The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-10-07
lost IN AFRICAN BUSH.
Desert In which Hunters OF Rig Game
Sometimes Co Astray.

Desert I'm which hunters OF HiS Game
Sometimes Co Astray.
Among difficulties OF travel W found
that our boys had not the slightest idea Of
distance, either in miles or hours. At times
1t was extremely irritating, but there was
no help for It. A native can only calculate
by the sun. He will point to the sky and
say: when the sun Is there We shall get
to water And II one Is travelling con.
~tinuously he Is generally right. But an
outspan at once upsets the calculation.
How often did we ask 'Metsi Q kae1' Where
Is the water7) and receive the invariable
answer: Not 90 very far or Very far
the only two modes Of expressing distances
known to him.
In this way we ~journeyed on slowly
through the sultry and dusty country,
says a writer in Bldckbood's Md0dyne.
describing a trek in tho Kalahari, spending
the mornings and evenings shooting in
the bush. 1t was a land OF few attractions,
and yet in the cool light OF the morning,
or when It's barren BROWNIES was hidden
by the warm glow Of the setting sun, it
was almost beautiful. Bird life was plenti-
full, and we always enjoyed the luxury OF
fresh pheasant and partridge luxury 10
which johannesburg, under the tyranny
Of cold storage, is a stranger. Fart
ridges, namAquas and shrimpies IA little
partridge great delicacy), redheaded
pheasants, ~korhaan, guinea fowl, were 70
be found everywhere, and sometimes we
saw q paauw. Steinbuck and duiker Cphu-
duhudu in Bechuana) were plentiful too,
but we saw no larger game.
For days we travelled on through the
wach-een-beetje thorn bush. Curiously
enough. thisb bush, which spreads unbroken
over so vast a portion of South Africa,
seems to the traveller to be always subtly
changing in character. Now it is 80 thick
that one can see only a few yards; now 1t
breaks into a park Ii Q country; then again
the bushes are for a mile or two only a few
feet high, and a little further on the timber
Is Of quite a decent size. And yet TO travel
on through it for days is monotonously
dreary. and its ugliness and unattractive-
ness rake il after a time appear almost as
q personal enemy.
And after all this feeling il not so far
wrong, for surely this il the land where
life has death for neighbor--a neighbor
ready to greet any one who may wander
alone into his domain. II a mar il mex
perienced and unless he possesses n Singh
larly good bump OF locality it lie about ten
~ OAAO kAA1N M 10 Ill HOuA DC II
lost. 1t IL impossible to imagine how easy
it is to lose ones bearings, and | never
ceased to marvel at the instinct which led
the natives to go back straigh TO the camp,
But not every native has this instinct.
To be Of any use he must have been hon
and bred in the bush. The natives OF the
mountains in the Zoutpansberg district
are worse than useless In the bush ~ the
low country, and the Basuto police some
times lose themselves in the Kalahar1.
Not long z a Basuto was lost pursuing
a wounded wildebeest, and was found A
few days afterw ard with his head gnawed
ON by the iackals.
i can imagine no more awful fate than
to be lost in the bush. In the open country,
on the great plains, and under Gods clear
sky, hope and resolution would be loath
to desert one. But here -leaden eyed de-,
Bpair" would quickly come. A man would
have to be Of stubborn stuff indeed who
would not be bowed down by the awful
sense OF impenetrableness and hopeless
ness with which this country fills the mind
To n bonn and bred in an open lana
II IL the feeling Of the neverendingness
Of the bush that appalls, the feeling, TOO
that mans wits are here OF no avail. ina
water may be within a few yards perhag-
the only water for many milcs-and yer
there be no mark to guide one TO II. IN"
waterlessnees, the lonely silence NJ the
country, the stunted. gnarled b~ranche,
Of the eternal thorn bush. always oppressed
my imagination with the same though.
curse had suddenly descended, turning =
perhaps FROM a land growing and full NJ
promise into this hopeless and useless
waafR