AFRICAN ADVENTURES

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XV, Issue 4695, 14 April 1894, Page 2

AFRICAN ADVENTURES

IM Lord Randolph, I (continued,) [BY A I (All Rights '.y On the early morning of the day following the burial of the remains of our comrade, I procured my rifle and ' left the tent in search of the mules. I followed along the banks of tbe wind- i ing stream, wending my way ores fl little plains and through innumerable - A groves of wild fruita and dumps of foliage, while passing quantities of small buck, baboons, guinea-fowland pheasants. The whole vicinity pearerl to be alive with animals birds of every description, and warm and brillimt rays of tbe seemed to clothe all nature happiest of smiles. After aeveral houvs I found near a the .leapwhen ; a'human my ears, and looking; round, I ob» served a youtig fdlow.coming towards me, > •' " How d'yre do, stranger ?" asked he. " Nioely, thanks," I retured, and grasped his prefcd lisnd, He had on ;a broad-brimmed bat, and wore a red shirt, buckskin breeches and high hoots, which was the ordinary , wearing apparel of the country, After asking i£ I wished to buy some horses and receiving an ' answer in the affirmative, he led the way through a variety of foliage and then aerosa a little plain to a rocky ; eminence, where we came to a hut i almost embedded in the side of the ' hill. lat once felt that such a place 1 as this should have been peleoted by i us as tbe siie for our tent. After i . • tethering and seeing to the mules, I J [ followed the stranger and entered the j?| f but. It was scantily furnished, hav-' 1 s ing three beds, while upon the walls J ! hung several rifle-shot, guns, knives; Jl and ammunition belts. On the ad is usual with' tbsjmmg4flflH|H| tors, lay an articles, whici>, for want of a few nails, could find no better place to rest.

Wallace (the name of the proprietor), asked whether I would bave brandy or coßee. I answered that the latter was preferable; while sipping the beverage that cheers and not inebriates, I related our two nights' experience, Now and again he laughed j.bufc when he heard the latter portion of our adventure it affected him peculiarly. He then pointed to two of the beds, and remarked with tears in his eyea: " Three of us came here a month since, and now bete I am alone. They tioth

DIED FROM THAT CUBBED FEVER, Jordan succumbed one week after our arrival, and Tromlin five days ago. Like you, a plentiful supply of brandy and quinine saved my life, and I believe it also enabled me to become chmatised; but now I never touch the liery liquid unless for a medicine." We talked for some time about other matters, and then viewed the | horses. After purohasing two of animals and saddles | our rifli-s, we stanedToWur camp. This road now took us into the valley, where wooded hills and ridges, grassy veldts and dear running streams mwounded'uß, on all sides. I '' Efomeof tke hills (ire of considerable height rising to as muclj* aa 1,000 feet above the level of the valley, but only in isolated instances was any outcrop of sedimentary rock visible, the greater portion of them consisting of grftnite, with but few volcanic intrusions, Here and there several native kraals could now bo seen, perched on the various juttings and projecting peaks and points of a large rocky kopje.' Access to many of these can only be obtained by njeans of lot|g poles and rofigh'ladderß. 'fear of t))0 sarago Mat'ahele, rather' than for health, compelled the Maahonaa thus to dwell, for'Lo~Ben(Jula liad fajdgd ravaged and depopulated the oountry. In this climate the natives' hut gives expollent shelter, Hound-about from 12 to feet in diameter, with sharply-pointed, conical roofs, built of pales and mud, and thatched with grass, They are warm at nightj and wondrously cool in tho host iif the day. i When going a sjufrt distance he-' i'ond these huts, several roan antelope dashed away from a clump o£ ' trees on our right and taking a quick aim, my companion was successful in reaohlng one, which Sank fo'{jroudfd.'' thd animal upon one of tho mules, Wa Bgaiirsel of}, qow followed by a hq'i of nativesj and eqoq nrriyed' at oqp tejit, note goqi) SUKIJOUNBED fiV A SCOKE Of NAIIVES, old and young, male and female, who/ in exchange for the fresh meat, with which we were provided, gave us largo supplies of mealies and Kaffir corn, TakiDg some of cbesp, I went and fed tho mules and horses. In the time, Sogers was trying to get'soina milk and eggs, but as thore were none present, bw found it difficult to make the natives understand. : Ho procured IV Cup, and placing' it to his mouth ij feW'tlmiiji th'etf niiide it serie^'of'circular motion's with bis band, whloji would have done credit to any (jiown! |bejydfca'fqpcji| and appealing to ®fuu(jef»tood i left us .and went on rffiir way olwntt ing. It now began to vain in iorrents, and we adjourned to the inside of the tent. Wallace remarked tbat the weather was very unuty'/, aa he said it had been raining hero almost continually up to within a few.days of our arrival, I could not b<jlp sinijing . ifhe ipft reppaicfi rVj< mark. I had travelled many thousand of miles, visited many places of the earth, but I-have never yet arrived at any spot where I was not informed that the weather'was most 1 unseasonable.' After receiving ajiil thanking ui for the'raoney and giving lißßuin'o advice as"'to' indications of gold, Wallace took his departure,' pfOtpiflg to pal] again. ' Going put we now drove out our (tqtaaljj I into a corral, situated in an enclosure - olmoat surrounded by water, tlio only eniranco to which being aloDfi| a track leading past our tent. The evening.shades were fast approaching, when, after procuring a supply of wood and building a large fire,, iye crept jn{Q oi}t bfiusa. -j Wo was.now oonscWsMithat'lia ms feeling much aud.that ho hoped to bB out of bed in a few days? j Wo now supplied hitii with cooling drinks and kept bim Wafin. ,S?eing that'alj tvas l we]l wi) to quV re* spiictivo oouohe's and'iassed &' com-' fdtMbje nighti 1 ' Hioep ftg* oris roW whidh reverberatod'thn ugh $e disJ t'an'cjj, not V' F disturbed i|)9 silenoe of the Burroanaiqgj, At 8 o'ekek the refreshed ready

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having saddled a horse, I was about to rido out and procure some food when TWO STRANGERS RODE INTO OUR CAMP, The first was Lord Randolph Churchill, who was here on an expedition for the purpose \of inspecting tbe country and writing twenty letters to the London Daily Graphic, for which the it was said, had arranged to' give him the sum of companion was the Mk hunter, Hans Lee, who Hf" accompanied him fur the purpose of pointing out and assisting in the big game shooting, Dismounting from their horses, the peer asked how we hid been gat* > ting along, ami wit » informed, lni V remarked tlmt such occurrences were \ frequently happening, owing to the \ Unhealthy state of liie country, He \ was surprised tint we had lost none V of our aaimals from the sickness. \ During his tour through the country \he had hoird of tho loss from sickness fno less than 600 horses, among ■ lioh number several of his own. ' \ of them his hunting pony, L *Jie"—an invaluable animal, HL taken ill a fort-rji-ijEfternoon. Major Giles JjPfcliatl exhausted every eflortto save this pony; but all had proved ineffectual. ' For a short time eulphur burnt under the nostrils had produced a good i ffect. During half an hour tho dischargo poured profusely,and if this could IniYi!continued the pony might have survived. Slid denly it ceased to flow, when in a Second lie fell to the ground and expired almost immediately with desperate struggles while biting Ihe earth, Just after tliid event his lordship had determined ti loare the unhealthy locality, in tho liopo of reaching tho higher lands, where he trusted tho rest of his animals might escape the sickne-s. But tho spot, Surrounded as it was by thick, dry grass, nearly proved to he fatal to the whole expedition. While his loidship and party, nutnWiug about forty, were at luncheon, some natives bad set fire to the grass in close i proximity to the camp. Heating tho I crackling sound of afire, and to windward, tho whole party started to feet, and found that they were by an advancing mass of distant from the waggons less than a hundred yards, Not a moment was lewt—every man turned out. Some seized a coat, a rug, a sack, while others, branches of trees, hastily torn down, and

DASIIKD AT THE FLAMES to beat down the bu;iiicg grass, and

vrcßt the progress of tho lire, For a ime tlio i esult had seemed doubtful, 'Ut by great exertion tlie lire was vercome and extinguished within a aw yards of their camp, Tlio natives re in the habit of lighting these (ires r'itli perfect carelessness as to who or (hat may be in the vicinity, They ben search the charred ground for ead rats and mice, which they find in lUantitifß and eat, Shortly after hearing of tbe=o indents, and having some refreshment, uccompanied the peer and pointed ut the vicinity of some old workings, ?hich I had passed on tbo previous aorning. These are of a very singular nd persistent character, consisting or the most part of circular shafts, arying in depth from 15 to 70 feet, nd not more than 8G to 40 inches in iameter. They range in date, accord-s-numerous ideas, back to the leriod'aiuiiig Solomon, One thing J ccilain—they aie apparently very ncient, and in the shafts may be seen landing huge limbers which hare vealjiertd many long years, of ffhoso Iqsv march jiheir annual rings and iplossal limbs give proof! We then returned to the camp, from vbich a few miautes later we departed or the purpose of hunting hartebeast ind antelope. After half an hour's ido we saw a solitary bartebeast landing under a tree, distant about 100 yards, and looking in our direcion, His lordship dismounted and ired, A moment after tho sltot the mimal moved a few paces to the right, md still remained gazing at us in--entjy, Believing that lie had missed lira, the peer now sat down, and, ratrig the rifle on his knees, too}; a steady litp, This bullet bit tlio beast in the ihest, when he Btaggered away a few para's and fell. On going up to him, j it was found that tbo first bullet had penetrated the noae, making a email bole, and smashing the lower jaw to pieces. This wound must have stupeBed him, and probably accounted for hie immobility after the sliul. Hans Lee new qscended to an eminence for the the country. Be called out that there were a number of hartebeaat and roan antelope iu different directions, when wo pursued the latter. We had a quick gallop of abouMhjoe miles after the herd, durt|ie hunter ant] fJjo • pofer, Roofing well, procured a number of the animals. At this point I fired and shot a struggling antelope, and after marking the spot, again started in pursuit of the herd. I had not gone mflre than a hundred 'yards, when taking aim at another, my horse fell and

pitched me into a mamu, r rom which a moment later 1 arose [ nd ' caught my 1 tod. Quickly ex- | rioting my rifle from the slime and 6 lUttingin a drycartridge,l remounted t ,nd again followed in the wake of , he' sport. I succeeded in coming up fitb tho hunters, and way abouUo j jre' at' ft beat)ii(ii} heap!, vhich'wa? [ eaping along a little distance ahead, ( vW'from a clump of tpj of my ( ighti Hans Lee pulled his trigger , tnd the animal. Full of ibsgrinTßLturoed and watched the jeer, HOad just knocked over an ] ild bull, and then made after a cow ( ;hat appeared to be wounded, when ] ifter Borne time be chased her to a j I tlion saw that her t mtrai's were protruding from a large j wound iu her stomach, in Bpito pj ,vjni;h Olie (tad continued; to gallop lob ft' very considerable .distance. He Bred mother shot'' and the 'animal sank and expired, when tho nobleman retiirned'to look for the old bull. The lajter, whenhosawtjjc peer approaching rose to bis feet and staggering bay lome 'distance, stood defiant', Dismounting within a raoge of less {jian 20ft and resting his rifle on his kneos, fired four bullets, the last penetrating the head and putting an end to the animal's sufferings. If' this had beet, i lion instead of a ny-le antelope, this kind of Bhooting would have perhaps proved fatal to tbo peer; but galloping over the plains under a hot aun the oyo and the hand unsteady, • His shoollng diking thd previous hour- had- been excelleatV ' wmo further-sport, Jjofd' B Smrtcbilland ■ Hunter -lee With 8 wave of adieu,'rode/ off; in a Wtqrly (predion towards a 'Mt kraki. from'whlcb they iritendecj Sendjbg trackers (o'bring in the game,' I |ho(; alter aotjia 1 fa'shid upon my boree. I then led the steed' towards our caaip, vrbere I ar< the evening shades were surrounding valleys.