyed; so that our travelers had no trouble with the natives except their begging and praying for snuff, which was incessant, both from the men and women Neither did they fear any treachery fro, as they ell armed, and the Griquas were brave men, and the superiority of their weapons e force Every precaution, however, was taken when they halted at night, which they invariably did in the center of an open plain, to prevent any surprise; and large fires were lighted round the wagon
They traveled on in this way for two days e plain sprinkled with e of hills The Matabili told theiraffes on these plains, and the Major, as very anxious, kept his telescope to his eyes, looking round in every direction till nightfall, but did not succeed in descrying any of the objects of his search They retired that night with anxious expectation for the following , when they anticipated that they should fall in with these reuns were exahted their fires and set the watch, they went to bed; and, after co themselves to the care of Providence, were soon fast asleep
CHAPTER XXVI
With the exception of three lions co up the Griquas, nothing occurred during the night In thethey yoked the oxen and had all the horses saddled ready for the chase; but they were disappointed for nearly the whole day; as, although they saw a variety of gaht In the afternoon, as they passed by a clued by a rhinoceros, which nearly thren Alexander's best horse; but a volley froe ani what is termed the white rhinoceros Within the last two days they had also observed that the gnoo was not of the sa, but a variety which Swinton told thenoo; it was, however, in every other respect the same ani the Matabili warrior who accons to the Major that there was a giraffe
”I can not see him--do you, Alexander?” said the Major; ”he points to that mimosa with the dead stump on the other side of it, there Yes, it is one, I see the stump, as I called it, s, Swanevelt,” cried the Major, starting off at full speed, and followed by Alexander, and Oiraffe was seen to get clear of the allop; but aard as the gallop appeared, the ani with incredible velocity, its long, swan-like neck keeping tis, and its black tail curled above its back
”Push on, Alexander,” cried the Major; ”if ever there were seven-league boots, that anioes like the wind; but he can not keep it up long, depend upon it, and our horses are in capital condition”
Alexander and the Major were now neck and neck, close to each other, at full speed, when of a sudden the Major's horse stu on her nest; Alexander's horse also stumbled and followed after the Major; and there they were, horses and riders, all rolling together as, and ran off as fast as the giraffe
As soon as they had got on their legs again, and caught the bridles of their horses, they looked round, but could not distinguish the giraffe, which was out of sight a up their rifles, and laughing in a very disrespectful h No bones were broken, and the horses had received no injury All they had to do was to return to the caravan looking very foolish
”Your first essay in giraffe-hunting has been very successful,” said Swinton, laughing, as they came up to him
”Yes, we both threw very pretty summersets, did we not?” said Alexander
”However, we have got so It will soon be dark, so we had better encaht, had we not?”