SKETCHES FROM THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.

BY THE AUTHOR OF "SCENES AND SPORTS IN FOREIGN LANDS.'

LIFE IN THE BUSH.

No part of the world appears better adapted than the wilds of Southern Africa, to the erratic and adventurous life of the keen and daring sportsman, or of the real lover of Nature in her most pristine and unadorned garb. The mildness and salubrity of the climate in this part of the world-which renders the wanderer over its boundless "karoos," vast, ocean-like, undulating prairies, high and extensive table-lands, or amidst the recesses of its dense jungles-perfectly independent of house or home; where the shelter of his waggon, of a small patrole-tent carried on a sumpter-horse; of his boat-cloak, or even that of the "bush ;" answering every purpose of the kind-generally contribute to render a roving, gipsy sort of life, amidst these wild and primitive regions, one of never-failing zest and enjoyment.

On the first occupation of the southernmost part of Africa by the Dutch, in the middle of the seventeenth century, probably no region of the globe, either before or since, ever presented such a promising field for the votaries of the chase. The animal creation—birds, fishes, and beasts-still unfettered and unawed by the dominion of man, not only in vast numbers over-ran its virgin soil, but in some instances—as with the elephant and lion-by their numbers or fierceness, caused the savage inhabitants of the land to fly in terror before them, and remained thus in undisputed possession of their favourite haunts.

The western coast, from Saldanha Bay to the " Cape of Storms," was, at certain seasons of the year, so much resorted to by countless tribes of aquatic birds, that the atmosphere was sometimes literally darkened by their locust flights ;* whilst every creek and inlet swarmed with innumerable quantities of the finny tribes. Huge whales then gambolled in the waters of Table Bay; ravenous sharks were in days of yore, as at the present time, not its unfrequent visitors; the sea-lion sometimes sported his ungainly form on the sands; and Robben Island was thus named by the Dutch, in consequence of the number of seals which might constantly, in those good old times, be seen basking on its bleak and barren shores; whilst Van Riebeck, the founder of the settlement, and first Governor of the Cape, quaintly informs us in his journal, of the number of times he cast the "seine," and of the immense quantities of fish he thereby procured for the refreshment of the disabled, weary, and wave-worn followers of his enterprising expedition.

* The reader is referred to Le Vaillant's work for an account of the immense numbers of sea-birds which were in his time (1787) found at Saldanha Bay; and his statement is fully confirmed by the quantity of guano, of late years shipped off from thence, and which was found in layers of from thirty to forty feet deep.

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Kolben states that, even in his day (about 1705), "ostriches were so numerous in the Cape Countries, that a man can hardly walk a quarter of an hour any way in those countries without seeing one or more of these birds ;" and the same author bears witness to the abundance of large game in the immediate vicinity of the settlement.

The eland, the koudou, and many other species of antelope, are said in those days to have frequented the foot of Table Mountain; and although no mention is made of the giraffe ; zebras and quaggas (called by the old Dutch colonists "wild horses") were occasionally brought in by their Hottentot allies. The wild buffalo revelled, almost in sight of the "capital," amidst those marshes which still exist between Constantia and Muisenberg; the unwieldy rhinoceros wallowed there, to his heart's content in the mire; troops of elephants roamed unmolested amidst the tall forests (long since levelled to the ground) and sedgy swamps of Hout Bay; whilst lions, wolves, and tigers* are described to have been in such numbers as to become a subject of serious annoyance to Van Riebeck, who complains that they not only carried off cattle under the very eyes of the sentinels, but that on some occasions they seemed inclined to take the fort by storm."+ This happened shortly after the arrival of the first Dutch settlers at the Cape; but Kolben relates that in his time-more than half a century after the above occurrence—“ a sentinel, standing at his post before his officers' tent, was knocked down by a lion, and carried clean off."

The above author, after adverting to the great dexterity displayed by the Hottentots of that period in the use of the "hassagaye" and "rackamstick," gives the following account, which may not prove uninteresting, of their mode of hunting :

"When all the men of a kraal are out upon the chase, and discover a wild beast of any considerable size, strength, and fierceness, they divide themselves into several parties, and endeavour to surround the beast, which, through their nimbleness of foot, they generally do very quickly; though upon the sight of such danger, the beast, of whatsoever kind, always betakes himself to all his shifts and to all his heels.

"When a lion, tiger, or leopard is thus encompassed, they attack him with hassagayes and arrows. With flaming eyes and the wildest rage, the creature flies upon the Hottentots who threw them. He is nimble; they are nimbler, and avoid him with astonishing dexterity, till they are relieved by others of the ring, who, plying him with fresh arrows and hassagayes, bring him in all his fury upon themselves. He leaps towards one, so quick, and, as you would think, with so sure a paw, that you shudder for the fellow, expecting to see him in an instant torn all to pieces. But you see no such thing. The fellow in danger leaps out of it in the twinkling of an eye, and the beast spends all his rage upon the ground. He turns, and leaps towards another, and another, and another; but still in vain. The nimble fellows avoid him with the quickness of thought, and still he fights only with the air. All this time the arrows and hassagayes are showering upon him in the rear.

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* The hyæna is in the colony of the Cape of Good Hope, generally known as the "wolf." In like manner, the leopard is miscalled a tiger," though the latter has never been known to exist in that country.

+ See Van Riebeck's "Journal" for Jan. 23rd, 1652, in the "Cape Records."

day.

Answering to the assagai and knob-kerie used by the Kaffirs of the present

He grows mad with pain; and, leaping from one party to another of his enemies, and tumbling from time to time on the ground, to break the arrows and hassagayes that are fastened in him, he foams, yells, and roars all the time very terribly. There is certainly nothing so admirable of the kind, in any other part of the world, as the activity and address of the Hottentots on these occasions. On one side they escape the paws of the beast with incredible dexterity, and on the other relieve one another with incredible speed and resolution. The Hottentots engaging with a lion, tiger, or leopard, &c., in this manner, is a spectacle that cannot be seen without the highest admiration but by such as are more stupid than some have represented the Hottentots. If the beast is not quickly slain, he is quickly convinced there is no dealing with so nimble an enemy; and then he makes off with all his heels, and having by this time a multitude perhaps of poisoned arrows and hassagayes upon his back, the Hottentots let him go very freely, and follow him at a little distance. The poison quickly seizes him, and he runs not far before he falls."

With all their dexterity in the pursuits of the chase, such was the natural indolence of the savage inhabitants of the Cape, that it was only when roused to exertion by the depredations of wild beasts on their folds, or driven thereto by the imperious calls of hunger, that they could be brought to follow up, the—to them-toilsome occupation of hunting; for, as Kolben remarks, "although very fond of venison, the Hottentots are still more fond of their ease;" thus accounting for the abundance of game of every description found in this part of the world on the first arrival of the Dutch, whose fire-arms had however the effect of thinning its numbers, much more effectually than either the poisoned arrows, rackam-sticks, or assegais of the natives. As the white man advanced into the interior of the country, building, clearing, and cultivating in his onward progress, its former sylvan denizens either fell beneath the mighty "roers* of the invader, or fled beyond his reach across the far desert "karoos ;" till, in the course of time, the western provinces of the Cape became completely denuded of the larger animals of the chase; and at the present day, the sportsman ambitious of bearing off" Nemean" spoils is fain to cross the Great Orange River to the north, or explore the forests of Natal towards the east, ere he stand a chance of encountering the lordly lion, the elephant, rhinoceros, or hippopotamos.

The Kaffirs of more recent times, fully as dexterous in the chase as the Hottentots of old, and as indefatigable in that pursuit as the latter were supine, have to the eastward, effected what the boers long since accomplished towards the north, in the extirpation of nearly every description of game. To indulge, therefore, in the once-vaunted fieldsports of Southern Africa, their votary is now forced to tread in the far footsteps of Harris and Methuen; to follow, in their more recent and even more remote peregrinations, those of Christie and Arkwright; or of that daring "lion-slayer"-the Hercules and Theseus of Southern Africa-the far-famed and adventurous Cumming.+

* A heavy gun of great calibre, in common use amongst the Dutch boers at the Cape.

† See Harris's "Field Sports in Southern Africa," and Methuen's "Life in the Wilderness." The three latter gentlemen have, it is said, penetrated farther into the interior than any former European travellers; and it is only to be regretted that they should not have favoured the public, with accounts of their exploratory and sporting adventures.

A shooting expedition into the interior, at the present time, owing to the great distance to be gone over, together with the slow and cumbrous mode of waggon-conveyance, has become, not an enterprise of days and weeks, but an undertaking of months; and one moreover attended with great trouble and expense.

The waggon, destined so long to form the home of the aspiring sportsman, has, like a vessel bound for a distant part of the world, to be supplied with every requisite for a twelvemonth's voyage; bedding, stores, liquors, lead, powder, and shot are to be laid in; spare horses and oxen in great numbers must be provided, to replace losses by accidents, death, and other contingencies; and what is more difficult to procure than all a certain number of native attendants are absolutely requisite men who have been accustomed to a life in the "bush," and whose fidelity may be, moreover, depended on.

Thus prepared for his expedition, the sporting or exploring traveller, whose starting-place is usually from Graham's Town, on the eastern frontier, turns his back on civilization, and plunges into the wilderness; there to enter on a life of excitement and adventure, though, it must not be concealed, one usually attended with great privations and discomfort.

Such is the usual mode of undertaking a journey into the interior of Southern Africa; and though the "trek" waggon may possess many advantages where celerity is no object, it strikes me that one of these distant expeditions could be undertaken, with a great saving of time, and consequently much more chance of success, were the traveller, unincumbered by the great and constant drawback of wheeled carriages, to depend entirely on horses for the transport of himself, his attendants, and such requisites as he absolutely required.+

During the last Kaffir war, the nature of my duties frequently obliged me rapidly to travel considerable distances for many consecutive days; and these long journeys were always easily accomplished with the hardy little horses of the country, than which no animal is more enduring, requires less care, and can stand without detriment greater privations and fatigue. On these occasions, my usual retinue consisted of a mounted Cape-corps Orderly, to serve as guide; and a Hottentot lad, to lead a sumpter-horse, carrying a small waterproof patrole-tent (weighing about twenty-five pounds) and a change of linen, together with a few provisions. Thus equipped and attended, I used to get over the ground, when requisite, at the rate of forty and fifty-nay, even on a push, sixty-miles a-day; and this (unless water were scarce) without much distress either to man or beast.

The constant excitement attending such a mode of life—particularly when in an enemy's country, and that enemy a most wily savage, to guard against surprise from whom, one must be ever on the qui vive-is of a nature so stirring, as not to be easily pictured by the quiet, fire-side reader at home. At one time cantering

* A certain species of fly is frequently met in the interior, whose sting is fatal to horses and cattle, and often causes great losses of both.

This plan was successfully pursued by Mr. Thompson, the author of "Travels in Southern Africa," during his expedition to Namaqualand; and it is only to be regretted that the camel is not introduced into this part of the world, which would greatly promote the means of exploring the interior.

gaily forward in the dewy coolness of the young morn, on a fresh, untired horse, over the undulating and verdant prairies of Kaffirland, here and there, park-like, dotted with bright flowering shrubs of the thorny mimosa; now anxiously scanning the smoke ascending from an enemy's "kraal,"* ensconced in the deep recesses of a wooded kloof; then marking a kaffir's "spoor" on the soft, moist, and stoneless path; noting the stealthy footsteps of the jackal or hyæna, returning at break of day from his midnight feast, or the recent track of a herd of (probably stolen) cattle, whose progress may have disturbed the dew-bespangled grass, and so betrayed the direction of their course.

Thus did we oft accomplish the earlier part of our "trek ;"+ but the sun now rides high in the bright, unclouded heavens; the Hottentots look anxiously around for the well-known "vlei ;" but alas! on reaching the long-expected spot, instead of the wished-for water, rippling under the breeze, nought presents itself to our aching sight save a brown, cracked surface of dry and hardened mud ! The panting steeds have already gone over some twenty or thirty miles of ground: heaving flanks and drooping heads now bear witness to their toil. Mr. Jacob (for our faithful esquire rejoices in that patriarchal name) looks anxiously about, scratches his woolly head, and appears fairly at his wit's end. "Farley," the Cape-corps Orderly (likewise of "Totty" breed) proposes to off saddle, and try on our nags the effect of half-anhour's graze. Although they refuse to feed, they instantly roll on the grass, and appear thence to imbibe renewed spirit and vigour. "Saddle up!" is the word. We are again on horseback; but ere we can raise a canter, the spur is sadly in request. Mr. Jacob's horse now begins to show increasing and unequivocal symptoms of distress: he is, in fact, dead beat, and, stumbling at every step, at last falls upon his nose. Jacob shoots over his head, but is on his legs again in a second. "Is the rifle smashed ?"

"No, sar; but horse never can carry me more far; and pack-horse getting shut up,' too."

You must, then, just walk, and drive them on before you. Farley, how far are we still from any water?"

The facility with which the Hottentot can track his way over the wildest wastes, through the intricacies of the deepest bush, by the light of day, or during the darkness of night, is quite proverbial, and amounts to a sort of natural instinct, which they appear to possess in common with some of the brute creation.

Possessed of the acutest powers of vision, the smallest land-mark serves him as an unerring guide. With like facility he will for miles and miles track the "spoor" or footsteps of either man or beast: place him once on the "trail," and no bloodhound can follow it up more accurately by scent, than the Totty will do by sight. A single blade of grass removed from its original direction-the slightest appearance of

* A word derived from the South American term "corral," meaning an assemblage of native huts, and also applied to the thorny inclosure in which they secure their cattle for the night.

† A colonial term. To "trek" (pronounced track) means to travel. A pool of water; generally speaking, formed by the rain.