Sporting Scenes amongst the Kaffirs of South Africa ... Illustrated by Harrison Weir

Front matter

SPORTING SCENES AMONGST THE KAFFIKS OF SOUTH AFRICA. LONDON : COX AND WYMAN, PRINTERS, 74-5, GREAT QUEEN STREET, lincoln's-inn FIELDS. SPORTING SCENES AMONGST THE KAFFIRS OF SOUTH AFRICA BY CAPT. ALFRED W. DRAYSON, ROYAL ARTILLERY. " Afar in the desert I love to ride, With the silent BuBhboy alone by my side ; Away, away, from the dwellings of men, By the antelope's haunt and the buffalo's glen; By valleys remote, where the onrebi plays, The gnu, the gazelle, and the hartebeest graze; Where the gemsbok and eland unhunted recline, By the skirts of grey forests o'erhung with wild vine." ILLUSTRATED BY HARRISON WEIR, FROM DESIGNS BT THE AUTHOR. LONDON: Q. ROTTTLEDGE & CO. EARRINGDON STREET; NEW YORK: 18, BEEKMAN STREET. 1858.

Preface

. Nearly every person with whom I have con versed since my return from South Africa, has appeared to take great interest in the Kaffirs, the wild animals, and other inhabitants of that country. I am not vain enough to suppose that my friends have merely pretended this interest for the sole object of allowing me an opportunity of talking, and have thereby deluded me into a belief of affording amusement. But I really think that the opinions which they have expressed are genuine, and that perhaps the same wish for information on the subject of the Kaffirs, or the wild beasts of the Cape, may be more widely

PREFACE.

. VI extended than I have been able personally to prove. Most men who have written on South Africa, have been either sporting giants, scientific men, or travellers who have gone over ground never before trodden by the white man. I am neither of these. The first I am not, for the blood spilled by me was but a drop compared to the ocean that many have caused to flow in this land. Unfortunately I am not scientific ; but, perhaps, from this very defect, I may become the more intelligible to the general reader of the following pages, who may comprehend my simple names for simple things, rather than those of a polysyllabic character. I know that I have sunk miserably in the opinion of savans, in consequence of my ina bility to tell whether or not the Terstrœmiaceœ grew luxuriantly in Africa. I only knew that the plains bore beautiful flowers, and I learnt their Kaffir names ; that the bush had fine trees,

PREFACE.

. VII some with sweet-scented blossoms, others with fruit, and I knew which fruit was good to eat. By travellers, I may be considered presump tuous in attempting to write on South Africa, when I never crossed the Vaal river or pene trated far into the interior ; but I must trust that they will pardon my temerity. I was obliged, from circumstances, to pursue the game nearer my home, which required "more patient search and vigil long," for the creatures had become more wild or savage than those animals in the interior that were seldom disturbed. Prom sketches and a rough journal compiled on the spot, I have formed this book. LIST OF PLATES. Tkee'd by Elephants . . . . . . . . . . Frontispiece A Waggon attacked by Kaffirs . . Page 26 Hunting the Eland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 Catching a Tartar .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 127 Hunting the Hartebeest .. .. .. .. .. .. 131 Elephants in the open .. .. .. .. .. .. 193 Chasing the Buffalo 251 Porcupine Hunts CONTENTS.

Chapter I

Voyage to the Cape — Discomforts of a long voyage — The wolf turned lamb — Porpesses and Portuguese men-of-war — The mate's story — Catching a shark — Ad albatross hooked — Cape Town — Algoa Bay — Ox-waggon — South- African travelling — Obstinacy conquered — Expeditious journeying — Frontier of the colony. — Page 1 .

Chapter II

Dutch and Kaffir words — Frontier Kaffirs — Kaffir women — Kaffir soldiers — Cattle-stealing — Bush-fighting — Colonel Napier's opinion — Equipment of English soldiers — A British soldier in the bush — Kaffir manœuvres — Corn-pits — Treatment of Kaffir thieves — The assagy and other weapons — Moral qualities of the Kaffirs — Native marksmen — Power of the chiefs — Religious opinions — Hottentot soldiers. — Page 18.

Chapter III

Narrow escape — Sandilli goes home — Voyage to Natal — My fellow-passengers — Tempting viands — Property overboard — Natal Bay — The " tick " — Beauty of the vegetation — Dolce far niente — Cape horses — Points of a Cape horse — Shooting-ponies — Mode of journeying — The " sickness " — Training a shooting-horse — Endurance of Cape horses — A rough journey — A stormy night — Agreeable termination. — Page 41.

Chapter IV

Warnings against the bush — Search after a leopard — Unsteady hands — Methods of hunting elephants — Speed of the elephant — Bush-travelliDg — Traces of the elephants — Solitude of the bush — Tracking the herd — Charge of angry elephants — The horses reached — Search for the wounded elephant — The successful shot — An unwitting escape. — Page 75. CONTENTS. XII

Chapter V

Necessity of a gun — Strange footstep — A disappointment — Vicinity of the Umganie — Duiker buck — Matuan the Kaffir — Vocal telegraph — Reitbok — A human pointer — Singular conversation — Apathy of the residents — Kaffir messengers — Buck-shooting — The buck's tenacity of life — A buck on three legs — Dangerous country — A sporting red-coat — Strange sportsmen. — Page 89.

Chapter VI

Eland-hunting — Beautiful country — Telescopic eyes — Loading at a gallop — The Dutch Boers — Speed of the eland — Eland-hunt — Unsuccessful result — Signals of distress — African Nimrods — A herd of elands — Better luck this time — An accident — The Slough of Despond — A " Sticks bullet " — In at the death — A bivouac — Air-pillows. — Page 109.

Chapter VII

The Dutchman's stratagem — Wild-boar hunt — A vicious pigling — Hartebeest-chase — Hide-and-seek — The organ of" locality" — Fatal curiosity — An escapade — A false alarm — Baboons at home — A tame baboon — The baboon and the crow — Literary and scientific tastes — A leopard shot — Unpleasant journey — Conflicting opinions. — Page 127.

Chapter VIII

The Bivouac — Hotman's story — Terrible misfortune — Both sides of the story — How to find water — Kemp's story — Death of Mabili — Single Elephants to be avoided— Hendrich and the Leopard — A struggle for life — A weary night — A poisonous companion — The rescue — Savage hermits— The "Trek-boken."— Page 143.

Chapter IX

Bush-shooting — Silent walking — How to cock a gun— How to sit down — Delights of the bush — How to obtain honey — The honey-bird — The grey monkey — Ball better than shot — Variety of bush game — Hardening bullets — The alligator— The Pouw — Boldness ofthe eagle — The Osprey. — Page 160.

Chapter X

A shooting-party in the bush— Elephant "sign" — The elephants heard — Caution in the bush — Approach to a wary elephant — The better part of valour — Traces of the wounded elephant — Sic vos non vobis — Acute ear CONTENTS. XIII of elephants — The elephants' signals — Move of them — Tree'd — Teaching the young idea — A family picture — Chaffed by monkeys — A sharp look out — The disadvantage of " crackers " — A Kaffir coward — Capricious temper of elephants — Elephants in the " open" — An awkward position — Sharp practice. — Page 174.

Chapter XI

Journey to the Zulu country — Hunger the best sauce — A popular song — An unexpected gueat — Panda's regiments — His pet vultures — An ingenious scarecrow — Another reit-buck — The telescope — A lesson in spooring — A trial of nerves — Intruding leopards — A Kaffir feast and concert — Baked, blinded, and poisoned — Peshauna, a Kaffir belle — Kaffir lovetale — An abduction and a rescue — None but the brave deserve the fair. —Page 196.

Chapter XII

A Kaffir hunt — A battue — Fire-making — A lunch alfresco — Troublesome invaders — Flight of locusts — Crows outwitted — Alligator shot — A lion-chase — Strength of the lion — A slight mistake — Snuff-manufacturing — A proposal of marriage — Kaffir kindliness. — Page 215.

Chapter XIII

The Natal Kaffirs — Pseudo-Christianity — Ideas of a future state — The Kaffir prophets — Black lawyers — A wife's true value — Husband and wife — White savage versus black — Injustice towards the Kaffirs — Nobody wrong — Necessity of an army — Mr. Holden's opinion — Severity sometimes necessary — Real character of the Kaffir. — Page 229.

Chapter XIV

A buffalo-hunt — A sudden meeting — A Kaffir's advice — Buffalo killed — An African race-course — The start — The run — The charge — Won at last — Unpleasant neighbours — The single spur — Light-coloured Kaffirs — Know thyself — Neglected education — Black and white — Too knowing by half — The fool's argument. — Page 243.

Chapter XV

Kaffir killed by a snake — Medicine necklaces — Narrow escape — Puff-adders — Adventure with a black snake — Snakes distressed by their own poison — Poison-spitting snake — A day's sport — Boa-constrictor killed — Its mode of attack — Size of the slain snake — Secretary-bird. — Page 260. CONTENTS.

Chapter XVI

An invitation— Terrific storm — Silent eloquence — Mounted Bushmen — The Bushman as an enemy — A Dutch hunter — Gallant defence — A Cockney traveller — Boer incredulity — British disbelief — Adventure with a Bushman— African rivers — Change of sentiments. — Page 272.

Chapter XVII

African moonlight — Poor Charley — Want of patience — Blue light in the Bush — Buck killed by a leopard — Strange followers — Porcupine-hunt — Practical joke — Foolhardy conduct — A mistake — Kaffir prophet — A dark patriarch — Conjugal authority — Strong-headed individual — Harbour sharks — Fish-spearing — Intoxicating root — A suggested experiment — Variety of fish.— Page 287.

Chapter XVIII

Steeple-chase at D'Urban — The last day's sport — The bar at Natal — Reach Table Bay — Impertinent " pike"-keeper — Chased by a policeman — Dishonest auctioneer — St. Helena — Turtle-catching — Waterspouts — Cintra — Lisbon — Best weapons for the bush — Extra gun-stocks necessary — Recommendation to "used-up " individuals. — Page 307. ADDENDA Page Sporting $ttms amongst the KAFFIR TRIBES IN AFRICA

Chapter I

Voyage to the Cape — Discomforts of a long voyage — The wolf turned lamb — Porpesses and Portuguese men-of-war — The mate's story — Catching a shark — An albatross hooked — Cape Town — Algoa Bay — Ox-waggon — South-African travelling — Obstinacy conquered — Expeditious journeyiog — Frontier of the colony. To an indifferent sailor, a long voyage is not by any means a pleasant thing; and I quite agree with the sage who said that a man on board a ship was a prisoner, with the additional risk of being drowned. One feels a con tinual yearning for the green fields, fresh butter and milk ; and the continual noise, confusion, and other disagreeables, are more trying to temper and patience than can be imagined by a quiet stay-at'-home gentleman. We left England in the coldest weather that had been remembered for years.

A month's daily skating on the Serpentine was a bad preparation for a week's calm, under a burning sun, within a degree of the line, twenty-seven days afterwards. The frames of Englishmen, however, appear to be better adapted for the changes of climate than are those of the inhabitants of any other country. a VOYAGE TO THE CAPE. 2 We passed the Bay of Biscay with the usual rough weather, had a distant look at Madeira, and entered the trade-winds, without having met with any other disaster than a sort of mutiny amongst the crew, who, headed by a contumacious coloured giant, refused to attend divine service on a Sunday. A detachment of half a dozen men, with the captain and the mate at their head, soon brought the gentleman in question to reason; forty-eight hours in irons, on bread and water, entirely changed his view of the matter, and he came out from the encounter a very lamb.

I frequently remained on deck in the first watches of the night, during the pleasant sailing in the trade-winds, between the Canary Islands and the west coast of Africa, a part of the world that has always been remembered by me for its beautiful climate. The light breeze caused little more than a ripple on the water, which sparkled with millions of phosphorescent lights, and the slow, easy motion of the vessel, with the occasional groaning of the blocks and bulk-heads, as a stronger puff of wind than usual caused an additional strain upon them, was like the heave and swell of some leviathan lungs, while the graceful curve of the studding-sails, spreading far out on each side, gave to the ship the appearance of some vast animal, intent on a journey of mystery and im portance, and busy in thus muttering to itself a rehearsal of its mission.

I preferred resting in the stern-boat, and watching the space around, to breathing the close atmosphere of the badly-ventilated cabins, with their odours of bilge- PORPESSES. 3 water and mouldy biscuit, or tossing about restlessly in the narrow berth, to the disturbance and sometimes death of vagrant cockroaches, who had trespassed under the blanket, and whose number was legion. In the surrounding water, one could trace the meteor course of some monster of the deep, whose dive left behind a long brilliant stream of fire like a rocket. Suddenly the ocean would apparently become alive with these flashes of light, as a shoal of porpesses dashed into sight with the velocity of a troop of wild horse, leaping and shying in their merry race. They cross the brilliant wake of the ship, and, with a regular wheel, like a squadron of cavalry, charge after her.

The ten knots per hour that the log has given as the gallant ship's speed, make but little difference to these aquatic rovers. They open their line as they near, and now they are under the stern ; in a second they have passed, in a few more are far on ahead, jumping about near the bows, and taking each valley of the rolling sea in true sporting style. Then, with another sweep, they dash down upon us, and, after inspecting the ship for a minute, disappear with the same reckless speed, leaving two or three out siders, who, not getting a fair start, appear to ply whip and spur to regain their position with the main body. The sea is then doubly dark and mysterious. The morning light would show the ocean covered with the beautiful little Portuguese men-of-war (Physalus), whose brilliant reflection of the prismatic colours would raise a feeling of ambition for their capture.

An hour was passed in the endeavour to become more closely acquainted b with them, by means of a little net over the ship's side — the result, like many others in this world, was disappoint ment. A man-of-war is caught, but, upon its reaching the deck, is found to consist of a small bladder, now destitute of those attractions that had tempted our eyes, and a few long muscular strings, that raise a red smarting line wherever they touch the skin. This curious creature declines exhibiting its beauties during captivity. I had many theoretical lessons in seamanship from the mate during this fine weather, and many interesting anecdotes of whaling adventures. He was very anxious to pass safely round the Cape, and, upon my inquiring the reason, he gave me the following account of his last trip, which had taken place some four years before : — "It was on a miserably cold day in February that the good barque Emerald, in which I was second mate, weighed her anchor from the mud opposite Gravesend, and com menced her voyage for the Mauritius.

I had sailed with the captain (Wharton) to the West Indies on a former voyage, and had been asked by him to take the second mate's place on this trip, although I was only twenty-one years old at the time. I thought it a good berth, and accepted it, although I disliked the man. He was a good sailor, there was no denying, but a bit of a bully, and, I always suspected, drank a good deal when quiet in his cabin. He had been married just before our voyage, and his honeymoon was rather curtailed by the hurry of our departure. I saw his wife several times before we left England, for she was staying at Gravesend, and had also come on board while we were lying in the docks. She was a very pretty young girl, and seemed to be too quiet and good for the skipper, who, I thought, did not treat her as he ought to have done.

She told me that she was going to take a cottage at Gosport while her husband was away, and asked me, if I had time, to write her a few words to say how the ship got on, in case we met any of the homeward-bound, or stopped at any port. I believe, when she shook hands with me, and said, ' Good-bye, sir ; a happy voyage to you,' I felt much inclined to do her any service, and pitied her lonely situation more than her husband did. She had told me that her only relation was an aged aunt. Well, we floundered across the Bay of Biscay, and ran down the trades, and in twenty-seven days from leaving England with a freezing north wind, we were baking under the line with 95° in the shade shown on our thermometer. The skipper had shoved a couple of our men in irons for very slight offences during our run, and seemed to be a greater brute than ever.

He was one of those fellows who acted like an angel on shore, so pleasant and kind, but when he got afloat in blue water, he wasn't an angel exactly, at least not the right sort of angel. " We jogged on, however, till we passed round the Cape ; we gave it a wide berth, and kept well off the bank, to avoid the current that runs from the east all down that coast for seventy miles' distance. We were about off Cape L' Agulhas, when the north-west wind that we had carried with us from near South America, turned round and blew right in our teeth ; we had plenty of wind in our jib then, it blew great guns, and we were under closereefed topsails for a week. One night I was on watch, and finding that it was blowing harder than ever, and the ship was making very bad weather of it, I thought I would go down and ask the skipper's leave to lay-to.

I dived down the hatchway and knocked twice at the captain's cabin-door before I received an answer; at last I heard his 'Come in.' I opened the door and was about to report the gale increased, but was stopped by the appearance of the captain. He was as white as a sheet, and his eyes were staring like a maniac's. Before I could speak a word, he said, ' Have you seen her?' I did not know what he meant, but said, ' Beg pardon, sir, the ship is making very bad Aveather of it.' He cursed the weather, and repeated, 'Did you see my wife as you came in?' I said, 'See your wife! No!' " He stared at me for an instant and then dropped on his couch, and said, ' God have mercy on me.' It was the first time I had ever heard him use that sacred name, although the evil one's was pretty often in his mouth.

I then asked him about the ship, when he told me to go and do what I thought best. I went up and took all the canvas off, with the exception of the mizen - trysail. I got the peak lowered down to the deck and showed but a pocket-handkerchief sort of sail; this kept her head to wind. I had a guy made fast to the boom, which kept it firm, and lashed the helm ; we then rode like a duck on the water. " I turned in as usual after being relieved, and said nothing to any one about what I had heard. In the morning the captain sent for me, told me not to speak about what he had said last night, but that he had been told that his days were numbered. He pointed to the log-book, in which he had put down, that he had seen his wife come into the cabin, and that she spoke to him, and told him something about himself.

He then requested me to sign his statement in the book, and ordered me not to say a word to any of the men as long as he lived. I told him not to think anything about it, as such things were only imaginations, and were caused by the stomach being a little out of order. I did not think it at the time, although I thought it would quiet him by telling him so. " We lay-to all that day ; the captain came on deck once, but spoke to no one. In the afternoon I went down to him to ask about getting a little sail up again ; I found him reading his Bible, a thing that I had never heard of his doing before. He put it down aud came on deck ; ordered me to get up the fore-topsail ; I went forward to see about it, ancl the skipper walked on to the poop ; the helm was still lashed, and no one was there but him.

I was giving the men orders to go aloft, when I heard a crack astern, and felt a jar through the whole ship. I turned round and found the pitching had caused the heavy boom of the trysail to break the guy that fastened it, and it was swinging from side to side with every lurch of the ship. I ran aft with all the men, and with great difficulty made it fast again ; it took us some time to settle, and I then went down to tell the captain. His cabin was just as I had left it before, and no one in it ; I came out and asked for him on deck, but no one had seen him there. The men said that he was on the poop when the guy gave way ; there was a general call throughout the ship, but the captain was not found. " The first mate and I then went on the poop, and looked well all round. On the bulwarks near the stern there was a slight dent, and close beside it a streak of blood : there was no doubt that the boom in its first swing had knocked the skipper clean overboard, and the chances were, had smashed some of his limbs too.

We never saw him more. The first mate took the command, and I told him about the captain's vision; he laughed at me, and told me I was a fool to believe in such rubbish, and recommended me not to talk about it. I quietly tore the leaf out of the log-book, and have got it now. I will show it you." Saying this he went down to his cabin and brought me up the sheet of paper ; which I read, and found it as he had described. " We went on to the .Mauritius, loaded, and returned to England. I had no opportunity of fulfilling my promise of writing to the captain's wife, so immediately I could leave the ship I started for Gosport to tell her about his loss. " I found her house from the address she had given me, and walked once or twice up and down to consider all I should say to her. It was any way a difficult thing and one I did not like doing, having to relate the death of her husband ; and besides, women are inclined to think there is always some neglect in others if an accident happens to those they love.

At last I plucked up courage and knocked at the door. A decent-looking servant came, and upon my asking if Mrs. Wharton were at home, she replied, ' Mrs. Wharton don't live here. Mrs. Some body or other lives here, and she ain't at home.' I asked if she could tell me where to find Mrs. Wharton, and was informed by the maid that she was a stranger and knew nothing ; but the baker over the way, she thought, could tell me. I went over and asked the baker's wife, and she informed me that Mrs. Wharton had been dead nearly five months, and her aunt had moved away. I was thunderstruck at this intelligence, and immediately inquired the date of her death; she looked over a day book in the drawer, and told me. I put it down in my memorandum-book, and when I got back to the ship I found the date the same as that noted on the leaf of the log-book as the one that the captain had seen her off the Cape.

Now, I never was superstitious before this, nor am I alarmed now at the idea of seeing ghosts, but still there is a queer sort of feeling comes jover me when I think of that night. " When I got home to my friends, I told the clergyman and the doctor what had been seen. The first explained it to me as an optical delusion, but acknowledged that it was very curious; the other looked into my eyes as though he were trying to see some signs of insanity, and told me it was very likely that the captain's supper had disagreed with him that night, or that he was half-seas over. "Now, I haven't much learning myself, but I do despise what I have seen called science ; men who study books only, can't know so much as those who see the real things ; I haven't patience with men who, never having travelled much, or been across the oceans, quietly tell the world that what a hundred sane men's experienced eyes have seen and known as a sea-serpent is discovered by their scientific reasoning to be a bundle of seaweed, or a shoal of porpesses, because they saw once at Brighton one or the other, when even a land-lubber could hardly have been mistaken.

My wise doctor tried to prove that what the skipper had seen with his own eyes was nothing but the result of a supper he hadn't eaten, or the fumes of some grog that wern't swallowed ; because it happened not to be accounted for in his fusty old books in any other way — I would sooner be without science, if this is the result. • " Bless you, sir, I never yet saw one of your great learned sailors worth much in an extremity. Give me a fellow who acts from his practical experience. A man much given to be particular about ' how the log-book is kept,' about dotting i's and crossing t's, is generally struck of a heap, if the ship happens to be taken aback, or a squall carries away her gear. While he is going over his logarithms to know what should be done, the commonest seaman on board could set all to rights.

Mind I don't run down any book-learning you may have, but I only say it ain't equal to experience, and it never will convince me that, if I see a square-rigged ship a mile off, I am only mistaken, and that a man in London knows by science that it was a fore-and-aft schooner and close to me ; or if I see a school of whales, he knows they are only flying fish, because science tells him the whale does not frequent the part where I saw them; and that my supper caused me to mistake one CATCHING A SHARK. 11 for the other." With these sentiments the mate ended his tale, and I now proceed with the narrative of the voyage. While near the line, we caught a shark, which was the first animal bigger than a hare that I had ever assisted in destroying. As the method employed on this fellow was of a more sporting character than usually attends the capture of this monster, I will give in detail our proceedings.

Our voracious friend having been seen some hundred yards astern steadily following in our wake, we procured two joints of a lightning-conductor (that had lain in the hold since our leaving England, and which was intended to protect the ship from the fluid that makes so excellent a messenger but so direful an enemy), and lashed a large hook on to one end. The copper wire was stout enough to resist the teeth of the monster, and a common log-line was made fast to the wire, with a second line in case of his requiring much play. Over the stern went the hook, baited with a most tempting piece of pork ; the ship was just moving through the water at the time, the whole sea looking like a vast lake of molten silver. We watched our cannibal as the bait came near him; he did not keep us long in doubt, but with a rush put his nose against the pork, pronounced it good, turned on his side, and both pork and hook disappeared.