Through South Africa 
 
 with the 
 British Association 
 
 BY J. STARK BROWNE, 
 
 F.R.A.S.
 
 
 Through South Africa 
 
 with 
 The British Association 
 
 for the 
 Advancement of Science
 

 
 Through South Africa 
 
 with 
 
 The British Association 
 
 By 
 
 TAMES STARK BROWNE, F.R.A.S, 
 
 *^ > "~ in 
 
 With Twenty-four Illustrations 
 
 JAMES SPEIRS 
 
 i Bloomsbury Street, London 
 1906
 
 
 TO MY DEAR FATHER 
 
 WHO FOLLOWED 
 
 WITH SO MUCH INTEREST 
 
 THE TRIP DESCRIBED 
 
 IN THESE 
 
 PAGES
 
 Preface 
 
 DURING the course of the trip described in these pages 
 I kept a fragmentary diary of the chief events as they 
 occurred. I also wrote letters home, descriptive of those 
 details of the journey which I thought would interest my 
 family. 
 
 On my return it was suggested that I should combine the 
 diary and the letters into a more complete story of what 
 had been a most interesting and unique trip. This I have 
 attempted to do in the following pages. At intervals I 
 have added certain reflections that were impressed upon me 
 during the journey, when the incidents that brought them 
 up were fresh in my mind. For any opinions so expressed 
 I am alone responsible. 
 
 My object, however, has not been to write a book of 
 impressions of South Africa : that is a task I leave to more 
 competent members of our party. Nor have I attempted to 
 write a full and exhaustive account of all the incidents of 
 the British Association's tour. It can be readily under- 
 stood that when so many and varied opportunities were 
 afforded us to make visits to places of interest, it was 
 impossible to avail myself of them all : time would only 
 permit of my selecting those which most appealed to me. 
 
 For instance, in Cape Town I elected to go with the 
 excursion to Somerset West to see over the De Beers 
 Explosive Works, on the same day that a great number of 
 our party chose to accept the invitation of the Automobile 
 Club for a ride of forty miles round Hout's Bay to see the 
 magnificent scenery of the Cape of Good Hope. Or again, 
 
 vii
 
 viii PREFACE 
 
 while I was making the trek across the veldt from Bloem- 
 fontein to Kimberley, described in this book, the great 
 majority of our members journeyed thither by rail. 
 
 I was, therefore, necessarily obliged to forego the pleasure 
 of many experiences which others enjoyed, and of these I 
 have attempted no description, as any information I could 
 give would only be second-hand. I can but claim for my 
 book that it is an account of my own personal experiences 
 during the tour. 
 
 I am indebted to Sir William Crookes for kindly revising 
 the chapter " Concerning Diamonds," and to my friend 
 
 S , from whose fine collection of photographs some of 
 
 the illustrations have been prepared. I have also found the 
 many admirable guide-books which were furnished to us 
 by the local authorities invaluable for reference, and have 
 availed myself of much information from their pages. 
 
 J. S. B.
 
 Contents 
 
 CHAPTER PAGB 
 
 I. THE OUTWARD VOYAGE TENERIFFE . . I 
 
 II. LAS PALMAS INCIDENTS OF THE VOYAGE. . . 8 
 
 III. ARRIVAL AT CAPE TOWN PROFESSOR DARWIN'S ADDRESS 1 6 
 
 IV. EXCURSIONS TO GROOTE SCHUUR KLOOF NEK THE 
 
 OBSERVATORY DYNAMITE WORKS ... 26 
 
 V. ARRIVAL AT DURBAN CIVIC RECEPTION GARDEN- 
 PARTY 37 
 
 VI. MOUNT EDGCOMBE SUGAR WORKS ZULU WAR DANCES 46 
 
 VII. ZULU WEDDING AT HENLEY 59 
 
 VIII. COLENSO, LADYSMITH AND THE BATTLEFIELDS . . 67 
 
 IX. ARRIVAL AT JOHANNESBURG THE MINES THE 
 
 CHINESE QUESTION 80 
 
 X. GARDEN-PARTY AT LORD SELBORNE'S DOWN A DEEP- 
 LEVEL MINE CONCLUSION OF PROFESSOR DARWIN'S 
 
 ADDRESS QI 
 
 XI. PRETORIA VEREENIGING BLOEMFONTEIN . . IOI 
 
 XII. ON TREK BLOEMFONTEIN TO ABRAHAM'S KRAAL . 114 
 
 XIII. ON TREK VISIT TO CRONJE's LAAGER . . .124 
 
 XIV. KIMBERLEY CONCERNING DIAMONDS . . .136 
 
 XV. VISITS TO DIAMOND MINES DYNAMITE EXPLOSIONS 
 
 UNDERGROUND WORKINGS 145 
 
 XVI. BULAWAYO 154 
 
 XVII. THE MATOPO HILLS 163 
 
 ix
 
 x CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 XVIII. THE VICTORIA FALLS 1 74 
 
 XIX. LIVINGSTONE ISLAND PALM KLOOF . . . .185 
 
 XX. RETURN TO BULAWAYO SALISBURY MISSIONARY 
 
 WORK IN SOUTH AFRICA EDUCATION OF THE 
 NATIVES ........ 196 
 
 XXI. UMTALI VISIT TO ANCIENT RUINS A MIDNIGHT 
 
 DANCE OF NATIVES 208 
 
 XXII. BEIRA A PORTUGUESE BANQUET MOZAMBIQUE . 2l6 
 
 XXIII. MOMBASA A TRIP UP THE UGANDA RAILWAY . .224 
 
 XXIV. GULF OF ADEN RED SEA SUEZ . . . .233 
 XXV. CAIRO THE PYRAMIDS TRIP TO THE BARRAGE AU NIL 243 
 
 XXVI. A DRAMATIC INCIDENT CAIRO MUSEUM SUEZ CANAL 254 
 XXVII. MEDITERRANEAN STROMBOLI MARSEILLES HOME . 265
 
 List of Illustrations 
 
 THE VICTORIA FALLS Frontispiece 
 
 CAMP'S BAY To face page 29 
 
 RICKSHA BOYS 37 
 
 A BEVY OF DUSKY BEAUTIES .... S3 
 
 ZULU WEDDING THE BRIDE .... 59 
 
 LADUMA AND HIS INDUNAS .... 6 1 
 
 ZULU GIRLS CARRYING KAFFIR BEER ... 65 
 
 THE BRIDE'S PROCESSION 66 
 
 KAFFIR HUTS AT HLANGWANE HILL ... 71 
 
 THE GRAVE OF THE LATE PRESIDENT KRUGER . IOI 
 
 MEAL-TIME ON THE VELDT .... 127 
 
 CECIL RHODES' STATUE, BULAWAYO ... 158 
 
 A HALT AT THE MATOPO HILLS. ... 163 
 
 ZAMBESI RIVER, ABOVE FALLS .... 175 
 
 THE RAILWAY BRIDGE, VICTORIA FALLS . 179 
 
 IN THE RAIN FOREST l8l 
 
 AT LIVINGSTONE DRIFT 185 
 
 NAME TREE ON LIVINGSTONE ISLAND . 189 
 
 LOOKING ALONG THE GORGE .... 195 
 
 A RHODESIAN FOREST 2IO 
 
 ARRIVAL AT THE GOVERNOR'S HOUSE, BEIRA . 2l8 
 
 A BAOBAB TREE 232 
 
 IN THE COURT OF THE MEHEMET ALI MOSQUE . 243 
 
 BY THE BANKS OF THE NILE .... 255 
 
 XI
 
 Itinerary 
 
 Southampton 
 Teneriffe 
 Las Paimas 
 Ca.peto<wn 
 Durban 
 Pietermaritzburg 
 
 Colenso 
 
 Ladysmith 
 
 Johannesburg 
 
 Pretoria. 
 
 Vereeniging 
 
 Bloemfontein 
 
 Cronje's Laager, Paardeberg 
 
 Southampton 
 
 Kimberley 
 
 Bula<wayo 
 
 Ma.topo Hills 
 
 Victoria Fails 
 
 Salisbury 
 
 Vmtali 
 
 Beira. 
 
 Mozambique 
 
 Mombasa. 
 
 Suez 
 
 Cairo 
 
 Marseilles 
 
 Xlll
 
 Through South Africa with the 
 British Association 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 THE OUTWARD VOYAGE TENERIFFE 
 
 FOR the year 1905 special interest attached to the meet- 
 ing of the British Association for two reasons. In the 
 first place the president-elect was Professor George H. 
 Darwin, son of the world-renowned Charles Darwin, and 
 himself a scientific man of great ability whose original 
 work in connection with the tides in the solar system 
 has been of great service to astronomy. The King has 
 recently seen fit to reward his eminent services to science 
 with a well-deserved K.C.B. In the second place the 
 gathering of 1905, unlike most of the Association's meet- 
 ings which are usually held in the United Kingdom, was 
 to take place in South Africa. 
 
 The British Association had been invited by the South 
 African Colonies to meet on their continent, and extensive 
 arrangements had been made to give them a welcome 
 worthy of the love for the mother country which the 
 colonies entertained ; and of the importance of the scientific 
 body about to visit their shores. The different colonies
 
 2 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 and dependencies vied with one another to make the visit 
 a pleasant and instructive one, and all laid themselves out 
 to entertain their guests in royal fashion. A very con- 
 siderable sum of money had been voted to help to defray 
 the expenses of many of the visitors who, although eminent 
 in science, might be poor in pocket. Each colony gave 
 special facilities and privileges which wonderfully 
 smoothed the long and toilsome journey across South 
 Africa, and enabled its guests to see all that there was of 
 interest with the maximum of pleasure and the minimum 
 of expense and discomfort. 
 
 The trip was to extend right up to the world-renowned 
 Victoria Falls on the Zambesi; a portion of the dark 
 continent, only lately opened up to civilization, and the 
 famous bridge across the gorge below the falls was being 
 completed with all speed so that its formal opening might 
 take place on the occasion of the Association's visit. 
 There was a glamour and romance about such a trip that 
 appealed to every one, and about four hundred members 
 of the Association availed themselves of this unique 
 opportunity to visit the Southern Hemisphere, a fairly 
 large number to undertake a trip which was to cover 
 17,000 miles and to last for three months. 
 
 It was suggested to the Union Castle Steamship Co., 
 who were taking out the party in their splendid steamers, 
 that it would add greatly to the interest of the trip if the 
 return journey could be made by the east coast of Africa 
 from the port of Beira. This suggestion was adopted by 
 the Company, and they detailed one of their newest 
 steamers, the Durham Castle, to make the round journey. 
 Over two hundred of the members arranged to return in 
 this way, and plans were drawn up to enable the ship 
 to call at several places of interest* on the east coast, and
 
 THE OUTWARD VOYAGE TENERIFFE 3 
 
 also in Egypt, thus adding immensely to the charm and 
 completeness of the trip. The captain and officers of the 
 Durham Castle did their best to make the sea portion of 
 the long journey pleasant to all. 
 
 The oversea members of the British Association left 
 England in three parties; the first two on July 22, 1905, 
 in the Union Castle steamers, the Kildonan Castle and the 
 Durham Castle, and the last party on July 29, in the 
 Saxon, belonging to the same line. I had taken my 
 ticket by the Durham Castle, and booked for the round 
 passage via Beira and the east coast, sharing cabin 12 
 
 with my friend T S . The cabin was on deck and 
 
 well to the front of the vessel on the port side, where we 
 enjoyed plenty of air and light and were very comfortable, 
 and we retained the same berths until our return to 
 Southampton three months later. It is surprising with 
 how little room one can make shift very comfortably for 
 several weeks at a stretch. 
 
 Probably most people have at some time or other taken 
 a sea voyage, and know something of the sort of life that 
 is led on these ocean hotels. It is usually life under two 
 aspects, that experienced in calm weather, and that which 
 has to be endured when stormy winds blow and 
 heavy seas cause the ship to pitch and toss. Of the 
 latter aspect of life on board ship I have little to say in 
 this narrative. Our trip both outHvard and homeward 
 was one unbroken record of smooth weather. The great 
 ocean itself seemed to enter into the spirit of the occasion 
 and proved more than usually kind to its guests, 
 for during our whole voyage of 15,000 miles round the 
 continent of Africa not one really rough spell was experi- 
 enced. On no one day of the nine weeks that we were 
 on board the Durham Castle did we need to use fiddles on
 
 4 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 the dining tables. Old seagoers will appreciate from this 
 fact how quiet our long voyage must have been. 
 
 Fiddles, I may explain for the ininitiated, are strips of 
 wood which are fastened along and across the tables in 
 order to divide them up into a sort of chess-board pattern. 
 The object is to make squares in which the plates and 
 dishes can rest fairly steadily when the ship rolls or 
 pitches. Otherwise, everything would slide off the tables, 
 and even with such protection eating in comfort in very 
 rough weather is often a matter of great difficulty. As 
 a rule but few go through this experience in the saloon, 
 the usual custom in rough weather being a course of 
 abstinence, taken alone, in the unsteady seclusion of 
 one's own cabin. 
 
 But none of these terrors of the sea were for us; our 
 sixty-two days of ocean life were almost monotonous in 
 their smoothness. On many a day, for all we felt to the 
 contrary, we might have been resting in harbour, so 
 quietly did we move along. 
 
 Our party was a large one, for there were on board 
 about two hundred passengers, the greater number being 
 members of the British Association. Such a gather- 
 ing naturally took some time to thaw, for, I suppose, 
 every one was afraid of the ability and cleverness of every- 
 body else, and well they might be, for nearly all had some 
 letters after their names, many with F.R.S., M.A., D.Sc., 
 or other such distinctions. Therefore for the first few 
 days no one took any initiative in starting games or enter- 
 tainments, and we spent the time mostly in getting 
 acquainted with one another. There was a fair library on 
 board, but the demand on its resources was great, and 
 being late in applying I found its most attractive books 
 already taken out. But I had brought some literature
 
 THE OUTWARD VOYAGE TENERIFFE 5 
 
 with me, and could make shift without the library for a 
 time. 
 
 On our fifth day out we were near the latitude of Moga- 
 dor, and were feeling the increase in the temperature. I 
 remembered how, on my last visit to the Canary Islands, 
 I had been struck by the colour of the sea in this region, 
 and the impression now produced was the same. The 
 beauty and intensity of its blueness defy description, and 
 I felt that if in a sea-picture the water should be painted 
 like the reality, most people would exclaim that the colour 
 was overdone. 
 
 I was up before sunrise next morning in order to see 
 our entrance into Santa Cruz harbour. The skies were 
 brilliant with stars flashing in all directions; but the 
 crowning glory were the planets Venus and Jupiter, shin- 
 ing close to the small crescent of the waning moon. All 
 three were so near together that they could almost be seen 
 in the same field of view in my opera-glasses. Not far 
 off shone the constellation of Orion, very much more on 
 its side than when seen in England. Sirius was beside it, 
 and other brilliant and well-known stars were blazing all 
 over the heavens. 
 
 The lights of Santa Cruz could be seen glimmering 
 in the distance ahead, and growing perceptibly brighter. 
 I was soon joined by many others of our friends, until 
 we formed a fairly large party in pyjamas, great-coats, 
 and dressing-gowns, and many ladies in various forms 
 of dishabille, for the morning was warm. 
 
 Presently the eastern horizon behind us began to be 
 touched with light, which even as we gazed increased and 
 grew brighter spreading swiftly up to the zenith, until we 
 saw the first glimpses of the rising sun appear above the 
 sea. There was not much twilight in this latitude, and
 
 6 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 the darkness gave place to daylight very quickly. The 
 picture over Santa Cruz, and the land we were rapidly 
 approaching, was a very fine one as the dawn crept on. 
 First a pale pink tint covered everything, mountains, sea, 
 and sleeping town ; then it changed to deep red, beautifully 
 reflected from all the white houses which had suddenly 
 sprung into view. We saw in the distance the Peak of 
 Teneriffe, just catching the warm glow on its top. Gradu- 
 ally the light on the town changed to orange, next to 
 yellow; then it grew paler and paler, until the bright 
 glow of the risen sun shone white on everything and it 
 was full day. Many were the exclamations of wonder and 
 admiration as this glorious panorama unfolded itself. 
 
 By six o'clock we were at anchor in the bay and boats 
 from the shore came off to us; but no one was allowed 
 to come on board, nor could any one leave the ship until 
 we had received our clean bill of health from the quaran- 
 tine doctor. Incoming vessels fly a yellow flag, and this 
 must not be hauled down until the vessel has been passed 
 as free from infectious disease. We had come from a 
 healthy port, and were free from illness of any sort, so 
 our yellow flag soon came down after the port doctor 
 had visited us. 
 
 Some of our passengers went on shore ; but as we were 
 staying at Santa Cruz for only two hours, and I had on 
 my previous visit spent two days in the town, I did not 
 consider it worth while accompanying them. It was more 
 interesting to stay and watch the life and excitement 
 around the ship, which bid fair to be of a very entertain- 
 ing nature. 
 
 All sorts and conditions of vendors of wares crowded 
 in their little boats, offering fruit, wickerwork, and especi- 
 ally drawn-thread Teneriffe work for sale. A few only
 
 THE OUTWARD VOYAGE TENERIFFE 7 
 
 were allowed to come on deck; the rest had to make 
 shift as best they could by displaying their attractions 
 from their boats. This was a rather difficult thing to do, 
 especially when the wares were large delicate table-cloths, 
 or bed-spreads. The men who had come on deck did a 
 fair business ; but I scarcely think the poor vendors in the 
 boats realized sufficient to pay for their expenditure of 
 time and energy, although they were certainly most perse- 
 vering. All sales were made by bargaining; no one 
 seemed to be expected to give the prices asked, and 
 generally about two-thirds was accepted. 
 
 Boys dived for coins, despising the humble coppers, 
 but keenly on the alert for anything of the colour of 
 silver. This branch of industry seemed to be a thriving 
 one, for a large number of coins were tossed into the sea, 
 and I did not notice that any of the sharp, naked little 
 urchins failed to recover them. One enterprising lad 
 climbed by a rope on to our upper deck, a height of over 
 forty feet, and made a very clean dive therefrom for a 
 shilling which he easily captured.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 LAS PALMAS INCIDENTS OF THE VOYAGE 
 
 WE left Teneriffe at half-past eight, and when well out 
 at sea we had a magnificent view of the famous Peak 
 standing boldly out in the clear morning air. We were 
 bound for Las Palmas in the Grand Canary, which island 
 was in sight from Teneriffe. There we dropped anchor 
 soon after lunch, and small boats took us all ashore. 
 
 A long, very badly kept up, and rather uninteresting 
 road of about three miles leads from the harbour to the 
 town. Most people prefer to drive this distance, especi- 
 ally when the sun is intensely hot, as it was on the day 
 when we were there. 
 
 In the town we visited the cathedral, and afterwards, 
 meeting some friends with a guide, we joined them for a 
 ramble round the place. The guide turned out a fraud, 
 and took us to shops instead of to sights, so that among 
 other things we missed seeing the very interesting 
 museum with its many remains of the ancient people of 
 the Canary Islands. Still the walk was interesting, for 
 we saw the native life of the town, and much strange 
 vegetation, bananas in fruit, date and other palms, and 
 some fine specimens of eucalyptus trees. We also visited 
 the market, where fruit was very plentiful and cheap. 
 
 We were back on the boat by six' o'clock and left soon 
 after. Coming on deck when we had finished dinner, 
 
 8
 
 LAS PALMAS INCIDENTS OF THE VOYAGE 9 
 
 we had a perfect view of the planet Mercury, shining in 
 the midst of the orange glow of the lovely sunset. Mer- 
 cury is a very shy planet, and huddled so close to the 
 sun that it can rarely be seen ; either it is lost in the glare, 
 or hidden by the mists of the horizon. To the north 
 Cassiopeia was quite low down, as were also the Plough 
 and Polaris. 
 
 The planet Mars was high in the heavens, and later in 
 the evening Saturn rose in the east. So in one day I had 
 seen five planets, Venus, Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, and 
 Saturn, as well as the crescent moon; a rather unusual 
 combination of no less than six members of our solar 
 system. Very few of the southern constellations were, 
 as yet, recognizable. Scorpio, however, was a brilliant 
 exception, shining directly ahead, entangled in the haze 
 of the Milky Way. 
 
 On Sunday, July 30, which was one of our hottest days, 
 we ran into a belt of sharks. Before breakfast a great 
 number of flying-fish had been seen in all directions. 
 They had a silvery appearance as they flitted across the 
 water, and though they did not rise high, they often 
 covered some hundreds of feet before taking to the sea 
 again. After breakfast no flying-fish were visible, but 
 sharks of the hammer-headed variety could be seen every- 
 where, for the water seemed to be alive with them. It 
 was easy to count a dozen or more in sight at one time, 
 and they were quite indifferent to the vessel, coming close 
 enough to give us fine views of their ugly forms. Their 
 heads were exactly like hammers, with their eyes at each 
 extremity, while all the intermediate space was occupied by 
 their vicious mouths which, however, being underneath 
 could not be seen as they swam. 
 
 Professor Penck, of Vienna University, one of our
 
 io THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 foreign guests, with a German's love for detail, had 
 watchers stationed in different positions on the ship, to 
 count all they saw in a given time, and from these data 
 he made a calculation that the sharks in sight averaged 
 two hundred to the square kilometer, or about one million 
 in all in the shark belt through which we were passing. 
 We could not but speculate on the lively but short career 
 in store for any one who should happen to fall over- 
 board. 
 
 Later on in the day, when the sharks had disappeared, 
 we saw a very large school of porpoises, and passing 
 close to them found their gambols mildly exciting to 
 watch. There were so many that long after we had passed 
 by, indeed, when they were more than a mile or two 
 away, they could still be seen from the splashing they 
 made, which looked, in the distance, like surf breaking 
 over a coral reef. 
 
 On this day the sun was exactly overhead at noon, and 
 some passengers took photographs of others standing 
 shadowless. 
 
 The next few days were much cooler, and with even a 
 little rain at times. The wind was stronger; we had a 
 slight movement of the ship, and a few passengers thought 
 they ought to be ill; but the sea could not be called in 
 any sense rough. At times the air was quite chilly, and 
 it was plain that we had done with the excessive heat. 
 We were soon well within the trade-winds, and the 
 officers foretold similar weather for some days to come. 
 
 Sports, and competitions in all sorts of deck games, 
 went on every day, and great excitement prevailed as to 
 the results. The intense earnestness of some of our 
 learned professors, as to the proper pitching of quoits 
 into buckets, was very amusing to watch. These childish,
 
 LAS PALMAS INCIDENTS OF THE VOYAGE ir 
 
 but for board ship really useful and necessary, games 
 seemed to absorb their whole souls. What should we do 
 on a long voyage without recreation of this sort? It was 
 not possible to sit and talk or read all day long, and any 
 excuse for movement and exercise was beneficial. 
 
 The evenings were filled up with dances, concerts, or 
 lectures on some subjects of interest, and on one occasion 
 an original play was performed on deck. It was a clever 
 piece of foolery, well acted, and among the company our 
 Japanese member, Koyata Iwasaki, distinguished himself 
 by his admirable get-up. He acted a Chinese pirate and 
 his Mongolian face helped him immensely. I cannot 
 describe the plot, if plot there was any; it would read too 
 stupidly, for all the fun was in the acting and the topical 
 jokes, while the printed programme was the cleverest part 
 of the entertainment its many sly skits upon passengers 
 and upon little incidents of the voyage being often very 
 funny. 
 
 And so the days slipped by, one after the other, as we 
 crossed the great ocean on our way to South Africa. Each 
 was much like all the rest, save for the minor incidents 
 of ship life, interesting enough to us at the time but 
 scarcely worth recapitulating. The officers were right 
 about the weather, for the heat had passed for good; the 
 ducks and light suits disappeared, and on the day we 
 crossed the line many of us were to be seen in great-coats. 
 We felt constrained to tell the captain that he had missed 
 the way and taken us to the North Pole instead of to 
 the tropics. But on the whole the cooler weather was 
 agreeable, for we could move about with more pleasure, 
 throw ourselves with more zest into our sports, and joke 
 one another upon the 'tropical heat.' 
 
 We crossed the equator on August 4, and on the same
 
 12 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 evening had a debate in the saloon on The Yellow 
 Peril, is it a reality to be feared? It was opened in the 
 negative by Dr. Divers, F.R.S., and spoken to on the 
 same side by Professor Coleman, Dr. Gaskell, F.R.S., 
 Professor Penck, Professor von Luschan, and our 
 Japanese friend Iwasaki ; while almost alone Oscar Brown- 
 ing held to the affirmative position. His speech was a 
 glowing eulogy on the Russians and their institutions, 
 very clever and interesting; but nothing to do with the 
 question. The remarks of Iwasaki were given in a slow 
 hesitating manner, owing, I suppose, to his difficulties 
 with our language. He amused us much by saying that 
 the ' heat ' of the tropics had affected our brains, or 
 we should not have wasted an evening discussing such 
 a subject. We should probably be all right again, he 
 thought, when we got back to England. 
 
 We considered the speech of the evening was made 
 by Professor von Luschan, who also spoke English with 
 a little difficulty. He was a most interesting man to talk 
 to, having directed several Syrian exploration parties, and 
 upon these subjects was ' full of matter.' In his speech 
 he welcomed the rise of Japan as an immense gain to 
 the thought of the world. He considered their Bushido 
 code to be higher than our Christian one, at any rate as 
 taught by our Churches; and he thought that we should 
 greatly benefit by intercourse with the ideas of a young 
 and vigorous nation. Recent events foreshadowed an 
 awakening of Europeans to the truth that they had not 
 a monopoly of all the virtues in religion. He compared 
 Japanese culture and common-sense with the miserable 
 superstition and ikon-worship of the Greek and Roman 
 Churches, and he traced the effects of their faiths upon 
 the characters of the different nations.
 
 LAS PALMAS INCIDENTS OF THE VOYAGE 13 
 
 His speech was much applauded, for I need scarcely 
 say that with such a party as ours the broadest views 
 prevailed on religious questions, and it was like a breath 
 of fresh air to talk to some of our companions on these 
 subjects. 
 
 Speaking, to him next day, I found he was reading a 
 new work upon the Bushmen of South Africa, and was 
 much interested in the subject, and also in the accounts of 
 the ancient Rhodesian ruins of Zimbabwe and elsewhere. 
 He inclined to the belief that they were probably of Malay 
 origin, and were not excessively old. 
 
 On other evenings we had lectures by various members 
 of our party. Dr. P. L. Sclater, F.R.S., late of the 
 Zoological Gardens, London, talked to us on two occa- 
 sions about animals. Professor Coleman, of Toronto, 
 told us all about Canadian exploration, describing the 
 several methods by means of which the great primeval 
 forests and boundless prairies of the Dominion have been 
 opened up. It was a splendid story of what the courage 
 and perseverance of our race have been able to achieve 
 under extremely difficult conditions; and it was greatly 
 appreciated by a large and attentive audience. 
 
 Our friend Captain Wakefield lectured to us on Bank- 
 ing, and A. Trevor-Battye described the conditions of 
 Life in the Arctic Regions from personal observations 
 during an exploring expedition. The humorous element 
 was introduced by Professor Reynolds Green, F.R.S., 
 who gave us a discourse on Phrenology. He was 
 intensely serious, and did an admirable bit of fooling 
 with the air of a dry professor at a college class. The 
 heads he selected as illustrations were exaggerated repro- 
 ductions of those of Julius Caesar, Dick Turpin, and a 
 fancy portrait of Simple Simon.
 
 14 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 Thus the time slipped pleasantly by, for agreeable 
 companions and a calm sea can make the longest voyage 
 enjoyable. During the last week we scarcely saw a ship; 
 the ocean seemed quite deserted, and it was wonderful to 
 think of the vast expanse of water we were passing over. 
 Our isolation gave us a very vivid idea of the size of the 
 great Atlantic, for though many vessels were upon it, 
 there was room for all to sail their several courses far 
 out of sight of one another. At last, about three days 
 before reaching Table Bay, we passed the homeward 
 bound Union Castle liner out from Cape Town, and there 
 was great excitement among our passengers, and much 
 snapshotting and spoiling of camera films, for these dis- 
 tant pictures were rarely a success. One would have 
 thought we had never seen a steamer before. 
 
 And now we came to Saturday, August 12, and were to 
 be in Cape Town early on the following Monday morn- 
 ing. The prizes for sports and games won on the voyage 
 were presented during the evening by Lady Leech, 
 assisted by Sir Bosdin Leech, who made a happy little 
 
 speech. My friend S won the chess and draughts 
 
 prizes and well deserved them, for his playing was magnifi- 
 cent. He had played a game of chess blindfolded, earlier 
 in the voyage, and easily beaten his opponent, setting a 
 clever trap which caught him nicely. 
 
 On Sunday, which was our last day, the vessel had 
 more movement than during the whole voyage, but as 
 we did not need to use fiddles on the dining-tables the 
 sea could not by any means be called rough. It was only 
 giving us a little reminder that we were not yet on shore. 
 We learned afterwards that the Saxon, which followed a 
 day behind us, experienced much rougher weather on 
 this and the succeeding day and had been obliged to use
 
 LAS PALMAS INCIDENTS OF THE VOYAGE 15 
 
 fiddles at meals on both days. It seemed as though we 
 were fated to escape all unpleasantness of this sort. 
 Several whales were seen during the day, probably visitors 
 from the Antarctic Ocean. 
 
 A subdued feeling of excitement pervaded the ship, 
 combined with an inability to settle down to anything long, 
 and every one took care to see that his packing up was 
 well forward, for we were to reach harbour by daybreak.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 ARRIVAL AT CAPE TOWN PROFESSOR DARWIN'S ADDRESS 
 
 THE morning of August 14 was cold and wet, and 
 looking out from my cabin window I could see nothing 
 but fog. The ship was moving slowly, and a more cheer- 
 less and unpromising prospect it was difficult to imagine. 
 It was scarcely light when I reached the deck, and dimly 
 ahead of us could be just discerned the glimmer of a 
 lighthouse beacon. 
 
 As the morning grew greyer the mist cleared somewhat, 
 and the shore could be seen standing out to view through 
 the rain and the haze. It was most unfortunate that our 
 first sight of land should be under such dismal circum- 
 stances ; for had the weather been fine we should have had 
 a magnificent view of the glorious panorama as we 
 approached from the sea. As it was, Table Mountain 
 looked like a wraith but dimly visible through its misty 
 shroud, and we could not see it well until we were quite 
 close to land. We did not get another opportunity of 
 seeing the coast scenery from the sea to better advantage, 
 for when we left Cape Town a week later it was night- 
 time and nothing at all was visible. 
 
 The temperature was so cold on deck that the thickest 
 clothes and great-coats were necessary, and it was a 
 pleasant change when the breakfast bugle called us down 
 
 into the warm saloon. Dock was reached by nine o'clock, 
 
 16
 
 ARRIVAL AT CAPE TOWN 17 
 
 and as we entered we saw on the south arm, to our left, 
 the long rows of temporary buildings which had been 
 used for military purposes during the war. There was 
 ample accommodation in the basins for large vessels to 
 lie alongside the quays, the water area covering no less 
 than seventy-seven acres. 
 
 We were immediately boarded by the harbour authori- 
 ties, who gave us the pleasant news that there would 
 be no Customs examination of our baggage. We had 
 merely to sign a printed document that any cameras we 
 had brought with us would be taken out of the country 
 when we left South Africa. They also told us that all 
 our luggage for the shore would be looked after by 
 the Harbour Board and delivered free to any address we 
 might direct, and when we left Cape Town it would 
 be collected and returned to the ship in the same way. 
 This was our first experience of the kindness and hospi- 
 tality which our South African friends so lavishly extended 
 to us throughout our tour on their continent. 
 
 Quitting the ship, which had for three weeks been our 
 
 very comfortable home, S and I went on shore, where 
 
 a special train waited to take us to the town station. Here 
 we jumped into a cab and were quickly driven to our 
 selected hotel, 'The International,' pleasantly situated 
 on rising ground at the back of the town and at the foot 
 
 of Table Mountain. T S had already engaged 
 
 rooms at the ' Mount Nelson ' hotel, so we were not 
 together during our stay at the Cape. We secured 
 comfortable apartments, and the rain having ceased and 
 the sun shining brightly, we walked to our reception- 
 rooms in the New City Hall. 
 
 This building had only just been opened for our visit, 
 and was still in many parts far from finished. It is a
 
 i8 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 handsome structure in the Italian Renaissance style, with 
 a fine central clock-tower about 200 feet high. The 
 exterior is built of Bath stone on a granite base, and the 
 whole forms an imposing structure, fronting as it does 
 upon four streets. Electric trams for our hotel passed 
 close by. Here, amid a scene of great bustle and excite- 
 ment, our names were booked and we obtained tickets and 
 seats for the lectures, and various other papers and books 
 were given us, including a very useful and nicely illus- 
 trated and bound guide to Cape Town and Colony, which 
 had been specially prepared for our visit. 
 
 At the door of the hall on leaving I ran across 
 
 A , whom I did not at first recognize, but remembered 
 
 afterwards as a member of our ' Swan of Avon ' Society 
 in London a few years ago. He was then acting as 
 
 secretary to Lord C and had left us to go to South 
 
 Africa. He accompanied our party as far as the Victoria 
 Falls, and at various places on the journey he helped 
 
 S and myself very much in our choice of trips and 
 
 excursions, owing to his local knowledge, and to the fact 
 that the lists given to select from sometimes embarrassed 
 us by their profusion of opportunities. Our thanks are 
 due to him for all the kindness he showed to us. 
 
 By one o'clock we found our way back to the hotel to 
 lunch, and had our first experience of a South African 
 meal. We recognized then (our first experience was 
 amply confirmed later on) that the diet in the colonies 
 was not going to be as good as we were accustomed to in 
 England, for the meats were harder and less tasty than 
 at home. Our appetites, however, were good, and we 
 found the meal a pleasant change after the monotony 
 of the ship's food, which, although first-class, had begun 
 to pall upon us by its sameness.
 
 ARRIVAL AT CAPE TOWN 19 
 
 After lunch we walked through the Botanical Gardens 
 to the Library and the Museum, and saw the fine 
 Houses of Parliament on the way. In the Museum a 
 kindly lady-assistant showed us over, pointing out things 
 of greatest interest including the workroom, or laboratory, 
 where the specimens were set up. In it were several bones 
 of a recently discovered huge South African dinosaur, a 
 creature the nearest approach probably to a mammal of 
 all the giant lizards. We saw, also, a splendid specimen 
 of the great white rhinoceros, an enormous creature, 
 almost as large as an elephant. In another room there 
 was an exhibition of relics found at Zimbabwe, in 
 Rhodesia, and copies of some fine Bushmen's drawings. 
 
 In the Botanical Gardens we were much interested by 
 the sub-tropical vegetation ; and particularly noticed the 
 absence of anything approaching our English turf; all 
 the grass being of a large coarse variety of a greyish- 
 green colour. It was strange to see the trees so bare of 
 leaves, with the buds swelling just ready to burst, when, 
 but three weeks before, we had left everything in England 
 in the full luxuriance of summer foliage. 
 
 Curious clusters of hanging nests on some of the trees 
 interested us; they were ball-shaped with the entrance 
 at the bottom, and were hanging at the extremities of long 
 thin twigs, swaying and dangling to every breath of air. 
 Their owners, the weaver-birds, were flying in and out, 
 and making a great noise; they were about the size of 
 thrushes, with a great deal of yellow about their breasts. 
 
 Owing to the copious morning's rain everything looked 
 sweet and fresh the air was brisk and cool, and it was 
 a pleasure to walk about after our long confinement. 
 Low clouds, however, hung over Table Mountain and 
 seemed to threaten more rain later on.
 
 20 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 We spent the evening at the theatre, where The 
 Orchid was being played by a company from the 
 Gaiety in London, a good performance which we much 
 enjoyed. Returning to the hotel soon after eleven, I 
 found my luggage had not been delivered, and as all the 
 others had received theirs, mine had evidently gone astray. 
 This was most awkward, for I had nothing whatever with 
 me and was stranded in a strange place without even a 
 
 clean collar to fall back upon. Our host and S 
 
 offered to lend me whatever I required, and the former 
 promised to communicate with the Harbour Board by 
 telephone the first thing in the morning. 
 
 Owing, I think, partly to this loss and partly because 
 I missed the movement of the ship to which I had grown 
 so accustomed during our three weeks' voyage, my first 
 night in South Africa was very restless and disturbed. 
 So I was up early the next morning and found the sun 
 shining in a cloudless sky, and everything giving promise 
 of a perfect day. The air was quite cold at first, but the 
 sun soon had sufficient strength to warm it pleasantly. 
 
 After breakfast, hearing that my luggage had been 
 found it having been delivered to a namesake, John 
 Brown, F.R.S., who was located at Kenilworth, some 
 distance out of Cape Town and that it would be sent up 
 by special van as soon as possible, we walked down to the 
 reception rooms and obtained our letters from home, which 
 had just arrived by the Saxon. A large party of our 
 members, including most of the notables, had also come 
 by the same steamer, so that the rooms were much 
 crowded and an air of excitement pervaded the place. The 
 letters and papers gave us news up to July 28, and we 
 were delighted to get them, although they had been written 
 only a few days after our departure.
 
 ARRIVAL AT CAPE TOWN 21 
 
 After this I walked across to Adderley Street to call 
 
 upon my friend Mr. F at the post-office, and on the 
 
 staircase I met Mrs. F with her little boy, and 
 
 arranged to see her again later on in her husband's office 
 and accompany them home to Sea Point. This is a 
 suburb to the west of Cape Town, on the stretch of shore 
 lying between Lion Mountain and the sea. 
 
 At the City Hall Sir David Gill, F.R.A.S., on behalf 
 of the different colonies, handed to all members of the 
 Association free railway passes over the Cape, the Natal 
 and the Central South African Railways, the passes being 
 first-class with sleeping berths and available for two 
 months. I found that Sir Bosdin Leech had already 
 
 booked S and myself to share a compartment with 
 
 him, which we were to retain all the way from Durban 
 to the Victoria Falls. Only three seats and berths were 
 to be occupied in our carriage, the rest of the space being 
 reserved for our hand luggage, and other belongings. 
 
 When I met the F s later on we decided, as the after- 
 noon was so fine, to make our way to Sea Point by 
 the longer route across the Kloof Nek and through Camp's 
 Bay, in order that I might have an opportunity of seeing 
 the country at the side of Table Mountain and along the 
 coast. It proved a delightful ride through most charm- 
 ing scenery, especially across the Nek and as we descended 
 to Camp's Bay. There, on our left, was the great moun- 
 tain itself, while beyond it, to the south, rising one after 
 another were twelve peaks locally known as the Twelve 
 Apostles. 
 
 To our right lay the open sea with its fine, large rollers 
 dashing on to the shore. Along the road and in all the 
 ditches we saw thousands of arum lilies which, like weeds, 
 seem to grow wild all over the Cape peninsula. So pro-
 
 22 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 fusely did they grow that, instead of seeking to cultivate 
 them, most people experienced some difficulty in keeping 
 them out of their gardens. The sun was warm and bril- 
 liant, the temperature fresh and bracing, the afternoon 
 was an ideal one, and it was a luxury to breathe, and 
 move about amid such exquisite surroundings. We reached 
 
 Sea Point by five o'clock, where the F s had a pretty 
 
 little bungalow at the top of London Road, at the further 
 end of which the ocean was in sight. 
 
 I was obliged to leave soon after tea for our great meet- 
 ing in the City Hall, when Professor G. H. Darwin was 
 to deliver his presidential address. 
 
 A gay scene was presented by the great hall, filled as 
 it was by our large oversea party and a great number of 
 the members of the South African Association for the 
 Advancement of Science, and other colonials. On the 
 platform among others were His Excellency Sir Walter 
 Hely-Hutchinson (the Governor), Professor Darwin, Sir 
 William Crookes, Sir David Gill (the Cape Astronomer), 
 Sir John Buchanan (acting Chief Justice), the Earl of 
 Rosse, the late Sir Richard Jebb, M.P., the Archbishop 
 of Cape Town, Mr. H. Liebermann (the Mayor), and many 
 more distinguished visitors and residents. 
 
 Sir William Crookes, in introducing the new president, 
 alluded to the splendid voyage to South Africa which the 
 British Association had just made in luxury and comfort. 
 He compared this fact with the remarks made by a Mr. 
 Dionysius Lardner to an early meeting of the Association, 
 at the time when steamship traffic was just being talked 
 about between England and America, and in which he 
 declared that it was impossible for any steamship ever 
 to cross the Atlantic, because, if she were crammed choke- 
 full of coal, she could never take more than would carry
 
 ARRIVAL AT CAPE TOWN 23 
 
 her 2,000 miles. The speaker considered that the wonder- 
 ful voyage we had just achieved could never have been 
 accomplished had it not been for the encouragement and 
 assistance to science which the British Association, among 
 others, had always given since that early date. He further 
 alluded to a letter sent by the retiring president, the Right 
 Hon. A. J. Balfour, who was then Premier of England, 
 regretting that pressure of work, in another place, pre- 
 vented him from being present in person to welcome 
 Professor Darwin, one of his oldest friends, on such an 
 auspicious occasion. Sir William Crookes did not think 
 it could be necessary for him to introduce to such a gather- 
 ing as he saw before him any one bearing the name of 
 Darwin, the son of the man who had done for the organic 
 world what Newton had done for that of inorganic matter. 
 Professor Darwin was the worthy son of a world-renowned 
 father. 
 
 The President, in his opening remarks, alluded to 
 Bartholomew Diaz, the discoverer of the Cape, stating 
 how he spent no less than sixteen months on the voyage, 
 while, as late as 1497, Vasco da Gama took more than 
 four months to sail from Lisbon to Table Bay. How 
 great were the dangers of such a voyage in those days 
 might be gathered from the fact that less than half the 
 men who set out with Vasco da Gama lived to return to 
 Lisbon. Now, 408 years later a ship of 13,000 tons (the 
 Saxon) had brought them to South Africa in comfort and 
 luxury in little more than a fortnight. 
 
 ' How striking were the contrasts presented ! On the one hand, 
 compare the courage, the endurance, and the persistence of the early 
 navigators with the little that had been demanded of us ; on the other 
 hand, consider how much man's powers over the forces of nature had 
 been augmented during the past four centuries. Such thoughts made 
 us sometimes fear that perhaps we might be but degenerate descendants
 
 24 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 of those who had gone before. Still we might be justly proud of the 
 improvement in our conditions due to the successive efforts of each 
 generation to add to the heritage of knowledge handed down to it 
 by its predecessors, whereby we have been born to the accumulated 
 endowment of centuries of genius and labour. 
 
 'To us living men, who scarcely pass a year of our lives without 
 witnessing some new marvel of discovery or invention, the rate at which 
 the development of knowledge proceeds is truly astonishing ; but from 
 a wider point of view the scale of time is relatively unimportant, for the 
 universe is leisurely in its procedure. Whether the changes which we 
 witness be fast or slow, they form a part of a long sequence of events 
 which began in some past of immeasurable remoteness, and tend to 
 some end which we cannot foresee. It must always be profoundly 
 interesting to the mind of man to trace successive cause and effect, in 
 the chain of events which make up the history of the earth and all that 
 lives on it, and to speculate on the origin and future fate of animals, and 
 of planets, suns, and stars.' 
 
 Professor Darwin's address dealt with the subject of 
 evolution in inanimate nature, and was listened to with 
 marked attention by the large and appreciative audience. 
 At its conclusion Sir Walter Hely-Hutchinson proposed a 
 vote of thanks to the lecturer; he also gave to all the 
 oversea members of the Association a warm and hearty 
 welcome to South Africa. He considered the visit was 
 a great and permanent step towards drawing closer to- 
 gether the bonds of the brotherhood of science between 
 his Majesty's sons in South Africa and in the Mother- 
 land. 
 
 Sir David Gill in seconding, alluded to the presidential 
 address delivered last year at Cambridge by Mr. A. J. 
 Balfour, which he styled a ' mental gymnastic display,' 
 and quoted Huxley's remark, that * the first sign of 
 mental degeneracy in a scientific man was that he turned 
 to philosophy.' Strangely enough, the last address ever 
 given by Huxley himself was a tissue of philosophy. He
 
 ARRIVAL AT CAPE TOWN 25 
 
 (Sir David) stated how for the twenty-six years of his 
 residence in the country, he had cherished the dream that 
 they would one day entertain the British Association in 
 South Africa. There was no country in the world that 
 owed so much to science, and he was glad to see that 
 they were now going to repay part of the debt. 
 
 Professor Darwin, in his reply on behalf of the Associa- 
 tion, thanked his Excellency and Sir David Gill for their 
 cordial words of welcome. Just before he left England 
 he saw Mr. Balfour, who had agreed with him that a 
 somewhat wider significance than usual attached to the 
 present meeting of the British Association. He regretted 
 the absence of Lord Kelvin and Sir Frank McLean, both 
 of whom had intended to be present, but the former was 
 only just recovering from a very severe illness. He 
 expressed the gratification that his progress towards 
 health was so satisfactory. 
 
 The meeting ended at 10.30, after which S and I 
 
 walked back to our hotel discussing the matter of the 
 presidential address. It was a lovely starlight night, and 
 right ahead of us, and just over Table Mountain, shone 
 the Southern Cross with its two pointers, Alpha and Beta 
 Centauri. The magellanic clouds could not well be seen 
 owing to the glare of the moon. Indeed, I did not see 
 them properly until on board ship going to Durban.
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 EXCURSIONS TO GROOTE SCHUUR, KLOOF NEK, THE 
 OBSERVATORY, DYNAMITE WORKS 
 
 THE next day, after visiting the reception rooms, S- 
 
 and I went by tram to Groote Schuur, to see the late 
 Cecil Rhodes's house and park. It was a bright sunny 
 morning, and promised a fine day, but later the sky 
 clouded over and rain threatened. The house was 
 approached by a long avenue of eucalyptus trees; and 
 masses of arum lilies, growing wild all over the place 
 and just coming into bloom, carpeted the ground. By 
 the side of the house was a fruit and flower garden, 
 prettily laid out, and there we took photographs of 
 what was, indeed, a lovely specimen of old Dutch 
 architecture. We asked to be allowed to see the interior, 
 and, on stating that we were members of the British 
 Association, received cordial permission. The property 
 now belongs to Dr. Jameson, who was absent in England 
 owing to ill health. We learned that several members 
 of our Association were staying as guests in the house. 
 The interior was most interesting, being decorated in 
 old Dutch style, and full of choice furniture to match, 
 all in excellent taste. In Cecil Rhodes's library, his 
 favourite room, were a number of curios, such as Dr. 
 Jameson's 'Raid' flag; the Union Jack which was buried 
 at Pretoria on the surrender of Majuba, and dug up by 
 
 26
 
 EXCURSION TO GROOTE SCHUUR 27 
 
 the English after Lord Roberts's entry in 1900; Loben- 
 gula's gun and elephant seal (of the latter we were given 
 impressions) ; also a number of relics from Zimbabwe, 
 including a crucible with specks of gold still in it, and 
 many pictures of the ruins. In the library were hundreds 
 of type-written books, copies from valuable originals in 
 the British Museum. We saw, also, a splendid old door 
 from the Castle in Cape Town, and in the dining- 
 room some very fine tapestries; up-stairs we went into 
 Rhodes's bed-room, where was the bed on which he lay 
 in state before his funeral, and which has never since been 
 used. At the back of the house there was a long verandah 
 or ' stoep.' These stoeps are common features of most 
 of the better class houses in South Africa, this one at 
 Groote Schuur being a particularly handsome specimen. 
 We walked through the park to see the wild animals in 
 their enclosures, but as it soon began to rain we could 
 not linger long, and had to hurry on to Mowbray station 
 to catch a train, this being an alternative route to Cape 
 Town. 
 
 In the afternoon, the weather having cleared, S and 
 
 I walked to Government House to the Governor's garden- 
 party. Unfortunately, just as we got there, the rain 
 began again and continued for most of the afternoon, 
 which was disappointing, for it spoilt the charm of the 
 gardens, while the refreshments had to be provided in 
 the house instead of in the tents erected in the grounds. 
 The sun shone out just before we left, so that for the last 
 half-hour we were able to walk about outside, and admire 
 some of the new and strange flowers. Bright scarlet 
 seemed a very common colour in South African gardens. 
 In the evening we went to the Mayor's reception in the 
 City Hall; there meeting Sir David Gill, and mentioning
 
 28 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 that I had failed to obtain a ticket for his garden-party 
 at the Observatory on Friday afternoon, he personally 
 gave me a warm irrvitation to be present. The great 
 hall was crowded, and it was difficult to move about in 
 comfort. 
 
 During the evening, to my astonishment, I met Miss 
 
 S who used to teach my children at the Princess 
 
 Helena College, in Baling, some eight or ten years ago; 
 her sister was with her (one being engaged in teaching, 
 the other in nursing), and they were very pleased to see 
 some one from home. They had just returned from the 
 Victoria Falls, and were loud in their praises of its beauties : 
 as for the climate, they had not found the heat too great 
 while there. The new organ was played at intervals dur- 
 ing the evening; it was a splendid instrument, but it 
 struck us as being too loud for the hall. About ten o'clock, 
 
 S and I walked slowly back to our hotel, talking 
 
 about the stars which shone very beautifully, although 
 their extreme brilliancy was somewhat dimmed by the 
 rising moon. 
 
 I spent Thursday morning attending some of the meet- 
 ings in Section A on astronomical subjects, also, later on, 
 I called on Mr. S , to whom I had a letter of introduc- 
 tion, and had a long talk with him about the prospects of 
 Rhodesia. He was not hopeful of its agricultural future 
 while there was so much difficulty in getting English 
 emigrants to settle on the land. However good and cheap 
 it was, they soon grew tired of the isolation and threw 
 up the work. He considered the Scandinavians made 
 much better permanent settlers than the English. Later 
 on, he introduced me to Mr. Molyneux from Buluwayo, 
 and asked him to look to my comfort when we reached 
 Rhodesia.
 
 EXCURSION TO KLOOF NEK 29 
 
 During the afternoon I joined a botanical excursion to 
 explore the Kloof Nek and Lion Mountain. The tram- 
 car took us up to the Nek, and from thence we rambled 
 along the slopes of the mountain, gathering flowers, digg- 
 ing up bulbs, picking sprays from the lovely silver-leaf 
 trees, or taking photographs. Our local guide informed 
 us that no less than 2,000 varieties of wild flowers grew 
 within a few miles around Cape Town, and as many as 
 300 specimens of heaths alone. The season was yet early 
 for most of these ; we were quite a month too soon ; in a 
 few weeks' time the place would literally be carpeted with 
 the loveliest flowers so he informed us. Even as early 
 as it was, we saw many growing like weeds, which in 
 England we look to find only in our conservatories. 
 
 Hanging over Table Mountain was a covering of mist, 
 locally called its ' table-cloth ' for the appearance was 
 strangely in keeping with the name covering the top and 
 falling in a dense white sheet some distance down the 
 sides. We were told that when this was seen, it was 
 generally a sign of an approaching south-easter. 
 
 We descended the mountain on the side towards Camp's 
 Bay, in the face of a very strong wind, which had sud- 
 denly sprung up, and which, combined with the roughness 
 of the ground, made our descent difficult and tiring. The 
 wind was so boisterous that we could not face it the nearest 
 way down, but had to take shelter as much as we could 
 among the scrub that grew in a chine some distance from 
 our path, where we managed to get up a few specimens 
 of bulbous roots to take home with us. When we arrived 
 at Camp's Bay the rollers were tumbling in on shore in 
 such grand style that I tried to photograph them. The 
 attempt was hopeless, the wind was so strong, and the 
 driving sand so blinding that I was nearly blown into the
 
 3 o THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 sea when I ventured too close, and it was with the greatest 
 difficulty that I managed to fight my way back to the 
 road. An hour afterwards the wind dropped almost as 
 quickly as it had risen. I found all over South Africa 
 that frequently a heavy wind would spring up about three' 
 o'clock and quiet down again just before sunset. 
 
 I made the round journey back to Cape Town, via 
 Sea Point as before, and in the evening went to the City 
 Hall to hear Professor Poulton's lecture on W. J. Bur- 
 chell's discoveries in South Africa a most interesting 
 discourse and well illustrated by lantern slides. This was 
 the same Professor Poulton who lectured at Baling, last 
 year, to our Literary Society upon the Protective Colour- 
 ing of Insects. He was great on collecting all sorts of 
 live creatures, and his green butterfly-net was always to 
 be seen wherever prizes were likely to be captured. 
 
 On Friday morning I attended the reading of some 
 papers in Section A, and in the afternoon went out to the 
 
 Observatory to Sir David Gill's garden-party. S did 
 
 not accompany me, having received no invitation, although 
 I found afterwards he might very well have gone. It 
 was interesting to go through the different houses inspect- 
 ing all the instruments, many of which were new and 
 fine. The large telescope, called the ' Victoria,' had a 
 24 in. object glass, corrected for photographic work; the 
 visual telescope was of 18 in. aperture, and the guiding 
 one of 8 in. aperture, all were mounted on the same 
 equatorial stand and all had a focal length of 22 ft. 6 in. 
 The dome of the Observatory was 34ft. in diameter, and 
 the floor rose and fell by hydraulic power. In other 
 houses there were smaller equatorial refractors to be seen. 
 The reversible transit circle was a new instrument with 
 many features of interest; and we also saw some speci-
 
 EXCURSION TO THE OBSERVATORY 31 
 
 mens of the Astrographic work which had been done at 
 this observatory. 
 
 In the evening, after dark, I went back there with 
 
 S in order to see the stars through the great telescope. 
 
 The sky was not perfectly clear, but we managed to get 
 some beautiful views, notably of Omega Centauri, the 
 finest star cluster in the whole heavens, and we also looked 
 at Alpha Centauri, our nearest stellar neighbour in the 
 skies and observed how it was a fine double star. It was 
 amazing to think that the light we were looking at left 
 the star to travel to our earth nearly four years ago, while 
 the Boer war was desolating South Africa, and that it 
 had been rushing across the intervening space ever since, 
 at a rate of about eleven millions of miles per minute. Such 
 wonderful distances appal us by their immensity; our 
 solar system is so isolated in space that a train travelling 
 night and day at a speed of fifty miles an hour could not 
 cover the distance between us and Alpha Centauri in less 
 than fifty millions of years. This is our nearest neigh- 
 bour, a star quite close to us compared with some of the 
 far distant orbs that are sunk in the vast abysses of 
 starlit space. 
 
 Mars was looked at, but it was very small and dis- 
 appointing; Saturn was a better object, but being rather 
 low, the denser atmosphere gave it a fuzzy appearance 
 quite spoiling its outline. Star-gazing was fascinating 
 work. We could not tear ourselves away, and it was 
 half-past eleven before we reached our hotel. 
 
 More than half our party had. left Cape Town during 
 the day for Durban, the greater number going in the 
 Saxon, which sailed at six o'clock, while about a score 
 or so left at half-past ten by rail. They found the journey 
 a long, tedious and roundabout one, there being no direct
 
 32 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 connection with Durban. Our steamer, the Durham 
 Castle, was to leave the next evening at nine o'clock, 
 giving us a whole day longer in Cape Town. 
 
 On Saturday morning, our last day in this charming 
 place, we were up by seven o'clock, and found the weather 
 fine and settled. After an early breakfast I went to the 
 station, where a special train waited to take a party to 
 the De Beers explosive works at Somerset West. The 
 site is located on the north-eastern shore of False Bay, 
 about thirty miles from Cape Town in the Stellenbosch 
 division. We arrived there soon after ten o'clock, and 
 were met by a number of officials wearing red badges, who 
 conducted us to the manager's house, where the ladies 
 welcomed us to coffee and cakes. The sun was very hot, 
 and, as we sat in the garden, many found it necessary to 
 use their umbrellas as sunshades. 
 
 These works were situated amid a scene of great natural 
 beauty. In front of us lay the sandy shores of False Bay 
 and the open ocean beyond, while to the right was the 
 Cape of Good Hope; to our left was a large shallow lake 
 called Paarde Vlei, which formed a splendid bathing spot 
 for the white employes. The Trout Club were also making 
 arrangements to stock it with fish. On the tract close to 
 the sea were numbers of great sandhills; a sluit or stream 
 ran through the property draining the land, and this was 
 crossed by several bridges and culverts, and emptied itself 
 into the sea near the mouth of the Lourens river. Far 
 away on the horizon were the mountains of the Stellen- 
 foosch and Hottentots Holland ranges, apparently very 
 close, owing to the clearness of the atmosphere, but 
 actually eight miles off to the commencement of their 
 slopes. 
 
 The works were founded by Cecil Rhodes in 1899, every-
 
 EXCURSION TO THE DYNAMITE WORKS 33 
 
 thing there is of the newest and most approved type in 
 buildings and machinery. The whole is conceived on a 
 scale worthy of the great 'Empire builder,' the total 
 area of land actually covering no less than 3,218 acres, 
 of which about 550 acres lie within the ' danger ' area. 
 
 After resting a while, we all seated ourselves on the 
 workmen's trains or trollies, which ran on narrow gauge 
 lines all over the place, and in this way we were taken 
 in comfort to see the works. First we visited the power- 
 station, where the splendid but noisy machinery was 
 inspected; then we rode to the sulphur-burning houses 
 and saw a great number of ovens where the sulphur burnt 
 of itself after first lighting. Thus sulphuric acid was pro- 
 duced and run into tanks in the adjoining house, the work 
 being done by a new contact process lately installed. 
 
 We went next to see a building more than 600 ft. long, 
 where nitrate was burnt and nitric acid produced. Then 
 our train took us into the ' danger area,' a railed-off portion 
 of the works, at the gate of which, all matches and tobacco 
 were taken from us. Usually no one was allowed within 
 this area except employes in special uniforms of scarlet. 
 All others found trespassing could be at once imprisoned 
 without waiting for the formality of a magistrate's 
 warrant. 
 
 We were now taken through the buildings where the 
 dangerous mixing processes were carried on ; all the 
 houses that we visited being specially cleared and no work 
 going on in them at the time of our visit, to avoid risk 
 or danger to us. Each house was isolated from every 
 other, and was surrounded by a very thick mound of earth 
 and brick rubble to break the concussion, should an 
 explosion occur. The fluids were brought to these various 
 houses, where the mixing took place, and in this process 
 3
 
 34 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 they passed from house to house by open conduits, which 
 were so arranged that after each charge had passed, a 
 section of the conduit could be withdrawn, and all connec- 
 tion cut off between the different houses. This isolated 
 each building, and minimized the danger in case any 
 accident should happen. 
 
 The buildings varied in distance from one another, from 
 100 to 500 yards or more. In the mixing houses the tanks 
 were fitted with fume glasses, and should these show any 
 signs of danger by a change in the colour of the fumes 
 produced, the charge would be immediately run out of the 
 tank and precipitated into an enormous reservoir of water 
 under the building. This would at once ' drown ' it, and 
 instantly stop all further danger, while the acids could after- 
 wards be recovered from the water. Each mixing house 
 was provided with one of these safety water reservoirs. 
 
 So we went on from house to house, each one isolated, 
 and each showing us a different process in the manu- 
 facture of dynamite, nitro-glycerine, gun-cotton, and other 
 fearful explosives, until, having seen all that there was 
 to be seen, we went to inspect the stores where the finished 
 articles were kept. These dangerous buildings stood a 
 long way off by themselves; they were surrounded by 
 enormous mounds of earth, looking like fortifications or 
 ramparts, and each one when full held one hundred 
 thousand pounds of explosives ready to be sent out. 
 
 Then we passed by train out of the ' danger area ' and 
 back to the houses of the staff, where we were entertained 
 to a splendid lunch provided by the De Beers Co., con- 
 sisting of soup, game and other pies, turkeys, fowls, 
 ducks, game, meat, salads, any number of sweets, lovely 
 peach pies, angels' food (a delightful sort of fruit salad), 
 fruit jellies, cheese, coffee, and cigars, wine and cham-
 
 EXCURSION TO THE DYNAMITE WORKS 35 
 
 pagne. The officials with their wives and daughters sat 
 amongst us as hosts and hostesses, and the gathering was 
 a very jovial one. We finished up with toasts, speeches 
 and compliments all round. 
 
 Lunch being over, we wandered round the grounds 
 of the officers' quarters, and to the native compound 
 where the negroes lived, and where we saw all the 
 arrangements for their housing. The compound was a 
 large open space, surrounded by a run of galvanized iron 
 sheds; these were divided up into sections, and in each 
 three negroes lived, and slept in bunks very similar to 
 those in use on board ship. 
 
 The officials informed me that they employed only 
 ' raw ' Kaffirs, and could not do with the educated natives 
 or the half-castes of Cape Colony. They had no difficulty 
 in getting all the labour they needed, indeed they had 
 a second encampment some distance away in another part 
 of the grounds where natives wishing for employment came 
 and stayed until they could be taken on at the works; we 
 saw a large number waiting in this way as we passed the 
 camp. The natives seemed to do most of their cooking- 
 in the open air; many were preparing their food while 
 we were there. 
 
 The interiors of their sheds were constantly whitewashed 
 to keep them sweet and clean, and they were much superior 
 in comfort to the interiors of the many native kraals we 
 were to see later on during our trip. The natives were 
 Employed only for unskilled work, all skilled labour for 
 the factory being that of white men. Before leaving we 
 had tea in the grounds of the manager's house, after which 
 we walked to the rail-head where our special train waited, 
 and with cordial adieux we left amid the cheers of our 
 hosts.
 
 36 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 On reaching Cape Town I met S near the station ; 
 
 he had elected to take the Hout's Bay Motor Excursion, 
 which was a trip of over forty miles of lovely coast scenery 
 in motor-cars lent by the members of the Automobile 
 Club, who acted as drivers and hosts. He had immensely 
 enjoyed his day, and was now walking quietly to the 
 docks to rejoin the Durham Castle, so we went along 
 together, and after doing a little shopping on the way 
 reached the ship in good time for dinner. 
 
 When that was over it was quite dark, so we stayed on 
 board where there was plenty going on to keep us 
 
 interested, and where Mr. L , of the Observatory, came 
 
 during the evening to say good-bye. At nine o'clock 
 the steamer left the dock and started for Durban. It was 
 a beautifully calm and starlit evening, but too dark for 
 us to see any shore scenery as we left harbour. I went 
 to bed early, being very tired, and slept well all night; 
 it seemed quite homelike to be back again on the old 
 ship.

 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 ARRIVAL AT DURBAN CIVIC RECEPTION GARDEN-PARTY 
 
 I WOKE early on Sunday morning and found my usual 
 sea-bath very refreshing after missing it for a week. The 
 morning was perfect, the air fresh and crisp, a bright 
 sun shining and our good old vessel was moving along 
 as smoothly as ever. There were a few friends missing 
 from the ship, but their places were filled by many new 
 members who had transferred from the Saxon and Kil- 
 donan Castle. Among these I recognized our President, 
 Professor G. H. Darwin, his wife and son, Sir David 
 Gill, of the Cape Town Observatory, Lord Rosse and 
 several others. We all naturally and easily fell into 
 our old routine of ship life. 
 
 We were somewhat beyond Cape Agulhas by noon, 
 having done 197 miles since we left Cape Town. The 
 day was spent quietly like all Sundays were on board 
 ship, and we were in sight of land nearly all the time, 
 although the shore was too far off to be watched with 
 much interest. On Monday we were still off the land, 
 and later in the morning we went close by East London, 
 where we passed the Saxon lying at anchor. By the 
 afternoon the wind grew much stronger and we had some 
 rain and more movement of the sea, but not enough to 
 inconvenience us. 
 
 Before it grew dark, we passed the blood-stained cliff 
 
 37
 
 38 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 over which Chaka, King of the Zulus, was wont to drive 
 his war prisoners and other victims, on to the rocks 
 beneath. It stood out boldly against the line of coast, 
 and we could see the black rocks at its base upon which 
 the tyrant's victims were dashed to pieces, afterwards to 
 be swallowed up by the cruel ocean breaking into foam 
 just below. 
 
 At night-time we could see in many directions on the 
 shore the glare of bush fires; this primitive and wasteful 
 way of clearing the ground after each year's crops being 
 still in vogue amongst the Boers and natives nearly all 
 over South Africa. It is a plan that has great disadvan- 
 tages, but some advantages also. Among the latter may 
 be mentioned the destruction it causes to the many insect 
 pests with which the soil is infested; but of the former 
 we may reckon the loss to the land by robbing it of much 
 of its natural nourishment, and the many disastrous forest 
 fires and destruction of timber, which such a dangerous 
 practice brings about only too frequently. 
 
 On Tuesday morning at eight o'clock we anchored out- 
 side the harbour of Durban for about an hour, waiting 
 until the Saxon hove in sight, and caught us up. This 
 delay gave our amateur photographers abundant oppor- 
 tunity for taking numerous snapshots of the adjacent coast 
 to the west, which was extremely beautiful. When the 
 Saxon joined us at nine o'clock, we both entered the 
 harbour, the Durham Castle leading, as was only right 
 and proper, considering that it was our ship which had 
 the President of the British Association on board. 
 
 Durban harbour was approached by a long narrow 
 channel which opened out into a magnificently wide bay, 
 where there was ample dock- room for the largest steamers. 
 And yet not long before the war, as I was told, the landing
 
 ARRIVAL AT DURBAN 39 
 
 was very primitive, passengers having to be slung on 
 shore in baskets. We were much interested in watching 
 from the ship the many signs of life and progress on all 
 sides. There were several vessels in the harbour loading 
 and unloading, and the quays were busy with bustle and 
 movement. 
 
 What appealed to us at once as a novel sight were 
 the crowds of ricksha men waiting for hire. They were 
 natives, and were all dressed in the quaintest and brightest 
 of costumes with short, loose, and gaily-coloured knickers. 
 Their legs and feet were invariably bare, but sometimes 
 the former were painted white in various patterns up to 
 the knees. Their head-dresses were most wonderful to 
 see; hardly two were alike and all equally startling in 
 their savage picturesqueness. Many had great horns of 
 oxen or antelope projecting from their black, woolly hair; 
 others had wonderful devices in feathers or skins, and 
 others again were content with their own black ringlets, 
 fantastically fixed up in many curious styles and plentifully 
 adorned with elaborately-worked bead and bone ornaments. 
 
 These men were of magnificent physique, and they 
 seemed a happy, light-hearted lot of fellows. Indeed I 
 was much struck with the difference in their demeanour 
 from the quiet, reserved, and almost sullen type of negro 
 workers of Cape Town. In the latter place, there was 
 among the negroes none of that lightness of heart and 
 jollity of disposition ; none of the happy-go-lucky care- 
 lessness that I found to be such a marked characteristic 
 of the southern negroes in the United States of America, 
 when I was among them a quarter of a century ago. 
 Probably the great admixture of races at the Cape may 
 account for this; but these negroes of Durban were more 
 like the negroes of the southern states in manners and
 
 40 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 disposition. They were mostly Zulus, one of the finest 
 races of the great Bantu family. 
 
 The rickshas were two-wheeled rubber-tyred carriages, 
 of very light construction, made to hold one or two 
 persons, and they ran quite noiselessly as they were pulled 
 along by the bare-footed negroes. The men were not 
 harnessed, but held the metal shafts with their hands, as 
 they trotted along with a peculiar swaying step ; and occa- 
 sionally they let off their surplus spirits by giving little 
 skips and jumps which almost threw the riders out 
 backwards, if they were not careful to sit tightly. 
 
 We were informed here, as at Cape Town, that our 
 luggage would be passed through the Customs unex- 
 amined, and delivered by the Harbour Board free to our 
 hotels, thus saving us a good deal of trouble. We were 
 now leaving the Durham Castle, which was to go on to 
 Beira to pick us up again after our tour across South 
 
 Africa, so T S and I, who were retaining our 
 
 same berths all the way back to England, decided to leave 
 part of our luggage in our cabin, so as to travel up country 
 with as small an amount of impedimenta as possible ; and 
 this decision saved us much trouble on our journey later 
 on. ^ 
 
 We landed as soon as possible, and S , A and 
 
 I took rickshas for our hotels. We found the motion 
 smooth and pleasant and quite enjoyed our novel ride. 
 
 On the way, S was so amused by the situation that 
 
 he jumped out and photographed us as we sat in our 
 carriages. When we came to any small ascents we were 
 careful to walk to relieve our boys; we did not know if 
 this was usual, but it seemed the right thing to do when 
 we reflected that men and not animals were drawing us. 
 
 Our hotel was reached in about fifteen minutes; it was
 
 CIVIC RECEPTION 41 
 
 not the first hotel in the place, but it was the best avail- 
 able, for earlier applicants had monopolized all the accom- 
 modation at the Royal. S and I, who had shared the 
 
 ricksha, gave the boy half-a-crown with which he seemed 
 very well pleased, as well he might be, for we found that 
 we had overpaid him. The fares were fixed on a regular 
 scale which seemed to us to be very cheap; but more 
 liberal payment was necessary whenever a double load 
 was carried as in our case. The day was exceedingly 
 warm and our Zulu boy perspired profusely; this was the 
 only drawback to an otherwise delightfully smooth and 
 agreeable method of getting about. 
 
 The hotel was not far from our reception-rooms, where 
 we went next to learn our plans and receive our tickets and 
 papers. Then we crossed to the Town Hall opposite to 
 see the museum, which was in the same building; it was 
 only a small one and did not take us long to look over. 
 
 Close by were C B 's offices, and later in the 
 
 morning I called upon him to learn about his doings 
 since his return from England last year. I found him 
 well and in good spirits about his prospects, and he made 
 me promise to go out to Berea and see his wife during 
 the afternoon. 
 
 S and I had lunch at our hotel, where we found 
 
 a good many more of our party staying, so that we were 
 able to make up two or three tables together. The wait- 
 ing was excellent, the waiters being all Indians, dressed 
 in white and looking delightfully cool and in keeping with 
 the semi-tropical surroundings of the place. 
 
 There was to be a civic reception by the Mayor and 
 Corporation in the Town Hall early in the afternoon, so 
 we walked on there directly we had finished. These 
 receptions were evidently going to be a feature of our
 
 42 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 visit to each South African town. There were hearty 
 addresses of welcome from the Mayor and other speakers, 
 with best wishes that we might enjoy our trip across their 
 continent, to which Professor Darwin cordially responded 
 on our behalf. He repeated his remarks at Cape Town 
 of what his predecessor, Mr. Balfour, had told him of the 
 Imperial importance of the British Association's visit to 
 South Africa. He stated how it was exactly seventy 
 years since the Beagle, with his father on board, had 
 sighted the coast of Natal ; when Durban was only a small 
 village in the hands of the Zulus. His father was anxious 
 to be put ashore that he might make his way on foot, 
 or on horseback, or as he best could, to Cape Town. 
 But it came on to blow, and the high sea prevented the 
 Beagle from sending a boat ashore. He felt that the 
 chances which his father had of getting to Cape Town 
 alive were so slight, that he might say his presence on 
 that platform was literally the result of that puff of wind. 
 
 In connection with this reception, I ought also to men- 
 tion that the Natal Mercury and other newspapers con- 
 tained cordial and appreciative articles about our visit, 
 and the warmth of their remarks gave us all much pleasure 
 when we read them. Their tone can be judged from these 
 concluding words from one article : ' It is an honour we 
 appreciate, a benefit we realize, and a hope that we cherish 
 that the visit will be mutually beneficial.' 
 
 When we left the Town Hall after the reception, we 
 found special electric tram-cars waiting to take us to 
 Musgrave Road, Berea, to the garden-party given to us 
 by Sir Benjamin Greenacre, who was the head of a large 
 business firm in Durban, and one of the leading men of 
 the place. It began to rain just as we started and grew 
 worse as we proceeded, until a heavy downpour seemed
 
 GARDEN PARTY 43 
 
 to hold out small hope of a successful function for that 
 afternoon. It was pouring down fast when we reached 
 our destination, and as we had a fairly long walk from 
 the gates up to the house we were well wetted before 
 shelter was reached. It was pitiful to see us crowding 
 into the nicely carpeted rooms of the house in our be- 
 draggled condition ; but as there was no help for it, we 
 all tried to smile and look pleasant, even if we did not 
 feel so. 
 
 The rain continued all the afternoon and quite prevented 
 us from looking properly over the beautiful grounds, 
 which were full of luxuriant tropical vegetation and flowers 
 new and strange to us. We could see from the house 
 great mango trees full of fruit, oranges and limes, and 
 many other sorts quite foreign and unknown. I did try 
 
 later on to walk round the garden with Miss H under 
 
 our umbrellas, but it was wet work and we soon gave 
 it up. 
 
 At the side of the house was a large room, which had 
 been fitted up as a museum and filled with collections of 
 South African birds and butterflies, and heads and horns 
 of a large number of animals of the antelope type, and 
 also some fine stuffed specimens of lions and other 
 indigenous carnivora. I thought how my boys would 
 have revelled among those cases of butterflies, full of thou- 
 sands of varieties most of them quite new to me. I spent 
 a long time in this museum, greatly interested by every- 
 thing I saw. 
 
 During the afternoon excellent songs were rendered by 
 a quartette, and a band also played in a tent in the 
 grounds. Refreshments were provided on a lavish scale, 
 and, but for the unfortunate weather, the garden-party 
 would have been a great success. As it was all did their
 
 44 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 best to make it so, and in spite of the rain and the wind 
 we managed to enjoy ourselves. 
 
 At four o'clock I left quietly with A after saying 
 
 our adieux to our hosts, and we made our way to C 
 
 B 's house which was only two or three roads further 
 
 on. The rain ceased as we left and the weather remained 
 fine for the rest of the day. 
 
 Mrs. B and her sister, Miss C , were at home, 
 
 and we spent an hour with them, after which we went 
 
 on to see the Rev. Mr. B and his family who lived 
 
 two doors off. They gave us a warm welcome, but I was 
 sorry to find that his wife was no better in health than 
 when in England. Their daughter had quite grown up 
 and she was interested to hear news about my Margaret. 
 We could not stay later than seven, having to be back 
 in time to dress for the lecture that evening in the Town 
 Hall. 
 
 This was given by Professor Freshfield, the subject 
 being The Highest Himalayas, with lantern-slide illus- 
 trations. The slides were excellent, but the show went 
 wrong owing to the breaking of the carrier just at the 
 start, which was the cause of a good deal of unauthorized 
 amusement to the audience, for the pictures had a way of 
 suddenly disappearing, just as the lecturer was in the 
 middle of explaining their details. 
 
 At this lecture the first of a very unnecessary series 
 of distinctions was made in the seating arrangements, the 
 * official ' party being placed on the right of the hall, 
 while the ' unoificials ' were relegated to the left side. 
 This caused much annoyance, because there was absolutely 
 nothing to choose between the two sides, both positions 
 being equally good, while it necessitated the parting of 
 many friends from one another ; and those of the ' unoffi-
 
 LECTURE IN TOWN HALL 45 
 
 cial party ' could not help feeling that they were the goats 
 who must not stay alongside the sheep. The division of 
 our party into these two classes was felt by us to be 
 a purely arbitrary one, made at the instance of goodness 
 knows whom, wrong and invidious in principle, and, if 
 necessary, which we much doubted, should have been 
 tactfully kept out of sight, instead of being accentuated 
 on every possible and unnecessary occasion. 
 
 After the lecture we walked quietly back to our hotel. 
 All the tram-cars were free during our visit, dear little 
 circular passes being given to each of us with the compli- 
 ments of the Durban Corporation. This courtesy was 
 greatly appreciated, although the distances not being 
 great, we did not need to use them much.
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 MOUNT EDGCOMBE SUGAR WORKS ZULU WAR DANCES 
 
 WE had been invited to Mount Edgcombe to see over 
 the sugar estates and works, and also to witness native 
 dances by gatherings of Zulus; so next morning we were 
 early at the station, where a special train was waiting 
 to take us to the place. The Durban cadets were at the 
 station to give us a military send off, and were drawn up 
 fcfr our inspection. They were a smart-looking set of 
 youths, carrying themselves with fine military bearing. 
 These cadet corps have been formed all over South Africa 
 to train the youth of the colonies to habits of discipline, 
 and to form gradually a strong force of men for the 
 defence of their country. It is to be hoped that England 
 will follow the advice of Lord Roberts and do likewise. 
 
 About four miles from Durban the train crossed the 
 Umgeni river, where we saw the bridge, which had been 
 blown down in the late storm, still in ruins. Owing to 
 the fact that we were there near the end of the dry season, 
 the water was very low in the river, although it was swollen 
 somewhat from the rains of the previous day. Later on 
 we passed through extensive tracts of sugar-canes and 
 saw several refining works. 
 
 The journey took us about an hour and a half and was 
 through typical Natalian scenery, hilly and wild; but very 
 beautiful and fresh to us. We saw much vegetation that 
 
 4 6
 
 SUGAR WORKS 47 
 
 was new, for instance aloes in bloom, pine-apple fields 
 just ripening and perfuming the air around with their 
 well-known aroma, nartche trees, bearing a kind of tange- 
 rine orange very nice and sweet, wattles, mango trees, the 
 ibiscus with its lovely red blooms, bananas, bamboos, 
 flamboyants, and the strange and unique kaffir-boom 
 with its brilliant scarlet flowers. This blossoms before the 
 leaves come out, just like our almond and peach-trees, 
 and at the season when we saw them the trees were 
 full of the fresh lovely blooms. Climbing over the stoeps 
 of many houses we saw masses of the beautiful orange 
 creeper, called the golden-shower. 
 
 As we neared Mount Edgcombe, we could perceive 
 several bands of Zulus wending their way among the hills, 
 in all their savagery of war array, towards our meeting- 
 place. They marched in regiments apparently in forma- 
 tion of fours, singing and shouting as they went, with 
 very weird effect. 
 
 The station was decorated with such a profusion of flags, 
 banners and evergreens, that it looked like a bower in a 
 garden, and many officials were waiting to welcome us 
 and take us up to the works. On the way we passed some 
 Zulu women carrying loads on their heads, walking in 
 single file, and looking very picturesque among the thick 
 long grass. Numbers of others stood about watching us 
 with great curiosity, and several companies of men, who 
 had come in from the kraals for the dance, passed us 
 chanting and shouting on their way to the parade-ground. 
 
 We went, first of all, over the sugar works and watched 
 the process of crushing the cane and boiling and refining 
 the syrup. All were most interesting, but occasionally 
 we saw things which made us wish never to eat sugar 
 again; as, for instance, when bare-legged negroes or
 
 48 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 Indians were found standing up to their knees in the 
 immense vats shovelling the dirty-looking sticky mess. 
 
 During the harvest season these works crush 300 tons 
 of cane per day, from which about twenty-six tons of 
 sugar is produced. By the crushing a grey watery fluid 
 was exuded, which then passed through the various pro- 
 cesses of boiling, condensing, cleaning, crystallizing and 
 finishing, until it came out in beautiful white, yellow or 
 brown sugar. The lower grades were made into cubes, 
 or golden syrup, while the refuse was collected into huge 
 tanks and afterwards pumped away and distributed on to 
 the land, forming a most excellent manure. The estate 
 extended over 20,000 acres and employed 250 Kaffirs, 
 1,650 Indian coolies and thirty families of white folks. 
 
 A large quantity of sugar is produced in Natal, the 
 amount for 1904 being 30,000 tons, and the annual export 
 is valued at over ^"340,000. The supply of Kaffir labour 
 being insufficient and not always reliable at the critical 
 times when it is needed, it is largely supplemented by 
 indentured Indian labour. 
 
 After going through the works, it was time to make 
 our way to the ground where the Zulu bands were 
 assembled for their dancing. There we found them 
 drawn up in lines in all their barbaric array of skins, 
 ornaments, feathers, and most wonderful variety of head- 
 dresses. Many wore nothing but bead ornaments round 
 the neck and flaps of leather in front and behind the loins. 
 Others had skins round the necks, arms, loins and knees; 
 while a few of the chiefs were dressed in such fantastic 
 costumes as quite to baffle description. As for their head- 
 dresses, some of these were most marvellous creations of 
 skins and feathers, quite beyond my power to depict, and 
 were grotesque in the extreme.
 
 ZULU WAR DANCES 49 
 
 Their dances were almost equally impossible to describe, 
 for their full meaning, even to sightseers, was difficult to 
 grasp. First the whole line, three or four deep, began to 
 stamp and move about, rhythmically keeping time to a 
 monotonous chant which they all intoned together. While 
 this was going on, the chiefs and braves, one after the 
 other, dashed out of the ranks and went through the pre- 
 tence of sanguinary conflicts with imaginary foes, shout- 
 ing and capering wildly and stabbing with their sticks 
 with devilish ferocity all the time. These pretended 
 conflicts, which probably re-enacted, with what exaggera- 
 tions the doers thought proper, some real encounters in 
 the past, were received by their followers with shouts and 
 expressions of approbation, or groans of dissatisfaction; 
 and this sort of thing went on for an hour or more. 
 
 Some women of the tribes it was said that they were 
 witches or favourite wives of the chiefs pranced mean- 
 while up and down before the ranks, with a peculiar minc- 
 ing gait, their bodies bent half double, and they were 
 supposed to be inciting the warriors to further deeds of 
 skill and bravery. Sometimes the whole line, laying 
 their shields before their bodies, would charge down upon 
 us with shrieks and yells as if about to annihilate our 
 entire party; then would halt a score of feet away and 
 draw back with groans of disgust and fear, as though 
 regretting that they dared not touch us. The effect of 
 this upon our inexperienced nerves was very thrilling. 
 
 The affair needed to be seen to be properly appreciated. 
 I suppose in actual warfare these dances serve to work 
 up the spirit of the men, exciting them to prodigious deeds 
 of valour and emulation. Indeed the men seemed to be 
 excited enough as it was with even this sham display. 
 We felt it was well that the Government had taken 
 4
 
 50 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 away their assegais and curtailed the size of their shields, 
 for after dances of this sort they might be tempted to do 
 some mischief. 
 
 Then the performance ceased and we drew near to the 
 ranks to take some photographs, after which the women 
 formed up into lines and treated us to a dance on their 
 own account. The married ones wore short skirts, and a 
 peculiar head-dress in the form of a pyramid which seemed 
 to be made of their own hair twisted into shape and fixed 
 with a brick-coloured paste into this peculiar red erection. 
 Their figures were not nearly so graceful or symmetrical 
 as were those of the men; they were shorter and stouter, 
 and their great falling breasts and protuberant abdomens 
 decidedly spoilt them from a European point of view. 
 
 The unmarried girls had finer, slenderer and more 
 graceful figures; they had no head-dress, save their own 
 hair, done either in ringlets, or in little twists like tiny 
 spills. Their clothing was conspicuous by its absence; 
 they did not wear skirts like the married women, but 
 contented themselves with loin-straps, or strings of beads 
 around the waist, with small leather or ornamented flaps 
 in front about as large as pocket-books. They were, how- 
 ever, quite modest in their demeanour and movements. I 
 cannot say whether it was owing to their black skins, 
 or their innate modesty, but we all felt that scanty 
 though their clothing was it seemed quite decent and 
 becoming. 
 
 Their dance was the usual stamping of feet and clapping 
 of hands to the accompaniment of monotonous chanting, 
 but it was much slower and tamer than that of the men. 
 Occasionally too, some of their more athletic dancers came 
 out of the ranks and executed fearful and fantastic 
 manoeuvres by themselves in front of the rest, as the men
 
 ZULU WAR DANCES 51 
 
 had done. The whole performance lasted half-an-hour, 
 after which, having taken some more photographs, we 
 adjourned to a large tent where lunch was set out for us. 
 
 There we had by way of contrast a variation in the style 
 of entertainment, for while we were eating, native Chris- 
 tian boys and girls, dressed in European costumes like 
 English school-children, sang hymns and songs to us. 
 They rendered very prettily ' God save the King,' * Home, 
 sweet Home,' and many other simple and well-known 
 airs, for as a rule the natives have fine voices and sing 
 nicely. Of course this was all done to show us the 
 contrast between the heathen and the christianized Zulus, 
 for our host, the Hon. Marshall Campbell, was an ardent 
 believer in and supporter of missions. Afterwards he 
 made a kindly speech welcoming us, and Professor 
 Darwin replied suitably. 
 
 A native missionary then addressed us and in a forcible 
 and humorous speech appealed to us for funds to help on 
 his work in that locality, in the way of starting work- 
 shops for the manufacture of the simple agricultural tools 
 of the natives, where they could do their own work, and 
 so be gradually taught the dignity of labour. This, he 
 argued, should take precedence over all other sorts of 
 teaching in the regeneration of the Kaffirs. He drew a 
 comparison between the simple civilized performance to 
 which we had just listened and the brutal savage display 
 enacted outside, and claimed that these results came from 
 training the children early in life. He alluded to the 
 prejudice there was against the christianized natives and 
 the complaints frequently made by employers against this 
 class of servant; then he passed the whole thing by with 
 a long and humorous anecdote ; but I did not notice that he 
 replied to any of the complaints in an effective way.
 
 5 2 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 However, the point was that he emphasized the necessity 
 of teaching the negroes to work, and so, in aid of this 
 portion of his programme, our party subscribed ^75 before 
 leaving the tent. 
 
 After lunch we went to the Zulu encampment again, 
 where we saw the men cutting up a whole ox for their 
 meal; chopping and hacking off great pieces with long- 
 handled axes a horrid sight until the place looked like 
 a shambles. They roasted the pieces upon sticks over 
 fires on the ground, round which squatted groups of men, 
 eating the meat often half raw. We wandered among 
 them taking photographs, and bargaining for their rings 
 and trinkets, many of which they were quite ready to 
 sell to us. They called a threepenny piece a 'ticky,' and 
 one of these coins would often purchase a copper bracelet 
 such as most of them wore; sixpence or a shilling would 
 buy an anklet or a necklace, while for five shillings a 
 hide shield might be obtained. 
 
 They gave us afterwards more dances, and then, as 
 they were evidently getting very excited, we were advised 
 to leave them and make our way towards our train. On 
 the way I passed an orange garden where the fruit hung 
 in great profusion, and negroes climbed the trees, and 
 showered down upon me lovely oranges and grape fruit, 
 until I could carry no more. I selected a fine 6 ft. length 
 of sugar-cane to bring away as a specimen and then joined 
 the train, where our kind hosts gave us a most hearty 
 send-off. 
 
 Passing again through the lovely scenery of Natal, we 
 reached Durban soon after four o'clock. Leaving our 
 treasures at the hotel, a few of us went by tram-car to 
 the Botanical Gardens, where we wandered about, looking 
 at the wonderful wealth of strange vegetation until it was
 
 DEPARTURE FROM DURBAN 53 
 
 too dark to see more. I had felt most energetic at Mount 
 Edgcombe, but in Durban it was quite fatiguing to walk 
 about. I should imagine it to be rather a relaxing place, 
 at any rate to those coming down from the higher lands 
 of the interior. We were much struck to see, everywhere 
 round Durban, the wonderful redness of the soil. This 
 was particularly striking in the Botanical Gardens, where 
 huge pits excavated in the earth show this rich colour to 
 continue down to a great depth. We saw one pit, at least 
 20 ft. deep, and the earth was as red at the bottom as on 
 the surface. 
 
 After dinner we went to the lecture delivered -in the 
 Town Hall by Professor Herdman on Marine Zoology. 
 It was interesting, but I was very tired and sleepy; 
 so I went to my hotel as soon as I could, and to bed 
 early. 
 
 This brought our delightful but all too short stay at 
 Durban to a close, for the first thing next morning we 
 were found assembled at the station, saying ' good-bye ' 
 to our hosts, the Mayor and Corporation, who shook hands 
 and wished us a pleasant trip up-country. Here we found 
 waiting for us our special trains, A, B, C and D, for which 
 tickets had been allotted in Cape Town. 
 
 The carriages were all first-class, roomy and very com- 
 fortable; there were four sleeping-berths in our carriage, 
 but, as I have already mentioned, the fourth was to be 
 reserved for our hand baggage and our clothes, when 
 we undressed. We found this extra room very useful 
 during our journey, and were more fortunate than some 
 of our companions in this respect, for many of the other 
 carriages had their full complement of four passengers. 
 The trains were all on the corridor plan, so that we could 
 visit one another and make our duty and pleasure calls
 
 54 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 whenever we liked; we found this intermingling and 
 companionship very agreeable as time went on. 
 
 The carriages had open platforms at each end, where 
 several could sit or stand, and these platforms became our 
 gathering places when we wished to meet, as the weather 
 grew hotter. Each train had two dining-saloons, which, 
 when meals were not about, were turned into reading and 
 writing- rooms for our use. And so, comfortably stowed 
 away, and in the best possible spirits, we started on our 
 long journey through South Africa. After the D train 
 there followed on another, bringing all our luggage, stores 
 and provisions for the way. 
 
 The trains left Durban at intervals of half-an-hour, in the 
 order of their letters, we being in the third or C train. We 
 passed through some lovely country, seeing numbers of 
 natives at work in the fields. The scenery was very hilly 
 and in many places the land was covered with millions of 
 loose stones or small boulders, which gave it a barren and 
 good-for-nothing appearance. I understood, however, that 
 the soil was really extremely prolific when cleared and 
 cultivated. But all through the day, especially on the slopes 
 of the mountains, I think I never saw so many stones 
 before in my life. As our journey continued, I found 
 this to be a feature over the greater part of South Africa. 
 
 There were no tunnels and very few embankments, the 
 gradients were exceptionally steep, many of them being as 
 much as one in thirty. The sharp curves were a striking 
 feature on the railway, so that the trains wandered round 
 and round the same point as they rose to higher and 
 higher levels; and once we could see both the B train 
 in front and the D train behind us in sight together, 
 although half-an-hour in time separated each train. It 
 was strange to see us thus looking at one another from
 
 JOURNEY TO PIETERMARITZBURG 55 
 
 different levels on the same range of mountains. In all, 
 we rose 3,054 ft. above sea-level, until we reached within 
 thirteen miles of Pietermaritzburg, when we dropped 
 i,oooft. to that town. I learned that only ten per cent, 
 of the line was on level ground. 
 
 I must say a few words about the scenery en route, 
 for some of it was very striking and beautiful. The train, 
 soon after leaving Berea suburb, began to climb an ascent 
 known as 'Jacob's Ladder,' towards an eminence called 
 ' Sea View,' where a most magnificent glimpse was 
 obtained of the country with its bush-clad hills and the 
 open sea beyond. Then we passed Pinetown, where there 
 was a noted monastery of the Trappist monks, one of the 
 largest missionary institutions in South Africa, devoted 
 to training the natives to work. 
 
 Shortly after this the train rose higher and higher, 
 giving still wider views of the densely-foliaged valleys and 
 plains, while the sea was still in sight, looking calm and 
 peaceful a great way off. Then passing Palmiet a few 
 beautiful little waterfalls were seen, and later some magni- 
 ficent gorges or kloofs appeared between the mountains, 
 while dense forests covered these great rifts in the earth. 
 Then the beautiful and awe-inspiring ' Valley of a Thou- 
 sand Hills ' broke upon our astonished view. There the 
 scenery baffled description, it was wild and romantic in 
 the extreme, and worth a journey to Natal to see. 
 
 Next we passed Tchanga, about half-way to Pieter- 
 maritzburg, where at refreshment rooms excellent meals 
 could be obtained ; we were, however, provided for in this 
 way, and so made only a short stay there. An hour 
 and a half later, we reached our destination and entered 
 the large and fine town of Pietermaritzburg, the capital 
 of Natal. There we were met at the station by members
 
 5 6 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 of the reception committee, who quickly placed us in the 
 many waiting carriages, and we were at once driven to our 
 hotels. I was located at the ' Horse-shoe ' on the main 
 street, and about a mile from the station. It was a large 
 place, quite in the centre of the town, and tram-cars to all 
 parts ran by the door. 
 
 I missed my friends S and T S , who were 
 
 located at the Sanatorium, where they were waited upon 
 and attended to by nuns, but I was with my friend Mr. 
 H from Accrington. 
 
 The garden-party given by Sir H. E. McCullum, 
 G.C.M.G., the Governor of Natal, was fixed for four 
 o'clock at the Government House, so, having more than 
 
 an hour to spare, H and I went on to the Public 
 
 Gardens, and on the way saw a good deal of the town, 
 which we much admired. The situation was high and 
 open, while the air was very fresh, invigorating and 
 bracing, and in fact we felt the cold considerably after 
 our change from the lower level of Durban. 
 
 At four o'clock we went to Government House, where 
 a great many residents were met to welcome us, and there 
 we made a large crowd. The refreshments were on a 
 liberal scale, but the crushing made it difficult at times to 
 get served. The situation of the garden was high and 
 exposed, and while there we felt the cold more than 
 ever. Afterwards a party of us went out by tram 
 to the Botanical Gardens, where we arrived just as it was 
 beginning to get dusk; we had time only to walk quickly 
 round the grounds before the darkness came on, which it 
 did very rapidly in this latitude. 
 
 In the evening we went to the Town Hall, in which 
 building also our reception-room was situated. The 
 place was erected in 1898, and the hall was said to hold
 
 LECTURE IN TOWN HALL 57 
 
 2,000 people, and it was packed on this occasion to its 
 utmost capacity by a very interested and influential 
 audience, to listen to a lecture given by Colonel Bruce, 
 F.R.S., upon the Sleeping Sickness. He made it very 
 clear how closely this strange disease in man is allied to 
 the equally strange tetse-fly disease in horses and kindred 
 animals. He traced them both to similar parasites known 
 as trypanosoma, screw-like bodies due to the bites of the 
 tetse fly, and showed how the disease had come into 
 Uganda from the Congo territory, and how it spread along 
 the north-eastern shores of Lake Victoria Nyanza, hang- 
 ing chiefly about the swampy regions where this trouble- 
 some fly abounds. He explained what a terrible disease 
 it was, and how it had already swept off hundreds of 
 thousands of victims. 
 
 The lecture was illustrated by many slides, and was of 
 a deeply interesting character. Now that so much has 
 been found out, it is to be hoped that something may be 
 done towards the extermination of the disease. It has 
 been already noticed that by draining certain swampy 
 districts the fly has been banished and the activity of the 
 dreadful scourge lessened in those parts. 
 
 After the lecture there was a conversazione and supper 
 in some of the up-stair rooms, to which, however, I did 
 not go, as the hour was late and I felt greatly in need of 
 bed. So I returned to the hotel, and read some news- 
 papers before retiring. They were all full of paragraphs 
 of our arrival, and their leading articles warmly welcomed 
 us to Pietermaritzburg, as the papers in Cape Town and 
 Durban had previously done. This warmth of hospitality 
 was very gratifying, and it added much to the pleasure 
 of our trip. 
 
 We left Pietermaritzburg next morning in two special
 
 58 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 trains for the native location at Henley, where we were 
 to witness some more dances by a large gathering of tribes^ 
 and also to see the unique ceremony of a wedding per- 
 formed with all the strange and primitive rites of the Zulu 
 people. On our journey we passed through open hilly 
 scenery, something like that of the previous day, the train 
 steaming its way along the slopes of the mountains, wind- 
 ing in and out up to higher levels, as we went right into 
 the very heart of the country where the location was 
 situated. 
 
 Many natives were seen along the route of the railway, 
 and large parties of them were walking, driving, or riding 
 to the place of meeting. The occasion was evidently 
 considered by them to be a very special one, as the dances 
 and rites were to be performed in the presence of Sir 
 H. E. McCullum, the Governor, who, by right of his 
 office, was the supreme chief of all the tribes.
 
 3 
 
 H "
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 ZULU WEDDING AT HENLEY 
 
 IMAGINE a little wayside station, standing alone in a 
 valley, surrounded by the great hills of Natal. This was 
 Henley, where the train presently deposited us. We 
 seemed to be in a natural amphitheatre, but from the crests 
 of the hills a fine view of the great Table Mountain by 
 Pietermaritzburg could be seen. These flat-topped moun- 
 tains were quite features of South Africa and we saw a 
 great many during our journey across the continent. 
 
 A short walk brought us to the meeting-place where a 
 large number of natives had already gathered, and by the 
 time our second train had unloaded its passengers, the 
 tribes were ready to begin the day's proceedings. Seated 
 upon forms, or lying at ease upon the ground, the members 
 of the British Association in a great half circle were wait- 
 ing in interested expectancy, with the Governor in the 
 centre arid Professor Darwin on his right, while on his 
 left sat Mrs. Darwin and Sir David Gill. 
 
 The ceremony began by the chief Umveli and his tribe 
 marching on to the ground, and forming in line several 
 deep in front of us. First came their salute to the 
 Governor a peculiarly wild greeting when they all bent 
 low to the earth, and then straightened themselves quickly, 
 
 59
 
 60 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 uttering at the same time a strange, hissing noise, as 
 though they all were drawing in or letting out their breath 
 forcibly through their teeth. This changed to a shout as 
 they stood upright again and lifted their sticks high in 
 the air. In a real war dance assegais would be used, but 
 on this occasion they had to content themselves with sticks 
 instead. 
 
 The salute was repeated several times before they settled 
 down to their dance a wild, barbaric affair, but very 
 impressive to the accompaniment of monotonous chant- 
 ing and clapping of hands and beating of tomtoms. 
 It was very similar to that we had seen at Mount Edg- 
 combe; but on account of the greater importance of the 
 gathering, there were a larger number of chiefs and 
 headmen present, with a more wonderful display of 
 savage costumes. It would be impossible to attempt to 
 describe these with any hope of making myself intellig- 
 ible, for they were varied, wild and picturesque in the 
 extreme, hardly two being alike. Fortunately our photo- 
 graphers were busy with their cameras, and we were able to 
 bring away some pictures of the chiefs who danced before 
 us. Most of the rank and file wore very little clothing, 
 having only sundry styles of loin-bands to which were 
 attached squares of leather or skins hanging loose in 
 front and behind. 
 
 After the dance was over, Umveli came forward with 
 his headmen to be photographed; then he and his tribe 
 marched off, and taking up their places on our right 
 remained as spectators of the evolutions of rival tribes 
 which were to follow on. 
 
 The chief Laduma and his people came next and saluted 
 as Umveli and his tribe had done, after which they per- 
 formed a dance worthy to rank in interest with that we
 
 ZULU WEDDING 61 
 
 had just witnessed. This chief and his headmen were 
 also photographed in their turn, but did not seem to 
 relish the proceeding, and were evidently uneasy while it 
 was being done. It certainly was an ordeal to have some 
 hundreds of cameras levelled all at once upon them ; especi- 
 ally if they had even the faintest idea of the caricatures of 
 their noble selves which would afterwards be produced by 
 their photographers. The snapshotting being over, 
 Laduma and his tribe withdrew to our right and rear to 
 watch the further proceedings. 
 
 Now began the chief event of the day, which was the 
 marriage of the hereditary Chief Mhlola, of the Inade 
 tribe, a large and powerful gathering of approximately 
 7,429 people living in 1,748 huts. This chief's party 
 came forward, saluting as the others had done, and per- 
 formed a dance, after which Mhlola sat on the ground, 
 nearly nude, and awaited the approach of the bride's 
 party. These came in their turn, and, forming into a long 
 line, took up their positions some distance off, facing the 
 bridegroom and his men. There were a large number of 
 women with the bride's party, and these stood in ranks 
 by themselves on the left of the men. 
 
 Another dance, similar to those we had already seen, 
 was now gone through by the long line of Zulus represent- 
 ing the bridegroom, and after this was over, they squatted 
 on the ground, while the orator of the tribe came forth from 
 the ranks. This man marched up and down between the 
 two parties, declaiming in Zulu, with a magnificent flow 
 of language and fine emphasis and expression, the great 
 deeds of his tribe and his chief. He certainly was a 
 splendid orator, and although we could not understand 
 a word he said, we were delighted with his eloquence, and 
 it was a pleasure to hear him thus holding forth, as he
 
 62 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 marched so proudly up and down the long lines of 
 listeners. 
 
 The virtues of the chief and tribe must have been mani- 
 fold, for he continued speaking for nearly half-an-hour, 
 after which he retired while the bride's people took up 
 their share of the performance. These treated us to a 
 dance and their orator declaimed their virtues in eloquent 
 language, reciting the deeds of his tribe just as the other 
 had done. Both men were fine speakers, but the first was 
 far and away the better orator. 
 
 Then it came to the turn of the women to perform a 
 dance before the bridegroom, who all this time had 
 remained seated on the ground. So far the bride had not 
 shown herself; but as the women's dance ended, she came 
 forward, accompanied by three bridesmaids, and the four 
 approached Mhlola, crouching under the shelter of open 
 umbrellas as they advanced. The bride raised the bride- 
 groom from the ground, dressed him in his skins and 
 feathers, and seated him on a chair. Then after perform- 
 ing a short dance before him the four fell back again into 
 the ranks of their comrades, and the whole party of girls 
 retired to their original position. 
 
 While this was going on two young girls advanced to- 
 ward us, carrying jars of Kaffir beer upon their heads. 
 These they deposited on the ground in front of the 
 Governor, and sitting down, each took a good long drink 
 from her jar before handing any to us. They evidently 
 enjoyed the drink; but it was also a mark of hospitality to 
 taste first and was intended to show the guests that the 
 brew was pure and unpoisoned and no treachery was 
 meditated. After this, it was poured out into glasses and 
 handed to Professor Darwin and the rest of us to sample. 
 The beer was of a dirty milk colour, rather thick, and
 
 ZULU WEDDING 63 
 
 of a sour taste, and it required some getting used to 
 before it could be properly appreciated. I contented 
 myself with a very modest draught of it. 
 
 The agent of the bridegroom, usually a brother or rela- 
 tive, whose business it was to arrange the amount of the 
 lobolo, or marriage consideration, now stepped forward 
 and showed his acquiescence in the proceedings by a little 
 dance of his own. This finished, the bride presented him 
 with an umbrella and gave the same to each of his three 
 companions. 
 
 All the morning the lobolo had been standing in full 
 view of the whole assembly. This varies according to the 
 rank of the bride. In this case it was ten oxen, which the 
 bridegroom had to pay to her father, as her purchase price, 
 while he in his turn presented the customary gifts to the 
 bridegroom. The bride also brought a number of presents 
 and laid them at her husband's feet; a curious assortment 
 consisting of a kitchen chair, a small German lamp, a few 
 tin pots and a mysterious bundle or two. I believe they 
 were for his mother and other women of his household. 
 
 So far this had all been ceremonial, but now the legal 
 part of the marriage had to be performed. The question 
 was put to the bride by the Commissioner for Native Affairs 
 whether she was marrying Mhlola of her own free will, to 
 which she replied in a clear, loud voice which we could 
 all hear, ' Yes, I love him, ten oxen have been given for 
 me,' as though the amount of her price was something 
 to be proud of. This was of course spoken in Zulu, 
 which we did not understand, but it was translated to us 
 by the interpreter. The bridegroom also had to signify 
 his consent, all this being to carry out the laws of the 
 land that no one, black or white, should be married, except 
 by their own consent.
 
 64 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 Now took place a very exciting incident, for the bride 
 suddenly rushed away as though trying to escape, and 
 several young girls of the bridegroom's party rushed after 
 and brought her back. This must be a survival from the 
 old custom of marriage by capture, and its present use 
 was for the purpose of ascertaining whether the bride- 
 groom's people really desired the girl to become one of 
 them. If they failed to pursue and bring her back, 
 she was evidently not wanted and in such a case would 
 have to go home unmarried. However, as it turned out, the 
 lady was promptly caught before she had gone very far, 
 and then she was arrayed in a fine leopard's skin, the 
 mark of the rank to which she had attained as mother of 
 her husband's tribe, and a gorgeous arrangement of cock's 
 feathers was put on her head. One of our ladies went 
 forward and threw round her neck a gold chain, a wedding- 
 present with which she was immensely delighted. 
 
 The real marriage dances then began by both parties 
 in full dress for in the meantime they had arrayed them- 
 selves in all their finest profusion of skins and feathers. 
 While these were being performed and they seemed likely 
 to be interminable we beat a hasty trek to the refresh- 
 ment tents for luncheon as it was nearly two o'clock. 
 Owing to the somewhat limited accommodation for such 
 a number of visitors, there was a good deal of scrambling 
 before our creature comforts were satisfied, especially in 
 the matter of drink, for the day had been sunny and hot 
 and our throats were dry and parched, in spite of the 
 Kaffir beer with which the two dusky damsels had supplied 
 us. 
 
 However, we were all served in time, and afterwards 
 made our way back to the ground where the perform- 
 ances were still going on and seemed to bid fair to
 
 ZULU GIRLS CARRYING KAFFIR UEER
 
 RETURN TO PIETERMARITZBURG 65 
 
 last for the rest of the day and probably far into the night. 
 The Kaffir thoroughly appreciates an affair of this kind, 
 and whenever he can get a chance he will make the most 
 of it. 
 
 I have described the incidents of this wedding as well 
 as I can from my memory of the very bewildering pro- 
 ceedings which we saw, many of which were difficult for 
 us to follow intelligently; and I have been helped in my 
 description by referring to the printed leaflets which were 
 distributed to us for our guidance. We had also the 
 assistance of the interpreter, who explained many things 
 that puzzled us. I think the order of events was such 
 as I have described them; but if I have misplaced any 
 I have done so by trusting to the paper rather than to my 
 memory. 
 
 The trains were now whistling for our return, so we 
 made our way back to the station, and soon afterwards 
 left for Pietermaritzburg. As we went past the ground 
 where the dancing was still going on, the Zulus gave us 
 a hearty send-off in their wild and noisy way. 
 
 In Pietermaritzburg the Legislative Chamber had been 
 placed at our service as a writing-room, and there I spent 
 the rest of the day to finish my home letters. 
 
 At dinner in the hotel we were joined by some members 
 of our party who had not been to Henley, but who had 
 taken one or other of the excursions also arranged for 
 us by the town. One of these was to the Government 
 Experimental Farm at Cedera, and another to the Govern- 
 ment Laboratory at Allerton, while a third was to the 
 Town Bush Valley Nurseries. All had been exceedingly 
 interesting and instructive, and I wished I could have 
 spared the time to take them also. However, four trips 
 in one day would have been impossible, and I was very 
 5
 
 66 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 well satisfied with the Henley excursion and its unique 
 experiences. 
 
 The evening's lecture in the Town Hall was given by 
 Mr. H. D. Ferrar, a member of our Association, who 
 was also an old Natalian boy; which fact the chairman 
 proudly announced to the gathering. He had been a 
 member of the Antarctic exploration party in H.M.S. 
 Discovery, and gave us a most interesting lecture, with 
 lantern-slide illustrations, upon the experiences of that 
 remarkable voyage. At the close of the lecture there was 
 a conversazione and supper as on the preceding night. 

 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 COLENSO, LADYSMITH AND THE BATTLEFIELDS 
 
 ON Saturday, August 26, we left Pietermaritzburg on 
 our journey to Colenso and the battlefields. Again we 
 had the same hearty send-off as at Durban, the Mayor 
 and chief officials being at the station to wish us good 
 speed. 
 
 The trains immediately began to climb some steep 
 gradients through very interesting country. We passed 
 the site of the Boer refugee camp on our right, and Fort 
 Napier on our left, and then the military cemetery with 
 its numbers of small white crosses came into view. We 
 were to see many more of these last resting-places of our 
 brave soldiers before the day was over. Afterwards we 
 crossed the river Umgeni and saw the village of Howick, 
 beautifully, situated among the hills. There were the 
 celebrated falls of the Umgeni, where the river dashes 
 over a precipice 360 feet deep, but our trains did not bring 
 us within sight of them; while some ten miles further up 
 the river were other falls known as the ' Kar Kloof,' which 
 were said to equal the Howick ones, and which formed a 
 series of beautiful cascades with an aggregate descent of 
 350 ft. All this part of the country is well worth a visit. 
 
 Next we passed Nottingham Road, the farthest southern 
 point to which the raiding Boers penetrated, during the 
 war. From there away to our left could be seen the mighty 
 
 67
 
 68 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 Drakensberg mountains, with their two famous castles 
 ' Giant ' and ' Champagne ' clearly discernible. 
 
 Later on we crossed the Mooi river, which may be 
 considered the beginning of the country where the great 
 scenes of the war were enacted. A short distance further 
 we saw the great level plains about Frere, where General 
 Duller had his head-quarters, and about Chieveley, where 
 the English camp was formed. There abundant traces of 
 our army's occupation could be detected in the well-worn 
 veldt still quite bare of grass or vegetation. 
 
 Close by we came to another military cemetery, also 
 with its familiar little white crosses which marked the 
 soldiers' graves. At one corner of this burial-place was a 
 larger and finer cross in white marble, beneath which lay 
 the body of Lieutenant the Hon. F. H. S. Roberts, V.C., 
 the only son of Lord Roberts, who fell mortally wounded 
 at Colenso, in a gallant attempt to save the guns. The 
 train steamed very slowly past this cemetery, in order 
 that we might obtain a good view of it. 
 
 From this point onwards, for mile after mile on either 
 side of the railway, we could see the well-worn track along 
 which our soldiers had marched towards the formidable 
 obstacles which held them up so long before Ladysmith. 
 
 We passed through the cutting where our armoured 
 train had been derailed, and the defenders, including 
 Winston Churchill then a war correspondent captured. 
 It did not look like a spot where there should have been 
 any likelihood of disaster, for only a very low kopje, close 
 to the left of the railway, could give any shelter to a 
 concealed enemy. But we learned as we proceeded how 
 the Boers were everywhere past masters in the art of 
 surprises, and could bring off big captures in the most 
 unexpected places.
 
 COLENSO 69 
 
 More cemeteries with their graves and small crosses, or 
 with often one great grave in which many bodies had 
 been buried together, were passed further on. They were 
 in beautiful condition, for all were tenderly looked after 
 and cared for by the ' Guild of Loyal Women.' 
 
 At three o'clock we reached Colenso, where our trains 
 drew up on sidings on the actual battlefield. There we 
 were to remain until the next morning, so that we might 
 have plenty of time to see all over the historic site, where 
 was fought perhaps the most fateful conflict of the whole 
 war. Colenso itself could scarcely be called even a village, 
 only a few scattered houses, mostly of galvanized iron, 
 dotted the veldt, and no business seemed to be going on. 
 But for the accommodation that our trains afforded, we 
 should have been obliged to sleep on the open ground, for 
 other shelter there was none. 
 
 An old soldier volunteered to act as guide, and we were 
 taken over the battlefield, and the spot where Colonel 
 Long's guns were lost was pointed out. We saw the 
 donga close by, from the shelter of which our brave 
 gunners were shot down by the hidden Boers. We won- 
 dered how any troops in the world could take up such 
 an exposed position without first scouting fifty yards to 
 their right among the only trees on the field, to see if the 
 coast were clear. Such neglect was not to the credit of 
 those in charge of the guns, and it seemed incredible 
 to us. 
 
 The veldt was still bare of grass where the guns had 
 stood and the brave gunners fell, and close by was the 
 obelisk which marked the spot where Lieutenant Roberts 
 dropped mortally wounded. 
 
 Millions of great ants were running about all over the 
 ground, and they crawled on our boots as we stood or
 
 70 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 walked. During the day we had seen thousands of the 
 curious mounds which these creatures raise on the ground, 
 in most cases about three feet high; but later on in 
 Rhodesia we were to find them very much larger stilll. 
 
 From the battlefield we could see Hlangwane Hill, about 
 two miles away, and five or six of us started off to walk 
 to it and clamber up its steep and toilsome ascent to the 
 top. It was a difficult climb and we shuddered to think 
 of our poor soldiers having to storm up such places, with 
 their arms and accoutrements, in the face of the murderous 
 rifle-fire from the Boer trenches at the summit, and we 
 felt that the men must indeed have been, as General 
 Duller described them, ' splendid.' We came across one 
 very fine trench near the top where the Boers, in perfect 
 safety themselves, could pick off our men as they 
 approached. On the summit we saw the stone walls they 
 had raised as protections round their camp. 
 
 On Hlangwane Hill I got up a small aloe by its roots, 
 and was successful in bringing it home to England unin- 
 jured, and it is now flourishing in my conservatory, a 
 memento of this historic hill. 
 
 As we returned, we paid a visit to a Kaffir kraal at the 
 foot, and saw in one hut a woman grinding Indian corn, 
 or mealies as it was called, which formed the staple food of 
 the natives. The method of grinding was quite primi- 
 tive and was performed by rolling one stone backward 
 and forward over another which was larger and slightly 
 hollowed, the grain being placed between them; with the 
 result that a fairly clean and fine flour was produced. 
 
 The natives were cheerful and friendly and welcomed 
 us cordially; they did not rise to greet us, but uttered 
 gome words while remaining squatting on the ground. 
 They spoke of course in their own language, but it was
 
 COLENSO 71 
 
 quite easy to know what they meant, especially when, 
 lifting the right hand above the head, they thanked us 
 volubly for the gift of small silver coins. One old 
 woman seeing how amused we were at this, repeated the 
 thanks time after time, laughing heartily as she did so. 
 The huts were small and dark, wood fires burnt in the 
 centre, the smoke finding its way out somehow at the 
 top. 
 
 We had literally to crawl in, for the entrances were not 
 more than three feet high, and when once inside it took a 
 few minutes to get accustomed to the gloom before the occu- 
 pants could be seen. Three visitors at a time incon- 
 veniently crowded these little dwellings, and there was 
 not much room for us to stand upright. Usually a small 
 enclosed stockade surrounded each hut, or at any rate pre- 
 vented direct approach to the entrance. At one of these 
 places I procured a gourd large enough to make a water 
 bottle, while S - obtained a small one of the size com- 
 monly used by the natives for holding snuff, of which 
 they are very fond. They work these snuff-boxes over with 
 beads in various patterns, and wear them hanging on 
 chains round their necks. 
 
 It was quite dark by the time we rejoined our C train, 
 and there found to our great delight that the letters from 
 England, addressed to Ladysmith, had been sent on to 
 us at Colenso, so that we received them a day earlier 
 than the expected time. This was good news, and was 
 one of the many little acts of courtesy shown to us every- 
 where by the authorities. 
 
 After dinner I took a starlight walk over the battlefield 
 and thought, as I strolled about, of all the terrible deeds 
 that had been done there only five years ago. Now every- 
 thing looked so tranquil, hardly a breath of air was stirring,
 
 72 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 the vault of heaven blazed with its myriad silent orbs; 
 there was such an air of utter peacefulness over all this 
 ' out of the world ' spot, that I found it at first difficult to 
 realize the ghastly horrors of war that had been enacted 
 there. 
 
 I grew sentimental and poetical, with the following 
 results, which though scarcely applicable to this particular 
 battle, nevertheless I here set down 
 
 THE DEMON OF WAR 
 
 Gay are the banners that float on the air; 
 
 The people are shouting ; the loud trumpets blare ; 
 
 For the news has come from the distant shore 
 
 That fortune has favoured ^our arms in the war. 
 
 The streets are ablaze with bonfire and glare : 
 
 Glad are the cheers that ring on the air. 
 And aloud in his glee laughed the Demon of War, 
 " Who so honoured and feted as I am, ha ! ha ! " 
 
 " On the wings of the wind I have sped from the scene, 
 
 Where the red blood of murder has stained the fair green ; 
 
 Where hearts that at morning beat careless and high, 
 
 Now silenced for ever, all passionless lie, 
 
 I have sped with the news of the victory won, 
 
 To witness the mirth of the joy-maddened town, 
 
 The bonfires, and banners, and glare, ha ! ha ! 
 
 Who so worshipped and served as the Demon of War?" 
 
 He flew through the land 'mid the revels of night, 
 But all who beheld him shrank back with affright ; 
 From home after home on the cold midnight air 
 He heard, as he entered, the cry of despair, 
 He entered so many, so few he went past, 
 On the morrow the country in mourning was cast. 
 And the waitings for loved ones, that followed him far, 
 Were but laughter and mirth for the Demon of War. 
 
 We retired to bed about ten, and the night being calm 
 and warm, all the windows of our carriage were left open 
 for air and ventilation. But very suddenly, soon after
 
 THE BATTLEFIELDS 73 
 
 midnight, a gale of wind sprang up for everything 
 seemed to happen suddenly and unexpectedly in this 
 strange land of extremes and I was nearly blown out of 
 my berth; for I was on the top one, and on the side 
 that received the full force of the blast. I tried to shut 
 some of the windows, but found that impossible, for the 
 beds had been drawn out across them and they could not 
 be got at without waking up my two companions in the 
 lower berths. This effectually upset my night's rest, and 
 when morning came, instead of rising early as I had 
 intended, I felt heavy and dozed on until seven o'clock. 
 
 The wind subsided before dawn, as suddenly as it rose, 
 and the morning was sunny and warm when I stepped 
 
 out of the carriage. S had already gone to explore 
 
 Fort Wylie, as arranged overnight ; but it was too late to 
 follow him, so I walked as far as the Tugela wagon 
 bridge, which had been broken down during the war 
 by the Boers and still remained unrepaired. What little 
 water there was in the river was so low that I could easily 
 have waded across the stream with little more than wet 
 boots; but it was scarcely necessary even to risk this, 
 for on the other side, bare and uninteresting, stretched a 
 long expanse of flat open veldt. Close to the bridge a 
 small white mosque of picturesque appearance was just ap- 
 proaching completion, built for the Indians who seemed 
 to be the chief residents in the neighbourhood. 
 
 We breakfasted at half-past eight, and soon after were 
 ready to start off for Ladysmith. The trains had been 
 ordered to steam slowly, so that we might have plenty of 
 time to inspect the historic scenes of so much terrible 
 righting. We soon crossed over the Tugela railway bridge 
 and saw to our right the steep frowning Hlangwane Hill, 
 which we had ascended the previous day, then Monte
 
 74 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 Christo came into view, while on the left we saw Grobelaars 
 and Hart's Hill. Near by were the twin mountains, called 
 from their peculiar appearance Sheba's Breasts, and well 
 they deserved their name. 
 
 As we ascended Hart's Hill, we could see in front of 
 us to the right the scene of that last terrible conflict, 
 Pieter's Hill, the capture of which relieved Ladysmith. 
 It was marked by a monument on its summit. 
 
 We then came to Umbulwana Station, close to the hill 
 of that name, where the Boers had their famous Long 
 Tom, which did so much mischief. There, also, Lombard's 
 Kop and Gun Hill came into view, while close by was 
 the ' Intombi ' cemetery with its many small white crosses 
 marking the soldiers' graves. In the distance, right in 
 front, down in the valley, Ladysmith could be seen, and 
 soon after crossing the Klip river we arrived in the town. 
 
 We were now at the scene of one of the greatest sieges 
 of modern history, in a great plain surrounded by the 
 historic hills of Lombard's Kop, Gun Hill, Caesar's Camp, 
 Wagon Hill, Observation Hill and the other eminences 
 forming the British lines of defence. 
 
 We were at once driven to Wagon Hill and Caesar's 
 Camp, the scenes of the terrific fighting of January 6, 
 1900. The Manchester Regiment were holding the hill, 
 when they were surprised by the Boers under General 
 Villiers and in one of their small sangars all the defenders 
 were killed to a man. Their cemeteries dotted the fields and 
 a stone marked the scene of the disaster. 
 
 The English troops recaptured the position owing to a 
 splendid charge made by the Devon Regiment, who drove 
 the Boers precipitously over the steep brow of the hill. 
 Villiers was killed, and the slaughter on both sides was 
 great; but it was a necessary sacrifice of life, for if the
 
 LADYSMITH 75 
 
 place had been permanently held by the Boers, it so 
 entirely dominated Ladysmith that the town must have 
 fallen. We picked up on the battlefield several bullets 
 and a piece of a burst shell fired from the Boer gun ' Long 
 Tom ' on Umbulwana. 
 
 In the distance, but quite clearly visible, stood, solitary 
 and bare, the famous hill known as Spion Kop. With our 
 glasses we could see the monuments on its summit, and, 
 viewing it as we did from Wagon Hill, we were able to 
 form a correct idea of its dominating position to Lady- 
 smith. There can be no doubt that had our generals 
 decided to hold it on that fatal morning when they seized 
 it, the siege must at once have been raised, and, indeed, 
 the Boers had already begun to vacate their positions. 
 Our guides told us of the consternation and despair that 
 prevailed in Ladysmith, when its gallant defenders, who 
 had watched the struggle with ever-growing hopes, saw 
 our troops begin their calamitous retreat. If ever they 
 lost heart during all the terrible time, they lost it on that 
 day. 
 
 Driving back to Ladysmith, we passed the cairn which 
 marked the spot where Lieutenant-Colonel Dick-Conyng- 
 ham fell mortally wounded. It was well under the shelter 
 of the hill on the town side and seemed to be a place that 
 should have been quite beyond danger. We saw many 
 underground bomb-proof shelters, which had been left 
 undisturbed since the siege. In these places the non- 
 combatants, and especially the women and children, took 
 refuge, whenever the shell firing grew too hot for safety. 
 The roofs of these shelters were covered over with great 
 stones, millions of which lay about all over the ground, 
 for Ladysmith was one of the stoniest places I had seen so 
 far in this very stony country.
 
 76 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 Round the chancel of All Saints church were a large 
 number of panels, all full of names of fallen heroes of 
 the terrible fighting; we passed there on our way back to 
 the town and spent some time in its gratefully cool shade, 
 looking at these mementos of the war. 
 
 The driver of our Cape cart was a young Natalian 
 farmer living near Ladysmith, and with him, on a bicycle, 
 we had had the company and guidance of a friend of his. 
 They had both lived in the town during the siege, and 
 were able from personal knowledge to give us much useful 
 information, and to point out everything of interest that 
 was to be seen in the place. They certainly had done 
 their best to make our morning a pleasant and instructive 
 one, so we asked them both to lunch with us at the Royal 
 Hotel, and after the meal we all walked across to the 
 Town Hall opposite, to see the damage done to the build- 
 ing during the siege. 
 
 A shell had struck the clock-tower and knocked a great 
 part of it away, and it had been left in the same condition 
 ever since, only slight repairs having been made to render 
 what remained of it safe. I believe that it is intended to 
 do nothing further to it, but to let it remain as it is, 
 an object of great interest to visitors, and a memento of 
 Ladysmith 's darkest hours. We could see the protruding 
 end of a shell, deeply buried in the front wall of the Town 
 Hall, which had struck and penetrated where we saw it, 
 but had failed to explode. Many such shells, still buried 
 in the walls, were also to be seen in other parts of the 
 town. 
 
 In front of this building stood two howitzers, obsolete 
 guns which had been found in Cape Colony and rushed 
 up to Ladysmith, for what they were worth, just before 
 the siege began. Old as they were however, they did good
 
 LADYSMITH 77 
 
 service in the defence of the place; they were effective at 
 short ranges, and it is believed that they were actually 
 the cause of General Joubert's death. They had been 
 set up on a slope of Wagon Hill, on November 28, and 
 when the Boer 6 in. gun began to fire they replied. 
 General Joubert was there to watch the effect of his gun, 
 and the return fire from these howitzers came as a 
 surprise to him, as it was not known to the Boers that 
 they were there. Their third shot fell right among the 
 enemy, so startling them that Joubert's horse reared over 
 on him and he received the internal injuries from which 
 he never recovered. He was a brave and high-minded 
 foe, and the English felt his loss almost as much as the 
 Boers did. 
 
 The great defect of these howitzers was that they used 
 black powder, and their positions, owing to the smoke, 
 could always be located, so they had to be continually 
 moved about, for they always became objects of the 
 enemy's unwelcome attentions. 
 
 In the Town Hall, by the forethought of the Corpora- 
 tion, were displayed on tables a large quantity of spent 
 and burst ammunition, pieces of shells, shrapnel, etc., 
 collected from the town and surrounding battlefields, and 
 we were invited to take what we liked away with us. I 
 selected a number of spent bullets and cartridge cases, 
 parts of two fifteen-pounder shells, some pieces of burst 
 shells and bits of shrapnel, which was as much as I cared 
 to carry, and deposited them in our Cape cart outside. 
 Some shells, which I might have taken, were of enormous 
 sizes, but their weight put their conveyance to England 
 quite out of the question. 
 
 Opposite to the Town Hall and close to the hotel, was 
 a house, the back wall of which had been struck by a
 
 78 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 shell. A man was sleeping in the room at the time, and 
 the shell coming through the wall passed just over his 
 bed they said in the house that it dragged the bed-clothes 
 off and it struck and exploded at the further end of the 
 room. The man sprang from the bed and rushed out 
 unhurt one of the most marvellous escapes of the war. 
 We saw the marks just above the bed, where the wall 
 had been repaired, and also a photograph of the room 
 taken after the explosion, when the whole place was a 
 complete mass of wreckage. Near by was another room 
 in which was displayed a very fine collection of shells 
 and ammunition used by the British and Boers during 
 the siege. 
 
 It was still early in the afternoon, so taking our Cape 
 cart again we were driven all over the town and about 
 the suburbs. Ladysmith is modern in style, with fine 
 broad streets laid out like an American city at right- 
 angles; but I should not think that it was at all over- 
 burdened with business. Certainly it was Sunday when 
 we were there, but there was an air of quiet, not to say 
 sleepiness over everything, that seemed natural to the 
 place. 
 
 We drove first to the house in Murchison Street, where 
 G. W. Steevens, the Daily Mail Correspondent, died. 
 Close by was the Post Office, which the defenders strength- 
 ened during the siege to serve as a last stand, in the event 
 of the town being taken by the Boers. We saw the house 
 on Poort Road, where General White lived and had his 
 head-quarters, until it having been struck and damaged 
 by a shell he was obliged to move away. A specially 
 interesting sight was the cemetery, unhappily only too 
 full of the graves of fallen soldiers. There we saw 
 hundreds of the small white crosses, similar to those we
 
 LADYSMITH 79 
 
 had seen so frequently before. As a rule these crosses 
 bore the names of the soldiers who were buried beneath, 
 but where from some cause this had not been known, the 
 words read simply, ' In memory of a brave soldier.' 
 
 Scattered among the graves of the English were some 
 of those of their foes. On most of the latter the Boers 
 having been unknown the crosses bore the inscriptions, 
 ' In memory of a brave burgher,' or ' Here lies a brave 
 burgher.' 
 
 Thus they rest there together, the fallen of both races, 
 equally honoured in their death; and this union in their 
 last long sleep may in time help to do its part to heal the 
 wounds the war has caused, and to weld both peoples into 
 one strong nation, claiming South Africa for its home 
 and zealous for its prosperity and honour. In this cemetery 
 we also saw the grave where G. W. Steevens was buried. 
 
 The hills around Ladysmith in this direction were 
 covered with stone ramparts, erected by the defenders as 
 a second line of defence, in case they should lose their 
 hold upon the summits. 
 
 We had now been all over this very interesting and 
 historic place, and, as the time was getting late, we drove 
 to the station where our shells and other treasures were 
 deposited in our carriages; and after settling up for our 
 cart hire a very expensive proceeding we left at six 
 o'clock on our way to Johannesburg. It was quite dark 
 soon after we left, so that we had no opportunity of view- 
 ing the interesting spots around Dundee and Talana Hill, 
 nor could we see the fateful Majuba Hill, nor Laing's 
 Nek, for it was about midnight when we passed the 
 frontier.
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 ARRIVAL AT JOHANNESBURG THE MINES THE CHINESE 
 QUESTION 
 
 WAKING early next morning we found ourselves near 
 Heidelberg in the Transvaal. The day was bright and 
 sunny, but the air exceedingly cold and crisp, for we had 
 risen during the night to a high altitude. The country 
 on all sides was flat and uninteresting, not much cultivated, 
 and, except in the town itself, very sparsely populated. 
 Now and then we came across a farm, but usually the 
 train went for miles and miles over the bare veldt with 
 never a house or tree to break the monotony. 
 
 After breakfast we could see that we were nearing the 
 vicinity of Johannesburg, for on the distant horizon rose 
 up many tall chimneys, and mine-head erections, great 
 unsightly structures, blots upon the primitive landscape. 
 We could detect also many long flat-topped hills, strangely 
 uniform and white, which we soon recognized as ' dump- 
 ing heaps ' from the mines. There were immense 
 numbers of these heaps and they each covered a great 
 many acres of ground. Not the slightest trace of grass 
 or vegetation of any sort grew on them, owing, probably, 
 to the presence of the cyanide used in the extraction of 
 the gold, and which probably still impregnated the stuff. 
 It seemed a pity that they should be so bare, for any 
 
 growth on them would have helped to stop one of the 
 
 80
 
 ARRIVAL AT JOHANNESBURG 81 
 
 most prolific sources of the dust with which Johannesburg 
 is plagued. Green grass might convert them into objects 
 of beauty, instead of being as they were now terrible eye- 
 sores on the landscape. I believe attempts have been 
 made, by the admixture of portland cement, to manufacture 
 the stuff into paving blocks, and artificial stone for build- 
 ings. If this could be successful there would be enough 
 material in these heaps to pave every town in the Transvaal. 
 
 We had now reached the famous Witwatersrand, the 
 largest and richest gold-field in the world, which extends 
 in an unbroken line for a distance of over forty miles. It 
 was evident that we were approaching a large and populous 
 town, for the suburbs extended a long distance out, and 
 we ran through two or three stations before stopping. 
 When at last the train came to a standstill, we were at 
 the Park Station, Johannesburg, which had been gaily 
 decorated in our honour. 
 
 The platform was a scene of great excitement; crowds 
 were waiting to receive us, for it had been arranged that 
 during our stay in Johannesburg every one of our large 
 party was to be entertained privately in the houses of the 
 residents. Our hosts were eagerly making inquiries to 
 have their guests pointed out to them, and we were equally 
 ignorant as to their identity; but the admirable arrange- 
 ments made by the reception committee greatly facilitated 
 the process of identification. It was a happy idea that 
 we should be entertained in this way, for it would enable 
 us to see more of the home life of the place than we could 
 possibly do in hotels, and in my own case the plan turned 
 out especially fortunate, as I shall relate later on. In 
 consequence of this arrangement, the description of my 
 stay in Johannesburg must be to a great extent an account 
 of my own private doings there.
 
 82 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 My host was a Mr. R who soon found me out, and 
 
 almost immediately he had me and my luggage deposited 
 in his motor-car, and we were on the road to the suburb 
 where he resided. It was evident that folks in Johannes- 
 burg did not believe in wasting time. His home was at 
 Doornfontein, a distance somewhat over three miles, and 
 we covered it at a speed which occasionally made me 
 nervous about our safety; and as this was my first ex- 
 perience of motor-car riding my nervousness was excusable. 
 
 Mr. R proved himself a very expert driver and I soon 
 
 felt perfectly secure with him, and much enjoyed the many 
 rides we had together. 
 
 At his house I received a warm welcome from his wife, 
 a Cape Dutch lady, and I at once saw that I was in for 
 some entirely new experiences during my stay with 
 them. She was exceedingly pleasant and agreeable, 
 thoroughly well informed, and likely to prove an instruc- 
 tive companion during my visit. I was anxious to learn 
 all I could as to how recent events were regarded by her 
 people, and felt that she would be quite willing to talk 
 freely to me, so I looked forward to an interesting time 
 with them. 
 
 We did not stay long at the house, but after light 
 refreshments motored back to the town to our reception- 
 rooms at the Technical Institute. There R left me 
 
 for an hour or two, while I obtained my tickets for lectures, 
 trips to mines and other places, and also papers relating 
 to our Bloemfontein visit. He returned later on and took 
 me off with him to the Rand Club, where we had lunch 
 in company with a large number of our party and their 
 various hosts. 
 
 The great Club was filled to overflowing, and all the 
 wealth and influence of the golden city was represented
 
 THE MINES 83 
 
 there. I was much struck by the magnificence of the build- 
 ing, the size of the rooms, the style of furniture, all rivalling 
 our best London clubs. The dining-room where we 
 lunched seated 350 guests at least, and the whole building 
 cost no less than .120,000 to build. The Club had a 
 membership of about 1,500, the entrance fee was fifty-five 
 guineas, and the yearly subscription twelve guineas. 
 
 When lunch was over, we motored out some miles to the 
 Simmer and Jack Mine, where I was shown all the surface 
 works, which were on a truly colossal scale. We saw the 
 quartz brought up from the mine and passed by stages 
 through the powerful stamps, which crushed it until it 
 was reduced to the condition of fine sand ; afterwards it was 
 carried through screens and over the copper amalgamating 
 plates, where the free gold was retained. The rest of the 
 stuff passed away with the slimes, for further treatment by 
 cyanide. 
 
 This process has been the making of the industry on 
 the Rand, for there is not much free gold in the quartz ; 
 and, as the great bulk of it can only be reached by cyanide, 
 it is safe to say that but for this process few of the mines 
 could possibly be made to pay the expenses of working 
 them. As it was, the work had to be done on the largest 
 scale, and an enormous quantity of the ore treated before 
 costs could be cleared. I was especially struck by the 
 magnitude of the scale of operations at this particular 
 mine. The power-room, the machinery, the stamps, the 
 tanks and slime vats everything was immense. From 
 what I saw there and elsewhere, I could readily believe the 
 reports of the engineers, that the finest labour-saving 
 appliances that skilled ingenuity could devise were to be 
 found on the Witwatersrand. 
 
 We afterwards saw the gold as it was recovered from
 
 84 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 the slimes, a yellow spongy mass which had to be refined 
 in the furnaces. We saw one lot drawn from the fire, 
 and poured, a white glowing fluid, into a mould about 
 twice the size of a brick. This was quickly cooled by 
 plunging into water and then we were at liberty to handle 
 it. We were even told that we might have it if we could 
 carry it away with us. Putting forth all my strength I 
 could only just lift it about an inch from the table. That 
 golden brick was worth .3,600 and represented practically 
 one day's output. Lying on the manager's desk and close 
 to his hand during these operations were two revolvers; 
 he said that he always kept them handy on such occasions. 
 
 Only one negro was in the house helping the skilled 
 white workers ;*but none of the wily Celestials who were em- 
 ployed elsewhere all over the mine were allowed to handle 
 the gold, or, indeed, to enter the refining shed at all. 
 
 We had seen these Chinese coolies at work all the after- 
 noon ; a queer-looking lot of fellows of various types. 
 Being recruited from widely separated provinces of China 
 they naturally differed greatly in their appearance; those 
 from Manchuria and the north having by far the finest 
 physique. They interested us greatly, so we went on 
 to the compound, in order to inspect the conditions there 
 and to learn all we could about the ' slavery ' question. 
 The mine employed over 4,000 coolies and was one of the 
 best we could see for this purpose. 
 
 The compound in which they lived was a large quad- 
 rangle enclosing an open square. It had been erected 
 especially for the Chinese, under the supervision of the 
 Government, and was on the most approved sanitary 
 principles. It cost the company nearly ,60,000 to put 
 up; a great initial expense and a rather unnecessary one, 
 for we were told there was already on the spot a good
 
 THE CHINESE QUESTION 85 
 
 Kaffir compound, which had to be pulled down, because 
 they were not allowed to use it for the newcomers. Facts 
 like this should convince people at home that the interests 
 of the Chinese have been really looked after by the Trans- 
 vaal authorities, and that they are not hand-in-glove with 
 the mine owners to let them have things all their own way. 
 
 At the gates of the compound we found Chinese police, 
 and nearly all the officers inside were of the same nation- 
 ality. The men gathered in crowds around the entrance, 
 as we went in, and looked at us with considerable 
 curiosity, many smiling with the well-known ' bland and 
 childlike' look immortalized by Bret Harte; many had 
 that emotionless expression so common to Orientals, while 
 others were intelligently interested in our proceedings and 
 followed us about all the time. A few were quiet and 
 reserved, almost sullen, and in all they were certainly a 
 motley crowd; some tall strong-limbed fellows and many 
 quite little chaps. They were none of them confined to 
 the compound, but could wander about all over the mine. 
 
 Inside we were allowed to inspect everything, nothing 
 was concealed; all the arrangements for their housing, 
 sleeping, feeding and recreation, their baths, lavatories, 
 sitting and reading-rooms, were open to us. We went into 
 their hospital and sanatorium, built and fitted in the very 
 latest approved style, such as would not disgrace London. 
 Their bedrooms were airy and light, their dining-halls 
 large and lofty; their kitchens clean and fitted up with 
 the best labour-saving utensils, for most of the cooking 
 was done by steam from the power-houses. They had 
 their own cooks, and the food was plentiful and good. 
 We saw it uncooked, we saw it in process of cooking, 
 we saw and tasted it when it was finished; it was as nice 
 as the men could desire. Tea, being their chief drink,
 
 86 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 was continually on tap; they were allowed as much as 
 they liked to take, and we saw them filling their jugs 
 from great tanks full of it. They were all moving 
 about seemingly contented and happy; we did not see 
 the slightest sign of anything approaching to slavery, 
 and we felt sure that that word to describe their condition 
 was not only incorrect, but deserved a much stronger 
 definition. 
 
 Writing in view of the facts disclosed to me at this 
 mine and elsewhere, I do not think that the outcry in 
 England about their treatment is at all warranted. Our 
 Japanese member, Iwasaki, who might be supposed to 
 know something of the condition of these labourers when 
 at home, told me himself, after he had been over another 
 of the compounds, that he considered the men were very 
 well treated and far better off than they could possibly 
 be in their own country. 
 
 The Chinese were not prohibited from leaving the 
 mines; they could easily obtain permits for this purpose, 
 provided there was nothing against their conduct; but 
 these obliged them to be back again by sunset. In 
 special cases they could obtain leave for forty-eight hours, 
 but in the ordinary way it was not considered desirable 
 that they should be out at night-time. We saw some 
 of them on the roads between the mines and Johannes- 
 burg, and I was told that they spent a good deal of money 
 in the town, to the great improvement of the trade of 
 the place. 
 
 Arrangements have been made, if the men sign a 
 wish to that effect, for a portion of their wages to be paid 
 to any special relations in China. Their earnings began 
 at 15. per day and their keep; but if within six months 
 the average rate of pay did not reach 50$. for each thirty
 
 THE CHINESE QUESTION 87 
 
 working days, the minimum had to be increased to is. 6d. 
 per day. As a matter of fact this scarcely ever happened, 
 for the men were allowed to work piece work and earned 
 considerably higher wages as soon as ever they became 
 expert. There was also a system of bonuses by which they 
 managed to earn still more. 
 
 Their normal condition of health was very good. Beri- 
 beri was at first their chief disease, but this was being 
 eradicated; even including this and all sorts of acci- 
 dents, their death rate for the twelve months before our 
 visit was only 20 per 1,000; or if accidents were eliminated 
 only just over 15 per 1,000, a rate lower than obtains in 
 most English towns. 
 
 We saw notices printed in Chinese, put up in various 
 parts of the works, which we were given to understand 
 were to acquaint them with the rules and regulations, 
 and to give them instructions how to act in certain emer- 
 gencies. The men who committed offences could not be 
 punished without the sanction of a visiting magistrate, 
 and I believe the rule was for each compound to be visited 
 daily, so that such cases might be investigated at once. 
 Whether this plan worked satisfactorily and secured 
 absolute justice to the coolies I am not in a position to 
 say. Many in Johannesburg approved of the plan, con- 
 sidering that the men could be tried better on the spot 
 and among their comrades, who could give evidence; 
 but others spoke against it, and at any rate it has since 
 been stopped, and the culprits are now tried in the 
 ordinary courts. 
 
 It seems to me that all these things are a matter of 
 trial and experiment; it was probably impossible to fore- 
 see every contingency when the regulations were first 
 drawn up, and only experience could show the best way to
 
 88 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 manage an entirely new form of labour which had to be 
 carried on under special and peculiar circumstances. 
 
 If the laws that have been passed are found to fail in their 
 object, or need strengthening if any loopholes have 
 been left for abuses to creep in, if the servile conditions 
 about which so much has been made are really recog- 
 nized to exist, surely the wiser policy would be to alter 
 the laws, and not to condemn the system altogether. No 
 one in the Transvaal, and least of all the mining com- 
 munity, whose prosperity depends upon this labour, would 
 object to strengthening the ordinance so as to prevent 
 abuses in future. But to raise a wild hysterical cry for 
 the abolition of this form of service altogether, is neither 
 wise policy nor common-sense. 
 
 What did we do in England, when years ago one 
 of our own poets had to write of the conditions of female 
 labour here ? 
 
 ' Oh to be a slave along with the barbarous Turk, 
 Where woman has never a soul to save, if this is Christian work ! ' 
 
 We set about altering the laws which regulated this kind of 
 work; but no one went agitating all over the country for 
 the abolition of female labour altogether. 
 
 The introduction of the Chinese was a necessity. One 
 does not need to be long in the Transvaal to find that 
 out, for the supply of native labour is notoriously insuffi- 
 cient. It may seem strange to us that, in a country 
 where there are millions of black people, none of whom 
 are fitted for other than the simplest unskilled work, this 
 kind of labour should be so expensive and so scanty. 
 The cause lies in the comparative absence of any incentive 
 to work. 
 
 Life for them is so easy, and their wants are so few, that 
 they fail to understand why they should work. For ages
 
 THE CHINESE QUESTION 89 
 
 they have existed without it, or with the merest apology 
 for it, until the habit has become deeply ingrained in 
 their nature. No matter what the occupation they take 
 up, they never will keep to it for more than a few months 
 at a time. They are never happy unless they can return 
 frequently to their kraals, and there idle about, living 
 in lordly opulence upon the money they earn so easily. 
 Offering them higher wages would not make them indus- 
 trious, but would only intensify the evil, by rendering 
 them more independent, and so lazier than ever. As it is, 
 competition for their services on the farms, in the mines, 
 and for domestic service has so raised their price that I 
 found they were receiving in private houses for most 
 inefficient service from ,3 to .4 per month with every- 
 thing found for them. 
 
 Nor can white people do the unskilled labour of the 
 mines. It has been found by repeated experiments that 
 they will not work alongside the Kaffirs; if they attempt 
 it they at once lose caste and quickly throw up the work. 
 Even if they would do it, they could not live in Johannes- 
 burg under IQS. per day, and there is scarcely a mine in 
 the Transvaal that could pay this rate of wages and keep 
 working a year. It must not be forgotten that these mines 
 produce gold, and the industry cannot be carried on long 
 by paying out 25$. or 305. for every sovereign's worth of 
 gold recovered. 
 
 But in addition to all this, it is a very serious question 
 indeed, in a country where the blacks outnumber the 
 whites by more than five to one, whether it would be a 
 prudent policy to encourage Europeans to work shoulder 
 to shoulder with the natives. We rule them only by 
 prestige; and there seems no surer way to lose this than 
 to adopt such a course.
 
 90 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 As a solution of the difficulty, the Chinese were brought 
 over under strictly defined and limited conditions, and the 
 experiment has been amply proved to be a great success 
 as far as it has gone. It has enabled many mines to be 
 opened up and worked. It has given employment to 
 thousands of skilled white men, one of these being required 
 to every eight Chinese. The trade of the Transvaal has 
 been stimulated and revived in every direction, and we in 
 England have already begun to feel the benefit of the 
 increased production of gold. I do not know what the 
 future may bring forth, but I am quite confident that the 
 withdrawal of this form of labour, should it be attempted, 
 would be most disastrous for the Transvaal, and for South 
 Africa generally.
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 GARDEN-PARTY AT LORD SELBORNE'S DOWN A DEEP-LEVEL 
 MINE CONCLUSION OF PROFESSOR DARWIN'S ADDRESS 
 
 WHEN we had seen everything, we motored back to our 
 
 house, R racing all the way with the occupants of 
 
 another motor-car, and coming home first. It appeared 
 that at present there were no motor laws controlling speed ; 
 but I was told that they were shortly to come into effect. 
 
 The roads in many parts of Johannesburg were not of 
 the best, and especially in the suburbs they were often 
 merely sandy tracks across the open veldt, so the cars 
 jumped and bumped along these tracks in very wild 
 fashion, and to race at any speed required careful driving. 
 
 When we arrived home, I was introduced to a Mrs. 
 
 L , a Cape Dutch lady like my hostess, and also 
 
 married to an Englishman, who had come to stay with 
 
 the R s during my visit; and I found her an agreeable 
 
 addition to the household. She was well-informed, and 
 
 from her and from Mrs. R I learned a great deal 
 
 about the way the Boers regard the events that led up to 
 the war more of which anon. 
 
 After dinner we four went to St. Mary's Hall, where 
 the Mayor and Corporation were giving us a reception. 
 The High Commissioner (Lord Selborne) and Lady Sel- 
 borne were also present. The crush was great, and the 
 large hall and equally spacious supper-room were crowded 
 
 91
 
 92 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 by our party and the Johannesburg residents who had 
 come to meet us. I was introduced to a number of the 
 friends of my hostess, and spent a pleasant evening with 
 them. We left about eleven o'clock, and soon reached 
 home, where I slept well to make up for the disturbed 
 nights I had had on the train. 
 
 The next morning I spent some hours at the Technical 
 Institute writing letters, and attending meetings in two 
 different sections; mathematics (astronomy), and anthro- 
 pology, these being the most interesting to me. 
 
 R called for me later and we returned to his house 
 
 to lunch, and to fetch the two ladies, for we were all to 
 go to Lord Selborne's residence, ' Sunnyside,' to a garden- 
 party. A little rain came on, and threatened to spoil this 
 function, as it had done those at Cape Town and Durban ; 
 but later on the weather cleared, although the afternoon 
 remained dull and sunless. We were received by Lord 
 and Lady Selborne and by Sir Arthur and Lady Lawley, 
 and shook hands, after which we wandered about the 
 grounds and had tea. The gardens were not large, and 
 there being a great number present, the paths were 
 crowded in places, for we all avoided the wet grass. 
 
 Wishful for me to learn all I could, my hostess and 
 
 Mrs. L introduced me to several prominent guests 
 
 amongst the company; and among others, to General van 
 der Merwe, whose name was much heard of during the 
 war, to Mr. George Goch (the Mayor of Johannesburg), 
 to Mr. Johnston (the Mayor of Pretoria), to one of Presi- 
 dent Steyn's staff officers, and to several more. I had 
 interesting conversations with these gentlemen, and much 
 enjoyed the opportunity of learning all I could about the 
 stirring events before and during the war. From one of 
 the prominent Boer officials under the old regime, I
 
 GARDEN-PARTY AT LORD SELBORNE'S 93 
 
 inquired for President Steyn, and was told that his health 
 was now restored, that he was back in South Africa, and 
 in the coming days we should hear much about him, for 
 he was going to play a very important part in the affairs 
 of the country. Asked whether the late president had 
 taken the oath of allegiance, my informant replied, ' No ! 
 and never intends to !' 
 
 I asked him his opinion as to the cause of the war, and 
 he replied as follows 
 
 ' The time had come when it was necessary to learn 
 who were to be masters in South Africa, the Boers or the 
 English whether our ideals or yours were to prevail. We 
 thought we were the stronger and should conquer, or in 
 case of our failure that the determination of your people 
 might slacken as it had done before, or that some foreign 
 nation might interfere. We did not think you were so 
 strong, or that you would fight to a finish. We now 
 recognize that both races have to live together in the 
 country, we accept the fact and trust that we shall live 
 amicably in future. We hope to get back by constitu- 
 tional means what we have lost by war.' 
 
 From which I gathered that the hope of becoming the 
 dominant race in South Africa is by no means extinct in 
 the Boer breast. 
 
 After the garden-party we proceeded to Dr. K -'s 
 house; he had been tried for high treason during the war, 
 and sentenced to death. His sentence had been changed 
 to imprisonment for life, and, as is usual in such cases 
 when events quiet down, he had been lately released. 
 
 He lived in a nice house not far from ' Sunnyside,' and 
 as I went into the drawing-room where his wife and sister 
 were sitting, I was greeted by the latter with this welcome : 
 ' You have come right into the midst of rebels, we are as
 
 94 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 great rebels as you will find in the Transvaal; if you 
 don't mind us, come along in.' I certainly did not mind 
 them, and went in very readily, and spent a pleasant hour 
 in their company. I found them most sociable : well- 
 read and very well-informed : and was entertained with a 
 number of amusing anecdotes, chiefly of the war. As 
 
 we were talking, Dr. K himself came in : he was an 
 
 agreeable and pleasant man, and I was sorry I could not 
 spend a longer time with him. 
 
 We returned home to dinner, and afterwards spent a 
 quiet evening round the fireside (the night being very 
 cold) discussing South African affairs in a friendly and 
 agreeable way, and from the talk I learned a good deal 
 about how the problems of the country were regarded by 
 both of the white races, my friends naturally viewing 
 these questions from the standpoints of their different 
 nationalities. One thing they were all very emphatic 
 about; that it was a great mistake for England to have 
 surrendered the Transvaal after Majuba. However much 
 the Boers had disapproved of the annexation, and the way 
 it had been carried out by Sir Theophilus Shepstone, it 
 was a fatal mistake for us to retreat as we had done; it 
 lowered our prestige among the more ignorant Boers, and 
 sowed the seeds of the troubles that came after. 
 
 The following morning I went with a party to the 
 Robinson Deep-level Mine. The shafts were not more 
 than a mile from the Technical Institute and we were 
 driven there in brakes. We dressed in miner's clothes, 
 overalls of a coarse blue material which entirely covered 
 us from neck to ankle. On my head I wore a miner's 
 hat, a most disreputable article, and what I looked like I 
 cannot say, fit for a fifth of November bonfire, I should 
 think ; but thus clad we were impervious to any dirt or wet.
 
 DOWN A DEEP-LEVEL MINE 95 
 
 We descended the mine in cages which dropped straight 
 down to the i, 800 ft. level without stopping. As the steel 
 rope grew longer and longer the cage swayed up and 
 down, and gave us something of the sensation of being 
 on board ship. My ears soon stopped up, with a sense 
 of fulness in them which was relieved only by continual 
 swallowing, and this persisted until I became used to the 
 extra air pressure. We were all provided with candles, 
 which the draught in many cases blew out. 
 
 At the bottom we stepped out of our wet cage on to the 
 floor of a large electrically-lighted chamber, where several 
 natives were moving about and where rumblings and 
 noises from the distant workings were heard; there we 
 waited for the rest of our party to come down, and then 
 picked our way along the tunnels which were frequently 
 very wet and slippery. 
 
 We had to walk warily, for down the centre of the 
 passages, rails were laid, along which trucks full of broken 
 ore were continually passing, and these did not allow us 
 much room to go by. These trucks were moved along by 
 an endless chain, until they reached a bend round which 
 they shot very rapidly. There a clever tilting arrange- 
 ment sent them over sideways, so that all the contents 
 were pitched out into a great hole in the ground and so 
 tumbled down to a lower level. Then the trucks slipped back 
 to their upright position again and passed on to be caught 
 presently by the endless chain and carried once more into 
 the tunnels to be refilled. From the moment that they 
 were attached to the chain until they returned back 
 again to the miners to be refilled they were not touched 
 by human hands. 
 
 Climbing down some distance we came to where men 
 were drilling holes for dynamite blasting; the diamond
 
 96 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 drills used in these operations being driven by electricity. 
 There it was quite easy for our inexperienced eyes to detect 
 which was the barren rock and which the true reef. The 
 latter was a pebbly-looking conglomerate, sparkling with 
 yellow grains which, however, were not gold, but only 
 iron pyrites. The gold itself was invisible, contained 
 around the marble-like pebbles of the quartz, and could 
 be removed in its entirety only by the cyanide process, 
 such as we had seen in operation at the Simmer and Jack 
 Mine. We were allowed to pick off from the wall sample 
 pieces to bring away with us. 
 
 Then we scrambled down to lower levels, where we saw 
 the quartz from the level above come tumbling through 
 shoots into the trucks which stood ready to receive it. 
 Every labour-saving appliance that could possibly be used 
 was employed in these mines. 
 
 After all had been shown to us, we were taken up 
 to the surface, feeling very hot and wet, for the heat of 
 the mine and our thick clothing combined, had made the 
 place seem like an oven. It was necessary to cool off 
 in a shed by a lighted stove before venturing out into 
 the open air; the medical officer in attendance at the mine 
 telling us that the neglect of this precaution by the miners 
 was a fruitful source of lung disease and pneumonia. 
 
 We were thankful to get out of our hot dresses, wash 
 ourselves and feel respectable once more; after which we 
 had light refreshments and a chat with the manager and 
 some of the staff, before being driven back to the recep- 
 tion-rooms at the Technical Institute. 
 
 At the Robinson Deep-level Mine, as at the Simmer and 
 Jack, the machinery and plant was all of the most power- 
 ful description. Every contrivance for the saving of 
 labour was utilized, and enormous quantities of quartz
 
 CONCLUSION OF PROF. DARWIN'S ADDRESS 97 
 
 were treated daily ; all the unskilled work, however, being 
 done by Kaffirs, and not Chinese. 
 
 R called for me in his motor at one, and we went 
 
 to the New Club where we lunched, and met as before a 
 large party of our members and friends. This club was 
 newer than the 'Rand,' hence its name; it had nearly 
 as large a membership, and in every way it was quite 
 equal to its rival across the road. 
 
 We spent the afternoon motoring round the suburbs 
 of Johannesburg to get some idea of the extent of the 
 place. I could not but wonder at its marvellous growth, 
 when I remembered that twenty years ago all was open 
 veldt where the city now stood. I believe the first blocks 
 were laid out in 1886, when sites could be bought for a 
 few pounds. Some of the streets now rivalled those of 
 London in the size of their splendid buildings, the 
 business premises of the firm of Eckstein, at the corner of 
 Commissioner and Simmonds Streets, being a remarkably 
 fine structure. 
 
 We went out as far as the golf links and the Obser- 
 vatory, and from the former obtained a magnificent view 
 for miles over the surrounding country. Then we came 
 back to the town by a different way, picking up Mrs. 
 
 R and Mrs. L en route, and so to the New 
 
 Club where we all had tea. 
 
 Professor Darwin gave the second part of his presi- 
 dential address the same evening in St. Mary's Hall. 
 The meeting was a very crowded one, and again a vexatious 
 division was made between the seating of ' official ' 
 and ' unofficial ' members, the latter having to stay back 
 behind a barrier, and watch their friends go forward to 
 
 the front seats. This very much annoyed R , who, 
 
 as a member of the reception committee, had heard nothing 
 7
 
 98 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 about any such arrangements, and was naturally indig- 
 nant with the officials, who thereupon offered to allow us 
 to pass the barrier. This he would not do, preferring to 
 remain behind among the rest of our party; but vowing 
 that he would make a row about it after we had left. The 
 fault, however, was not with our Johannesburg friends, 
 but with our own officials, who had given the instructions. 
 Besides it was all so unnecessary, for the seats behind 
 were quite good and every one could see and hear per- 
 fectly; it was only the invidious distinction that was in 
 such bad taste, giving annoyance to everybody, and caus- 
 ing, as we heard, much comment in the clubs the next 
 day. 
 
 The address was upon Evolution in the Starry Heavens, 
 as a complement to the part we had heard in Cape Town, 
 which had treated of the same subject in connection with 
 the infinitely small atoms and electrons of inorganic 
 nature. Professor Darwin began by alluding to Laplace's 
 nebular hypothesis, and showed how, when supplemented 
 by his own theory of tidal friction, it was able to explain 
 the formation of worlds and satellites. He told us about 
 the birth of the moon upon this hypothesis, and why it 
 always turned the same face to the earth. He calculated 
 that the date of its separation from our world could not 
 be less than fifty millions of years ago, and was probably 
 hundreds of millions of years earlier. Physicists forming 
 estimates in other ways had, until lately, demanded a far 
 lower scale of time, for their calculations led them to 
 put the total history of the life of our solar system 
 within some twenty millions of years. They had, how- 
 ever, moderated their views, since the discovery of radium 
 and its properties, which might add enormously to their 
 calculation of the life of the sun. The lecturer then
 
 CONCLUSION OF PROF. DARWIN'S ADDRESS 99 
 
 explained radium, and gave some instances of its power, 
 stating how one ounce had energy enough to raise 10,000 
 tons a mile above the earth's surface, while twenty-two 
 ounces would have been sufficient to bring the Union 
 Castle steamship Saxon from Southampton to Cape Town, 
 viz. 12,000 tons, a distance of 6,000 miles. Therefore, 
 as the sun is known to contain radio-active minerals, the 
 duration of its life is uncertain and the scale of geological 
 time remains uncertain also. 
 
 He spoke about the origin of double stars, showing how 
 their motions were explained by the tidal theory, and said 
 in conclusion that while we could trace the solar system 
 back to the primitive nebula with some degree of cer- 
 tainty, and while doubtless other stars and systems had 
 also similar origins, still such primitive nebulae themselves 
 stood in need of explanation, and this science was unable 
 to furnish. He finished by uttering a prophecy 
 
 ' Man is but a microscopic being living on a puny planet circling round a 
 star of inferior rank. Does it not then seem as futile to imagine that he 
 can discover the origin and tendency of the universe as to expect a house- 
 fly to instruct us as to the theory of the systems ? And yet so long as he 
 shall last he will pursue his search and will no doubt discover many 
 wonderful things that are still hidden. We may be, indeed, amazed at all 
 that man has been able to find out, but the immeasurable magnitude of 
 the undiscovered will throughout all time remain to humble his pride. 
 Our children's children will be gazing and marvelling at the starry 
 heavens, but the riddle will never be read.' 
 
 Lord Selborne, who presided, proposed a vote of thanks 
 to Professor Darwin for his magnificent address, which 
 was carried by acclamation, and then after some formal 
 business the meeting broke up. 
 
 Our motor-car was away in the country, so we went 
 home by cab. The night was cold and dark, but the skies 
 were gloriously beautiful with the stars of which the
 
 ioo THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 President had been speaking so eloquently. Although 
 taken as a whole the southern skies were not as brilliant 
 as our northern heavens, they had a beauty of their own 
 which appealed to me from its very newness. 
 
 I was never tired of looking at them, although my 
 inexperience prevented me from recognizing many of the 
 constellations. The Southern Cross could, however, be 
 easily picked out; it was more like a diamond than a 
 cross, and though its appearance of itself was not strik- 
 ing, its close proximity to its pointers Alpha and Beta 
 Centauri, which were both brilliant stars, made that 
 portion of the heavens very beautiful.
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 PRETORIA VEREENIGING BLOEMFONTEIN 
 
 NEXT morning we were due at the Park Station by 
 
 eight o'clock for our trip to Pretoria; so R drove me 
 
 there in his trap, as the motor-car had not yet been brought 
 back. However we met it on the way and quickly 
 exchanged into it, picking up a short distance further on 
 
 our friend the Rev. C. W. S , whom we saw looking 
 
 out for a conveyance to the station, and who but for our 
 motor would have missed the train. 
 
 For some distance out of Johannesburg the train took 
 us over a very flat stretch of veldt; often the only objects 
 in sight were the block-houses built by Lord Kitchener 
 during the later stages of the war. Some were being used 
 by farmers as stores and for other purposes, some remained 
 untouched and desolate, while others were falling to ruins. 
 As we neared Pretoria, which was about two hours' journey 
 from Johannesburg, the scenery improved, and we came 
 across some pretty little peeps of wooded and undulating 
 country. 
 
 When we reached our destination, we were met by 
 members of the reception committee, who put us into 
 carriages and tram-cars, and we were driven to the public 
 square in the centre of the town. I could not help 
 noticing on the way the absence of Dutch names and 
 writing over the business houses, on the advertisements
 
 102 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 and sign boards, and at the corners of the streets : nearly 
 everything was in English. I had expected to find the 
 place essentially Boer; as it was for so many years the 
 capital of the Republic. 
 
 The square to which we were driven was a fine open 
 place, with handsome buildings on three sides at least; 
 the finest being the new block used as the Law Courts, 
 while opposite was the almost equally fine Raadzaal. On 
 the third side was the Post Office, a much smaller, older 
 and less pretentious building, and on the fourth, a fine 
 new row of shops and offices; while a broad street started 
 on this side also and ran right up to the Public Gardens, 
 and to the suburbs. In the centre of the square in President 
 Kruger's time stood the famous Dopper church ; but it 
 was considered such an eyesore and so spoilt what was 
 otherwise an imposing site that it was pulled down after 
 the English occupation, and its absence has left the square 
 a fine open space worthy of the centre of Pretoria. 
 
 The chamber of the second Volksraad, where the Boers 
 debated their ultimatum to England, which began the 
 war, was placed at our disposal as a reading and writing- 
 room during our visit, and while we were waiting for the 
 second train to come in we visited this and the Law 
 Courts. Then carriages were provided and we were 
 driven out into the suburbs and outskirts of Pretoria, from 
 whence we obtained magnificent views of the country 
 round. Mr. Van Reesma, the Town Clerk, was in our 
 carriage and acted as guide, and he suggested that we 
 should first see the Botanical Gardens, where, although it 
 was yet winter, we found a fine display of flowers, and 
 some magnificent beds of pansies. The suburbs extended 
 a long way out, and a great many new houses were spring- 
 ing up in all directions; most of them built in very
 
 PRETORIA 103 
 
 attractive styles, and with such lovely stoeps or verandahs 
 after the good old Dutch fashion, that I quite fell in love 
 with them. 
 
 The drive lasted two hours and then we were deposited 
 at the Pretoria Club, where we refreshed and washed. 
 As our numbers were large we were divided into three 
 
 separate parties for lunch, and S and I joined the one 
 
 at the Grand Hotel, over which Mr. Johnson, the Mayor, 
 presided. On his right hand sat the Governor (Sir 
 Arthur Lawley) and Sir David Gill, and on his left Pro- 
 fessor Darwin. I saw the late Hydrographer to the 
 Admiralty (Sir William Wharton) come in afterwards, 
 and he also sat on the Mayor's left. The lunch was excel- 
 lent, and our long morning had sharpened our appetites 
 so that we did justice to it. Opposite to us was sitting an 
 army officer, who gave us some useful hints for the trek 
 which a few of us were taking across the veldt from Bloem- 
 fontein to Kimberley via Cronje's laager, the following 
 week. 
 
 We had, of course, the usual toasts of the King, the 
 High Commissioner and the Governor, proposed by the 
 Mayor; the British Association proposed by Sir Arthur 
 Lawley in a capital speech, in which he much regretted 
 that our stay in the Transvaal, and especially in Pretoria, 
 was so short, considering how much there was of interest 
 for us to see. This was responded to as usual by Pro- 
 fessor Darwin, who was beginning to find it difficult to 
 say something new on these numerous occasions. How- 
 ever, he made a happy speech which pleased everybody. 
 The Mayor then drew attention to the fact that the day 
 was the Queen of Holland's birthday, and was being kept 
 by the Boers in the Colony as a fete day, and he thought 
 he would be expressing the wishes of the British Associa-
 
 104 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 tion if he asked them to drink with him Queen Wil- 
 helmina's health; it would be a graceful compliment to 
 our Boer fellow-subjects. This toast was accordingly 
 drunk, after which we separated and were again put into 
 carriages and driven to those parts of the town which we 
 had not as yet seen. 
 
 Our first visit was to the well-known house of the late 
 President Kruger, with its famous lion sentinels on the 
 stoep. There the astute ruler of the Boers used to sit, 
 drink his coffee and receive his visitors. How often on 
 this verandah has been heard his strong, gruff, peasant 
 voice, now stilled for ever. The house itself was tenant- 
 less save for a caretaker, and looked dirty, neglected, and 
 uncared for, with many broken panes of glass in the 
 grimy windows. It was an old-fashioned place, not very 
 large, and unattractive in appearance. I walked all 
 round the garden at the rear, and talked with a man who 
 was digging and planting there. 
 
 We drove further on to the cemetery where we found 
 the graves of Kruger and his wife, and also that of his son 
 or was it grandson ? who was killed in the war ; 
 these were neatly and well kept up. In the same ceme- 
 tery was the tomb of Prince Christian Victor of Schleswig- 
 Holstein, a victim to disease during the war, and the 
 grounds were full of the familiar small white crosses, 
 which everywhere marked the graves of soldiers who 
 fell in the strife. Some little distance from the cemetery 
 we could just see the racecourse, where the English 
 prisoners had been confined during the early stages of 
 the war. 
 
 From the cemetery we drove to the Public Gardens, 
 where, in a private enclosure, His Excellency Sir Arthur 
 Lawley and Lady Lawley were giving a garden-party to
 
 PRETORIA 105 
 
 the Association. We were received in the museum adjoin- 
 ing, and then, after inspecting the fine collection of stuffed 
 animals, especially the very large white rhinoceros, we 
 walked through the gardens to where the live animals 
 were confined. In one cage was the magnificent lioness 
 which Cecil Rhodes had sent to President Kruger when 
 it was a cub, and which he had so indignantly returned. 
 It was said that this indignation was only assumed, be- 
 cause by some indiscretion the Boer papers had talked 
 about the gift and resented it. However, the cub was 
 dispatched back to Rhodes; but after our occupation of 
 Pretoria, it was again sent there and has lived since in 
 the Zoological Gardens, where we saw it : and a most 
 magnificent beast it was. 
 
 We had tea in the enclosure, where we spent an 
 hour or so, and then strolled back to the square, where I 
 went to the Volksraad chamber in order to write a few 
 
 postcards home. Meeting Captain W at the post 
 
 office I walked back to the station with him, and we left 
 for Johannesburg soon afterwards. 
 
 There was a lecture the same evening in St. Mary's 
 Hall by Mr. Hammond, upon Steel as an Igneous Rock, 
 
 to which I went, and met R already there. It was a 
 
 capital discourse and much appreciated by the audience, 
 although to me its rather unfamiliar technicalities made 
 it not so easy to follow as intelligently as I could have 
 wished. The audience was fairly numerous and would 
 doubtless have been larger, but for the counter attractions 
 of a ball and supper at the Wanderer's Club, given by 
 the Caledonian Society, for which I also had an invitation 
 but had elected not to go. 
 
 The next day was the last of our visit to Johannesburg, 
 and in the morning, with much regret, I said good-bye to
 
 io6 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 my kind hostess, who had made my stay at her house a 
 most enjoyable one. 
 
 When I reached the Technical Institute I found a 
 
 letter from Miss B awaiting me, which had come the 
 
 previous morning while I was in Pretoria, inviting me 
 to lunch with Mrs. Jeppe and herself at Friedenheim on 
 that day. I was very sorry to have missed it, for it would 
 have been a great pleasure to have met her again after so 
 many years. Friedenheim was too far from the reception 
 rooms for me to get there during the morning, for I had 
 still several commissions to do in town. So ringing her 
 up on the telephone we had a few minutes' talk together, 
 and I explained how it had happened that I missed getting 
 her letter. I told her that I was leaving before one o'clock, 
 and she promised to try to get to the Park Station to see 
 me there before I left ; but she was unable to do so ; there- 
 fore we missed the pleasure of meeting. 
 
 After finishing my letters and other business at the 
 
 Technical Institute, I went on to R 's office to say 
 
 good-bye to him, and to the New Club to leave some letters 
 
 which had come for T S , who had not returned 
 
 from Pretoria; and after finishing what other business I had 
 
 in the town, I was taken back by R in his motor to 
 
 the Park Station, where a special train waited to convey 
 a large party to Vereeniging, at the invitation of Messrs. 
 Lewis and Marks. Mr. Sam Marks was there to accom- 
 pany us and gave us a most hearty welcome. 
 
 We lunched directly after starting, and by two o'clock 
 we reached Vereeniging, where the party broke up into 
 three sections. The one to which I attached myself drove 
 first to the brick and tile works connected with the Estate 
 Company, where we saw the processes of tile and drain- 
 pipe manufacture, a large order for the latter articles
 
 VEREENIGING 107 
 
 received from the Corporation of Johannesburg being then 
 in course of execution. The works were also turning out 
 excellent blue bricks, for which they could get any price 
 up to IQ per 1,000; a splendid return I thought, for in 
 England we have to content ourselves with about 45$. at 
 the most. Of course all skilled labour being so exces- 
 sively dear in the Transvaal was the cause of the high 
 prices that had to be charged. 
 
 After inspecting the interior of the works, we saw 
 outside the process of salting the kilns in order to give 
 a proper glaze to the drain-pipes; and this was repeated 
 twice, we learned, during the course of the burning. In 
 the clay-hole a gang of negro convicts was working, 
 guarded by their warders; they were supplied by the 
 Government at the rate of is. per day for each man, and 
 made excellent labourers. The manager told me that he 
 had about twenty of them in all, and wished that he could 
 get twice as many more; which I could well understand, 
 when I remembered the usual price of labour in the 
 country and the difficulty there was to procure it at all in 
 sufficient quantities. 
 
 We took our carts again springless, jolting things 
 they were, in which it was necessary to sit tight in order 
 to keep from being thrown out and drove for about two 
 miles to Viljeon's Drift on the Vaal River. The closing 
 of this drift and others by President Kruger in 1894 nearly 
 led to war between the Transvaal, and Cape Colony and 
 England. An ultimatum was actually sent to him, upon 
 receipt of which he gave in and reopened the drifts. There 
 also Lords Roberts and Kitchener crossed with their 
 army into the Transvaal after the fall of Bloemfontein and 
 Kroonstad. These drifts were fordable parts of the rivers, 
 and there we crossed over in our carts, the water being up
 
 io8 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 to our axles. In the wet season, when the rivers are 
 high, many of them would probably be unfordable at 
 times. 
 
 On the opposite bank of the river, we were in the 
 Orange River Colony, and some distance further on we 
 arrived at the shaft of a coal mine, belonging to the 
 Vereeniging Estates Company, which we descended to 
 see what the interior of a coal mine looked like. The 
 shaft was only a few hundred feet deep, which seemed 
 nothing after the 2,000 feet we had gone down in the 
 Robinson Deep-level Mine. We found ourselves in a net- 
 work of great tunnels and chambers several times the 
 size of those through which we had wandered in the gold 
 mine. All were excavated through the solid coal, and 
 there we saw negroes at work, nearly naked and looking 
 as black as the coal itself. They harmonized well with 
 their surroundings and might have been so many demons 
 of the lower world, except for the good-natured looks on 
 their shining, grimy, smiling faces; and the men seemed 
 happy enough, in spite of their monotonous work. 
 
 The mine was much wetter and dirtier to move about 
 in than the gold mine; water dripped incessantly from 
 the roofs of the tunnels, and we found the wet ground very 
 slippery to walk upon. We had to be careful not to touch 
 the walls, for the coal left its marks if we did. We all 
 carried lighted candles in our hands, for there seemed 
 to be no fear whatever of any explosion from the naked 
 flames. 
 
 The sun was setting when we regained the surface, and 
 we had to return at once across the river and back to 
 Vereeniging Station. The town, which was close by, was 
 only a small place with a white population of 455, and 
 about the same number of natives. The Estates Company
 
 VEREENIGING 109 
 
 own all the industries of the place and employ all the 
 labour; they have laid out the whole district with 
 millions of fruit and other trees, and hope in time to induce 
 a large population to reside there. It was there that Lord 
 Kitchener met Generals Botha, Delarey and De Wet, and 
 signed with them the treaty of peace which ended the 
 Boer War; we passed the house where the historic event 
 was consummated. 
 
 Messrs. Lewis and Marks certainly treated us well, for 
 we found a most excellent dinner ready for us on the train, 
 which was waiting on a siding until our trains should 
 come along from Johannesburg and pick us up. The C 
 train was not expected until nine o'clock, and after dinner 
 we amused ourselves according to our liking in various 
 ways, smoking, playing Bridge, or strolling about just as 
 our tastes led us. For myself I spent the time in our 
 carriage talking and telling anecdotes, and later on, when 
 Mr. Sam Marks joined us, in discussing about the state 
 and prospects of the Transvaal. We found him very 
 interesting to talk to and full of information, and he was 
 anxious to tell us all that he could. He seemed to 
 have unbounded faith in the future of the country, and 
 believed that in time Vereeniging itself, owing to its coal, 
 iron, and other industries, would go far towards rivalling 
 Johannesburg in prosperity. 
 
 We were still busy talking at nine o'clock when our 
 train arrived, and in it were those of our party who had 
 not come with us to Vereeniging. I took my old carriage 
 
 with Sir B. L and S , whom I found on board 
 
 expecting me. During the afternoon I had missed my 
 umbrella, and thinking that I might have left it at the 
 Park Station, and mentioning this to an official of the 
 Estates Company, he had telephoned about it. When I
 
 no THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 joined the C train it was safely in my carriage; it had been 
 found after a search and sent on in the train. This was 
 one of the minor incidents showing how our interests were 
 looked after by our friends in South Africa. 
 
 When we woke the next morning, our train was pass- 
 ing over what looked like a limitless expanse of flat open 
 veldt, reminding me of the almost boundless prairies I 
 knew so well in Texas. It extended in uninteresting 
 monotony, dry and bare to the horizon on all sides. The 
 day was sunny and fine and we were breathing the same 
 clear, fresh, brisk air which we had come to associate 
 with the veldt. 
 
 An hour later we reached Bloemfontein, and there 
 found the station gaily decorated in our honour. I did 
 not propose to go to an hotel although I had been given 
 an ' official ' ticket to one of the best but intended sleep- 
 ing that night on the train in order to be ready for our 
 start on our trek the first thing the next morning. So 
 
 S and I, having no luggage to bother about, set 
 
 off at once through the town to the Raadzaal, which was 
 to be at our service as a lecture hall and for our convenience 
 for reading and writing. 
 
 Bloemfontein looked more like an English country town 
 than anything we had as yet seen in Africa. An air of 
 drowsiness pervaded the place, which was restful to us 
 after the rush and bustle of Johannesburg. I used to think 
 that it owed its name to some ' fountain of flowers ' in the 
 locality, and looked to find them growing in profusion 
 everywhere, but instead of that they were conspicuous by 
 their absence, at any rate at the season when we were 
 there. But I learned that the name Bloemfontein had a 
 much less poetical origin, although one more strictly in 
 accordance with fact.
 
 BLOEMFONTEIN in 
 
 About the latter end of the eighteenth century, a Dutch 
 criminal, by name Jan Bloem, fled from justice to the 
 then uninhabited wilds of these parts. There he made 
 his head-quarters, and being joined by a lawless band of 
 kindred spirits, he lived by making raids upon, and 
 plundering, any Kaffir tribes he could come across. 
 So bad was the conduct of this predatory band that for 
 many years after Jan Bloem 's death the natives went 
 in terror of white people and refused to have any dealings 
 whatever with them. It was to this scoundrel that the 
 town of Bloemfontein owed its poetical name, and it 
 gained its importance as capital of the Orange Free State 
 owing to the presence of water in the neighbourhood. 
 
 A river called Bloem Spruit ran through the town a 
 stream as unlike a placid English river as can be imagined. 
 During the dry season it is frequently waterless when 
 we saw its bed it was dust dry while in the rainy summer- 
 time it becomes a raging torrent, and often causes much 
 damage by overflowing its banks and sweeping all before 
 it. One terrible flood occurred on January 17, 1904, when 
 tremendous havoc was wrought by the rushing waters, 
 many traces of which were left at the time of our visit. 
 The spruit has now been diverted into a wider and 
 straighter channel to avoid the recurrence of such a 
 mishap. 
 
 Over the Raadzaal I was surprised to see that the arms 
 of the late Orange Free State and the words ' Oranje Vrei 
 Staat ' were still left, cut deeply in the stone. 
 
 We transacted our business, and made all arrangements 
 for our trek the first thing next morning, and then strolled 
 to the market-place, where, the day being Saturday, a fair 
 amount of bustle and life was going on. It was interest- 
 ing to stand and watch some of the auction sales. At one
 
 ii2 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 stand cattle were being sold, and it was surprising to find 
 that cows in milk were fetching from 2$ to ^35 each. 
 These seemed very good prices for a pastoral country like 
 the Orange River Colony. A goodly number of Boers, 
 tall, lanky, and with long beards, were standing about, or 
 attending to their teams of oxen. These bullock teams, 
 so typical of South Africa, much interested us ; there were 
 usually sixteen oxen to each cart, the whole forming a 
 procession about 100 feet long. Owing to the length of 
 these teams, we found it difficult to get good photographs ; 
 they required to be taken in sections, panorama-like and 
 from a considerable distance. 
 
 In the Town Hall close to the Market Square, we were 
 officially received by the Mayor and Corporation and wel- 
 comed to Bloemfontein with the usual cordial speeches and 
 compliments. 
 
 I went by myself to look over the cathedral, where a 
 friendly cleric showed me round, and explained things to 
 me. Saying ' good-bye,' he told me that I should meet 
 him later on at His Excellency the Governor's garden- 
 party at the Residency. When I did see him again, I 
 found that he was Dr. Chandler, the Bishop of Bloem- 
 fontein, and was living in the house where my friends the 
 
 Rev. G and Mrs. G resided when they stayed 
 
 for a year in the town some time ago. 
 
 Close to the cathedral was the museum, an unpreten- 
 tious building consisting of a long low room in the centre, 
 w r ith wings square and plain on either side. Great 
 interest, however, attached to this place, and it was held 
 in reverence by the Boers, for there in 1854 was signed 
 the Bloemfontein Convention, by which the English 
 guaranteed the independence of the Orange Free State, 
 and there for the first three years of the new republic, the
 
 BLOEMFONTEIN 113 
 
 Volksraad held their meetings. On the walls were a fair 
 number of copies from various Bushmen's drawings found 
 in the caves of the Drakensberg. Some of these were 
 very clever, and I noticed that the older drawings seemed 
 to be more artistic than the modern ones, as though the 
 race had degenerated as they died out, which was probably 
 the case. 
 
 From the museum I crossed over the road to the 
 Residency, to the garden-party in our honour. After in- 
 troductions, and signing our names in the visitors' book, 
 we strolled about the extensive grounds listening to the 
 
 band playing, or sat about and had tea. S and I were 
 
 introduced to a Mr. and Mrs. B , living in Bloemfon- 
 
 tein, who invited us to spend the evening at their house. 
 We had intended going to the lecture to be given by 
 Arthur Hinks, F.R.A.S., upon the Clouds of Magellan 
 and the Milky Way, and were doubtful whether we could 
 accept the invitation, but being pressed, decided to do so. 
 At eight o'clock therefore, Mr. B - fetched us from the 
 station in his trap and drove us out to his house, where 
 we spent a pleasant evening with him and his family. 
 A little rain came on while we were there, but it cleared 
 up before we left, when we walked back to our train, and 
 so to bed in our carriage.
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 ON TREK BLOEMFONTEIN TO ABRAHAM'S KRAAL 
 
 As already mentioned, a few of our more enterprising 
 spirits had arranged to trek across the veldt from Bloem- 
 fontein to Kimberley, a three days' journey in order to 
 see the site of Cronje's capture at Paardeberg instead 
 of going round by train via De Aar with the rest of the 
 
 party. S and I had entered for this trek, and as we 
 
 should have to sleep for two nights on the open veldt, 
 the South African Constabulary had very generously lent 
 us an army rubber sheet and two blankets apiece for this 
 purpose. 
 
 It had been raining all night and was still steadily 
 pouring down, when the morning of our departure dawned, 
 and the weather did not look at all promising for our three 
 days' trek across the veldt. We had arranged for our 
 Cape carts to come round to the station to pick us up at 
 eight o'clock, which was a mistake on our part, for we 
 should have gone round ourselves to the stables and 
 claimed our carts there. We were eleven in all, seven men 
 
 and four ladies Miss P. B , Miss (Dr.) H , Miss 
 
 (Dr.) B , Mr. and Miss H , Captain W , Pro- 
 fessor P , Admiral M , L. D , S and myself. 
 
 If left to ourselves, we should have got on all right ; but 
 another party had been arranged independently by a few 
 
 other members of the Association. They numbered nine, 
 
 114
 
 ON TREK 115 
 
 and needed three carts, and had been beforehand with us 
 at the stables, securing the three best conveyances 
 available. Those they had left for us were poor affairs, 
 much to our disgust. 
 
 This was very annoying, for Captain W , acting as 
 
 our leader, had selected these carts for us on the previous 
 day. Both parties had to share one luggage van together, 
 so that we were obliged to keep with one another in spite 
 of the bad feeling caused by the cart incident. We looked 
 upon them as interlopers who had upset our plans, and 
 they looked down upon us as members of the ' unofficial 
 party,' while they themselves were ' official,' so feeling ran 
 high throughout the trek. Personally most of them were 
 very agreeable indeed, and we were privately quite friendly, 
 although ' officially ' we did not recognize each other. 
 
 It added to the excitement of the trip and gave us plenty 
 of food for comment, but on the whole the disagreement 
 was a great pity, for had the two parties joined, the surplus 
 of our stores would have been useful to them, and what 
 they had in excess would often have made up for our 
 deficiencies. For instance, before the trek was over, they 
 ran short of bread and had to beg of us; while we were 
 quite out of fruit, of which they had plenty. 
 
 Well, after much discussion at the stables with Boers, 
 who pretended not to understand us, and after much 
 grumbling, we had to accept our scratch lot of carts, 
 and make a start in the rain at ten o'clock. Our friends 
 who saw us off said good-bye, and officiously asked 
 whether we had any last messages we would like taken 
 to our relatives in England. 
 
 Our friend Mrs. B sent us round several packets of 
 
 'biltong,' in case we ran short of provisions on the way. 
 We looked at the stuff and hesitated about taking it with
 
 n6 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 us. In appearance it resembled strips cut from Egyptian 
 mummies, and seemed about as appetising; but we were 
 assured that it was most nourishing, and not at all bad 
 to the taste. The Boers lived upon it a great deal during 
 the war, and it would be invaluable should we get lost on 
 the veldt. The present was kindly and seriously meant, 
 so we took it along with us, but I am thankful to say that 
 we had no occasion to sample it. 
 
 We were the centre of a good deal of interest and some 
 chaff from our friends as we drove through the town, past 
 our reception rooms, and out on to the open veldt. The 
 sky did not look very promising, it was steadily raining, 
 and no one seemed to envy us our ' trek.' 
 
 Cape carts hold four persons, the driver and three 
 
 others. S , L. D and I had arranged to share 
 
 one together, and it fell out fortunately as will shortly 
 appear that ours was the only cart in which there were 
 no ladies. 
 
 What was our driver, Boer, or Half-Breed? He might 
 have been either from his looks; we could not get a word 
 out of him ; perhaps he did not understand English ; at 
 any rate he never vouchsafed replies to our questions. 
 But we were undeceived later on, for as he warmed to his 
 work of driving his team of four mules, he let drop first 
 one and then another word or expression that made us 
 almost jump out of our seats. They were some of the 
 choicest expletives from the region of Billingsgate. 
 
 'Oh!' we said, 'you do speak English! Where did 
 you learn it ?' 
 
 ' From the Tommies,' he chuckled. 
 
 We all said that it sounded like it, but was it not a pity 
 to waste such fine language on a team of mules that pro- 
 bably only understood Dutch ? If he must relieve his
 
 ON TREK 117 
 
 feelings, could he not speak to the animals in the ' Taal ' ? 
 they would know better what he meant, and our ears would 
 not be offended. But remonstrances were of no avail 
 and we had to put up from time to time with ejacula- 
 tions the strength of which made us thankful indeed 
 that we had no ladies in the cart. 
 
 Still, for all this, he turned out to be the most useful 
 driver we had, to whom every one appealed when in 
 difficulties. Perhaps if he had been a man to reason at 
 all which he was not, he might have convinced us of 
 the necessity of using strong language occasionally to his 
 team. 
 
 Is there not a story extant of a bishop, who was 
 travelling, as we were, through a wild and strange country, 
 only he occupied a bullock wagon instead of a Cape 
 cart ? His driver, like ours, used expressions occasion- 
 ally that were scarcely fit for episcopal ears, and the bishop 
 remonstrated very warmly, saying that he would not have 
 such language spoken in his presence. So the driver 
 refrained. By and by, the team, tired of pulling the 
 heavy cart through a difficult bit of ground, decided to 
 take things more easily, and they all lay down and refused 
 to budge. The urgings of the driver were useless, and 
 nothing he could do would make them stir. The situation 
 was serious, for the bishop had an important engagement 
 before him, and time was pressing. Half-an-hour went 
 by, an hour, an hour and a half, and still the team would 
 not move. At length a faint voice was heard from the 
 cart, ' I think, driver, you might swear a little now, but 
 please be quick about it.' When the animals heard the 
 well-known sounds, which the driver speedily addressed 
 to them, they knew that business was meant, and leaping 
 up they were soon on their way once more.
 
 n8 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 About noon the weather cleared, and when the sun burst 
 out we soon became warm and dry ; and then we discovered 
 what a blessing the rain had been, for it had laid what 
 would have been the exceedingly troublesome veldt dust. 
 Our four mules went well and we could easily have taken 
 the lead of the opposition's three carts, but our driver 
 would not accede to our request to do so. As far as we 
 could understand him, he said it was the rule on trek 
 to keep the same order all through. The real reason, I 
 think, was that his ' Baas ' was taking the lead and he 
 dared not pass him. So we kept first of our own party 
 and fourth in the long procession of eight carts, and it was 
 well there was no dust or the three leaders would have 
 given us a good deal of theirs. 
 
 All the morning, for mile after mile, the veldt continued 
 flat and uninteresting, and apparently there was to be no 
 break in the monotony. We outspanned for lunch at one, 
 and as we were searching for water a young farmer saw 
 us and gave the information that we could get plenty at 
 his place half-a-mile away, and also fire to boil it. So 
 
 S and Miss H marched off for this purpose with 
 
 our kettles, also taking with them a number of eggs, 
 which they brought back boiled. 
 
 I stayed and chatted with the farmer, who told me that 
 he had come out from England to fight in the war, and 
 at the conclusion of peace had taken up land for settle- 
 ment. He was quite satisfied with the life and with his 
 progress so far, and looked forward to remaining in the 
 country. 
 
 After lunch we inspanned and started on again in the 
 same order as before, trekking throughout the afternoon 
 across the monotonous veldt. Now and again we came 
 across small typical South African kopjes or great hills
 
 ON TREK 119 
 
 of loosely aggregated boulders looking like the tops of 
 submerged mountains, if only we could have imagined the 
 land to be the sea. Near one of these our driver began 
 to chuckle, and we thought something choice in the way 
 of language was coming, but after continuing for some 
 time he finally explained. 
 
 ' The Tommies tried to take that kopje, five hundred of 
 them; but they couldn't' all this in broken English. 
 
 ' O, you were there ?' 
 
 ' Yes, I was there ; we were two hundred ; we fought for 
 three days; I was wounded three times.' 
 
 And he showed us his wrist and his ankle, where we 
 could see the healed scars of bullet-wounds, and in both 
 cases the balls had passed clean through the limbs. 
 
 ' The third time I was hit here,' slapping his thigh, 
 'they took me to that place,' and he pointed out a galvan- 
 ized iron hut standing lonely on the withered veldt. 
 
 ' I was there ill three months, but the Tommies didn't 
 take the kopje,' and he chuckled again, for evidently the 
 recollection pleased him. 
 
 4 Did you like fighting ?' 
 
 ' No !' very decidedly; and so our driver having thawed 
 at last, and his tongue loosened, we were able to pick up 
 much useful information of an interesting kind, for he 
 now pointed out to us very readily all the historic scenes 
 of the neighbourhood that we passed. 
 
 He was called Joe, but we thought he said Job, and 
 that name clung to him while we were together; also 
 he told us the names of his mules, interspersing his infor- 
 mation about them with a few choice expletives. As he 
 never used this sort of language in ordinary conversation, 
 but only to his animals, he evidently must have considered 
 it the proper way to show his affection for he was both
 
 120 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 fond and very proud of them. He said that they were 
 his own, and he had hired them for the trek to the Baas, 
 pointing to the leading vehicle as he spoke. 
 
 Thus, in talks about the war with our driver, whose 
 remarks, although simple, were often very interesting, 
 and in viewing the sites which he pointed out to us, whose 
 names called up long-forgotten or dimly remembered 
 events from the recesses of our memories, the long hours 
 wore away, until just after sunset we laagered for the 
 night at Abraham's Kraal on the banks of the Modder 
 River. 
 
 There was a Kaffir kraal not far off, from which I pre- 
 sume the place has its name, and there was also one small 
 wooden hotel where the rival party at once decided to stay. 
 Only shelter was to be had, no beds, and I believe the 
 ladies slept upon the floor in one of the rooms, while the 
 men made themselves comfortable on the stoep outside. 
 
 For ourselves, disdaining all such appearances of civil- 
 ization implied in shelter of any sort, we moved on to the 
 banks of the river to prepare our evening meal. It was 
 already almost too dark to see to gather wood to light 
 our fire ; we could not properly distinguish between green 
 and dry stuff, and what we did collect, with many painful 
 pricks of the hands for South African shrubs are pro- 
 vided with the most vicious thorns imaginable was too 
 soft and sappy to burn properly, and only spluttered and 
 went out. We knew there was plenty of dry wood about, 
 but we could not see it, so we broke up and used one of 
 our deal provision boxes and this served well enough. 
 
 Admiral M , with the foresight of an old sailor, had 
 
 thoughtfully provided himself with two lanterns and some 
 candles, which he produced at a critical moment, and these 
 gave us light for our cooking operations, which were
 
 ON TREK 121 
 
 simple enough, and were confined to boiling some water 
 for our tea. The Modder water had a bad reputation ; 
 even the natives hesitated to drink it; it was not far 
 off that our troops, while besieging Cronje, drank of it 
 and caught the terrible epidemic of ' enteric ' which slew 
 so many thousands of brave fellows. We were, therefore, 
 very careful to drink only such as was first well boiled, 
 and we suffered no bad consequences therefrom. 
 
 After our meal was over and the washing-up done, we 
 talked for a while by the camp fire, revelling in the 
 novelty of our situation, until, the night being dark, 
 and our intention being to rise very early the next morn- 
 ing, we considered it wise to go to bed. The sheets and 
 blankets were distributed, a quiet spot under the trees 
 was selected for the ladies, and ' good-nights ' were said 
 to them. 
 
 This done we men stumbled about and felt our way in 
 the dark among the prickly mimosa bushes, looking for 
 likely places in which to deposit ourselves. Captain 
 
 W , more venturesome than the rest, went further afield, 
 
 and nearly broke his head by tumbling sheer into a deep 
 donga; fortunately he was only shaken, but not hurt, and 
 having found the shelter in this abrupt fashion, he decided 
 
 to stay and make his bed there. S and Professor 
 
 P joined him more cautiously, while I lay near them 
 
 on the sloping bank at the top of the donga. Admiral 
 M - slept in proper trek fashion under a cart, and the 
 rest of the party located themselves close by. Wrapping 
 ourselves in our blankets, we were soon comfortably trying 
 to get to sleep, for it was decidedly pleasant lying thus 
 in the open air, which had not yet grown cold. A 
 mosquito soon began to get to work on my face, but 
 fortunately I had a net in my bag, and spreading this
 
 122 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 over my head I was able to defy all insect pests in 
 comfortable security. 
 
 I must have fallen asleep very soon, for I remembered 
 nothing until the sound of a post-horn woke me up. Could 
 
 this be Captain W sounding the reveille? and where 
 
 did he get the horn from? No, the night was still very 
 dark, and nobody but the horn-blower in the distance was 
 about. The sound came nearer and I heard what must 
 have been a mail-cart go rushing past, and then all was 
 quiet again. I tried to sleep once more, but now the air 
 was so intensely cold that I got up and felt for my over- 
 coat, which I had hung on a bush close by, and this I 
 spread over me for extra warmth. But all was no good, 
 sleep had fled from me for the rest of the night ; I suppose 
 the hardness of the ground which I had not felt at first, 
 but which was now painfully in evidence the novelty of 
 the situation and the intense coldness contributed to this 
 result. 
 
 I had happily chosen my bed on sloping ground that 
 looked towards the east, and as I lay and half dozed, 
 opening my eyes occasionally, I noticed how the stars were 
 rising one by one in front of me. The clearness of the 
 frosty air was wonderful, and I do not remember ever in 
 my life to have seen the heavens look more brilliant. I 
 could not get up and walk about for it was too dark, and 
 I should only have got into mischief among the prickly 
 bushes and broken ground, so I lay there and watched the 
 glorious celestial panorama, gradually unfolding itself 
 above me. Jupiter and Venus, like two sister stars of 
 unequal beauty, rose as I watched; the well-known con- 
 stellation of Orion came up with its beautiful companion- 
 star Sirius, the brightest fixed star in the skies; other 
 gems shone out in the east. I had never before seen such
 
 ON TREK 123 
 
 a brilliant galaxy under such favourable circumstances of 
 atmosphere and situation. 
 
 My thoughts went out to my friends at home, all com- 
 fortably asleep in their warm beds, and I tried to think 
 of their astonishment, could they have seen me lying 
 out under the glittering stars of limitless space, on the 
 open soil of South Africa, at Abraham's Kraal, where our 
 soldiers had one of the stiffest fights of the war, and on the 
 banks of the Modder River which a few miles further on 
 flowed by the scene of General Cronje's historic surrender.
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 ON TREK VISIT TO CRONJE'S LAAGER 
 
 JUST about five o'clock the eastern sky began to grow 
 lighter, and we all rose up from our hard, cold beds, 
 shouting to each other our hearty f good-mornings ' in the 
 grey of the shivering dawn. Some gathered sticks for the 
 fire, while others ran down to the river to warm themselves, 
 and to wash in the stream. 
 
 We had breakfast at six, and afterwards packed up our 
 things our blankets being wringing wet with a very heavy 
 
 dew and then Miss H , L. D and I crossed the 
 
 river at a dry ford, and walked forward in the warm sun- 
 shine for a mile or two, thinking that the carts would 
 pick us up as they came on. We had taken the wrong 
 direction, however, and were unaware of it until we were 
 called back by a negro who, happening to be in the 
 neighbourhood with a bicycle, had been sent after us by 
 our friends. The morning was lovely and we had 
 thoroughly enjoyed the walk, which had thawed our 
 limbs and exercised our stiffened joints; but we were 
 sorry to think we had kept the party waiting and hurried 
 back as fast as we could. We need not have agitated 
 ourselves; our companions were still waiting at the en- 
 campment for the rival trekkers, who had not yet put in 
 
 an appearance, and it was after eight before we made a. 
 
 124
 
 ON TREK 125 
 
 start. I spent the time among the natives at the Kaffir 
 kraal close by, where I took some photographs. 
 
 We found that our proper road did not cross the Modder 
 River at this spot, but that it kept to the same side 
 of the river for the greater part of the day. We soon left 
 the stream and found ourselves once more on the appar- 
 ently endless veldt. In the distance, seemingly not many 
 miles off, a few flat-topped kopjes could be seen, but they 
 were actually a great distance away, for we did not reach 
 the nearest of them until just before sunset. The clearness 
 of the air on the veldt causes objects to appear much closer 
 than they really are, and for this reason, during the earlier 
 stages of the war, our soldiers proved such poor marksmen, 
 for they almost always under-estimated their enemies' 
 distances. 
 
 There w r as little to break the monotony of our morning's 
 journey, and when, just after one, we outspanned at 
 Poplar Grove for lunch, we were still on the same flat, 
 shelterless veldt. We could not have halted at a more 
 open place, or one more exposed to the wind that was 
 raising clouds of dust about us, and we grumbled very 
 much at our long Boer guide, 'the Baas,' who, however, 
 was impervious to arguments. 
 
 The mules were always taken out of harness directly we 
 outspanned, and they used to celebrate their liberty, by 
 lying down, rolling over and over in the soft sand, and 
 kicking up their legs in the air in their great enjoyment, 
 until such time as their drivers came to lead them away 
 to water, if water was anywhere near. At Poplar Grove 
 a belt of trees, about half-a-mile off, showed where the 
 river ran, and probably this was why our guide selected 
 the spot : although he might with advantage have taken 
 us among the trees.
 
 126 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 I remembered how wet our sleeping-blankets were when 
 we packed them up in the morning, so the first thing I did 
 was to get them out of the cart, unroll them, and spread 
 them in the hot sunshine to dry : they were still wringing 
 wet, but dried thoroughly while we were at lunch. 
 
 As we were eating, a motor car passed us, in which 
 
 were Sir C. S. M and three other members of our 
 
 party, who had left Bloemfontein that same morning 
 and hoped to reach Kimberley before nightfall. They 
 were trekking under modern conditions; but we preferred 
 our time-honoured, if slower Cape carts, which gave us a 
 better idea of what old-fashioned trekking really meant. 
 As the motorists passed us they left a message for me to 
 the effect that my luggage had turned up. As, to my 
 knowledge, it had never been lost, I was unable to under- 
 stand the purport of the message, nor is its meaning clear 
 to this day. 
 
 Inspanning after an hour's rest, we started on once more. 
 Occasionally the track brought us close to the river, among 
 the trees which everywhere marked its course : then the 
 stream would wind away from us, the trees would disap- 
 pear, and we would be out on the open veldt again. 
 
 During the afternoon we called at a Boer farm for water, 
 for we had heard of a good well near. On entering the 
 house, we found all the family drinking coffee in their 
 kitchen or living room ; they welcomed us solemnly, each 
 in turn shaking hands with us. The eldest daughter was 
 apparently the only one who could speak English readily 
 at any rate she did most of the talking. When we asked 
 for milk, they shook their heads and said they had none, 
 but they invited us to join them at coffee, which, however, 
 we were obliged to decline, as we were pressed for time. 
 
 They had a few nice skins of the springbok in the house
 
 ON TREK 127 
 
 and offered them to us for a shilling each, a remarkably 
 cheap price we thought, so we took all they had. I sup- 
 pose they are of little value to those who live so far out on 
 the veldt, where these animals abound. We had seen 
 during our trek a large number of the pretty creatures, often 
 as many as a thousand at a time in a herd; sometimes we 
 came across great flocks of cranes, and our carts used 
 frequently to start many strange forms of veldt life as we 
 went along. 
 
 We were already late and were anxious to reach Cronje's 
 laager before sunset; our guide was clamouring to get 
 on at once, so we bade our friendly Boers good-bye and 
 came away. 
 
 Shortly afterwards, we crossed the Modder River at 
 a shallow ford; and this was rather an exciting under- 
 taking, for the banks were very steep on either side, and 
 the water had to be taken at a rush. Our animals were 
 wonderfully sure-footed and we entered the stream in fine 
 style; but in mid-stream they all stopped to drink, and 
 no inducement would get them on until they had had 
 enough. We dismounted when the further side was 
 reached in order to lighten the load up the steep banks, 
 and to take a few photographs. 
 
 Another half-hour's drive brought us to the site of 
 Cronje's surrender; where for about the space of a square 
 mile the ground was covered with the debris left by the 
 Boers. Thousands of meat and biscuit-tins lay about in 
 all directions as though a huge picnic had lately been 
 held there; parts of broken wagons, carts and gun- 
 carriages were on all sides ; old rusty wheels and heaps of 
 scrap iron littered the ground in every direction. I never 
 saw a scene more out of keeping with the desolateness 
 and loneliness of the surrounding veldt, or one that
 
 128 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 brought more forcibly home to my mind the wastefulness 
 of war. 
 
 It was very sad to see the hundreds of skeletons of horses 
 lying all over the place, the bones eaten bare by the birds 
 and ants, and dried, and bleached as white as paper. We 
 drove through all this confusion and litter to the further 
 end of the laager, past the commemoration monument, and 
 outspanned close to the Modder River, near to a small 
 shanty standing on the battle-field. There we collected 
 wood from the broken-up ammunition carts and wagons 
 to make our fires and boil the water, which we fetched 
 from the river. 
 
 Some of us poked about among the debris, picking up 
 bullets, and handfuls of cartridge-cases, many of which 
 had been fired off, but the greater number had been burst 
 by shells exploding the whole cartful, for we found that 
 these were generally lying in masses together; others 
 wandered along the banks of the river, looking at the great 
 holes excavated by the Boers to hide their women and 
 children from the terrific shell fire. Daylight was fast 
 fading; we had only half-an-hour before it was quite dark, 
 and this was far too short a time in which to see such a 
 place properly. 
 
 We made our meal by candle-light, amid the strangest 
 surroundings surely that it was possible to conceive. It 
 seemed uncanny to be eating on the field where thousands 
 had suffered so terribly, and I do not think that I ever 
 sat down with less appetite than I did on that occasion. 
 
 The moon had not yet reached its first quarter, but it 
 gave a little light, and I utilized it by trying to find the 
 Boer trenches which had defended the laager. Capt. W 
 and S - had gone on the same errand, and when I ran 
 across them they were able to put me in the right direction,
 
 ON TREK 129 
 
 so that I found the trenches with ease. They were wonder- 
 ful works, as deep as a man is high, and about five feet 
 wide. Hundreds of men could lie hidden in them and move 
 about in all directions in safety. It was unfortunate that 
 the light was so bad, for I was unable to see them as well 
 as I could have wished. 
 
 Later on I tried to find my way again to the trenches 
 
 with Miss P. B , but was unable to do so. We made 
 
 a bold attempt, scrambling across the rough scrub-covered 
 veldt for nearly a mile, in the semi-darkness, in the direc- 
 tion which seemed to me to be the one I had previously 
 taken, but we never came across them. 
 
 It had been originally intended by both parties to spend 
 the night on the laager, but now we were on the spot some 
 did not like the idea. They thought that even yet ' enteric ' 
 might impregnate the place, but I fancy that deep down 
 in their minds was a feeling of repugnance to sleeping 
 amid such surroundings. We were all anxious to be in 
 Kimberley next day, in time for Sir William Crookes' 
 lecture on Diamonds in the evening, and there seemed to 
 be some doubt of our doing this if we did not press forward 
 for a few more miles before resting ; so we decided to utilize 
 what little light the moon gave and trek on as long as we 
 could see to do so. 
 
 Our driver Joe entertained us during the long evening 
 hours by singing Boer songs. He had a good voice and 
 we enjoyed the performance very much, infinitely pre- 
 ferring it to his endearing remarks to his mules. There 
 was a plaintiveness about many of the airs that took our 
 fancy, although we could not understand a word of the 
 language. 
 
 Captain W - joined us after a time, changing places 
 with S , and when he and Joe began to converse they
 
 i 3 o THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 found that they had fought against one another at more 
 than one place during the war. 
 
 ' Where did you hide away those guns you had at , 
 
 we only captured two, and we know you had eight ?' asked 
 
 Captain W . 
 
 But Joe only chuckled; he was not going to give his 
 side away. 
 
 ' The war is over, there can be no reason why you 
 should not tell us now.' 
 
 'Oh, no,' chuckled Joe, 'we want them for the time 
 when we shall fight again,' and this seemed to tickle him 
 immensely but never a word would he say as to the 
 whereabouts of the guns. 
 
 ' Were you with Cronje ?' I asked. 
 Yes he had been there, but had escaped by swimming 
 across the river and passing through our lines at night. 
 About one thousand escaped from the laager in this way, 
 he told us. 
 
 ' What did you do afterwards ?' 
 
 ' Then I fought at the kopje where I was wounded.' 
 ' And after that ?' 
 
 ' I joined De Wet and was with him until the last. I 
 was on his commissariat staff.' 
 
 This is putting into English what he told us in his 
 broken language, and thus we chatted and entertained our- 
 selves during that dark evening's trek. 
 
 We passed Paardeberg at half-past ten ; the site was 
 marked by two kopjes some distance apart, and the road 
 went between them. Half-an-hour later we stopped, and 
 outspanned, for the moon was nearly on the horizon, and 
 it was too dark to proceed further. Once again we bivou- 
 acked upon the open veldt; there was more wind stirring, 
 and the air was not so intensely cold as on the previous night.
 
 ON TREK 131 
 
 S had a habit of calling out in his sleep to one or 
 
 other of his companions. He did this in such a natural way 
 that one thought he really was awake, and that something 
 was the matter ; all the while he was ' in a most sound 
 sleep.' Once during the night, he woke us up in this 
 manner; but by this time I had grown accustomed to his 
 
 vagaries and did not stir at his call. Professor P also 
 
 distinguished himself in the same way, but I think he was 
 actually awake. 
 
 'What is that whizzing through the camp?' he called 
 out. 
 
 Nobody knew to what he alluded, and I do not think 
 he knew himself; at any rate these little interruptions 
 passed unheeded, and we managed to get a good night's 
 rest in spite of them. 
 
 Two items of bad news were given us when we awoke 
 next morning : the first was that the Kaffirs, or ' some 
 one,' had drunk all our store of water; and the second was 
 that two of the mules had strayed away in the night and 
 were nowhere to be found. I wonder whether these were 
 what the Professor had heard ' whizzing through the 
 camp ' ; but certainly whizzing is a word that hardly 
 describes a mule's usual method of procedure at any rate 
 in daylight, whatever he may do by night. 
 
 Our ladies declared that breakfast without coffee or tea 
 was not to be thought of, so we decided to postpone the 
 function until we came to water, a rash decision which 
 we had occasion to regret later on. Our driver Joe was 
 searching for the lost mules; but as far as the eye could 
 reach across the flat expanse of veldt, neither hunter nor 
 animals were to be seen. We waited some time for him, 
 until it was at length decided by our tall Boer leader to 
 make up our teams by taking two of the animals belong-
 
 I 3 2 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 ing to the baggage cart, so that we might all start on and 
 lose no more time. The baggage wagon was to be left 
 behind for Joe to bring along when he had succeeded in 
 finding the mules. 
 
 We inspanned and started on at eight o'clock, in the 
 
 same order as on the previous day, while S , L. D 
 
 and I had to take turns at driving our team. This might 
 have been easy enough with the mules we had had hitherto, 
 but evidently one if not two of these were the animals that 
 had strayed, and we were now reduced to three mules 
 and a pony, the latter a very poor creature indeed. While 
 he was fresh we managed fairly well, but after a time he 
 began to drag, for he could not possibly do the work the 
 mules did, and needed constant urging and whipping. 
 Eventually this ceased to have any effect, and from being 
 the leading cart of our party we dropped to the rear, and 
 were soon a long way behind the rest. 
 
 S took the reins at first and managed them very 
 
 well; he seemed quite to the manner born, and filled our 
 souls with envy and a desire to emulate him. It was all 
 plain going for him while the pony was fresh, but driving 
 was no easy task when the poor wretch began to fail. 
 However, he kept the team well together for about two 
 hours, but when I took the reins the pony was almost 
 worn out, he did not attempt to pull and was being dragged 
 along by the three mules, so that our progress was very 
 slow. 
 
 Imagine me in this predicament, trying to get the team 
 along. I had driven two animals before, but never four, 
 and there w r as a complication of reins that sometimes 
 bewildered me. Breakfastless and hungry, my throat 
 parched for lack of drink; breathing in the fine veldt dust 
 with every breath, and yet obliged all the time constantly
 
 ON TREK 133 
 
 and with ceaseless exertions to urge on the almost dropping 
 pony. 
 
 The handling of the long Boer whip needed an appren- 
 ticeship in itself, for the lash had an annoying habit of 
 catching in the rear of the cart, when it did not actually 
 caress the necks, or take off the hats of the sitters behind. 
 Often it would get entangled in the harness in a most 
 annoying way, and one was obliged to get down to set it 
 free. Once it twisted up in the wheel and was wrenched 
 out of my hand. Even when it did fall clear of all 
 obstacles, it had an awkward knack of hitting the wrong 
 animal, so that many a time the willing and able mules 
 suffered for the unwilling and incompetent pony. Then 
 rain began to fall, and the hood of the cart had to be put 
 up for shelter, which interfered more than ever with the 
 proper swinging of the whip. Evidently the wielding of 
 this weapon gracefully and effectively was an accomplish- 
 ment only to be indulged in after a long course of lessons. 
 
 What added to the troubles of the driver was the con- 
 tinual flow of sarcastic comments which fell from the lips 
 of the two who were sitting comfortably in the dry, be- 
 neath the shelter of the hood. Altogether driving across 
 the veldt was no sinecure, and by and by there were not 
 so many volunteers for the task as there had been at the 
 start. 
 
 L. D took his turn at the reins without much better 
 
 results, but we all found the exercise of driving a grand 
 preparation for that breakfast we were to get when we 
 came to water. This, however, we did not do until close 
 upon one o'clock, when, with many sighs of relief, we 
 drew up at our stopping place, delighted to find that the 
 precious fluid came from an artesian well and was both 
 good and plentiful.
 
 i 3 4 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 Risking ' enteric ' and all the other ills which were threat- 
 ened to water drinkers in South Africa, we drank our 
 fill. Only those who have craved for it for hours, as we 
 had done, under the hot semi-tropical sun for the greater 
 part of the time, with throats parched and thirst aggravated 
 by the fine dry dust, can realize the exquisite pleasure of 
 a long draught of sweet cool water. 
 
 Fires were lighted and we prepared our last meal of 
 the trek. The rain had passed indeed, it had not been 
 much at any time the sun was shining in its strength; 
 there was a gusty wind blowing and the dust was very 
 
 troublesome. In honour of our final meal, H cooked 
 
 for us in a special grill some bacon which he had been 
 saving to the last; but when it was finished, owing to the 
 dust which had not helped the culinary operations, it 
 did not turn out the dainty dish we had looked for, and 
 was given over to our drivers, who, I suppose, ate it. 
 We contented ourselves with eggs, some excellent soup 
 made from a number of little packets of various flavours, 
 plenty of potted meats, cake, and dusty bread and butter. 
 We could not afford to be particular, with our breakfast- 
 less appetites upon us. 
 
 After this much-needed refreshment we started once 
 more on our last lap to Kimberley; a drive with all the 
 morning's difficulties accentuated, but otherwise unevent- 
 ful. For a long time before we reached the town we were 
 passing among the tailings' heaps from the diamond mines, 
 and at half-past three we reached the station, where we 
 found the C train in its siding. I had to sleep on the 
 train while in Kimberley, so that my luggage was still 
 in the carriage, and I was able to scramble into a change 
 of clothes and rush round to the Public Gardens in time 
 for the Mayor's garden-party in our honour. There I was
 
 ON TREK 135 
 
 congratulated on my safe arrival by those friends who had 
 reached Kimberley comfortably by train some hours 
 earlier. The tea was most gratifying, for I was still very 
 thirsty, the latter part of our trek having been dusty, and 
 the task of driving the team of mules and our nearly ex- 
 hausted pony very fatiguing.
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 KIMBERLEY CONCERNING DIAMONDS 
 
 OUR reception rooms were in the Town Hall, and there 
 I spent the evening writing and reading until it was time 
 to hear Sir William Crookes' lecture upon Diamonds, 
 illustrated with lantern slides. His discourse on this inter- 
 esting subject was one of the finest we had the pleasure 
 of listening to during our trip, and it kept the attention 
 of a very large audience riveted until some time past 
 eleven o'clock. The many illustrations were good, and 
 the experiments exceedingly clever and instructive; it was 
 said that their preparation and display cost no less than 
 ;6oo; but how far this is true I do not know. 
 
 Sir William Crookes showed how from very earliest 
 times diamonds had fascinated mankind. As late as 1667 
 no less a scientific body than the Royal Society seriously 
 asked Sir Philiberto Vernatti ' whether diamonds grow 
 again after three or four years in the same places where 
 they have been digged out?' and received the answer, 
 ' Never, or at least as the memory of man can attain to.' 
 Even forty years ago Professor Maskelyne was obliged to 
 admit that the formation of the gem was an unsolved 
 problem. The lecturer now felt justified in saying that, 
 if the diamond problem was not actually solved, in every 
 probability it would shortly be so. 
 
 There were five mines around Kimberley that were 
 
 136
 
 CONCERNING DIAMONDS 137 
 
 especially famous, the De Beers, Dutoitspan, Bulfontein, 
 Wesselton and Kimberley, which were all contained in a 
 precious circle of three and a half miles in diameter. They 
 were irregular shaped, round or oval pipes, extending ver- 
 tically downwards to unknown depths, retaining about the 
 same diameter throughout, and were supposed to be 
 volcanic outlets filled up with a heterogeneous mixture of 
 rocks in which was the famous blue clay where the dia- 
 monds are found. Prospecting for the priceless stones was 
 difficult and was sheer speculation in the absence of surface 
 signs, and therefore accident had been the chief factor 
 in their discovery. 
 
 It was difficult to say how the pipes were originally 
 formed; but the diamonds were evidently long anterior 
 and had been forced up into them from below. The 
 mixture in which they were found was full of all kinds 
 of minerals, forming a sort of ' geological plum-pudding.' 
 The blue ground did not show any signs of igneous action, 
 nor were the fragments in the breccia fused at the edges. 
 It might be that each volcanic pipe was the vent of some 
 great laboratory, buried at vast depths, where the tempera- 
 ture was comparable to that of the electric furnace, where 
 the pressure was fiercer than in our puny laboratories, and 
 the melting-point higher, and where masses of liquid 
 carbon had taken centuries, perhaps thousands of years 
 to cool and harden. Nature with unlimited temperature, 
 inconceivable pressure, and gigantic material, with 
 measureless time and appalling energy, produced without 
 stint the dazzling, radiant, beautiful, coveted crystals. 
 
 The ash left after burning a diamond invariably con- 
 tained iron, which gave support to the theory that they 
 had separated from molten iron, and it was a reasonable 
 assumption to start with that there were masses of molten
 
 i 3 8 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 iron at great pressure, high temperature and sufficient 
 depth, holding carbon in solution, ready to crystallize out 
 on cooling. 
 
 According to the tables furnished by the De Beers 
 Company, the yield of the De Beers and Kimberley Mines 
 had declined as the depth increased. At the same time 
 the value of the stones had risen, and diamonds were more 
 expensive to-day than at any previous time. About half 
 a carat, per load of 1,600 pounds, was now the average pro- 
 duced by these mines. Ceaseless toil of skilled and black 
 labour went on day and night to win a few stones where- 
 with to deck my lady's finger. All this to gratify the 
 vanity of woman ! ' and man also,' as I heard a lady beside 
 me whisper. 
 
 The diamonds from each mine had a distinctive 
 character, and so uniform were the characteristics that an 
 experienced buyer could tell at once the locality of any 
 particular parcel of stones. 
 
 One of the greatest labour-saving discoveries, in con- 
 nection with this industry, was made by a Mr. Fred 
 Kirsten, an employe" of the De Beers Company, who 
 found in 1897 tnat diamonds alone of all minerals con- 
 tained in the blue ground adhered to grease. The sorting 
 was now done on this principle by machines, whose power 
 of distinction was superior to the keenest eye of the native. 
 These machines were called pulsators, from their peculiar 
 shaking movement while in operation. By an ingenious 
 contrivance the lecturer here illustrated this peculiarity of 
 the diamond, throwing on the screen a picture of diamonds 
 flowing over grease and sticking to it. 
 
 After describing the methods of diamond mining, the 
 lecturer went on to say that sometimes as many as 8,000 
 carats, of about .10,000 in value, were separated in one
 
 CONCERNING DIAMONDS 139 
 
 day, while the Kimberley mines produced about two 
 millions of carats every year, and since their discovery no 
 less than ten tons of diamonds had been taken out, valued 
 at ^60,000,000. And yet there was no keeping pace with 
 the demand. 
 
 Diamonds weighing over one ounce were not infrequent 
 at Kimberley. The largest stone from these mines 
 weighed 428^ carats, or nearly four ounces troy, while the 
 biggest known diamond in the world had recently been 
 discovered at the New Premier Mine near Pretoria. It 
 was called the Cullinan, and weighed 3,025! carats, or 
 i '37 Ib. avoirdupois; and yet it was only a fragment, 
 probably less than half of a distorted octahedral crystal, 
 the other portions of which still awaited discovery by 
 some fortunate miner. Its clearness throughout was re- 
 markable, the stone being absolutely limpid like water. 
 The second largest diamond in the world was the one found 
 at the Jagersfontein Mine a few years ago, and weighed 
 970 carats, or over half-a-pound. 
 
 Speculations as to the probable origin of the diamond 
 had been greatly forwarded by patient research, and par- 
 ticularly by improved means of obtaining high temper- 
 atures, an advance we owed principally to the researches 
 of Professor Moissan. None but microscopic stones 
 had ever been made artificially, the largest being less 
 than one millimetre across. In lustre, crystalline form, 
 density and hardness, they were identical with the natural 
 ones. 
 
 It was known that the diamonds come out of the mines, 
 but how did they get in ? how were they formed ? what 
 was their origin? was there any theory? Mr. Gardner 
 Williams, our greatest living expert, said he had none. 
 All that could be said was that in some unknown manner
 
 140 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 carbon, which existed deep down in the internal regions 
 of the earth, was changed from its black and uninviting 
 appearance to the most beautiful gem that ever saw the 
 light of day. 
 
 A theory has been advanced that they came direct 
 from the skies, in meteor showers, and in confirmation 
 of this it was actually the fact that diamonds had been 
 discovered in meteoric iron. Notably in Arizona, many 
 had thus been found in different specimens of the Can- 
 yon Diabolo meteorites, and the lecturer exhibited on 
 the table a fine slab of meteorite weighing about seven 
 pounds. 
 
 But this descent of precious stones in Arizona might 
 be called a freak of nature rather than a normal occur- 
 rence. It was but one more proof that the elementary 
 composition of the stars and the earth were pretty much 
 the same, and that similar conditions, as with us, existed 
 among the bodies in space. Probably on more than one 
 occasion a meteorite freighted with jewels had fallen as a 
 star from the sky. 
 
 The diamonds were evidently not formed in situ in the 
 blue ground, their genesis must have been at vast depths 
 under enormous pressure. More fragments and splinters 
 than perfect crystals were found. In one instance pieces 
 picked up at different levels had been accurately fitted 
 together, pointing to the conclusion that the blue ground 
 was not their true matrix, for nature did not make frag- 
 ments of crystals. 
 
 The diamond belonged to the isometric system of crys- 
 tallography; the prevailing form being octahedral. Many 
 had their surfaces beautifully marked with equilateral 
 triangles, interlaced, and of varying sizes. These were 
 supposed by Gustav Rose to indicate the probability that
 
 CONCERNING DIAMONDS 141 
 
 the diamonds at some previous time had been exposed to 
 incipient combustion. Such markings could not correctly 
 be reproduced artificially. 
 
 Diamonds nearly all bore indications of internal strain ; 
 and by means of the polarizing microscope, the lecturer 
 projected some pictures on the screen, and explained by 
 the resultant colours how great the strain was. On rotat- 
 ing the polarizer, the black cross most frequently seen 
 revolved round a particular point in the inside of the 
 crystal, and on examining this point with a high power, 
 a slight flaw, or more rarely a minute cavity was some- 
 times seen. This cavity was filled with gas at enormous 
 pressure, and the strain was set up by the effort of the 
 gas to escape. It was not uncommon for a diamond to 
 explode soon after it reached the surface; some had been 
 known to burst in the pockets of the miners, or when 
 held in the warm hand, and large stones were more liable 
 to do this than small ones. 
 
 Diamonds varied considerably in hardness, and differ- 
 ent parts of the same crystal differed in their resistance 
 to cutting and grinding. Some of the hardest stones came 
 from New South Wales. There was great difficulty in 
 cutting the first parcel of these, and it was feared they 
 would be valueless on this account; but with improved 
 appliances the trouble disappeared. Cutting-mills worked 
 at a usual speed of 2,400 revolutions per minute, but in 
 the case of the Koh-i-noor this had to be increased to 
 3,000 revolutions for some parts of the stone. 
 
 The lecturer then gave an interesting experiment to 
 show the hardness of these gems. On the flattened apex 
 of a conical block of steel, he placed a diamond, and upon 
 it he brought down a second cone of steel. By means of
 
 I 4 2 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 the lamp he threw the image of this on the screen, and 
 we saw the cones forced together by hydraulic power until 
 the pressure on the diamond was 170 tons to the square 
 inch. We could see the diamond gradually squeezed into 
 the steel block without suffering the slightest injury itself. 
 Later on at the De Beers office, I had the opportunity of 
 examining and handling this block of steel, with the 
 diamond deeply imbedded in it. 
 
 The only serious rival to the diamond in point of hard- 
 ness was the metal tantalum. In order to bore a hole in 
 this metal, a diamond drill was used revolving at a rate 
 of 5,000 revolutions per minute. For three days and 
 nights this speed was kept up, when it was found that 
 only a small depression J mm. deep had been drilled, and 
 it was a moot point which had suffered the most damage, 
 the diamond or the tantalum. 
 
 The diamond was invaluable for its hardness, but the 
 reason why it was so much prized was because it was one 
 of the most refracting and reflecting substances in nature. 
 This was made the most of in the cutting, for the facets 
 on the lower side were inclined so that light fell on them 
 at an angle of 24 13' when all the incident light was 
 totally reflected. A well-cut stone should appear opaque 
 by transmitted light, except at a small spot in the 
 middle. 
 
 All the light falling on the front of the stone was reflected 
 from the facets, and the light passing into it was reflected 
 from the interior surfaces, and refracted into colours as it 
 passed out into the air, giving rise to the lightenings, the 
 effulgence and the coruscations for which the diamond 
 was supreme above all other gems. The crystals were 
 found in various colours, white, black, yellow being the
 
 CONCERNING DIAMONDS 143 
 
 most common, while green and pink ones were also found, 
 the latter being exceedingly valuable. 
 
 The lecturer then showed a set of magnificent cut dia- 
 monds; by transmitted light they were black, while by 
 reflected light they filled the room with radiance, dazzle 
 and colour. 
 
 Briihl had put forward the speculation that the diamond 
 may be the last member of the paraffin series of which 
 marsh-gas was the first. 
 
 After exposure for some time to the sun, many diamonds 
 glowed in a dark room ; and some were fluorescent, appear- 
 ing milky in sunlight. One beautiful green diamond in 
 the lecturer's collection, when phosphorescing in a good 
 vacuum, gave almost as much light as a candle, and one 
 could read easily by its rays. But the time had hardly 
 come for diamonds to be used as domestic illuminants. 
 They were also remarkable in another way, for they could 
 be at once detected by the Rontgen rays, being extremely 
 transparent to them, whereas imitation diamonds made of 
 glass were perfectly opaque to the rays. 
 
 Sir William Crookes then showed a very expensive but 
 striking and suggestive experiment, which was the resolv- 
 ing of a diamond into graphite. We saw the gem gradually 
 heated to about 3,600 Centigrade, when it began to swell, 
 erupting and changing until it collapsed into black 
 and valueless graphite. Experiments of this sort did not 
 bear much repetition, for the graphite cannot be recon- 
 verted into diamonds. 
 
 After this expensive experiment, the lecturer brought 
 his most interesting discourse to a close by stating that 
 the diamond was the outcome of a series of titanic convul- 
 sions, and that these precious gems underwent a series of
 
 i 4 4 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 strange and potent vicissitudes before they could blaze on 
 a ring or a tiara. 
 
 I have said it was past eleven before the lecture was over, 
 so I returned to the train at once, where, having the 
 carriage entirely to myself and being very tired after my 
 long and varied day, I slept soundly, and made up for 
 the disturbed rest of the two previous nights on the veldt.
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 VISITS TO DIAMOND MINES DYNAMITE EXPLOSIONS 
 UNDERGROUND WORKINGS 
 
 THE morning was brilliantly sunny when I awoke, and 
 after an early breakfast, I walked across to the station, 
 where two special trains were waiting to take out a large 
 party to the De Beers and Wesselton Mines at eight 
 o'clock. It was only a short run among mine heads and 
 immense tailings' heaps, which looked like huge ramparts 
 all over the place; and we could easily see how Kimberley 
 was but a vast mining camp. Although some of the streets 
 were fine and wide, the place on the whole had a camp-like, 
 temporary, galvanized-iron sort of appearance, far from 
 beautiful. Without the mines the town would probably 
 return to little more than its original veldt-like condition, 
 for there did not seem to be much else to keep the place 
 going. 
 
 At the De Beers Mine we saw all the surface works and 
 how the rock was brought out of the ground, and tipped 
 into trolleys to be run up to the crushing mills. This was, 
 of course, only necessary in the case of the hard stone, 
 the softer clay was not crushed, but was conveyed to great 
 enclosed areas called ' floors,' where it was laid out to 
 crumble by the action of the air and sun, for from three to 
 twelve months as required. It was afterwards collected 
 
 and passed through the later processes, which the crushed 
 10 145
 
 146 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 rock had to undergo, eventually finfling its way over the 
 pulsators, which allowed the valueless stones to slip away, 
 while the diamonds remained adhering to the greased 
 surfaces. 
 
 We saw the machinery, the crushing mills and the 
 various other processes in operation at the De Beers Mine, 
 and then we passed on to the Wesselton, which was a huge 
 hole in the ground, where the workings were on the surface 
 and not deep in the earth, as at the De Beers. The 
 pictures of this mine which one often sees, represent it 
 fairly well; it was an enormous pit in the earth, some 
 hundreds of feet deep in parts, and more than a quarter of 
 a mile across. In it were several gangs of natives, looking 
 like flies on the distant floor of the great basin, labori- 
 ously drilling holes in the hard ground, or into the face of 
 the rock at the sides. Others were shovelling up the earth 
 and running it off on trolleys to the mills or floors. These 
 men were so far below us, and there were so many of them, 
 that the place seemed like a huge ant-hive into which we 
 had the privilege of peeping. We did not go down into 
 the hole, but sat on benches, or stood in a great semicircle 
 at the top, waiting for the show which was to follow. 
 
 A series of grand explosions were being arranged for 
 us ; and when the various holes were finished, the dynamite 
 cartridges such as we had seen manufactured at the ex- 
 plosive works belonging to this company at Somerset 
 West were placed in them, and the trains laid. The alarm 
 signals had been previously sounded, upon which the 
 men quitted their work and began to troop out of the 
 mine ; but it took a long time to get the pit clear. As soon 
 as there were only a few foremen left they fired the trains, 
 and then quickly hid themselves in safety-sheds built for 
 the purpose.
 
 DYNAMITE EXPLOSIONS 147 
 
 Suddenly a great mass of the face of the earth in front 
 of us seemed to leap forward, curl over, and dissolve into 
 dust and smoke, and immediately afterwards we heard the 
 roar of the explosion. When the air cleared somewhat, 
 we could see that many tons of the blue clay had fallen 
 down from the side of the great pit. Another explosion 
 followed, and then a third and a fourth, all in different 
 directions; earth was tumbling down everywhere; the pit 
 filled with smoke and dust; the noise grew deafening, and 
 the whole place looked like a veritable inferno. Explosion 
 after explosion went on for a long while, evidently an 
 especially fine series for our edification, for there must 
 have been at least a hundred of them. 
 
 When the show was all over, the interior of the great 
 pit was invisible : we seemed to be looking down into the 
 gaping crater of an immense volcano, full of the sulphurous 
 smoke of the nether world. Then we returned to our trains 
 and so found our way back to Kimberley. 
 
 I had tickets to descend the Kimberley Mine, which was 
 
 situated close to the railway station, and there S and I 
 
 dressed in miner's clothes and went down with a guide to 
 the 1,700 ft. level, where we spent a most interesting hour, 
 wandering about the tunnels and chambers where the 
 diamonds were found. The work w r e saw going on was 
 similar to that which we had seen in the Robinson Deep- 
 level Mine in Johannesburg, but we did not find it so 
 easy at first to trace the blue rock among the ordinary rock. 
 Our guide was at great pains to explain everything, and 
 we soon were able to tell which was the true ' blue ' and 
 which was not. No clay was found in the deep levels of 
 this mine; it was all hard rock. 
 
 We were all three in a small tunnel when a dynamite 
 explosion took place in an adjoining one, the concussion
 
 148 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 almost knocking us over, and at once putting out all our 
 lights. When we were thus left in absolute darkness, we 
 realized what it was to be down in the bowels of the earth, 
 shut away by nearly two thousand feet of solid rock from 
 the light of the upper world. The explosion had come so 
 very unexpectedly that we were much startled, and if we 
 had been alone we should have been in an awkward predica- 
 ment, for neither of us was a smoker, and we were conse- 
 quently unprovided with matches. However, our guide 
 had plenty and he quickly relighted our candles, apologizing 
 for not having warned us that explosions might be expected. 
 As we were passing along another tunnel, through which 
 trolleys full of the blue rock were running on rails, two of 
 them struck some obstacle and fell over sideways only a 
 few feet ahead of us. Had we been closer, a serious 
 accident might have happened, for the tunnel was narrow, 
 and the heavy stuff, about a ton in all, must have toppled 
 on to us. 
 
 However, we came up to the surface again in safety, 
 greatly interested by all we had seen, and then we were 
 conducted over the surface works of the mine to inspect 
 the machinery for crushing the rock. The stamps were 
 enormously powerful, but in spite of their immense weight 
 the diamonds passed under them uninjured, owing to their 
 excessive hardness; the probability of a diamond being 
 crushed did not seem to trouble the officials. Nearly all 
 the labourers who were doing unskilled work in feeding and 
 attending to these stamps were convicts in uniform, hired 
 from the Government. 
 
 The most interesting shed that we saw was the one 
 where a large number of pulsators were at work sorting 
 the diamonds. As Sir William Crookes had told us, and 
 shown by experiments in his lecture, the precious gems
 
 VISIT TO DIAMOND MINES 149 
 
 had an affinity for the grease with which the trays were 
 covered and stuck to them, while the other stones passed 
 freely over. The pulsators were a series of machines fitted 
 with these trays vibrating rapidly and regularly hence 
 their name and streams of water full of crushed rock 
 poured continually over them to the further end, where, 
 falling into conduits, they passed out of the house, carrying 
 away everything but the diamonds which had been left 
 sticking to the trays. It was very interesting to stand and 
 watch these automatic sorters and to notice how the 
 diamonds, immediately they appeared, were instantly caught 
 by the grease and adhered to it. 
 
 No hand-sorting could possibly be as certain and reliable 
 as the pulsators; but so valuable are the precious stones 
 that every grain which left this house in the stream of 
 water, had to be again and again sorted over by hand to 
 insure that none were left. Even after this the debris could 
 be disposed of at a fair price per ton to outside men, who 
 having little works of their own, managed to make a living 
 out of the chance diamonds, which, in spite of all the care- 
 ful picking over, they still found left in the mass. 
 
 After inspecting all the various operations, we went to 
 the offices where we saw displayed on tables a number of 
 little heaps of uncut stones, sorted according to size, 
 colour and mines. We were allowed to handle diamonds 
 of enormous value, and their merits and peculiarities w r ere 
 pointed out to us. The diamonds shown in this office 
 were priced at about ,80,000. Garnets and olivine were 
 also found in the diamondiferous rock and clay, and these 
 were separated, but were not reckoned of much value; 
 and as we came out we were each given a mixed handful 
 as a memento of our trip. But to the great regret of our
 
 i 5 o THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 wives and daughters, we were not presented with a handful 
 of diamonds at the same time. 
 
 All unskilled work at the De Beers group of mines in 
 Kimberley was done by Kaffirs. To guard against 
 robbery, and for the proper organization of their labour, 
 they were kept in compounds similar to those we had seen 
 in Johannesburg. We went over one of these places and 
 found the men looking contented and happy, and hugely 
 enjoying the games and dances in which they were 
 engaged. We saw representatives of most of the South 
 African tribes living in harmony, oblivious of their tribal 
 rivalries. A large store, full of all necessities and even 
 luxuries for the men, was within the compound. When 
 I visited there I was attracted by the appearance of the 
 oranges and bought half-a-dozen, and they were the finest 
 and cheapest I ate during my stay in the country. 
 
 In the centre of the compound was a great open-air tank, 
 full of water, where the men bathed and swam ; water was 
 running through it continually, but it was by no means 
 in a clean or sanitary condition, owing to the habits of the 
 negroes, who, with all their virtues, remained still un- 
 civilized in their ways. 
 
 The men received good wages, varying according to 
 occupation, and so far the mines had experienced no 
 shortage of labour. They have to sign on for three months 
 at least, during which time they must not leave the com- 
 pound. The conditions were evidently not irksome, nor 
 could any hardship attach to them, for, after once 
 working in the mines, the same men returned over and 
 over again. 
 
 I have said we saw them hugely enjoying themselves, 
 performing some of those weird dances so dear to the black
 
 man. They were entering with zest into these amuse- 
 ments, and it was great fun to watch the surprising energy 
 and vigour with which they twisted and twirled about in 
 the strangest of convolutions, to the beating of tom-toms 
 and the chanting, and clapping of hands, of their 
 companions. 
 
 During the afternoon our ladies were entertained by the 
 local branch of the Loyal Women's Guild, and in the 
 evening Professor Porter lectured at the Town Hall on The 
 Bearing of Engineering on Mining. 
 
 At every town we visited, the clubs had made us 
 honorary members, and the Kimberley Club had done the 
 same. It was a large comfortable building on one of the 
 main streets, and I was glad to spend my evening quietly 
 there after the very tiring events of the day. 
 
 Hearing next morning that the mail had arrived and that 
 the English papers were at the club, I went there im- 
 mediately after breakfast to read the home news; which 
 although three weeks old was full of interest after our long 
 absence. 
 
 Afterwards I walked across to the De Beers office, 
 where their stock of diamonds was on show for our 
 inspection, and entering the room where they were dis- 
 played, I had the pleasure of noticing that the door was 
 locked behind me. I was in temporary imprisonment, but 
 in good company, however, for both Professor Darwin and 
 Sir William Crookes were also there, looking at the gems. 
 I never before saw so much wealth in such a portable form, 
 and in such a small space. 
 
 A railing prevented us from going right up to the tables 
 where the stones were lying, but some were invited to 
 step inside this barrier. We were also permitted to handle
 
 152 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 any stones we wished to inspect closely. I saw and 
 handled the cone of steel with the diamond which had 
 been forced into it on the occasion of Sir William Crookes' 
 lecture. There it was right enough, deeply imbedded in 
 the hard steel, and level with its surface; and it was 
 wonderful to think how I had seen it forced into the metal. 
 I also handled the magnificent case of diamonds, which 
 had been exhibited at the lecture, and which contained 
 some very choice specimens of cut stones, dazzling and 
 lustrous. Among them were a pair each of pink and 
 green diamonds, the former being of a very delicate rosy 
 colour, and on account of their rarity exceedingly valu- 
 able, while both they and the green were wonderfully 
 beautiful. 
 
 Several of our party went about Kimberley, during the 
 morning, looking at the relics of the siege. Chief among 
 the sights was the fine monument called 'The Honoured 
 Dead Memorial.' This stood on a height at the top of 
 Memorial Road, and was a structure designed somewhat 
 after the style of the famous Nereid monument discovered 
 at Xanthos in Lycia in 1840. It was built of Rhodesian 
 stone and looked massive and imposing. By it stood Long 
 Cecil, the famous gun, made by the defenders during the 
 siege in the short space of twenty-four days. It could 
 throw a 28 Ib. projectile a distance of five miles, and in 
 all it fired 255 shots and proved most useful in keeping 
 down the fire of the Boer loo-pounder, mounted on the 
 tailings' heaps at Kamfersdam Mine, which had been a 
 source of great annoyance and danger to the town. 
 
 The siege of Kimberley lasted 124 days, and the relief 
 came only in the nick of time, for the supplies of bare 
 necessaries for a population of 45,000 had run dangerously
 
 SIGHTS OF KIMBERLEY 153 
 
 low. Horse-flesh was the only meat obtainable and the 
 people were almost starving. The infantile mortality had 
 risen alarmingly; it was reckoned that one out of every 
 two babes born during the siege, died for want of sufficient 
 nourishment. The death rate of coloured infants, reckoned 
 by itself, was even more appalling still, being no less than 
 935 per thousand.
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 BULAWAYO 
 
 WE joined our train at the station soon after lunch, and 
 amid a scene of great excitement started on our long 
 journey to Bulawayo. Some lovely pineapples were on 
 sale in the town and we had laid in a plentiful supply of 
 these, at the reasonable rate of sixpence each. 
 
 After leaving Kimberley, the country was flat and un- 
 interesting in the extreme, and it seemed, if possible, to 
 grow more desolate as we progressed. The life on the 
 train came back as familiarly as ever, among our old com- 
 panions; but it was with great regret that I learned from 
 Sir B - L - that his wife had been left behind on 
 account of her health. She had been troubled with her 
 heart, probably the great toil of our long journey had 
 proved too much for her, so the doctors forbade the still 
 more trying trip to the Victoria Falls, and she remained 
 under attention at Kimberley. Her illness, however, was 
 
 not considered serious enough to keep Sir B from 
 
 going on with the party; it would have been a pity if he 
 
 had missed doing so, and Lady L would have been 
 
 the last to have wished it. 
 
 As night drew on the dreariness of the country seemed 
 to increase. The moon was past its first quarter, and its 
 light gave a desolate whiteness to the withered veldt. Vry- 
 burg was reached at nine, but we did not stay long.
 
 TO BULAWAYO 155 
 
 I had wished for a glimpse of Mafeking, but was fast 
 asleep when the train reached there at three in the morn- 
 ing, and so missed it. It was as well perhaps, for I was 
 told that little could be seen by night. Several members 
 of our party who had trekked across from Pretoria were 
 waiting at the station to rejoin the trains. 
 
 When morning came the scenery was more varied and 
 interesting than that of the previous day, and of an alto- 
 gether different type. Great, isolated, stony kopjes, rising 
 sharply out of the ground, were scattered about at inter- 
 vals, and on these, and on the level country as far as the 
 eye could see, was the typical South African forest of dried- 
 up and rather scattered trees and shrubs. There was but 
 little tangle of undergrowth, and no sign of anything 
 at all like tropical vegetation, only a sort of long, coarse, 
 dried-up grass everywhere among the trees. Neither on 
 trees nor on bushes had much sign appeared as yet of the 
 new growth of the advancing spring. 
 
 The kopjes disappeared after a time and the country was 
 again as flat as ever; but still covered with the thin forest 
 growth, and everything looked dry and parched up. At 
 intervals we passed numbers of Kaffir kraals, and occasion- 
 ally small native clearings could be seen and irregular 
 patches of ground, where the withered remains of last 
 season's mealies' crops still stood untidy and forlorn. The 
 heat and dust soon became very trying the thermometer 
 in the shade on the platform outside the carriage register- 
 ing 96. We all put on our thinnest clothing, and those 
 who had dust coats were glad to cover themselves up in 
 them. It was necessary to be on the platform outside the 
 carriages all day long, if we wished to keep in any way 
 cool. Fortunately there was not the slightest dampness 
 in the heat, or it must have tried us more than it did, and
 
 i 5 6 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 after sunset the air quickly cooled down and became quite 
 bearable. 
 
 When we reached Mochudi, we saw ostriches walking 
 with slow and stately gait beside the trains and peeping 
 in at the windows, which were about on a level with their 
 heads. We fed the birds with cake, biscuits and other 
 dainties, while our photographers followed them about 
 with cameras trying to get good snapshots, with varying 
 success. 
 
 By three in the afternoon we reached Palapye and stayed 
 there half-an-hour, making purchases from the natives. 
 There and all through this part of the country those that 
 we saw near the railway mostly dressed like Europeans, 
 a style of costume which, as it was generally rather ill- 
 fitting or ragged, did not suit them at all. I saw, in the 
 pretty little garden attached to the station, young green 
 peas and other spring vegetables just coming up and 
 looking delightfully green and fresh, but the owner 
 told me that these results could be obtained only by 
 constant irrigation, until such time as the rainy season 
 began. 
 
 Just before sunset we reached the Bechuanaland border, 
 and at the station our philatelists made a rush for the post 
 office on the platform. There was so little time to spare 
 that I am afraid their manners were rather rough, and the 
 poor postmistress was so overwhelmed that she could 
 neither serve nor remonstrate. Buyers literally helped 
 themselves, and it is to be hoped that no mistakes were 
 made against her in the payments. 
 
 We were now in Khama's country, about twenty miles 
 from his kraal. He was far from well, or he might have 
 been present to welcome us on our arrival. He has done 
 so much for his people, especially in his persistent warfare
 
 BULAWAYO 157 
 
 against strong drink, that he must be considered one of 
 the most far-sighted and loyal of the native African chief- 
 tains under our protection. It is reported of him that 
 he once said, ' I fear Lobengula less than I fear brandy. 
 I fought Lobengula and drove him back. He never gave 
 me a sleepless night, but to fight drink is to fight demons 
 and not men. I fear the white men's drink more than the 
 assegais of the Matabele, which kill men's bodies. Drink 
 puts devils into men and destroys their souls and bodies.' 
 We cannot too much honour a native African chief who 
 could utter such words as these; they show strong 
 character, far-sighted wisdom, and real Christianity; and 
 his work among the Bagamwatos to keep from them the 
 curse of strong drink, has borne good fruit. 
 
 We were up early next morning, and soon after break- 
 fast our train drew to a standstill at Bulawayo station. 
 The town itself was more than half-a-mile away and could 
 not be seen as we alighted on the platform ; but its direc- 
 tion could be guessed from the many vehicles driving to 
 and fro amid clouds of dust. The appearance of the place 
 was not at first sight prepossessing. Everywhere the 
 country looked like the same open veldt, which we had 
 found so monotonous round Kimberley, although indeed 
 scarcely so flat as at the diamond centre. We were on 
 somewhat higher ground than the surrounding country, 
 and could see for miles on all sides, and there was the 
 same typical levelness everywhere. 
 
 Many of the reception committee were at the station 
 to welcome us, and those members of our party who had 
 been provided with hosts, or accommodation at the hotels, 
 were soon in carriages and on their way thither. We who 
 had to sleep on the trains, during our stay at Bulawayo, 
 were left to shift for ourselves, and having no luggage
 
 i 5 8 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 to bother about we made up a party and started on foot 
 to the town. 
 
 For some distance the road was only a sandy track, 
 which led into fine wide avenues by which the town was 
 divided up into large squares. These were again sub- 
 divided into blocks and stands, and houses had been built 
 upon some of them, but very many were vacant, even in 
 the centre of the business parts. The whole place had 
 a painfully modern appearance, and looked like a town of 
 arrested development. And yet it was quite wonderful 
 to think how much had really been done since its start 
 scarcely ten years ago. Some very fine buildings had 
 been put up here and there, but they seemed rather out 
 of place with so little business doing in them. Cheap 
 galvanized iron erections would have been more in 
 harmony with the surroundings. 
 
 In one of the chief thoroughfares, close to the Grand 
 Hotel and the Bulawayo Club, we saw a great granite 
 pedestal on which was a fine figure of Cecil Rhodes stand- 
 ing in a very life-like attitude. It had been put up the 
 previous year and was the work of Mr. John Tweed. Close 
 by was our reception room, whither we proceeded in order 
 to inquire for letters and get our tickets for the meetings 
 and other functions. 
 
 S and I then started out to look up the offices of some 
 
 of the companies in which we were interested, and found a 
 little difficulty in lighting upon them, for the names of 
 streets and houses seemed conspicuous by their absence. 
 We came across the Mashonaland Agency buildings eventu- 
 ally, a fine large block worthy of more business than seemed 
 likely to be done in it for some time to come. 
 
 Inquiring the whereabouts of the Bechuanaland Explor- 
 ation Company, we got into conversation with a resident
 
 CECIL RHODES' STATUE, BULAWAYO
 
 BULAWAYO 159 
 
 whom we saw standing by his front door, and he proved 
 to be an interesting informant, and told us many things 
 about the place. He also invited us to return to his house 
 when we had done our business and he would take us 
 round to his club for a further chat. This we promised to 
 do, and walking across to the Bechuanaland office, which 
 was close by, we were fortunate in finding Mr. Moffat, 
 the manager, in his room. There we chatted for some 
 time and found him sanguine about the prospects of his 
 company, which has large interests in the extensive copper 
 district lately discovered in Northern Rhodesia. Concern- 
 ing things in Rhodesia generally he said they were not in 
 a flourishing condition, and this was confirmed wherever 
 we went. 
 
 He gave us a cordial invitation to lunch with him at 
 the Bulawayo Club, which we promised to do, and leaving 
 him for a time, we returned to our friend opposite, and to- 
 gether we went on to his club for a short time. He echoed 
 what every one else had told us about the bad times in 
 Bulawayo and the country generally. No one seemed to 
 have any money to spend and yet everything was fright- 
 fully dear. He instanced the excessive price of all build- 
 ings, owing to the high rate of labour and the dearness 
 of materials. Skilled labour cost 305. per day, and yet 
 even at this rate the workmen were unable to save much, 
 owing to the great expense of living. Fortunately native 
 labour was fairly cheap, so that reckoning skilled and 
 unskilled together the two did not average as much as 
 we at first thought. He said that everybody who could 
 afford to leave the place had gone, there being no induce- 
 ment to keep them there when business was so bad. Only 
 those remained whose occupations, or other ties, or whose 
 lack of means, prevented them from going.
 
 160 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 Perhaps his picture was rather too pessimistic, but every 
 one I spoke to in the shops and elsewhere confirmed the 
 fact of business being very bad, although many thought 
 that bottom had now been reached, and that, as things 
 could not get worse, they must improve. 
 
 Our friend's club was the business one of Bulawayo, and 
 we were sorry to find that even in Central Africa class dis- 
 tinctions prevailed, the official element of the place and 
 the business-folk being scarcely on the most cordial terms 
 together. It was a fine club, with good reading and 
 billiard-rooms, but it was experiencing the effects of the 
 prevailing depression in a large diminution of its member- 
 ship. 
 
 Later on we walked across to the new museum, which was 
 opened that morning by Professor Darwin. The cere- 
 mony was just over when we arrived there, and we found 
 the building crowded with visitors. It contained many 
 interesting exhibits relating to Rhodesia, and among other 
 things, a large collection of pottery and relics from the 
 ancient ruins of Zimbabwe, Khami, Umtali and elsewhere. 
 When we visited Umtali later on, I was able to pick up, in 
 the ruins there, shreds of similar pottery. The museum also 
 contained a fine assortment of native ornaments of Mata- 
 bele, Mashona, Kalanga and Batonga work. Our geolo- 
 gists were gratified by carefully arranged cases of speci- 
 mens of the rocks of the country; and our zoologists and 
 ornithologists found much to interest them in its collection 
 of animals and birds. 
 
 S and I remained in the museum until one o'clock 
 
 and then joined Mr. Moffat at the Bulawayo Club. He 
 is the grandson of Dr. Moffat, the African missionary, 
 the father-in-law of David Livingstone. He introduced us 
 to two of his friends, Dr. James, and ' Matabele ' Wilson,
 
 BULAWAYO 161 
 
 the latter so-called because of his friendship with the late 
 Lobengula, among whose people he had spent many 
 years of his life. We five lunched together, and found the 
 dining-room crowded with members of the British Asso- 
 ciation and their numerous friends. For the first and 
 only time in Rhodesia, we had punkahs working during 
 the meal, and felt that they were needed. ' Matabele ' 
 Wilson talked much about the country as he knew it in 
 his early days, and we were exceedingly interested in his 
 graphic description of its condition under the rule of the 
 warlike but sagacious Lobengula. 
 
 We were all invited by Mr. Newton to a garden-party 
 at Government House during the afternoon, and carriages 
 were waiting, when we finished lunch, to take us there. 
 The house was situated about three and a half miles from 
 the town and was approached by an avenue about three 
 miles long, planted under the direction of Cecil Rhodes. 
 The house itself was built by Rhodes and presented by 
 him to the Government. It stood on the site of Loben- 
 gula's kraal, and the old native town of Bulawayo. Near 
 the house was still preserved the ' Indaba ' tree, under 
 which the dusky monarch used to sit and dispense justice. 
 The day was exceedingly hot and dusty, and feeling a 
 headache coming on, I decided not to go, but stayed in 
 the reading-room of the club all the afternoon and read, 
 and also tried to sleep. 
 
 At six o'clock I walked back to the train, and dressed 
 for the evening's lecture by Mr. D. Randall-Mclver, which 
 was to be given in the large hall of the Grand Hotel, upon 
 the subject of The Rhodesian Ruins. The band of the 
 South Rhodesian Volunteers played opposite the hotel 
 after dinner, and at the same time the Mayor held a 
 
 reception in the drawing-room of the hotel. At nine 
 ii
 
 162 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 o'clock the lecture began, and the large hall was full to 
 overflowing. Once again there were complaints about 
 the invidious distinction made between ' official ' and 
 ' unofficial ' members, the latter being placed so far back 
 that many could not see or hear at all, and went away 
 in disgust. 
 
 The lecturer illustrated his remarks with a number of 
 lantern slides. He traced the formations of the various 
 ruins, showing how they seemed to be a line of forts from 
 the mines right away to the coast. He explained their 
 nature and construction, and said he had come to the 
 conclusion that they could not properly be called ancient 
 at all ; they were merely mediaeval, although evidently not 
 the work of any tribe now living in South Africa. They 
 were unfortunately absolutely free from inscriptions of any 
 sort as a guide to their age or origin. Probably the race 
 that built them was now extinct, having perished in some 
 unlucky tribal wars. 
 
 I could not stay until the close of the lecture. It was 
 already very late, and we were due to leave next morning 
 by two special trains at half-past seven and eight o'clock for 
 our excursion to the Matopo Hills, to see the site of Cecil 
 Rhodes' grave at the ' World's View.' My head was 
 aching badly, so I left, and walked quietly back to the 
 train, where I was soon in bed, and had a good night's rest.
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 THE MATOPO HILLS 
 
 NEARLY two hours' journey through flat but open country, 
 brought us to the rail-head, not far from which was the 
 Matopos Hotel, where we breakfasted. 
 
 Their accommodation was limited, but as they had known 
 for weeks beforehand of our coming, there need have been 
 no lack of waiters or provisions; but both were conspicu- 
 ous by their absence. The service practically resolved 
 itself into ' help yourselves,' and the kitchen was assailed 
 by crowds of eager applicants. I doubt whether anybody 
 succeeded after all in making much of a breakfast. With 
 a little foresight we all might have done well, for although 
 the rooms were limited in size, there was an ample 
 verandah round the house and large grounds beyond, 
 capable of seating any number of persons. 
 
 We were none of us, however, in the humour for grumb- 
 ling, but were out to enjoy ourselves, so as soon as we had 
 finished we selected our seats in the motley collection of 
 vehicles, consisting of a few brakes, some Cape carts, and 
 several antiquated, top-heavy stage-coaches, that had come 
 down from primeval days. They were all drawn by teams 
 of six or eight mules apiece. 
 
 Soon after starting we came into a country dotted over 
 with those strange, abrupt, stony kopjes, which form so 
 marked a feature of South African scenery. These grew 
 
 163
 
 i6 4 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 more numerous and connected as we went on, until we were 
 shut in by long ranges of them on all sides. The country 
 was fairly well wooded, but the road, which was in parts 
 little better than a sand track, was primitive and very 
 dusty. 
 
 The forest was of the usual Rhodesian type, consisting of 
 small scrubby bushes, trees destitute of foliage, and much 
 long, coarse, dried-up grass, which was as tall as the jet- 
 black negroes we now and then saw walking through it. 
 Here and there, on some mimosa or other bush, the 
 young green of the early spring was just beginning to 
 break, but for the most part, except when we came near 
 to any water, everything wore the usual burnt-up appear- 
 ance. 
 
 The hills began to assume peculiar aspects; formed as 
 they were of loosely aggregated boulders and disjointed 
 granite masses, huge and grotesque, piled upon one another 
 in the weirdest manner, as though by giants in sport. 
 Many might almost be called mountains and were crowned 
 on their summits by enormous rocks, standing alone, or 
 sometimes by several, one on the other, perched in what 
 looked like impossible places, and threatening to roll down 
 and crush us. But I suppose they have stood thus for 
 centuries, and will probably remain as they are for 
 centuries still. Many of these great rocks were split in 
 two by the action of the weather, and the two halves 
 seemed about to fall apart. Altogether the effect was most 
 uncanny. 
 
 We came to the great reserve where large numbers of 
 wild animals were kept in their native conditions, lest 
 they should become extinct before the advance of civil- 
 ization. There we saw giraffes feeding, stretching their 
 long necks to find the young shoots just appearing on the
 
 THE MATOPO HILLS 165 
 
 tops of the bushes; also zebras, gnus and other kinds of 
 strange beasts. 
 
 We entered the Matopos park, an enclosure of enormous 
 extent, for we drove a long distance before passing the 
 gates on the further side. The scenery was, if possible, 
 wilder inside than outside the enclosure, and the place 
 abounded with game of various sorts, hiding away in the 
 caves and crannies of the great hills, and amid the thick 
 undergrowth on all sides. 
 
 Our way wound in and out among these hills, and 
 through the primeval forest, until at length we reached 
 the foot of the historic mountain, upon the summit of 
 which lay the body of Rhodesia's founder. There we left 
 the carriages, the mules were outspanned, and we soon saw 
 them kicking their heels high in the air and rolling over and 
 over in their enjoyment. The hill, which was of granite 
 formation, was, I should guess, considerably over 500 ft. 
 high, and at its foot we saw a notice upon a board 
 nailed to a tree, ' This is consecrated ground.' The 
 presence of the dead consecrates any ground, I thought, 
 as I read it. 
 
 Before ascending, S managed to gather off an almost 
 
 inaccessible tree a pod full of the beautiful scarlet and black 
 mahogany beans; but it was impossible to reach the many 
 others we saw hanging higher up. Then a stiff climb in 
 the blazing hot sun, brought us to the summit, where we 
 found the air much cooler and fresher than in the valley. 
 
 From the top a most magnificent sight met our gaze. 
 On all sides, as far as the eye could see, we were looking 
 upon mountains and hills of the wildest and most fantastic 
 forms. Some were like immense castellated towers; 
 others might have been grotesque representations of the 
 fearful animals that, in the far away Jurassic period.
 
 1 66 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 dragged their uncouth forms through the African swamps ; 
 hideous dinosaurs turned by some magician into stone 
 to keep guard and watch over these wild fastnesses. Many 
 of the outlines had taken to themselves strangely human 
 shapes. 
 
 Surrounded by these awe-inspiring marvels of nature; 
 amid scenes which, when the pale moon shines clear and 
 full upon them, must resemble nothing so much as her 
 own rugged, airless and lifeless mountains; in a grave 
 blasted out of the solid granite, lay all that remained on 
 earth of that form which was once the man who thought 
 in continents, and who gave his name to this great country. 
 A simple granite slab covered the tomb, and on it we read : 
 ' Here lies the body of Cecil John Rhodes ' nothing more, 
 and yet surely all that needed to be said. At the corners 
 of the grave stood enormous boulders, forming a rough 
 and natural enclosure about it. 
 
 Our friend the Rev. J. O. B had announced the day 
 
 before that he would hold a service by the grave and give 
 a short address. But such a spot was a sermon in itself, 
 and preached far beyond the power of man to surpass ; so 
 he could only say these words, ' I had prepared a short 
 address, but in these surroundings I think the most fitting 
 sermon is silence.' I could not help recalling the fine 
 lines of Wordsworth 
 
 'What soul was his, when on the tops 
 Of the high mountains he beheld the sun 
 Rise up and bathe the world in light ! 
 
 No thanks he breathed, he proffered no request ; 
 Rapt into still communion that transcends 
 The imperfect offices of prayer and praise, 
 His mind was a thanksgiving to the power 
 That made him ; it was blessedness and love ! ' 
 
 Not far from Rhodes' grave and on the same hill stood
 
 THE MATOPO HILLS 167 
 
 the Shangani Memorial with its fine bronzes, in memory 
 of the brave little band, who, with Major Alan Wilson, 
 were slain to the last man by the Matabele, on the banks 
 of the Shangani River. The monument was of granite 
 hewn from the base of the hill, and was a piece of excellent 
 workmanship; but one felt it was rather out of place 
 there, and hardly in such fine keeping with its surround- 
 ings as the unpretentious, rough hewn, simple grave of 
 the founder of Rhodesia. 
 
 As we stood on the summit we had a magnificent view 
 of the valleys that lay below. There was an especially 
 large one lying almost at the base of the hill, and covered 
 in places with the virgin forest, where numbers of natives 
 could be seen moving about. It was an ideal spot for an 
 encampment, easily protected, difficult of assault and full 
 of surprises to an unwary foe. 
 
 It was there that Rhodes, unarmed and alone, save for 
 one companion, came during the Matabele war to trust 
 himself to the honour of the savages while he discussed 
 their grievances with them: when by undertaking person- 
 ally to see to their remedy, he was the means of putting 
 a stop to a ruthless and cruel struggle. The natives after- 
 wards held him in great awe and respect, and though his 
 grave lies unprotected in the very midst of their strong- 
 holds, it is quite safe among them, and they guard it with 
 care and reverence. 
 
 This romantic spot is called the ' World's View,' a very 
 appropriate name, as it seemed to us. I took a few photo- 
 graphs, which, however, did not turn out well ; and lingered 
 as long as I could, for I felt loth to leave such an enchant- 
 ing place. When I did make the descent again, I was 
 met at the bottom by one of our Bulawayo friends, who led 
 me to where luncheon was set out in an open tent. This
 
 168 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 had been erected in a most romantic and primitively wild 
 spot, under the shelter of huge, overhanging rocks, and in 
 the picturesque valley I had seen from the summit of the 
 hill. 
 
 The luncheon was acceptable, especially the tea and 
 drinks, for the day was extremely hot and the ride had 
 been dusty. I am afraid to say how many oranges we 
 ate, or cups of tea we drank; for a glorious hour or so 
 we simply luxuriated in drinking. On the ground, under 
 the trees, in the nooks and crannies of the rocks, and 
 wherever there was shelter from the sun to be had, we 
 sat about eating and drinking and enjoying ourselves. In 
 the hot, arid atmosphere, bread and cakes soon became 
 dry and unpalatable after a short exposure, and meats 
 were almost unthinkable, but jellies, fruits and drinks were 
 always appetizing, and for these we were insatiable. 
 
 People who have never been to these dry, semi-tropical 
 countries can hardly form any idea of the intense longing 
 for something to drink that afflicts those who visit them 
 for the first time. This craving is felt most when one 
 newly arrives; but fortunately it wears off somewhat after 
 a time. It is an exceedingly risky proceeding for the new- 
 comer to indulge too much in alcoholic beverages; for the 
 great desire to drink, if met in this way, may stimulate a 
 craving too imperious to be resisted. 
 
 Numbers of Matabele were hanging around on the fringe 
 of our party, curiously watching the scene. They had 
 never seen so many white people at one time in these 
 hills, except on the sad occasion when Cecil Rhodes 
 was buried. From some of them we purchased curios, 
 such as knobkerries, wire-covered sticks, whips, bead 
 necklets, or whatever they had that took our fancy. Their 
 knowledge of English was very limited, confined generally
 
 THE MATOPO HILLS 169 
 
 to saying the name of the coin they wanted for the article 
 in barter. They were as black as coal, and were dressed in 
 shirts or coats covering the body but leaving the legs 
 bare. This attire was nothing like so showy as that of 
 the Zulus; there was a marked absence of the feathers, 
 skins and ornaments which made the latter race so 
 picturesque. 
 
 S disappeared for a while, and later on I found that 
 
 he and a few others had heard of some Bushmen's 
 drawings to be seen in a cave a little distance away, to 
 which they had gone. They saw what there was to be 
 seen ; but did not seem to be much impressed, the sketches 
 being very poor and indistinct. 
 
 We rested for an hour or two in this delightful valley, 
 of the beauty and primitive wildness of which I regret 
 that no words of mine can convey a true impression to the 
 reader. It was the sort of place to be visited again and 
 again and explored at leisure, little by little ; but alone, or 
 with one or two congenial minds only, and not with a 
 crowd. 
 
 As we made our way back to our conveyances, we felt 
 that very few of us would ever have another opportunity 
 of revisiting these scenes, hidden away in the heart of the 
 dark continent so many thousands of miles from our 
 homes. 
 
 Some of our more enterprising geologists had already 
 started off to walk back to the railhead, and I have always 
 regretted that I could not summon up energy enough to 
 accompany them; but I felt the afternoon heat really too 
 enervating for such exertion. Seven miles of tramping in 
 the hot tropical sunshine, along a soft sandy track, or over 
 rough forest ground, was not lightly to be undertaken. I 
 looked at the walkers toiling ahead in the heat and the
 
 170 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 glare ; I felt the almost overhead sun blazing down through 
 my panama hat; I saw the coaches waiting with their 
 harnessed teams; and behind their sun-curtains their 
 interiors looked so cool and inviting that I hesitated, and 
 was lost. I took my seat with the rest and was driven 
 back the way we had come, a journey far hotter and 
 dustier than the morning's had been. 
 
 Nearly all the way along we saw clouds of locusts flying 
 in every direction, and their transparent wings gave them 
 something of the appearance of great snow-flakes whirling 
 through the air. In size they were about twice as large 
 as dragon-flies, and they were ready to devour every green 
 thing as soon as it appeared; for so voracious are their 
 appetites that, when a cloud of them descends upon a 
 farm, the owner need have no further anxiety about his 
 crops, for none will be left to worry over. 
 
 Our party straggled very much, a mile or two separat- 
 ing the first from the last conveyance. We were well 
 ahead, and only half-a-mile from the railway, when one 
 of our mules gave out suddenly. It had sunstroke, or 
 staggers, or heat apoplexy; I was not learned in horses 
 and could not tell which, and our negroes spoke no Eng- 
 lish and could give us no information. It had to be 
 unharnessed and led to the shelter of a great rock, where 
 it immediately fell down and would not be moved, for it 
 was evidently very bad. If the drivers only looked at it, 
 it set up a piteous remonstrance, most heartrending to hear. 
 There was no help for it but to take out its fellow, and 
 tether him alongside his sick companion, while we short- 
 ened our harness and proceeded with four mules only. 
 
 This delayed us a long time, and while we were busy 
 the rest of our party passed, leaving us far in the rear. 
 The result of all this was that I lost my camera : for as we
 
 THE MATOPO HILLS 171 
 
 reached the railway the train was just whistling to start; 
 we rushed to it and got aboard only in the nick of time, 
 and it was well under weigh when I remembered that in 
 the hurry and excitement I had left my camera in the 
 trap. 
 
 We were already a quarter of a mile off and going very 
 slowly; and hearing that a second train was to follow on 
 with the stragglers of our party and the walkers, whom 
 I had forgotten, I jumped out and made my way back to 
 the brake, which had been drawn up with the other vehicles 
 some distance from where we alighted. I searched every- 
 where, but no camera was to be seen ; the drivers had both 
 disappeared and no one understood what I wanted. 
 
 I could do nothing but take the second train back to 
 Bulawayo, informing the officials of my loss at both ends 
 of the line. The general opinion was that our negro 
 drivers had taken it and that it was bound to turn up in 
 time. It could be of no possible use to them and they 
 would be sure to try and dispose of it later on. It turned 
 out eventually that this was an unjust suspicion, for the 
 drivers had never seen the camera. 
 
 The loss was exceedingly vexing, for I had brought it 
 with me chiefly to take views at the Victoria Falls, and 
 just before reaching this climax of our long journey I 
 must needs go and lose it. 
 
 On arrival at Bulawayo I went to the club to spend 
 the evening reading and writing, and meeting Dr. James 
 there, I chatted with him for a while. He afterwards 
 introduced me to Mr. Marshall Hole, the manager of the 
 Chartered Company, to whom I had brought a letter of 
 introduction from the Board in London ; and we sat and 
 talked about Rhodesian affairs for some time. He seemed 
 to be more optimistic than many I had spoken with, and
 
 172 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 looked forward to a speedy end to the present depression 
 in the country. He told me that quite a number of small 
 private mining ventures, working with five or ten stamp 
 batteries, were paying their owners well. He was con- 
 fident that the newly-discovered gold reefs were of true 
 banket formation and likely to turn out successfully. His 
 optimism may have been partly due to his official position 
 in the Chartered Company, but it was cheering to hear 
 some one talk hopefully of Rhodesian prospects in the 
 near future. 
 
 He was vexed to hear about my camera, and promised to 
 put the Chartered Police on its track, and was sure I should 
 soon get it again. If a negro had it I was bound to 
 recover it eventually; but it was very disappointing to 
 lose it just before reaching the Falls. 
 
 We left Bulawayo early on the following morning for 
 the north, en route for the Victoria Falls. The weather 
 was hot and dry, and all day long we were passing through 
 the familiar Rhodesian forest scenery. This grew denser 
 and wilder as we progressed, with much more of the long 
 dry grass and thick undergrowth among the trees. 
 
 Occasionally we came across great open spaces, where 
 forest fires had cleared the ground ; and during the day we 
 saw many of these conflagrations on a small scale, where 
 sparks from the trains in front of us had set alight the 
 grass growing by the side of the track. It was a marvel 
 that impassable fires did not rage, considering the tinder- 
 like appearance of everything about us; had there been 
 any wind to fan the flames the conflagrations might have 
 been serious. 
 
 We stopped at intervals for the engines to take water, 
 and then we usually left the trains and roamed about in the 
 woods, picking wildflowers, chasing butterflies, or hunt-
 
 THE MATOPO HILLS 173 
 
 ing up native kraals. Many stations were passed with 
 most unpronounceable names, such as Nyamandhlovu, 
 Gwaai, Intundhla and Inyantue. At one of these places 
 a lamentable accident occurred. The dog belonging to a 
 station official was reposing under the train as we started 
 off. No one saw the animal, until a piteous howl revealed 
 its presence, and we saw the wretched creature drag itself 
 from among the wheels, with its two hind legs cut off. 
 As we left, the station-master was rushing for his gun to 
 put the poor wretch out of its misery. 
 
 Later on, at midnight, we reached Wankie station, in 
 the centre of the coal-bearing area; but this must be 
 described on our return journey, for we saw nothing of it 
 as we passed up country. We knew the trains were to 
 reach the Victoria Falls very early the next morning, and 
 that a tiring day was before us, so all had gone to bed 
 betimes.
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 THE VICTORIA FALLS 
 
 AT five o'clock on Tuesday morning, September 12, 
 the train came to a standstill at the Falls Station, and the 
 cessation of movement woke me up. I knew, without ask- 
 ing, where we were, for the distant roar of the falling 
 waters could be distinctly heard. 
 
 Hastily dressing, I left the train as soon as possible, 
 and found that it was just daybreak and we were standing 
 on a siding of the railway, in the midst of the same kind 
 of burnt-up forest as that we had travelled through on the 
 previous day. 
 
 The hotel was situated a short distance off, and thither 
 I bent my steps. From thence the ground, in the direc- 
 tion of the Falls, dropped somewhat, so that a very magnifi- 
 cent view could be obtained over the forest-covered country 
 lying in that direction. Right in front, only a few 
 hundred feet off, was the mighty gorge of the Zambesi, 
 and further on, less than a mile away, I saw the new rail- 
 way bridge across the river. I went some distance beyond 
 the hotel to lower ground to get a better view of the gorge 
 and the bridge. 
 
 The Falls themselves were not in sight from this posi- 
 tion, but the several great columns of mist, which always 
 overhang them, could be distinctly seen above the trees, 
 clearly marking their whereabouts. It is from these mist 
 
 174
 
 --0
 
 THE VICTORIA FALLS 175 
 
 columns that the native name ' Mosi-oa-tunya ' is obtained. 
 It signifies ' the smoke that sounds,' and is a very appro- 
 priate appellation, for when seen from a distance these 
 columns of spray bear an extraordinary resemblance to 
 the smoke of a veldt fire, and the roar of the waters can 
 be heard for many miles round. 
 
 Sometimes, when the Zambesi is in flood, the columns 
 rise to a height of a thousand feet and can be seen fifty 
 miles off. The natives say in their songs, ' How should 
 any one lose his way with such a landmark to guide 
 him?' 
 
 These Falls, perhaps one of the most wonderful sights 
 in the whole world, were discovered by David Living- 
 stone in November 1855, almost fifty years within a month 
 to the time of our visit. As far as is known, he was the 
 first white man to set eyes on them, certainly the first 
 who ever returned to tell of their existence. So inacces- 
 sible has this district been until quite recently, and so 
 unknown was all the surrounding country, that before 1875 
 it is probable that fewer than twenty-five white people had 
 even seen this most entrancing of nature's marvels. 
 
 We had no time to go to the bridge before breakfast, 
 which was ready for us at the hotel. Early as it was, the 
 day was too hot for eating with any appetite; our chief 
 desire seemed to be for drink. I do not think that either 
 the food or the waiting could be called good ; but the size 
 of our party must have been a great tax upon the resources 
 of an hotel, so many hundreds of miles from its nearest 
 base of supply. 
 
 After breakfast, S and I walked to the bridge to 
 
 inspect it before the formal opening. We were glad we 
 decided to do this, for we found some interesting Kaffir 
 huts on the way, and secured a few curios in them. The
 
 176 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 natives were very friendly and willing to sell us anything 
 they had; but as they could not speak English, our bar- 
 gaining had to be done by signs. However, they all 
 seemed to know the value of money, and some could just 
 say such words as ' ticky, sixpence, shilling, two shilling,' 
 and so on. 
 
 At the bridge, we had half-an-hour to spare before the 
 time of the opening ceremony. The structure was still 
 in an uncompleted state, and in places, where the floor 
 had not been quite boarded over, it was necessary to walk 
 with care to avoid tumbling through. 
 
 The bridge is the highest in the world, being 350 ft. 
 from the level of the rails to the level of the water (i.e. 
 at low water, as we saw it). Perhaps this height can be 
 better appreciated when I mention that St. Paul's Cathe- 
 dral might stand beneath its great arch. It was approached 
 on either side through a shallow cutting, and had a total 
 length of 650 ft. ; the arch alone having a span of 500 ft. 
 
 The iron work was all made in England by the Cleve- 
 land Bridge and Engineering Company of Darlington, 
 and the actual erection took only nineteen weeks. The 
 riveting, however, was a much longer affair; but the 
 whole structure was completed fortunately with very little 
 loss of life, considering the hazardous nature of the work, 
 only one European and one native being killed during 
 its construction. It was commenced at each end, and 
 gradually built outwards until the two parts met, and 
 joined in the centre. So perfectly had the measurements 
 been made, that when the junction was effected, the booms 
 and braces on either side met and joined exactly. 
 
 The bridge was the design of the firm of Sir Douglas 
 Fox, and the construction was superintended by Sir 
 Charles Metcalfe, whom we now saw on the bridge, await-
 
 THE VICTORIA FALLS 177 
 
 ing the arrival of the train which was to bring Professor 
 Darwin and our party for the formal opening. 
 
 There were a few other members of the ' British Asso- 
 ciation ' on the bridge taking photographs ; or, like our- 
 selves, enjoying the beautiful view of the gorge, which 
 was unique from this position. 
 
 The scenery certainly was wonderfully fine, especially 
 to our left, where one end of the Falls could be seen, and 
 where the gorge made a sudden bend into sight at a spot 
 called the ' Boiling Pot.' Over this part only a few small 
 streams were tumbling, but an official informed us that 
 in the wet season the mist was so dense there, owing 
 to the mass of falling water, that little else could be seen. 
 In this respect we were fortunate in the time of our visit, 
 for although we failed to see the great volume of water 
 of the wet season, we could get much better and clearer 
 views of the surrounding scenery owing to the absence 
 of mist. 
 
 To our right was the long deep gorge, winding away 
 towards the hotel in the distance, while below us we saw a 
 strangely small amount of water rushing under the bridge. 
 When it was remembered that the whole of the Zambesi, 
 a mile wide, poured over into this gorge, one wondered 
 where all the water had gone. Was there some cleft in 
 the earth where it was lost in a subterranean channel, or 
 was this narrow stream, tearing under the bridge, deeper 
 than it appeared? Certainly we were far from impressed 
 with the volume of water flowing there. We learned, how- 
 ever, that in the wet season it rose fifty feet higher in the 
 gorge than it was, when we saw it after six months of 
 rainless weather. 
 
 Officers now placed a cable across the centre of the 
 bridge and this was to be fused by an electric spark, when 
 
 12
 
 178 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 Professor Darwin touching a button declared the structure 
 open. We could see the train in the distance approaching, 
 the engine gaily decorated with flags and greenery. 
 
 One of our officials was busily giving orders that all 
 who had not violet tickets were to be told to go off the 
 bridge; these violet tickets being the free ones given to 
 the members of the ' official ' party, while those of the 
 ' unofficial ' section who had paid for theirs had red ones. 
 Most of the Rhodesian officers, however, declined to carry 
 out these instructions, and we were left undisturbed. This 
 attempt to turn us off the bridge was a piece of official 
 interference, which was greatly resented and caused much 
 heartburning. 
 
 When the train came slowly to a standstill in the centre 
 of the bridge, the passengers alighted and formed a large 
 group about the President, who made a short speech. 
 
 He said that it was a most fortunate coincidence that this great 
 enterprise had been brought to the stage at which it was proper to 
 declare the bridge open, during the visit of the ' British Association ' 
 to South Africa. Thanks to the generosity and care of the Government 
 Railways, they had just performed an astonishing journey of 1,700 miles 
 in comfort and luxury. It was almost an impertinence that they should 
 come in electrically-lighted sleeping-cars to a place which heroic explorers 
 had spent many months in fruitless endeavours to reach. This was a 
 thing which impressed itself on the imagination ; and another thing which 
 appealed to them as Englishmen was, that they were still under the 
 Union Jack. It seemed nothing short of a fairy tale to stand on this 
 bridge over the Zambesi. It was due to the influence of steam that this 
 great enterprise had become possible. He could not refrain from quoting 
 the remarkable forecast written by his great-great-grandfather, Erasmus 
 Darwin, in 1785. 
 
 ' Soon shall thy arm, unconquered steam, afar 
 Urge the slow barge, and draw the flying car.' 
 
 How little could the writer of these lines have foreseen that his great- 
 great-grandson would have the honour of declaring a railway bridge 
 open, in the heart of Equatorial Africa ?
 
 THE VICTORIA FALLS 179 
 
 r 
 
 This act Professor Darwin then performed by touching 
 
 a button, which fused the cord stretched across the line, 
 and the train passed over, some of the passengers proceed- 
 ing in it for the trip to Livingstone Island, while others, 
 forming into another party, went through the Rain Forest. 
 
 The forest with this appropriate name was a belt of trees 
 a mile long, which bordered the Falls on the south side, 
 and from which the finest views of the plunging river 
 could be obtained. It was so called by Edward Mohr, 
 who in 1870 was one of the earliest visitors to the spot. 
 
 In parts of the forest, rain is always dripping from the 
 trees, owing to the mist rising from the dashing of the 
 waters on the rocks below ; while in summer time, when the 
 Zambesi is in flood, visitors have to protect themselves 
 with macintoshes and umbrellas before venturing in, if they 
 do not wish to get drenched. When we saw it, the water 
 in the river was at its lowest, and there was no mist 
 except upon the extreme margin of the forest, where it 
 almost overhung the gorge. We could wander about in 
 comfort and stand at its best coigns of vantage for seeing 
 the falling waters, without getting more than a slight 
 wetting to our feet. 
 
 The sweet, cool air of the forest at once struck us as 
 so different from the hot atmosphere which prevailed out- 
 side its grateful shade. Vegetation revelled there in luxu- 
 riant wildness; great trees crowded upon one another, 
 densely covered with the greenest of foliage; the under- 
 growth was tangled and in parts impenetrable ; huge palms 
 grew on all sides; the ground was carpeted with the love- 
 liest maidenhair ferns; everything seemed to thrive in that 
 perennial dampness. 
 
 Across the track, which went by the name of a path, 
 lay fallen giants of the forest, and from their trunks
 
 i8o THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 I 
 
 straight branches, like sons and daughters, rose high up 
 in the air, forming new colonies by themselves of fresh 
 young trees. Troops of monkeys could be seen spring- 
 ing from branch to branch, very shy animals to whom it 
 was difficult to approach closely. Snakes lurked in the 
 dense tangle of undergrowth and amid the decaying trunks 
 and branches of the trees that cumbered the ground. 
 Several of our naturalists captured fine specimens, which 
 they afterwards proudly exhibited preserved in spirit. 
 
 At last we were gazing upon real tropical vegetation. 
 What we had seen hitherto were but dried-up caricatures 
 of forests; here only was that profusion of wild growth, 
 green and luxuriant, which our imaginations had always 
 pictured as usual in Equatorial Africa. Heat alone, as we 
 had seen outside, was insufficient to induce nature to clothe 
 herself with beauty ; never-failing moisture was also needed, 
 and here it was to be had in abundance. As soon as we 
 passed beyond the limits of the forest, and away from the 
 life-giving mist that overhung it, the green vegetation 
 ceased, the palm-trees disappeared, the ferns vanished, and 
 the country resumed the barren burnt-up aspect so familiar 
 to us. 
 
 The Falls are too vast to be seen at one glance; in this 
 respect they are somewhat disappointing as a spectacle. 
 The great river that tumbles into the gorge from the oppo- 
 site bank is a mile wide, and is split up by various islands 
 and shallows into many separate falls, and these must be 
 seen in succession, as one walks through the Rain Forest. 
 But what is lost by the absence of one immense fall, is 
 gained in many charming and diversified sections, each 
 one showing this wonderful marvel of nature in a different 
 aspect. 
 
 We approached the forest towards its eastern end, and
 
 
 
 ,.
 
 THE VICTORIA FALLS 181 
 
 there, before entering beneath its dense shade, we stood 
 awhile upon a ledge of rock, spray-washed and turf- 
 covered, called Buttress Point, where we obtained a mag- 
 nificent view of one extreme end of the Falls. From this 
 point we could look along the deep gorge into which the 
 river was tumbling, but the dense clouds of mist pre- 
 vented the vision from penetrating far. Lovely rainbow 
 arches sprang across the mighty chasm, like dainty bridges 
 for the feet of fairies to trip over. 
 
 The projecting crag, upon which we stood, seemed to 
 shake and tremble with the shock of the falling cataract, 
 dashing down 357 ft. into the cauldron or Boiling Pot 
 below. The whole of the waters, tumbling over the mile- 
 long line of falls, converged at this spot, and rushed with 
 swirl and roar and foam through the narrow throat of the 
 gorge and on and under the bridge. The impression left 
 upon the mind, as we gazed, was one of overwhelming 
 power. We were quickly wetted by the finest of mists that 
 rose up around us, but regardless of this we lingered and 
 were loth to tear ourselves away. 
 
 In England we are accustomed to mists, but they occur 
 only too often in connection with dull grey skies and cold 
 wintry suns, which fail to relieve their monotony ; but 
 in this translucent atmosphere, and beneath the fierce 
 rays of the hot tropical sun, there was a softness that 
 turned their greyness to the colour of pearl, and where 
 the rainbows arched the chasm exquisite colourings 
 beyond the power of words to describe. 
 
 No photographs that we were able to take could repro- 
 duce this charm and beauty, for where we saw the daintiest 
 of tints blended with the pearly mist, the prints only 
 showed blurs which wiped out all the delicate details of 
 the pictures; so that those to whom they were afterwards
 
 i82 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 shown would exclaim, ' What a pity the films have been 
 light struck in these parts!' I have seen one photograph 
 of the Falls on which the rainbow arch was well marked; 
 but when it was sent to an artist to reproduce, he painted 
 this out, thinking it was only a blur on the film, so little 
 did even his trained eye recognize what had actually been 
 the most lovely portion of the picture. Photography, as 
 astronomers know well enough, can show to us things 
 quite beyond the power of the human eye to see by itself ; 
 but, in front of this masterpiece of Nature's works, it 
 was powerless to reproduce the soul of the picture; it 
 showed us the skeleton, not the living reality. 
 
 From the centre of the Rain Forest, we had some very 
 fine views of the middle, or largest division of the Falls, 
 while, further on, peep after peep was obtained of other 
 sections of the plunging river. Livingstone Island, on 
 the very brink of the chasm, and Boruka Island further 
 along could be seen on the opposite bank, while between 
 them the cataract plunged and foamed. 
 
 Towards the western extremity of the forest, we came 
 in sight of a very fine fall called the Cascade, or Leaping 
 Water. Owing to the fact that a better coign of vantage 
 could be had from which to view it, than could be obtained 
 for the other sections, and owing also to the absence of the 
 overhanging mist which partly obscured all the rest, this 
 Cascade must be considered as giving the finest impres- 
 sion of a waterfall yet seen. There the river at the top 
 did not plunge suddenly into the gorge, but rushed down 
 a narrowing and gradually receding cleft between Boruka 
 Island and the western bank, until, when it did plunge 
 over at last, it had a drop of 250 ft. instead of 350 ft. 
 
 At this end we passed out of the Rain Forest and from 
 a small steep kloof further along I was able, after clamber-
 
 THE VICTORIA FALLS 183 
 
 ing down about a hundred feet, to obtain a very fine view 
 of this end of the gorge and the ' Devil's Pool,' into which 
 the ' Leaping Waters ' tumbled, tossed and foamed. So 
 steep was this declivity and so appalling were the foaming 
 waters roaring at its base, into which a slip might easily 
 have plunged me, that it would have been madness to 
 have attempted the descent, had it not been for the trees 
 which thickly covered the slope. By means of these I was 
 able to slip down little by little, until I reached a favour- 
 able spot from which to view this end of the gorge. 
 
 The glimpse I there obtained was well worth the trouble, 
 for wonderful as were the Falls, to my mind the awful 
 wildness of the mighty gorge like a veritable inferno from 
 the pages of Dante far surpassed them in strangeness and 
 grandeur. 
 
 Still further on we came out upon the banks of the great 
 Zambesi itself, a quiet river flowing placidly along, 
 oblivious of the fearful chasm into which it would shortly 
 plunge. There many of our members, with turned up 
 trousers and stockingless feet, were wading in the stream, 
 or searching for curious shells and pretty stones among 
 the shallows. I joined them and very much enjoyed the 
 paddling in the warm clear waters. 
 
 During the morning I heard news of my camera. A lady 
 who had been with us in that brake as we came from the 
 Matopo Hills had taken charge of it. She had it with her 
 luggage on the train at the Falls Station, so I walked back 
 with her to the hotel a mile or more away. The path 
 was a tiring one, being of deep soft sand heavy to walk 
 through, the sun was blazing fiercely, and it was one of the 
 hottest days I spent in South Africa. After coming from 
 the cooler Rain Forest and the shaded banks of the river, 
 the heat was almost overpowering. But the inconveni-
 
 184 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 ences did not end on reaching the hotel ; there, indeed, the 
 shade was very pleasant, but I could not stay to enjoy it ; 
 if I wanted to get back my camera, I must help the lady 
 to find her luggage. This meant an hour's hard work, 
 and rushing about in the hot sun ; for by ill-luck every- 
 thing had been cleared out of her train and deported no 
 one knew where, in order to use the carriages to make up 
 the train for the morning's opening ceremony on the 
 bridge. 
 
 But at length the right package was found and in it was 
 my camera safe enough, and I was very glad to get it in 
 time to take some views before our visit to the Falls ended.
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 LIVINGSTONE ISLAND PALM KLOOF 
 
 DURING the afternoon, we who had been through the 
 Rain Forest in the morning, were taken by the train over 
 the bridge again, where we alighted; and a short walk, 
 along the east bank of the Zambesi, brought us to a drift, 
 where boats waited to convey us to Livingstone Island. 
 Those who had done this trip in the morning visited the 
 Rain Forest during the afternoon. 
 
 While waiting at the drift, I had a short talk with Mr. 
 F. W. Sykes, the Conservator of the Falls, to whom I 
 bore a letter of introduction. Then in a boat, holding 
 nearly a dozen passengers, and propelled by six natives, 
 we crossed the river to the island. The natives did not sit 
 down to row, but stood and used paddles with long 
 handles, propelling the boat rapidly and smoothly in this 
 way. 
 
 Livingstone Island lies in the middle of the river Zam- 
 besi, and hangs over the very brink of the Falls. It is often 
 difficult and even dangerous to approach, except during the 
 dry season when the river is low, as it was during our visit. 
 
 When we arrived on the island, I photographed our 
 boat and boatmen, and then joined the rest to find out 
 the tree on which Livingstone is said to have cut his 
 initials. We found it, but nothing was to be seen on the 
 tree, only a place where something might have been cut. It 
 
 185
 
 186 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 was protected by a wire fence, and a notice-board asked 
 visitors to help in preserving such an interesting relic, 
 stating also the date when Livingstone cut his initials on it. 
 The following extract from his diary puts beyond doubt 
 the fact that he did cut his initials on some tree on this 
 island. After describing his visit he goes on to say, ' I 
 cut my initials on a tree, and the date 1855. This was the 
 only instance in which I indulged in this piece of vanity.' 
 The identity of the tree was established by Mr. Sykes, 
 who tells us how an old white-haired native, by name 
 Namakabwa, who spent most of his time down the gorge 
 catching fish, on being questioned said he well remembered 
 ' Monari ' Livingstone's native name coming to the 
 Falls. Namakabwa stated 
 
 ' That he made his way over to the island a day or two after Living- 
 stone's departure, and found that a small plot had been cleared of bushes, 
 and some cutting made on a tree. When asked which tree he immediately 
 went to the Name Tree and put his finger on what had evidently been 
 a cut. The bark of the tree was so rough, and the marks so nearly 
 obliterated that one would have some doubts on the subject, were the 
 source of information less worthy of belief.' 
 
 The native name of the island was originally ' Kem- 
 pongo,' which is Makololo for 'Goat Island'; Livingstone 
 changed it to Garden Island; but it now finally and pro- 
 perly bears the world-renowned name of its great 
 discoverer. 
 
 We wandered through the dense forest which covered 
 nearly the whole of the island, and came out on to the 
 ledge which overhung the gorge, and there we stood 
 amid the mist to view the marvellous scenery. We were 
 on historic ground, for it was from this spot that Living- 
 stone himself obtained his first glimpse of Mosi-oa-tunya. 
 The view was, indeed, fine, and had it not been for the mist, 
 which blotted out the scene where the falling waters were
 
 LIVINGSTONE ISLAND 187 
 
 greatest, it would have been unparalleled in its grandeur. 
 Four hundred feet below us at the foot of the black, 
 basaltic chasm the mighty river fell thundering on to the 
 rocks, or into the rushing torrent of the gorge which it 
 churned into the whitest of foam. 
 
 We leant over as far as we dared, to peer with awe into 
 the gloomy abyss of seething waters. As far as the eye 
 could pierce the thick mist along the gorge, were falls 
 beyond falls. On the opposite side of the chasm was the 
 lovely Rain Forest, through which we had wandered 
 during the morning, for we were now viewing the scene 
 from the northern side, and from the very brink of the 
 chasm itself. We could not stay as long as we should 
 have liked, for we were being rapidly drenched with the 
 mist, and so were obliged to make our way towards drier 
 ground. Some parts of the island must be under water 
 when the river is in flood, and as it was we had to jump 
 across many a tiny torrent or sluggish stream making its 
 way towards the fateful edge. 
 
 We could see better from the island how the gorge itself 
 had been probably formed by the wearing away of the 
 river bed, and not, as Livingstone supposed, by some 
 great convulsion which had rent the very crust of the 
 earth asunder in primeval times. 
 
 The whole country around is covered with hard, basaltic 
 rock, which in some far-off age was poured as liquid lava 
 down the great Zambesi Valley; there are layers upon 
 layers of this to a depth of many hundreds, probably many 
 thousands, of feet. These lavas in cooling developed a 
 system of joints or cracks, which have constituted planes 
 -of weakness, and there the erosive work of the river has 
 been facilitated. This is probably the secret of the 
 .gradual wearing away of this magnificent gorge, with its
 
 i88 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 length of over forty miles and its innumerable windings or 
 zigzags. Hundreds of the small beginnings of these 
 erosive channels could be seen, as we wandered about on 
 the very edge of this romantic and wonderful island. 
 
 Above and below the Victoria Falls stone paleolithic 
 implements have been found in profusion in the river 
 gravels; many were picked up and exhibited by members 
 of our party. They have also been found on the highest 
 banks of the Zambesi below the Falls, 400 ft. above the 
 present level of the waters, and resting immediately upon 
 the basaltic platform. In some cases their position was 
 rooft. below what is now the level of the land. When 
 these implements were dropped by paleolithic men ages 
 ago, the Zambesi must have flowed a sluggish river, where 
 now the gorge extends for forty long miles ; but which had 
 not then been carved out. 
 
 Paleoliths have been also discovered in the water-worn 
 gullies of the Rain Forest, probably dropped there when 
 it formed the bed of the ancient river. If the conclusions 
 to which these facts seem to lead up, are confirmed by 
 further investigations, an immense period of time must have 
 passed by, since early man roamed the primeval forests. 
 It is impossible to say how long; but when one thinks of 
 this tremendous gorge, forty miles in length, and in many 
 parts 400 ft. deep, all worn away by the slow erosion of the 
 river-floods, the enormous duration of time implied can be 
 approximately guessed. 
 
 Of course we all photographed the Name Tree ; and taken 
 in the subdued light of the forest these views turned out 
 fairly well ; but when we turned our cameras on the Falls 
 themselves, many were not so successful. Over-exposure 
 was our great fault, for the intensity of the light was much 
 stronger than we allowed for, and also the surroundings
 
 NAME TREE ON LIVINGSTONE ISLAND, VICTORIA FALLS
 
 PALM KLOOF 189 
 
 were so shrouded by mist that perfect pictures were very 
 difficult to get. 
 
 After a long stay among these interesting scenes, we 
 returned by boat to the east bank of the river, where tea 
 was supposed to be waiting for us. We were thirsty 
 enough in all conscience, but there was little to drink, for 
 the milk had all gone and there w T as not much left of 
 anything, so that late comers, of whom I was one, fared 
 badly. 
 
 I have already alluded to the way in which food dried 
 up in this hot arid country; the greatest care had to be 
 taken when picnicking, if everything eatable was not to 
 be spoilt. On this occasion the bread became in a few 
 minutes like unbrowned toast; the butter in the dishes 
 turned to oil and had to be put on the bread with spoons ; 
 the finest of dust peppered the jam ; the cakes grew solid 
 and hard; eating was hardly an epicurean delight, and 
 seemed to add to our thirst. However, it was delightful 
 to rest awhile in the shade of the trees, on the banks of the 
 great Zambesi, whose scenery was so strange and new 
 to us. 
 
 On the way back we passed a pretty gully called the 
 1 Palm Kloof,' which had been visited by most of the party 
 earlier in the afternoon, but which a few had not yet seen ; 
 so we made up a small party of half-a-dozen to explore it. 
 
 The track led down by a series of steep zigzags to the 
 level of the waters in the gorge, passing on the way 
 through a most exquisite forest of palm trees, from which 
 the kloof derived its name. There, beneath the great, 
 green, fan-like leaves, the shade was very deep and the 
 air beautifully cool. It was as though we were walking 
 through a range of enormous conservatories, only the roof, 
 instead of being glass, was the blue vault of heaven. Agile
 
 igo THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 monkeys scampered about among the branches, rushing 
 off to hide as we approached. 
 
 At the bottom of the Kloof, where we reached the level 
 of the foaming waters, we had to clamber over hundreds 
 of great boulders, to a position from which a splendid 
 view could be had of the Boiling Pot. In the wet season, 
 when the river is in flood, the rocks on which we stood 
 would be deep below the surface of the rushing waters. 
 We were almost under the wonderful bridge which spanned 
 the chasm 400 ft. above us, and as we gazed up at it, we 
 could form some idea of its great height. The view, as 
 one looked from this point along the gorge, was exquisite, 
 and there many of our members obtained their finest 
 photographs. 
 
 All around us were the black basaltic walls of this 
 channel in the earth. Towards the Boiling Pot they were 
 bare, save where here and there some venturesome fern or 
 plant grew out of a nook or cranny of the water-worn 
 surface. Right opposite to where we stood the cliffs were 
 more broken and varied, for there the forest above over- 
 hung the gorge, and pushed itself halfway down to meet 
 the swirling waters below. 
 
 I stayed down so long, fascinated by the rush and tumult 
 of the boiling waters, and oblivious of the time, that I 
 found myself at last quite alone. It was late, and the light 
 was fading rapidly, and I had at least half-an-hour's climb 
 before I could regain the top of the Kloof. It was a long, 
 lonely walk through the deepening shades of the dense 
 palm forest, and amid the tangle of bush and undergrowth 
 above it; and I must own to finding it somewhat uncanny. 
 I could not help feeling how absolutely helpless I should 
 have been, had I suddenly encountered one of the savage 
 animals of these parts in such a likely lurking place.
 
 PALM KLOOF 191 
 
 Mr. Sykes had told me during the afternoon how he 
 had shot lions recently, close by the Falls, and I remem- 
 bered that only two or three months before our visit, a 
 leopard had been killed on the very bridge above me; so 
 although there may have been no danger whatever, I felt 
 more than justified in keeping as sharp a look out as my 
 short sight would permit me, into the dense tangle on 
 either side of the path. It was quite dark long before I 
 reached the top of the Kloof, and I must own to a feeling 
 of relief as I emerged on to the open, and there met three 
 of our friends who also had wandered further afield and 
 were just returning to the hotel. 
 
 There was a certain amount of moonlight which enabled 
 us to find our way along the railway track, across the 
 bridge, and so home through the forest. 
 
 While we were at dinner, a band of Barotse natives, 
 dressed in khaki uniforms with bright red facings, played 
 to us many martial and familiar airs. They were a smart- 
 looking lot of fellows, all with bare legs and feet, and they 
 held themselves well and looked quite soldier-like in their 
 becoming uniforms. Not one of them had ever learned, or 
 could read a note of music; they picked up the tunes by 
 hearing them first whistled over, and I thought they played 
 with a great deal of spirit, only occasionally with too much 
 noise. 
 
 During the evening, a few of the party made a moon- 
 light trip up the Zambesi by boat. Others strolled in the 
 forest close by, enjoying the soft warm air, and the 
 exquisite peeps of unfamiliar scenery. Some sat about on 
 the stoep of the hotel, talking over the events of the day, 
 while many were attracted to the native huts among the 
 trees, near which bonfires were always burning; for we were 
 curious to learn all we could about the habits of the
 
 192 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 negroes. It was an ideal evening, calm and peaceful ; the 
 rays of the bright African moon touched and softened 
 everything with their silver glory, and transformed the 
 burnt-up landscape into a vision of exquisite beauty. 
 
 We were up early next morning and found the usual 
 warm sunny weather that we had learned to associate with 
 Rhodesia. The most enjoyable time to move about was 
 before breakfast, ere the great heat began. I spent this 
 time in visiting some of the native huts, and in wandering 
 about in the woods near the station. There I found a 
 group of negroes, squatting on the ground, offering a few 
 native wares for sale. I purchased from one a fine basket, 
 oval shaped and very strong, made of dried grass; it was 
 ornamented with rude geometrical figures and a few de- 
 signs, fearfully and wonderfully made, which were pro- 
 bably intended to represent horses. It was large and I 
 found it most useful for bringing home my smaller 
 curiosities, and on its safe arrival in England, my wife 
 quickly appropriated it for a work-basket, and found it 
 invaluable. 
 
 I spent all the morning wandering again through the 
 cool glades of the Rain Forest and along the brink of 
 the gorge, of which I felt I could never see enough. I 
 took my camera in order to bring away with me some 
 pictures of the wonderful scenery ; but, as on the previous 
 day, I did not sufficiently estimate the intensity of the 
 tropical light, especially with the water views. Nearly all 
 the films were considerably over-exposed, only those taken 
 under the shade of the trees being anything of a success. 
 
 It was glorious to ramble leisurely through the luxuriant 
 forest, with its wild tropical growth on all sides except 
 the one where it bordered the mist-covered gorge. Many 
 of our friends were there, the botanists with spade and
 
 PALM KLOOF 193 
 
 trowel rooting up beautiful plants and ferns; the zoologists 
 poking and prying into all the crannies and crevices, or 
 among the fallen trees, searching for specimens of insect 
 and reptile life. Our ornithologists found a world of 
 interest in watching for the appearance of the rare and 
 wonderful birds of the place : the scarlet-chested sunbirds, 
 emerald-spotted doves, the three-streaked bush shrikes and 
 others. And last, but not least, our geologists were 
 making rich finds in the gullies and channels that ran 
 through the forest. 
 
 Occasionally we saw troops of monkeys gambolling 
 amongst the branches of the trees; but they were very 
 timid, and one had to remain quite still, if they were not to 
 be frightened away. 
 
 The views of the various sections of the Falls seemed 
 even lovelier than on the previous day. I took care to 
 go to that steep gully, which I had discovered close to the 
 western end of the gorge, and there I clambered down 
 again, this time with my camera, in order to obtain a 
 photograph of the magnificent view along the Falls. 
 
 But oh ! how the sun seemed to scorch, when I came 
 out of the cooler recesses of the Rain Forest ; and the walk 
 back to the hotel was hot and fatiguing in the extreme. 
 I thought the way seemed further than ever, as I plodded 
 along, at times ankle-deep in the soft, sandy track. 
 Locusts were flying in all directions I tried to catch some, 
 but found them too quick for me the air was gay with 
 beautiful butterflies flitting about, and the entomologists 
 of the party, who were provided with the familiar green 
 nets, made rich captures. 
 
 Our stay at the Victoria Falls was all too short ; at half- 
 past two we had to bid a regretful adieu to this wild, primi- 
 tive, but wholly delightful spot, and take our trains back 
 13
 
 i 9 4 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 again to Bulawayo. Our visit had lasted only a day and 
 a half, and a month would not have sufficed to exhaust 
 the beauties of the place. We had not seen the surround- 
 ing country at its best, covered with its summer coat of 
 greenness, nor had we seen the Zambesi at its flood; but 
 still we had obtained really finer views of the wonderful 
 Falls, owing to the comparative absence of mist, than we 
 could have had at any other time of the year. 
 
 What certainly enabled us to enjoy our visit in comfort 
 was the absence, owing to the dryness, of all the numerous 
 insect pests which in the tropics are usually such a real 
 drawback to thorough enjoyment. Our visit had been 
 marred by no unpleasantness of any sort; we had seen, in 
 comfort and almost in luxury, one of the greatest wonders 
 of the world, right in the very heart of Equatorial Africa, 
 thanks to the careful arrangements which the Rhodesian 
 authorities had made for us. 
 
 All the afternoon we were travelling through the usual 
 dried-up, forest scenery, but we now passed in daylight 
 parts that before we had missed owing to the darkness. 
 Now and then the sparks from the engines set ablaze the 
 dried, hay-like grass growing by the side of the track, 
 and when this happened to reach some of the trees, we 
 had all the excitement of small forest fires to help us over 
 the monotony of the journey. We saw in this way many 
 fair-sized conflagrations during our return journey to Bula- 
 wayo, and at night time these were sometimes very fine, 
 and lighted up the landscape for a long way off. 
 
 It was again dark when we reached Wankie in the centre 
 of the coal-bearing area; but it was not long after sunset 
 and we were able to see something of the life of the 
 place. Camp fires were alight in all directions, and groups 
 of native workers were squatting round them, eating their
 
 LOOKING ALONG THE GOKGE, VICTORIA FALLS
 
 WANKIE 195 
 
 evening meal, and generally enjoying themselves. The 
 mines in this district had only lately been opened up, and 
 yet, for the year ending the March previous to our visit, 
 nearly 65,000 tons of coal had been raised, which realized 
 at the pit's mouth no less than ^39,062.
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 RETURN TO BULAWAYO SALISBURY MISSIONARY WORK IN 
 SOUTH AFRICA EDUCATION OF THE NATIVES 
 
 THE night on the train was hot and stifling, and it was 
 a relief to quit our carriages for a few hours on reaching 
 Bulawayo the next morning. There we found that a 
 gymkana had been arranged for us, and, directly after 
 lunch, we were taken out in carriages to the racecourse, 
 some distance from the centre of the town. The drive 
 enabled us to see some of the best residential portions of 
 Bulawayo. We spent the whole afternoon watching the 
 sports from the agreeable shade of the grand-stand, while 
 the Rhodesian Volunteer band played sweet music, and a 
 good tea was provided. 
 
 We were leaving Bulawayo at half-past five, and when 
 we returned to the station we found our trains had been 
 made up afresh owing to our large party breaking up into 
 two sections, about two hundred going across Rhodesia to 
 Beira and so home by the east coast, and the rest return- 
 ing to England via Cape Town and the west coast. Those 
 for the east coast were now to travel in three trains, G, H 
 and I, and as the various compartments had been allotted 
 somewhat haphazard, I was delighted to find that by a 
 fortunate selection my travelling companions were to be 
 T. S and S , we three having a compartment to 
 
 ourselves in H or the second train. 
 
 196
 
 LEAVING BULAWAYO 197 
 
 But what did not please me so well was that my two 
 companions had plotted in my absence to send on my 
 cabin trunk in the goods train, thinking it might be in the 
 way in our carriage. As it turned out there were plenty 
 of unoccupied shelves outside our door intended for lug- 
 gage, where very much more than my modest allowance 
 could have been stowed well out of everybody's way. I 
 had not reckoned upon this deprivation of my reserve of 
 clothing, and was obliged for the next few days to put up 
 with a very scanty wardrobe, until before we reached 
 Beira I began to feel ashamed of my appearance. I paid 
 out my companions by borrowing linen of them whenever 
 I could, without the slightest compunction, and they were 
 quite ready to atone for their misdeeds by lending me all 
 that they had. 
 
 At Bulawayo station we said good-bye to those friends 
 
 who were leaving us. Sir B. L was returning to 
 
 Kimberley to fetch his wife, and we were glad to learn that 
 he had received a telegram with good news from her. 
 Unfortunately soon after reaching England she had a 
 relapse and died, to the great regret of her many friends in 
 our party. There also we bade adieu to our genial com- 
 panion and fellow trekker, Admiral M , who in spite 
 
 of his deafness had been one of our most pleasant asso- 
 ciates. We also lost the society of A , who was now 
 
 returning to Pietermaritzburg. 
 
 I saw on the platform the kindly face of Sir William 
 Wharton, the late Admiralty Hydrographer, who only 
 reached as far as Cape Town, where he was taken ill with 
 enteric fever, complicated with pneumonia, and died after 
 a few days' illness. 
 
 Our H train left for Salisbury punctually to time, and 
 soon afterwards we were favoured with a most lovely
 
 198 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 tropical sunset. Sinking like an immense ball of gold in 
 a burning copper sky, the sun presented a gorgeous 
 spectacle as we saw it across the great open veldt; while 
 the afterglow for the next quarter of an hour was superb, 
 sending everybody into raptures over it. 
 
 We crossed the Shangani River soon after half-past 
 nine, and found it a mere trickle of water and in parts 
 practically dry. There, at the station, I had a conversa- 
 tion with a young settler and his wife, whose lonely house 
 on the veldt was the only one save native huts in sight. 
 They both expressed themselves satisfied with their pros- 
 pects; they were young and could afford to wait; their 
 health had been excellent during their three years of 
 Rhodesian life, and they were looking forward to making 
 the country their permanent home. This was encouraging 
 after the pessimistic accounts we had heard in Bulawayo, 
 and showed that if only English folks could be induced 
 to settle on the land and patiently give the new life a fair 
 trial, the prospects were sufficiently good to reward them 
 for doing so. 
 
 We passed Gwelo soon after midnight, and the Globe 
 and Phoenix mining district about four in the morning, 
 and when we arose at six we were not far from Gatooma 
 and still upon the open veldt. The land seemed to be 
 better cared for; more of it had been brought under culti- 
 vation, and the whole district wore a more civilized aspect 
 than we had seen in Rhodesia so far. Hartley was reached 
 about eight, and from thence we went on in the blazing 
 sunshine throughout the dry, dusty morning, until at one 
 o'clock we arrived at Salisbury, the capital of Rhodesia, 
 a town of considerable size and importance. We were 
 now at the highest latitude we reached in Rhodesia, higher 
 even than when we were at the Victoria Falls.
 
 SALISBURY 199 
 
 The station was gay with flags and decorations, and a 
 number of resetted gentlemen were waiting to receive us. 
 We were placed at once in carriages and driven off to the 
 Volunteer Drill Hall, where the town was to entertain us 
 to lunch. Ten minutes' drive along fine, broad, and very 
 dusty streets, laid out at right angles as at Bulawayo, and 
 which were as yet not much built on, brought us to our 
 destination, where the Mayor and Mayoress welcomed us. 
 
 Salisbury is situated on high land, and the country 
 can be seen for miles around. The position is a mag- 
 nificent one, and I should imagine that some of the 
 most desirable land in Rhodesia is to be found in its 
 neighbourhood. The country on the whole is flat; but 
 ranges of great hills are visible in the far distance. 
 Although the weather was extremely hot the air was 
 delightfully fresh. 
 
 We found the luncheon-room in the Drill Hall most 
 tastefully decorated with flags; while on the walls were 
 hanging some splendid skins of lions and other wild 
 animals recently shot in the neighbourhood. The tables 
 were lavishly set out with what promised to be a fine 
 repast; the residents and their wives sat amongst us, and 
 we were waited upon by Mashona boys, dressed in cool- 
 looking white linen suits. These did not make smart 
 waiters, for although extremely willing, they were apt to 
 lose their heads, often accepting two or more orders at 
 once and forgetting all about them. But with sharp 
 looking after by the head- waiters, they managed to serve 
 us fairly well. 
 
 Speeches of welcome were given by Sir Thomas Scanlan 
 (the Chartered Company's administrator), by the Mayor 
 and others, and replied to by Sir William Crookes and 
 Professor Darwin, the latter of whom took up his usual
 
 200 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 role of thanking our hosts in the name of the Association. 
 On this occasion he varied somewhat by perpetrating a 
 joke. He told the story of two workmen in Johannesburg, 
 who were engaged in discussing the British Association. 
 One said, ' I have not seen them yet, when do they play ?' 
 evidently thinking we were a football team. ' One could 
 imagine the disappointment of these gentlemen, when they 
 saw a spectacled professor in a sun helmet, chasing butter- 
 flies with a green net.' 
 
 After luncheon the sound of music outside attracted us, 
 and there we found a band of about a hundred Mashona 
 lads, from six to sixteen years of age, drawn up opposite 
 the Drill Hall, playing various simple tunes for our enter- 
 tainment. Their dress was neat and sensible, but nothing 
 of the coat and trousers style, which looks so out of place 
 on the natives in Africa. A kind of spotted blue hand- 
 kerchief of very large size was twisted into loose knickers 
 round the waist, and coming nearly to the knees; the 
 rest of the legs were bare, and on the body was worn a. 
 light cellular shirt leaving the arms and necks exposed; 
 some fanciful little caps covered their heads. That was all, 
 but it was quite enough, and it looked delightfully cool. 
 
 They marched before us to the Public Gardens opposite, 
 where for two hours they manoeuvred, executing intricate 
 figures in musical drill, dancing and waving their flags 
 very prettily, much to their own and our amusement. They 
 exhibited in all these movements the most perfect disci- 
 pline and order. The simple tunes they played touched 
 us deeply, for it was affecting to hear from negro boys, so 
 many thousands of miles away from our native land, such 
 well-known airs as * Home, Sweet Home,' 'Rule, Britan- 
 nia,' ' God Save the King,' ' Auld Lang Syne,' and many 
 others.
 
 MISSIONARY WORK IN SOUTH AFRICA 201 
 
 These youngsters had been trained by the Chisawasha 
 Mission of Jesuit Fathers, and their leader was heartily 
 congratulated by Professor Darwin on the excellence of 
 the performance we had witnessed. 
 
 I could not help mentally contrasting this orderly dis- 
 play with the condition of the Mashonas less than fifteen 
 years ago, when they were living in danger of the murder- 
 ous raids of their neighbours, the Matabele. In continual 
 fear for their property and lives, it was not possible for 
 industry or civilization to thrive under such conditions. 
 Now the country enjoys the blessing of peace; the white 
 rulers police all the districts, and the children of the tribes, 
 living in security, can be early taken in hand, and trained 
 into habits of order, as a prelude, perhaps, to habits of 
 industry and application as they grow older. But before 
 they can be turned into a civilized race, we shall need 
 to exercise our patience to the full, and not expect success- 
 ful results all at once. 
 
 I might here say a few words upon the missionary ques- 
 tion in South Africa. What gave me great pleasure, in 
 connection with this trip, were the opportunities it afforded 
 to study the natives and see how the immense efforts that 
 have been made in the past have affected the black man. 
 
 There are about thirty-two missionary societies at work 
 amongst these people; but after a whole century of teach- 
 ing, and in spite of the lifelong services of numbers of 
 devoted men, and the blood of many martyrs, the native 
 has not yet been made a Christian. Where he is changing 
 he is rather becoming Mahommedan, for the success of 
 Islam on the dark continent, at any rate on the east coast, 
 is beyond anything that Christianity can show. But 
 among the great majority of the natives neither religion 
 makes much headway; the negroes remain uncivilized and
 
 202 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 barbarous, living in semi-independence under their own 
 tribal laws and customs, and apparently not at all anxious 
 to change them for the others which many white folk think 
 they ought to adopt. They remain much as they always 
 have been, with manners but little changed, except where 
 they are obliged to conform to the requirements of the law 
 of the land. 
 
 As already described in this book, we had come closely 
 into contact with the natives and seen them for the heathen 
 polygamists they really were. We had witnesed their war- 
 like dances, had been spectators of their primitive marriage 
 customs, wondered at the savagery of their dress and 
 ornaments, had been into their kraals and huts and seen 
 how they lived their life of careless idleness. We found 
 that the missionaries had succeeded neither in converting 
 them nor in changing their habits; and that the results 
 which they can show for all the fabulous sums of money 
 spent in evangelizing the heathen in South Africa were 
 poor indeed. We heard this comparative failure admitted 
 even by missionaries themselves, although most of them 
 were optimistic about their work, and always ready to look 
 forward to greater success in the future. 
 
 Of course their labour has not been all discouragement. 
 I have already instanced Khama, the chief of the Bagam- 
 watos, as a notable exception, and his influence has been 
 great with his people, towards leading them to Christianity. 
 
 What are the reasons for this failure to change the 
 negroes ; a race who on account of the child-like character 
 of their minds should be easy to convert to Christianity? 
 We heard many reasons during the course of our journey, 
 but I cannot vouch for them all. Our visit was only a 
 very hurried one, and it would be unfair to form conclu- 
 sions from what little we could gather in so short a time.
 
 EDUCATION OF THE NATIVES 203 
 
 I cannot help thinking that one of the chief obstacles to 
 the conversion of the natives is polygamy, and this may 
 also account for the comparative success of the Mahom- 
 medan as compared with the Christian teachings. The 
 Kaffir sees nothing wrong in the custom, for he and his 
 forefathers have practised it as long as he can remember, 
 and he will not brook interference at the dictation of others. 
 
 Now the missionaries make this a crucial point, and they 
 will not allow a man with more than one wife to be a 
 member of their churches. In this I cannot support the 
 missionaries, nor can I blame the native who refuses to 
 desert the mothers of his children. He has married them, 
 the laws and customs of his tribe permitting, and all the 
 traditions of his race sanctioning the marriages, and it 
 would be as wrong for him to put them away in order to 
 become the convert of a strange religion, as it would be for 
 a Christian to leave his one wife in order to enter, say, a 
 monastery, at the dictation of some priest. 
 
 Wrong is done to the negroes by insisting on such an act 
 of injustice; it is an interference with their family life and 
 a fruitful way of sowing discords and divisions amongst 
 them. By all means try to keep the rising generation from 
 polygamy, if possible, by teaching them the higher 
 standard of monogamy ; but those who are married should 
 remain so, lest greater evil befall them. 
 
 It is pleasant to be able to record, however, that owing to 
 several economic causes which are at work to-day among 
 the natives, the practice of polygamy is not as prevalent 
 as it was, but is certainly on the decrease. 
 
 Then again there does seem to be something wrong 
 about the present methods of educating the Kaffirs. Edu- 
 cation, instead of doing them good, seems to do them 
 positive harm. I cannot say whether this is the fault of
 
 204 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 the missionaries, for I do not know whether all the native 
 schools are under their control, although I believe that 
 most of them are. It looks very much as though the 
 system was a failure, and whoever is responsible should 
 see to it, that some of the methods are altered. Wherever I 
 went, I heard the same remark : ' I can do with the raw- 
 Kaffir, but I will never have another educated native, if I 
 can possibly avoid it they are only hypocrites. 1 Some told 
 me these educated natives were not Christians at all, 
 others said they were genuine products of the missionary 
 schools; but whatever they may profess in the way of 
 religion, they bear a bad name throughout South 
 Africa. 
 
 It seems to us in England the right thing to teach every- 
 body to read and write; education is one of the necessities 
 of life in a civilized country, and it is difficult for us to 
 imagine it detrimental elsewhere, but to my mind it is a 
 grave question whether it may not do more harm than good 
 to races low down in the scale of evolution. 
 
 It may come in time for all, but at present the Kaffir 
 has far more pressing needs. He requires to be taught to 
 work, and to perform the simple duties of life. He should 
 be shown how to make tools and implements, so that he 
 can do his work in a better way than he has been accus- 
 tomed to. He needs to be weaned from polygamy, and 
 kept away from strong drink, and gradually to be taught 
 to think more seriously of life and its duties. Were such 
 teachings carefully insisted on, and reading and writing 
 left alone at present, we might hear less of employers for- 
 bidding native Christians from entering their houses, and 
 of the complaints in every part of the country against this 
 class of servant. 
 
 In this connection I may quote the following extract
 
 EDUCATION OF THE NATIVES 205 
 
 from the Report of the South African Native Affairs 
 Commission lately published. 
 
 ' A large class of witnesses, while not absolutely hostile to some form 
 of literary education, apparently have regarded it as of secondary im- 
 portance as compared with industrial and manual training, and have 
 expressed themselves opposed to any considerable expenditure of public 
 money in support of native schools. It has been represented to the 
 Committee, with some force, that the native is more useful and contented 
 when brought under the control of the European and so acquires habits 
 of industry, and a knowledge of the simpler forms of the agricultural and 
 mechanical arts.' 
 
 With all his failings the Kaffir is a good-natured, honest 
 fellow at heart, and often uncommonly shrewd. His 
 womenfolk, when untouched by education, are patterns 
 of morality, and in this respect set an example to many of 
 their white sisters. They have virtues that we might copy 
 with advantage. In many ways they resemble children, 
 and they need to be treated as such, firmly, but gently. But 
 it does not do to imagine that in every one of their habits 
 and customs they are all wrong, and that to become good 
 citizens they must be turned into copies of Englishmen, 
 adopting their manners, customs, dress : or, even a dog- 
 matic religion, if unsuited to their natures and minds. To 
 press this sort of thing too far would be to turn out 
 hypocrites and not Christians, wastrels and not good 
 citizens. 
 
 In these remarks I do not wish it to be understood that 
 I depreciate the powers of Christianity and education when 
 judiciously used. These properly applied will have their 
 place in raising the natives from barbarism to civilization ; 
 but we need to move most cautiously, lest the transition 
 period prove to be disastrous. I would like to emphasize 
 another extract from the Report quoted above, which 
 plainly shows that the sweeping away of native laws and 
 customs may do much harm
 
 206 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 ' It is sometimes said that civilization, or the beginnings of it, have not 
 tended to make the native happier, more trustworthy, more civil, courteous, 
 and obedient, and stronger physically and morally; and at the first 
 glance there is some excuse for forming this opinion. True it is that the 
 advent of civilization has weakened the power of what long ages had 
 taught the natives to regard as most necessary to their social and com- 
 munal life, that it has tended to loosen tribal ties, to undermine whole- 
 some patriarchal control, and has let loose in the midst of the resultant 
 disorganization all the temptations and vices which dog the steps of 
 civilized advance. 
 
 1 Is it, therefore, surprising that much of what was picturesque, attractive, 
 and even admirable in the native when untouched by European influences 
 has been swept away ? There are encouraging aspects. The lax morality 
 among the women which has been so often dwelt upon as a result of free- 
 ing them from the absolute control of their parents, and sowing new 
 temptations among them, is diminishing ; and, there is growing up an 
 ever-increasing number of self-respecting native women, who are learning 
 to understand the freedom which has come to them and are careful not to 
 abuse its privileges.' 
 
 We had tea in the gardens, and later on drove back 
 again to the station. There on the platform we met our 
 Durham Castle friends, Mr. Eyre, the Postmaster-General 
 of Rhodesia, with his wife and pretty daughter. Also 
 I chatted for some time with a prominent citizen of Salis- 
 bury, whose comments about the Chartered Company 
 were not enthusiastic, for he seemed to think it was worked 
 more in the interests of the officials than of the settlers. 
 I had heard the same remarks from another resident, with 
 whom I conversed while watching the Mashona boys. 
 The feeling seemed to be that the company was in a bad 
 way, and bound to fail eventually, in which event the 
 settlers would be able to take over the administrative 
 rights, without saddling themselves with any of the initial 
 costs incurred by the company. It was on this account 
 that the scheme for buying out these rights fell through 
 some time ago. I could not sympathize with this view,
 
 EDUCATION OF THE NATIVES 207 
 
 and said so, for it did not appear to me to be an honest 
 one. It certainly did seem a great pity that there should 
 be any friction of the sort, for each section of the 
 community needs the other's help to make the country 
 prosperous.
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 
 UMTALI VISIT TO ANCIENT RUINS A MIDNIGHT DANCE OF 
 
 NATIVES 
 
 WE left Salisbury at five amid the cheers of the on- 
 lookers, and shortly afterwards had another magnificent 
 sunset, rivalling that of the previous evening. The night 
 was intensely hot, and we were glad when morning came. 
 When we rose, we were just leaving Odzi, and after an 
 early breakfast we reached Umtali at half-past seven. 
 There we found a most agreeable change in the scenery. 
 The flat country had been left behind, and we were in a 
 lovely green valley, surrounded by bold hills, which were 
 covered with a thin forest growth. 
 
 A resident of Umtali offered to conduct any who chose 
 to walk, to the ancient ruins about three and a half miles 
 away across the hills. I gladly volunteered to join, and 
 a small party of about a dozen was quickly made up and 
 we started off. On the way we had to cross a rather wide 
 stream by the primitive method of jumping it, and some 
 managed to wet their feet in the process, which, however, 
 did not matter much, for they quickly dried again in the 
 hot sun. 
 
 Our guide turned out to be an interesting companion and 
 gave us graphic descriptions of his early experiences. He 
 had come on foot to Umtali from the coast and across the 
 
 mountains, and had seen great changes in his twenty years' 
 
 208
 
 VISIT TO ANCIENT RUINS 209 
 
 residence in the country. His greatest grievance was 
 against the Indians and other Asiatics who swarmed there ; 
 they monopolized all the business of the place and bid fair 
 to swamp the country. Their presence was such a sore 
 point that he felt sure the first act of a federated South 
 Africa would be to send all Asiatics back to their own 
 countries. I wondered what the Transvaalers, and Natal- 
 ians, who were favourable to such labour, and whose 
 economic progress depended upon it, would say to such a 
 drastic proposal. 
 
 He knew all about the ruins and had often explored them 
 thoroughly, so that we found his guidance very useful. 
 We met there others of our friends who had driven, and 
 wandered about together looking at everything. There 
 was really not much to be seen and that little was by no 
 means striking. The ruins were located on the top of one 
 of the hills, hidden away among the trees, and might 
 easily be missed by any one who did not know where to 
 look for them. A small, stone-work erection, the remains 
 probably of a much larger building, was all that could 
 be seen. Its peculiarity was in its style of construction, 
 which was of a type foreign to, and beyond the ability of 
 any native tribe at present living in South Africa. If, as 
 Mr. Randall Mclver said in his lecture at Bulawayo, the 
 ruins scattered through Rhodesia are mediaeval and not 
 ancient, they are probably the work of some comparatively 
 civilized race of negroes which has long ago been exter- 
 minated by its more ferocious and savage neighbours. 
 
 We much regretted that the time at our disposal did 
 not permit of our going to Zimbabwe to see the remains 
 there, which are on altogether a larger and finer scale. 
 As far as those at Umtali are concerned, we saw little in 
 them to attribute to Phoenicians or any other Semitic race
 
 2io THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 of three or four thousand years ago. Professor von 
 Luschan, who accompanied us, could also find little to 
 support his first idea that they might be the work of some 
 Malay people. 
 
 In none of the ruins in Rhodesia have any traces of 
 writing been found, and this fact seems to negative their 
 Semitic origin; but on the other hand there have been 
 discovered at Zimbabwe undoubted traces of phallic wor- 
 ship, which certainly does seem to point to the cult of some 
 very ancient people. Probably further discoveries yet 
 await explorers, which will throw more light upon what is 
 really a most interesting problem. During the course of 
 the investigations at these ruins, some pieces of pottery 
 had been excavated, of a character which showed no 
 particular traces of being beyond the capacity of negroes to 
 manufacture. Many shreds were still lying about, and I 
 brought away a few samples with me. 
 
 When we had finished at the ruins, Mr. Featherb ridge, 
 as our guide was named, took us about half-a-mile away 
 in the forest to a small creek where, under his directions, 
 we tried our hands at a little washing for alluvial gold; 
 but our labour did not produce for us even as much as a 
 speck of the bright, yellow ore. This was a pity, for a 
 nugget or two would have been interesting to bring 
 away as souvenirs. He told us that alluvial mining 
 near Umtali was a poor business, a day's work might yield 
 the seeker the value of one or two shillings, but rarely 
 more, and therefore it was an occupation that did not have 
 many followers. 
 
 On the way back we saw several ancient gold workings, 
 remains of a time when another race occupied the country 
 and dug in the ground for its precious metals. The 
 shallow shafts of most of these old mines were now nearly
 
 A RHOOESIAN FOREST
 
 VISIT TO ANCIENT RUINS sir 
 
 filled up with rubble, but some had been opened up again 
 and were yielding payable quartz. 
 
 So having washed for gold, with the usual prospector's 
 luck, and having seen all there was to be seen, we made our 
 way back to Umtali across the hills, and on the road ob- 
 tained some magnificent views of the surrounding country. 
 
 The town, as I have said, lay in a great valley; it was 
 by no means a large place, one long wide street and a 
 few scattered houses being all that there was of it. But 
 its charming situation, its fertile soil, its close proximity 
 to many payable mines, its position as frontier town of 
 Rhodesia on the Beira and Mashonaland Railway, and the 
 fact that the coast itself was only about twelve hours' 
 railroad journey off; all these considerations lead me to 
 conclude that it has a great future before it, and in course 
 of a few years may become a very important place indeed. 
 
 Mr. Featherb ridge pointed out to us, as we walked along, 
 the remains of an old road and wall, probably mediaeval, 
 or old native work, but the purpose of which was rather 
 difficult to guess, for they seemed to begin and end no- 
 where in particular. 
 
 Occasionally we passed little heaps of stones by the 
 side of the path, and there our guide always religiously 
 stooped down, picked a stone off the path and threw it 
 on to the heap. To do this, he explained, was a native 
 superstition, and no Kaffir could pass such a place without 
 adding a stone to the slowly growing heap. Apparently 
 white people were slaves to the superstition also, to judge 
 from his own conduct whenever we came to these places; 
 and yet he could not rightly say why such a thing was 
 done ; he thought perhaps the stone pitched on to the heap 
 might be an offering to evil spirits to ward off some danger 
 to the passers-by.
 
 212 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 We saw much vegetation that was new to us, and I was 
 particularly interested in one tree which bore a large crop 
 of a green and perfectly round fruit, about the size of a 
 cricket ball, or a little larger. Mr. Featherbridge called 
 them kaffir oranges, and told us the fruit was quite inedible 
 and valueless. They were so hard, so beautifully green 
 and round, and attractive looking, that we all picked 
 several to take away as curiosities. The one I brought 
 back with me to England first changed from green to a 
 yellow colour, in which condition it had a faint aroma 
 resembling that of a quince; afterwards it gradually 
 altered until it became quite black; but it never lost its 
 hardness or its smooth roundness. 
 
 We were to be entertained to lunch at Umtali, as we had 
 been at Salisbury, and the banquet was to be in the Drill 
 Hall, so we walked on there, to the further end of the very 
 long street which constituted the town. We were told 
 that every lady in the place had been busy for a week past 
 cooking and preparing for us. If this was so, the repast 
 they gave us did them great credit, for it was an excellent 
 one. 
 
 Of course we had the usual speeches and compliments, 
 but these were varied on this occasion by the presence 
 of four Portuguese officers, who had come as a deputation 
 from His Excellency Alberto Pinto Basto, the governor 
 of Mozambique, to welcome the British Association to 
 Portuguese territory, and to invite us to a reception and 
 lunch at Beira on the following day. One of these gentle- 
 men spoke in French and extended to us a hearty welcome. 
 
 We had all been made honorary members of the Umtali 
 Club close by, and there it was possible to get a wash 
 and a few minutes' quiet reading before Mr. Witterby's 
 garden party. The club bathrooms had been placed at our
 
 UMTALI 213 
 
 disposal, and many of our members availed themselves of 
 them ; but I regret I did not know of this at the time, for 
 owing to the scanty washing accommodation on the train, 
 a bath would have been a luxury indeed. The club also 
 entertained our ladies and set aside some rooms entirely for 
 them. 
 
 The garden party was at the pretty residence of Mr. 
 Witterby, the manager in Umtali of the Beira and 
 Mashonaland Railway, and was a great success. A plenti- 
 ful tea, with heaps of goodies, was provided, to which we 
 did ample justice. The house was surrounded by a lovely 
 garden, in which numbers of orange-trees were in bloom 
 and in fruit, and bananas and pineapples were growing. 
 There we stayed a couple of hours or so, until our H train 
 was ready to start, and when we steamed out of the station, 
 nearly all the town must have been there to cheer us off. 
 
 As the train left Umtali, it had apparently to find its 
 way through impassable mountains, but as it wound 
 round the sides of these, new passes continually opened 
 out, disclosing views of most magnificent and ever chang- 
 ing scenery. The town, although itself in a valley, was 
 actually about 4,000 ft. above sea level, and there were two 
 great drops on the railway before the coast was reached, 
 the first being immediately after leaving Umtali, when the 
 gradient was very steep. We stood on the platforms of 
 the carriages, watching the scenery, as it unfolded, until 
 the sun set and we could see no more; and we were all 
 prepared to agree that it was the most magnificent bit of 
 scenery we had come across since leaving the Victoria 
 Falls. 
 
 Eight miles from Umtali, we entered Portuguese 
 territory, and when we reached Macequece, our first stop- 
 ping place, we seemed to be in a foreign country. We
 
 214 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 had been told to keep awake until the train reached 
 Mandegos at a quarter to eleven, for there the natives 
 intended to give us a typical send-off in the form of a 
 dance by torch and bonfire light. 
 
 As the train drew up at the station, we saw a great 
 assembly of some hundreds of negroes in a circle, dancing 
 frantically to the beating of tom-toms and the clapping of 
 hands. The scene was lighted up by the flames of two 
 immense bonfires, some hundreds of feet apart, between 
 which the natives were dancing. The whole circle of men, 
 women and children were jumping about, clapping their 
 hands, stamping their feet in unison, and chanting 
 rhythmically one of their monotonous songs. 
 
 A few of them were jumping and prancing about in the 
 centre of the ring, in a wild and abandoned fashion ; 
 twisting, kicking, turning somersaults, and springing 
 about like madmen. Even women, with their piccaninnies 
 tied to their backs, careered about in the same way; the 
 little ones all the while wondering and staring at the 
 strange proceedings, with wide-open, half-scared eyes. It 
 was indeed a weird sight to see them dancing in this 
 savage way, their black and almost naked bodies painted 
 red by the glare of the smoky firelight; while the air was 
 filled with their shouts and screams, mingled with the 
 sound of the tom-toms, the chanting and clapping of 
 hands, the fierce roaring of the flames, and the crackling 
 of the burning wood. They might have been so many 
 demons, performing their rites, or exulting over the torture 
 of some miserable wretch. 
 
 Beyond the circle of dancers and the glare of the bon- 
 fires, was the dense blackness of the African forest, out of 
 which we had come and into which we were again about to 
 plunge. Truly it was a remarkable send-off for our party ;
 
 A MIDNIGHT DANCE OF NATIVES 215 
 
 our last glimpse of savage South Africa, a sight to re- 
 member as long as we lived. 
 
 And yet these were no demons, but only a crowd of 
 friendly Manicos giving us the sort of good-bye which 
 appealed most to their primitive natures. It was a show 
 performed in all good-will, and while we wondered at, and 
 were amused by its extravagances, we fully appreciated 
 and were gratified by it. But it was difficult to realize 
 that such scenes should form part of the ordinary life of 
 men upon the same planet that has developed the civiliza- 
 tion of Europe, and produced the minds of a Newton or a 
 Darwin. 
 
 After a quarter of an hour, our train started off again 
 and we retired to rest, for we were to reach Beira early 
 next morning.
 
 CHAPTER XXII 
 
 BEIRA A PORTUGUESE BANQUET MOZAMBIQUE 
 
 WHEN we awoke we were passing through some of the 
 densest forest jungle we had so far seen, for we were in 
 the coast belt where the rainfall is always more plentiful 
 than in the interior. The tangle of undergrowth looked 
 green and fresh in comparison with the burnt-up aspect of 
 Rhodesia generally. Swamps abounded throughout this 
 part of Africa, rendering the climate enervating and 
 unhealthy for Europeans. 
 
 At eight o'clock we reached Beira, where the station 
 was gay with flags and decorations ; salvos of rockets were 
 being let off in all directions, and crowds stood on either 
 side of the line to welcome us. Any number of negroes 
 were waiting to take our luggage to the docks, and scores 
 of empty trolleys stood ready for our use. 
 
 There were no vehicles other than these in Beira, owing 
 to the absence of all draught animals, which cannot live 
 in the country owing to the tetse-fly and the prevalence of 
 coast fever. The trolleys were very light carriages and 
 ran on narrow rails down all the streets, being pushed 
 along by the natives. They mostly seated two persons, 
 although some were larger and carried four or more pas- 
 sengers^: they ran very easily on the rails, and nearly all 
 had hoods to protect the riders from the sun. The roads 
 were only sand-tracks, with pavements on either side, and 
 
 216
 
 BEIRA 217 
 
 the rails for the trolleys were laid down the centres, with 
 branches into all the side-streets. 
 
 A courteous Portuguese official at once placed me in one 
 of these little carriages, and I was pushed across a bridge, 
 along a road and on to the docks beyond. I found the 
 riding slow but pleasant, and it was a picturesque sight to 
 see the procession of our members thus making its way 
 along. At the docks tugs were waiting to take us out to 
 the Durham Castle, whose familiar grey outline we could 
 see as she lay in the harbour. Thus in a sort of royal 
 state, pushed along decorated streets, amid salutes of 
 rockets going off all around us, we came to the water's 
 edge and were soon once more on our good old ship. 
 
 The first thing I did was to have a sea-bath. The water 
 from the harbour might have been clearer, but it was 
 cleaner than I was, and I felt much refreshed by it. I could 
 make no change in my clothes, for my luggage had not 
 yet arrived, so I had to freshen myself up as well as I 
 could to attend the Governor's reception, for which I felt 
 that my travel-stained dress was hardly fitting. Many of 
 my companions were in a like condition, however; and as 
 nothing better could be done, we had to make the best 
 of it, and at half-past ten we went on shore again, where a 
 number of trolleys took us through decorated streets in a 
 long procession to the Governor's house about a mile away. 
 
 As we went, the negro pushing my carriage sent it on 
 too impulsively, and one of the front wheels ran against 
 the heel of the native who was pushing the car immediately 
 in front, causing an ugly wound which bled profusely, 
 for a piece of flesh about the size of half-a-crown had been 
 sliced off. The poor fellow did not seem to mind it much ; 
 he scarcely looked at the gash, but went on without a word, 
 leaving blood-stains in the sand with every step.
 
 2i8 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 At the house we were received by His Excellency, and 
 signed our names in the visitors' book. Then we went on 
 to the verandah and did our best to converse with a number 
 of Portuguese officers, who bravely attempted what Eng- 
 lish they knew. The Englishman abroad generally expects 
 everybody to speak his language, or he cannot get on ; 
 and so it was in Beira, for our knowledge of Portuguese 
 was lamentably small. Some of the officers, who did not 
 know English, tried French instead, and so with one lan- 
 guage or another we managed to understand each other 
 very well. Cooling drinks of soda and seltzer water, 
 flavoured with various syrups^ were handed to us, and 
 were much appreciated, for our perennial thirst was upon 
 us. 
 
 The house was a pretty, two-storeyed building, with a 
 verandah running round each storey. We afterwards 
 gathered on the lower one and in the garden in front of 
 it, in order that the whole party might be photographed. 
 The photographs turned out very successfully, and I had a 
 copy sent on to me afterwards from Beira. 
 
 Thus an hour or so quickly slipped by, until it was time 
 to make our way back to the harbour again. This we did 
 in the trolleys as we had come, and having a little time 
 to spare when we alighted, we walked about and made a 
 few purchases. I secured some assegais, which I had not 
 been able to get in British South Africa, where the author- 
 ities were supposed to have taken them all away from the 
 natives as a precautionary measure. 
 
 At one o'clock we made our way to the custom-house, 
 where, in a large, tastefully decorated building, a fine 
 lunch was set out ; a very much better use to put the place 
 to than the customary one of rummaging over one's bag- 
 gage for contraband articles. A military band discoursed
 
 A PORTUGUESE BANQUET 219 
 
 sweet music, and there was a foreign air about the whole 
 proceedings that delighted us immensely. Each one had 
 his own seat allotted to him by ticket, and many of the 
 residents of the place sat amongst us, with whom, when 
 they could not speak English or any known available 
 language, we did our best to converse by signs and 
 gestures. But at last we were often reduced to the usual 
 little table courtesies, the passing of wines and the clinking 
 of glasses when healths were drunk, to show our interest 
 in one another. 
 
 Our very difficulties made what little intercourse we 
 could indulge in all the pleasanter and merrier, and the 
 gathering was thoroughly enjoyed both by hosts and 
 guests. The lunch itself was good and quite different in 
 .style from those we had lately eaten, for the cooking was 
 foreign and many of the dishes unknown to us. One of 
 the sweets I marvelled at; it was something between a 
 plum-pudding and a baked jam-pudding, garnished with 
 stewed peaches and apricots, and covered with syrup; a 
 rich fare, but really very nice. 
 
 Professor Darwin, speaking in French, gave the toast 
 of the King of Portugal. He alluded to the ancient alli- 
 ance between the two countries, and referred to the dis- 
 coveries in Africa made by early Portuguese explorers. 
 He told of the battlefields on which Portuguese and Eng- 
 lish had fought side by side, and rejoiced that now again 
 they were united in fighting the battles of science. This 
 toast was drunk to the strains of the Portuguese national 
 -anthem. 
 
 Then the Governor, speaking in Portuguese, proposed 
 the health of King Edward VII. He also eulogized the 
 time-honoured alliance between the two countries, and 
 extolled the popularity of His Majesty. While this toast
 
 220 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 was cordially honoured, ' God Save the King ' was sung, 
 and rockets were fired off outside. The toast of the British 
 Association followed and then we had other speeches; and 
 it was felt that the gathering had been a great success in 
 every way, for the utmost enthusiasm and good-fellowship 
 prevailed. 
 
 After the speeches were all over, we said good-bye to our 
 good friends and made our way to the tugs, which con- 
 veyed us to the Durham Castle. It was said that our 
 embarking was like the setting out of a warlike expedi- 
 tion, for nearly everybody carried assegais, shields, or some 
 kind of weapon. 
 
 We heard that a large sum of money had been raised in 
 Beira for our entertainment. We had been treated splen- 
 didly, everything had been free to us, trolleys, tugs, 
 service; our luggage had been conveyed free and unex- 
 amined through the Customs and placed on board our ship ; 
 the usual duty of 205. per head, levied at the port, had 
 been waived for us; everything had been done that cour- 
 tesy and kindliness could prompt to make us feel that we 
 were honoured guests. 
 
 We left the harbour, as soon as all were on board; and 
 as we passed the Portuguese man-of-war on guard, we 
 gave them a hearty cheer and they gave us a parting 
 salute; then we all settled down for our long voyage up 
 the east coast of Africa. We had been absent from the 
 vessel nearly a month, but everything was very familiar 
 to us. Our numbers were now larger, and all the first- 
 class accommodation having been filled up, a portion of 
 the third-class deck had been fitted to take the surplus 
 passengers. By turning each six-berth third-class cabin 
 into one for two only, and repainting and decorating them, 
 some fine roomy accommodation had been obtained.
 
 MOZAMBIQUE 221 
 
 and I retained our old berths by ourselves in 
 cabin 12. 
 
 The weather kept beautifully fine and the sea was 
 smooth, although we experienced rather more rolling than 
 we had previously done. I think this was accounted for 
 by the fact that, owing to the absence of heavy cargo, the 
 ship was several feet higher out of the water than on the 
 outward journey. It was pleasant to sleep on board once 
 more, free from the continual disturbances incidental to 
 railway travelling; and we found our morning sea-baths 
 a great luxury after missing them for so long. 
 
 Among those who were returning with us, but who had 
 not come out in the Durham Castle, were Professor Dar- 
 win with his wife and son ; Lord Rosse, Sir William and 
 Lady Crookes, Sir Richard Jebb, M.P., Colonel Sir Scott 
 Moncrieff and Lady Moncrieff, Sir Benjamin Baker, Pro- 
 fessor Poulton with his wife and two daughters, Dr. and 
 Mrs. Ruffer of Alexandria, Professor Perry (our treasurer), 
 
 and many others. 
 
 It was Sunday afternoon when we left Beira, and by 
 Tuesday soon after lunch, we reached Mozambique and 
 there came to anchor. The funnels and masts of a sunken 
 vessel, a German ship that had gone down about a year 
 ago, could be seen a short distance from the shore. There 
 she lay, undisturbed, and apparently no one thought it 
 worth while to do anything to her. 
 
 We had not long to stay, but many passengers took the 
 opportunity of spending an hour or so on shore. The 
 town, which belonged to Portugal, was situated on an 
 island; it was a decayed-looking place, bearing an air of 
 departed gentility, as though it had seen better days. 
 This was, indeed, the case, for when the East African 
 slave trade flourished, a large business was done there in
 
 222 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 ' black ivory.' Its former reputation in this line may 
 perhaps account for the unfriendly, not to say hostile, 
 attitude of the natives on the mainland, of whom little 
 seemed to be known, and that little far from satisfactory. 
 Some said that they were cannibals, but I should doubt 
 this without very strong evidence in its support. 
 
 On board it was interesting to watch the excitement 
 going on all round the ship, where natives with boats 
 crowded to sell their wares. Shells seemed to be the chief 
 commodities obtainable, some of them being of exquisite 
 shapes and colouring, and these were bought in large 
 quantities by our party and by the crew. Some lovely 
 pieces of coral were also on sale and eagerly bought up. 
 The natives did not come on board, and the method of 
 barter was as follows : the seller would fill a basket with his 
 wares and ask a certain price; the number of fingers he 
 held up implying the number of shillings required. The 
 purchasers generally offered about half this amount, which, 
 after much head-shaking and vigorous and unintelligible 
 language, was usually accepted. The negro seller would 
 then throw a rope on deck to which a basket was attached, 
 and this was drawn up and the money deposited in it, 
 and then lowered back into the boat. It was astonishing 
 to see how keen and correct about the right money these 
 natives were; they never seemed to make any mistakes, 
 although we could tender only English coins. 
 
 Passenger steamers do not often call at Mozambique, 
 where there is little to induce a visit, and the advent of 
 one of the size of the Durham Castle was an unparalleled 
 event; we were told that it was the largest vessel that had 
 ever called there. 
 
 The native boats were primitive affairs, and Professor 
 von Luschan offered twenty shillings for one, which price
 
 MOZAMBIQUE 223 
 
 was accepted, to everybody's amusement, and he was the 
 subject of much chaff as to what he was going to do with 
 it. However, the bargain was concluded, and the boat 
 hauled up on deck and stowed away for conveyance to 
 Europe; and it is now to be seen, I believe, in the Berlin 
 Museum, for he told me that was to be its destination. 
 
 I had pricked my finger, while gathering some flowers 
 at the Victoria Falls, and in the train the wound had 
 festered and become troublesome; it was just on the top 
 knuckle of the forefinger of the right hand and constantly 
 in the way for getting knocked or otherwise damaged. I 
 had treated it with carbolic and afterwards with boracic 
 powder ; but as it had not started to heal, I concluded that 
 the dirt and discomfort of railway travelling had not 
 allowed it a chance to do so, and I quite expected that the 
 cleanliness and quiet on board ship would soon put it 
 right again. However, this did not happen, if anything 
 it became worse, so I felt inclined to sit still on deck and 
 not move about much, to avoid injuring it; and after 
 our strenuous time in South Africa, I found the rest very 
 agreeable. 
 
 It was confirmed, to our great regret, that owing to the 
 outbreak of plague, we were not to call at Zanzibar, and it 
 can be well imagined how much we felt the disappoint- 
 ment. We had been promised a day or two there, at the 
 least, and all had looked forward to a most enjoyable time, 
 for the place is exceedingly interesting and well worth a 
 visit. However, there was no help for it, we certainly 
 should not be allowed on shore, so the Captain put well 
 out to sea and we went by the place out of sight of land. 
 Owing to this disappointment and as a little compensa- 
 tion, we were promised a day longer at Mombasa than 
 we had expected.
 
 CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 MOMBASA A TRIP UP THE UGANDA RAILWAY 
 
 WE arrived at Mombasa on Friday, September 22, at 
 noon. The town is situated on an island, and it possesses 
 the finest harbour on the east coast of Africa. The whole 
 coast is protected for miles out at sea by immense coral 
 reefs or barriers, over which, as we approached, we could 
 see the breakers foaming. There are two arms of the 
 sea by means of which the place can be reached, and 
 we chose the one on the opposite side of the island to 
 Mombasa. 
 
 The appearance of the land as we drew near was very 
 lovely, looking gloriously green in the brilliant sunshine, 
 with its dense tropical vegetation growing down almost 
 to the water's edge. Enormous mango trees, thick with the 
 densest of foliage, grew in profusion ; the darkness of their 
 rich green forming a splendid contrast to the lighter 
 hues of the thousands of cocoanut palms, which covered 
 the hill-sides. Interspersed among them were plantations 
 of bananas, their great, broad leaves waving to the fresh 
 breeze which was blowing. 
 
 It was a vision of tropical luxuriance that opened 
 out before us, as we slowly steamed up the arm of the sea 
 which we had entered; winding among the lovely, green- 
 clad hills, until we dropped our anchor at a little place 
 called Kilindini. 
 
 224
 
 MOMBASA 225 
 
 A boat bringing officials soon put off to welcome us. 
 They stated that we had arrived a day earlier than we 
 were expected; that they had arranged a reception for the 
 following day, and trips had been organized for our enjoy- 
 ment. They were prepared, however, to provide at once 
 for our entertainment, and boats would soon come off from 
 the shore to take us to the land, where as many as liked 
 could go up the Uganda Railway in a special train, as far 
 as Maceras, to see the scenery. The rest of the party 
 might go into Mombasa and visit the places of interest 
 there. On the following day the special train would again 
 be at our service to take to Maceras any who could not 
 go on the first day. 
 
 They told us that it had been arranged originally for 
 trains to be at our disposal to take the whole party right 
 up into the big game country at Nairobi, which was three- 
 quarters of the way to Lake Victoria Nyanza; but again 
 the prevalence of plague, which had broken out up country, 
 had put a stop to what would have been one of the most 
 delightful of tours. We must, therefore, be content to go 
 only as far as Maceras, but they promised that the beauty 
 of the scenery would surprise us. 
 
 The following day we were to be entertained to lunch 
 by the residents of Mombasa, while trains and boats would 
 be free to us during our visit. 
 
 All this was good news indeed, and we quickly made 
 our way on shore, where we divided into two parties, 
 some going to Mombasa, and some up the Uganda Rail- 
 way. I went with the latter party, but as there was some 
 time to spare before starting, a few of us walked first 
 to Mombasa, along a beautiful road among the mangoes 
 and cocoa-nuts, bananas and baobab trees that lined the 
 way; and where some of our entomologists made fine 
 15
 
 226 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 captures of many new species of beautifully-coloured 
 butterflies. 
 
 Mombasa was about a mile and a half from Kilindini. 
 Copious rains had fallen during the previous night; the 
 vegetation wore the freshest of green hues; lovely flowers 
 were blooming everywhere; the road was free from dust, 
 and the air delightfully fresh and not too hot, although 
 we were nearly up to the equator. After the dry sterility 
 of South Africa, this bounteous growth and profusion of 
 luxuriant greenness on all sides was very pleasing. 
 
 The latitude of Mombasa is 4 5' south, and it has a 
 climate which is a perpetual summer; new leaves replace 
 the old as they fall, and the trees are continually in fruit; 
 two crops being yielded every year. It was surprising to 
 see bananas in bloom, or with fruit just beginning, and 
 others where the bunches were ready for gathering all 
 growing side by side together. On most of the cocoanut 
 palms, the nuts which hung in great clusters were still 
 green, or just ripening. 
 
 After a short stay at Mombasa, the train picked us up 
 and soon carried us into the country. The carriages 
 were fitted outside with screens of woodwork to shield 
 the travellers from any direct rays of sunshine; and this 
 gave them a heavy appearance and a free look-out from 
 the windows could not be had. But most of the party 
 crowded outside on the platforms at either end of the 
 compartments, where, if the sun was hot, the air was 
 fresher, and whence a lovely view of the country could be 
 obtained. 
 
 We travelled some distance amid dense groves of cocoa- 
 nut palms and banana plantations. The former grew to 
 a great height, and nearly all were full of immense 
 clusters of nuts hanging at the tops of the long, bare
 
 A TRIP UP THE UGANDA RAILWAY 227 
 
 trunks, just where the great feather-like leaves began to 
 branch out. I counted more than six dozen nuts on some 
 of the trees, and underneath, the ground was strewn with 
 the fallen fruit. Many of the tall trunks were notched all 
 the way up with cuts large enough to take the toes of the 
 negroes who climb them to gather the nuts. From what I 
 saw of these groves, together with the absence or extreme 
 timidity of the monkeys, I should imagine the stories of 
 the latter saving the pickers the labour of gathering the 
 nuts by throwing them down at them in anger, are as tall 
 as the palms themselves. 
 
 Some distance further on the train emerged into open 
 country, and crossing a bridge 1,732 ft. long connecting 
 the island with the mainland, it made its way, snorting and 
 puffing, to higher and higher ground, winding in and out 
 among the hills along the steepest of gradients. 
 
 Many natives were working in the fields or among the 
 plantations, dressed in gay, bright-coloured, but scanty 
 costumes, somewhat after the style of the dresses of the 
 East Indians who abound in Mombasa. They looked fine 
 fellows, coal-black in colour, and, like their brethren in 
 South Africa, apparently not very industrious. Some were 
 employed on the railway, and very important and smart 
 they looked in their khaki uniforms; and yet only a few 
 years ago they were living the wild life of savages, the 
 stronger tribes preying upon the weaker and their hands 
 against every man. 
 
 ' When we were making the railway,' said an official 
 to me, ' we had to keep a sharp look-out, as we crossed the 
 hills, for we never knew what treachery might lurk on the 
 other side.' 
 
 The interior was then occupied by many negro tribes, 
 and generally the strongest raided the rest unmercifully.
 
 228 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 But with the advent of the railway all this has changed, 
 the country has grown quiet, the weaker tribes have been 
 protected and have learned to trust the newcomers, so that 
 the continual fear in which they lived has given place to 
 a feeling of confidence. 
 
 The importation into the country of arms and ammuni- 
 tion has been prohibited, and laws strictly check or regulate 
 the liquor traffic. The iron horse, backed up by the firm, 
 but just, rule of the English, has done in three years a 
 thousandfold more than the missionaries, at the daily risk 
 of their lives, had been able to do in thirty years. The 
 railroad is the best missionary that Equatorial Africa has 
 ever known. 
 
 As the train reached still higher levels, we obtained 
 magnificent views of the surrounding country. We could 
 see enormous distances in the clear atmosphere, and were 
 looking down upon a country covered in every direction 
 with the densest of tropical forests; viewing from above 
 their immense tangles of trees and undergrowth, in the 
 dim recesses of which lurked the great wild beasts of Equa- 
 torial Africa, the lions, tigers and hyenas of the jungles, 
 the hippopotami and rhinoceroses of the swamps and 
 rivers. 
 
 On our left, in the far distance, a long range of moun- 
 tains could be seen ; the highest peak of which, only just 
 discernible to our sharpest eyes, was the famous active 
 volcano Kilimanjaro, within the borders of the German 
 East African territory. The scenery was, indeed, most 
 magnificent, equal to anything I have ever seen in any part 
 of the world ; it surpassed all expectations we had formed 
 irom the descriptions given to us when we arrived; and 
 it was one of the most delightful experiences of our 
 fascinating tour to be able to see it in comfort as we did.
 
 A TRIP UP THE UGANDA RAILWAY 229 
 
 Maceras was a little way-side station, very prettily 
 situated, with a few houses close by; a romantic spot, all 
 in the wilds by itself, and a healthy place to live in, I 
 should imagine, from its high altitude. There we roamed 
 about for a while, picking the most lovely and peculiar 
 flowers, or purchasing fruit from the natives. Bananas 
 were sold at a penny per dozen, and green cocoanuts were 
 almost given for the asking. I procured two of the latter 
 in their great, green shells, which with some trouble I was 
 able to bring safely to England. 
 
 One of the flowers that I picked was extremely beautiful 
 and quaint; it was shaped exactly like coral and of a 
 lovely scarlet colour, while in among its slender arms 
 nestled its round, green fruit. It was so pretty that I 
 longed to be able to show it to my friends at home; but 
 although it lived for several days in my cabin, it faded 
 and perished long before England was reached. 
 
 We returned to Kilindini, passing through the same 
 lovely scenery, but viewing it this time in the golden glow 
 of the setting sun, and it looked if anything grander than 
 ever. It was quite dark when we reached the water's edge 
 where boats waited, and we were rowed out to our ship 
 by starlight. Many residents from Mombasa, with their 
 wives and daughters, were entertained to dinner on board; 
 after which there was a dance on deck followed by a 
 supper, and it was late before they left and we got to bed. 
 
 The following morning we were up early and on shore 
 directly after breakfast. The party that had seen over 
 Mombasa now took the trip to Maceras, while we who had 
 been up the railway were taken to Mombasa, and there 
 conducted round the town by some of the residents. 
 
 We went first to see the old fort, which was used as a 
 barracks and prison. It was an interesting building more
 
 2 3 o THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 than 400 years old, and from the flat roof we obtained 
 splendid views of the sea and the surrounding country. 
 In its time it had been in the hands of the Arabs, Portu- 
 guese, Zanzibaris, and now of the English. The flag of 
 the Sultan of Zanzibar still floated over it, for Mombasa 
 nominally belongs to him, while we protect and govern 
 the country under his suzerainty. 
 
 We saw all over the fort and the prisons, and then 
 walked through the Indian quarter of the town, where a 
 population of 5,000 Asiatics lived. These industrious 
 people swarm everywhere along the east coast of Africa, 
 and monopolize nearly all the trade of the country. Their 
 part of the town reminded me very much of the native 
 quarter of Algiers with its narrow streets, open bazaars, 
 white mosques and general oriental type of life. We 
 passed one of the Mahommedan cemeteries, where we saw 
 many little, peculiar-shaped, mud erections, not at all 
 picturesque and much neglected, which were the graves. 
 
 Passing out of this quarter of Mombasa, we went round 
 the native town, where the negroes lived in huts, some- 
 thing like, but rather better than, those we had seen so 
 often in South Africa. I walked with the late Sir Richard 
 Jebb through these parts, and took a few photos as we went. 
 He and I lingered on the way to look more closely at some 
 of the curious sights which we saw, and which greatly 
 amused us. 
 
 We then went to the Cathedral, a stucco-covered, buff 
 building of mosque-like appearance, having a large central 
 dome and smaller ones at each corner. It was not beauti- 
 ful outside, nor was the interior very ornate ; and in many 
 places, where stained-glass windows might have been 
 expected, there were only louvre-blinds, which excluded 
 the sunshine but not the air. Under the large dome was a
 
 MOMBASA 231 
 
 brass tablet on the wall, stating that the dome had been 
 erected in memory of Bishop Hannington, the missionary 
 who was murdered in 1886 in Uganda. 
 
 In Beira and Mozambique, which are Portuguese towns, 
 our English money was gladly accepted everywhere, but in 
 Mombasa, which is under our control and rule, the officials 
 at the post office would not look at it. The proper currency 
 was rupees and annas, and we were obliged to change 
 our money somewhere in the town into this coinage 
 before we could procure the necessary postage-stamps for 
 our letters to England. 
 
 I was reckless enough to ask for a rupee's worth of 
 coppers, in order to be provided with some small change; 
 and in return was handed such a number of these coins, 
 each one about the size of our halfpenny, that I could 
 hardly carry the load, and staggered along literally bur- 
 dened with wealth. I thought I should never get rid of 
 them all during my short visit ; but soon found that a dozen 
 pieces or so went nowhere towards the payment for even 
 one postcard. 
 
 After completing our purchases, we took the train, which 
 had come to fetch us to the lunch in the grounds of the 
 Sports Club. There we found two long open tents, erected 
 under the shade of some immense mango trees, where, 
 practically in the open air, but comfortably protected from 
 the blazing sun, we sat and enjoyed ourselves. 
 
 A feature of our entertainment was a great heap of 
 green cocoanuts which had just been gathered fresh for 
 us. The outer covering was removed, and the top of the 
 inner shell cut off to get at the liquid, and then a cup of 
 milk, fresh but rather warm, was obtained, each nut holding 
 nearly a pint. The milk was not rich like that from the 
 ripe nuts we purchase in England; but it tasted thinner
 
 232 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 and was more like water, with only a slight flavour of the 
 nut. It was, however, a better thirst quencher than any- 
 thing I had tasted up till then. The nut itself, being quite 
 unripe, was of no value, and was thrown away when the 
 liquid had been taken out. 
 
 After lunch was over we strolled about among the trees, 
 or sat and chatted until half-past three, when a train came 
 along to take us to the Durham Castle. 
 
 Some of our members, instead of going over Mombasa, 
 had spent the morning, wandering through the woods and 
 along the sea-shore, collecting curiosities in the form of 
 butterflies, plants, or flowers. They had been fortunate 
 enough to see a few of those nondescript creatures known 
 as climbing fish. These extraordinary objects crawled 
 out of the water and climbed trees for the purpose, I sup- 
 pose, of feeding upon any insects they could find on the 
 branches ; and they managed to work themselves along by 
 manipulating their fins and tails in some way. They were 
 very difficult to observe, because of their timidity and the 
 speed with which they made for the water when disturbed. 
 
 A fair trade in ivory is done from Mombasa, and we 
 saw quantities ready for shipment, some of the tusks being 
 of great value. Now that the railroad has been opened 
 up to the Victoria Nyanza, where a regular service of 
 steamers plies along the lake, a good trade is springing 
 up in all sorts of produce, and this finds its natural outlet 
 at Mombasa. The line already pays working expenses 
 and a little over, and is sure to prove a valuable asset, in 
 addition to developing and opening up the country.
 
 BAOBAB TREE
 
 CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 GULF OF ADEN RED SEA SUEZ 
 
 As the steamer put out to sea once more, we had a fine 
 view of the coral reefs all round the coast. The wind was 
 blowing freshly, and a good sea running, so that there 
 was much more surf breaking over the rocks than when we 
 entered; and we could easily trace out the enormous 
 lagoons of calm water formed within the barrier reefs. 
 
 My finger became so much worse, owing to the two days 
 on shore, that I had to consult the doctor about it as soon 
 as I rejoined the boat. He at once pronounced the wound 
 a ' veldt sore,' and said that, if neglected, it would prob- 
 ably spread over the whole of the hand, as its peculiarity 
 was to suppurate round its margin and so spread and 
 spread. It had been caused by the fine dust of the veldt 
 working its way into the prick and setting up irritation. 
 
 The weather continued to grow warmer, and we were 
 all inclined to sit about and do nothing; all deck games 
 and sports were by general consent postponed until we 
 reached the Mediterranean Sea. In spite of the heat, or 
 rather because of it, Bridge, being a game that did not 
 call for any bodily exertion, flourished exceedingly; and 
 so many card parties were made up, that it was often 
 difficult to obtain tables whereon to play. 
 
 We had glorious sunsets every evening, and the colours 
 that then spread over the sky were most beautiful in their 
 
 233
 
 234 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 tints of the daintiest greens, pinks and blues. Every one 
 used to gather on the port side of the ship as the sun 
 touched the horizon in order to watch it sink into the 
 sea, and great interest attached to this, because just as the 
 last speck of light vanished a green ray flashed upwards. 
 We had seen this phenomenon on a few occasions during 
 the outward voyage, but never so perfectly or so frequently 
 as we did on this return journey, when nearly every even- 
 ing the sun went down in a cloudless sky. As the green 
 ray flashed out, a chorus of admiration would break from 
 the assembled crowd of spectators. 
 
 Of course we had much discussion as to the origin of 
 this ray ; some thought it merely subjective, a complemen- 
 tary colour to the orange of the sun, which had just dis- 
 appeared; but the most generally received opinion was 
 that the ray was really objective and was due to differential 
 refraction. 
 
 On several occasions we observed whales throwing up 
 spouts of water not far from the ship. Once we saw the 
 greater part of the back of one monster, but usually only 
 the jets of water could be seen ; and these were by no 
 means as impressive as picture-books lead one to expect. 
 
 Under the doctor's cure, my finger had its ups and 
 downs, but on the whole went on satisfactorily, while his 
 treatment gave great relief to the intolerable irritation it 
 had caused me. Professor Darwin was also being attended 
 to for a sore leg, and we chatted together while waiting our 
 turns, for our President was very particular not to be seen 
 to, out of his fair order. A third-class passenger, or one of 
 the sailors, must be doctored first, if he happened to be 
 there first. 
 
 After we rounded Cape Gardafui and entered the Gulf 
 of Aden, the heat became intense; we sat and sweltered all
 
 RED SEA 235 
 
 day long and were never dry from perspiration night or 
 day. It was torture to go down into the saloon for meals, 
 and many did so in very light attire. And yet on Friday, 
 September 29, we gathered there in numbers during the 
 morning, to hear a lecture upon The Portuguese in South 
 Africa, a most interesting discourse, which traced back the 
 history of their explorations and expeditions to the earliest 
 records; and this was followed by an instructive discussion. 
 At noon on the same day we came to the Island of 
 Perim, and passed through the straits of Bab-el-Mandeb 
 into the Red Sea. Why it was ever called ' Red ' puzzled 
 us all, for at the straits the water was a deep green colour. 
 The prospect was most delightful as we steamed among 
 the many islands that crowded this part. Once on a time, 
 this must have been a mountainous country, before the sea 
 covered the land, for the many islands we passed rose 
 sharply out of the water, and looked exactly like the tops 
 of mountains, and there were often several of them very 
 close together. 
 
 By the next day we had again lost sight of land, the 
 islands had all disappeared, and the sea was once more 
 of a most lovely blue colour. Why it should be called 
 ' Red ' still exercised our minds, and discussions went on 
 about it, but opinions differed. 
 
 Some our clerical friends said that the name was 
 derived from the land of Edom, whose borders it washed ; 
 this, however, was open to dispute, and in any case the 
 land was just as likely to have taken its name from the 
 sea, as the sea from the land. Others supposed that great 
 masses of red algae floated occasionally on the waters and 
 coloured it; but none of our officers ever remembered to 
 have seen this phenomenon. Some thought that the word 
 * Red ' might be a corruption of some older and now for-
 
 236 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 gotten name. So the question remained unsettled, like 
 many other questions that puzzle poor humanity, when 
 once the origin of things is inquired into. 
 
 Even the heat could not check our ardour to learn, and 
 lectures still went on; but on deck at last, for every one 
 protested against going below. On one occasion the 
 subject was on The Former Land Connection between 
 Africa and other Continents, and the consensus of opinion 
 was that it had been with South America and Australasia 
 by means of the Antarctic continent, and with the Indies 
 and Malaya through Madagascar, by land which once 
 extended in that direction. On another occasion we dis- 
 cussed about the Geological Condition of the African Con- 
 tinent, and in this way many instructive and delightful 
 hours were passed. 
 
 The first three days in the Red Sea proved to be the 
 hottest of the voyage; we sat on deck and sweltered, and 
 drank lemon squash all day long, until the fruit ran short 
 and the stuff served to us became almost too thin to be 
 nice. Coats and waistcoats were unbearable, and the lightest 
 of costumes were seen everywhere. Our bath water, 
 drawn direct from the sea, registered 90. It was torture 
 to go down to meals, and very few attended the Sunday 
 morning service, with the result that the evening one was 
 held on deck. 
 
 It began to be remarked that no outward-bound steamers 
 had passed us since we came through the Straits of Bab- 
 el-Mandeb. I had been told that they always went by in 
 one continuous stream, and therefore hazarded the opinion 
 that the canal must be blocked, a suggestion which proved 
 to be true. The water still remained of an intensely blue 
 colour, and evening after evening most remarkable sunsets 
 were seen over Egypt.
 
 RED SEA 237 
 
 As we could take no exercise during the heat of the day 
 time, a few of us had physical drill every morning on 
 deck before our baths. The exercise made us perspire so 
 profusely that our pyjamas were usually wringing wet 
 when it was over; but the drill did us good, and kept our 
 livers from getting too sluggish owing to the heat and our 
 consequent disinclination to move about during the day. 
 
 The exercises were given by our fellow member H. D. 
 Ferrar, the same who had lectured to us at Pietermaritz- 
 burg upon Antarctic Exploration. He had been one of the 
 officers on the Discovery, and the drill he gave us was 
 the same as was performed in that vessel during its long 
 sojourn in the southern seas. How different the conditions 
 under which we did it beneath the broiling sun of the 
 Red Sea ! 
 
 Professor von Luschan was very busy all this time, 
 taking anthropometric measurements of our heads, height, 
 length of arms, colour of eyes, skin, position of teeth 
 and many other details for a treatise he proposed writing. 
 He explained that it was easy for him to go to a prison, 
 or workhouse, and there get details from any number of 
 the classes who usually patronize such establishments; 
 but it was very rarely that an opportunity offered like the 
 present one for examining the heads and getting all the 
 particulars he required from such a representative body of 
 scientists as the British Association. He was delighted to 
 have the chance, and so in spite of the heat, which made 
 every one else limp and languid, he worked away with 
 exemplary zeal. He afterwards confided to me that he had 
 found the average size of our heads to be larger than the 
 normal. This was a satisfactory conclusion, at any rate. 
 
 In spite of the heat we had occasional concerts and 
 entertainments, and the younger members even developed
 
 238 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 enough energy to get up several dances. C was busy 
 
 play-writing, as on the outward voyage, and one evening 
 an amusing farce of his was admirably performed by a 
 good company. 
 
 The plot was, as the programme said, ' too complicated 
 for the ordinary intelligence,' so I dare not attempt to 
 explain it in any detail; but will merely say that it all 
 seemed to hang round the abduction of the President of 
 the ' British Association for the Prevention of Science.' 
 He had been spirited away by some discontented members 
 of the ' Unofficial Party,' and the method of his eventual 
 recovery, through the agency of ' Sherlock Doyle,' formed 
 the plot, and gave occasion for many topical jokes upon 
 the troubles that had marred the perfect satisfaction of our 
 South African trip. 
 
 However, the President was at last found tied up in a 
 sack, but before he was allowed to be released, a long list 
 of the grievances of the ' unofficial ' members was read over 
 to him. Then he was set free, and to the amusement of 
 everybody a monkey was found to be the occupant of the 
 sack. This was very funny, because Professor Darwin 
 was in the front row of the audience; and we all roared 
 with laughter, when, holding the creature up, ' Sherlock 
 Doyle ' exclaimed, in surprised tones, ' I see the President 
 has reverted to his ancestral type.' The play was a great 
 success, and we were highly amused in spite of its 
 absurdity, or rather because of it. 
 
 After nearly a week of the Red Sea, we entered the 
 Isthmus of Suez, and all that day we were passing the 
 Sinaitic Peninsula on our right and obtained a splendid 
 view of its great range of mountains along the coast. The 
 exact locality of the Mount Sinai of the Bible did not seem 
 to be known ; a number of peaks were pointed out to us,
 
 SUEZ 239 
 
 and we were allowed to take our choice, for any one might 
 have been the site. We could not see the desert of Sinai, 
 for this lay on the further side of the great range of 
 mountains. 
 
 We were about eight miles from the land, and our view 
 of the long line of serrated peaks was a very beautiful one. 
 The colour of the barren-looking soil was sandy yellow, 
 but it was all tinged with a pinky hue, owing probably to 
 the haze of the distance, and to the fact that we saw it 
 across the stretch of intensely blue sea that lay between. 
 To our left, about three miles off, was the land of Egypt, 
 monotonously flat and desert-like, while all along our 
 course were many sandstone islands, very much weathered, 
 and which would have been worn away ages ago, but for 
 the fact that rain rarely falls upon them. 
 
 As the sun set, the scene became increasingly beautiful. 
 The great orb sank like a ball of blood-red fire in a copper 
 sky, sending up the most lovely-coloured streamers after 
 it had disappeared; while the halo and glory of the after- 
 glow seemed to linger much longer than usual. Looking 
 away from the sun across to the Sinaitic Mountains, the 
 whole range was lighted up by a strange, silver glory, as 
 though it had been turned to pearl by the touch of a 
 magician's wand. The golden effulgence on the one side, 
 and the pearly whiteness on the other, made an extremely 
 beautiful contrast. I wondered whether it might be to 
 this peculiar glory, which must often have been seen by 
 the people of olden days, that some of the legends con- 
 nected with this land owed their inception. 
 
 We reached Suez on Wednesday, October 4, at eight in 
 the morning, and there we learned for the first time that 
 the canal was blocked, owing to the blowing-up of the 
 dynamite steamer Chatham. In all probability we should
 
 2 4 o THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 not be able to pass through for a week. Later on in the 
 morning, modified estimates were spread about; but it 
 was quite clear that there was no immediate chance of 
 getting through. Over thirty-six ships were waiting their 
 turn to enter the canal as soon as it was clear, and all these 
 would have to pass in before us. It was a splendid sight 
 to see them lying at anchor all round us, many of them 
 being great liners belonging to the Peninsular and 
 Oriental, Norddeutscher Lloyd, Orient, and other 
 companies. 
 
 We, therefore, decided to leave the Durham Castle and 
 to go on at once by rail to Cairo, and there wait develop- 
 ments. This plan would give us at least three or four 
 days in Egypt, and we could rejoin the ship at Port Said 
 after she had passed the canal. So partaking of an early 
 lunch, we went on shore, leaving behind a few who did 
 not care to go to Cairo, or who had been there already. 
 
 At Suez station a special train was waiting for us, and 
 we started for Cairo almost immediately. It was intensely 
 hot on the land, and for the first two hours the heat in the 
 train was almost unbearable. Louvre-blinds shut out the 
 sun from the carriages, but nothing availed to keep us 
 cool ; and if we ventured to lift them on the sunny side the 
 hot blast from the desert seemed to burn us up. For mile 
 after mile, we passed over the most monotonously sandy 
 desert imaginable. As far as the eye could reach there 
 stretched out before us nothing but sand, sand, glaring 
 and burning in the sunshine. 
 
 Occasionally we saw mirages in the distance, steely blue 
 in colour, looking for all the world like great lakes of 
 limpid water; and now and again we came across small 
 patches of green vegetation, in places where a little irriga- 
 tion had been possible, but taken as a whole the first
 
 BY RAIL TO CAIRO 241 
 
 half of our journey was through a barren Sahara-like 
 desert. 
 
 After two hours the air seemed to cool a little and the 
 irrigated patches of land became more frequent, but the 
 change was not great until we passed Kassassin and Tel- 
 el-Kebir. There we saw a cemetery with the graves of 
 some of our soldiers, who fell in the battles of those dis- 
 tricts; also at Tel-el- Kebir the trenches made by our men 
 were still visible. 
 
 At Zagazig, further on, more signs of life were notice- 
 able, for the place contained a thriving population. I 
 believe cotton-spinning was one of its chief industries. 
 
 Then an entire change came over the aspect of the 
 country; we had left the desert behind us and were now 
 upon the land reached by the fertilizing waters of the 
 Nile. Splendid fields of crops could everywhere be seen ; 
 great tracts of maize and cotton followed each other with 
 monotonous regularity, interspersed occasionally with fields 
 of millet and other grains. 
 
 A canal ran alongside the railway, and from this num- 
 berless small channels of water branched off on both sides. 
 These again divided into smaller and still smaller trenches, 
 which spread the water all over the land. We had come 
 to Egypt at the time of high Nile, and these channels were 
 full of water. 
 
 Now and again we saw great wooden wheels, worked by 
 oxen or camels, bringing up the water out of the canal into 
 the channels. The wheels were fitted with buckets, which 
 lifted the liquid, and poured it into conduits, from whence 
 it was conveyed as required. The process seemed a 
 primitive one; probably the same plan was in vogue in 
 the days of the Pharaohs. 
 
 But I saw occasionally a still more primitive method of 
 16
 
 242 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 raising the water. At the mouth of a channel there would 
 be fixed a long, narrow trough, which being worked in a 
 ' see-saw ' fashion alternately dipped one end into the canal, 
 and then tilted its contents out at the other end. This very 
 simple plan had the drawback of requiring a man to stand 
 in the water to work the trough up and down. 
 
 When not working, the camels were tethered in the open 
 under groups of palm trees, which seemed to be planted 
 for the purpose, and afforded shade from the sun's rays; 
 but were useless, and, indeed, not required for any other 
 sort of shelter. In this strange country, where it is 
 always warm, and rain rarely, if ever, falls, it is quite 
 unnecessary to place the animals under cover. 
 
 As the evening drew on, we saw many camels so stabled, 
 resting and enjoying their evening meal; while hundreds 
 more, and crowds of natives passed along the canal path 
 going from their daily labours. Sometimes small boats 
 with great white sails were seen on the canal waters as 
 they grew wider. 
 
 Nearer to Cairo the land grew more and more green and 
 luxuriant. Egypt, wherever it can be cultivated, must 
 have a very rich soil; for two crops can be raised off the 
 land each year. When we saw the bountiful growth in 
 the fields, we could better understand how the country 
 can produce the revenue it does, in spite of the fact that 
 it is in reality only a narrow strip of land that can be 
 cultivated at all; the greater part of Egypt being merely 
 barren desert.
 
 CHAPTER XXV 
 
 CAIRO THE PYRAMIDS TRIP TO THE BARRAGE AU NIL 
 
 AT Cairo our party divided itself among three hotels, 
 ' Shepheard's,' ' Continental,' and ' Eden Palace.' I was 
 
 booked for the first-named, with C. J. W., S and a 
 
 great many others. Although the time was a month or 
 six weeks before the Cairo season, there had been such a 
 rush of visitors from the many delayed liners at Port Said 
 and Suez, that the hotels, which at that time were usually 
 closed, had hurriedly opened and were nearly full of guests ; 
 and ' Shepheard's ' had to turn many of our party away. 
 
 In consequence of this sudden accession of visitors, we 
 had to put up with certain inconveniences not usually met 
 with at such hotels, especially very indifferent waiting and 
 attendance generally. We found it extremely hot in the 
 town, where the temperature all day long had stood at 
 1 00 Fahr. 
 
 After an early breakfast next morning, S and I drove 
 
 out to the Gezeh Pyramids. Everything was new and 
 strange to us, and our ride proved a most interesting one. 
 The wonderful Oriental life of the streets, so busy even 
 in the very early morning, the crowds of natives with 
 their asses and camels, the many fine buildings we passed, 
 
 all gave an interest to the scene that fascinated us. S 
 
 was enraptured, and wished he could live there for ever ! 
 
 We drove by the museum and barracks, over the Nile 
 
 243
 
 244 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 bridge with its great lions guarding either end, and so 
 out into the long avenue that led to the pyramids. There 
 most of the land on either side of the roadway was lying 
 under water owing to the high Nile. Occasionally we 
 saw belated crops of cotton, which had evidently not 
 ripened in time for picking before the flooding of the 
 river, looking like great snowfields rising out of lakes, 
 with many natives working among them, knee-deep in the 
 water. 
 
 We continually passed numbers of Arabs, with their 
 many camels and asses laden with produce for Cairo, 
 chiefly fodder or baskets of dates as far as we could see. 
 This fruit was now just ripening on the trees. We also 
 saw many baskets of green figs being carried to the 
 markets. 
 
 Alighting close to the pyramids we were joined by 
 others of our party, who had driven out as we had, and 
 crowds of Arabs immediately beset us on all sides, eager 
 to offer their services or proffer their wares. Unless 
 the guileless visitor is careful, they will carry him off 
 bodily, so determined are they to be employed. Declin- 
 ing these persistent and none too polite attentions, we 
 made our way first to the Sphinx and then back to the 
 Great Pyramid. 
 
 It is hardly necessary to describe these ancient relics in 
 any detail, for this has been done over and over again 
 in books on Egypt, and every one has seen pictures of 
 them. 
 
 What struck me at first was an impression of immense 
 age and solidity ; I stood among the works of an old world 
 far removed from the common-place one in which we 
 live now-a-days where a people had laboured whose 
 thoughts were not as our thoughts, and whose ways were
 
 THE PYRAMIDS 245 
 
 remote from ours. What seemed useless and bizarre to 
 us was to them of most absorbing interest. Theirs evi- 
 dently was not a world where everything had its com- 
 mercial value, or was judged only for the price it would 
 fetch, or they would never have spent so much thought, 
 time, and labour upon these apparently useless objects. 
 They placed such value upon them because they served 
 purposes seemingly all-important then, but which now 
 appear trivial. We had come from a hard-headed, grown- 
 up world, to view the toys that interested a childish one 
 of superstition and make-believe. 
 
 There can be little doubt that these pyramids were built 
 for tombs. They rise from great squares sunk in the 
 desert : and in the face of the rock, all round, numbers of 
 small chambers had been hewn out, where these old people 
 placed their noted dead. The pyramids were built, block 
 upon block, of solid stone, the largest rising to a height 
 of 454 ft., and they served in their inmost recesses as the 
 last resting-places of the kings of the country. 
 
 Such care for the dead would never have occupied their 
 time and energy to the extent that we know it did, had 
 it not been for the grotesque and impossible doctrine of 
 the resurrection of the body, which probably took its rise 
 in ancient Egypt. The corpse was sacred in their eyes, 
 and they lavished upon its care and preservation a world of 
 thought and labour, which might have been so much more 
 usefully employed in other ways. 
 
 But a use comes for everything if the world will but 
 wait long enough, and who now-a-days would wish to 
 blot out these relics of the past, with all the knowledge 
 they bring to us of the life of these far distant times ! 
 
 They stand as imperishable documents of an early, and 
 simple-minded civilization, full of lessons for us now, if
 
 246 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 we will but heed; documents probably far more lasting 
 than the books of the twentieth century are likely to prove 
 to our descendants of 5,000 years hence. 
 
 There they stood before us, rifled of those sacred con- 
 tents for which they were built to be such permanent 
 abodes; objects of curiosity to an age, the spirit of which 
 those builders could no more foresee, than can our children 
 anticipate the nature of that life which awaits them in 
 maturity. The curiously preserved bodies, with which 
 they were packed, lie scattered all over the world in many 
 museums, to be the wonder of long ages yet to come, and 
 a lasting lesson of the impotence of humanity when face 
 to face with the grim destroyer Death. 
 
 In sight of these marvellous and ancient relics, one wants 
 to do nothing but get away from the modern world with its 
 hollow shams, and be alone for a while with the remote 
 past, to commune with the spirits of the dead and gone 
 builders. But oh, the pity of it ! To sit there and con- 
 template is absolutely impossible. The traveller does not 
 come to think and ponder; he comes only as a prey to 
 the multitudes of noisy, pestering, irritating, mercenary 
 Arabs, swarming upon him like flies, and who cannot be 
 shaken off. 
 
 Here they are with their horrid broken English, thrust- 
 ing their sham wares before his eyes, and they do not 
 understand the meaning of the word ' No!' Any protest 
 on the visitors' part, however indignant, only encourages 
 them to further exertions to extract from his pocket some 
 of that money, which they seem to look upon as theirs by 
 right. They offer for sale trumpery imitations of the won- 
 derful works that embody the thoughts of the past, and 
 which, if in a weak moment he is tempted to buy, he is 
 certain to throw away in disgust a few hours later, when
 
 THE PYRAMIDS 247 
 
 he learns at the Cairo Museum that they are the crudest of 
 modern imitations. 
 
 Were it not all so tiresome, and could one look on with- 
 out being pestered oneself, it would be fun to watch these 
 Arabs at work trying to extract that backsheesh, the dis- 
 pensing of which they seem to think must be the sole 
 object of the visitor's journey to the wonderful pyramids. 
 While one dusky individual tries his powers of persuasion, 
 a dozen others look on close by ; and if by unexpected good 
 fortune number one is got rid of, number two swoops 
 down, hoping to succeed where his compatriot by his in- 
 competence had failed. Behind him numbers three and 
 four wait, ready for their turn to come round, and so the 
 whole gauntlet of these human pests must be run. A 
 moment for quiet contemplation is hopelessly impossible, 
 and since it cannot be escaped the annoyance has to be 
 endured. 
 
 The Sphinx did not impress me so forcibly as did the 
 Pyramids. In the first place, it was not so large as I had 
 expected, it was half buried in the sand, and it was far 
 from perfect. Vandals in the past had chipped its ancient 
 features into the merest caricature of a human face, star- 
 ing with sightless eyes across the desert towards modern 
 Cairo in the distance. Then again I do not know why 
 but I had expected to find it of polished granite, and it was 
 rough in the extreme, and its surroundings were incom- 
 plete. It was originally connected with the temple which 
 has been excavated close by, but the shifting sands have 
 so covered up both, that the true connection does not readily 
 appear to the visitor. 
 
 Close by the Sphinx, I mounted a camel which for a 
 quarter of an hour an Arab had pestered me to take. It 
 was the best way to quiet his rasping voice and stop his 
 persistent importunity. With its usual slow, deliberate
 
 248 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 and swaying gait, the animal took me round the Pyramids, 
 so that I could obtain a good view of them from all sides. 
 It was as well that I took the animal, for its owner, although 
 he fleeced me himself, took good care that nobody else did, 
 and for a space I was free from the importuning crowd; 
 while the ride saved me much toilsome trudging through 
 the heavy sand. 
 
 My Arab was anxious to photograph me seated on the 
 camel, and begged my camera for the purpose. Fearful 
 that he might spoil it, I hesitated, but he assured me he 
 knew the way to use it; had he not done it for all the 
 Englishmen who patronized him ? so I set the instrument 
 and gave it to him, cautioning him to hold it steady when 
 he squeezed the ball. His only answer was, ' I can do it, 
 I do it often ;' and the result was a fuzzy representation of 
 what might have been a man, or a woman, and was 
 probably myself; but this latter detail had to be taken on 
 trust. 
 
 Behind the Great Pyramid I dismounted and inspected 
 one of the rock tombs; but the day was far too hot to 
 attempt the ascent of the Pyramid itself, although many 
 of our younger members did so. 
 
 We drove back to Cairo for lunch, and in the afternoon 
 made up a party of eight to drive round the town and view 
 the bazaars, some of the mosques, and the Citadel. 
 
 As for the mosques the place was full of them ; their tall, 
 slender and graceful minarets could be seen in all direc- 
 tions, and many were very lovely indeed. One of the 
 finest that we visited was the Mehemet AH Mosque close 
 to the Citadel, and designed after the style of St. Sophia in 
 Constantinople. As we entered the couryard, we had to 
 put on large yellow slippers over our boots, before we 
 were allowed to tread the sacred ground. The appearance 
 of these great things on our feet afforded us much amuse-
 
 CAIRO 249 
 
 ment, and while we were admiring ourselves in them one 
 of the photograhpic fiends of our party managed to snap- 
 shot us. 
 
 In the centre of the outer court we saw a fountain of 
 curious architecture, round which the faithful sit and wash 
 their feet before performing their devotions. Inside the 
 building we were much impressed by the beauty of its 
 architecture; the whole surmounted by a great dome in 
 the centre, similar to the one that ' hangs like a moon 
 above the second Rome.' 
 
 Unlike Christian churches, the Mahommedan mosques 
 are bare of decorations, altars, or anything that gives the 
 least semblance of any sort of ritual. There is no priest- 
 hood attached to this religion, it being almost the only one 
 that has in this respect retained the purity of its early 
 beginnings. Christianity also started without a priesthood 
 or any ritual, and in the course of centuries has elaborated 
 both, and indeed in some cases to such an extent as to 
 contravene the very spirit of its Founder's teachings. 
 Ritual and priestcraft are, however, so contrary to the 
 spirit of Islam, that both are abhorrent to its worshippers. 
 
 There are no seats in the mosques; but carpets are 
 spread on the floor during worship, and the people sit 
 or kneel on these; there are, however, fine pulpits to be 
 found in most, from which the Koran can be read and 
 commented upon. 
 
 Outside the Mehemet Ali Mosque, which stands very 
 high, we obtained from a parapet a magnificent view of 
 Cairo. In the distance flowed the mighty Nile and beyond 
 it lay the great Pyramids of Gezeh. To our extreme left 
 we saw the aqueduct of the ancient city, one of its few 
 remaining works of five thousand years ago. Immediately 
 below us were the tombs of the Mamelukes, while in front 
 and to our right was the business portion of Cairo. When
 
 250 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 the great city was seen from this splendid position and in 
 the clear, dry atmosphere, a very fine idea of its extent 
 could be obtained. 
 
 We found the Citadel held by English troops, and 
 coming down we passed many on guard, in their familiar 
 khaki uniforms, and exchanged greetings with them. 
 These and a few that we occasionally passed in the streets 
 were the only visible evidences of the British occupation of 
 the country. 
 
 After driving through the town and visiting the bazaars, 
 we crossed the Nile bridge to the further side of the river, 
 where we sat on a terrace and had tea. Then in the fast- 
 falling gloaming, we went some distance along the banks 
 of the river before returning to our hotels. 
 
 The following day was Friday, and being the Mahom- 
 medan Sunday, the streets were quite gay with crowds 
 of men dressed in their best clothes and red fezes on their 
 heads. We found these latter very much worn in Cairo, 
 and could not help admiring their bright appearance; 
 though their usefulness hardly appealed to us, for they 
 gave no shade from the hot, glaring sunshine. 
 
 The streets were a perpetual source of interest on account 
 of the numbers of different types of people thronging them. 
 Probably few towns in the world contain such a mixture 
 of nationalities as are to be found in Cairo. For in addi- 
 tion to the many foreigners always in the place, the natives 
 themselves form a very mixed community. There are the 
 Copts, the Berbers chiefly the lower classes the Be- 
 douins, the Fellahs all these being Egyptians and then 
 large numbers of Armenians, also Turks, Greeks, French, 
 English and other Europeans; and as though these were 
 not varied and picturesque enough of themselves, one meets 
 continually many of those strange people who are to be 
 found all over Europe, and who owe their name to Egypt
 
 CAIRO 251 
 
 the Gypsies. Taken altogether, the populace forms a 
 curious mixture as one sees them in the streets. 
 
 The language of Egypt is Arabic, which is the official 
 tongue in all departments except those of war, public 
 works, the customs and the railways, where English is 
 used. In the town of Cairo almost any language passes, 
 but I think French was most in evidence after the native 
 dialects. The vehicles on the streets bore numbers, both 
 in Arabic and English numerals, and we were soon able 
 to understand the former characters, which appeared some- 
 what like our own reversed. 
 
 The fine Ezbikiyeh gardens close to Shepheard's Hotel, 
 must have been laid out, I should think, by some 
 French artist, for they were beautifully arranged, and 
 reminded me of the style of the ' Buttes Chaumont ' in 
 Paris. There I spent an hour or two, admiring the many 
 strange trees with which the gardens were filled. Among 
 these were splendid specimens of the curious ' banyan ' 
 trees, with their wonderful subsidiary roots dropping down 
 from the branches, and sometimes it was like wandering 
 among a grove of trees to move among these roots. One 
 lovely tree in bloom was new to me ; it was about the size 
 of a large chestnut and entirely covered with a mass of 
 pink flowers not unlike small tiger-lilies, and of a delicate 
 shade of colour. Looked at from above, as in one in- 
 stance I was able to see it, the tree presented a very fine 
 sight indeed. 
 
 After lunch, C. J. W and I went to Buloa, where we 
 
 crossed the Nile by boat to the Ghezirah Palace on the 
 opposite bank. In the season this is a branch of Shep- 
 heard's Hotel, but it was closed when we saw it. Sur- 
 rounding it were beautiful gardens, where we strolled 
 about for a while, until it was time to recross the river 
 In order to catch a boat on the other side, which was going
 
 252 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 to the Barrage au Nil, some twenty-three miles down the 
 river. 
 
 The various aspects of Nile life, which we passed, gave 
 us much to think of and talk about. At intervals we saw- 
 along the banks many of the water-wheels like those we had 
 seen on our way to Cairo. 
 
 The crops growing on the land on either side of the river, 
 and often coming right down to the water's edge, were 
 wonderfully luxuriant; great fields of cotton in bloom, 
 splendid stretches of plumed maize waving in the breeze; 
 all of the most lovely green colour. Here and there 
 were groves of date palms, with their fast-ripening fruit 
 hanging in clusters of all shades of yellow and orange. 
 The few houses on the banks were mostly mud-coloured, 
 and far from handsome; but quaint and essentially 
 Egyptian. 
 
 On the river itself we passed many of the picturesque 
 Nile boats with their great white sails fastened to long, 
 slender masts about a hundred feet high; which bent by 
 their very length into graceful curves. Sometimes a boat 
 had two of these sails, one on either side, balancing each 
 other; and then it floated by us, looking like a gigantic bird 
 skimming along the water with outstretched wings. 
 
 The current of the Nile running seawards was strong 
 and rapid, and it was wonderful to see how these boats took 
 advantage of the favourable wind to beat their way against 
 the stream, owing to the strong propelling power of these 
 great sails. 
 
 On arrival at the Barrage, our boat drew up against the 
 bank of the river, planks were thrown out, and we landed 
 among the bulrushes, or rather pampas grass, which grew 
 in thick profusion everywhere. The thought of Moses 
 and the pretty story of Pharaoh's daughter naturally filled 
 my mind, as I pushed my way among the white, feathery
 
 TRIP TO THE BARRAGE AU NIL 253 
 
 tipped grass. We seemed to have landed on the banks of 
 some sort of public gardens or wood, and it was cool and 
 pleasant to walk beneath the shade of the great, green trees 
 to the site of the Barrage works. 
 
 These are immense barriers of masonry, which span 
 the river and hold back the water from running away too 
 quickly to the sea. The Nile divides just above the 
 Barrage, so that both arms of the great river have thus 
 to be barred up, with the result that the river on the upper 
 side of the obstruction stood, when we saw it, some 6 
 or 8 ft. higher than on the lower side ; and vessels had 
 to pass through by locks, as on our canals. This extra 
 height of water allows a great deal more of the fertilizing 
 liquid to be used for irrigation purposes ; the Barrage also 
 counteracts materially the effects of any low Niles, with 
 corresponding beneficial results to Egypt. 
 
 Here again, as at the Pyramids, boys and other natives 
 pester one incessantly, and apparently for no reason what- 
 ever, because they cannot possibly render any services. 
 Everything lies open to the view, and one does not require 
 to be shown anything. One boy hovered about, teasing 
 for backsheesh, what for we knew not, nor could he ex- 
 plain; but he made conversation almost impossible for us. 
 At length he offered to go away for a piastre, and to get 
 rid of him, I gave it, foolishly enough. Did he go? Not 
 
 a bit of it. He must have another from W ; so at 
 
 last we put on our severest looks, and threatened him with 
 our sticks, when he cleared off. 
 
 Thus we saw the Barrage, and walked across it, after- 
 wards strolling back to our boat, gathering pampas grass 
 on our way.
 
 CHAPTER XXVI 
 
 A DRAMATIC INCIDENT CAIRO MUSEUM SUEZ CANAL 
 
 WHEN we rejoined the steamer a fine bit of unexpected 
 melodrama awaited us. A fat beturbaned Arab, of patri- 
 archal appearance, dressed all in white, and accompanied 
 by three wives, two subsidiary wives as we learnt later 
 on and about seven retainers, came on board, and gave 
 his porter for services rendered, a sum of money which 
 the latter did not think sufficient. 
 
 Whereat he protested in most vigorous language, and 
 with splendid gesticulation. He was a born actor and 
 orator, and it was fine to see him, and hear his indignant 
 protests. He held out his hands showing the coin, and 
 protesting with a voluble rush of language worthy of a 
 Demosthenes. Then he wept, tore his hair, rushed away 
 a few yards, sat down on the ground, buried his head in 
 his hands, and rocked to and fro in his misery. After a 
 little of this, he sprang up again, returned to the gang- 
 way, and poured out another torrent of protests in such 
 impassioned language that I thought he must have been 
 robbed of a fortune at least. A lady near me, who under- 
 stood Arabic, explained that all the fuss was about three 
 piastres seven-pence halfpenny of which he considered 
 himself defrauded. 
 
 The fat, stolid Arab, surrounded by his wives and 
 
 train, stood on the deck, unmoved as a rock against which 
 
 254
 
 A DRAMATIC INCIDENT 255 
 
 the angry surf beats. He was a very rich man, the owner 
 of large estates near Cairo, but he was not the one to 
 give more than he considered right. 
 
 The show went on for about a quarter of an hour. Never 
 once did the man on shore for he dared not come on the 
 boat cease his passionate lamentations, or his splendid 
 gesticulations and acting. He continued alternately to rage 
 and weep until the boat had started; and for a long time 
 after we had left, we could see him marching up and down 
 in grand indignation, holding forth to those about him. 
 That man was an instance of a round peg in a square hole. 
 Brought up as an actor, he might have made a fortune, 
 for his passion was the most perfect bit of acting and 
 elocution it has ever been my fortune to come across, 
 either on or off the stage. 
 
 The five ladies who were with the fat Arab, wore long 
 black crepe falls, to conceal their faces after the fashion of 
 the country, so that we could not possibly see what they 
 looked like. One of them had a baby with her, and the 
 infant protested in a language which needed no inter- 
 preter, that it was quite time for its afternoon tea. Where- 
 upon the mother borrowed an umbrella from one of the 
 European ladies on board, and opening it, she ensconced 
 herself behind while she fed the little one in comfortable 
 privacy; ' one touch of nature makes the whole world kin/ 
 
 The sun set soon after the boat started, and it afforded 
 us a magnificent spectacle seen across the broad expanse 
 of water. The journey down to the Barrage had taken us 
 an hour and a quarter for the twenty-three miles ; but then 
 we were travelling with the stream, which was a rapid one. 
 Going back we made slower progress and were at least 
 half-an-hour longer; and nearly the whole time in the dark 
 by starlight. I could not help feeling contemplative, as
 
 256 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 I sat by the side of the boat, gazing upon the swirling 
 waters of this great and ancient river, which had been the 
 scene of so many stirring events in the long distant past. 
 
 The vision of Cleopatra the beautiful, rose before me; 
 and all the pomp and splendour of her luxurious court, her 
 crowds of attendants and slaves, and he, the greatest 
 slave of them all Mark Antony her lover seemed to 
 pass in review before my mental gaze. I thought also of 
 the mighty civilization that had developed by this river at a 
 period so lost in the mists of antiquity that the age of 
 Cleopatra seems but recent compared to it. 
 
 I thought how ancient Egypt had been the wonder 
 of the world in its time, the mistress of a culture which, 
 though simple and primitive, was in many ways far higher 
 and juster than that to which some modern nations have 
 yet attained. Where even now do we find in Europe such 
 honourable laws regarding women as prevailed in the 
 Egypt of 6,000 years ago ? Where is the country in which 
 she is more honoured than she was in those days ? 
 
 She was then the mistress of her own house, her husband was but 
 a privileged guest. She inherited equally with her brothers and had full 
 control of her property, she could go where she liked, and speak with 
 whom she wished, having the same rights and being treated in the same 
 fashion as man, and it was as a woman, as a being equal in human 
 dignity, that she was thus honoured. She could plead in the courts 
 and practise the art of medicine. As priestess she had authority in the 
 temples, as queen she might be the highest in the land. ' She remained,' 
 says M. Maspdro, ' the beloved of her husband, and the mistress of the 
 house. 5 ' Make glad her heart during the time that thou hast,' was the 
 traditional advice to the husband. Even when she proved unfaithful 
 and the Egyptians had a high ideal of domestic relations 6,000 years 
 ago he was told, ' Be kind to her for a season, send her not away, let 
 her have food to eat.' 1 
 
 Compare this with the laws and practice of England even 
 1 The Religion of Women, p. 14.
 
 CAIRO MUSEUM 257 
 
 as late as fifty years ago, and what a difference do we find ! 
 And certainly prior to the nineteenth century there was not 
 a European nation that could, in this respect, stand in the 
 same category with ancient Egypt. 
 
 It was late before we reached Buloa, where we took a 
 carriage back to our hotel, our minds fully made up that 
 we had passed a most enjoyable afternoon. 
 
 I spent the greater part of the next morning in the 
 museum, in company with some of our friends. It is a 
 noble building, devoted almost entirely to exhibits of 
 Egyptian antiquities. In one room was a magnificent dis- 
 play of gold and silver ornaments; lovely specimens, 
 beautiful in design, perfect in workmanship, and priceless 
 in value. 
 
 Up-stairs we saw the finest collection of royal mummies 
 in the world, and notably among these were that remarkable 
 trio Rameses I., Seti I. and Rameses II. The mummy of 
 the last named was in a wonderful condition of preserva- 
 tion, the features showing almost as distinctly as they 
 did in life; so that it seemed quite possible to gauge the 
 character and disposition of this great monarch. The 
 remark was frequently heard, 'What a benevolent look that 
 man has !' for after all the enormous lapse of time since the 
 life left that shrunken frame, his face still marvellously 
 mirrored forth his soul. 
 
 Menephtha, the supposed Pharaoh of the Exodus, lay 
 there in his glass case; a great lantern-jawed man with a 
 hard-set mouth, and a face lacking much of the kindliness 
 of expression that characterized Rameses II. 
 
 Two other mummies interested me; they had been 
 recently placed in the museum and were as yet unnamed. 
 They represented a man and a woman, both very well pre- 
 served, the lady's ears showing still the holes pierced for 
 17
 
 258 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 her rings. But what was remarkable about them was their 
 splendid golden hair, hanging in long tresses and looking 
 much as it must have done in life. Who were they ? 
 Surely some people of a northern race, for no Africans 
 could have had hair like that. 
 
 In another room was the mummy of a priestess with a 
 bead necklace still round her neck, and several rings lying 
 loosely on her poor shrivelled-up fingers. Further on was 
 the body of a new-born child, preserved in the same way ; 
 a tiny creature that probably never saw the light of day; 
 and yet the light of day has seen it thousands of years 
 after its contemporaries have vanished from the face of the 
 earth. In a room by themselves were mummified cats, 
 crocodiles, and other animals; some of the cats, like the 
 priestess, wearing bead necklaces. 
 
 What a pitiful and yet most instructive sight it was ! 
 All the care and devotion to the poor mortal bodies that 
 loving thought could render and to end by being show 
 things in glass cases of a museum for the prying, inquisi- 
 tive eyes of an age undreamed of in their time. Nothing 
 that they have done, no thought or labour so lavishly 
 bestowed on the loved remains, no rites so religiously 
 exercised, have availed to arrest the hand of death, how- 
 ever much the semblance of life has been preserved. 
 
 All that now remained of the bodies which were to be 
 held ready for the spirits to re-inhabit them, were hideous, 
 revolting, and shrivelled-up abominations, such as their 
 owners would have dreaded to look at. The power of 
 the mighty monarch, the wealth of the great lord, the 
 wisdom of the statesman, the piety of the priestess have 
 been equally impotent; and all the devotion and loving 
 service that were lavished upon them have barely been 
 able to preserve some little show of humanity in the
 
 CAIRO MUSEUM 259 
 
 poor corpses from which the spirits have been free for 
 thousands of years. 
 
 A sight like this brought home to me, more than any- 
 thing else that I have ever seen, the utterly revolting and 
 repellent nature of that conception of a bodily resurrection, 
 which the Christian world owes to the creed of ancient 
 Egypt. 
 
 At the museum I purchased two clay vases, which were 
 guaranteed to have come from one of the tombs of the 
 period of the Eighteenth Dynasty. Many members of our 
 party secured genuine treasures in the same way, for the 
 authorities were ready to sell, often at nominal prices, 
 any surplus articles they had. 
 
 We found the noonday sunshine overpoweringly hot, 
 when we came out of the cool shade of the building, and 
 walking through the glaring streets to our hotel was not 
 to be thought of ; so we hired a conveyance and drove back 
 to lunch. We spent the afternoon a party of us in 
 taking long tramcar rides in various directions right out 
 of the town, and in this way managed to see a good deal 
 of Cairo and its suburbs. The tramway service was electric, 
 on the overhead system, the fares were cheap, usually 
 half a piastre a penny-farthing for any distance, and 
 some of the rides for this small coin were very long 
 ones. 
 
 We finished up just before sunset, with time enough to 
 spare to walk quickly through the rather questionable parts 
 of Cairo round about the Fishmarket. This is the 
 locality the dragomen are always solicitous to take visitors 
 to at night-time ; but from all we heard it is better avoided 
 after dark, and those who wish to see it should do so by 
 daylight. There are other parts of Cairo where one can 
 stroll about to more advantage after dinner, for the streets
 
 2 6o THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 then are often most interesting with their crowded and 
 cosmopolitan styles of life. 
 
 We found on our return that notices had been put up in 
 our hotels, stating that a special train was leaving Cairo 
 for Suez the next morning, to take our party back to the 
 Durham Castle in time to pass through the canal, which 
 was now clear. We could either go by this train, or 
 remain in Cairo a day or two longer, and meet the steamer 
 at Port Said. Many of us had never been through the 
 Suez Canal, and wished to have the experience ; we thought 
 also that it would be interesting to see the wreck of the 
 Chatham and the destruction caused by the explosion of the 
 dynamite; so nearly all the party decided to return to Suez. 
 
 Next morning, providing ourselves with plenty of fruit, 
 which we purchased in the market before starting, we 
 joined the train at the station. There our friend and 
 physical drill-instructor, H. D. Ferrar, said good-bye to 
 us, as he was not returning to Europe; and we also lost 
 the company of Dr. and Mrs. Ruffer, who resided in 
 Egypt; while a few members, who were pressed for time, 
 had proceeded to Alexandria and there taken steamers 
 home. We had all immensely enjoyed our trip to Cairo 
 tend wished the time had been longer. The Khedive 
 had sent us his greetings and offered to place his private 
 steamer at the disposal of the Association, an offer which 
 we had been unable to accept on account of the shortness of 
 our stay. 
 
 The sun was intensely hot during the return journey, but 
 the air was more bearable, owing to the strong breeze that 
 was blowing all the time, and we found the journey 
 pleasant and interesting. Suez was reached about sunset, 
 and we arrived on board the Durham Castle in time for 
 dinner.
 
 SUEZ CANAL 261 
 
 Our ship was in no haste to start, and did not make 
 a move to enter the canal until past eight the following 
 morning; owing to the number of steamers waiting to 
 take precedence of us. When once we did start, we found 
 the journey through the narrow channel very interesting. 
 All vessels go along slowly about five miles an hour 
 in order to safeguard the banks of the canal, which would 
 be damaged by the backwash, if greater speed were 
 attempted. The Suez end of the canal passes through the 
 barren desert we had seen from the train, and mile after 
 mile of this sort of scenery went by with monotonous 
 regularity. At length, at one o'clock in the afternoon, 
 we reached the Great Bitter Lake and dropped anchor ; our 
 pilot left us, and we saw that we were in for another long 
 wait. 
 
 We were soon joined by a number of other ships that 
 had been following us from Suez ; one by one they entered 
 the lake and lay-to alongside us; and there we waited all 
 through the afternoon, until, when night came and the 
 lights of the ships shone out on all sides across the quiet 
 waters, the scene was a bright and pretty one. We made 
 no move all night, and when the next morning dawned, 
 we were still lying at anchor. 
 
 Going on deck before my morning's bath, I found that 
 a ladder had been let down the side of the ship, and a few 
 of our passengers were sporting in the lake. This was 
 such an excellent idea that I at once joined them, and 
 diving off the ladder, I was soon enjoying a most lovely 
 swim in the warm and exceedingly buoyant waters. 
 
 After breakfast we watched two or three natives, who 
 were swimming round the ship calling out for coins. They 
 seemed to recover every one that was thrown, and being 
 quite naked they had to use their mouths as purses in
 
 262 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 which to stow away their gains. It was surprising how 
 many pieces of silver they were able to hold in these 
 receptacles, and yet keep on talking and calling out all 
 the while. They never seemed to tire or require any rest, 
 for they kept there all the morning, either swimming or 
 treading water, when they were not diving or performing 
 antics with one another. The extreme buoyancy of the 
 water of course helped them in this. 
 
 More steamers came out of the canal from Suez and 
 anchored near us, until soon there was quite a crowd of 
 them waiting to go on. Among the new arrivals was the 
 Orient liner Orotava, which came close to us and dropped 
 anchor just ahead. This was the ship in which my brother 
 and sister had gone out to Australia fifteen years ago, he 
 to return home ten years later, and she, poor girl, to die 
 there after one happy, but all too short, year of married 
 life. 
 
 The day was intensely hot, and no one had much energy 
 for anything but card-playing, and so we sat about and 
 waited hour after hour all day long, and at sunset we were 
 waiting still. Then as the night grew darker, we could 
 see in the distance, far away across the shore, towards 
 where the canal ran northwards, a faint glimmer of light, 
 which slowly grew brighter. A long way behind it 
 another appeared, and then another, until a chain of them 
 were seen moving slowly towards us. These were the 
 search-lights at the prows of the steamers coming south- 
 wards from Port Said; and we were waiting for them to 
 pass out of the canal before we could enter in. 
 
 Each light was in sight for an hour or two before the 
 ship to which it belonged entered the Great Bitter Lake. 
 Slowly they came one after the other, a fine sight to see; 
 but it was past ten at night before the last one left the
 
 SUEZ CANAL 263 
 
 canal and our waiting vessels could make a move onwards. 
 The rule of passage is that mail boats always take pre- 
 cedence, so two of these, albeit later arrivals than we were, 
 started first, the Peninsular and Oriental liner Malta, and 
 the Orient liner Orotava, while we entered the canal third. 
 
 The sight was most impressive, as we moved on. Our 
 great search-light lit up the channel in front, and the 
 banks on either side of us. Ahead were the lights of 
 the two mail steamers, and following in our rear came 
 a long string of vessels, a quarter of a mile between each 
 one. It was a curious sight to see these great works of 
 modern civilization, powerful ocean-going steamers, with 
 their blazing electric search-flares, lighting up the vast 
 stretches of barren Egyptian desert; a commingling of the 
 modern with the ancient world. 
 
 The Durham Castle was still moving along the canal, 
 when we rose the next morning, and on both sides of us, as 
 far as the eye could see, stretched the same wide expanse 
 of desert. Here and there great white patches of salt- 
 covered land could be seen, where the sea, flowing over 
 and afterwards evaporating, had left the sodium grains on 
 the soil. Sometimes great flocks of pinky-white flamin- 
 goes were in sight, and now and then an Arab, riding on 
 his camel, passed across the sandy waste. From the ship 
 of the ocean, we gazed upon these ships of the desert, and 
 wondered at the contrast. 
 
 By half-past seven we came in sight of the remains of 
 the wrecked steamer Chatham, and passed it just before 
 breakfast at eight. There was very little to see, for the 
 heap of scrap-iron lying half out of the water close to the 
 shore did not much resemble a ship. Just below the water, 
 we could make out several broken spars and parts, which 
 had to be avoided by careful steering. But what interested
 
 264 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 us most was the enormous damage the explosion had 
 wrought on the banks of the canal. More than five 
 hundred yards had been torn out, and an immense quantity 
 of earth displaced. When it is remembered that over ninety 
 tons of dynamite exploded, the marvel is that the canal 
 was not completely wrecked. 
 
 Two hours later we reached Port Said and there anchored 
 for a while. Close by us the two liners had already 
 started coaling; but this was a process that we did not 
 need to undergo, fortunately, for it is one that does not 
 add to the comfort of the passengers. It is at best a dirty 
 business, although it is an entertaining pastime to watch 
 the crowds of dusky natives, carrying the coal-laden sacks 
 up the inclined gangways to the steamers. 
 
 Port Said, at the Mediterranean end of the canal, is a 
 large and important-looking town, with plenty of life and 
 bustle in its streets. It seems a thriving place, and its 
 position is one of great value at the head of the highway 
 to the East. We should have been glad of the oppor- 
 tunity to go on shore, but our stay was too short to allow 
 of this. The few friends we had left in Cairo joined us, 
 and we were soon on our way once more. As we steamed 
 out of the harbour we had a splendid view of the long 
 sea-front of the town, where fine residential buildings 
 faced the Mediterranean. 
 
 Halfway out of the harbour, we passed on our left a 
 colossal statue of M. Lesseps, the great Frenchman to 
 whose skill and enterprise the world owes the Suez Canal.
 
 CHAPTER XXVII 
 
 MEDITERRANEAN STROMBOLI MARSEILLES HOME 
 
 THE Durham Castle was once again out at sea and 
 right glad were its officers, who, accustomed to the open 
 Atlantic route of the west coast of Africa, had chafed 
 greatly at our long delay, and the week's enforced idleness. 
 In spite of a strong and delightfully cool breeze, the sea 
 was as smooth as ever. 
 
 It was now Wednesday, October 12, and the Captain 
 told us we should reach our next stopping-place, which 
 was to be Marseilles, on Tuesday the i8th. So we had a 
 week before us in which to play off those sports and com- 
 petitions which had been voted impossible during the heat 
 of the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea. At Marseilles a 
 large number of the party intended to leave the ship and 
 proceeded overland to England via Paris. 
 
 The weather being much cooler, we all entered with zest 
 into the many competitions that had been arranged. They 
 were much the same as on the outward voyage, only this 
 time I had the pleasure of carrying off two of the prizes. 
 
 The first land in the Mediterranean that we saw was the 
 island of Crete, on which Mount Ida was clearly visible in 
 the distance. Then we came in sight of Sicily and Italy, 
 and one evening, had a splendid view at sunset of Mount 
 Etna, which stood out boldly against the red and rather 
 angry-looking sky. Later in the evening we passed 
 
 through the Straits of Messina, where the lights of Reggio 
 
 265
 
 266 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 on the one side and Messina on the other shone out very 
 prettily. 
 
 Captain Moseley had arranged that, when Stromboli 
 came in sight, we were to be called up, provided there was 
 anything to see; so at half-past two on the Sunday morn- 
 ing, the steward knocked at my cabin-door; and going on 
 deck I found a number of passengers sitting about, watch- 
 ing the dark cone-like mountain, which rose abruptly out 
 of the sea about three miles off. We waited for ten 
 minutes before anything occurred, and then suddenly the 
 top of the mountain began to glow, and flames and masses 
 of white-hot rocks and stones shot up into the air to a 
 height of some five hundred feet. 
 
 Looking through our glasses, we could see the glowing 
 lava falling down the mountain side. The display lasted 
 scarcely half-a-minute and then all was dark once more. 
 About fifteen minutes later it began again, and during the 
 hour or so that I watched, there were no less than five 
 eruptions, the third being a very fine one indeed. The 
 appearance of the volcano when in action was like a huge 
 chimney fiercely on fire. 
 
 Thus this wonderful mountain goes on vomiting rock 
 and lava at frequent intervals, sometimes more violently 
 and sometimes less, and it has been doing this throughout 
 historic times. The very mountain itself has apparently 
 been formed inch by inch in this way and is still growing. 
 
 The night was not an ideal one far watching, or we 
 might have remained longer. The air was chilly, rain 
 began to drizzle, and the vessel moved more than some of 
 us liked, so all but the most enthusiastic returned to their 
 beds at the end of an hour. 
 
 The next morning we were in the Straits of Bonifacio 
 and obtained a splendid view of its very fine scenery. To
 
 CORSICA SARDINIA 267 
 
 our left were numbers of rocky islands, barren and unin- 
 habited, save when some lighthouse guarded their danger- 
 ous shores. Beyond rose up the high mountainous main- 
 land of Sardinia. To our right lay the island of Corsica, 
 with its still higher ranges of mountains. The sun was 
 shining brightly, a brisk breeze blowing, and the air was 
 delightfully cool ; indeed, out of the sunshine it was almost 
 cold. In front of us, in the centre of the straits, and rising 
 sheer out of the water, with its base upon a submerged 
 rock, was a lighthouse, and many others marked the coast 
 on either side of the Channel ; a very necessary precau- 
 tion, for the straits require careful navigation. 
 
 We were steaming between two world-renowned islands ; 
 to our right rock-bound Corsica, the birthplace of that 
 remarkable military genius, Napoleon Buonaparte, the 
 arbiter of the destinies of Europe; to our left Sardinia, 
 the home, in his later years, of Garibaldi, the liberator of 
 Italy. The one had striven to place a continent in fetters 
 beneath his feet, the other had fought to banish tyranny 
 from his native land, and to make her a united and glorious 
 country. We were glad to get such a fine view of these 
 two historic islands. 
 
 Later on in the day the air became so cold that our 
 warmest wraps were necessary, and still we shivered; so 
 we went to bed early to get warm. The wind blew 
 furiously during the night, howling round the front of the 
 vessel, where my cabin was situated; and when morning 
 dawned the sea was covered with foam-crested waves, and 
 it was almost impossible to fight one's way along the deck. 
 We were close to the French shore and near to Marseilles, 
 waiting for a pilot to take us into harbour; and he, coming 
 on board soon afterwards, speedily brought us to an 
 anchorage in one of the Moles. Later on we were visited
 
 268 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 by the health officer of the port, an old man who did not 
 trouble to come on board, but merely looking at us, passed 
 us as healthy, and we were then free to land. 
 
 A large number of our members were leaving us at 
 Marseilles, in order to return overland to England. Among 
 those whom we now lost were Professor Darwin and his 
 
 family, T. S , my cabin companion and friend, and 
 
 many of our professors, who were anxious to be back to 
 their classes, the voyage having already proved longer than 
 they had anticipated. 
 
 A few of us made up a party and spent the morning 
 driving about the town and seeing the sights. Marseilles 
 is too near home and too well known to need any detailed 
 description. Of course we visited the Cathedral, Museum, 
 Fountain and Zoological Gardens, but as our time was 
 very short we could scarcely do more than see the 
 exteriors of some of these places. We all were anxious 
 to ascend to the church of Notre Dame da la Garde, from 
 which a fine view of the town and country could be ob- 
 tained. We went by an ascenseur to the top of the hill on 
 which the church was built. The situation was indeed 
 superb^ but the interior of the church was too full of tawdry 
 decorations, quite spoiling any beauty it might have 
 possessed. 
 
 Visitors come to this place, not for what they can see 
 inside, but for the view outside, which is indeed mag- 
 nificent. The whole city of Marseilles, and the hills and 
 mountains lying beyond, stretched like a glorious panorama 
 in front of us ; to our left were the fine harbour and docks, 
 while behind us was the beautiful, blue sea, dotted with 
 islands, among which plainly discernible were the pictur- 
 esque Isle and Chateau d'If. The morning was bright and 
 sunny, the air clear and translucent, so that details could
 
 MARSEILLES 269 
 
 be seen a very long way off, and we could not refrain 
 from going into raptures over the magnificent prospect. 
 
 A strong cold wind was blowing all the time. Does it 
 always blow at Marseilles, I wonder? It did so when I 
 was here last in 1900, and I remembered how my wife 
 had been actually blown down on this very spot. 
 
 We had very little time to linger, and were obliged to 
 return quickly to our carriages and to the Mole, where we 
 took a boat to go off to the Durham Castle; thereby 
 lighting upon an exciting adventure. 
 
 We had paid for return boat tickets when coming on 
 shore, and naturally supposed that these would take us 
 back without further charge. When we were well out 
 in the harbour, the boatman refused to take them, saying 
 they were given by another boat, which was not his. 
 Thereupon followed an animated and amusing discussion 
 with him in French, which language we none of us under- 
 stood sufficiently well to argue in. The man was very 
 good-natured over it all, but the result was that everybody 
 had to pay another sixpence each, except myself. Why 
 he exempted me, I do not know; he said I was ' mon ami,' 
 and had nothing to pay. Not only so, but with a great 
 deal of courtesy and flourish, he gave me a franc ! which, 
 however, I returned to him. It was all very funny and 
 bewildering, for I only partially understood what he was 
 driving at. 
 
 The Durham Castle left soon after lunch ; the wind had 
 moderated considerably by then, and the Gulf of Lyons 
 was smooth. We had procured the latest English papers 
 on shore, and it was delightful to get them so well up to 
 date, for they were but two days old, whereas the last we 
 had read had been quite a month behind. We were very 
 sorry to read of Sir Henry Irving's death, of which we now
 
 270 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 heard for the first time. I have always been one of his 
 admirers, from the time when his ' Hamlet ' fascinated 
 me twenty-five years ago, and I had seen him act as 
 ' Becket ' at Drury Lane shortly before I left England for 
 South Africa. He will be a great loss to the stage, and 
 to the large circle of friends to whom he had endeared 
 himself by his attractive personality. 
 
 The account of the fearful accident on board the Cunard 
 steamer Campania in Mid-Atlantic, also appealed forcibly 
 to us. While steaming along in a heavy sea, but appar- 
 ently in perfect safety, a huge wave had struck her, and 
 instantly washed five persons overboard and injured thirty- 
 seven others. And yet we had done 14,000 miles on the 
 ocean, without even seeing waves that could be called in 
 any sense rough ; we felt we had much to be thankful for. 
 
 I now had cabin 12 to myself; I missed my companion 
 with whom I had shared so long and so amicably, still 
 it was nice to have plenty of room to move in. We seemed 
 to be quite a small party on board, but we grew more 
 sociable in consequence. The weather became milder as 
 we went south again, and our warm clothing had to be 
 discarded once more. 
 
 On the afternoon following the day we had left Mar- 
 seilles, we sighted the island of Iviza, one of the Balearic 
 group, and soon afterwards we saw Capa San Antonio on 
 the Spanish coast; after which we did not lose sight of 
 land again, until we were well out in the Atlantic ocean. 
 
 The voyage down the coast of Spain was exceedingly 
 interesting, and by the aid of large maps we were able to 
 recognize every place we passed. The further south we 
 went, the more mountainous the scenery became, and 
 during our last day in the Mediterranean we had some 
 splendid glimpses of the Sierra Nevada range with its
 
 SEARCHLIGHTS OF GIBRALTAR 271 
 
 great, snowclad peaks. Some distance from Gibraltar, we 
 saw once again the coast of Africa, on our left, as the sun 
 was setting. 
 
 Just then, one of our very sharp-eyed ladles exclaimed 
 that she could see a spot on the sun. I fetched my field 
 glasses, and placing a spoilt photographic film across them 
 to shield my eyes from the glare, I looked at the great 
 burning ball, and there right in the centre of the disc was 
 the spot she had seen. It must have been of enormous 
 size to be so easily detected with the naked eye. About 
 this time a strong head-wind sprang up and the sea 
 became rougher; it made walking on the deck difficult, 
 and the waves buffeted and shook the vessel as they struck ; 
 but did not otherwise affect her motion. 
 
 A progressive whist tournament had been arranged for 
 the same evening. Lady Crookes was delighted to be 
 the winner of the ladies' prize, while Professor W. H. 
 Hudson was surprised to find himself ahead of all the men. 
 After it was over, we went on deck and found ourselves 
 under the searchlights of Gibraltar. Two were playing 
 upon us all the time, keeping us in view as though rather 
 doubtful of our identity, for Union Castle liners are not 
 generally seen in the Mediterranean. Soon afterwards we 
 passed Europa Point and then the lights of Gibraltar 
 opened out before us, while some distance ahead we could 
 see Algeciras, the little Spanish town where the conference 
 on Morocco was shortly to be held. To our left the lights 
 of Ceuta in Morocco were discernible in the distance. 
 
 The next morning we were on the great Atlantic, nearly 
 opposite to Cadiz, but well out of sight of land. The ship 
 had completely circumnavigated Africa, and was once 
 again on the route of her outward journey. The wind had 
 fallen, the sea was smooth, and except for a shower during 
 the morning the weather was delightfully sunny and fresh.
 
 272 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 At three in the afternoon, we passed Cape St. Vincent and 
 signalled to the shore. 
 
 The Cape is a fine, bold, but not very high headland, 
 and we were able to notify by cable from thence the prob- 
 able time of our arrival at Southampton. A great four- 
 funnelled English cruiser passed us soon after, and there 
 was great excitement, for everybody thought she must 
 be the Renown going out to Genoa, to take the Prince and 
 Princess of Wales to India; but we found on referring 
 to the dates that this could not be so. We flew our blue 
 ensign and saluted and she dipped her flag in return. 
 
 The Durham Castle pitched and rolled a little towards 
 nightfall, and dark, heavy clouds followed the setting sun, 
 betokening possibly some rain later on. However, for 
 the next twenty-four hours the weather kept fine and 
 sunny. Finisterre was sighted at ten o'clock on the 
 Saturday evening, and then we crossed the Bay of Biscay, 
 which, to keep up its reputation, gave us the following 
 day, the nastiest time of our whole voyage; for when we 
 rose on our last Sunday morning, the sea was considerably 
 rougher, and rain fell nearly all day. A very strong north- 
 east wind was blowing, and the waves striking the ship 
 sent showers of spray on deck, obliging us to keep well 
 under cover. 
 
 The ship pitched and rolled slightly, and this increased 
 as the day wore on, causing several passengers to feel ill ; 
 consequently there were gaps in the saloon at meal times. 
 It did seem strange to end a voyage of nearly 15,000 miles 
 by feeling seasick, owing to a little movement. The good 
 old Durham Castle behaved splendidly, however, and kept 
 her balance so well that we did not, even on this occasion, 
 need our fiddles during meals. Had she been a smaller 
 boat, the day would have been a very unpleasant one, for 
 we could see the waves sweeping right over the decks of
 
 HOME 273 
 
 several steamers that we passed. Towards the afternoon, 
 it looked as if we were in for a nasty, rough night, for the 
 wind increased in violence and the waves became larger. 
 
 The evening was too cold, wet and uncomfortable to 
 stay out on deck, so I sat in the smoking-room and had 
 a talk with Sir William Crookes about psychical research. 
 He thought that the balance of the evidence, so far verified, 
 pointed to the probability of life after death; but this was 
 only an inference and not a certainty. The existence of 
 powers in ourselves, unused by, and apparently inde- 
 pendent of, our bodies and our external life, also pointed, 
 he thought, to the same conclusion. He considered that 
 the recognition of these powers, by a considerable minority 
 of scientific men at the present day, was a great step for- 
 ward towards solving a problem of such immense difficulty. 
 
 The following day our last at sea was fine and cold, 
 the wind had fallen in the night, the sea was not nearly 
 so rough, and the sun was shining brightly; but it was 
 necessary to wear thick clothing and to keep on the move, 
 for we felt the cold very much. During the day we were 
 all busy at times in our cabins, packing up and generally 
 getting ready for shore, for we were due to reach Southamp- 
 ton by daybreak the next morning. We were, however, 
 delayed somewhat; for during the night we ran into a 
 dense fog, and were obliged to keep the horn blowing all 
 the time, and when day dawned on Tuesday, October 24, 
 it was impossible to tell where we were, for the fog was 
 so dense we could see nothing around us. 
 
 By the time breakfast was over, the mist had cleared 
 away and we then found ourselves in dock. A special 
 train waited on shore to take us on at once to London. 
 We had returned to England after an absence of three 
 months; and we were full of excitement at the thought of 
 
 seeing our homes and loved ones once more. 
 18
 
 274 THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 When Professor Darwin, in his address at Cape Town, 
 alluded to our trip as the greatest picnic on record, we did 
 not then know how fine a picnic it was going to be. We 
 knew that we had a splendid time before us, but the reality 
 surpassed our expectations. Wherever we went, we were 
 treated with the utmost kindness and hospitality; every 
 arrangement that thoughtfulness could devise was made for 
 our comfort; opportunities were given, such as we might 
 otherwise never have had, of seeing all that there was to 
 be seen, and learning all that our hurried visits allowed us 
 to learn. 
 
 It had been a wonderful journey from first to last, for in 
 the course of our wanderings we set foot upon the soil 
 of no less than three foreign countries, five of our own 
 colonies, and three British protectorates. With the ex- 
 ception of the short distance of coast from Durban to Beira, 
 we actually circumnavigated the whole of the great continent 
 of Africa. By sea we went nearly 15,000 miles, on shore 
 we travelled over an extent of country half as large as 
 Europe. The trip was intensely interesting, the lessons it 
 taught us were many, the impressions we brought away 
 with us will be food for reflection for a lifetime. Our 
 warmest thanks are due to our kinsmen in South Africa, 
 who helped to make our trip to their continent such a 
 delightful and enjoyable picnic. 
 
 THE END 
 
 Richard Clay & Sent, Limited, London and Bungay.
 
 University of California 
 
 SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 
 305 De Neve Drive - Parking Lot 17 Box 951388 
 
 LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90095-1388 
 
 Return this material to the library from which it was borrowed. 
 
 OCTI