The age-herald., 1900-02-28
THE SOUTH AFRICAN TREK OK
The Sort of Beast on Which Boers and Brit
 ish Rely For Transport

From the Pall Mall Gazette.
 At tfrs present moment, when the effi-
 ciency of our army in South Africa largely
 depends on the stability of it's transport, 1t
 may not be amiss to consider the capaIbili-
 ties of the trek, or transport, or, who, after
 all despite mules and traction engines, is
 the mainstay of South African transport.
 The imperial authorities in Cape Colony and
 Natal are now busily engaged in buying all
 the available OK transport they can, as is
 testified by their numerous advertisements
 in colonial papers.
 Oxen are less expensive than mules. They
 are slow but sure, never doing more than
 three miles hour, or twenty miles aNIay,
 which is considered a good trek. The Zulu
 OK is the best bred animal but small and
 unserviceable when compared with the bas-
 tard Zulu or Natal OK, which thrives
 both the "sour'' veldt, or coast grass, and
 the "sweet," or up-country, veldt. Oxen,
 however, require very careful handling, and
 must have at least six hours a day for
 grazing purposes. In the winter, which Is
 coming on now, they can find picking on
 the parched veadt where a mule or a horse
 would fahl They are naturally in poor
 condition till the green grass of the spring
 arrives in September. They are very liable to lung sickness and red water, and whole spans sometimes perish from these fell dis eases. In the winter time they suffer ter ribly from the cold, and on no account should be worked in the rain during that season, for among other things, the yoke, when wet, gives them sore necks, thus rem dering them useless.
 The ox's best>work is done at night time, o,,5 tre1xs arc the uSual thing with transport riders" after their teams have been grazing all day. They are never kept under the yoke for more than eight hours during the day, two stretches of four hours each From 4 to in the morning and from to 10 at night are the favorite hours for trekking.
 As to their haulage capacity, a ''span" or team of eighteen oxen will easily draw buck wagon (weighing a little over ton), loaded to 6.00O pounds, over the South African roads, many of which are little better than tracks across the veldt. Twenty miles day for a heavy baggage column in such a country as South Africa is really good going.
 One of the great merits of the OK wagon | is the simplicity of it's harness. The two beasts nearest the wagon draw from a pole 1 (disselboom), on which the yoke is fast | ened, and the couples in front are attached | to wire or hide rope, known as the trek | touw, to which the yokes are fastened by | riems, or thongs of hide. Amy breakage or l deficiency in such tackle can easily be made | good, as it Is free from the complexities | of a set of harness. Prudent transport 1 riders invariably "outspan'' their team at l the approach of a thunderstorm, if their l 'trek-touw' be of wire or chain, as whole spans have been destroyed by lightning | through heglecting this precaution. In the conveys to the troops not more than fifty wagons are dispatched at one time, and if the roads permit six and more are driven abreast. The second division usually starts in half an hour after the first. Nearly all the wagons i'm use in the present campaign are built locally, made of strong colonial woods, and constructed without springs. Only two men are re- | quired to manage each wagon-a driver and
 a 'voorlooper'' or leader of the team-both | of whom are nearly always trained Kaf- | frs.
 l At present large numbers of these wagons are being hired from colonists at the rate l of 93 and 94 per day, the imperial ecoy- | ernment making good any losses that may l occur in the span.