Chapter 19.
The Kalahari Desert

It was not long before I started out on another journey. This time I was going to the Kalahari Desert. Elder Tripp was anxious to learn about the natives who lived west of the mission. I wanted to learn more of the salt pans where the natives collected large quantities of salt that they brought past the mission. The London Missionary Society told me that I would find one of their stations about twenty miles south of Lake Ngami. That was the only work being done for the thousands of natives out west of our mission at that time.

Elder Tripp approved of my plan and soon I started preparing for my trip. I sent the carriers on ahead and told them to meet me at the Nata River. I started a day later with five boys. The party numbered sixteen in all. After I had walked about fifty miles, my boots began hurting my toes. The reason was that the paths were so shaped that they turned the sides of my boots up. When it rains, these native paths become little streams and wear away the center and they are very hard on boots and shoes. I decided to walk bare foot for a long distance until I got into a lot of thorns that grow on runners. I had to resort to my boots again. These thorns are a plague to the poor sheep and goats for they get into their hoofs and cause a fester and bring a disease to the feet. These animals suffer a great deal from these thorns. The little native boys help the sheep and goats when they see them limping by catching the animals and removing the thorns. For several days on this trip we enjoyed watermelons. The native watermelon is very sweet, but quite white inside. They do not have the deep red inside that I had been used to at the Cape. We were able to get hold of a lot of peanuts until we reached the Mapani forest. This was a wide stretch without water. I think where I crossed this forest, it was fifty miles wide. There was no water for this whole distance. When we got to the other side of the forest, we reached the border of the desert where we found some Bushmen pits and made our camp there. We expected to meet the rest of the carriers there, but found no sign of them. We waited three days. We were coming to the end of our food supply. On the fourth day, I sent two boys in another direction to intercept another road that came into the desert. I hoped that perhaps they would find the carriers. There was no sign of them there. When we first arrived we met some Bushmen, but they soon disappeared. It took a long time for us to get in touch with them. One of my boys knew about Bushmen and their habits. He succeeded in making friends and the day after we arrived, we were all on friendly terms with them.

The Bushmen are very simple people. Their huts are very crude affairs. This is how these particular people make their huts. They break or cut branches that they plant in a half circle. They bend the tops over to form the roof and then pile up some tufts of grass and place them on and over this crude roof. These huts are not wind or water tight. In the open part of the half circle they make their fires. They will sleep in these huts with a good fire at the opening burning to keep wild animals away. They are quite safe from animal attacks by following this practice. When it is cold, and it gets very cold in the desert at night, they sleep very close to the fire. I have seen scars from burns on the inner sides of their legs. In their sleep they move and burn themselves before they wake up.

The Bushmen have a couple of ways of starting a fire. The most common way is to use two pieces of wood. They cut a hole in one piece. They sharpen the other piece to a point. They then put the piece with the hole on the ground. They put a little sand in the hole. They take the other stick and put the sharp point in the hole and begin to rub the stick between their hands as quickly as possible. At times two will work at the fire making job. After they work the sticks for quite a while, there will be evidence of a little charring. They put some tinder near the hole and increase the rubbing of the sticks. Soon there is a little smoke. With a little gentle blowing, soon there is a little fire. They put in some soft grass and small twigs and soon they have a good fire burning. Generally they always try to keep a fire burning. When they move they take some fire along with them. Women are responsible to keep the fires burning.

Like all tribes of South Africa, the women are the burden bearers. Most of the work falls on them. I have not learned first-hand what the marriage customs are of the Bushmen. No doubt they have some system of dowry as other African peoples have. Every tribe with which I have had dealings have what is known as lobola. When I have asked them the origin of this system, they have answered that their fathers did it, so they follow.

The next day we saw some Bushmen digging for bulbs. These bulbs were marble size. They used hard sticks to do their digging. They sharpen the sticks at one end. They put a round stone with a hole in it on the other end in order to give weight to it. Many times previous to this I had seen stones such as this and had been told that they were Bushmen stones. Try as I could I did not imagine what they would be used for. These stones vary in size from about four to eight inches in diameter. All have a hole in the center and they are made of the hardest stones available. I did not learn how they made the holes. Bushmen have left paintings in caves and in the rocks in different places. They have also left pictures carved out on the hardest iron stones. These pictures were of animals and many of them were very true to life.

Two boys and I started to dig for some bulbs as we were very hungry. With our axe we shaped a good sharp stick and set to work. We found out that it was hard work. The ground was hard and dry. It had not rained for more than two years. After three hours of hard work, the three of us had only a half cap full of the precious food. When the Bushmen saw what was happening, they came to our assistance. They gave us some so that we could make a small meal. They were able to dig them out quickly. They knew just where to dig. Besides their bows and arrows, these Bushmen had some old guns. They had run out of ammunition and asked me to give them some powder so that they could do some hunting. I emptied some shot cartridges and gave them the powder and shot. They had caps for their guns.

We arranged to go out on a hunt together. Early one morning before sunrise, we started out for the desert. The desert began just a short distance from the camp. As the sun came up, we saw a very beautiful mirage at the edge of the desert. The desert was about ten or twelve feet below the ground we had camped on. The desert was not all sand, but there were patches of limestone through it. We tramped for several miles when I saw what seemed to be a very large vlei. As we approached, several thousand geese rose from the water. These geese soared in the air and went through all sorts of maneuvers. I tried to get closer to them, but the light was very deceptive and the ground was very wet. As you walked along for the first hundred yards, you would sink three or four inches. The next hundred yards you would sink six or seven inches. It seemed that there was no way to get closer to the geese. As walking was becoming very difficult, we decided to turn back.

We walked along for several more miles over the desert. As we looked towards the west we saw an unusual sight. There seemed to be some huge creatures about fifty feet high in the distance feeding. They looked like they were about half a mile away. They looked like some small black hills. As they appeared suddenly, the mystery was that much greater. I felt just a little apprehensive as I did not know what they were. I thought that they might be elephants enlarged by the mirage. If they were, I did not want to meet them in open country. I looked at the Bushmen and they did not seem a bit worried. It would be unwise to let them know in any way what I was thinking about. We walked towards these creatures. They were much farther away than we first thought. After we walked for an hour, we had a much better view of them and then they looked like some large ostriches that were feeding. By this time there were only three of them and they looked to be only about fifteen or twenty feet high. After another ten minutes walk, I was again surprised. Those huge creatures had been reduced to three black crows eating locusts. As far as the eye could see there was just one huge wave of dead locusts. I remembered the swarm that had passed over Umkupavula. It was the largest swarm I have ever seen and it took three days to pass over. They must have laid their eggs in the desert somewhere and had now died and the wind had blown them up like a huge black wave. I was told that the eggs would remain in the ground until the first rains that might take as much as six or seven years. No wonder people have not been able to get rid of locusts. My boys told me that often animals and birds would appear to take on large dimensions in the desert. No doubt this illusion is caused by what makes the mirage itself. We managed to shoot three gnus or blue wildebeests. These the natives brought into camp. Two of them were given to the Bushmen and the other was cut up and dried in the wind and sun.

When Bushmen get a large supply of meat, they eat until they are drunk and this is what happened this time. They ate until they could eat no more and were just helpless. When they recovered, they danced for me. I had not seen such dancing before. They would imitate all the movements of the wild animals. One was imitating a tortoise and another an ostrich. One would imitate an elephant while another a buck and so on. It was a real experience to watch them. These people do not do things half way. When they eat, they eat to the finish. When they dance, they do so until they are drunk. The Bushmen of the desert is different from the Bushmen of the forest. The desert Bushman is much taller. Those of the forest are just over four feet tall. The desert Bushman is over five feet and I have seen some who were five feet six inches tall. The men dressed like the Bechuanas with the loan cloth. The women wore skin skirts that reached to the knees. They did not expose as much of the body as did the Bechuanas. I found the women and children to be very shy and timid. I marveled at how quickly they could hide.

The Bushmen had a camp not far from the road that went to the salt pans. If any of them would step out of the road, there would be just a slight rustle. Then everything was quite still and not until the danger had passed away did they return to camp. I use the word camp, because these people do not build kraals or huts in which to live. They keep moving as they hunt game that is always moving to look for pasture. Their camps are a very simple structure. A few branches are broken down and arranged to form a quarter section of a ball. Some grass is thrown over the branches and this is all the shelter they have. Fires are lit in front of this structure and are kept going continually. Should a fire go out, they will soon have another by using the two stick method. They do not have much in their enclosures to move from place to place. What they have consists of a few calabashes or gourds, a few clay pots, a few skins and maybe a knife or two. These are made by natives or perhaps bought from traders. They will sometimes get an item or two from other natives in exchange for skins. When they move, they are not encumbered like some people are with a lot of earthly possessions. Their wants are few and easily satisfied.

These Bushmen speak a most difficult language. Perhaps it is the most difficult language in the world. I know only two white men who had a working knowledge of it. The language consists of every click known. Some of these clicks sound like pistol shots. The Hottentot, Korana, Quiqwa, Damara and the Bushmen languages have the same construction and are made up of clicks. No doubt, these languages all came from the same common stock. Although these languages have things in common, the lowest in the scale is that of the Bushmen. For a long time it seemed that every man's hand was against them and they were killed at sight. They brought a lot of this trouble on themselves by their habit of stealing stock. They did not seem to realize that cattle were not as free as the wild game and that owners would resent anyone helping himself.

These people seem to know every inch of the forest and we had to depend on them to take us to water. Water is very scarce. The Bushmen have dug pits in the most likely places in the limestone. At times the water is near the surface. At other times they have to go down twelve or fifteen feet. On my return, I was without a supply of water for three days and two nights. Our tongues were swollen and our eyes seemed fixed. We expected to find water on the second day at one of the pits, but found it dry. Four weeks before this, there was water there. We went on to the Matengwe River and arrived at eight at night. We found a dry river bed. We dug down into the sand seven or eight feet and found some water. It percolated in slowly and this saved us. Had we come to a stream of water at that time, it would have killed us. This river runs into what is known at the Ntwetwe in the land of a thousand vleis. This is a part of the desert and the hunting grounds of the Bushmen I met.

One method they use to hunt is that they locate the game one day. Early the next morning, every available person will start off. One individual will direct the hunt. He carries the tail of some animal that he uses to signal his instructions to the hunters. He will stand on some high ground and the hunters will form a large circle around the game. The leader will signal with the tail instructions which way they should go. Just how these signaled instructions work puzzled me, but they did close in on the game and got what they needed. This whole affair finished with a feast.

When I think of these poor people without God and without hope in the world, my heart cries out to God to send someone to teach them. A remnant from these people must also be saved at the coming of Christ.

When the Moffats labored in Kuruman, they reported that Bushmen attended their services and became interested in religion. Surely some of them will be gathered out for the Kingdom. Never will I forget the plea that those people made to me on the day I left them. These are the words as nearly as I can recall. "White father, brother, we have been hunted by the white man and the black for many years now. Our people are being thinned out. Soon there will be none of us left. We have had to run for many years now right in the land that was ours. In many parts that belonged to us, we are hunted like game. Why? Our flesh they cannot eat. Our skins are of no account. Homes we have none, and we are tired, oh so tired! We have no dogs. We must be our own dogs to run down the game. Now we are being run down like game. We run down game to give us food, but what are we being run down for? We are tired. Won't you come and live with us and be our protector? Won't you come and teach us how to work the land? Won't you give us seed? We will work. We will be your children and you be our father. All that you tell us, we will do." Two boys followed me to my home. They wanted to live with me and only when I left the country did they return. After this interview, I walked for fifty miles through country full of fever. I came down with fever and was very ill. There was not a soul to help me. I had over a hundred miles to go to reach the mission and the doctor. I was delirious for three days. No one knew what to do to help me. God was good and merciful and spared my life.

On the fourth day, I sent a messenger to the mission and my boys made a rude stretcher on which they carried me. At the different kraals we would get fresh carriers. I was carried for more than a hundred miles. As one thinks of experiences like this he is reminded that "My times are in His hands." It was that severe attack of fever that prevented me from returning to those poor Bushmen. I have pleaded for them many times since that time. I believe that the gospel of the kingdom will go to every nation, kindred, tongue and people. Often I think of those two boys who came to live with me and hoped some day that they could show me the way back to their own people. They would take turns sleeping inside the hut. One would sleep inside the hut and the other outside every night. They would not sleep with the other native boys.

As one thinks of these tribes with their strange ways and customs, how they grovel in heathen darkness and superstition, he is reminded that this has been brought about through sin. This makes one long for the day when there will be no more sin. Oh Happy Day! Come quickly.

Oh where are the reapers that gather in
The sheaves of good from the fields of sin
With sickles of truth must the work be done
And no one may rest till the harvest home.
Go out in the byways and search them all
The wheat may be there, though the weeds are tall
Then search in the highways and pass none by
But gather from all for the home on high.

From The Reminiscences And Recollections of A Pioneer  Or   With the Message In The Dark Continent 1894-1924 By  Isaac Barry Burton