58 



NATURE 



[May 19, I ; 



B/^. HOLUB'S AFRICAN TRAVELS^ 

 II. 



DR. HOLUB'S third and longest expedition was com- 

 menced in March, 1875, and with an account of it 

 the second volume opens. He now proposed to explore 

 Southern Central -•Africa, and having acquired a great 

 deal of experience during his two previous journeys, was 

 justly in great hopes of success. The route this time 

 selected was first to the Molapo River. As usual great 

 herds of game were from time to time met with, wherever 

 the bush cover was good ; then on to his old quarters at 

 Shoshong, where a few days for rest were spent ; from 

 Shoshong he journeyed to the great salt-lakes. Elands 

 were now met with, and furnished many a hearty meal. 

 The first salt lake was met on the morning of April the 

 iSth. Away to the west it extended as far as the eye 

 could see, and it took two hours to travel the length 

 of its eastern coast. There was a uniform depth of 

 barely two feet, and it presented a light grey surface 

 edged with stiff arrow-grass and surrounded by dense 

 bush-forest, whilst around about it, in the very thickest of 

 the grass, w'ere considerable numbers of miniature salt- 

 pans ; indeed every depression in the soil contained salt. 

 The evaporation appeared to be most rapid. This salt- 

 lake was called Tsitane, the same name being also given 

 to the adjoining river. Here the first Baobab tree was 

 seen ; it was a fine specimen, some twenty-five feet in 

 height and nearly fifty-two feet in circumference. Another 

 larger and deeper lake was called by the natives Karri- 

 karri. Here baobabs abounded. The third of the great 

 salt-lakes, called Soa, is the largest ; it extends westward 

 beyond Lake N'gami ; it is also very shallow, being 

 only four feet in depth. Travelling on to the banks of the 

 Nata and to Tamasetze with the object of getting to the 

 Zambesi before the middle of the month, he encountered 

 one of Mr. Anderson's servants called Saul. He was out 

 on an ostrich hunt, and though an uncommonly bad shot, 

 managed in the following manner to get more than his fair 

 share of birds and eggs : — " I always," he told Dr. Holub, 

 '' take a man with me, and we look about till we discover 

 a nest, and then we dig a hole pretty close to it in which 

 we hide. The birds come to sit, and it doesn't want a 

 very good shot to knock over an ostrich when it is just at 

 hand. Well, having made sure of one bird, we stick up 

 its skin on a pole near the nest, and except we are seen, 

 and so scare the birds away, a second ostrich is soon 

 decoyed, and I get another chance." Such "hunting" 

 as this is very likely to destroy the flocks of ostriches in 

 the country around the Klamaklenyana Springs. The 

 country of the iSIadenassanas was now entered. These 

 people would seem to be serfs to the Bamangwatos. They 

 are a fierce race, tall, and strongly built, the men generally 

 with repulsive countenances, though occasionally some of 

 the women were even nice looking. Their skin is almost 

 black, and their stiff woolly hair hangs down for more than 

 an inch over their temples, while it is either quite short or is 

 kept quite short over the rest of the skull. Many elephant- 

 hunting patties were met with. One trader had in his two 

 waggons not less than 7000 lbs. of ivory, procured mostly in 

 the district between the \'ictoria Falls and the mouth of the 

 Chobe. A very short dcloui off tlie beaten waggon-track 

 revealed herds of buffaloes, striped gnus, Zulu hartebeests, 

 and zebras, or showed evident tracks of these and lions. 

 Great trees with trunks of sixty feet in height were also 

 met with, and a great many orchids with red blossoms. 

 What a pity that Ur. Holub did not bring home some of 

 these ! Parsing over an account of a rather exciting lion- 

 hunt, in which both lion and lioness got decidedly the 

 better of it, the Jamasetze wood was left on July 20. 



' "Seven Years in South Africa. TraveU, Researches, and Hunting 

 Adventures betiveen the Diamond Fields and the Zambesi." By Dr. Emi! 

 Holub (translated by Ellen E. Freuer). With about 2co original illustra- 

 tions and a map. In two volumes. (London: Samps n Low, Marston. 

 Searle, and Riv.nston, 1881.) Continued from p. 38. 



The author was much struck by the peculiar way in which 

 some of the leguminous trees shed their seeds, the heat 

 of the sun causing the pods to burst with a loud e.xplosion 

 and to cast the seeds to a considerable distance all about. 

 The air near this wood was full of myriads of tiny bees 

 that crept into one's clothes, hair, and ears, making even 

 one's nose tingle with great discomfort. About .August the 

 loth the wa.ershed of the Zambesi district was reached, 

 and. gazing down into the valleys of the Chobe and the 

 Zambesi, the author saw the realisation of some of the 

 dreams of his youth. At Impalera, the Lower Chobe and 

 the Zambesi rivers were calculated to have a depth of 

 between thirty and forty feet, but the reaches and the 

 rapids make all navigation impracticable. 



Having obtained permission from the king, the Marutze 

 kingdom was visited. Hippopotami and crocodiles were 

 found abundant in the rivers, but all such creatures had 

 to be for the moment overlooked because King Sepopo 

 was waiting to receive the white man. At the banquet 

 fish of many sorts seems to have been the principal food ; 



!• ^ 4 —Ladle and Cal bi hes 



but at a supper also given, boiled eland flesh was served 

 with a sauce made of meal, and the drink was impote 

 (honey beer). The king demanded no present, though, 

 such being usual, Holub presented him with a Snider 

 breech-loader and 200 cartridges. A good deal of inter- 

 esting details are given about the kingdom of i\Iarutze, 

 which now extends along both sides of the Zambesi, from 

 Sekhose, to about 150 miles south of the confluence of the 

 Kabompo and the Liba. It is a most productive portion 

 of Africa, as well adapted for agriculture as for cattle 

 breeding, abounds in game, and seems prolific in vege- 

 table products, of which indiarubber is not the least 

 important. 



Not at once getting the king's permission to pursue his 

 journey to the source of the Zambesi, Dr. Holub returns 

 to Panda Ma Tenka, and then accompanied his friends 

 Westbeech and Francis on a visit to the Victoria Falls, 

 which were about fifty miles off, which are declared to be, 

 so far as the author's experience goes, the most imposing 



