The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1896-03-25
AFRICA FRoM.AN OK WAGON.
A Woman Travellers Remarkable Jour
ney of / 200 Miles.

| 6dAlOul, OLA 1uA&Lbti ihUy Will d ufsoUO AOa
art and adventure, sailed from South
ampton, one of party of four bound for
Cape Town, and from there wherever
fancy or fate might point the way. The
plan in general was Laid out before leav-
ing England. which was to travel by OK
wagon during the wanderings of the
party, the final objective point, however.
being Pretoria. After three pleasant
weeks at SEA the members of the party
found themselves in Cape Town, where
they were met by an invitation from
Mr.. Cecil Rhodes to occupy his residence,
few miles away, during his absence on
business journey. During their several
weeks stay. while waiting for the wagon
Miss Balfour did good deal of sight
seeing and sketching. Of the country
about Cape Town shs says:
"The scenery wherever we have been is
| wonderfully fine. cannot imagine why
one has never heard Of the beauties of
this country. You have the sea, with d
very varying coast line-magnificent
ranges of serrated hills, glorious in color,
often running out into promontorles I:
and long stretches of fat land, covered
| flowers, from which the hills rise often
quite abruptly. My idea before I came
here was that the district, otherwise I'M
interesting, was made remarkable,
though not beautiful, by one flat-topped
hill. In reality, Table Mountain is but
an unusual incident among wealth OF
| splendid points and jagged edges"
| Not a great way from Rhodes's house
was what the author calls an 'saerial
tram" which consisted of cage hung on
a wire rope passing over high iron stand
ards, worked by steam engine at the
1 bottom of the mountain. On the lower
and less steep part of the mountain side
the standards were not very far apart
but on the precipitous upper part the
spans between them we're from l, 400 to
1, 500 feet, and the descent the steepest of
any aerial tram in the world. The verti-
cal descent amounts to 1890 feet.
Before their wagon train was ready the
party had opportunity to visit the Orange
| Free State, Basutoland, Johannesburg
and Kimberley by rail, beginning their
real journey by wagon at Mafeking, in
British Bechuanaland. The wagon was
constructed especially for the journey,
but it proved on trail to DO ram
shackle affair. The springs soon broke
and every jolt threw the inmates and
baggage from side to side and rendered
sleep or even rest impossible when the
vehicle was in motion. The author says
II have not yet learned to sleep when the
road, AS it was this morning, is like the
dry bed of river full Of boulders, and
everything jumps up and down in the
wagon, including the human occupants.
I lie ON my back with my knees up, and
support myself on my elbows and feetyt
lessen the jar. Mrs. Grey rolls and bounds
about, groaning when worse jolt comes
than usual, which. 1 am sorry to say, al
ways makes me go into hopeless laughter.
All our springs are more or less broken,
but l don't think 1t makes much Differ
ence. These wonderful wagons ara not
such paragons Of excellence us they
should have been. Our trek chains break
whenever good strain is put on them,
orr springs are broken and bent, the
strain is causing opening Of the boards
like in ship after Storm Ocoas-
lonally the wagon would get stuck-once
| for eight hours, and it took forty bullocks
to pull it out again.
The bullocks had never been Taught to
pull together, and one would lie down
and chew the oudwhile the others hauled
| The days programme rarely varied.
Says Miss Balfour: We trek at about :
in the morning till about Z. AS the road
is usually pretty jolly, and, therefore,
not conductive to slumDer, Mrs. Grey and
l sleep on for an other hour after we stop,
i. e., from to 8. During this time the
tent is put up, and some water got, il
possible, for our baths. Meanwhile the
men have gone out shooting. We have
breakfast together on the veldt about hall
past or 10. After that till about hall
past is free. l sometimes sketch, but
l usually want to walk as we'll; or ]
ought to be writing journal, or washing
clo5hes, or busting out the wagon, OF
skinning birds, or darning my stockings
Especially the last); aud the time avail
able is all too short At l we have cur
of COCOA and biscuit, and then pack Or
for another two hours trek, from 2 to 4.
One has to pack everything in most care
fully, as otherwise 1T would be either jolt
ed to pio1es or tossed out. Washstand,
campstools. ladder, books, 60, are ali
located in our wagon, and have to be
taken out and in at each trek"
! After five weeks of this sort of life the
party reached Buluwayo, the former capt
tai of Matabelland, and residence OF
King LobenguIa. DR.. Jameson, who has
lately played so important part in
South African affairs, lived here, and
gave hearty and hospitable welcome to
the travellers. Miss Balfour thus de.
scribes his house: ut has mud walls.
mud floor. matched roof with no ceiling,
doors made of two packing-case lids, and
an unglazed window with shutters OF
rough boards. Furniture A bedstead,
one box upside down, some wooden
shelves, small strip of mating, an
empty whiskey bottle doing duty as q
candlestick, and Ooh, luxury table.
DR.. .5ameson's room, occupied by Mrs
Grey, is much the same, only it has six
inch square looking glass as we'll; and fol
| the first time for five weeks she has been
able to look at her back hair.
In September the travellers reached
Zanzibar and made few days. stop al
the German headquarters, Oar es-Salaam
The town was founded only three years
ago, but has had phenomenal growth
Two things which impressed her were
the inordinate and universal habit OF
liquor drinking and the number of con
victs and criminals, sit was shock to
our English IDEAS" she says, "to SET
numbers of native women working on
the roads and bel ng driven to their work
by white man carrying large rawh1de
whip. 1 became daily more astonished
at the number, of conviots or prisoners.
Everywhere you came upon gangs O.
four to eight-often women-ohained to
gether by the necks and bounded alonf
by black policeman or soldier.
should think there were fewer prisoners
in all the Chartered Company 8 terri
tories than in this one little town." Mis-
Balfour closes the story of her journey
with this half humorous wall "Fiv,
| p.oufhc in the cOuptrv xryitbout sapiOt