Several of the residents, with whom we had already made acquaintance, came and paid us a visit in our waggon. They told me that Mauch had stayed several times in Potchefstroom, and had found a liberal friend in Herr Fossmann. In the course of conversation they mentioned that dendrolites and other petrifactions were to be found on the mountains that we could see towards the east; and, in answer to my inquiries about the interior of the country, they said that several times a year waggons laden with ivory, ostrich feathers, and large quantities of skins came from Shoshong, the town of the Bamangwatos, on their way to Natal. These waggons came down by the Limpopo, crossing it just above its junction with the Marico. They were the property of two brothers named Drake, with whom, on my second journey, I made acquaintance at Shoshong, being called to attend one of them professionally. Among other bits of information that my visitors gave me, I learnt that two men were now staying at Potchefstroom, who had just returned from elephant-hunting in the Matabele country.
I had finished all the sketching that I wanted to do on my way up the valley, and consequently had ample leisure on the return journey for hunting, and for seeking to add to my scientific collection. As we crossed the plain, I took my good pointer Niger with me, and walked on one side of the waggon, at a distance of some three hundred yards. Niger was always of great service to me, and never off his guard in our foraging expeditions. I had brought him from the diamond-fields, on my baboon-hunting excursion. Whilst I kept my distance on one side, one of the rest of us marched along at about the same interval on the other, in the same way as a couple of scouts. The larger bustards (Eupodotis caffra and kori) were too shy to allow us to come near them, but we had some good sport amongst the grey and black lesser bustards, partridges, sand-grouse, plovers with red legs and speckled wings, and hoplopteri, which seemed to abound chiefly in the more marshy places.
A little incident that amused us as much as anything that transpired on the journey had the effect of detaining us a short time on our way between the Baken and Matschavi spruits. Gert was seated upon the box of the waggon, and spied out a dark object, about two miles in advance to the left, which, as we approached nearer to it, was acknowledged on all hands to be an animal of some kind or other. Gert and the other native insisted that it was only a cow; but as there was no cowherd in charge, and no other cattle near by, the rest of us came to the conclusion that it could only be one of those old gnus, which, on account of their combative propensities, are from time to time banished from a herd, and thrust out to an isolated existence. We were all of one mind that the animal was of no service where it was, and that it had better find its way to some European museum. Accordingly, I started off, quite intent upon securing the prize. I was beginning to approach with the profoundest caution; but I very soon found that any delicacy on my part was quite superfluous; for before I got within three hundred yards of it, the brute had caught sight of me, and was tearing towards me at full speed. It was a great bull that came rushing onwards, with its huge horns lowered to the ground. I did not lose my presence of mind, but fired a couple of blank shots, which made the animal first pause and then retreat. I had to return to the waggon, somewhat chagrined, it is true, but compelled to join in the general laugh, and to own that the European eyesight was far outdone in keenness by that of the Korannas.
Without any mishap, we crossed the ford over the Schoenspruit, and made our camp on the open sward between the stream and the aqueduct leading to Klerksdorp. Close beside us were two other waggons belonging to a Transvaal “transport-driver,” who came to have a talk with us; and as we were taking a cup of coffee, he joined us at our repast. He told us that to the best of his belief the goods he was conveying included casks of French wine and brandy, jars of hollands, boxes of English biscuits, besides a variety of pickaxes, shovels, and other implements. Altogether his load weighed nearer six tons than five. The waggons had been loaded in the diamond-fields, and the driver’s business was to take them to the gold-diggings. He informed us that, after paying all his expenses, he hoped to clear 140l. by this journey; so that we inferred that, including the dues paid for unlading at Port Elizabeth, the total cost of the transport of these goods thence to Pilgrim’s Rest, in the Lydenburg district, could not be less than 300l. It is true that the distance between the two places, viâ Hope Town, Kimberley, Christiana, Klerksdorp, Potchefstroom, Pretoria, and Middleberg, can scarcely be less than 1100 miles; but even for this the charge seems very exorbitant. Generally speaking, the transport-drivers no doubt make a good thing of their business; and it would seem to be only in exceptionally bad seasons, or when winter snow-storms on the paroo plains prove fatal to their oxen, that they ever suffer any serious loss.
Next morning we quitted Klerksdorp, proceeding towards the Estherspruit. It had not rained for some days, and we were sanguine of finer weather; but the nights were very sensibly colder than when we first started on our expedition.
Our mid-day halt was made, on the following day, beneath the shade of some of those many-stemmed dwarf trees, the branches of which, in complicated twinings, bend downwards to the ground. Immediately below them the soil was almost bare of verdure, and was penetrated by many mouse-holes; but beyond there were slight depressions in the earth, where the grass grew luxuriantly.
Arriving early next day at the flowery valley of the Estherspruit, I devoted some hours to a search for insects, knowing that many of the smaller coleoptera would abound on the umbelliferous and liliaceous plants. We afterwards all went off in a body, armed with our guns, pincers, and the waggon-whip, to the rocks on the left of the valley. One of the results of this excursion was the capture of two snakes; and, to judge from the width of the traces that I noticed, I should conclude that there were a good many puff-adders in the neighbourhood. It was precisely the place where they would be likely to thrive, as being haunted by reed-rats—the smaller of a brown colour, the larger of a grey hue with black stripes—as well as by swarms of the striped mice which build in the bushes. Reed-rats are venturesome creatures that from their shape might almost be called jumping-shrews. The largest of them are about the size of a common rat. They live in holes underneath rocks, their food consisting of insects and larvæ. They are always on the alert, and move very nimbly; but when pursued, they have a habit of stopping to look round them, and this generally results in their being caught.
Although it was late in the afternoon when we reached the Matjespruit, we went on for another three hours before stopping for the night. The first halt next morning was at Klipspruit, where, about a mile and a half above us, we observed a waggon standing, with some horses grazing by its side. Behind the waggon was a tent, and I hoped that we should find we had come across a party of Dutch hunters, from whom we might obtain some fresh meat, in case our own sport should prove unsuccessful. My expectation was not disappointed, and we soon ascertained that the waggon was the property of the landowner, whose farm residence was higher up the valley, but who had brought his family out in this fashion for a holiday, to enjoy a little hunting. Not far from the waggon a number of boughs were stuck into the ground, attached to each other by festoons of bullock-thongs, on which were hanging long strips of meat undergoing the process of being converted into “beltong.” On the ground was the carcass of a bull gnu, which a young Koranna was in the act of skinning.
Game seemed to be abundant in every direction. We saw a fight between two gnus. They charged each other with prodigious vehemence; but when they caught sight of us they obviously recognized us as common enemies, and making a truce between themselves, scampered off with the rest of the herd.
After we had passed the Lionspruit and the Wolfspruit, the following evening brought us to Rennicke’s farm, the owner of which had not been over-courteous to us on our outward journey. Now, however, he not only raised no objection to our hunting in his woods, but sent his young son to act as our guide. Conducting us to the edge of the forest, the lad bade us stoop down and follow him quietly. About sixty yards further on we came to a low bank; it was not much above five feet high, and dotted over with a number of dwarf shrubs. The youth crept on very cautiously, and having looked down, motioned to us to follow him noiselessly, and to peep through the bushes. Pointing with his finger over the embankment, he whispered in my ear,—