The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1900-01-03

"G1 though L had been q resi-
WIN dent of South Africa for
wiz several years, my duties as
s~ mining engineer in the en-
ploy of the DeBeers Min
ing Company had taken up all my
time, with the exception of few
"of" days spent in the veldt country
of the Transvaal hunting African
gazelle and their much larger cousins,
oryx. While had managed on ono
occasion to bring down two of the
former diminutive creatures (but little
larger than an American jack -rabbit),
] was never able to get within rifle
shot of the wary oryx.
For a number of years n feeling Of
discomfort had heen manifest among
the foreign or "Uitlander" population
of the Dutch republic, caused by the
passage of obnoxious alien laws by
the Beers. This feeling finally re-
suited in half-hearted instruction,
during which DIR. jameson, of the
British army, made his since famous
raid into the Transvaal, which re-
suited in the death of some fifty Beers
and twice that number of English
soldiers. Although had always had
much sympathy for the original set
tiers of the Transvaal, my surround
ings at the timo were such that was
forced to take part in the uprising,
and as result was incarcerated in
the grim, one-story prison at Johan-
nesburg for several days. When,
through the influence of friends, L
was liberated, / at first thought of
returning to the United States, but as
mining engineers were then scarce in
South Africa, the company at last in
duced me to remain, agreeing to send
me out Of the Transvaal at once upon
prospecting tour into the wilds of
Central Africa.
Making up caravan of "kafila." as
II is called there, for the purpose of
penetrating the wilderness, is by no
means q small undertaking. First
and foremost in Importance is the
selection of competent and faithful
guides and attendants. managed
to get together party of twenty,
composed of two white men myself
and an Englishman by the name of
Wilson, who was to take direct charge
OF The kafila), twelve Matabeles, five
Kaffirs, and an old Zulu, by name
Gan Liba (which 1 soon shortened
into GAM, who was said 10 be ro-
markably expert in hunting large
game. He was striking fellow,
several inches above six feet in
height, straight as an arrow, his
chest, back and limbs covered with
punches of muscles as hard as bono.
He was leopard-hunter by "profes-
sion," and for many years had made
business of Kidding the country of
these troublesome pests.
We left johannesburg in the latter
part of April, with instruction to pro-
ceed by rail to Port Lorenzo, where
o small coasting steamer had been
chartered to take us to the mouth of
the Zambesi Rivei, Mozambique. We
were to follow this stream inland for
about three hundred miles, then move
north to Lake Bangweolo, latitude ten
degrees ten minutes south, thence
along the eastern border of the Congo
Free State ten degrees, and then east
to the coast, striking some Of the many
small trading.posts between Cape
Delgado and Zanzibar, whence we
could embark for homo. In addition
to our arms, we had six camels, TWEEN.
ty donkeys, and twenty-six ponies,
also one thousand five hundred pounds
OF "gee," one thousand five hundred
pounds of rice, large assortment o!
cooking-pots, water-casks, and con
densers, and several hundred small
trinkets for presents. In due time we
were aboard the steamer, and after q
very rough journey of nearly weeks
duration, were landed "bag and bag
gage" upon the barren shores OF Mo
zambique, mile north of the Zam
best.
This is indeed a most desolate
country; the Zambesi and its hats---i
broad ribbon OF silver aud green. Dor
dered here and there by black cliffs
split the desert from east to west. IL
the north and east as far rs the eye
can reach stretches a waste OF mesa.
land; sand, cactus, sand, black rock,
and more sand--sand that dazzles tn,
eye like snow, with here and there 1
cluster OF palms aud jungle grass,
which indicate where periodical
springs rise ont Of the blistering eartl
to greet Mother Zambesi. To the eas
IL the ceaseless wash of the quiet sea
with its short reefs of gray coral, shin
ing white in the eternal sunshine, Hnt
over all dreary, deathlike stiffness
broken only when the deadly sinloo'
sweeps the sand in whirling Glow
from the north, burying all
Looking westward over II
! waste Of desert, one could hstoI
| lieve that but . few hundred T.