Twenty-Five Years in a Waggon in South Africa: Sport and Travel in South AfricaAnderson, Andrew A.
History
Twenty-Five Years in a Waggon in South Africa: Sport and Travel in South Africa
Anderson, Andrew A.
Africa, Southern -- Description and travel; Anderson, Andrew A. -- Travel -- Africa, Southern
On the south of this territory, between it and the Transvaal, is that
small slip of country under the petty captain Moshette, part of which is
included in the Transvaal by the late Convention between the British
Government and that Republic. This petty captain and the Koranna
captain Moshoen have been the tools of the Transvaal Government to make
war on Monkuruan and Montsioa, and it serves them right that they should
lose their country. Moshoen lives at his large station at Maamuosa,
situated on a white sandstone hill close to the Harts river; this stone
is used by mill-owners for grinding their corn. The most unfrequented
part of Montsioa's country is that through which the river Molapo runs,
to the westward of Maceby's station, the course of which has already
been described in the river system.
Eighteen years ago the plains swarmed with game, and lions also. I was
travelling down from Kanya through the desert to Maceby, on my way to
Conge kraal, north of Morequern. At Maceby's there were Boers, each
with a waggon, going to Morequern; the road I was travelling was the
same. One of them, whom I had met before, asked if we should trek
together, which was agreed to, until the roads separated seventy-five
miles on, the distance to Conge being 125 miles; the only objection I
had, was that they travelled at night, but as there were some very nasty
places along the road and we could assist each other in case of
accident, I agreed. On the third night from Maceby's, we were
travelling along over an open country, my waggon was the third in the
line, and a Dutchman was the last; the night was stormy with a high
wind, and very dark. Soon after inspanning in the evening, we knew
lions were following us, but this occurs so often that we took no notice
of it. But about eleven o'clock the oxen in all the waggons became very
restless, and our foreloopers had difficulty to keep them on the road,
calling out that lions were close.
The Boer behind my waggon had no forelooper, there was only himself with
the waggon, which was empty. I was sitting on my waggon-box with my
driver, and the forelooper leading the oxen. Soon after eleven we heard
the after-waggon and oxen leave the road and make a rush across the
veldt, towards a dry bed of a river, and heard the Boer call out to us
to stop, which we did as soon as I could make those in front understand
the case. We held to, and listened, but heard no sound of the Boer or
anything else. The wind and rain coming on, we three, with our waggons,
drew up in a line, and fastened the oxen to the trektow and waited until
daylight, for it was useless and also very dangerous to go walking about
in the veldt amongst low bushes, to look for the Boer or his waggon,
where lions seemed to swarm; besides, we had as much as we could do to
keep the lions from making an attack on our own oxen.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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