I was outspanned on the north bank of this river in 1871, with two waggons and a cart, for the purpose of making a new tent to one of the waggons that had capsized and rolled over into a sluit a few days previously, and had sent the oxen, forty-eight, on to a neighbouring island to graze early in the morning, when the Griqua chief, living at his kraal not far from my camp, came and informed me the river was coming down. The herds were sent over immediately to bring them off, but before they could do so, the river had risen fifteen feet, consequently the oxen had to swim, passing down mid-stream with a small portion of their heads and horns only visible, the two herds swimming behind with blocks of wood under their arms, and they were carried down a mile and a half before they were able to land, and in less than two hours this river had risen thirty feet.
There are many beautiful stones and pebbles in the river-bed, agate, soap-stone, petrified gum and wood, which I have found of white, brown, black, and red. Diamonds also are found occasionally mixed up in the gravel that has been brought down by heavy floods.
On the north of the Back river and Brinus mountains, the country is more open, extensive grass plains and other portions well-wooded. At Liefdotes, Tobas, and Klopper vlei are large kraals, also at Swart and Hoali, on the north of the Brinus. Up along the east side of the Great Fish river to the Oup, the country is very pretty, splendid grasses and timber; the hills are well-wooded, in some places to their summits. Game abounds; ostriches I have seen in troops of 200.
Two hundred miles north of the Orange river and fifty miles west of the Hygap, in 25 degrees 50 minutes South latitude, 20 degrees 42 minutes East longitude, is Hogskin, a large vlei, thirty-three miles in length, and in some parts three miles in width; the greater portion is dry for nine months of the year. The road crosses it to the Griqua settlement at Meer, which is twenty miles to the north, where there are extensive vleis, 2710 feet above sea-level.
Three rivers flow into the Hogskin vlei, viz. the Snake, the Moi, and the Knaas. After heavy rains the vlei is full, and forms a fine sheet of water, which it retains for some months; wild-fowl and game frequent it at that time. These rivers rise in a hilly country; the Knaas is the largest, and retains water in portions of its bed through the year. Quassam, a large Bushman kraal, is situated on its banks; these Bushmen are distinct from the Bushmen of the desert; they were, many years ago, driven from the Cape Colony, by Sir Walter Currie, on account of their stealing the cattle, and robbing travellers. They first took refuge in the many islands in the Orange river, but were driven out and went north, where they settled at Quassam, and where I nearly lost all my waggons, oxen, and everything, being kept there for two days, and the oxen without grass. Coche Africanda was their captain, and I escaped only by threatening that if he or any of his men moved to detain me whilst I inspanned, I would shoot him dead, holding my rifle ready for action. There were nearly 100 well armed with guns; seeing my determination, they remained passive, and I left.
Eight miles below this kraal is a very pretty spot, a valley surrounded by sand-hills, with limestone between and a spring of water, where several roads meet going to Damara and Ovampo, Lake N’gami, Namaqualand, and the colony. The valley is about a mile in length, and half a mile in breadth, studded with very fine kameel-doorn trees. The sand in these rivers contains very fine particles of copper, and also garnet dust. On the south side of Hogskin vlei are two conical hills, which are very prominent objects, visible sixty miles off, and as they stand alone, surrounded by bush and the vleis, they add greatly to the beauty of the landscape. The highest is 415 feet from the base, the other measures 394 feet; they are called base kopts. A few miles south-west of them I procured several specimens of coal, which cropped out in a large sluit, and also from the side of a hill, and twenty miles beyond. Slate and shale form the beds of the rivers Suake and Moi.
Near Knaas river the formation in the valley is a conglomerate of limestone, greenstone, and garnets. This part of the desert is full of bush, kameel-doorns, mimosa, and other trees, and is diversified by long low ridges of sandstone, limestone, and many low hills of granite. During the rainy season vegetation is splendid, and the grass fine and beautiful, consequently game is abundant; it follows as a natural consequence that lions, leopards, and many other species of feline animals are numerous. This is truly the lion veldt; I have counted at one time in a troop, great and small, twenty-two, frequently six and seven in the middle of the day, and within a short distance from my waggons. The ostrich is becoming more scarce every day; when I first visited this country, in 1864, the Bushman would exchange a beautiful blood or prime white feather for a piece of tobacco worth sixpence, and less; now they are difficult to be found.
This desert has been considered a barren and uninteresting region, but it is not so. There are portions, it is true, that cannot be traversed during the dry season, several who have attempted to penetrate it having been obliged to come out and leave their waggons, their oxen all lost for want of water. But this was in a great measure their own fault, for if they had followed up the rivers and dug in their beds they would have obtained it.
There are many miles of limestone flats, some extending ten miles in length, bounded by extensive sand-dunes, and isolated koppies, with their pointed summits covered with bush. These sand-dunes cover an immense area, extending from east to west fifty miles, and thirty miles over, and in altitude from fifty to 200 feet. Their base is a dark limestone covered with sand, which varies in thickness from four to ten feet. Their sides are at an angle of about 30 degrees, and the topmost ridges so pointed that when a waggon and span of eighteen oxen arrive towards their tops, the whole span is descending on the other side as the waggon reaches the summit, and the driver on the box can only see the four after oxen; but from the great depth of sand in the road the waggon glides down with ease. To illustrate more clearly the shape of these dunes I can only compare them to a very stormy sea, with gigantic waves instantly turned into sand; many small trees and bushes grow on their slopes, and also beautiful grasses. From six to eight miles a day with an ox-waggon is considered a good trek. There are some small fountains and vleis in some of the hollows, otherwise no one could pass that way, as the road over these dunes from first entering them is thirty miles, then a flat of eight miles over limestone and sand-dunes again. There are also many isolated conical granite hills, that rise from the level plains to an altitude of 200 feet, formed of huge blocks; they more resemble artificial than natural monuments; many of them are so overgrown with trees and bush that grow between the blocks that scarcely any of the rock is to be seen. It is dangerous to inspect them too closely, as they are the lurking-places of lions, leopards, and other beasts of prey.
I discovered this on ascending one of them at Kanardas: when nearly half-way up, on looking into one of the small caverns, of which there are many, I saw at the end two large bright eyes glaring at me from the dark. After exchanging a good stare at each other I quietly took my departure down: knowing the nature of these animals, that they will not openly follow or attack, if not disturbed, I felt pretty safe. As to the nature of the beast I cannot say, but from the great size of the bright red eyes I concluded he was a lion,—at any rate, their expression did not appear very amiable. A few lessons like this make an explorer cautious before prying too closely into hidden and secluded spots in a wild country like this desert.