Jock of the Bushveld Part 30

He was stretched on his side--it might have been in sleep; but on the snow-white chest there was one red spot.

And inside the fowl-house lay the kaffir dog--dead.

Jock had done his duty.

The End.

CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT.

NOTES.

Snake stories are proverbially an 'uncommercial risk' for those who value a reputation for truthfulness. Hailstorms are scarcely less disastrous; hence these notes!

Mamba.--This is believed to be the largest and swiftest of the deadly snakes, and one of the most wantonly vicious. The late Dr Colenso (Bishop of Zululand) in his Zulu dictionary describes them as attaining a length of twelve feet, and capable of chasing a man on horseback. The writer has seen several of this length, and has heard of measurements up to fourteen feet (which, however, were not sufficiently verified); he has also often heard stories of men on horseback being chased by black mambas, but has never met the man himself, nor succeeded in eliciting the important facts as to pace and distance. However that may be, the movements of a mamba, even on open ground, are, as the writer has several times observed, so incredibly swift as to leave no other impression on the mind than that of having witnessed a magical disappearance. How often and how far they 'travel on their tails,'

whether it is a continuous movement or merely a momentary uprising to command a view, and what length or what proportion of the body is on the ground for support or propulsion, the writer has no means of knowing: during the Zulu war an Imperial officer was bitten by a mamba _while on horseback_ and died immediately.

Hailstorms.--Bad hailstorms occur every year in South Africa, but they do not last long (ten minutes is enough to destroy everything that stands). The distances are immense, and the area of disturbance is usually a narrow strip; hence, except when one strikes a town, very few people ever witness them. This summer hailstorms were more general and more severe in the Transvaal than for some time past. A bad storm baffles description. The size of the hailstones is only one of the factors--a strong wind enormously increases the destructiveness; yet some idea may be gathered from the size of the stones. The writer took a plaster cast of one picked up at Zuurfontein (near Johannesburg), in November 1906, which measured 4.5 inches long, 3.5 wide and 1.125 inches thick--a slab of white ice. In the Hekpoort Valley (near Johannesburg) and in Barberton, about the same date, the veld was like a glacier; the hail lay like snow, inches deep, and during the worst spells the general run of the hailstones varied in size from pigeons' eggs to hens' eggs; but the big ones, the crash of whose individual blows was distinctly heard through the general roar, are described as 'bigger than cricket b.a.l.l.s' and 'the size of breakfast cups,' generally with an elongation or tail--like a balloon. Sheep and buck were killed, and full-grown cattle so battered that some were useless and others died of the injuries; wooden doors were broken in, the panels being completely shattered; corrugated iron roofs were perforated, and in some cases the hailstones drove completely through them. The writer photographed a portion of a roof in Barberton which had suffered thus, and saw plaster casts--formed by pouring plaster of Paris into the indentations which two hailstones had made in a flower bed--in diameter equalling, respectively, tennis and cricket b.a.l.l.s.

Near Harrismith, O.R.C., in 1903, two herd boys with a troop of about a hundred goats and calves were caught by the hail. The boys and all the stock, except one old goat, were killed.

CHAPTER TWENTY NINE.

GLOSSARY.

NOTE.--_The spelling of Cape Dutch and native names is in many cases not to be determined by recognised authority. The p.r.o.nunciation cannot be quite accurately suggested through the medium of English. The figures of weights and measurements of animals are gathered from many sources, and refer only to first-cla.s.s specimens. The weights are necessarily approximate_.

AASVOGEL (d), a vulture (_literally_. carrion bird).

ANT-BEAR, AARDVARK (d) (_Orycteropus jifer_).

ANT-HEAP, mound made by termites or 'white ants.' Usually formed by one colony of ants; about two to four feet in base diameter and height, but often in certain localities very much larger. The writer photographed one this year near the scene of the Last Hunt, eighteen feet base diameter and ten feet high, and another in Rhodesia which formed a complete background for a travelling waggonette and six mules. In both cases these mounds were 'deserted cities,' and trees, probably fifty to one hundred years old, were growing out of them.

a.s.sEGAI (_p.r.o.nounced_ a.s.s-e-guy) (n), native spear.

BAAS (d), master.

BANSELA (_p.r.o.nounced_ baan-se-la) (n), a present.

BEKER (_p.r.o.nounced_ beaker) (d), a cup.

BILLY, a small tin utensil with lid and handle, used for boiling water.

BUCK-SAIL, tarpaulin used for covering transport waggons, which are known as buck-waggons.

BUFFALO, Cape buffalo (_Bos Caffer_). Height, 5 feet 6 inches; weight, possibly 1000 pounds; horns, 48 inches from tip to tip and 36 inches each in length on curve.

BULTONG, or Biltong (_p.r.o.nounced_ biltong) (n), meat cut in strips, slightly salted, and dried in the open air.

BUSH BUCK, a medium-sized but very courageous antelope (_Tragelaphus scriptus_). Height, 3 feet; weight, 130 pounds; horns (male only), 18 inches.

BUSH VELD, properly Bosch veld (d), bush country; also called Low Veld and Low Country.

CANE-RAT (_Thryonomys swinderenta.n.u.s_).

CETYWAYO (_see_ Ketshwayo).

CHAKA, properly Tshaka (n), the first of the great Zulu kings and founder of the Zulu military power.

Da.s.sIE (_p.r.o.nounced_ daas-ey) (d), rock-rabbit; coney (_Procavia (Hyrax) capensis_) (_literally_. little badger).

DINGAAN, properly Dingan (e) (n), the second of the great Zulu kings; brother, murderer, and successor of Chaka.

DISSELBOOM (d), the pole of a vehicle.

DONGA (n), a gully or dry watercourse with steep banks.

DOUGH-BOYS, scones; frequently unleavened dough baked in coals; also ash-cakes, roaster cookies, stick-in-the-gizzards, veld-bricks, etc.

DRIFT (d), a ford.

DUIKER (_p.r.o.nounced_ in English d.y.k.er, in Dutch dayker) (d), a small antelope found throughout Africa (_Cephalophus grimmi_). Gross weight, 30 to 40 pounds; height, 28 inches; horns, 5.5 inches. (_literally_ diver, so called from its habit of disappearing and re-appearing in low scrub in a succession of bounds when it first starts running).

GO'WAY BIRD, the grey plantain eater (_Schizorbis concolor_).

HARTEBEESTE (_p.r.o.nounced_ haar-te-beast) (d), a large antelope, of which there are several varieties, varying in gross weight from 300 to 500 pounds; height, 48 inches; horns, 24 inches.

HIGH VELD, properly Hoogeveld (d), high country; the plateau, about 5000 to 6000 feet above sea-level.

HONEY-BIRD, the honey guide (several species; family, _Indicatoriae_).

HONEY-SUCKER, sun bird (several species; family, _Nectariniidae_).

HORSE-SICKNESS, a lung affection prevalent during summer in low-lying parts; generally fatal; caused by microbes introduced in the blood by some insect.

IMPALA (n), an antelope (_Aepyceros melampus_); habitat, Bushveld; weight, 140 pounds; horns, up to 20 inches, straight.

IMPI (_p.r.o.nounced_ impey) (n), an army or body of armed natives gathered for or engaged in war.