The Emmett index. [volume] (Emmett, Idaho) 1893-1925, 1900-06-29
AFRICAN HORSES ARE HARDY
Possess Remarkable Endurance and
Power to Travel.


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
l ever set eyes on, yet they appear to
be possessed Of 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 1863. | was sitting one
Saturday afternoon on the stOop OF
Parks Hotel, which occupied the cor
ner of Adderley and Strand streets,
when dust-covered horseman stopped
and dismounted. His horse was taken
to the stables and in the course Of con-
versation in the bar | learned that he
was a member of a 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
Englsh-bred horse, fed according to
English methods, could have accom-
: plished such a ride as this, more espe-
clally when we consider the tempera-
ture Of the Cape Colony. l went to
look at the animal on which the journey
had been performed and found it to be
a little roam schimme barely fourteen
hands and apparently as fresh rs paint.
Another very remarkable ride that
came under my notice was performed
by a 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
e five miles distant through an extreme
ly billy country and was back on his
e farm in sixteen hours. The remark
able thing in this ride was that this
i, Boer weighed over seventeen stone.
In my own experience many instances
er of the wonderful staying powers of AZ
er rlcan horses have occurred. To men,
tion one. in 1866, had been appointed
Id honorable secretary of the first athletic
tn sports held in the UmbOti country of
e. Natal They were to be held in Gray
town on boxing day, which fell on q
Ill Monday. All preparations, etc, were
rk concluded early in December, when
received an urgent request to go to the
20 Transvaal to look after friend who
l was lying very i'll in his wagon viii
nd no attendants but a couple of raw KAT
W. frs. l rode as hard as I could an(
ne found him among the kopjes of tn,
M Drakensberg. between Gutenberg ant
Wakkerstrom, very bad with fever
m which he had contracted somewhere il
w the low country to the northwest.
mr. tended him for some days until he wa
clearly out of danger and then student
10 remembered that had to be in Gray
10 town OH Monday morning. l was the
r. string ON the wagon box drinking m
morning coffee at 6 o'clock Saturda
80 morning. Graytown was 30 mile
~ away. but was at my post there d
ley 10 a. m. and in addition took secon
IL nrize both in running and jumping 'on
petitions.-African Life.