Through the Kalahari Desert. A narrative of a journey ... to Lake N'Gami and back. ... Illustrations, etc

Introduction

. Most authors, either in preface or introduction, apo logize for what is to follow ; and no doubt, where they have had to make many calls upon the indulgence of the public, something of this sort is necessary. But, as this is my first infliction of the kind, I hardly think an apology is required. In fact, were I put to it, I doubt if I could discover any adequate excuse for my presumption. So I shall leave the reader to find all the fault, instead of doing it for him, under the guise of an apologia. A statement, however, of the reasons which prompted me to undertake the journey of which this book is a record, and an introduction to my travelling com panions, are the reader's due ; so I shall now proceed to accomplish that task. A year or so ago I brought under the notice of the public a party of Earthmen from the Kalahari.

These people were accompanied by an old half-breed hunter, Kert by name, who, having acquired a smattering of their language, which bears a strong resemblance to that of the Bushmen, acted as interpreter. Kert's account of the grass-covered plains and Introduction. VI fertile Savannas and forests, teeming with game of all sorts, gave the Kalahari the character of a hunter's paradise, instead of the barren desert which it has always been represented to be. Furthermore, he assured me that he knew a certain place where he had found diamonds — one weighing 188 carats. At first I did not quite credit this statement, but later on going through some of the Earthmen's things, looking for poison, I found several diamonds, a fact which, to a certain extent, corroborated old Kert's tale. A change of climate being necessary to recoup my health, I decided to go to Africa and take old Kert with me, and test his stoiy.

But such an expedition could not well be undertaken without the aid of a trustworthy companion, and I knew of but one upon whom I could rely with implicit confidence. This was the person who figures in the following pages under the name of " Lulu." The public requires no introduction to " Lulu," who some years ago startled them with several novel feats of skill and daring; and who is now following his profession of portrait painter and photographer in Bridgeport, America. At the time when I determined on my trip, Lulu was with me in America ; and it was with much difficulty that I persuaded him to agree to accompany me. When, however, I represented to him what splendid opportunities he would have of obtaining new photographic views and effects, he entered heartily into the idea, and secured all the latest improvements in portable photographic appliances, sketch-books, &c; Introduction.

VII and we sailed without delay for England, and thence for Cape Town. Before leaving America I visited my cattle-ranche, when one of my partners hearing me repeat Kert's glowing description of the Desert, suggested that I might do worse than secure a large tract of land there for cattle-ranching purposes. Here, then, was a fresh inducement to visit the country ; and diamonds and cattle-ranches thus became the motive of my journey and the basis of this book. We obtained letters of introduction to all the leading men of the colony, including Sir Hercules Robinson, K.C.M.G., Sir Charles Warren, G.C.M.G., Colonel Schermbriicker, and others ; but, finding that somehow or other Kert's story about the diamonds had leaked out, we took our passage under assumed names. This expedition afforded us the further advantage that it gave us an opportunity of hearing very frank expressions of opinion about ourselves from different passengers on board the ABoslin Castle.

One gentleman in particular told me a story of how he had made " that stingy fellow, Farini, stand drinks ; a thing he had never been known to do before"— a story which natu rally gave me a much worse opinion of Farini than I had previously entertained. On the way out, we made the acquaintance of the charming Misses Sauer, and their married sister, the accomplished Mrs. Caldecott ; and on our arrival at Cape Town were introduced to Dr. Sauer and Mr. Caldecott, and to Colonel Schermbriicker, the Minister for Public Works, to whom I had a letter of recom- Introduction. VIII mendation from Sir Charles Mills, K.C.M.G., the Agent-General for Cape Colony in London, and who gave us an open letter of introduction to all the Com missioners and Magistrates of the districts we might pass through, requesting them to afford us all the assistance in their power.

Our few days' stay in Cape Town was spent most pleasantly. Dinners were eaten and visits were paid everywhere. The drives were very enjoyable when the " south-easter" did not blow. One of the most pleasant was over the ironstone road to Constantia, to pay a visit to Mr. Cloete, the celebrated wine-grower — one of the old-style Dutch, and a most charming host, — who has the best kept and cleanest place I saw in all Africa. Another delightful drive was along the foot of the Lion's Back Mountain to the residence of Captain Morrison, the jolliest Scotchman I ever met, and one of the institutions of " Malayville," Cape Town. Meantime Lulu spent many days on Table Mountain, and obtained some very beautiful views, which, along with many others taken during the trip, were exhibited at the recent Photographic Exhibition in London, and afterwards at the meeting of the Berlin Geographical Society, on November 7th, 1885, when I read a paper, in German, on my journey through the Kalahari, as well as before the Royal Geographical Society of England, on March 8th, 1886, when my paper was read, with the Marquis of Lome in the chair.

The whole of the illustrations in this book are from photographs taken by Lulu, with the single exception of that showing the great "Hercules" Fall, on the Introduction. IX Orange River, at high water, which, as explained in the proper place, is from a drawing made by him under the most extraordinary circumstances. I may, perhaps, be permitted to add that, besides resulting in the performance of the great gymnastic and photographic feat of taking views of the largest and most inaccessible Falls in the world — the Hundred Falls on the Orange River — my expedition has com pletely disproved the long-prevailing notion that the Kalahari is a barren wilderness. The satisfaction with which I am enabled to record these two principal results of my journey more than repay all the risk and trouble with which it was accompanied.

In conclusion, in order not to make the book too dry for the general reader, I have put into an appendix description of the fauna and flora of the Kalahari, together with a key to the accompanying map. G. A. Farini. March, 1886. CONTENTS. PAGE Introduction ......... v

Chapter I

By rail from Cape Town — Over the hills — Drought in the Great Karroo — No rain for three years — An ostrich farm — A well-built railway — The Orange River terminus — Close packing — Crossing the Orange River — Team-driving in South Africa — " Det es nie hotel nie " — Froude's " Honest Boer" — An oasis — Disappointing " mine host" — Fording the Mud River — Tin-can houses—" Tin Town," alias Kimberley .......... 1

Chapter II

Laying in stock — The story of the first diamond — How the mine was discovered — Shady customers — Cheating the revenue — "Diamond cut diamond" — Welcoming the ladies — The " I.D.B." — Bubble companies — Evils of the detective system — Martyrs to civilization ...... 17

Chapter III

The blasting of the blue — Down the crater — Searching the blacks — The washing-grounds — How the diamonds are unearthed — The sorting-tables — Judging the weight of a stone — Who are the diamond thieves 1 — Life in Kimberley — Its climate and its moral atmosphere — The mining pioneer .......... Contents. XII PAQE

Chapter IV

A dangerous experiment — A mimic volcano in eruption — Packing up — Starting for the Kalahari — A Bastard encampment — A big bag of partridges — Making friends with the Boers — A good investment — A South African Crusoe — " Lots of trees " — A massacre of the innocents . . .42

Chapter V

Something like a hot day — How it rains in South Africa — Our first antelope — At Campbell — An nged Griqua chieftainess — Mr. Bartlett's garden — " Born Tired " — A talk with Mr. Virtue — Farmers' troubles in South Africa — Shooting a koran — After the spring-bok — Sunday morning at Griqua Town — A Boer's homestead — Interviewing the Commissioner — The ex-Chief of the Griquas — We visit the " oldest inhabitant" — The country drying up ... 55

Chapter VI

Killing two stein-bok at one shot — The " Honest Boer " again ■ — Reinforcements — Dining a la Bastard — Watering at Abram's Dam — Jan is lost — Stuck fast in the sand — A terrible road — Water at last— A " creamery" at Kheis — How to harness an ox-teani— Police duty in Korannaland On the verge of the Kalahari — Oxen v. mules — An ungrateful mule — Kert among his relations . . . . .79

Chapter VII

A Bastard's family — A Bushman's tent — Jan returns half dead — The story of his adventure — Botanizing in the desert — The sama, or wild water-melon — Bushman's rice — A bonne-bouche — Collecting insects— Stuck in a sandhill — A dream of Golconda — Searching for diamonds — Shooting pheasants and wild geese — Latest Paris fashions — Nature's dress-improver — A Mantalini of the desert^-A primitive pumpinwengine — A parti-coloured family ..... Contents. XIII PAGE 117

Chapter VIII

Jan gets into trouble — My best horse is drowned — Hurrah for life on the desert ! — Stuck again ! — Swapping mules for oxen — News from Khartoum — A " clever " trader — Riding on Ox-back — A visit from the Hill Bushmen — A sculptured cave — A native dance and concert — Hunting and eating <**> o the hyena — A day among the wild fowl — A floral " desert " — Digging for water — We organize a big hunt — Chasing an ostrich I lose my way — A supper of ostrich-meat — A night in the desert with Death for a bed-fellow

Chapter IX

Lost on the desert — Death from starvation and fatigue — Eating a poisonous root — The agonies of death — A prey to wild beasts — I am given up for dead — A funeral procession — A runaway knock at death's door — Milk-and-water — Cafe a la Kalahari —Delicious water — Grass and sama in plenty — Kuis— The chief " Make Haste " — An extortionate chief ■ — Adventures of a desert trader — I enter into partnership with two Bastard hunters— How to cook sama . . . 137

Chapter X

Lion's spoor — Kert astonishes the natives — Making a night kraal — A novel manger — A grass-covered " desert " — Collecting grass-seeds — A herd of gems-bok attacked by lions — Dirk and Klas run away — In pursuit of Leo — A narrow escape — We find the lion impaled on the gems-bok's horns — Skinning our booty — A lonely night-watch — A strange intruder — I am called on a mysterious errand . . .153

CHAPTER XL

Rescuing a dying man — The sick German tells his story — Treacherous Hottentots — Left to die^Æn the desert — The everlasting sama — A wilderness of .foeautiful flowers — .Spring- Contents. XIV PAGE 207 bok bewitched — Taking stock — A sea of grass — A night alarm— A visit from a party of Beehuana traders — A fantastical witch-doctor . . . . . . .170

Chapter XII

The witch-doctor's seance — The oracle prophesies good luck — Turning the tables on the conjurer — Nonplussing the nigger — On the borders of the K'gung Forest — A remarkable birds'-nest — A terrible disappointment — Making the best of it — Digging for water — A deserted Balala camp — A lion springs into our camp — How the natives make leather — Native water-bearers — At Lihutitung — A present from Mapaar — Our first bath . . . . . . .189

Chapter XIII

An interview with the chief — A royal beggar — Marriage made easy — A visit to Mapaar's garden — Curious beverages — Mapaar enjoys a drink of eau-de-Cologne — House-building spider — Mapaar invites us to a hunt — I offend my Black Beauty — How to make thick milk — Hunting the gems-bok — The disappointed photographer — Distributing the spoil .

Chapter XIV

A family misunderstanding — I am put on my defence — Verdict " not guilty " — Out of the frying-pan into the fire — I turn weather-prophet — An awkward dilemma — A bag of teal — " Won, but not wooed " — My prophecy comes too true — Once more I am put on trial — Chopping logic with Mapaar — All's well that ends well — Farewell to Mapaar — In the forest — On the lions' track . ..... 225

Chapter XV

Surprising the lion asleep — A lucky shot -A delicious shower-bath— Milking the cows — The cattle drink to burstin" Contents. XV TAGE 239 point — Catching a scorpion — A novel cure for scorpion sting — Charged by a rhinoceros — Bombarding the baby — A sweet-smelling bug — The Kaffir water-melon — -The haunt of the pigmies — The M'Kabba tribe — Truffles a la pigmy — Making poisoned arrows — A visit to their camp — The dwarfs promise to come with us to England

Chapter XVI

An elephant hunt — A beautiful tree — Some realistic music — In ambush for the elephants — Charged by the pachyderms — A wounded elephant doctoring himself — A convenient ladder — Kert has a narrow escape — We sup off elephant's feet — A happy release — Hunting the buffalo — More frightened than hurt — A grand cattle-grazing country — In luck again ! — A herd of zebra — A fortune waiting to be caught — A puzzle for an antiquary — A substitute for potato — Evidence of the gradual elevation of the country — Curious customs of the Damaras ..... 257

Chapter XVII

Through the lion's territory — From Ochimbunde to Kerses — Another way of making thick milk — An Englishman incog. — A city of huts — -Dirk Verlander the chief of the Bastards — In a quandary — How Verlander became " captain " — Time reckoning and money equivalents among the Bastards — Bastard customs — A cattle ranche — Going to meetin' — Master-beggars — The private secretary — We start on a hunting expedition — A twilight reverie — Trapping a jackal .......... 273

Chapter XVIII

Defying the poison-berriess — A ride after a giraffe — A tall beast — Hints on giraffe hunting — Charming away the lions and vultures — A desert delicacy — I spend a night alone in a tree — A descent of vultures in force — A monster vulture — Nocturnal visitors — The "lion's scavenger" versus "lion's Contents. XVI PAGE 349 provider " — The hyena enters a caveat — In dreamland — A curious bird — Three lions appear on the scene — Photograph ing Leo at home — A foolhardy experiment — Camera versus gun — Death of the king ....... 290

Chapter XIX

A lion's leap — Qui s' excuse s' accu.se — Watching the wildebeeste — After the giraffe — Astonishing the natives — Photographing the dying giraffe — Catching a baby giraffe — Cutting up the booty — Making biltong — Stalking the ostriches — A night of feasting — A two-legged lion — A nocturnal adventure* — How the poisoned arrows work . . . .310

Chapter XX

Butterfly-hunting — A chameleon — Mixing the poison-pot — Smearing the arrows — How the arrows are made — " Hoiieybeer " — How the wild-bees' nests are made — Honey gathering — Chewing the grubs — Making honey-beer — A drunken orgie — A false alarm — A tragic sequel to the feast — Friends not enemies ....... 333

Chapter XXI

The Vaalpens or Kattea tribe — A " Christian " Kaffir — Whitewashing the darkies — A drink of nectar— A Kattea hunt — Running short of provisions — In the slave-market — Upington our pole-star — Bitten by a snake — A new mountain — A wonderful wall — An archæological discovery — Collecting water-insects — A bird's-nesting snake — Our laundry— In straits for want of food and water — A moonlight scene — A fresh team — A lueky find — Death of " Lady Anna " — Bitten by a snake — Similia similihus curantttr

Chapter XXII

At Mier again — The private secretary becomes confidential A war of extermination — Terrfble confessions — A trustworthy councillor — A garden at Mier — A fertile soil — The " "born- Contents. XVII PAQl! 383 tired " disease — An antidote to snake poison— An enterprising Boer— A Bastard family— Making the calves useful—Exchange and barter— A raid on the water-fowl — K'Abiam Pool ..... 3(jg

Chapter XXIII

Down the banks of the Orange River— A settler from Canada — The waggon overturned— Surgery under difficulties — Engineering the road — Exploring the river-banks— Crossing the rapids — First glimpse of the Falls — A waterfall out of the solid rock — A whirlpool — A beautiful scene — A flowery bower — Pride has a fall — Photographing the rapids — Freaks of nature — Reconnoitring the Hercules Falls

Chapter XXIV

An acrobatic enterprise — Photographing the Hercules Falls — A sudden rise in the river — We make a raft — Pheasants, guinea-fowls, and rock-pigeons — Discretion the better part of valour — Descending the precipice — Farini Towers and Falls — A magnificent sight — A narrow escape — Mudlarks — A well-earned supper — An underground stream — The Diamond Falls — Surprised by the flood — " The Hundred Falls" 399

Chapter XXV

Imprisoned by the flood — A night in mid-stream — A baboon for breakfast — Escaping from prison — We are welcomed with smiles — A visit from a poetical Bastard — Bushman Precipice — Hippopotamus-shooting extraordinary — A civilized dinner — An enterprising settler — A tobacco factory — An island estate — Hottentot doctors . . . .419

Chapter XXVI

At Upington — The pleasures of civilization — A fair gardener and a garden fair — A notable irrigation work — A Bushman's a Contents. XVIII PAGE bonne-bouche — A happy family — A dangerous ford — Pati ence and perseverance — A sharp trader — A grand tea-party — A Boer wedding party — Catechized about the Queen — Prieska — Hard lines for the Bushmen — Froude's " honest Boer "at last! — Hope Town again — A sale by auction — Honest Boers — " Interviewed " — General conclusions . 434

Appendix

. Flora of the Kalahari 447 Reptiles of the Kalahari 450 Insects of the Kalahari 453 Birds of the Kalahari 456 Mammalia of the Kalahari ..... .461 Geology of the Kalahari 467 Table of Distances .... .... . 468 Index LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE The Author ) . > .... . . Frontispiece Lulu, the Artist \ View of Kimberley ...... to face 1 8 The Diamond mine ...... „ 44 House where Livingstone first saw Mary Moffat ... 58 Mr. Bartlett's house at Campbell ...... 59 A Boer's homestead ........ 69 Old Mission House, Griqua Town . . . . . .77 Old Kert, my guide 97 Crossing the Kalahari . . . . . . . .108 Riding on Ox-back . . \ . . . . .123 Wall drawings in Hill-Bushmen's Cave . . . . .124 Some Kalahari wild fowl . . . . . . .129 View of the Desert near Kuis . . . . . .146 Dirk and Klas ....... to face 150 A group of Kalahari flora . . . . . . .180 Nest of Grosbeak 196 King Mapaar and wife to sure 223 Vaalpens ........ ,, 237 Camping by the way ..... ... 241 The M'Kabba dwarfs to face 255 Our laundry on the Desert . . . . . . .270 Dirk Verlander ......... 276 Death of the Giraffe List of Illustrations.

XX PAGE Lions eating the Giraffe ...... to face 307 Shooting a Giraffe . . . . . . . . .321 Drying meat .......... 325 Stalkingthe Ostrich . . 330 Kattea tribe 350 Ruins on the Kalahari Desert ....... 358 The first bath for many months . . . . . .361 Dirk Verlander and his " groot-men " . . . to face 369 Watering the cattle by moonlight .... ,, 377 A Bastard family ......... 378 K'Abiam pool ......... 381 Rock Drift . . . 391 Gorilla Rock to face 39" Lulu Falls and Chasm ........ 397 Book Rock and Falls ...... to face 398 Farini Falls and Towers „ 405 T'ne Anna Falls 409 The Scott Gorge and Falls . . . . to. face 413 The Diamond Falls „ 41 + The Schermbriicker Falls ., 415 The Hundred Falls 416 The Hercules Falls at half flood 425 Plan of The Hundred Falls of the Orange River . to face 428 Map of the Author's route at end THROUGH THE KALAHARI DESERT.

Chapter I

By rail from Cape Town — Over the hills — Drought in the Great Karroo — No rain for three years — An ostrich farm — A well-built railway — The Orange River terminus — Close packing — Crossing the Orange River — Team-driving in South Africa — " Det es nie hotel nie" — Froude's "Honest Boer" — An oasis — Disappointing " mine host " — Fording the Mud River — Tin-can houses — " Tin Town," alias Kimberley. The evening of Friday the 2nd June, 1885, found a crowd of people, travellers with heaps of friends to see them off, and the usual proportion of idlers flattering themselves that they were making good use of their time doing nothing, and of curious onlookers interested in everybody else's business because they had none of their own to attend to, on the platform of the Cape Town Railway Station.

The " mail express," destined to carry inland the letters from home that had arrived on the previous evening, was about to start, and there was the inevitable excitement which the departure of a favourite train always creates. Among the pas sengers were Dr. Sauer, Mr. Caldecott, Lulu, and my self, bound for Hope Town, then the nearest station to Kimberley, but now united by rail with that city of diamonds. "When I heard that there was a Pullman B A South African Sleeping- Car. 2 sleeping-car attached to the train, I felt myself at home again, and tried to imagine that the crowd of Malays were only negroes, and to ignore the Semitic features of the majority of the loafers on the platform. But on closer acquaintance the " Pullman " bore quite as distant a resemblance to the sleeping-car of the American railroads as the yellow skins of the Malay boys did to the ebony face of Sambo.

On one side of the gangway was a row of seats for one person, and on the other side a row of wider seats to hold two. Over each of these latter the attendant — or "steward" as he is called — suspended from the roof of the car a piece of canvas, on which he placed a thin, dirty mattress ; and this constituted the " bed." There was no covering whatever ; and as I had stowed all my rugs away in the luggage-van, there was no alternative but to " turn in all standing ;" for by this time the train was some miles out. of Cape Town. However, I managed to sleep pretty soundly in my novel hammock till the train slackened speed as it approached the summit of the Hexe Mountains, near the Hexe River. Having heard much of the beauty of the scenery here abouts, I " turned out " to look at it, but was disappointed to see nothing but a series of rugged mountain spurs.

Although it was bright moonlio-ht, no details were visible. By this time, at such a height above the sea-level, it was getting very cold, and the rugs would have been welcome ; but when the day dawned we were well down on the other side of the mountains, and rapidly advancing into the Great Karroo, and then we began to feel what it is like when the sun tries to make up for lost time. The heat was intense ; the eye became tired of the perpetual trem- A Terrible Drought. 3 bling appearance which every object assumed in the parched air; and it seemed impossible to keep cool even when standing on the platform at the end of the cars in the rush of air caused by the motion of the train. Not a cloud in the sky : the very atmosphere was parched and kiln-dried, causing a peculiar mirage which made distant hills look near, and magnified them to twice their size ; and yet so intensely clear was the atmosphere that the smallest object stood out in sharply-defined detail.

Hotter and still hotter it became as the sun rose higher ; and beneath such a brazen sky as this the people had existed for the last two years ! Not a drop of rain for four and twenty months ! As far as the eye could reach nothing but a weary expanse of parched-up clay, the monotony broken only by a few stunted, leafless bushes, and by a succession of stony, flat-topped hills (or Tcoppjes) from fifty to one hundred feet high. Such was the Karroo, when I saw it first, after a two years' drought : the most terrible, arid, parched-up, kiln-dried, scorched, baked, burnt, and God-forsaken district the sun ever streamed down upon : not even excepting the Sahara; for there there is nothing but sand, no object to serve as a foil to the solitude; while here the sense of desolation is intensified by seeing here and there a farmer's hut.

What ! farmers in this country ? Yes, three years ago these huts, miles apart as they are, and standing out in gaunt desolation, were surrounded by numberless flocks and herds ; their in mates, now beggars, were then owners of ten or twenty thousand sheep apiece. And still they look forward to the advent, too long deferred, of the refreshing rains, which in a few days — hours almost — will transform this B Rivers of Rock. 4 desert into a smiling expanse of rich pasture-land. I cannot, of course, decline to believe what I am told on the best possible authority ; but it seems incredible that the Great Karroo can ever be other than it is now — an apparently hopeless desert. Not a blade of grass, not a leaf, visible ; not even the beasts of the desert, the klip-bok (rock buck), or stein-bok (stone buck), which make their homes among the flat-topped koppjes, are to be seen : the only living creatures are here and there huge heavy-winged aasvogels, or vultures, making riot among the carcases of the horses and oxen that fairly strew the tracks used by the transport-drivers.

Now and then the railway crosses a deep ravine or a wide gorge, which, in the rainy season, would be filled with water. Splendid rivers, many of them, but now as innocent of water as of whisky. Suddenly the train stopped close to a broad channel, which once was known as the Gamka River, but the bed of which is now heated rock. The station-master said one of the wells had run dry, and the other showed signs of giving out, while the water in the large dam would not last more than a fortnight longer. A glass of water at the refreshment-rooms cost 3d. It was hardly surprising therefore that a " drink " of spirits should cost Is., and a bottle of beer os. 6d. The proprietor of the restaurant, a fat brown Boer, said all his sheep were dead, and he had not a cow or an ox left: yet he still hoped for better times, and he was a fair specimen of the general run of the in habitants.

Sometimes a Boer farmer ' would come to 1 The word Boer really means "farmer," but has come to be regarded as synonymous with an Africander, i.e. a person of Dutch descent born in Africa. A Place where it Never Rains. 5 the station, with an anxious, wistful look on his face, which seemed to say he wished he could go away with us and leave his " farm " to itself ; but in answer to questions there was alwaj's the same forlorn hope that the rain would fall some day ; the same assurance that when it did fall it would bring better times. It is a common opinion that the colony will never do much good as long as the Boer element predominates; but I could not help thinking that if it were not for them the Karroo, at any rate in its present state, would be uninhabited, for no Englishman could live on hope, while his hands were idle at his side.