The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-07-05
TRAVELLING IN AFRICA
AN INDIANAPOLIS BoY's EXPERT
ENCE IN THE DARK CONTINENT.
Notes of n Journey from Johannes
burg to BuInwayo, in MntabeIeIand
"A Country of Great Beauty.

About a year ago Mr.. Henry Rentsch, ca
this city, son of Mr.. Robert Rentsch, com-
cuded to seek his fortune in Africa. Sail
ing from New York he landed at Cape
Town and proceeded at once 10 Johannes
burg, in the Transvaal Republic. where he
obtained employment and remained several
months. From there he went further into
the interior of Africa A recent letter,
dated Bulawayo, AIatabeleland, describes
some features of the journey from Jo-
hannesburg to that point. He says:
Now for a very faint idea of what I saw
and what the country is like on the road
up here: First, want to tell you about
the wagons we travel on. They are very
them. They each carry about nine thou
sand pounds of goods and are drawn by six
teen eighteen oxen. The travelling is
done at night, making what they call here
two tricks. They hitch up at about o'clock
in the evening and go until 3; then they
let the oxen rest until o'clock a. m, and
go on until sunrise, when they stop until
the next evening. They make about sixteen
miles a day. The first day out from Jo-
hannesburg we got as far as Krugersdorp.
The road lies along what is known as the
Rand. We passed one gold mine after an
other. A few miles further on we reached
Dornkoop. This is where DR.. jameson had
his battle with the Beers and was disas-
trously defeated. From here on TO Mafe-
king, a distance of over one hundred miles,
we take the road he took with his Inflated
expedition. Now we leave civilization be-
hind and go through one of the most beau
tiful countries one could imagine. 1t is
rolling country, and you never see as much
as a bush, only one vast eXpanse of grass,
and every few miles a fine spring of water.
There is no doubt that II this country Were
in any ones hands but the Beers it would
have been settled long ago. On the twelfth
day we arrived at Mafeking, which is IN
Bechuanaland, eight miles across the
Transvaal border. 1t is from here the
Chartered Company is pushing the railroad
the end of this year. Leaving Mafeklng we
travel along the railroad route, and after
two days we get into hhama's country.
Kahma is a Kaffir king, who still rules
his own country and people as he chooses.
At this point commences the so-called
bush country. There are no trees, only
very thick and is nearly impenetraDle.
About two weeks further on we come TO
Palapsive. This is Khama's capital, where
he holds his indabas (councils) with ms
indunas (subchiefs.) After leaving there we
soon got into Matabeleland. This vas the
great Kafir King Lobengula 3 country.
taken from him a couple of years ago by
the Chartered Company. Only tour years
ago a white man could not enter the coun-
try; now see where we are! These Mata-
belle are fine race or men, all very large.
From here on we had sport There are
lions here, but we did not see any, though
we saw nearly every other wild animal,
and shot lots Of deer, blau wilder beast and
kn-dus. the latter two being as large as
good-sized OK. One day we We're out ana
ShOt q couple OF DdDOOHS, DuL VIC uio AAOe
get them as hundreds of them came out
Of the hills and chartered at US in such
way that we ran before they did something
worse than talk to US. This country is so
beautiful that words cannot possibly de-
scribe it, and no one can ever know unless
he sees nature just as it is here. It is
studded with what are called kopies, hlgh
hills composed of solid rock of the most
picturesque shapes. In fact, picturesque is
no name for the scenery "A few days more
and we will reach Buluwayo. This is a
place which will have a great future, and
they expect a large influx of population
when the railroad reaches here. The sur
rounding country is supposed to be very
rich in gold, as well as other minerals but
it has not been developed as yet, as there
is no way of getting heavy machinery up
here This is only about 375 miles from the
Zambesi river, or the district where STAN
lev found Livingstone. He said he had
found the garden spot Of the world, ana L
believe it. The climate is fine and the same
nearly the year round, warm in the day
and cool at night. The only bad thing is
the continual rain in the summer, but one
gets used to that. We were forty-five days
on the road from johannesburg here. There
were three of us in the party, and we were
sorry when we arrived at the end of our
Journey"