A Lady Trader in the Transvaal

Preface

. TO THE READER. The following narrative is a faithful account of my personal experience. The only liberty that I have taken with facts consists of the substitution of fictitious for the real names of persons and farms. These changes have been made for obvious reasons. SARAH HECKFORD.

Chapter I

On a fine breezy morning, early in December, 1878^ a number of passengers, and volunteers for the Zulu war, crowded the deck of one of the Union Company's steam ships, then lying off the Port of D'Urban, or Port Natal. She had been for some days unable to land her passengers owing to the roughness ofthe "bar," that terrible difficulty presented by all south-east African seaports ; but earlj on this particular morning the joyful intelligence that the tug was comiug was made known, and the excitement was great in consequence. The volunteers had all come on board at East London, a very sparely populated and commonplace-looking sea side village on the African coast. They were more or less prepared for what lay before them, for they knew what life in South Africa is; but to the majority of the passengers the low-lying, jungly-looking shore on which the breakers were beating was like the drop-scene of an unknown opera.

What lay behind it was a mystery B to all those who were then for the first time landing in South Africa — at least one half of the number assembled on deck. Most of them, no doubt, felt this ; but there was one, at least, who did not. This was a young gentle man who went by the name of " Dick." He was a strap ping youngster of about eighteen, who, I am inclined to think, had been shipped to Africa because nothing could be done with him at home. The new life before him presented no difficulties to his mind; he knew exactly how he was going to manage. He would buy a horse at D'Urban, put a few things in his saddle-bags, strap his tent on his horse's crupper, and ride to Rustemberg (his destination) with a Kaffir for his guide. There he would rapidly make his fortune, principally by trading amongst the Kaffirs, to which end he had, before leaving England, provided himself with a stock of little machines, which (if my memory serves me rightly) are labelled in shopwindows "A cup of tea in five minutes."

This invention consists of a piece of sponge covered with wire gauze and encased in a metal cover, so that the apparatus can be carried in the pocket until it is required to perform the part of a spirit-lamp. The contrivance is more complicated than I describe, and decidedly ingenious. Dick had a store of these things in perfect order, and was confident of doing a roaring trade in them amongst the Kaffirs. Dick was now, however, troubled with a difficulty ; it was this : he had two dogs, one an English bull-terrier — it had cost him bl. to bring the animal from England — the other a Kaffir mongrel, for which he had paid a sovereign to the owner, who had come on board at Cape Town. The owner was a Kaffir, and had brought his dog on board without asking any questions, and probably would have taken him off without any being asked of him ; but when Dick bought the dog, the captain and chief officer declared that he must pay the full fare for the animal, and on his indignant refusal, threatened to seize his saddle.

Poor Dick was in an agony, honestly believing they meant what they said, and being much troubled in his mind as to how his new acquisition, a very large and lively dog, was to be got into the tug. The method of conveying the passengers from the steamship to the tug was certainly enough to alarm the poor mongrel, and Dick was justified in think ing it likely that he would object to it. A strongly-made basket, large enough to hold three or four persons crouching down, was being periodically hauled up to the side and swung over to the deck of the ship, filled with passengers, and then lowered away, until, amidst much laughter and shouting, its unlucky occupants were let bump down on the deck of the little tug that was bobbing about by the side of her big sister, when they were immediately and very unceremoniously tumbled out if they were men.

Women and children were somewhat more gently treated. It certainly struck me that it would be very easy to break one's legs in the operation, and when my turn came I was very glad to find myself safely on board the little vessel. She was a funny-looking little craft, made expressly for crossing the disagreeable bar, and we were all cautioned to sit fast and wedge ourselves in well, or we might be swept overboard as we passed it. I expected a frightful drenching at least, but nothing at all happened ; it was the old story of the mountain and the mouse, and as such, it formed a fitting prelude to life in South Africa, where, so far as my experience goes, everything is ex aggerated — dangers, difficulties, beauties, and advantages. b I believe that D'Urban is a pretty town, but it did not look pretty to me, for I was in a bad temper.

I had arranged to travel with a party who were going up country to speculate, thinking that it might be difficult for a lady alone, unless blessed with large means, to travel in a country of which the languages and customs were unknown to her. It is, I think, rather trying for any one accustomed to manage for himself to submit to be managed for, unless the management be very good, which in this case it was not. I found it decidedly tried me, and when it came on to rain, and (there being a strike of the Kaffir porters on that day) my companions piled all the luggage in the middle of a tramway, seemingly un conscious of there being any unadvisability in its being so disposed of, I felt very uncharitable towards them. The result of this disposition of our joint property was, that after a while a number of Kaffirs, with that beautiful dis regard of consequences which is one of the pleasing characteristics of the race, sent a line of empty railway trucks right into it.

The acrobatic and athletic efforts then made to rescue individual boxes dear to the owners' hearts, were amusing to behold ; but it would have been a great relief to one's feelings to have been able to vent one's wrath, if only in words, on those unpleasant Kaffirs, who looked on grinning ; but it was no use abusing them, for they didn't understand English, and none of us spoke Zulu or any other Kaffir language. At last I got into an omnibus which runs between the Port and the village of D'Urban, taking " Jimmy " with me. And here, as I shall have occasion to mention Jimmy again, let me introduce him. Jimmy was a boy of nearly sixteen, whom I had known from the time he was very small. He belonged to the party with whom I had arranged to travel, and was the only member of it with whom I had any previous acquaintance when I went on board the Union Company's ship at Southampton.

He was fresh from home and school, and not at all accustomed to roughing it, hence he was permitted to be a good deal with me, and was allowed certain little privileges not accorded to the men of the party, or even to another youngster not much older than Jimmy, but about twice his size and strength. The omnibus set us down at the best hotel in D'Urban; but that does not say very much. The village consisted of a line of straggling cottages or small houses, some of them with things in the window for sale, a railway-station, and a rather nice-looking building where the post-office was. I say consisted, for it may be much changed since then. The hotel was a cottage standing in a garden. There was a sitting-room with a piano in it, and a table d'hote in an adjoining but separate room; but there were none of the other arrangements which one connects in one's mind with an hotel.

The idea it gave me was that a small farmhouse had been suddenly called upon to accommodate several people, and that the owner was doing his best. On the whole, D'Urban did not strike me as a singularly delectable spot, and I was not sorry to leave it. We departed by the train, which took us to Pine Town, a pretty little place, in the middle of scenery that reminded me of an Indian jungle. Here we got into an omnibus. We were packed very tight, and had little parcels of various sorts crammed into every available spot. The road was rough, and the horses went at a rattling rate. I suppose it was what some of the people said, " miserable ;" but I rather enjoyed it, for the scenery was fine. We stopped for dinner at a farmhouse, and got into Pieter-Maritzburg at sunset. The town looked very pretty with the evening light on it, lying in the middle of a circle of hills ; but it is not really a very pretty place, although I believe its inhabitants think it so.

Pieter-Maritzburg in reality is, or was when I saw it, only a large village. Before I proceed, I must warn my readers, that although I shall have to tell them of rocks and valleys and wooded ravines, &c, they must not picture to them selves anything analogous to what they may have seen in Switzerland or Italy. There are such things in this part of the world, but they are commonplace. It is neces sary to come here to understand what a "commonplace " wooded ravine means, but once here one understands it perfectly. I have often tried to make out in what this want of beauty, where there ought to be beauty, consisted, and I think that to a considerable extent it is caused by a want of atmosphere, to use a phrase common to artists. In this part of the world the sun rises, when the sky is cloudless, in a bright yellow halo.

It is yellow — not the glorious gold of the Egyptian or Indian sunrise — -and the light it throws on all around is simply a bright yellow light. There are no delicately shaded tints, as it fades into shadow, or plays over an uneven surface. The artist who would portray it need have but few colours in his paint-box. If the sky be cloudy, he need only as a rule have plenty of grey, and enough red and yellow for a streak or two. It is very seldom one sees the beautiful rose-flecked sky which made the fanciful Greeks gift Aurora with rosy-tipped fingers. And then, where will a dweller here find the magnificent colouring of an Indian, or the ethereal blush of an Italian, sunset? The finest he will ever see here will not be equal to many that he will have seen in England. The colouring of the scenery is monotonous.

The grass when it is not yellow is a very vivid green; the trees have not much variety of hue or form ; and the sky is very blue — a cobalt blue, deepening into indigo as it nears the horizon, but without a trace of the rose pink which, when we first learn to put a brush on paper, we are so strenuously enjoined never to omit in an horizon. Even the moonlight is not so ethereal as in other countries, although it is often very bright. So much for the scenery. Now, as to the life here, I can only compare it to a picture in which there is no central point for the eye to rest on, in which everything is equally prominent. It is moral atmosphere which is wanting, I am inclined to think. Life here is a jumble, to use an inelegant but expressive word. To me, and to many I fancy, there is much in the life which is attractive.

It is, I believe, a fact, that people who have been here for some time and have longed to return to Europe, having done so, have come back to finish their days in Africa. But I doubt whether more than two or three of those persons even, could have told the characteristic charm which thus recalled them from their old homes.

Chapter II

Jimmy and I left Pieter-Maritzburg on a fine afternoon, having been there about a week — the rest of the party, together with the two waggons which had been hired by the manager, having gone on in front — the men on foot, we on horseback, or rather on ponyback, for neither of our steeds was fifteen hands high. I had found it very hard to get serviceable animals at Pieter-Maritzburg, for at that time all the available, and tuany unavailable horses, were bought up by the volunteers. Dick had invested in a weedy-looking young mare, and he rode her to death, I heard, in about a fortnight, although he was not in the volunteers. Two of our party had left us to join the native contingent (then being raised) as volunteer officers. They spoke nothing but English, and their men nothing but a Kaffir dialect ; so how they, and many others who joined like them, managed, I do not know.

They had also bought miserable hacks. I cannot say much for my own two. One, which Jimmy bestrode, was a rough and ugly Basuto pony, very thin, but with good qualities. My pony was larger, fat, and handsome ; he would have been very good, except for his laziness. I certainly never have seen so lazy a little horse. He would stand stock still, unless forcibly reminded that he was wanted to walk ; and when induced to canter, he would in five minutes fall into a walk. These two animals were the means of introducing me to the common domestic insect of this part of the world, namely, the "tick," or "bush louse," as it is called by the Boers. There were hundreds on both the ponies, and the groom of the hotel being, as Kaffir grooms generally are, a useless addition to the stable, Jimmy and I had employed hours in ridding our ponies of the parasites.

I had an idea that I knew what a " tick " was, on sheep in England ; but the South African tick is a wonderful creature. There are grey, brown, whitish, and striped varieties, besides one exceedingly poisonous kind, yellow-green on the back, with a white line with symmetrical streaks of red on it running round the edge of the podgy little body, and the belly grey. These insects vary in size, from almost invisibility to the bulk of a hazel-nut. They are very agile ; and if you happen to be sitting on the grass, you have a good chance of seeing one walk nimbly towards you, with a hungry look pervading his small person. What the creatures live on when they don't happen to fall in with some living prey I do not know, but numbers of them certainly have their habitat in the grass. Jimmy and I started on ponyback.

With a vague idea that I was going into a wild country, and with a distinct one that Jimmy was not likely to afford me much protection, I had a revolver in a case strapped round my waist, and another in a holster on my saddle. The waggons had started in a hurry ; and there having been some misunderstanding on my part as to when I was to have all my things loaded up, a good many things belong ing to Jimmy and myself had been left behind, and these were crammed into our saddle-bags, and tied on our saddles. However, we started, and having arrived at an even stretch of road halfway up the hill immediately beyond the village, Jimmy proposed a canter. It was not a particularly fast one, but the effect was disastrous. I was a little in front when I heard " Hilloa ! I say, look what's happening !

" and looking back, I beheld the road strewed with articles which had gradually fallen from Jimmy's various parcels. Jimmy looked disconsolate as he returned, and began to pick them up and tie them on again, while I sat on my pony and laughed. This was unfair, I must confess, for the loading up arrangement had been of my invention, not Jimmy's. Presently we came up to one of our party, sitting, hot and weary, on a big stone near to a hand-cart laden with miscellaneous articles, which had not arrived in time to be packed in the waggons. I must here observe, that the manager of our party had contracted for our being taken to Pretoria with our goods by a carrier, or what is here called a transport rider, and the transport-rider was imperious about when he would "in and out-spann," to use a South African phrase for putting the oxen into and letting them out of the yoke.

I confess that, being at the time ignorant of the conditions of transport-riding, I thought our carrier unreasonable on this and many other occasions. But experience has taught me that in respect of his treatment of oxen in this one particular, he was altogether reason able, for in travelling with an ox-waggon, even an in human man, and our driver was one, must consider his oxen, or else he will stick fast on the road. The young gentleman who was sitting hot and weary on the stone, guarding the hand-cart while his companions in misfortune had gone to drink somewhere, must have been a very amiable person if he did not feel something akin to hatred of Jimmy and myself as we rode up, and after a few words rode on. He did his best to look cheerful; and this was creditable to him, although it was a failure, for who could be expected to look cheer ful at being harnessed two abreast to a heavy hand-cart, and having to drag it uphill for miles in a broiling sun ?

Everything, however, has an end. Some time after Jimmy and I reached the place where the waggons were outspanned, the cart was brought in, the articles in it placed in the waggons, and the cart itself sent back — I forget how — to Pieter-Maritzburg. When the oxen were inspanned and we started once more, we felt that we were fairly en route ; and being so, let me describe the waggons, which were to serve us as houses until we reached Pretoria. The one was an open buck-waggon, something of the same make as our large English hay-waggons, with a tarpaulin, or what is here called " a buck-sail," thrown over it to protect the goods. There were, I think, eighteen oxen in this waggon, which was driven principally by the Africander transport-rider, a small man, with red whiskers and moustache. The other waggon was also a buck-waggon, or waggon with railings projecting from the sides for the support of goods ; but on the back half of it there was a tent, formed of canvas stretched on bent laths, so as to form a complete covering at the sides and top.

The ends were furnished with canvas flaps, to be shut or opened at pleasure. With very few articles packed in a half-tent, its occupant, if there be but one, may be comfortable enough ; but when, in addition to m the Transvaal. 12 cases, the entire paraphernalia which a company of twelve men, most of them unaccustomed to travelling, think necessary to keep handy, is tumbled into it, the conditions are altered. Of course each man had a rifle, and these weapons had to be kept exceptionally handy, although they did not get us more than two or three brace of birds during our whole trek, and not even one buck. The result of twelve men and one woman (myself) having these things "handy" in a half-tent was this. The various articles underwent a rotatory movement every time one of them was wanted, and became well mixed up.

Later on I was able to make canvas bags and tie them up to the sides of the tent, and so save my property from the general confusion, but at the outstart my goods contributed to it. Our evening outspann was on a bleak hill-top, along which a thick, damp mist was beginning to sweep. It soon enveloped us, aud rendered the cooking of the evening meal difficult. In agreeing with the transport driver, no definite understanding had been come to as to what assistance the natives under his control were to render, hence they gave us very little, and the men had to bring water, fuel, &c, and make the fire themselves. This a native will do in pouring rain, but an Englishman, as a rule, is puzzled to do it even in a drizzling mist. Presently, through the mist, up rode the two of our party who had joined the volunteers ; they came to bid their companions God-speed, and then rode off, as it was already late.

I don't know what became of one of them ; the other was massacred as he lay ill of fever in the hospital at Rorke's Drift. In the meantime the tent for the men was pitched by them. I had a tent, but I think I only persuaded them to pitch it for my benefit four times, and I forget whether this was one of those occasions. Pre sently supper made its appearance. The meal consisted of fried ham, bread, and coffee— without milk, be it under stood. It does not sound badly, but I will describe it in the words of the man who cooked it : " Rancid tallow candle, with lots of salt in it." He would not eat of it; but I was very hungry, and did, although I confess the description was accurate.

Chapter III

I shall not give a lengthened description of a journey in or with an ox-waggon, through a country whose leading feature is an utter absence of any objects of interest, except to the eye of a speculative farmer, and even he could not but be disagreeably impressed by the want of water. I will sum it up by saying, that we travelled over many miles of undulating country, starting early in the morning, outspanning in the middle of the day, and travelling again in the evening, during which time we were not particularly comfortable. The men generally walked ; Jimmy and I rode. It was very rough, although after our first evening the food improved ; but the want of milk was trying. Then, too, it is unpleasant when the weather is very hot not to be able to get a good wash, or to change one's linen often; and these were impossibilities for me, owing to my not being able to induce the men to pitch my tent.

The waggon-tent was too much cumbered for even an active person, not to say one who is lame, as I am, to perform satisfactory ablutions in; and the absence of trees made an im promptu dressing-room a thing not to be thought of. Sometimes we came to a little shanty called an hotel and then I eagerly seized the opportunity for a wash ; but these accommodations were very few, and far between. One duty which devolved on me, many would, I dare say, consider a hardship, but I did not mind it ; this was cleaning my horse. I was a new hand at grooming a horse then, having previously only had the brush and comb in my hands en amateur, and it is one thing to rub down a well-groomed horse for amusement, and another to clean a very dirty and hot one under a broiling sun; but I cannot say that I disliked this hardship, although I used to wish that our outspanning times were such as to allow of my grooming operations being carried on at some hour when the sun was low.

At best, however, a mid-day outspann in a treeless country is objectionable; it is pleasanter to be moving than stationary during the process of being broiled. It is true that under the waggon there is a little shade, but in this case it was not available for me, being fully occupied by the tired men. It is, however, absolutely necessary for oxen to rest in the heat of the day if they are to work well ; and, as I said before, our conductor in this respect was a good manager. The first place that made an impression on my mind was Kar- Kloof. It is approached by a road that winds round a hill-side, and then one is almost startled by the abruptness and length of the ascent in front. It seems almost impossible for oxen to drag a loaded waggon up so long and steep a hill. It is a picturesque place (for Africa), with deep gullies at the side of the rugged road, and with even a sprinkling of trees.

On the top of this tremendous hill is a tiny iron house — an inn, and very glad I was that such a thing existed ; for hardly were we at the top when a most terrific storm broke over us. There was even a stable, or what served the purpose of one, and in it, to my great relief, I was able to get shelter for the horses. The landlady, a most garrulous and in quisitive old person, was very kind to me ; although she apparently regarded my companions as undesirable characters, and came down on them very sharp whenever she could. The storm ended in a thick mist, through which one of the men thought he saw a buck, and in continently set forth, rifle in hand. The buck disappeared, and so did its would-be persecutor ; the disappearance of the former being for good, and of the latter for the whole night, which he spent in forlornly wandering in continual dread of losing his footing amongst the rocks and gullies as completely as he had lost his way.

Then there was Estcourt, a place that looked pretty by moonlight, but not so well by daylight ; and then there was the Drachensberg, or Dragon Mountain. I had heard much of this terrible mountain, and dreadful accounts of what happened to waggons whilst attempting to cross it ; I therefore approached it with a certain amount of respect. The Drachensberg is not a single mountain, but a very long chain, as any one can see by looking at it on the map. At its foot the road coming from Natal divides into two, one branch leading across the mountain into the Free State, the other going to Newcastle. We were to go by the former, and I now learned that we were to go to Pretoria vid Heilbronn and Heidelberg. My knowledge of the geography of the country was not up to the mark, but it was sufficient to render this announcement start ling to me, the taking Heilbronn en route to Heidelberg bringing me some sixty or seventy miles out of my way ; however, the conductor said he had to go, and that was considered to be conclusive.

I believe the reason he gave was, that having lost many of his oxen on the road, and thinking it likely he should lose more, he had to go to Heilbronn, where his home was, for fresh oxen ; in reality, he went to pick up his wife, who wanted to pay a visit to Heidelberg. But whatever was the reason, he said he must go by Heilbronn ; and we, having no previous contract as to the road by which he was to travel, had to obey. We left the hospitable little inn at the foot of the mountain in the afternoon. The preamble of our starting was as follows : — My horse's withers having been touched by the saddle, and Jimmy's pony being also touched on the back, I said I would go in the waggon. X " If that be so," said the conductor, " your young friend had best go with you." " Why ? " I inquired. "Because very likely the waggon may be upset," quoth the conductor.

What benefit I was to derive from Jimmy's presence in such a case I did not pause to inquire, but, as speedily as I could, descended from my destined conveyance — just in time to see a wretched sheep in its dying agonies, having been killed for our supper by one of the men, alongside of the waggon, to which it was speedily hung. The innkeeper now provided a light carriage called a " spider," drawn by four oxen, for my benefit, in which I started some time after the waggons had done so. The ascent of the Dragon Mountain is certainly picturesque, although the lack of trees is very much felt, c but the effect of it was greatly marred by a thick mist which came on as evening drew in. Presently we came to our waggons, stuck in the mud amongst a lot of others all in the same predicament. It was a nice pleasant look-out !

The spider deposited me in the mud ; the men pitched their tent in the mud ; and presently up came Jimmy leading the two ponies, all very muddy. The supper was what might be expected under the circumstances. I got Jimmy into the waggon with me, tied the horses to the back of it, and fed them from my hand — for the mud made it impossible to feed them on the ground, and I had no nose-bag for them — and then prepared to go to sleep. My remembrance of that night is, that it was a perpetual struggle to avoid slipping out at the back ; for as there was no mattress, but only a blanket or two thrown on a mixed assortment of articles, promi nent amongst which were the rifles of the party, and the waggen stood on a steep incline, not only oneself, but all one was lying on had a downward tendency. Towards morning I heard dismal sounds from a member of our party who had attempted to sleep on the waggon, outside the tent but under the buck-sail, and then a clank which told me that his head must have come in collision with a certain tin box of mine.