Nimrods who have visited South Africa that any trifling
experiences we may have had in this direction are
not worth the telling. My narrative is, therefore,
entirely confined to the ruins and the people ; on
other South African subjects I do not pretend to
speak with any authority whatsoever.
Three societies subscribed liberally to our expedition—
namely, the Eoyal Geographical Society,
the British Chartered Company of South Africa,
and the British Association for the Advancement of
Science—without which aid I could never have undertaken
a journey of such proportions; and to the
officers of the Chartered Company, with whom we
naturally came much in contact, I cannot tender
thanks commensurate with their kindness; to their
assistance, especially in the latter part of our journey,
when we had parted company with our waggons and
our comforts, we owe the fact that we were able to
penetrate into unexplored parts of the country without
let or hindrance, and without more discomforts
th an naturally arise from incidents of travel.
Serious doubts as to the advisability of a lady
undertaking such a journey were frequently brought
before us at the Cutset; fortified, however, by previous
experience in Persia, Asia Minor, and the Greek
Islands, we hardly gave these doubts more than a
passing thought, and the event proved that they were
wholly unnecessary. My wife was the only one of
our party who escaped fever, never having a day’s
illness during the whole year that we were away from
home. She was able to take a good many photographs
under circumstances of exceptional difficulty, and
instead of being, as was prophesied, a burden to the
expedition, she furthered its interests and contributed
to its ultimate success in more ways than one.
Mr. Eobert McNair Wilson Swan accompanied
us in the capacity of cartographer ; to him I owe not
only the maps and plans which illustrate this volume,
but also much kindly assistance in all times of
difficulty.
We three left England at the end of January 1891,
and returned to it again at the end of January 1892,
having accomplished a record rare in African travel,
and of which we are justly proud—namely, that no
root of bitterness sprang up amongst us.
We bought two waggons, thirty-six oxen, and
heaps of tinned provisions at Kimberley. These we
conveyed by train to "V ryberg, in Bechuanaland, which
place we left on March 6. An uninteresting and uneventful
j trek ’ of a week brought us to Mafeking,
where we had to wait some time, owing to a deluge
of rain, and from this point I propose to commence
the narrative of my observations.
Bechuanaland is about as big as Prance, and a
country which has been gradually earning under the
sphere of British influence since Sir Charles Warren’s
campaign, and which in a very few years must of
necessity be absorbed into the embryo empire which
Mr. Cecil Ehodes hopes to build up from the Lakes
to Cape Town. At present there are three degrees
of intensity of British influence in Bechuanaland
m proportion to the proximity to headquarters—