At the fountain-heads of many of these desert rivers the springs are very powerful, but the water does not continue for any great distance above the sand in their beds, but sinks and percolates through the sand until it reaches the Orange river. Knowing this, I had very little difficulty in procuring water by digging a few feet into their beds, the sand in many places filling up the original beds eight to ten feet in depth. The water when procured was clear and cool. There are several rivers on the west coast that drain Damaraland, the country being so dry that rarely any water is found in them near the coast; Swakop is the most important, the mouth being in Walfish Bay, as also the Kuisip river, south of Swakop, which enters the south side of the above bay.
The rivers on the north are Omaruru, Ugab, Hubb. The northern boundary of Damaraland, the Cunene river, separates the Portuguese settlement, Benguela. And in Great Namaqualand is the Little Orange river which rises on the west slope of the mountain range, and enters the South Atlantic near Angra Peguena island, lately annexed by Germany, which completes the Orange and Vaal basin in South Central Africa. The rivers or branches of the south side of the Orange, which drain a large portion of the Cape Colony and Little Namaqualand west of the junction of the Vaal river, are the Ongar, which enters the Orange near Prieska, Hartebeest or Vish river, Pillans, and some small streams of no note. The country which these rivers pass through is wild and very hilly.
Chapter Twenty One.
The region north of the Transvaal under Lo-Bengulu, the Matabele king. Its physical geography and notes on my explanations. Within the Limpopo Basin.
This region is commonly known as Matabeleland, Maahona, and Makalaka country. It extends from the Limpopo river northwards to the Zambese river. The western boundary joins up to the Bechuanaland occupied by the chief Khama, and on the east by the territory belonging to the chief Umzela. The extent from north to south is 420 miles, and from east to west 340 geographical miles. The mountain range, Molopo, traverses it the whole length in a diagonal direction, from the north-east corner down to the south-west, which forms the watershed dividing the Zambese from the Limpopo basin, the northern portion of this kingdom being in the former, and the southern in the latter. The tributaries of the Limpopo take their rise from this watershed, all of them, without exception, flowing through a beautiful and well-wooded country, containing some of the most magnificent and valuable timber to be found in Africa: mahogany, ebony, and other useful woods suitable for building purposes and other work. The principal names of these rivers are the Shasha, being the southern, between the chief Khama and Lo-Bengulu, the Tati, Ramakaban, Mpakwe, Meksine, Rubi, and Nuanettie. The whole country drained by these rivers is granite, with lofty and picturesque hills covered with tropical vegetation of many flowering shrubs and trees, with the brilliant flowers everywhere peeping out between massive granite rocks, lying one upon another for several hundred feet in most grotesque forms. This gives to the landscape a peculiar and novel appearance, quite different from anything seen in the south. Many of the spurs of the Molopo range are free from bush, where the native cattle find fine grazing-land, and the gigantic baobab, palms, euphorbias, aloes of many kinds with their crimson flowers, and other tropical trees skirt the hills and mountain streams. The fallen masses of rock from the pyramidal-shaped hills strew the ground at their base, and give a peculiar and strange feature to the scenery around. This country gradually descends towards the south and east, until it reaches the Limpopo river, interrupted by many isolated hills and mountain ranges, thickly wooded; the most inaccessible points being selected by the Mashona natives for their kraals, to be secure from surprise by the Matabele warriors.
The population of the eastern division of the Mashona country is mostly composed of the Mashona tribe that occupied this region previous to the invasion of the dreaded Zulu chief Moselikatze, about the year 1840, when he advanced north with his army of wild Zulus, and took possession of all the country which is now included in the Matabele kingdom. There are also several other tribes living in this district, the most numerous being the Makalakas, Bakalahara, and the Mesere Bushmen, and many of the Banyai, Makloes, Makatse, and Mantatees, that have crossed the Limpopo from the Transvaal.
The Tati gold-fields occupy the western border on the north bank of the Tati river, which were first discovered by Mr H. Hartly, the well known and highly-respected elephant-hunter from the interior, in 1867, which soon became known, and a number of diggers from Australia and other parts came flocking to the scene. Amongst the number was Sir John Swinburne. A company was formed, and after spending much money in machinery and other works, it was abandoned, sufficient gold not being found to pay expenses. The stores and works fell into ruin, and the last of the powerful engines, weighing several tons, was washed down the river nearly two miles, and deposited on the bank some twenty feet above the river-bed, where I saw it when returning from Matabeleland in 1878.
The fact of the flood-waters carrying down such a huge and heavy mass as this engine two miles, and depositing it at so high a level, will give some idea of the force and quantity of the water that fills these rivers during that time. The rainy season varies as to time; sometimes it commences early in November, at others later, and lasts until February or March. In all these tributaries of the Limpopo that drain the above region, none retain water throughout the year, although they are large and broad streams with steep and lofty banks, but during the dry season water may be obtained from most of them by digging a few feet in their sandy beds; they are all at too sharp an angle to allow water to remain in them. The main road from Ba-Mangwato to Matabeleland crosses most of them, and frequently I have had to wait weeks on their banks until the flood-water had subsided to enable me to cross. On one occasion I was on the point of crossing the Bamakaban river, and was treking down the bank to enter it with my waggon, when my driver called my attention to a great roaring sound which came from the up-river side. Having previously had several days of storms, with heavy rains, we held still to listen, and from previous experience we too well knew the cause. There was not time to cross and reach the opposite side before the rush of water would be upon us, particularly with an ox-waggon, as the sand in these river-beds is very heavy for oxen to pull a waggon through, and sometimes they take it into their heads to come to a stand until they think proper to move on again, after a little coaxing with one or two South African waggon-whips, the handles of which are twelve feet long, and the lash twenty. Therefore, to prevent any catastrophe, we selected a pretty open grassy glade on the wooded bank, and outspanned; but before we had completed this operation, the water was in sight, coming down like a wall, bringing trees of considerable size, large stems of dead wood, sticks, and froth, rushing and tearing along with a roaring sound that could be heard miles away, and in a few minutes there was sufficient to float a large ship. Where would my waggon have been if I had attempted to cross?—Carried down into the Indian Ocean in splinters. Many a waggon and their owners have been caught in these flood-waters and lost in the rivers of Africa. Nevertheless, with all its inconveniences, it is a grand and imposing sight, and a novel one to those who are unaccustomed to African travelling in an ox-waggon.