Fairhaven herald. [volume] (Fairhaven, Wash.) 1890-????, 1890-06-10
ACROSS THE KARROO.

oretty villages of Paarl and Ceres, with
he VINEYARDS and maize fields, and had
now reached the edge of the desert known
as the Karroo The site Is marked on
he map of South Africa as beginning
beyond the range of the great Zwarte
Black mountains)
The entrance to the Karroo is through
small gorge about quarter of mile
long and twenty yards wide, with abrupt
walls of stone on either side, which seems
to indicate that at some former period
stream of water had passed out through
this gorge from lake whose bed is now
an arid desert. The distance across the
desert to the point we wished to reach
was 100 miles, which we wished to &C.
complsh in three days. 1t was neces-
sary to be careful Of our horses, know
ing there was no water on the journey
for them. We hoped to do forty miles
the first day, and thirty miles each day
of the two following. We entered the
Karroo Poort (Karroo Gate) at sunrise,
and set out on our hazardous journey.
should state that we had stopped over
night at a last farmhouse near the Poort,
to give our horses rest and good feed,
and to supply ourselves with forage for
them and water for ourselves, filling
every available vessel with the precious
fluid. Our conveyance was light
though strongly built cape cart, on oc-
casion covered with a canvas hood to
protect us from the suns rays, and there
were four of u.s. No one can set out
upon desert journey without mingled
emotions of hope and fear, there are so
many contingencies lying along those
weary roads, and roads rendered more
desolate by the bleaching bones of dead
anmals-for often the willing beasts.
the horses and oxen. fall with fatigue,
and see with dying gaze the keen eyed
vultures swooping from afar.
As we entered the desert it spread be-
fore us on every side like a boundless
brown sea. silent. solitary and vast. As
the sun rose into the sky the warmth be-
came intense and when by midday we
halted we could see the heat rising from
the scorched plains in the wayy columns
like golden flames. There is no greater
alleviator of thirst than cold tea. and no
SAFER SllmulslnI nm "a tOrIl0 ltu0. While
the horses were being embarrassed and
fed Meadows and prepared our midday
meal In three hours we broke nm cann.
and went ON again until the dav was
nearly done-a day that had passed fairly
well.
There was neither tree nor mountain
in sight; nothing to break the level mo-
notony that stretched as far as the eve
could see. We encamped for the night
in the midst of this swelling loneliness.
and then perhaps for the first time began
TO feel its power. We spent the last hour
before shutdown in cutting and gathering
a ouantity of brushwood (Karroo shrub
the only thing that grows upon these
nlainsl IN feed n necessary fire To nrotect
ms from the wolves and iackals which
scour the desert i'm packs.
After simmer we mt away our tin
dishes renlanisbed our big fire xranned
ourselves in our ruys and Law down with
o,,r u,eanons Inv our s;des and our Foe, 20
the fire.
Adolph and wilhelm Moritz, happy
Dutcbmen. were soon asleep;- Meadows
and | Law chatting for some time, then
relapsed into auietness, the deep and
strange silence that surrounded us bro
ken only by the stir of the horses tied to
the waconpole. The singular sensation
of living in this noiseless desert drove
sleep from my eyes, and Law awake
long time after George Meadows had
fallen asleep. Suddenly there came into
the dead silence a long, sharp, piercing
cry. answered by another in the opposite
direction. equally distant; these were
the cries of iackals.
Then came the bark of a wolf, answered
bv a chorus. and Meadows suddenly rose
into a sitting position. 1.-THE brutes are
comino,, he exclaimed. Instantly hun.
Ill ,Lroo,s soo,,,od m no having into