The Wild Sports of Southern Africa; Being the narrative of an expedition from the Cape of Good Hope ... to the tropic of Capricorn

Front matter

MOSELEKATSE, KING- OF THE AWAZOOLOO ;.^J? BWQrp ,f OF Mm^mn^&UiL THE WILD SPORTS OP SOUTHERN AFRICA; BEING THE NARRATIVE OF AN EXPEDITION FROM THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE THROUGH THE TERRITORIES OF THE CHIEF MOSELEKATSE, TO THE TROPIC OF CAPRICORN, BY CAPTAIN WILLIAM CORNWALLIS HARRIS, OK THE H. E. I. COMPANY'S ENGINEERS ON TUK HUM DAY BlTlBLIBnMBNT, CljtrU iEDttton. LONDON: WILLIAM PICKERING, CHANCERY LANE. 1841. LONDON : PRINTICD BY H. W. MARTIN, AND CO., 18, BARTI.ETT'S BUILIHN08, 1IOLBORN. TO DR. JAMES BURNES, F.R.S., KNIGHT OF THE ROYAL HANOVERIAN GUELPHIC ORDER. CJn's IS INSCRIBED, WITH EVERY SENTIMENT OF ESTEEM AND REGARD, BY HIS AFFECTIONATE FRIEND, THE AUTHOR. " Afar in the Desert I love to ride, With the silent^ Bush-boy 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 Ourebi plays; •Where the Gnoo, the Sassaybe, and Hartebeest graze ; And the Eland and Gemsbok unhunted recline: By the skirts of grey forests o'erhung with wild vine; Where the Elephant browses at peace in his wood : And the River-horse gambols unscared in the flood : And the mighty Rhinoceros wallows at will, In the pool where the Wild Ass is drinking his fill ; Where the Zebra wantonly tosses his mane, As he scours with his troop o'er the desolate plain ; And the stately Koodoo exultingly bounds, Undisturbed by the bay of the hunter's hounds ; Where the timorous Quagga's wild whistling neigh, Is heard by the fountain at fall of day ; And the fleet-footed Ostrich over the waste Speeds like a horseman who travels in haste ; Hieing away to the home of her rest, Where she and her mate have scooped their nest.

Far hid from the pitiless plunderer's view, In the pathless wilds of the parched Karroo." Piungle. Hist of patts* PAGE Moselekatse, king of the Amazooloo, (Frontispiece) I Vignette title page 11. III. Andries Africander, a Mulatto Hottentot 9 IV. The Gnoo 27 V. The High road to Kuruman 32 VI. Bechuana of Distinction 41 VII. Bechuana Belle 43 VIII. Burchell's Zebra, and Brindled Gnoo 48 IX. Hunting at Meritsane 54 X. The Sassaybe and Hartebeest 64 XI. Driving in an Eland 68 XII. Departure from mosega 92 XIII. Truey, the Griqua Maid 120 XIV. The White Rhinoceros 145 XV. 'Lingap, a Matabili Warrior 152 XVI. Aigocerus Ellipsiprymnus 156 XVII. Hunting the Wild Buffalo 165 XVIII. Hunting the Wild Elephant 169 XIX. Shooting the Hippopotamus 182 XX. Hunting the Giraffe 200 XXI. The Black Rhinoceros 202 XXII.

Aigocerus Niger 218 XXIII. Bechuana Hunting the Lion 227 XXIV. Hunting the Blesbok 240 XXV. Hunting the Ostrich 259 XXVI. The Pretty Bcshgirl 262 Map CONTENTS. PAOB Introduction ......... xvii

Introduction

. From my boyhood upwards, I have been taxed by the facetious with shooting-madness, and truly a most delightful mania I have ever found it. My first essay in practical gunnery was made at the early age of six, by the discharge of an enormous blunderbuss, known to the inmates of my paternal mansion by the familiar sobriquet of "Betsey." A flock of sparrows perched upon the corner of a neighbour's pigstye, were the only sufferers ; but information was mali ciously laid against me, and I underwent severe corporal chastisement. About a year afterwards I took ample revenge upon my ill-natured neighbour, by 2}inking his ducks and geese with a cross-bow of my own construction ; but my catapult was unfortunately discovered, seized, and confis cated. I next clubbed my Christmas capital with that of two sporting confederates, and raised a sufficient joint-stock to purchase a condemned musket, with which, during the holiday vacation, we shot, and tyed.

But the partnership proving unsatisfactory, it was soon dissolved by mutual con sent, and I found myself sole and undisputed Master of the Ordnance. From this eventful and dignified epoch in my life, I date my rapid improvement in the noble science of projectiles. After this sketch of my puerile biography, it is scarcely necessary to inform the reader that I was considered by my partial friends to be fitting food for shot and powder. Acfa

INTRODUCTION.

. cordingly I was entered at the Military College, where my worthy superiors having pronounced me competent for a commission in the Engineers, I found myself at the early age of sixteen, an officer of that distinguished Corps in Western India ; one of the not least valued of my distinc tions being the possession of a rifle, before the deadly grooves of which a kite had but little chance at one hundred and fifty yards. Armed with this weapon, I had ample opportunities of indulging in my favourite pursuits, and may safely affirm, that during many years I enjoyed ball-practice in perfec tion. But whilst silently stealing on the recent tracks of the " antlered monarch of the waste," or perseveringly stalking a stately buck — whilst urging my elephant to his utmost speed in pursuit of a retreating tiger, or contemplating with delight the grizzly figure of a prostrate lion — how frequently did my thoughts wander to the wilds of Africa, the tales of sport connected with which had oft-times reached my ears, and how impatiently did I long to make the acquaintance of her motley group of four-footed denizens.

As a boy, well do I remember copying and re-copying Bewick's eccentric figure of the gnoo, when I could barely hold a pencil ; and often in my dreams, did I see, now at the extremity of a long vista of years, that intervened betwixt me and my furlough, the slender and swan-like neck of the stately giraffe, bowing dis tantly to our better acquaintance ; Behemoth, with his square and mirth-exciting snout protruded from the yellow waters of a vast river, acting the part of master of the cere monies ; whilst a host of rhinoceroses, supported by gigantic elephants, eccentrically horned antelopes, and other fascina ting strangers, awaited their turn of presentation with evident impatience. With such strong impressions, it will easily be believed' that I scarcely regretted the sentence of a Bombay Medical

INTRODUCTION.

. XV Board, transporting me for two years to the Cape of Good Hope ; and as this was accompanied with a welcome recom mendation to travel, I made preparations, before quitting India, to penetrate into the interior of Africa. It would be injustice to myself, however, to leave an impression that sport was my only object — for both from education and taste, I possessed an ardent desire to contribute my mite to the Geography and Natural History of the countries I was about to explore. At the period of my arrival at the Cape of Good Hope, pubbc attention was much excited by an event which has probably no parallel in our Colonial history. I allude to the emigration of a large body of Dutch farmers, who volun tarily forsook the British protection and territory, to effect an establishment in the wilderness, where it was believed — as indeed the result fully proved — they would encounter the severest hardship ; and it was no small additional spur to my spirit of enterprise, that I might trace the steps of these wanderers, and, without mingling in politics, investigate, on the spot, the origin of so remarkable an expatriation.

The map that accompanies this volume, for the outlines of which I am indebted to Arrowsmith's Atlas, published in 1834, is principally illustrative of the history of this singular event. Many interesting geographical chasms, however, have also been filled up, numerous additions made, either from personal observations, or from materials obligingly furnished by missionaries and intelligent traders, upon whose correctness I could rely. Nothing has been inserted upon vague report ; and although it will be remarked that my inconvenient mode of travelling would not admit of my making a strictly scientific survey, I trust that I have been enabled to embody information of interest and importance, in a manner suffi ciently accurate to answer the object in view. My passion for venerie had long afforded me opportunities

INTRODUCTION.

. XVI of discovering that the delineations given in popular books of Natural History, of many of the larger quadrupeds, were far from being correct ; and I had, during my service in India, devoted a portion of my leisure to making more accurate portraits of them with appropriate scenery. A wide field for the gratification of this taste lay before me in Africa, of which I did not fail to avail myself, and the result of my labours in this department are now in the course of pub lication. These pages were originally written for the perusal of some of my brother officers in India, with whom I have oft stalked the forest, and scoured the plain ; and it is to them chiefly that I still present them, trusting that in the scenes depicted and described, they will recognize their friend and brother huntsman, and participate with him in the emotions which the overpowering excitement of African wild sports naturally produced in his breast.

I knew them to be persons equally attached to the pleasures of the chase with myself, but gene rally unacquainted with African story, which will account for the occasional introduction of information derived from works already published. My journal having, however, casually fallen into the hands of others, not sportsmen, whose opi nions I respect, and to whom it afforded gratification, I have ventured to submit it to the public, being assured that my habits of life, and occupation in the details of military duty, will afford a ready excuse for the imperfections it contains, more particularly when I add that it has passed through the press without my personal corrections, and at a distance of some thousand miles from the cantonment in which I am quartered. W. C. Harris. Belgauiri, 2lst Oct., 1840. SOUTHERN AFRICA.

Chapter I. Voyage From India To The Cape Of Good Hope, And

THENCE TO ALGOA BAY. On the 16th March, 1836, I sailed out of the harbour of Bombay in a large Indiaman, advertised to be a fast sailer, fitted up expressly for passengers. Amongst many others, who, like myself, had been attracted by this inviting an nouncement to enter upon a voyage to the Cape of Good Hope, was William Richardson, Esq. of the Bombay Civil Service, a gentleman whose acquaintance I had never before had the pleasure of cultivating, but who had long been known to me by repute as a devoted sportsman. To him I communicated my intention of penetrating as far into the interior of Africa as my limited leave would permit, and he immediately agreed to accompany me, embarking from that moment heart, hand, and purse, in the plan I had projected. The usual duration of the voyage is six weeks, but in our case it was protracted to eleven, nor did we reach Simon's Bay until the 31st May.

The first glimpse of the shores of Africa awakened in my bosom the strongest emotions. I already saw realized those F5 fairy dreams which had haunted my imagination, and felt within my grasp the substance of those shadows which had long strewed my path. On arriving at Cape Town, I was so fortunate as to meet with Dr. Andrew Smith, the well-known talented leader of the scientific expedition which had just returned from the interior, who afforded me infor mation of the highest value, and gave me accounts of what I should see in the way of sport, which determined me to lose no time in taking the field. A few days sufficed to com plete our arrangements and purchases. The former were confined to obtaining passports, visiting the children of missionaries whom we expected to meet, and engaging a servant, whose name will frequently appear, in lieu of a Mahomedan whom I had brought from India, and who, having already seen enough of the Cape of Good Hope, preferred returning to eat his curry with true believers, to undergoing contamination amongst accursed Kafirs or infidels.

Our purchases comprised every article that we fancied could be of service to us in a country where few of the necessaries and none of the luxuries of life can be obtained, in which no circulating medium exists, and where even mercantile transactions are conducted exclusively by barter. Beads, buttons, brass wire, common trinkets, cheap gewgaws, and ornaments of the baser metals, formed no inconsiderable items of our expenditure, not forgetting an abundant supply of snuff and tobacco. I had brought with me from India, pots, kettles, and camp furniture, together with my tent, and an ample stock of gunpowder; and a Parsee servant, named Nesser-wanjee Motabhoy, who had accompanied my friend Richardson, declared his determination of following our fortunes. By Dr. Smith's kind advice, we ordered from a tailor in Cape Town, as a present, amongst others, to the redoubted Chief Moselekatse, called by some Umsiligas, whom we proposed to visit, a great coat, in itself so perfectly unique that I may be excused for describing it.

Of dimensions suited to the figure of a portly gentleman, pointed out by the Doctor, as resembling the Chief, it was composed of drab duffel, a coarse shaggy cloth commonly worn by the colonists, surmounted by six capes, and provided with huge bone buttons, and a ponderous brazen clasp in the shape of a crest, the whole being lined and fancifully trimmed with scarlet shalloon in a manner calculated to captivate the taste, and propitiate the esteem, of the most despotic and ca pricious of savages. With this curious investment we embarked on the 2nd July in a small schooner bound for Algoa Bay, one of our fellow-passengers from India accompanying us to the pier, unable to persuade himself, until the boat had fairly pushed off, that we really intended to venture upon a second voyage in such a craft so immediately after the troubles we had undergone.

In addition to a mate, a cook, and a Mozam bique negro, dignified with the appellation of steward, our crew consisted of three men and a boy; our fellow-passengers being two adventurers, who occupied the berth opposite to our own in the only cabin, and a tailor with his wife and nine daughters, some marriageable, others at the breast. This unfortunate family, every member of which was sea-sick during the whole voyage, located themselves in the steerage, an apartment about eight feet square, ventilated only by the hatch way. The passage up the coast at that season seldom occupies more than three days, but the fates decreeing that our progress should still be opposed, adverse wTinds had taken the place of the north-wester, which had been blowing without intermission during the preceding six weeks, and which, had it but continued a day longer, would have wafted us to our destination.

The little vessel was usually gunwale under. Stormy b seas breaking over her, obliged the tailor to seal up his family hermetically ; heavy lurches during the night ejected us from our narrow precincts, and more than once brought my companion, who slept in a shelf above me, and myself, into awkward and violent collision ; whilst the rolling during the day repeatedly swept the table, and deposited the viands in our laps. Being the whole time within sight of land, no observations were taken, and on the afternoon of the eighth day we entered St. Francis' Bay, in mistake for that of Algoa, not discovering our error until we were about to let go the anchor. The opinions on the subject were various and conflicting. The tailor, who had made the voyage before, courageously ascended the mast-head, in spite of the remonstrances of his love-sick spouse, to make an attempt at recognition; and regaining the deck gravely asserted that we were in Plettemberg's Bay, nearly two degrees to the westward.

Doubts being entertained of the soundness of his opinion, we were consulted. The chart was produced, and being satisfied that we were close to Cape Recif, a dangerous reef of rocks, we advised the ship to be hove to ; but sail having been again made during the night, we contrived to weather the point, and having narrowly escaped founder ing on the Bird Islands, floundered by good fortune into the harbour of Port Elizabeth.

Chapter II. Journey From Port Elizabeth To Graham's Town

Algoa Bay is exceedingly open and exposed, and the anchorage very insecure. During high winds ships not unfrequently go on shore, a tremendous surf often rendering it dangerous, and at times even impossible, for boats to land. We were fortunate in being able to prevail on the Port Captain to take us ashore in his barge, a favour which our uncouth habiliments rendered him somewhat cautious in vouchsafing. The town of Port Elizabeth, though rapidly increasing, does not consist of above one hundred and fifty houses. It is built along the sea-shore on the least eligible site that could have been selected. The soil in the neigh bourhood is a sandy loam, producing fine crops of wheat and barley without irrigation, its contiguity to the sea affording sufficient moisture. We tarried a week at Mrs. Scorey's fashionable hotel, and were actively engaged in an attempt to purchase horses, which we understood were to be obtained in the adjoining districts in considerable numbers, and of an excellent quality.

It was with inconceivable difficulty, however, that we at length succeeded in procuring two miserable quad rupeds, that appeared to have scarcely sufficient stamina to carry us to Graham's Town. The recent Kafir war having trebled the price of everything, and of live stock in par ticular, the demands upon us were exorbitant. With the assistance of Colonel Tripp, the Commanding Officer at Algoa, from whom we experienced great kindness and hospitality, we also became the proprietors of a comfortable travelling waggon, seventeen feet in length, and a span or team of twelve tough little Faderland oxen. The former owner, an honest Yorkshireman, named Matthews, whom I especially recommend to all persons requiring a similar conveyance, was with difficulty induced to part with it, and after twelve months' experience of its comforts, we had no hesitation in pronouncing it to be a cheap and valuable pur chase.

With this vehicle, driven by a drunken Hottentot, we took the road to Graham's Town under convoy of Joe Butler, a merry Irishman, of whom we had hired a second waggon for the conveyance of our wares. The activity and skill dis played by Joe in the guidance of his straggling team of oxen, and the unerring dexterity with which he wielded his long and formidable whip, did not fail to excite in us the same astonishment that has been expressed by every traveller in South Africa. Richard, my new valet, voluntarily assumed the office of cook, conceiving himself also, in virtue of the experience he had acquired during a trip to Litakoo, a few years before, with a party of Indian gentlemen, specially charged with our safety. On this occasion, however, he had strangely forgotten to lay in supplies for the road, and we fared badly in consequence.

I do not profess to write a journal, and may therefore spare my reader the annoyance of perusing on every page those uninteresting details connected with the interior economy of a cafila, which are doubtless too often the cause of a volume being thrown aside in disgust. Once for all let me state that we usually rose with the dawn, breakfasted at nine or ten, or as soon as water could be obtained, and after halting an hour for that meal, continued our pilgrimage until a favourable spot presented itself for the nocturnal bivouac. Whilst the cattle were turned out to graze for a couple of hours, joyous fires sent forth their cheering influence in various parts of our gipsy camp ; and when supplies were to be had, sundry cooks were presently discharging the important functions of their office.

Pots, kettles, and gridirons, were in universal demand, and after washing down a meal comprising nothing beyond plain baked, fried, or boiled, with libations of tea or coffee — the second edition of which became the acknowledged perquisite of the followers — every one betook himself to sleep as best he might, either in, below, or about the waggons ; the scram ble for places usually involving a severe hustling and kick ing match, if it did not end, as was too frequently the case, in a battle-royal. In the course of the journey few other incidents occurred worth mentioning. With the assistance of Butler's team, making in all twenty-four oxen, we ascended the Zwartcop Mountain by a steep and difficult acclivity during the first night, and encamped near an extensive grove of aloe-trees in full blossom.

Thence, a rugged and circuitous track of about one hundred miles in length constituted the road, the scenery comprising a mixture of barren, unprofitable valleys, and stony, uninteresting hills, varied occasionally by deser ted farms, where depopulation had stayed the hand of the husbandman, and the blackened walls of roofless cottages, which had been sacked by the Kafirs during their late iiTuption. Throughout this miserable country, which had been des cribed to us as abounding with game of every description, our diligent researches were once repaid by a glimpse, on the distant horizon, of three ostriches, and about a score of spring-bucks. This event occurred at a place called Quag ga's Flat, where we halted a day, and were treated with hospitality by three English settlers, brothers named Pullen.

Occasionally, too, the light and graceful rhee-buck was to be seen bounding over the hill-tops, or up their sides ; stopping at intervals, stamping with his slight fore-foot, and sending down the breeze his not-to-be-mistaken whistle, as he gazed at the waggons winding beneath him. Besides gin-shops, there are two inns on the road ; the first at Sunday River, the second at Bushman's Hill : but at neither of these could we procure bread or forage, and the country not producing a single blade of grass, our cattle daily presented more finished specimens of anatomy. Old Pollard, the loquacious land lord of the last-mentioned inn, endeavoured by his wit to supply the want of cheer, gravely assuring us that had we employed him we might have obtained horses, waggons, and oxen, at a tenth of the price.

This worthy Boniface's daughter here joined our party, proceeding to Graham's Town on a matrimonial expedition, or, in other words, to be present, agreeably to colonial custom, when her marriage banns were proclaimed in church. Whilst descending a steep hill by night, one of the oxen contrived to strangle himself — a circumstance only remarkable from the great sensation produced by the Parsee's steady refusal to partake of the flesh. We often overheard our followers afterwards talking of the cow-- worshipper, who was not allowed to eat beef.* It rained repeatedly and heavily during our journey, the roads in an instant becom ing so slippery that it was impossible to proceed a single step until the water had run off. At a place called Assegai Bush, the ground in the morning was white with hoar frost ; and all the brooks were frozen over, a sight we had no witnessed for years.

It was piercingly cold, and even at 7 a. m. the thermometer stood at 34°. When within a few * The well-known objection on the part of the Parsees, or fire-worshippers of India, to eating beef, is believed to have arisen from a compact formed with the Hindoos on Iheir first arrival. A respect for Mahomedan prejudices is understood to influence them equally against partaking of the unclean beast. .._ ' ' miles of Graham's Town, which we reached on the seventh day, the baggage-waggon was accidentally upset in a deep hole by the road-side, and the upper works completely broken, although little injury occurred to the contents, beyond the destruction of our chairs and crockery. Graham's Town is situated at the source of the Cowie River, at a distance of six hundred and fifty miles from Cape Town, and thirty from the nearest point of the coast.

It is well built, and contains nearly seven hundred houses, with about three thousand inhabitants, principally English. Here we made further purchases, and with difficulty obtained two additional horses, residing four days at Parke's excellent hotel. We also made a valuable friend in the person of Captain Stanford, of the 27th Foot, who introduced us to two intelligent men, David Hume and Robert Scoon, both of whom had performed several journeys into the interior, for the purpose of trading in ivory, and who afforded us much valuable information. Hume provided us with a newr driver, a pensioned private of the Cape Rifle Corps, minus a right eye and a fore-finger, proud of his ancestry as a Hottentot, and glorying in the name of Andries Africander. This highly-favoured individual had already made no less than five trips with Hume and others into Moselekatse's country, and besides being well acquainted with that Chief, possessed a fair smattering of the English and Sichuana languages.

He was, moreover, according to his own account, a crack shot, an intrepid elephant hunter, and a finished waggon driver ; thus professing to combine, beneath a mutilated and unprepossessing exterior, every qualification that could be required in a servant by men in our situation. Had but the virtues of this man kept pace with the accomplishments to which he laid claim, he would indeed have been a valuable acquisition : but unfortunately the result proved that he had not a single redeeming quality, that we could discover. A coward, a mutineer, and an inveterate liar, it will be seen that Andries caused more mischief and trouble to us by his pernicious example and rebellious conduct when beyond the reach of the law, than can be well conceived by those who have never had the misfortune to be exposed to the machinations of so dangerous a ruffian.

Wherever we were likely to obtain recruits to join our expedition, we hoisted our standard, in the hope and ex pectation that numbers would flock around it. But whilst some had married wives, and others had purchased farms, we saw too plainly written in the countenances of all, that they felt convinced of the impossibility of two ppor Indian gentlemen, who had been only three weeks in the colony, achieving, alone and unassisted, amongst savage nations in South Africa, a long and perilous journey, which had never been undertaken except by a few persons whose experience of the country might be traced back almost to their cradles, and even by them had been accomplished with great difficulty and hazard.

Chapter III. Journey From Graham's Town To Graaff Reinet

For the moderate remuneration of one hundred Rix dollars, equal to about seven pounds sterling, Mr. Pollard, junior, the innkeeper's son, volunteered to accompany us with his waggon as far as Somerset, a small town about half way to Graaff Reinet, where his maternal uncle resided; but by dint of attending the market every morning, we contrived, on the 26th of the month, to obtain a return vehicle for one-fourth of the sum. When we had proceeded about a mile, one of the lately purchased horses deserted, and I did not succeed in re-capturing him until he had re-entered Gra ham's Town. After travelling ten miles, our waggon having been carelessly driven by Andries, became entangled in a wiry unyielding bush, and could not be extricated without the assistance of hatchets. John Strydom, the fat good natured proprietor of the waggon that we had hired, took advantage of this delay to ride back upon a horse that he borrowed from us, in order to recover a cash receipt of some importance, which he fancied he had dropped, and returned about the middle of the night, having completely knocked up the steed.

What added to our vexation was that he found the missing document in his waistcoat pocket. The leader of our team having stolen a horse during our sojourn at Graham's Town, had been incarcerated, and our difficulties had not been a little multiplied by the impossibility of finding a substitute. Fortunately, however, in the course of the second day's journey, a Hottentot, whom we found sunning himself by the way-side, consented to enter our service in the vacant situation. The country was still of the same barren, uninteresting character as that already described, but generally more level, less abundantly watered, and more thickly covered with brushwood and succulent dwarf trees, called by the colonists speck-boom. We travelled at the rate of thirty miles a day, twice passing the night without water for the oxen — saw several small herds of spring-bucks, of which beautiful little antelope I killed three — and arrived late on the evening of the 29th at the home-sick Strydom's cottage, on Mynheer de Klerck's farm, where his doating young vrouw received him with overflowing eyes and open arms.

On the journey we had picked up a disconsolate wheelwright, whom we overtook plodding his weary way along the road, with a green veil over his face, and a saddle, bridle, and bundle, on his head ; his horse having most unceremoniously abandoned him under cover of the night, an event by no means uncommon in the annals of South African travelling, and one to which our dismounted equestrian was so well accustomed, that he had lost no time in precarious search, but had set out forthwith in the pedestrian order I have described, well convinced that if his truant horse were not already at home, he would shortly return thither. John Strydom having messed with us on the road, his good vrouw insisted in return on entertaining us at supper. Myn heer de Klerck, and several of the members of his family, visited our host after the repast was over, and were very slow in taking the hint conveyed by his violent yawnings, that he was anxious to retire to rest.

We slept in the waggon, as usual, and were amused during the greater part of the night by the drunken merriment and boisterous singing of a lame Irish cobbler, who was "keeping it up" in a roofless mud outhouse, with two Hottentot " boys," neither of whom was under fifty years of age. The cobbler apologized next morning for not inviting us to the wassail, on the score that we were gentlemen, adding that not being at the time alto gether "compos mentis," he hoped we would excuse his apparent want of politeness. We halted one day, in order to enjoy the diversion of wild guinea-fowl shooting on De Klerck's farm, where we found these birds in abundance, lying in coveys amongst the long grass and under-growth. When flushed, they rose whirring like pheasants high above the tops of the trees. On the 31st we continued our journey about five miles, to Somerset, at which we hoped to obtain another waggon ; the uxorious John Strydom having been proof against the most tempting bribes offered to induce him to transport our baggage beyond it.