Twenty-Five Years in a Waggon in South Africa: Sport and Travel in South Africa

by Andrew A. Anderson

That they were murdered there is no question. Captain Patterson was in the employ of the British Government, and was in Matabeleland on official duties, therefore it was the duty of the Government to investigate the matter and to have sent up an officer competent to carry it out, instead of making inquiries of the British residents on the spot, who dare not speak what they knew, and to have given Lo-Bengulu to understand that British subjects were not to be murdered in his territory with impunity. It is this shirking of responsibilities that lead to dire results, and is unbecoming the dignity of a great nation like Great Britain. This has been the fatal policy of the British Government in South Africa, which has caused the misery and bloodshed that has swept over South Africa these last few years, and paralysed the whole trade of the country. It is not only detrimental to the Colony, but our British workmen at home suffer, from the stoppage of the trade to those regions that so largely consume British merchandise. If the people of England were to look a little more into these matters, instead of wasting their time in that petty party spirit which seems to be on the increase, and devote that time in improving and developing our trade in our colonies and elsewhere, it would be more conducive to their welfare than employing it in quibbling over who should have votes or not, and woman’s suffrage, that will not bring one penny more into the pockets of the people; and such other trifling matters, unprofitably employing the time of the House of Commons, which should be devoted to the general interests of our country abroad, and in our colonies, that are the main source of our prosperity and wealth, which means, in other words, full employment for our workpeople; for no other policy will put bread into their mouths. If this contemptible party spirit, which has now grown rampant, should increase, England’s greatness is on the wane, for where a house is divided against itself, it cannot stand. This spirit, of opposition in time becomes a mania, and the most vital interests of our country are sunk in the glory, as they imagine, of turning out their opponents from office. I hope all who wish for the prosperity of Great Britain will rise to the occasion and become what their forefathers were, staunch and determined upholders of British interests, which means prosperity to her people, where the weal of Great Britain is concerned, and sink that petty and unpatriotic spirit. My fate most probably would have been similar to those unfortunate men, as it was known I was on a mission into that country also. I might have gone and never been heard of more, a satisfactory conclusion to arrive at.

The Mashona country in the north is but little-known, from the difficulty thrown in the way of exploring it, particularly along the south side of the river Zambese; gold in large quantities is known to be there, as also other minerals. On the north side of the river gold has been found, but until some better mode of transit is adopted, such as a single line of railway, with shuntings at stated distances, the richness of these regions cannot be developed. A railway would revolutionise the whole country, to the immense advantage of our Cape Colony and Great Britain, and the civilisation of the native tribes.

When Lo-Bengulu became king, in January, 1870, it was supposed the rightful heir to the throne, “Kuruman,” born from a royal wife of Moselikatze, was dead, killed by order of his father, as it appears there was a conspiracy amongst the Indunas to dethrone him, and place Kuruman in his place. Moselikatze, hearing of this, as he was out with an army making conquest in the northern part of the Mashona country, immediately returned and made an attack on a kraal where these Indunas had assembled, Inthaba Inisduna, and slaughtered them and all the people, except Lo-Bengulu, who was his son by another wife, but made a royal child—and with those slaughtered, it was supposed Kuruman was one, but it was found afterwards he had escaped. Moselikatze sent for him, and ordered a Basuto to take him away and destroy him, but he was not to injure his person, that one belonging to royalty should not be mangled.

Kuruman’s servant was also commissioned to assist in the murder. When it was accomplished, as is supposed, these two men returned to the king and reported his death, but it is supposed by others that he was allowed to escape, and that he found his way down to Natal, and became a servant of the Honourable Theophilus Shepstone, the minister of native affairs in that colony, and nothing more was heard of him for some years. Still the Matabele were much divided respecting Lo-Bengulu becoming king, and many military stations would not acknowledge him; the consequence was, a general slaughter took place, and kraal after kraal were visited by the king’s troops, killing man, woman, and child, depopulating large districts, and after some time reduced the number of his opponents to a few, but still never entirely crushing them out, or destroying all who still clung to the hope of getting rid of Lo-Bengulu. Many of the men spared in these fights were incorporated in the army that remained true to the king. Soon after it was reported that Kuruman was alive in Natal; messengers were sent down to ascertain the fact; and also some refugees stated he was Kuruman. He denied he was the Kuruman, but afterwards, in 1871, acknowledged he was, and departed for the north to claim his rights. The last time I heard of him he was at Rustenburg in the Transvaal. The doubt that has hung over Lo-Bengulu, as to his really being the right man, has made him very watchful, and it seems this supposed Kuruman is still looking out for an opportunity to enter the Matabeleland and try his luck, but Lo-Bengulu is too securely settled on his throne to be easily deposed.

At the death of Moselikatze, waggon-loads full of presents of every description, presents from those who had visited his country, and payments for the privilege of hunting in his veldt, became the property of Lo-Bengulu, and were thatched to preserve them from the weather, never to be used, because the great king had ridden in them; the empty ones were destroyed at the burial of the king; taking those loaded to Gebbeklaiko, now called Gubuluwayo or Bulowaiyo, where the royal widow of Moselikatze went to reside after the death of her husband, and also where Lo-Bengulu took up his royal residence, which he has occupied up to the time when it was recently destroyed. He has several kraals in different parts of the country that he visits from time to time, for a change. Mr and Mrs Coillard are still here, not yet having obtained their release, but expect it daily. Mr Sykes has been indefatigable in the affair, and clearly explained the object of his visit to establish several French missionary stations throughout the Mashona country under native teachers. But Lo-Bengulu, although very kind to the English missionaries, is not a believer in their faith, and his people are very much of the same opinion, consequently there are few converts. All the districts are visited by them. Mr Sykes and also Mr Thomas have for the last twenty-eight years been at much trouble, but cannot convert them. They have their great spirit, Molemo, and with their medicine-men to make rain for them, they seem contented to remain.

In the afternoon I left for Thabo Induna, which is the place where the massacre of the Indunas took place under Moselikatze previously mentioned, and then on to Umzamalas town to Inzalion, but as Mr and Mrs Sykes were with the king, went on to Mr George Wood, an old traveller and hunter, who showed me several pieces of gold he had procured from the near quartz reef, and some gold-dust he had himself washed from the Changani river. The whole of this region down to the Zambese is a gold-bearing country.

But what seems very remarkable, no instruments or anything has been found to lead to the time when this part of the Mashona country was overrun by this supposed white race, but a time may come when prospecting may be allowed, that will throw more light upon this subject. These old diggings may have been worked by the Queen of Sheba’s people, and subsequently by a white race. It is very clear, there must have been a different race from the present, that worked the ground for gold in these parts, several hundred years ago; from the ruins now standing, I think proves they may have been the same under the name of Abbalomba.

Besides the gold-mines in other districts, which will be described in dealing with the adjoining kingdom of Umzela, there are other indications of the presence of a civilised people in remote times; throughout this region known as the Royaume du Quiteve, and Etats du Monomotapa, the residence of the Emperor Quiteve, and also to the north is the Ville Royal du Monomotapa, which is situated in ancient Portuguese maps as being in the northern division of the Mashona country, on the south side of the Zambese, under the name Monomotapa, in the Abutua and Banyai regions; the emperor of whom, in 1550, was conquered by the Portuguese, so they say, and ceded his dominion to them. Now it is an interesting question, what tribe or nation did these emperors spring from? It appears certain that they must have been in possession of the country long before the Portuguese rounded the Cape of Good Hope, and proceeded as far north up the east coast to Mozambique, including Quillimane and Delagoa Bay, in 1497, under Vasco de Gama; but he made no settlements on the coast at that time. Bartholomew Diaz, in 1486, rounded the Cape and proceeded as far east as Algoa Bay, and planted a cross on St. Croix Island, then on to the Great Fish river, and returned. Sofala was visited by a Portuguese traveller from Abyssinia in 1480. In 1500, the Portuguese began to form settlements on the west coast; 1506, town of Mozambique taken by the Portuguese under Tristan d’Acunha; 1507, Portuguese proceed with their conquests on east coast, and in 1508, conquer Sofaia. Therefore it was impossible for the Portuguese to establish themselves to any great extent on the coast-line, much before the time it is stated they conquered the Emperor of Mouomotapa.

A Venetian map published in 1546 gives an outline of the Zambese river and the Central African lakes, and I have an ancient map of Africa showing several lakes in that region, particularly Lake Tanganyika, which very correctly shows its true position, clearly proving that it was discovered long before Livingstone or any other modern explorer ever visited that central region.

Were these Monomotapa people black or white, and from whence did they come? They were evidently a separate people from those who now occupy the country. May not an Arab tribe have passed down along the east coast, and established themselves in the Mashona region, and formed a kingdom? for the word Emperor is not a word used by any African races south of the Zambese, and none, I believe, except they are of Arab blood, or closely connected with that race. There is at present that tribe mentioned in my description of the northern Kalahara desert, on the Quito and Cubango, to the north of my explorations, that are termed white; may not this remnant be descendants of the Monomotapa people, and those white the Mashonas call “Abbalamba,” who may also have formed a part of the Emperor Quiteve’s people?