In the fields round the mission-building maize and wheat were growing, and in the gardens adjacent to the dwelling peaches, apricots, pears, figs, oranges, and citrons were thriving admirably, and, together with the vegetables, contributed a welcome addition towards the support of the modest establishment. The little flower-garden revived pleasant recollections by the abundance of old favourites it contained; there were roses, both as standards and climbers, irises, lilacs with their graceful bloom, and carnations with their pleasant fragrance; tulips and hyacinths had been in bloom, but had now gone off.
BAHARUTSE VILLAGE.
Page 419.
The family life of the missionary beneath the blue-gum trees on the Matebe was quite idyllic in its peacefulness; nothing could surpass the excellence of the pattern which it set to the dusky population which surrounded it. My own pleasure for the time, however, was seriously damped by the intelligence which Mr. Jensen said he had received from Zanzibar on good authority, that Livingstone had fallen a victim to dysentery by the Bangweolo Lake. At the same time he told me that the companion of Livingstone’s first journey was still alive.
The Baharutse possess large herds of cattle, but the periodic recurrence of lung-disease is so fatal, that they lose very large numbers of them.[14]
Linokana (from li = the and nokana = a little river), during the lifetime of Moilo, was called by his name in his honour. As Karl Mauch has already observed, it is a place where a naturalist may spend weeks with advantage. With the exception of mammalia, nearly all kinds of animals abound. The heights (the eastern of which is called the To, or Elephant hill, and the northern the Po, or Buffalo hill), as well as the meadows and marshes on the Matebe, and the woods on the Notuany, exhibit an immense variety of birds, amongst which birds of prey, long-tailed finches, bee-catchers, green doves, and purple herons especially predominate.
On the 16th we turned our backs upon the hospitable fields of Moilo, proceeding southwards towards Zeerust. The next farm of any considerable extent that we came to was that belonging to Martin Zwart, whom we found engaged in distilling peach-brandy; he was the owner of two farms here, and had purchased several others on the frontier, but nevertheless he was by no means in flourishing circumstances; his love of hunting had prevented him from ever steadily devoting himself to farm life and, like many others, he had failed to get on. During the twenty-one years in which he had been a hunter, he had killed as many as 294 elephants.
Near the sources of the Notuany I took an excursion up the valley to Oosthuisen’s farm. He resides in a lovely hollow, with several of his relations. His property contains a certain quantity of copper ore, which is collected by the natives, and, after being smelted, is made into bracelets and other ornaments. He cultivated maize, wheat, and tobacco, and spent a good deal of his time in tanning skins purchased from hunters coming back from the interior. Returning by Zwart’s farm, we proceeded for two hours, and reached Zeerust, the headquarters of the local government for the Marico district. Though containing little more than forty houses, the little town possessed a Dutch church, surrounded by high walls, behind which, during the recent unsettled state of things, the population sought refuge.
Zeerust is situated on the Little Marico, which wends its way eastwards through the hills to join the Great Marico. Nearly the whole of the district is highland, traversed by a multitude of brooks, and broken by some exceedingly fertile valleys; in comparison with the rest of the Transvaal, it may be said to be fairly cultivated; a part of it is covered with mimosas and various kinds of underwood; good pasturage for cows and horses may be seen almost everywhere. The farms lie close together, but although garden produce appeared to occupy a certain amount of attention, it was only in a few instances that we saw anything like abundance, the farmers, being, as I have said, addicted to elephant-hunting, and giving all their profits to that expensive amusement. The prohibition of hunting decreed by the Bechuana chiefs may probably compel these enthusiasts to stay at home, and by inducing them to mind their farms, may tend to bring about a more prosperous condition of the district.