Union gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1899-1900, 1900-04-20
AFRICAN HORSES ARE HARDY.

! Possess Remarkable Endurance and
Power to Travel.
| One of the very first things that strike
the wanderer in the great expanses of
the southern hemisphere is the strength
and endurance of the horse. Though
to look at they are the sorriest scrags
/ ever set eyes on, yet they appear to
be possessed Of a power of getting over
the ground that is little short of mir
aculous and so astonishing in its per-
sistence as to seem automatic. A very
striking instance came under my no.
tice only few days after landing in
Cape Town in 1868. l was sitting one
Saturday afternoon on the stoop OF
Parks Hotel, which occupied the corr
ner Of Adderley and Strand Streets,
when a dust-covered horseman stopped
and dismounted. His horse was taken
to the stables and in the course of con-
versation in the bar I learned that he
was member of legislative assembly
for an up-country district. There was
no railway communication with the in
terror In those days and he had ridden
In from his home at Colesberg in less
than six days. having started the pre-
vious Monday.
Now Colesberg Is more than 500 miles
from Cape Town and the country is
very rough going. much of it being sand
and other parts very mountainous. No
English-bred horse, fed according to
English methods, could have accom-
plished such ride as this, more espe-
cially when we consider the tempera-
ture of the Cape Colony. went to
look at the animal on which the journey
had been performed and found 1t to be
a little roam schimmel barely fourteen
hands and apparently as fresh as paint.
Another very remarkable ride that
came under my notice We performed
by Boer who lived a few miles from
Graytown, In Natal. His wife was
taken i'll and particular medicine, not
to be obtained in Graytown, was i'm
perative. So in the early hours of the
night he started for Maritzburg. fifty
five miles distant, through an extreme
ly hilly country and was back on his
farm in sixteen hours. The remark
able thing In this ride was that this
Boer weighed over seventeen stone.
In my own experience many instances
Of the wonderful staying powers of AZ
rican horses have occurred. To men,
ton one, in 1866, had been appointed
honorable secretary of the first athletic
sports held In the Umboti country Of
Natal. They were to be held in Gray
town on boxing day, which fell on
Monday. All preparations. ETC., were
concluded early in December, when I
received an urgent request to go to the
Transvaal to look after friend who
was lying very i'll in his wagon with
no attendants but couple of raw kaf-
frs. rode as hard as could and
found him among the kopjes of the
Drakensberg. between Lydenberg and
Wakkerstrom, very bad with fever.
which he had contracted somewhere In
the low country to the northwest. l
tended him for some days until he was
clearly out Of danger and then suddenly
remembered that l had to be in Gray
town on Monday morning. was then
sitting on the wagon box drinking my
morning coffee at 6 o'clock Saturday
morning. Graytown was 220 miles
away, but was at my post there at
10 a. m. and in addition took q second
prize both in running and jumping COM
petitions. AFRICAN Life. 3