The Mission

by Frederick Marryat

  CHAPTER XXII.

  As arranged, they did not travel on the Sunday. Early in the morning theoxen and horses and sheep were turned out to pasture; all except thehorse which had been ridden by Alexander on the preceding day, and whichwas found to be suffering so much that they took away a large quantityof blood from him before he was relieved.

  The Bushmen still remained with them, and were likely to do so as longas there was any prospect of food. The four buffaloes which had beenkilled, as well as the horse which had been gored to death, were foundpicked clean to the bones on the following day, by the hyenas and otheranimals which were heard prowling during the whole night. But as largequantities of the buffalo-flesh had been cut off, and hung upon thetrees near the caravan, there was more than sufficient for a secondfeast for the Bushmen and Hottentots, and there was nothing but fryingand roasting during the whole of the day.

  The sun was intensely hot, and Alexander and the Major both felt sofatigued from the exertions of the day before, that after breakfast theyretired to their wagons, and Swinton did not attempt to disturb them, asthey were in a sound sleep till the evening, when they were muchrefreshed and very hungry. Swinton said he had thought it better thatthey should not be awakened, as the heat was so overpowering, and theycould perform Divine service in the evening, if they thought proper,when it would be cooler. This was agreed to, and, after an early supper,they summoned all the Hottentots, who, although gorged, were stillunwilling to leave their fires; as they said the Bushmen would devourall the flesh that was left, in their absence.

  This remonstrance was not listened to, and they all assembled. Theprayers were read and the service gone through by the light of a largefire, for it was very dark before the service was finished. The Bushmen,as the Hottentots prophesied, had taken advantage of their absence, tohelp themselves very liberally; and as Swinton read the prayers, theeyes of the Hottentots were continually turning round to their ownfires, where the Bushmen were throwing on large pieces of buffalo-flesh,and, before they were even heated through, were chewing them and tearingthem to pieces with their teeth.

  Never perhaps was there a congregation whose attention was so divided,and who were more anxious for the conclusion of the service. Thisuneasiness shown by the Hottentots appeared at last to be communicatedto the oxen, which were tied up round the wagons. The fire requiredreplenishing, but none of the Hottentots moved to perform the office;perhaps they thought that if Swinton could no longer see, the servicemust conclude: but Swinton knew it by heart, and continued reading theCommandments, which was the last portion which he read, and Alexanderand the Major repeated the responses. The Major, whose face was towardthe cattle, had observed their uneasiness, and guessed the cause, butdid not like to interrupt the service, as it was just over. Begum beganclinging to him in the way she always did when she was afraid; Swintonhad just finished, and the Major was saying, "Swinton, depend upon it,"when a roar like thunder was heard, and a dark mass passed over theirheads.

  The bellowing and struggling of the oxen was almost instantaneouslysucceeded by a lion, with an ox borne on his shoulder, passing rightthrough the whole congregation, sweeping away the remnants of the fireand the Hottentots right and left, and vanishing in a moment from theirsight. As may be imagined, all was confusion and alarm. Some screamed,some shouted and ran for their guns; but it was too late. Onexamination, it was found that the lion had seized the ox which had beentied up near to where they were sitting; their fire being nearlyextinguished, and the one which should have been kept alight next to italtogether neglected by the Hottentots, in their anxiety to keep upthose on which they had been broiling their buffalo-steaks.

  The leather thongs by which the ox had been tied up were snapped likethreads, and many of the other oxen had, in their agony of fear, brokentheir fastenings and escaped. As the lion bounded away through theassembled party, it appeared as if the ox was not a feather's weight tohim. He had, however, stepped rather roughly upon two of the Hottentots,who lay groaning, as if they had been severely hurt; but uponexamination it was found that they had only been well scratched andcovered with ashes. The Bushmen, however, had left their meal, and withtheir bows and small poisoned arrows had gone in pursuit. Bremen and oneor two of the Hottentots proposed also to go, but our travelers wouldnot permit them. About an hour afterward the Bushmen returned, and Omrahhad communication with them; and through Bremen they learned that theBushmen had come up with the lion about a mile distant, and haddischarged many of their arrows at him, and, they were convinced, witheffect, as a heavy growl or an angry roar was the announcement when hewas hit; but, although he was irritated, he continued his repast. Omrahthen said, "Lion dead to-morrow,--Bushmen find him."

  "Well," said Alexander, as they went to their wagons, which, inconsequence of this event, and their having to make up large firesbefore they went to bed, they did not do till late, "I believe this isthe first time that Divine service was ever wound up by such intrusion."

  "Perhaps so," replied Swinton; "but I think it proves that we have morecause for prayer, surrounded as we are by such danger. The lion mighthave taken one of us, and by this time we should have suffered a horriddeath."

  "I never felt the full force of the many similes and comparisons in theScriptures, where the lion is so often introduced, till now," observedAlexander.

  "It was indeed a most awful sermon after the prayers," said the Major:"I trust never to hear such a one again: but is it not our own fault?This is the second time that one of our oxen has been carried off by alion, from the circle of fires not being properly attended to. It is theneglect of the Hottentots, certainly; but if they are so neglectful, weshould attend to them ourselves."

  "It will be as well to punish them for their neglect," said Swinton, "bystopping their tobacco for the week; for if they find that we attend tothe fires ourselves, they will not keep one in, that you may dependupon. However, we will discuss that point to-morrow, so good-night."

  Omrah came to the Major the next morning, before the oxen were yoked, tosay that the Bushmen had found the lion, and that he was not yet dead,but nearly so; that the animal had dragged away that portion of the oxthat he did not eat, about half a mile further; that there he had laindown, and he was so sick that he could not move.

  At this intelligence they mounted their horses, and, guided by theBushmen, arrived at the bush where the lion lay. The Bushmen entered atonce, for they had previously reconnoitered, and were saluted with a lowsnarl, very different from the roar of the preceding night. Ourtravelers followed, and found the noble creature in his last agonies,his strength paralyzed, and his eyes closed. One or two of the smallarrows of the Bushmen were still sticking in his hide, and did notappear to have entered more than half an inch; but the poison was sosubtle, that it had rapidly circulated through his whole frame; andwhile they were looking down upon the noble beast, it dropped its jawsand expired.

  As our travelers turned back to join the caravan, Alexander observed:"Those Bushmen, diminutive as they are in size, and contemptible astheir weapons appear, must be dangerous enemies, when the mere prick ofone of their small arrows is certain death. What is their poisoncomposed of?"

  "Of the venom extracted from snakes, which is mixed up with the juice ofthe euphorbia, and boiled down till it becomes of the consistency ofglue. They then dip the heads of the arrows into it, and let it dry on."

  "Is then the venom of snakes so active after it has been taken away fromthe animal?"

  "Yes, for a considerable time after. I remember a story, which is, Ibelieve, well authenticated, of a man who had been bitten through hisboot by a rattlesnake in America. The man died, and shortly afterwardhis two sons died one after the other, with just the same symptoms astheir father, although they had not been bitten by snakes. It wasafterward discovered that upon the father's death the sons had one afterthe other taken possession of and put on his boots, and the boots beingexamined, the fang of the rattlesnake was discovered to have passedthrough the leather and remained there. Th
e fang had merely grazed theskin of the two sons when they put on the boots, and had thus causedtheir death."

  "Are the snakes here as deadly in their poison as the rattlesnake ofAmerica?"

  "Equally so,--that is, two or three of them; some are harmless. The mostformidable is the cobra capella (not the same as the Indian snake of thesame name). It is very large, being usually five feet long; but it hasbeen found six and even seven feet. This snake has been known to dart ata man on horseback, and with such force as to overshoot his aim. Hisbite is certain death, I believe, as I never heard of a man recoveringfrom the wound."

  "Well, that is as bad as can be. What is the next?"

  "The next is what they call the puff adder. It is a very heavy, sluggishanimal, and very thick in proportion to its length, and when attacked infront, it can not make any spring. It has, however, another power,which, if you are not prepared for it, is perhaps equally dangerous--that of throwing itself backward in a most surprising manner. This is,however, only when trod upon or provoked; but its bite is very deadly.Then two of the mountain adders are among the most dangerous snakeshere. The mountain adder is small, and, from its not being so easilyseen and so easily avoided, is very dangerous, and its bite as fatal asthe others."

  "I trust that is the end of your catalogue?"

  "Not exactly; there is another, which I have specimens of, but whosefaculties I have never seen put to the test, which is called thespirting snake. It is about three feet long, and its bite, althoughpoisonous, is not fatal. But it has a faculty, from which its name isderived, of spirting its venom into the face of its assailant, and ifthe venom enters the eye, at which the animal darts it, immediateblindness ensues. There are a great many other varieties, some of whichwe have obtained possession of during our journey. Many of them arevenomous, but not so fatal as the first three I have mentioned.

  "Indeed, it is a great blessing that the Almighty has not made thevarieties of snakes aggressive or fierce,--which they are not. Provided,as they are, with such dreadful powers, if they were so, they wouldindeed be formidable; but they only act in self-defense, or whenprovoked. I may as well here observe, that the Hottentots, when theykill any of the dangerous snakes, invariably cut off the head and buryit; and this they do, that no one may by chance tread upon it, as theyassert that the poison of the fangs is as potent as ever, not only forweeks but months afterward."

  "That certainly is a corroboration of the story that you told us of therattlesnake's fang in the boot."

  "It is so; but although there are so many venomous snakes in thiscountry, it is remarkable how very few accidents or deaths occur fromthem. I made an inquiry at the Moravian Mission, where these venomoussnakes are very plentiful, how many people they had lost by their bites,and the missionaries told me, that out of 800 Hottentots belonging tothe Mission, they had only lost two men by the bites of snakes during aspace of seven years; and in other places where I made the same inquiry,the casualties were much less in proportion to the numbers."

  "Is the boa constrictor found in this part of Africa?"

  "Not so far south as we now are, but it is a few degrees more to thenorthward. I have never seen it, but I believe there is no doubt of itsexistence."

  "The South American Indians have a very subtle poison with which theykill their game. Are you aware, Swinton, of its nature? Is it like theBushmen's poison?"

  "I know the poison well; it was brought over by Mr. Waterton, whoseamusing works you may have read. It is called the wourali poison, and issaid to be extracted from a sort of creeping vine, which grows in thecountry. The natives, however, add the poison of snakes to the extract;and the preparation is certainly very fatal, as I can bear witness to."

  "Have you ever seen it tried?"

  "Yes, I have tried it myself. When I was in Italy I became acquaintedwith Mr. W., and he gave two or three of us, who were living together, asmall quantity, not much more than two grains of mustard-seed in size.We purchased a young mule to make the experiment upon; an incision wasmade in its shoulder, and the poison inserted under the skin. I think inabout six or seven minutes the animal was dead. Mr. W. said that theeffects would have been instantaneous, if the virtue of the poison hadnot somewhat deteriorated from its having been kept so long."

  "The wourali poison only acts upon the nerves, I believe?" said theMajor.

  "Only upon the nerves; and although so fatal, if immediate means areresorted to, a person who is apparently dead from it may be brought tolife again by the same process as is usual in the recovery of drowned orsuffocated people. A donkey upon which the poison had acted was restoredin this manner, and for the remainder of his days permitted to run inSir Joseph Banks's park. But the poison of snakes acts upon the blood,and therefore occasions death without remedy."

  "But there are remedies, I believe, for even the most fatal poisons?"

  "Yes, in His provident mercy God has been pleased to furnish remediesat hand, and where the snake exists the remedy is to be found. Therattlesnake root is a cure, if taken and applied immediately; and it iswell known that the ichneumon when bitten by the cobra capella, in hisattack upon it, will hasten to a particular herb and eat it immediately,to prevent the fatal effect of the animal's bite."

  "I once saw a native of India," said the Major, "who for a small sumwould allow himself to be bitten by a cobra capella. He was wellprovided with the same plant used by the ichneumon, which he swallowedplentifully, and also rubbed on the wound. It is impossible to say, but,so far as I could judge, there was no deception."

  "I think it very possible; if the plant will cure the ichneumon, why nota man? I have no doubt but that there are many plants which possessvirtues of which we have no knowledge. Some few, and perhaps some of themost valuable, we have discovered; but our knowledge of the vegetablekingdom, as far as its medicinal properties are known, is very slight;and perhaps many which were formerly known have, since the introductionof mineral antidotes, been lost sight of."

  "Why, yes; long before chemistry had made any advances, we do hear inold romances of balsams of most sovereign virtues," said Alexander,laughing.

  "Which, I may observe, is almost a proof that they did in reality exist;and the more so, because you will find that the knowledge of thesesovereign remedies was chiefly in the hands of the Jews, the oldestnation upon the earth; and from their constant communication with eachother, most likely to have transmitted their knowledge from generationto generation."

  "We have also reason to believe that not only they had peculiar_remedies_ in their times, but also--if we are to credit what has beenhanded down to us--that the art of _poisoning_ was much betterunderstood," said the Major.

  "At all events, they had not the knowledge of chemistry which now leadsto its immediate detection," replied Swinton. "But, Alexander, there arethree hippopotami lying asleep on the side of the river. Have you amind to try your skill?"

  "No, not particularly," replied Alexander; "I have had enough ofhippopotami. By the by, the river is much wider than it was."

  "Yes, by my calculation we ought to travel no more to the westward afterto-day. We must now cut across to the Yellow or Val River. We shallcertainly be two days without water or pasturage for the cattle, butthey are in such good condition that they will not much feel it. Thereis a river which we shall cross near its head, but the chance of wateris very small; indeed, I believe we shall find it nowhere, except inthese great arteries, if I may so call them."

  "Well; I was thinking so myself, Swinton, as I looked at the mapyesterday, when I lay in my wagon," said the Major; "so then to-morrowfor a little variety; that is, a desert."

  "Which it will most certainly be," replied Swinton; "for, except on thebanks of the large rivers, there are no hopes of vegetation in thiscountry at this season of the year; but in another month we may expectheavy falls of rain."

  "The Bushmen have left us, I perceive," said Alexander.

  "Yes, they have probably remained behind to eat the lion."

  "What, will they eat it
now that it has been poisoned?"

  "That makes no difference to them; they merely cut out the partswounded, and invariably eat all the carcasses of the animals which theykill, and apparently without any injury. There is nothing which aBushman will not eat. A flight of locusts is a great feast to him."

  "I can not imagine them to be very palatable food."

  "I have never tasted them," replied Swinton; "but I should think not.They do not, however, eat them raw; they pull off their wings and legs,and dry their bodies; they then beat them into a powder."

  "Do you suppose that St. John's fare of locusts and wild honey was thelocust which we are now referring to?"

  "I do not know, but I should rather think not, and for one reason,which is, that although a person in the wilderness might subsist uponthese animals, if always to be procured, yet the flights of locusts arevery uncertain. Now there is a tree in the country where St. Johnretired, which is called the locust-tree, and produces a large sweetbean, shaped like the common French bean, but nearly a foot long, whichis very palatable and nutritious. It is even now given to cattle inlarge quantities; and I imagine that this was the locust referred to;and I believe many of the commentators on the holy writings have been ofthe same opinion. I think we have now gone far enough for to-day; we mayas well halt there. Do you intend to hunt, Major? I see some animalsthere at a distance."

  "I should say not," said Alexander; "if we are to cross a desert tractto-morrow, we had better not fatigue our horses."

  "Certainly not. No, Swinton, we will remain quiet, unless game comes tous."

  "Yes, and look after our water-kegs being filled, and the fires lightedto-night," said Alexander; "and I trust we may have no more sermonsfrom lions, although Shakespeare does say, 'sermons from stones, andgood in everything.'"

  They halted their caravan upon a rising ground, and having taken theprecaution to see the water-kegs filled and the wood collected, they satdown to dinner upon fried ham and cheese; for the Hottentots haddevoured all the buffalo-flesh, and demanded a sheep to be killed forsupper. This was consented to although they did not deserve it; but astheir tobacco had been stopped for their neglect of providing fuel andkeeping up the fires, it was considered politic not to make them toodiscontented.

  Alexander had been walking by the side of the river with the Major,while the Hottentots were arranging the camp, and Swinton was puttingaway some new specimens in natural history which he had collected, whenOmrah, who was with them, put his finger to his lips and stopped them.As they perfectly understood what he required, they stood still andsilent. Omrah then pointed to something which was lying on the lowbank, under a tuft of rushes; but they could not distinguish it, andOmrah asked by signs for the Major's rifle, took aim, and fired. A loudsplashing was heard in the water, and they pushed their way through thehigh grass and reeds, until they arrived at the spot, where theyperceived an animal floundering in the agonies of death."

  "An alligator!" exclaimed the Major; "well, I had no idea that therewere any here inland. They said that there were plenty at the mouths ofthe rivers, on the coast of the Eastern Caffres, but I am astonished tofind one here."

  "What did you fire at?" asked Swinton, who now joined them.

  "An alligator, and he is dead. I am afraid that he won't be very goodeating," replied the Major.

  "That's not an alligator, Major," said Swinton, "and it is very goodeating. It is a large lizard of the guana species, which is found aboutthese rivers; it is amphibious, but perfectly harmless, subsisting uponvegetables and insects. I tell you it is a great delicacy, ugly as itlooks. It is quite dead, so let us drag it out of the water, and send itup to Mahomed by Omrah."

  The animal, which was about four feet long, was dragged out of the waterby the tail, and Omrah took it to the camp.

  "Well, I really thought it was a small alligator," said the Major; "butnow I perceive my mistake. What a variety of lizards there appears to bein this country."

  "A great many from the chameleon upward," replied Swinton. "By the by,there is one which is said to be very venomous. I have heard manywell-authenticated stories of the bite being not only very dangerous,but in some instances fatal. I have specimens of the animal in mycollection. It is called here the geitje."

  "Well, it is rather remarkable, but we have in India a small lizard,called the gecko by the natives, which is said to be equally venomous. Ipresume it must be the same animal, and it is singular that the namesshould vary so little. I have never seen an instance of its poisonouspowers, but I have seen a whole company of sepoys run out of theirquarters because they have heard the animal make its usual cry in thethatch of the building; they say that it drops down upon people from theroof."

  "Probably the same animal; and a strong corroboration that the report ofits being venomous is with good foundation."

  "And yet if we were to make the assertion in England, we should in allprobability not be believed."

  "Not by many, I grant--not by those who only know a little; but by thosewho are well informed, you probably would be. The fact is, from a tooready credulity, we have now turned to almost a total skepticism, unlesswe have ocular demonstration. In the times of Marco Polo, Sir JohnMandeville, and others,--say in the fifteenth century, when there werebut few travelers and but little education, a traveler might assertalmost any thing, and gain credence; latterly a traveler hardly dareassert any thing. Le Vaillant and Bruce, who traveled in the South andNorth of Africa, were both stigmatized as liars, when they publishedtheir accounts of what they had seen, and yet every tittle has sincebeen proved to be correct. However, as people are now better informed,they do not reject so positively; for they have certain rules to guidethem between the possible and the impossible."

  "How do you mean?"

  "I mean, for instance, that if a person was to tell me that he had seena mermaid, with the body of a woman and the scaly tail of a fish, Ishould at once say that I could not believe him. And why? because it iscontrary to the laws of nature. The two component parts of the animalcould not be combined, as the upper portion would belong to themammalia, and be a hot-blooded animal, the lower to a cold-blooded classof natural history. Such a junction would, therefore, be impossible. Butthere are, I have no doubt, many animals still undiscovered, or ratherstill unknown to Europeans, the description of which may at first excitesuspicion, if not doubt. But as I have before observed, the accountwould, in all probability, not be rejected by a naturalist, although itmight be by people without much knowledge of the animal kingdom, whowould not be able to judge by comparison whether the existence of suchan animal was credible. Even fabulous animals have had their origin fromexisting ones. The unicorn is, no doubt, the gemsbok antelope; for whenyou look at the animal at a distance, its two horns appear as if theywere only one, and the Bushmen have so portrayed the animal in theircaves. The dragon is also not exactly imaginary; for, the _Lacertavolans_, or flying lizard of Northern Africa, is very like a smalldragon in miniature. So that even what has been considered as fabuloushas arisen from exaggeration or mistake."

  "You think, then, Swinton, that we are bound to believe all thattravelers tell us?"

  "Not so; but not to reject what they assert, merely because it does notcorrespond with our own ideas on the subject. The most remarkableinstance of unbelief was relative to the aerolites or meteoric stonesformed during a thunder-storm in the air, and falling to the earth. Ofcourse you have heard that such have occurred?"

  "I have," replied the Major, "and I have seen several in India."

  "This was treated as a mere fable not a century back; and when it wasreported (and not the first time) that such a stone had fallen inFrance, the _savans_ were sent in deputation to the spot. They heard thetestimony of the witnesses that a loud noise was heard in the air; thatthey looked up and beheld an opaque body descending; that it fell on theearth with a force which nearly buried it in the ground, and was so hotat the time that it could not be touched with the hand. It afterwardbecame cold. Now the _savans_ heard all this, a
nd pronounced that itcould not be; and for a long while every report of the kind was treatedwith contempt. Now every one knows, and every one is fully satisfied ofthe fact, and not the least surprise is expressed when they are told ofthe circumstance. As Shakespeare makes Hamlet observe very truly--'Thereare more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in yourphilosophy.'"