There was some pleasure in travelling these roads twenty years ago, as game being plentiful on the veldt, and wild-fowl of every kind in the rivers and pans, there was some excitement in looking out for a good dinner. At the present time I have travelled from Pretoria to Kimberley and never had occasion to take my gun or rifle out of my waggon.
The face of the country is entirely changed, farms now occupy the land, and many villages are built, supporting a considerable population that depend greatly for support by supplying the several markets on the fields with their produce. In all my experience of African travelling, I never passed through a region less interesting for picturesque scenery than the greater part of Griqualand West, and the southern portion of the Transvaal, up as far north as Lichtenburg and Pretoria. But it is not so on the eastern border and northern division of the Transvaal, where is fine mountain scenery and thickly wooded valleys, with the many rivers, the banks of which are clothed with thick vegetation, with timber of considerable size and variety covering the country in all directions. The Pongolo forest near Swaziland; the finely-wooded district of the Lobombo mountains; the wild region north of Lydenburg to the Limpopo river, an extent of country some 150 miles in length; and all to the north of the Magalisberg range, where the forest is more dense, containing much valuable timber; right up to the northern boundary, separating this republic from the Mashona or Matabeleland by the magnificent Limpopo river, a region extending 200 miles in length; more particularly in the northern division, where the unbroken range of forest that covers each bank of this noble river for hundreds of miles on the right and on the left, where the abrupt and almost perpendicular mountains rear their lofty heads far up in the clouds, clothed with every kind of tropical tree. This gives one an idea of eternal spring, the foliage displaying a charming variety of every shade and hue, from the pale and silvery to the darkest green and copper-purple; much of it covered with a profusion of lovely lily-like flowers, others with crimson bloom, fruits and seeds, creeping plants climbing to the topmost branches, and falling down in graceful festoons to the ground, forming numerous ropes, which the many monkey tribes use to ascend and descend with remarkable speed. Some of the giants of the forest—the noble baobab and others—blasted by storms and age, stand out in grim mockery of perpetual life, although they may number many thousand years, noble emblems of misfortune and decay.
“The rheum of age from Marlboro’s eyes to flow,
And swift expire a driveller and a show.”
In some of these African forests, so extensively covered with timber and beautiful underwood, where the white man’s foot has seldom trod, it is natural to look for some rare specimen in animal or vegetable life.
There is a charm in traversing these unknown forests that irresistibly draws the explorer on more into their recesses. The gloom pervades everything around, cut off from the bright sun above by the dense foliage, casting into shadow the gigantic boles of many trees that surround the traveller, giving a weird aspect to the scene, combined with the perfect silence that reigns around; for during the greater portion of the day, when the tropical sun is high, all nature is as it were dead, the birds retire into their homes, the wild animals crowd into some hidden nook and sleep, and everything is at rest, until the sun nears the western horizon, when one by one, both animals and birds begin to stir. A single antelope may be seen leisurely moving along, then two or three more; a jackal, a tiger-cat, or some other beast of prey makes a cautious advance among the bushes; the distant sound of branches being broken by elephants or giraffes; the twitter of many birds, and the shrill whistle of others calling to their mates, cooing of doves, and the tapping of the woodpecker on the decayed bark of trees seeking for insects beneath (which has a most peculiar effect upon the listener in the silent retreat), and as night advances, the roar of the lion, which startles all nature into silence, causes the intruder upon his preserves mechanically to look to his rifle to see all is right and fresh cartridge handy, for at any moment his proximity may be expected.
It was on one of these evening rambles in the noble forest that I was an eye-witness to a very rare and singular sight, and which, I believe, few explorers have ever witnessed.
Wandering on where the openings in the bushes allowed free access between the thick vegetation, admiring the splendid picture of vegetable life, I caught the sound of loud, deep, bass voices not so very far away, which appeared to be coming nearer. As I was under one of those splendid baobab trees, quite in shadow, I determined to wait and find out the cause of such unearthly sounds. Lying down on the grass, to be out of sight as much as possible, I waited with my rifle ready for action, if any animal should come disagreeably close. The sounds were continuous, and became louder every moment. At first I concluded there were several wolves fighting; then growls, similar to cats on the house-tops, but much louder; this continued for some twenty minutes. Crawling round the tree on my knees, I discovered the cause. About seventy yards from where I was concealed were two lions, that is, a lion and a lioness, apparently in a very quarrelsome mood, as the lioness kept throwing back her ears and showing her teeth, at the same time pawing the lion in the face with her huge paws, and lashing out with her tail, the lion taking it very quietly, but growling as if remonstrating. All this time they were coming nearer, until they stopped some forty yards from my retreat; all was quiet—I intently watching them all the time—for some ten minutes longer, when the lioness gave a few cat-like spits, and bounded into the bush, and the lion quickly walked off in another direction. A hunter relates being once in a tree watching a lioness and a lion. Another began roaring in the distance, when the lioness roared in reply, the lion trying to prevent her. But at last he began also, when the other lion appeared, and a terrible fight began, their strong bones cracking. At last the first lion was killed, and the lioness, with a whisk of her tail, went off with the last. “Oh, you jade!” said the hunter.
Evening was now falling fast, and as the nights here close in soon after sundown, it was time to strike for my waggon, where I had outspanned on the banks of the river, at a very pretty bend, where I could get plenty of sea-cow and crocodile shooting. On my way home, which took twenty minutes to reach, many kinds of game crossed my path, and I managed to bag a fine silver jackal. The lion and lioness were not seen any more.
My camp is 100 yards from the river, where several openings in the trees give me many pretty glimpses of the stream and the opposite bank, which is, from this near side, some 200 yards broad, with several sand-banks and rocks in mid-stream. Lofty reeds grow thick and strong upon their sides, full of nests belonging to the yellow and red finch, as also the larger kind with long black tails that greatly impede their flight.
Birds of all sizes, and of many colours, with brilliant plumage, swarm along the banks; several kind of kingfisher, honey-birds (not much larger than hummingbirds, with their long curved bills, mostly found where flowers are plentiful), bitterns, pelicans, Kaffir-cranes, flamingoes, geese, ducks, and other kind of water-fowl are seen in great numbers, and give plenty of occupation for rifle and shot-gun. The vultures, hawks, and eagles are daily seen on the wing. We stumble on snakes at every turn of the forest and along the river-bank. The python has been killed on the Limpopo, the natives tell me, longer than my waggon, which is sixteen feet, and some say that there are others that have been seen double that length.