New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-04-30
AFRICAN HORSES.

THEIR REMARKABLE STRENGTH ENDURANCE
AVN powrp OF GETTING OVER THE GROUND.
From African Life.
Ono Of the very first things that strike the
wanderer in the great expanses OF the southern
JIemisphere is the strength and endurance Oh lhe
horse. Though to look at they are the soiriest
scrags I ever set eyes on. yet they appear 10 os
possessed of a power OF getting over .ne s'ou
that is little short Of miraculous anu 50 ISL
ishing in it's persistence as to seem automa.i0.
A very striking instance came under MY Ho''.e
only few days after landing in cape ioWh ~
1862 was sitting Saturday afternoon on
he stoop of Parks Hotel. which occupleu '"e
corner Of Adderley and Strand SITS, wheh
dust covered horseman stopped and dismouhteu'
His horse was taken to the stables. ana III .he
course of conversation in the bar | learned that
he was a member of a legislative Assembly lor
an up-country district There was no railway
with the interior In 'hose uaSS'
and he had ridden in from his nome DIT o"lvs-
berg in less than six days. having starteu inc
previous Monday. .,
Now Colesberg is more than five hundred miles
from Cape Town and the country is very roush
going much of it being heavy sand ana other
parts very mountainous No English-bred horse
fed according TO English methods. could nave
accomplished such a ride as this more especially
when we consider the temperature or the cape
Colony. | went to look at the animal on WHICH -
the journey had been performed. ana iouhu 1t
TO he A little roam schimmel barely fourteen
hands and apparently as fresh as paint An
other very remarkable ride that came unuer my
notice was performed by BOer who lived rev
miles from Graytown. in Natal. His wife was
taken ILL., ard a particular medicine. not 10 De
obtained in GraytOwn was imperative. % III
the early hours of the night he started LOT
Maritzberg ffty-ive miles distant, through an
extremely billy country. and was back on ms
farm in sixteen hours. The remarkaple thlns
in this ride was that this Boer weighed over
seventeen stone.
In my own experience many instances or the
wonderful staying powers of African horses
have occurred. To mention one. in lSoo nao
been appointed honorable secretary for the HIST
athletic sports held in the Umbotl county OF
Natal They were to be held in Graytown on
boxing day which fell on Monday. All prep
aratiOns entries, etc, were concluded carry III
December, when | received an urgent request
to go to the Transvaal to look after frienu
who was lying very i'll in his wagon. with no
attendants but a couple of raw Kaffrs. rode
as hard as / could and found him among the
kepjes of the Drakensberg between Gutenberg
and Wakkersthoom, very bad with fever, whlcn
he had contracted somewhere in the low coun-
try to the northwest. | tended him for some
days until he was clearly out OF danger, and
then suddenly remembered that / had to be in
Graytown on Monday morning. | was then
sitting on the wagon-box drinking my morning
coffee at q o'clock Saturday morning. Graytown
was 30 miles away, but | was at my post there
at 10 a. m. and in addition took second prize
both in running and jumping competitions.