Karemba was accustomed to go naked. Mr. Selous and
myself completed the typical South African Caravan.
What a fervour of fascination there was in the feeling
that all before me was new! Where was the journey to end ?
That delightful uncertainty about filling the blank page of
the future awakened in my mind a silent rapture that would
be difficult to describe. Incident and adventure must of
necessity arise : but here, at last, I was upon the threshold
of the paradise of my boyhood’s day-dreams: now I was to
wander through the scenes of the mighty and mysterious
continent!
I t was on the morning of the 5th of March, 1884, that we
bade adieu to that last outpost of civilisation—Klerksdorp—
and bending towards to the north passed through the
great waving grass plains of the Northern Transvaal,
admiring as we went the lovely tints of their varying
colours.
The town of Lichtenberg, at which we soon arrived, is
situated at the summit of high rolling prairie country,
which is so characteristic of all the southern and southwestern
portions of the Transvaal. Lichtenberg is indeed a
dismal-looking place. Here and there a few houses are
scattered as though they had been thrown from a pepperbox.
Close to what is called—for what reason it is difficult
to say—the Market Square, could be seen a square dog-
kennel-looking building which proved to be the Dutch
house of worship. Beyond that, a general merchandise
Store and a few tumble-down houses completed the
township.
Grass grew high around the houses, and the market
square is good grazing land. The roads, with the exception
of the main highway, are almost hidden with grass.
The Government office is a little building about, two feet
by eight- I t looked like a sieve, and was a picture of dirt
and disorder- The town has the same deserted and sorrowful
aspect which may be observed in most of the small country
towns of South Africa.
Money as a medium of exchange here is almost unknown,
since prosperity departed with the English at the close of
the war.
We visited Mr. Lane, a trader, who occupied one of the
few remaining houses which had defied the elements,
although as I wrote notes in my diary, a thin stream of
water made its- way through a weak spot in the bedroom
ceiling. I began to think that the waggon was not at all a
bad place for repose, as we could sleep on piles of blankets,
and the tent cover was perfectly watertight.
Excessively wet weather delayed us for some days. The
cattle, too, strayed into the field of a Boer to whom compensation
had to be granted for damages. There was ample
time, therefore, to talk over the situation on the frontier ; of
the freebooters ; and the question of the trade route to the
interior which was about to be raised between the British
Government and the Boer Republic.*
Mr. Lane told us some interesting stories of his recent
trading trip to Stella-land, and of the mob of freebooters,
some of whom had been displaying their humour in the
“ noble art.” He managed to do some trading, but the
returns would not be very satisfactory to a Manchester
merchant ; for the transactions had produced a kind of
currency that could not be readily carried in the pocket,
consisting of a few cattle, and, for small change, two or three
chairs with raw hide seats. Hard cash could not be seen.,
* Since that time the British Government has thought fit to spend
ahout a million sterling in this matter, a large portion of which has
gone into the pockets of the Boers.