Just after my rencontre with the cobra in the glen, on the same day, one of the black boys, who was looking for a dove which had been shot, came running to me in a state of great excitement, and calling out, “A slang, sir! a slang!” He had been startled by a cobra in the grass. All the natives, except the Zulu magicians, or “medicine men,” are mortally terrified at these reptiles.
Two days afterwards, while I was again exploring the bottom of the glen, I shot one of the short black snakes that are known to the Dutch farmers as “ringnecks,” on account of the white mark on their throat. When I told a storekeeper in the neighbourhood that I had done so, he related to me several anecdotes about the species, the particulars of one of which was confirmed by my own subsequent observation. He told me that a few months previously a farmer had noticed, when his cows returned to the farmyard after grazing by the river-bank, that one of them always came back an hour or more after the rest. As there was no danger from wild beasts, it was not usual to have the cows watched; but unable to understand what could be the reason of this habitual lingering of one of the herd, he sent a servant to look. The man soon came running back, shouting, “Bas, Bas, fat det rur!” (Master, master, bring your gun! a ringneck is sucking your cow!). The farmer called together some of his neighbours, and, hastening down to the riverside, witnessed the curious sight of the snake coiled round one of the hind legs of the cow, and while the animal continued to graze quietly, sucking greedily at the udder. It was almost satiated, and its body, like a great leech, was gradually loosening its hold. Before the astonished spectators could take any measures to destroy it, it had dropped off and disappeared in the grass; but the next day the farm-servants managed to creep up, after it had had its fill, and killed it without injury to themselves.
BATLAPIN AGRICULTURE.
Page 116.
In the interests of geographical science it was always my wish to ascertain the depth of the various rivers I explored. Having no boat, or other apparatus, my only resource in order to get the measurements I wanted was to wade right into the streams. I persevered in doing this wherever I could feel perfectly secure from the attacks of crocodiles, until an adventure befell me which gave me such a distaste for experiments of this kind that I abandoned them altogether. It was a hazard that almost cost me my life. I was anxious to find a fording-place for the waggon somewhere near our encampment by the Harts River, which, where we were, was some twenty feet wide. After I had found what appeared a suitable spot, where the shore was high and dry, and the water only eighteen inches deep at the edge, I undressed, threw my clothes across the stream to the opposite bank, and then proceeded to wade through the water. At my very first step my foot sank into mud, but I proceeded cautiously till I reached the middle of the stream. I there found myself standing in two feet of mud and two feet of water, and every farther step I took showed me only too plainly that the mud was getting deeper and deeper, and that I could not reach the bottom. I came to the conclusion that if matters should not improve, I must turn back again; but when I tried to return I experienced unlooked-for difficulty; I kept sinking lower and lower, till only my chin was above the level of the water. To cry for help was of no avail; the waggon in the encampment was much too far away to allow me to be heard. I became quite aware of the peril of my position, but I had only my own exertions on which to rely. With a violent jerk I flung myself forward, spreading out my arms as if I were swimming; the effort brought my body to the upper surface of the mud, but my chest and mouth were under water. I managed, however, by another spring to extricate one of my legs from the slime; but as I was in imminent danger of being suffocated I had to pause, to raise my head above water to draw breath. There was not an instant to be lost if I were to maintain the advantage I had gained, and with one desperate effort more I succeeded in liberating my other foot. Happily I had just strength enough left to enable me to grasp the soil of the opposite shore, and ultimately to drag myself on to dry land. My state, both of mind and body, needs no description.
We remained in our halting-place for several days, before proceeding up the Harts River valley on our way to Likatlong.
CHAPTER V.
FROM LIKATLONG TO WONDERFONTEIN.
Batlapin life—Weaver-birds and their nests—A Batlapin farmstead—Ant-hills—Travelling Batlapins—An alarming accident—Springbockfontein—Gassibone and his residence—An untempting dish—On the bank of the Vaal—Iguanas—Christiana—Bloemhof—Stormy night—Pastures by the Vaal—Cranes—Dutch hunters—A sportsman’s Eldorado—Surprised by black gnus—Guinea-fowl—Klerksdorp—Potschefstroom—The Mooi River valley—Geological notes—Wonderfontein and its grottoes—Otters, birds, and snakes.
Likatlong, the residence of the chief Yantje, is the capital of the most southerly of the Batlapin tribes. The name signifies “union,” probably in reference to the junction of the two rivers. The town consisted of three groups of farmsteads, each farmstead containing from two to four huts, generally six feet high, enclosed by hedges made of dry branches. The huts in the central groups exhibited the greatest appearance of life and industry, and extended as far as the river. In the middle of them was an open space, marked by the ruins of a mission-house that had been burned down some years previously. A short distance from the mission-house stood the church, a long but insignificant-looking edifice, built of unbaked bricks, with a gabled roof covered with dry grass. At the time of my visit there was no missionary there, but the London Missionary Society, in whose district it lies, have since sent out one of their body.