15

THE SOUTH AFRICAN HUNTER: HIS WORK, AND ITS NATURAL HISTORY.

BY GELERT.

II.

The limit assigned to us in the pages of this publication did not permit us to conclude our notice of Mr. Gordon Cumming's interesting work in the last number; we therefore again invite our friends, who love the adventurous, to ensconce themselves in an easy chair, and listen to the further deeds of this bold hunter among the savage beasts and scarcely less savage men of Southern Africa.

We left him prostrate on the ground from the kick of an ostrich, a fine old cock, the muscular power of whose thigh resembles that of a horse more than that of a bird. We have already acknowledged our obligation to the author for enlightening us on the subject of the ostrich's eggs; the hatching of which, according to popular belief, has been erroneously attributed rather to the rays of the sun than to the fostering and natural heat of the parent birds. It is not improbable that this error originated with the poetic language of Job; for the sacred writer in allusion to the ostrich, says," She leaveth her eggs in the earth, and warmeth them in the dust, and forgetteth that the foot may crush them or that the wild beast may break them. She is hardened against her young ones, as though they were not hers; her labour is in vain without fear, because God hath deprived her of wisdom; neither hath he imparted to her understanding. What time she lifteth up herself on high, she scorneth the horse and his rider." It is also mentioned by the prophet Jeremiah that "the daughter of my people is become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness." The great naturalist, Shaw, in his work entitled "Travels in Barbary," informs us that a very little of that natural affection, which so strongly exerts itself in most other creatures, is observable in the ostrich for upon the least distant noise or trivial occasion she forsakes her eggs or her young ones, to which, perhaps, she never returns; or if she does, it may be too late either to restore life to the one or to preserve the lives of the other. Agreeably to this account, the Arabs meet with whole nests of these eggs undisturbed; some of which are sweet and good, others are addled and corrupted; others again have their young ones of different growths, according to the time, it may be presumed, they have been forsaken by the dam. They oftener meet a few of the little ones, no bigger than well-grown pullets, half-starved, moaning and straggling about, like so many distressed orphans, for their mother. And in this manner the ostrich may be said to be hardened against her young ones, as though they were not hers; her labour (in hatching and attending them so far) being in vain, without fear or the least concern of what becomes of them afterwards. The statement made by Mr. Gordon Cumming with respect to the incubation of the male as well as female ostrich, is corroborated by the celebrated African traveller, Barrow, who informs us that the male, distinguished by its glossy black feathers from the dusky grey

female, is generally seen with two or three, and frequently as many as five, of the latter. These females lay their eggs in one nest, to the number of ten or twelve each, which they watch all together, the male taking his turn of sitting on them among the rest. Between sixty and seventy eggs have been found in one nest, and a few are most commonly lying round the sides of the hole, having been thrown out by the birds on finding the nest to contain more than they could conveniently carry. The only living specimen of the desert which Mr. Gordon Cumming has brought to England with him, is that of the little bushboy, whom he captured among the reeds of a fountain near which he was encamped. Ruyter, for such is his name, is a genuine son of that race which has been described by naturalists as linking the human with the brute creation; and as he is part and parcel of it, so is he far from being the least interesting subject of the African Exhibition. Though arrived at maturity, his pigmy form reminds one of a bantam cock, erect, lively, and bumptious; and the growling, snarling noises of the animal, as he gambols in his waggon, announce an intimate knowledge and cofraternity with hyenas, jackalls, and other denizens of his native forests. Captain G. Cumming speaks of him as having "ever since faithfully followed his fortunes through every peril and hardship by sea and land; and that he alone stood by him, when forsaken by all his followers in the far interior."

On the 18th of January, 1844, our author reaches "the magnificent Orange river, whose fertile banks were adorned with groves clad in everlasting verdure ;" and which he rapturously pronounces to be "the Queen of African rivers. His predecessor and fellow-labourer in the same field, Captain William Cornwallis Harris, also expatiates largely on the beauties of this stream: "Emerging from this desolation and sterility," he says, "the first glimpse that we obtained of it realized those ideas of elegant and classic scenery which exist in the minds of poets. The alluring fancies of a fairy fiction, or the fascinating imagery of a romance, were here brought into actual existence. The waters of this majestic river, three hundred yards in breadth, flowing in one unbroken expanse, resembled a smooth, translucent lake; and as its gentle waves glided past on their way to join the restless ocean, bearing on their limpid bosom, as in a polished mirror, the image of their woodclothed borders, they seemed to kiss the shore before bidding it farewell. Drooping willows, clad in their vest of vernal freshness, leaned over the bank, and dipping their slender branches into the tide, which glistened with the last rays of the setting sun, seemed fain to follow.' Experience itself is necessary to enter fully into the sensations of the delighted traveller at the sight of water in the desert; language is inadequate to the task. Thus we find that after escaping from the arid horrors of the parched karoos, the two authors reach the banks of the Orange river, at separate times, in an ecstasy of joy and satisfaction.

On his onward journey towards the interior, Captain Gordon Cumming falls in with various tribes of Hottentots; those denominated Griquas and Bastards being in close alliance with the English government. He describes the district which they inhabit as being the most desirable in Southern Africa for farming purposes, there being abundance of fountains throughout its whole extent capable of being led out to irrigate the land; without which no gardens can be formed nor wheat grown in

that country. He says, that rich pasture is abundant; that cattle, sheep, and goats breed remarkably well there; and that the Bastard's country is especially adapted for breeding horses, large herds of which may be seen pasturing high on the mountain sides, or scattered in troops over their grassy plains. The horses, too, are not subject to a deadly distemper, which, along the frontiers of the colony, commit sad ravages amongst them during five or six months of the year.

Here, then, we have the information of a gentleman who bears strong testimony to the agricultural advantages of that portion of Southern Africa. Surely, with these facts before us, and while vast numbers of our fellow-countrymen are annually flocking to the shores of Natal, (for within the last eighteen months no less than three thousand five hundred souls have left England for that country), it is the duty of our emigrant societies to ponder well ere they persevere in recommending a district that teems with danger to the all but defenceless settlers. Nature, it is true, invites them there; but "the sword of Damocles hangs over the country;" two hundred thousand bold and disciplined Caffres, well versed in the art of war, are located within a week's march of that portion of the colony which has a military force of only six hundred men to protect it! At the moment we are writing, Caffraria is disaffected; yea, more, is in open rebellion against the British government, and we tremble for Natal. On the other hand, amongst the flat-nosed Hottentots residing on the north bank of the Great Orange river, the fertility of the country and the comparatively peaceful character of its inhabitants appear to offer colonial advantages, which, if accessible to the English, they would do well to exchange for those of the Natal coast.

The hunter now shapes his course for the Vaal river, in search of that noble animal the roan antelope, and other game which he had not yet encountered. He succeeds in crossing that stream without impediment; but finds the country covered with a variety of mimosa, called by the Boers Wait-a-bit thorns," which, being crooked like fish-hooks, impede his progress and tear the very shirt from his back, as he follows his prey through these kill-devil covers. The zeal of the hunter, however, flags not; he succeeds, after a long and desperate chase amid rocks and bushes, in killing a noble specimen of the buck koodoo, whose ponderous spiral horns reward him for the labour. That night, he says, "the koodoo skin was my mattress, my saddle was my pillow; and supperless I lay down to rest, without any covering save an old shirt and a pair of leather crackers. The excitement of the thrilling sport which I had enjoyed prevented my sleeping until a late hour; and when at length I closed my eyes, I dreamt that we were surrounded by a troop of lions, and, awaking with a loud cry, startled my men and horses."

M. Desmarest, in his description of the koodoo, says that it inhabits the mountains, and is the most magnificent of all the antelope tribe, measuring eight feet in length, four in height at the shoulder, and that its horns, which are particularly grand, measure nearly four feet. By "the mountains" he probably means such ground as Mr. Gordon Cumdescribes, where he speaks of the rocky hills over which they led him. But M. Desmarest's mountains must be mere mole-hills, or the chase which our gallant hunter records with so much spirit, and, we doubt not, with equal veracity, would be simply impossible.

Again, he falls in with a roan antelope, standing nearly five feet high at the shoulders, and carrying a superb pair of scimitar-shaped horns. His horse knows well what he has to do, and "sets off after him with right good will over a most impracticable country. It was a succession of masses of adamantine rock and stone, and dense bushes with thorns on the boat-hook principle. In a few minutes," he says, "my legs were a mass of blood; and my shirt, my only covering, was flying in streamers from my waist. The old buck at first got a little a-head; but presently, the ground improving, I gained upon him, and after a sharp burst of about two miles we commenced ascending a slight acclivity, when he suddenly faced about and stood at bay, eyeing me with glowing eyes and a look of defiance. This was to me a joyful moment-the buck I had for many years heard of, and longed to meet, now stood at bay within forty yards of me. I dismounted, and drawing my rifle. from its holster, sent a bullet through his shoulder, upon which he cantered a short distance, and lay down beside a bush. On my approach he endeavoured to charge, but his strength failed him; I then gave him a second shot in the neck, just where I always cut off the head on receiving it he rolled over, and stretching his limbs, closed his eyes upon the storm, which all this time raged with increasing severity." Whoever has ridden to foxhounds over the rugged surface of Dartmoor, covered as it is with masses of granite over a large portion of it, will understand Mr. Gordon Cumming's "sharp burst, and the wonderful manner in which a horse will accommodate his strides to such a country, shortening or lengthening them as the emergency may require. Then, instead of the wait-a-bit thorus, if he keep not his weather-eye open, which, in the hail-storms of that exposed region, is no easy matter, he will find himself suddenly engulphed girth-deep in a bog. Notwithstanding, the fox is a good one; and the man, if he be so too, will prefer the dangers and difficulties of this wild chase, a thousand times, to the artificial and mild system which obtains in your more fashionable countries.

Mr. Burchell records that he found the roan antelope abundant about the sources of the Garreip, and also in the vicinity of Latakoo; but Mr. Cornwallis Harris declares the animal to be rare, and thinks the blue antelope (Aigocerus leucophæa) to be nothing more than a variety of the roan antelope; he tells us that the animal is chiefly found on the elevated ridges near the source of the Vaal and Limpopo rivers: the very country in which Mr. Gordon Cumming killed his first specimen. The roan antelope is the etak of the Matabili, stands five feet high at the shoulder, and is about nine in extreme length. The size of the animal's head and horns, at the South African Exhibition, denote it to be an immense and powerful antelope.

High as Mr. Gordon Cumming's ambition soars with respect to his sport, and exciting and adventurous as the sport is in subduing such noble game, yet he occasionally finds time to mount a pair of shot-barrels, and to bring down some of the smaller curiosities of the African wilds. "On the following morning," he says, "the Namaqua partridges, which every morning and evening visit the vleys and fountains in large coveys for the purpose of drinking, mustered in great force at Stink Vonteyn. Of these birds I have met with three varieties. They are abundant wherever extensive open sandy districts occur, as far

as I have penetrated into Southern Africa. By watching the flight of these birds in the mornings and evenings I have discovered the fountains in the desert, when unassisted and forsaken by the natives."

Here is a scrap of observation worthy of White, of Selborne: the wary hunter, too, has in some measure practically adopted Virgil's advice in looking to the fowls of the air for certain signs instinctive to them, but beyond the ken of human reason yet, although great numbers of birds are mentioned as indicators by him of Mantua, the Namaqua partridges are not included in the catalogue. This bird is probably one of the four species of Francolin figured by Dr. Smith, in his beautiful and scientific work on the zoology of Southern Africa; he remarks that "these birds were observed to resort towards evening to the same localities (the sides of the streams); but at that period they were less readily discovered, owing to their being commonly more silent at that time.

The author, pursuing his travels, is not particular as to accommodation; he bivouacks sub dio, and pays a grateful acknowledgment to the salubrity of the S. African climate. "I lay down to sleep beneath an aged mimosa in the vicinity of the old Bushman's hut, and about midnight the wind set in from the Southern ocean, and, having no covering but my shirt, I felt it piercingly cold. Sleep was out of the question, and I was right glad when I heard the sparrow's chirp announcing the dawn of day. Notwithstanding these nocturnal exposures, my health since leaving my regiment had been perfect- not a twitch of rheumatism, a complaint from which I suffered while in India, although I had ceased to wear flannel, which I had previously done for years; I can, therefore, confidently recommend the country to those that suffer from that most grievous affliction."

It was once the lot of the writer of this article to kill from a boat right and left, a peregrine falcon and golden plover, while the noble bird was pursuing its prey, and almost in the act of striking it; but Mr. Gordon Cumming draws his triggers at higher game-he kills a fine bull brindled gnoo with one barrel and a wild hound with the other, just as the latter, with three jolly companions, was running into his venison. But the keen sportsman, blood-thirsty though he be, has his compunction respecting the hound, which bore a strong resemblance to a noble deer-hound of his own, and reminded him of his native forests. He then gives, in a note, an excellent description of the "wilde honden," as these hounds are termed by the Boers, and tells us that they are still abundant in the precincts of the Cape colony, and met with in great numbers throughout the interior. The passage is so good that we are almost tempted to quote it verbatim; but our space forbids it, and we can only recommend the reader, who appreciates the combination of natural history with the stirring scenes of the chase, to give it his especial attention.

As the traveller advances the mirage of the desert attracts his notice, and he informs us that "when the sun is powerful, which it is during the greater part of the year, an enduring mirage dances on the plain wherever the hunter turns his bewildered eyes. This mirage restricts the range of vision to a very moderate distance, and is very prejudicial to correct rifle-shooting. The effect produced by this optical illusion is remarkable; hills and herds of game often appear as if suspended in