Bergfontein, at which we arrived early on the 17th, is a spring situated on a woody slope; it is regarded by the natives as the source of the Nokane stream, which flows northwards, but only in the rainy season. The slope, which is very rugged and clothed with luxuriant vegetation, is the declivity of the Maque plain down to the great salt-lakes. At a short distance from the bank of the Nokane spruit the traveller from the south is greeted by the sight of a cluster of fan-palms, a foretaste of the wonders of tropical vegetation; overtopping all the surrounding trees, they were probably the most southerly specimens of that queen of palm-trees in Central Africa. I shot down some examples of the fruit, and added them to my collection. Encircling the base of the slim stems that were crowned with the magnificent foliage was a wonderful undergrowth of young plants that had germinated from the fallen fruit, the leaves of which had already assumed fine proportions, and were rapidly developing into their fan-like form.
Vol. II.
Page 50.
MASARWAS CHASING THE ELAND.
In the broad but shallow bed of a spruit that lay on the side of a gentle slope, I found a shrub that reminded me of a baobab; it was between four and five feet in height, its lower part immensely thick and fleshy, and covered with a yellowish bark; but scarcely a foot from the ground it contracted into little branches only two or three inches thick, that proceeded direct from the great superficial root. Some of these stems weighed several hundredweight, and on some future occasion I shall hope to obtain a specimen for myself.
From the Makalaharis and Masarwas residing hereabouts I obtained a variety of ornaments and some domestic utensils made of wood and bone, but I was unfortunate enough afterwards to lose them all.
PURSUED BY MATABELE.
All around the hills for the most part were thickly wooded, having no paths except the game-tracks leading generally towards the Nokane. Over these tracks the natives are accustomed to set assegai-traps for catching the game at night; a pile of underwood is heaped up to bring the animals to a standstill; a grass rope with one end very loosely attached to a short stake is carried across the path about a foot above the ground, and supported horizontally by two uprights and a cross-pole placed on the opposite side; the rope is thence taken up to the nearest overhanging bough, and an assegai left suspended from the other end. The slightest jerk made by the movements of the game suffices to detach the loose end of the rope, and the assegai immediately falls. The assegai used for this purpose is generally of very rude construction, being nothing but a rough pole with a rusty spear-head fixed at the end; but its efficiency is due to the point being dipped in a most deadly poison. The wound inflicted by the descending weapon is generally slight in itself, and although only a scratch may be made in the neck, the victim is doomed, as the poison is sure to take quick effect. In the winter months snares of this kind are continually being set, and are always visited as frequently as possible, that the carcase may be dissected soon after death; the flesh close round the wound is cut away, but all the rest is considered by the natives to be perfectly fit for food. Once, while in pursuit of some koodoos, one of Anderson’s people narrowly escaped running into an assegai-trap, being only warned by his servant just in time, and I have myself in the course of my rambles come upon several tracks stopped up in this way.