Through Veld and Forest: An African Story

by Harry Collingwood

The spot upon which the wagon was outspanned was at the extremity of the south-western slope of the mountain, almost on the northernmost extremity of a wide, flat plain; and from this position, looking northward, we saw that the country again presented a somewhat broken appearance, with high ground to the right and left, and something in the nature of a valley directly ahead. And, a valley being obviously the place where one would most naturally expect to find water, it was toward the entrance to this one that we wended our way, with the steep slope of the mountain, shaggy with thickly growing timber, of strange forms and still stranger colours, on our right.

As it happened, we were exceptionally fortunate in our exploration on this occasion, for we had not ridden more than six miles when, issuing from the northern slope of the mountain, the base of which we had been skirting, we discovered another rivulet, very similar in character to that near which we had left the wagon outspanned, and upon tasting the water we found it to be deliciously sweet and cool; moreover, the stream was flowing northward, or precisely in the direction toward which we wished to travel. We followed the course of the stream for a distance of some four miles down the valley, and then, finding that it continued to flow northward, and showed a tendency to increase in volume, being fed by other small brooks flowing into it here and there, we turned our horses’ heads and cantered back to the wagon, very well satisfied with the result of our ride.

Inspanning at dawn the next morning, we easily accomplished the trek from the headwaters of the stream we were leaving behind us to those of the stream which we intended to follow before the heat of the day had fairly set in, outspanning at length, about eleven o’clock in the morning, in a nicely wooded, shady valley, which gradually widened as we progressed, with the stream on our left and rising ground on both sides of us. Here we allowed the oxen to rest and graze for nearly three hours, resuming our journey about half-past two o’clock in the afternoon.

As usual, Piet and I, on horseback and accompanied by the two dogs, preceded the wagon, the pace of the horses, even at a walk, being so much faster than that of the slower-moving oxen that we generally managed to find ourselves at least two or three miles ahead by the time that a suitable spot for the next outspan was reached. But upon this occasion I was desirous of exploring our route for some little distance ahead; therefore, upon mounting, we put our horses into an easy canter, and soon left the wagon out of sight and hearing behind us. Proceeding in this fashion, with an occasional rein-up to breathe our horses, we found ourselves, in the course of an hour and a half, about ten miles from our starting-point, in the midst of a beautifully wooded, park-like plain about five miles in width, with the stream, now considerably augmented in volume, purling musically over a shingly bed on the eastern margin of the plain, and the high land, rising by this time almost to the dignity of hills, still shutting us in on either hand.

The spot which we had reached seemed well enough adapted for our nightly outspan, therefore Piet proceeded to mark the spot by setting up our usual signal, which was a small branch of a tree, with its leaves attached, broken from the parent stem and stuck upright in the soil. This would at once arrest the attention of Jan, the Hottentot driver, upon his arrival at the spot; and seeing it, he would outspan, even if we chanced to be elsewhere when he arrived. Then, mounting again, we resumed our journey down the valley, in search of something wherewith to replenish our empty larder.

At a distance of some five miles farther down the valley we secured what we wanted, having come quite unexpectedly, while our horses were walking, upon a herd of black antelope, among them a number of half-grown fawns, one of which I managed to bowl over before they had sufficiently recovered from their surprise to get away; and having secured our prize upon the back of Piet’s horse, behind his saddle, we proceeded to retrace our steps leisurely. But we had scarcely covered a mile upon our backward way when we became aware of certain strange roaring and grunting sounds, of a kind quite new to us, apparently proceeding from the far side of a big clump of bush which lay at a distance of a short quarter of a mile on our right front. Curious to learn what could be the origin of those strange sounds, we turned our horses’ heads in that direction, and a few minutes later, upon rounding the extremity of the clump, we came upon a most extraordinary sight.

The scene was an open glade of about four acres in extent, bordered by trees, among which were a few specimens of the kind described in the preceding chapter, with weirdly shaped, swollen, knotted, and twisted trunks and branches, and long, flat, ribbon-like streamers of leaves, coated with a vile-smelling exudation. But it was not so much the glade itself—strange as was its appearance, with its weird-looking vegetation—that attracted our attention, as what was being enacted in it. For away toward one edge of it was a big boulder, on the top of which crouched the figure of—was it a woman, or a monkey? The creature seemed to partake about equally of the characteristics of both; she was entirely unclothed, her whole body was covered with short, thick, golden-brown hair, that on her head being much longer than that on the rest of her body, while her features might be described as very human-looking for a monkey, or very monkeyfied for a human being. But I noticed that her arms were disproportionately long, as compared with those of a woman; and a further glance revealed that her feet had a distinct resemblance to hands, her great toes looking very much more like thumbs.

It was not from her, however, that the roaring and grunting sounds emanated—for she sat quite silent—but from two males of her own species, who, in the middle of the arena, were engaged in deadly combat, using their hands, feet, and teeth as weapons, which they employed with most ferocious energy. Gripping each other by the throat with the left hand, apparently with the twofold purpose of strangling and preventing the opponent from biting, while with the right fist they battered each other savagely, occasionally using the right foot in an endeavour to throw each other, the combatants—both of whom stood well over six feet high—whirled hither and thither with astounding agility, so completely occupied with each other—and the female so absorbed in watching them—as to be utterly oblivious of our presence there on the edge of the arena, partially concealed beneath the shadow of the trees.

For several minutes they fought thus, locked together in a deadly grip; then, as though by mutual consent, they drew apart a few paces, evidently for the purpose of recovering their breath, glaring ferociously at each other meanwhile, and uttering low, deep, rumbling, snarling growls: and the tremendous energy which they must have expended during the struggle was abundantly evidenced by the convulsive heaving of their great, hairy chests. Then suddenly they rushed at each other again, and became locked in a deadly embrace, each fixing his strong, fang-like teeth deeply in the shoulder of the other, and each apparently striving to crush the body of the other in the grip of his great, hairy arms, the enormously powerful muscles of which could be plainly seen working beneath the skin. To and fro they swayed, still tightly locked together, growling and snapping at each other with such deadly ferocity that in a few moments the blood was streaming copiously from their lacerated shoulders and arms; and then one, apparently the younger of the two, succeeded in throwing his opponent violently to the ground. The shock seemed partially to stun the thrown one for a few seconds, and of this his opponent took instant advantage by flinging himself astride upon his antagonist’s body, pinning his arms down by kneeling upon them, and gripping his throat with both hands in a throttling grasp that soon reduced his enemy to a condition of utter helplessness. Then, rising heavily and somewhat unsteadily to his feet, the conqueror glared about him for a moment, and, seeming to see what he was looking for, stooped over his insensible foe, seized him by an arm and a leg, and, lifting him above his head, went staggering across the open space toward one of the weird-looking trees already mentioned, into the foliage of which he flung the body. And forthwith, to our unspeakable horror, the long, sticky, ribbon-like leaves, sensitive as those of a mimosa, seized and wrapped themselves about the body, until, in less time than it takes to tell, it was so completely enveloped that nothing of it was to be seen, while the leaves of the tree—which was only about fourteen feet high—had formed themselves into a great, horrible, tightly compressed mass, in which I seemed to detect, for the space of a minute or two, signs of an internal struggle. Meanwhile, the conqueror, having thus effectually and terribly disposed of his foe, went reeling and staggering over to where the female sat impassively upon the boulder, seized her roughly by the arm, and dragged her, unresisting, into the depths of the wood, where we soon lost sight of them.

Speechless with horror for the moment, even more at the demoniacal ferocity displayed by the combatants than at the weird ghastliness of the manner in which the fight had ended, I signed to Piet, and, wheeling our horses, we galloped away from the scene of the tragedy, nor drew rein again until we reached the wagon, which was in the act of being outspanned. Then, dismounting, I beckoned to ’Mfuni, related what we had seen, and asked him whether he had ever heard of such creatures as those men, or monkeys, that Piet and I had beheld fighting. But ’Mfuni shook his head and replied in the negative; he had never before been anything like so far north, and his knowledge of the Bandokolo country, it appeared, was even less than that which I had gained from Mapela.