Eight Months in an Ox-Waggon. Reminiscences of Boer Life

Front matter

IMPORTANT BOOKS OF TRAVEL. TRAVEL, WAR, AND SHIPWRECK. By Colonel W. Parker Gillmore ("Ubique"), Author of "The Great Thirst Land," &c. Demy 8vo, 9-s. "Everybody knows Mr. Gillmore as a plucky traveller and a powerful writer." — Vanity Fair. AMONG THE ZULUS : The Adventures of Hans Sterk in South Africa. By Lieut.-Col. A. W. Drayson, R.A. Crown 8vo, illustrated, paper boards, price 2s. 6d. ; cloth, gilt edges, price 35. 6d. HAIR-BREADTH ESCAPES; or, The Adventures of Three Boys in South Africa. By the Rev. H. C. Adams. Illustrated, cloth, 5^., or gilt edges, $s. 6d. ADVENTURES IN AUSTRALIA ; or, The Wanderings of Captain Spencer in the Bush and the Wilds. By Mrs. R. Lee. New and revised edition. Illustrated. Sixth Thousand. $s. 6d., gilt edges, 4s. A NAUTICAL NOVEL. THE SECRET OF THE SANDS; or, The "Water Lily" and her Crew.

By Harry Collingwood. 2 vols. Crown 8vo, cloth, gilt tops, 12^. " We own that we were fascinated ourselves by the story of the cruise. . . . We can add conscientiously that we have really enjoyed the book." — Saturday Review. GRIFFITH AND FARRAN, WEST CORNER OF ST. PAUL'S CHURCHYARD, LONDON. REMINISCENCES OF BOER LIFE. BY E. F. SANDEMAN. WITH A MAP. GRIFFITH AND FARRAN, SUCCESSORS TO NEWBERY AND HARRIS, WEST CORNER OF ST. PAUL'S CHURCHYARD, LONDON. MDCCCLXXX. [ The rights of Translation ana of Reproduction are reserved. .] DEDICATED TO MY FATHER, FOR WHOSE AMUSEMENT THE FOLLOWING TAGES WERE ORIGINALLY WRITTEN. CONTENTS.

Chapter I. Page

From London to Cape Town — The Rival Routes — Disembarking — The Masonic Hotel — The Inhabitants — Cape Town by Night — Mosquitoes and their Victims . . i

Chapter II

Wynberg — Rathfelder's Hotel — The Suburbs of Cape Town — Jacobus — An Afternoon Ride — Constantia — Vineyards and Wines — History of a Loaf of Bread — Servants . .

Chapter III

Plans for the Journey — The Air of the Transvaal — Our Guides — Scares from the Front — Scarcity of Information — Cape Town Museum — From Cape Town to Durban — On board the "Melrose " — East London— Volunteers — The Bars — Landing at Durban . . . . . .18

Chapter IV

Durban Railway — Kaffir Carriers — Fever — Conveyances to Maritzburg — Royal Hotel Waiters — Kaffirs — Curfew Bell — Sunday Dinner . . . . . . -27

Chapter V

Clearing Fire-arms — The Point — Gun-room— A Gun lost — Gun-running — Hot Nights— Drive to Pinetown — Bargain for a Conveyance — Mrs. Murray's Hotel — An early Start — Railway to Maritzburg— Camperdown— Pieter Maritzburg CONTENTS. VIII

Chapter IX

Food scarce — A Morning's Shooting — The Draconsberg — A " Stick "—Ride to Harrismith—" All the Year Round " Hotel— Change our Route— Another " Stick "—A Dust Storm — Sunset — The Horses stray . . . 63

Chapter X

The Boers of the Free State — Their Opinions on the Annexation — Cornelius River — Irregular Meals — A pleasant Boer — Pram Kop — Snake Stories — The Inchloukgla . 70

CHAPTER XL

Coranne — Grunveldt's Farmstead — The District School and Schoolmaster — Spring-bok Huntingwith a Boer — Horse's Instinct — An Evening at Home in a Boer's House — Whist — A Grass Fire — Leuw Kop — The Lion's Ride — Wool Farming — African Turkeys — A Basuto Massacre . 80

Chapter XII

Rhy-bok Hunting — The Boys show the White Feather — On Trek — Flogging by the Field Cornet — Wandering on the Veldt — Blesse-bok — Square-face v. Old Tom — Boer Dishonesty — Vaal River— Coranne Shooting — Scarcity of Trees — Watches useless . . . . . -92 CONTENTS. IX

Chapter XIII. Page

Sunday Occupation — Duck-shooting — Crossing the Vaal — Skeletons of Bok — A Night out on the Veldt — Curious Fuel — Kaffir Coffee 102

Chapter XIV

The first Breakdown — Boers on the Scent of Grog — A Snakehunt — Postage in the Transvaal — A Boer Postmaster — Bargaining with Boers — A Macatee Krall — Daka-smoking, and its Effects . . . . . . .114

Chapter XV

No Coffee — Birds and Insects in the Transvaal — Heidelburg — An up-country Billiard-room — Wild Ostriches — Riding into Pretoria— Letters from Home — Conflicting Intelligence — Mr. White assists us — The Route decided — F. leaves us — The " European " — The Queen's Birthday — Ball at Government House . . . . . .121

Chapter XVI

Final Preparations — A Dinner-party on the Road — A Jackal Hunt — The Boys are troublesome — Francis has a lucky Escape — Poaching Fish — Spring-bok — Vultures — Kaffirs and Spirits— Middelburg — Herr Marensky . . . 130

Chapter XX

Water scarce — Ammunition runs short — Laziness — " One over " — No Market — Our Roads divide — Stalking a Donkey — Oxen begin to fail — A bad " Stick " — Ugly Country— A Boer's Farm — Obtain a Guide .. . . 17S

Chapter XXI

A Dismal Valley — A Mud-hole — Rigging out — A Night Trek — Ware Kaffirs — The Dusselboom breaks — A Compulsory Halt — Leydenburg — Waggon - makers — High Prices- — Speculators . . . . . . .191

Chapter XXII

Leydenburg and its Inhabitants — Ominous Tidings — Mail-cart missing — Horse-sickness — Guarantees — Salted Horses — Vets. — Diseases of Animals . . . .203

Chapter XXIII

No Grass — Loading the Waggons — Watch-dogs — Rough Roads— The Sabie Valley— The Devil's Knuckles— Spitzkop— Gold-Mines — Marking Claims — Alluvial Digging — Sluice-boxes — Panning out . . . . .211

Chapter XXIV

Broedung-stick Creek — Reefing — The Berg — " Steamer" dies — Physicking Oxen — Fire — Rain — A narrow Path — A Transvaal Storm— Food scarce — A Horse strays A Hill of Snakes — Klip-springers . . . . .223 CONTENTS. X I

Chapter XXXII

Provisions run short— The last Buffalo— No Water— Thirst — Tongas — The Waggons again — All safe — Koodoo — A long Ride — Crevicing — Russell's Store — A Digger's Quarters — Diggers at Home— Frozen in Bed . . 340

Chapter I

From London to Cape Town — The rival Routes — Disembarking — The Masonic Hotel — The inhabitants — Cape Town by night — Mosquitoes and their victims. All sea voyages bear such a close resemblance to each other, and their details are so familiar, that I shall not describe my very commonplace passage in the Wal mer Castle from the London Docks to Cape Town. The average time of the passage is now three weeks from either Dartmouth or Southampton. This we exceeded by three days, but were more than recompensed for the delay by staying long enough at Madeira and St. Helena to enable us to see all that is worth seeing on both islands. Before Mr. Donald Currie started an opposition line of steamers, the Union Company had a com plete monopoly of the Cape traffic. Thirty to thirty-five days were then considered an excellent passage, and the fare was 60/. ; it is now only 30/., and taking into account the length of time spent on board, and the accommodation given, it is without any exception the cheapest rate of any lines in the world. 1; Each of the rival companies has its staunch ad herents, who will recognize no short-comings in their favourite, and see no good thing in the oppo sition ; but taking the newest and best ships of both lines in comparison, they are all so well found that there is no reason to give either one or other the precedence in comfort or speed.

The fastest time on record made by either com pany is eighteen days nineteen hours, but this again has been greatly shortened by the splendid ships of the Orient Line, which now stop at the Cape to coal on their road to Australia. Early on the morning of March 6th, 1878, Table Mount was sighted, and when we came up for the usual stroll before breakfast, it stood out bold and clear ahead of us, although still forty miles distant. At the close of a long voyage there is' a feeling almost of regret that it is over, particularly amongst those coming from home, whether it is pleasure or necessity that has brought them away. The constant monotonous life has in itself a certain charm after a time, and ships' regulations, although disagreeable at first, are hardly regarded as an inconvenience after the first few days of settling down are over.

Then on board there is such an utter absence of the necessity for thought as to one's personal comfort. Everything is done for one, there is no settling hours or ordering meals, or even thinking about what there is to do or be done, because it is exactly the same day after day. During the last few hours of the voyage these feelings beset every one more or less, and in spite of eager longings for land again, and to begin the new Disembarking. 3 life, it needs a struggle to rouse up to the necessity of again trusting to oneself for everything, and to make all arrangements for the disembarkation. Nothing would awaken one sooner, however, from such lazy, dreamy feelings than the surroundings a stranger is suddenly thrown amongst, when the ship at last makes fast to the wharf at Cape Town. In an instant the decks are crowded by a rush of people who combine every colour, race, occupation, and business under the sun.

Friends and relations, to meet those who are returning home. Loafers, some come down on the chance of meeting acquaintances, but more because they have nothing better to do, and will get the first news from home. Touts of every class for the different hotels, from the man who, dressed most fashionably, begins the con versation by giving news of the war, but soon turns to the excellent accommodation afforded by his par ticular hotel, to the man who, addressing himself chiefly to the steerage passenger, offers to carry off the luggage on his own back to the inn he recom mends. Large black men, yellow men, brown men, red men, and mixed colour men frantically offering to bear away luggage, with small black, yellow, brown, and red boys running in and out between their or our legs, with papers and fruit for sale, or only on the chance of annexing to themselves any small article of passengers' luggage unperceived in the general con fusion.

Hansom drivers who are all half-castes, parsees, or niggers, yelling their readiness to be hired, fruit-vendors and men with drinking-carts calling at tention to their wares, sailors and porters hustling and B halloaing their way through the crowd, passengers vainly trying to keep their luggage together and within sight, make such a Babel of voices and noise that one might easily imagine the world's lunatic asylum had suddenly broken loose and was rushing on board. However, at last, with the assistance — for I was then an invalid — of my friend and cabin-mate, a stalwart Highlander, who scattered the crowd of coolies and kaffirs right and left, together with a few coloured porters specially retained, we deposited our selves with all our goods and chattels in a couple of Hansoms, and were soon on our way to the Masonic Hotel.

The custom-house officials let us pass without opening our luggage, on our assuring them that we had no guns, pistols, wine, jewellery, or tobacco in our possession, and it was with no small sense of relief that we presently found ourselves located in large airy, clean rooms in the front of the hotel, and looking out upon the market-place with the sea visible beyond. The town is utterly unlike anything to be seen in Europe. No two houses are alike, from one end to the other. Next to a large warehouse two or three stories high, built of bricks or stone, comes a small canteen of galvanized iron, then a jeweller's shop with plate-glass windows, and a show inside which would not disgrace Bond-street, between which and perhaps, a handsomely-built bank or fine office lies a small greengrocer's or tumble-down tobacconist's. But far more strikingly novel to a stranger's eye are the men, women, and children who throng the streets.

The Streets at Cape Town. 5 First there passes us a well-built kaffir, with no covering to his head but its native wool, clad in an old pair of 78th Highlander trews, and wearing, as a coat, a sack with slits cut for the arms and head. Behind him come two celestials, hand in hand, and wearing the invariable blue smock-frocks and straw hats ; their pigtails carefully coiled up under their hats to avoid the too particular attention of the kaffirs, who find the dangling pigtail almost irresistible. Jostling the Chinamen are a couple of Boer farmers who have probably brought their waggons loaded with fruit, corn, and vegetables, to the Cape Town market. They are tall lanky fellows, their faces sallow and much sun-burnt, and they have long, sandy-coloured hair reaching down their necks. As they slouch past, dressed in brown velveteen trousers and coats, with broad-brimmed soft felt hats on their heads, and pipes in their mouths, we catch a few words of a guttural language which sounds much like German.

Close behind follow their " vraws," dressed entirely in black, with thick black veils and large black poke bonnets which quite prevent our seeing what their faces are like. As their arms are full of paper parcels, we presume that they have been shopping, and investing their goodmen's market-money in town delicacies and new fashions for their homes far up in the country. Next come a couple of decidedly well-to-do-looking merchants in long grey silk coats and white hats, who stop to speak to a small group of officers, dressed in the ordinary tweed shooting-clothes, but with helmets on their heads. Two Parsee washerwomen with large bundles of clothes, a few soldiers in their red coats and helmets, here and there a sailor ashore from one of the men-of-war in harbour, are the more striking figures among a crowd of people who all seem to think it is too hot for much exertion, and do not hurry themselves as they walk along the shady sides of the streets.

Hansoms are the chief means of conveyance, or else two-horse broughams. The horses are remarkably good ones for their work. Looking down a long line, I did not notice a single broken-down screw, such as one passes a dozen of during a stroll of ioo yards along any street in London. Most of them are barbs, about fourteen hands in height or even under, but showing a good deal of breeding. We had not much time to inspect the town, as dinner was at 6.30, and we returned to our hotel with capital appetites for the very good dinner which was served up to us at the table-d'hote. Thick soup, fried snook, cutlets with tomatoes, a haunch of bok, dignified by the name of venison, saddle of mutton, chickens, ducks, stewed pears, tarts, rice pudding, and, for desert, a large assortment of water-melons, grapes, peaches, and nuts, was the menu.

The snook is a large fish rather resembling a pike in appearance but far superior to it in flavour ; it takes the place of our sole in Cape Town, as it is always in season, and is equally good for breakfast, luncheon, and dinner. After dinner most of those who had come from on board ship went off to the theatre. I preferred sitting outside on the stoop of the hotel, and enjoy ing a quiet cigar and a cup of excellent coffee, and Mosquitoes. 7 sound plenty of amusement in watching the strange and novel figures passing by, or occasionally stopping in groups to chat and gossip, as by degrees the various shops and warehouses put out their lights leaving only the street-lamps, which were few and far between, to illuminate the town. When we landed in the afternoon the thermometer registered 980 in the shade of the house, but after dinner the mercury went down to 500, which enabled us to obtain a refreshing sleep before the heat of another day began.

On turning in I luckily did not neglect the precaution of sprinkling insect-powder over the sheets and bed-clothes, and smearing my hands, neck, feet, and face with a mixture of rosemary and turpentine. In consequence I was the only one of the new arrivals who appeared next morning at the breakfast-table un harmed by the attacks of various flying, hopping, and crawling insects which constitute one of the most serious annoyances consequent upon living in a hot climate. After a continued residence in a country infested by mosquitoes, a man's whole system gets so innoculated with the poison that their sting has no painful effect whatsoever, and scarcely leaves any mark. The fact that after a few years the sting does not, as a rule, cause any annoyance is sometimes put down to the blood of a resident in tropical climates becoming naturally so thin, that the mos quito can suck it out without inserting any of the poison it uses to thin the thick blood of a new arrival, and enable it to make a meal.

The new comer, on the other hand, has all the advantage on his side in being able to withstand the intense heat, and in bearing up against its enervating effect. Over and over again I have seen residents, and even natives, almost prostrate in the middle of the day, when a new arrival was quite bright and energetic. But after a few months the effect becomes apparent, all energy seems gradually to be sucked out of a man, and he succumbs by degrees to the general listlessness which at first has so much surprised him, and he himself joins in the chorus, which always greets the new comer's energetic action and indif ference to heat, of "Wait till you have been out here as long as I have, and see how you will like it then." Wynberg. 9

Chapter II

Wynberg -Rathfelder's Hotel— The Suburbs of Cape Town- Jacobus— An afternoon ride — Constantia — Vineyards and wines — History of a loaf of bread — Servants. The first advice a stranger receives on reaching Cape Town is to quit it as soon as possible ; and alarming are the stories he hears on all sides of hot nights, when sleep is out of the question, of sou' westers during which the very paving stones per form aerial flights, and the atmosphere is thick with pebbles, sand, and red dust ; the latter, he is informed, likely to cause numberless lung complaints to a man even in strong health, and out of the question for an invalid to withstand. But even more deadly and dangerous than hot nights and sou'-westers are the pestilential vapours which steal over the town during the nights, caused by the very insufficient sanitary arrangements.

Very few of the residents who can afford to do other wise live in Cape Town itself, except professional men, who are obliged to be near at hand, and in the midst of their business or practice. The whole road between Wynberg and Cape Town is lined with pretty and comfortable little villas with from one to thirty acres of land laid out in plantations and ornamental gardens round about them. The railway runs through them, and there are stations everyone or two miles. Here reside nearly all the upper ten of Cape Town society, and a very pleasant society it is. Following the advice of numerous friends, there fore, I moved my quarters to Wynberg, some six miles out of the town, and with train communication every hour of the day. There were three hotels at Wynberg, two close to the station, which was full when I was there, and another two miles further on, by name Rathfelder's, not such a large house as the other two, but with a far prettier view, and more open situation.

Rathfelder's Hotel, kept by Bauser, is regarded, and I think justly, as situated in the most healthy spot anywhere about Cape Town. It is just on the skirt of the pine-woods which completely shut in the other two hotels, and always has a current of fresh, cool sea-air blown to it through a pass in the hills opposite the house. Behind the hotel is a plantation of seventy acres, and behind that the veldt stretches away for miles, radiant with every sort of brilliant coloured heath and tinted grasses, with here and there a small clump of sugar-bushes. This hotel also has the advantage of a very large and well-stocked fruit-o-arden, aboundingin fias. peaches, apricots, grapes, apples, pears, tomatoes, and loquots, in which the visitors of the hotel are welcome to wander and pick as much fruit as they please ; a permission which very few fail to avail themselves of.

The only objection to Rathfelder's, and I dare say it applies greatly to all other hotels in the neighbourhood, is that flies, in almost incredible numbers, swarm through the building. The doors, Jacobus. 11 walls, tables, and ornaments are literally black with them, and Hans Andersen's, tailor, who killed " nine at a blow," might, if he came to Wynberg, change the boast on his shield by the addition of an 0. But it is an ill wind that blows nobody good, and the house flies clear the premises of blow-flies and mosquitoes, which are even a worse pest. At Rathfelder's there were not any of the usual occupants of one's bed-clothes, and the application of insect-powder was therefore quite superfluous. It is worth a visit to Rathfelder's to make the acquaintance of the old waiter there, by name Jacobus, the most extraordinary character I have ever met with.

Half Hottentot, half Dutch, he has in ugliness retained the most characteristic features of the two races, but, on the other hand, has twice the intelligence of either one or other of his own station. He is a strict conservative, but still utterly independent of all authority, and refuses to break through any of what he considers the established custom of the house on any consideration, and does not even willingly obey the proprietor him self. His constant lament is the good old days of the Anglo-Indians, now, alas ! long gone. Then the Cape was worth living in, the best of everything was in abundance, and every one had plenty of money to pay for it. He takes every opportunity of airing his views on politics and affairs in general, and has no hesitation in keeping the whole table-d'hote waiting for their pudding while he sets them right in their opinions, or gives them information on the relation between the Government and the various races of South Africa, or how best to manage a frontier defence.

He also has a grievance to air in the shape of an unsuccessful lawsuit, and most openly avows his in tention of shooting the iniquitous (?) judge who decided against him, just because (he says) he is a poor old black-man. The cuisine at Rathfelder's is not as extensive as it might be, and consists in roast leg of mutton and hot custard pudding for dinner one day, and boiled leg of mutton and cold custard pudding the next ; that at least was the principal change I observed while staying there. As the proprietor had informed me that he always kept excellent horses on hire for the benefit of his guests, I determined to ride up the hills opposite, which looked very lovely, glistening in the sun, with thickets of silver-trees growing up their sides, and from there get a view of the surrounding country.

After lunch, my steed — known as "The Blue," from a very extraordinary tinge of that colour which distin guished it from an iron grey — was brought up, and I set off on my ride, not paying much attention where I wandered, as I was assured the horse had been ridden from time immemorial over the whole neighbourhood, and that he knew his way home again even after dark. I made my way by degrees up the sides of the hills, picking, as I rode alono-, some of the leaves of the silver-trees lining my path, and which, dried, make very tasteful book markers. On the top I dismounted and sauntered An impleasant Ride. 13 about for some time, plucking heaths and flowers, which there grew in abundance, before I started off again. On the side of the hill a well-beaten track marked out the road, but, when once on the level, the track disappeared altogether, and I rode on in the direction I knew the hotel to be, until I found myself in rather a fix, for straight ahead of me was a long line of thick and high sugar-bushes which had quite recently been fired, and, as far as I could see, there was no path through them.

However, rememberingthe advice I had been given about the " Blue," I threw the reins on his neck, and left him to follow his own route home. Straightway he plunged into the charred brushwood, and presently I found myself in a most unpleasant condition, for the black came off the burnt twigs like tar, and the further I proceeded the thicker the bush grew. How ever, it was of no use going back, so I forced my way ahead, and after a good deal of rather painful and very dirty buffeting, found myself on the other side, black from head to foot, torn, scratched, and bruised, but very far out of the direction of the hotel. However, I was now able to see about me again, and following well-known land-marks, was soon back in the direct road, so it did not make much difference, and my cerulean steed had to pay for his stupidity by an extra quick gallop, most unwillingly performed, to get me back in time for a bath and dinner.

I resolved most firmly never again to trust to the sagacity of an African horse, and I never did, so perhaps the early lesson was worth the little discomfort I paid as the price of it. Rathfelder's hotel is connected with the owners of one of the Constantia vineyards, so has a better quality of colonial wines than I ever met with in any but a private house elsewhere. The wine known by the name of Constantia is too sweet and strong for anything but a liqueur and in that capacity, it is very pleasant to the taste, and far less injurious than the ordinary curacao or chartreuse. The best known Cape wine is Pontac, resembling in taste and colour a rough-edged, strong port wine. The finest qualities of this wine are excellent, but the price is very high, and the cheaper qualities are very inferior.

There are other wines known as, Burgundy, Sherry, Hermitage, and Hock, but, except in colour, they have nothing in common with the wines they are named after. I believe that one great reason of the little success of Cape wines lies in their names, for the buyer of Sherry or Hock naturally expects a close imitation in flavour, and instead, finds that the Hocks are as strong as Spanish Sherries, and the Sherry is a sweet and fiery liqueur, so he is at once dis appointed in the wine, and condemns them wholesale. There are no manufactories of any importance anywhere in South Africa, every article of consump tion is imported from England or America : latterly the Americans have taken a very large share of the trade, as their waggons, carriages, and machinery are found to stand the rough roads and dry atmosphere better than the British, and their tinned provisions and soft goods are equal in quality, and at the same time are brought to market at a cheaper rate.

Cape Manufactures. 15 Very large quantities of Australian flour are used, and there is a well-established trade between the two colonies, sugar and coffee being given in ex change for grain. America has even supplied mealies, as Indian corn is called all over Africa, in very large quantities the last few years. A loaf of bread in Cape Town has a curious history, and rather an instructive one. Imported seed is sown in land prepared by foreign-made ploughs, drawn by oxen with foreign made chains. When ripe, the corn is cut with im ported sickles, and threshed with imported engines, which are worked by imported coal. The grain is taken to market in imported sacks, and perhaps carried in an American waggon. The machinery for bread-making is imported and worked by im ported labour, and then the bread is very probably and very naturally undersold in the market by an article decidedly superior in look and taste, though not as wholesome, made from the directly imported Australian flour.

The prices of everything, from a common ready made shirt at 15^. to a bottle of beer at 2s. 6d., strike a stranger as most exorbitant. The traders, however, put it all down to heavy customs-duties and bad debts ; the losses from the latter are so heavy, that they often far more than counterbalance the seem ingly enormous profits. I was charged fourteen shillings for 100 visiting cards, and that did not entitle me to the plate. An ordinary box of biscuits costs 2S. 6d. ; a pot of pickles the same price. Medicine in a stoppered bottle costs an extra gd., to Ox-Waggon. defray the customs-duties on glass and extra risk in carriage. However, these exorbitant charges served as some slight preparation for those we afterwards had to pay up country, and prevented our feeling as horror-struck as we should otherwise have felt at some of the demands made upon us during the next eight months' wanderings.