The most interesting part of this transaction was to see the chief's
men harness the donkeys to our big wagon. They used bits of weed-rope,
rawhide, and a stout grass rope that they make themselves. The
harnessing took a long time and we were delayed until I began to grow
impatient, but there was nothing else to do but wait. Finally we were
off, but it was a funny looking caravan. It had been raining hard for
some days and we presently came to a little stream which was much
swollen. Here we had a terrible time. The "harness" kept breaking, and
the way the natives thrashed those poor donkeys was frightful. It
seemed to be the only method, though, and eventually we took a hand in
the punishment ourselves.
The night of the second day saw us camped at the foot of the mountain
that leads to the village of Mbabane. We found several other transport
wagons there, with three white traders whose occupation was to carry
goods from Ermelo and Carolina, the two rail stations, to Mbabane and
vice versa. These traders were much interested in our outfit, and by
treating them to drinks, fresh food, and the payment of one pound
sterling I was able to hire twelve donkeys from their caravans to
assist us to the top of the mountain. We started at dawn next day, and
by noon had reached the summit. There we rested for the balance of the
day.
My object in delaying there all the afternoon was mainly on account of
the great load of liquor in the big wagon. I did not want to bring
this through Mbabane in daylight because I had no permit to bring it
into Swaziland and I did not want to get caught doing so. I thought
that I could get by practically unobserved if I waited until after
dark and then went through the village with other wagons. Our camp at
the top of the hill was about three miles from Mbabane, and I ordered
Sibijaan to inspan and start on again at five o'clock. This would
bring him to the village at about eight o'clock, or shortly after dark.
We went ahead and called on Mr. and Mrs. Dickson, who gave us tea. It
was real English tea and we enjoyed it immensely. The Dicksons had
heard of our expedition and were much interested. Mrs. Dickson,
however, was greatly amused at our capacity for tea, since we each
drank between five and six cups. But we were dead tired and it was
wonderful to shut out the whole of Swaziland and sit down in this cozy
English home to drink decent tea poured by a white woman!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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