incident worth recording except that one day we passed
some deserted huts, to which a very pathetic story was
attached. They had been built by a Dutch family, every
member of which was sick the whole time they were
there. The first huts they had built were burned; then the
father died, then one of the children, and then another,
who was shot by accident by his brother. We hear a
good deal of the successful pioneer, but not much of
the failures, of which this was a very typical case.
On the 16th October we reached the camp of Mr.
Spreckley, Mining Commissioner, who has of late distinguished
himself in the wars with the Matabele, as
everybody knows. Thence we went next day to see the
celebrated caves of Sino'ia, the finest and most extraordinary
sight I saw in this part of the world. The
caves are at the foot of a hill about seven miles west
of Sinoia’s kraal. From the top you first perceive a
deep hole about 400 feet by 250, cut in the rock, the
bottom of which it is impossible to see. Two passages
lead down this pit. The easier of them is a long, steep
tunnel which leads down to the water at the bottom.
Here is a large pool surrounded by huge precipitous
walls of rock some 300 feet high. The water is extraordinarily
limpid, and its colour is a deep, rich blue. The
descent by the other passage is even more striking. You
find in the middle of a native kraal a deep gully, at the
bottom of which is a small tunnel almost perpendicular:
a shaft would be a better name for it. Entering the
tunnel, we were plunged in complete darkness and had
to light lanterns. In our ears was a loud buzzing sound,
not unlike the noise made by a fire kindled in a strong
wind. As we descended we found numerous recesses
filled up with pillars of bark covered with mud, which
are used by the natives to store grain in case of attack.
Then the tunnel suddenly turned to the right, and
passing over a huge flat rock, we found the explanation
of the noise we had heard. Myriads of bats were
214
flying about in the darkness. .They hit us on the face
and all over the body every second. To give an idea
of the enormous numbers of them, I may say that by
merely taking a stick and waving it about I knocked
down dozens. We passed through two chambers covered
THE CAVE OF SINOlA.
with a thick layer of guano, the roof and walls alive
with bats, which made such a tremendous whirr that
it was impossible to hear oneself speak. Descending
the tunnel further we came at last to an opening, whence
from a small platform of rock we looked straight down
into the water. It is of a most wonderful blue colour,
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