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

by Andrew A. Anderson

The broad Zambese river would have been a very enticing stream for any tribe to follow up, who were coming down south to settle, and they may have introduced the Arab customs, and also Jewish customs, amongst the people. Now it is well known the Mashonas are excellent mechanics, workers in metals, excellent blacksmiths, and they manufacture blankets from the cotton fibre, which no other nation in the south of Central Africa does—may not this knowledge have been handed down from this white race? Give one of these Mashonas a piece of gold, and ask him to make you a ring; it will soon be done, and done well.

I am surprised no Englishman has ever thought of exploring the Zambese from its mouth to the Victoria Falls, with canoes; it could be accomplished without much difficulty, and a most interesting and pleasant trip it would be, returning by road to the Colony by the transport road the whole way; much valuable information would be obtained that might throw some light on this interesting subject. To do it by land would be much more difficult, the many rivers to cross, swamps and thick jungle to pass through, sleeping at night on the ground would cause fever, and as my map and others will show, it has never been explored. Livingstone followed it down part of the way, and there he lost his wife. The distance from the mouth to the falls is about 900 miles.

The old forts on the Umvuli, with the old gold-diggings, along the base of the Leputa and Lobolo mountains on the Mlebka river, Kambesa, Nuntigesa, Mandou, Zimbo, Piza and many others in the Mashona country on the east; and to the west of the Sabia river, near each, are extensive old diggings, and on the Ingwezi river there are very perfect ruins, but completely enclosed in bush; the walls are extensive and thick, all of them built of hewn granite, and laid in regular courses; another on the Nuanettie river, to the west of the Woohu mountain, is a very good specimen of these ancient forts, situated on a rocky eminence, well defended on all sides, and also covered in by trees and bush. The Zimbo, or Zimbase, ruins of an old fort are situated on a small branch of the Sabia river, in 20 degrees 16 minutes South latitude. A short distance from its banks there are several low walls on an open space, but the most extensive is that situated on a low granite hill; the walls are about eight feet thick and five feet in height in the lower portion, the upper part measures twenty feet, and forms a sort of round tower very similar to the ruins on the Tati, which have been described; the walls are built of hewn granite stone, and in regular layers; on the inside there are several beams inserted in the walls projecting eight feet, composed of a hard and fine-grained stone of a dark colour. Upon one of them are carvings, diamond-shaped, one within another, separated by wavy lines; they are much overgrown by shrubs and creepers, and seem to be of the same date, and erected by the same people as those already described. Several old gold-diggings are in the vicinity. Altogether these ancient forts, that are so largely distributed over these regions, are most interesting, and when this country is more developed and better understood, they may lead to discoveries that may throw more light upon the subject. That the Portuguese did deal largely with the natives in gold is clearly established, and if all these ruined forts were their work, they must have occupied the country in very considerable numbers, which seems hardly likely, because there is no record of their having done so to the extent which these ruins show.

The kingdom of Tarva is supposed to have been in these regions. I have not met with any ruins yet that would lead me to suppose they were once the palace of the Queen of Sheba. I do not think that walls six or eight feet thick, built of small hewn stone without mortar, would stand as perfect as they are the wear and tear of four thousand years, in a country subject to such storms as sweep over this region in the rainy season.

The only relics I have found are broken pieces of pottery, containing much mica, and the well-worn stones the natives used to crush their corn, which must have been in use many years, as they are hollowed out almost like basins, and the round stone the size of a cricket-ball, much worn on one side in pounding the grain. One ancient grave I opened, but found nothing but a spear-head of iron, that crumbled to pieces when handled; the bones had disappeared. I may mention, when prospecting in the channels worn in the beds of the rivers by the water, I have found a great many copper beads mixed up in the gravel and sand, and a piece of silver, that looks like part of a bar, about half an inch square and an inch in length, that was also lying in the bed of the river close to the ruins of the old fort on the Ingwazi river.

The watershed that divides the Zambese and Limpopo basins runs in a north-east and south-west direction, like the backbone of an animal; the spurs representing the ribs, but in places the hill is broken up, as at Gubuluwayo and the country round. The rivers that drain each basin take their rise within a few yards of each other, on the south of the king’s kraal. All the elevated portions of the country are healthy, the lower parts are subject to fever to Europeans in the rainy season, but when the country is occupied by an industrious race, and cleared of bush and drained, it will become as healthy in time as any other portion of Africa, being so elevated above sea-level, viz. 3300 feet. It cannot be so very unhealthy, when Mr and Mrs Sykes have lived at Inyatine twenty-eight years, and have enjoyed good health; Mr and Mrs Thomas, also, for the same time; and at Hopefountain, the two missionaries and their families have enjoyed good health for many years, and at Gubuluwayo the traders have no more sickness than if they lived in any other part of the country considered healthy.

Since my last journey into Matabeleland, Lo-Bengulu has taken to himself a royal wife, the sister of the Zulu chief Umzela, whose territory adjoins the western boundary of the Matabele king, and occupies all the country down to the east African coast, not in the occupation of the Portuguese. This naturally was not very agreeable to his sister Nina, who ruled supreme in her brother’s court, during the time he had no royal wife, which must have made it unpleasant for both parties. I am not acquainted with the particulars, but I suppose the king deemed it expedient to get rid of this annoyance, adopted his usual plan, for he gave orders to some of his people to take his sister away, which is tantamount to ordering her to be killed, but no royal blood must be spilt or the body mutilated; consequently she was taken away and smothered. His royal residence at Gubuluwayo has been destroyed, and a new military camp formed at some distance from it. His new residence is built in the European style, much larger than the former, containing several fine rooms; the principal apartment is capable of holding over 100 people, substantially built of brick, with thatched roof, erected by Europeans. The Matabele who calls himself Kuruman, the son of Moselikatze, and was supposed to have been killed previous to his father’s death, has claimed the kingship, and has many followers, which may eventually lead to much bloodshed.

A railway will do more to civilise the people in the interior and increase trade than any other means that could be adopted to improve the natives and open up the country.

Lo-Bengulu is very favourably disposed towards the English, as I have before stated; what has made him severe on some, is his having lost confidence in many who have gone into his country, and abused the privileges granted to them, which naturally has shaken his good faith in all who visit Matabeleland. When he knows he can depend on any, he is exceedingly friendly, and will do much for them, as in the case of the late Mr Thomas Baines, the traveller, who from his honourable, upright, and straightforward conduct, gained the king’s confidence. The result was, he granted a large concession of his country to him, for working and exploring for gold, and signed a document to that effect, showing that if properly treated he will do good to those who act fair towards him. There are a few old hunters who have for years lived up in Matabeleland, and have the king’s confidence, from acting towards him in an upright and honest way, and have become almost natives of the country; they belong to the old stock of hunters that are fast passing away; only a few are now remaining that could be called hunters of the old days of Moselikatze time, and which formed a little community in themselves. Those were days of real enjoyment, when game was plentiful, and the country not overrun as it is now by a different class of people altogether. Those good old times were before the discovery of diamonds, when even Griqualand West was an unknown land to the colonist. Mr G. Westbeach is now living on the banks of the Zambese; Mr G. Phillips is, I believe, there also; Messrs Byles, Wood, Lisk are now in other parts, and one or two more are all that are left of the old stock of bonâ-fide hunters. At that time they formed a little society in themselves, hired a small farm called Little England, where they would meet once a year or as often as circumstances would call them down from the interior, to procure fresh stock in exchange for ivory, feathers, and other articles. Each member had to undergo fresh baptism in the way of a souse in a large bath made in the water sluit in front of the house, clothes and everything on, and pay his footing in the way of a certain quantity of brandy or square face (gin). When I entered the brotherhood I was suffering with a severe attack of influenza, and consequently was excused the bath, by paying double footing in spirits; keeping up commemoration night till late in the morning, which cured me of my cold.