719 



Reminiscences of a Trelr Ok, 



By Vetpensb. 



ONCE, but it was a long time ago, and 

 seems much longer, I was what is 

 called a ripping little three-year-old ; life 

 had its charms then. I used to gambol 

 about the veld, and fight with my 

 brothers and cousins, much to the de- 

 light of our little herd-boy, Mcityo, who — 

 although I hated him, because he used to 

 have a nasty knack of laying his stick 

 about my back if 1 had a pull at the milk 

 bucket when he wasn't looking, or did 

 not go straight into the kraal just when 

 he wanted me to — always backed me. I 

 suppose it was because I generally came 

 off best. 



My home was situated in a lovely little 

 spot' called Mid-Ilovu, about 40 miles 

 from D'Urban, and most other places— as 

 I thought subsequently, "far from the 

 madding crowd " of staff officers, con- 

 ductors, and Tommies. 1 used to go and 

 look over the fences where my uncles and 

 others were hard at it ploughing, and jeer 

 at them, and ask them how they could be 

 such " silly cuckoos " as to wander back- 

 wards and forwards, up and down a long 

 furrow without even a jiat 'ntamho 

 (leader), it was such a joke. "Joke " did 

 I say ? That is a word I detest, and very 

 seldom use, a word that is used by a 

 driver when he is inppanning an ox, a 

 corruption of yoke ; and when he says 

 "joke," it is either 'joke" or no joke, 

 the penalty for not putting one's head 

 down in a humiliating manner, while he 

 bashes the yoke down on your neck, 

 being a violent kick in the ribs with 

 his 4-7 boot, or a smack on the nose with 

 a yokeskey, which is a piece of wood 

 about fifteen inches long, two of them 

 (these yokeskeys) going through each 

 end of the yoke to keep it from slipping 

 about on the oxen's necks, and are fas- 

 tened underneath the throat with pieces 

 of ox-hide, called neckstraps. (These 

 explanations lor imported Devons.) The 

 yokeskey is generally made from the 

 hardest wood obtainable, so you can 

 fancy a blow on the nose with one of 

 these makes one see fireflies innumerable, 



and, to add insult to injury, the blow i3 

 generally accompanied by the most in- 

 sulting language imaginable, not referring 

 to the recipient only, but to his ancestors. 



I was an AI jumper, one of the best 

 over the wires. A three-strand barbed 

 wire fence I have cleared with a standing 

 jump, and consequently I was always 

 getting into the mealies and sweet pota- 

 toes, not to say anything of winter 

 forage, &c., &c. ; but during rinderpest — 

 which I survived, with several others, 

 thanks to good serum and tender nursing 

 by Masenga — Government fences were 

 run up all over the place, and very nasty 

 looking entanglements they are, which I 

 know to my cost, having tried to clear 

 one once, and having been hopelessly 

 hung up on that occasion. I don't like 

 Government fences. 



At the age of four my troubles began. 

 One day I was driven up to the cattle 

 kraal with several other oxen, wondering 

 to myself, "Why this honour?" Of 

 course I had seen other individuals driven 

 up in the same way, but you know what 

 it is, I never realised that it would 

 actually come to my turn one day. How- 

 ever fata diet aderat, and I soon saw 

 what was on. Breaking in ! There 

 was the usual tree to drag along, th^re 

 was the double riem for poor little me ; 

 and, worst of all, there was that terrible 

 whip with a new piece of vorslag 

 (brayed lash) on it. I dodged the riem 

 two or three times, which the driver, old 

 Msindo, was trying to pass over my 

 horns, while that little brute Mcityo was 

 laying on behind with his pet nqnai (a 

 hard colonial woodi stick, to keep me 

 from backing out of the line of oxen 

 which were drawn up for inspanning. 

 At last the double riem was on — such a 

 horrid feeling — and I was paired off with 

 old Entusi (a steady, plodding old 

 " stick," who never thought of doing 

 anything more vicious than attempting 

 a tame cow-kick occasionally) as my 

 companion in adversity. However, when 

 it came to " joke," I thought it was 



