Seven Years in South Africa, Volume 1

Batlapin life -- Weaver-birds and their nests -- A Batlapin / farmstead -- Ant-hills -- Travelling Batlapins -- An / alarming accident -- Springbockfontein -- Gassibone / and his residence -- An untempting dish -- On the bank / of the Vaal -- Iguanas -- Christiana -- Bloemhof -- Stormy / night -- Pastures by the Vaal -- Cranes -- Dutch / hunters -- A sportsman's Eldorado -- Surprised by black / gnus -- Guinea-fowl -- Klerksdorp -- Potschefstroom -- The Mooi / River valley -- Geological notes -- Wonderfontein and its / grottoes -- Otters, birds, and snakes.

Likatlong, the residence of the chief Yantje, is the capital of the most southerly of the Batlapin tribes. The name signifies "union," probably in reference to the junction of the two rivers. The town consisted of three groups of farmsteads, each farmstead containing from two to four huts, generally six feet high, enclosed by hedges made of dry branches. The huts in the central groups exhibited the greatest appearance of life and industry, and extended as far as the river. In the middle of them was an open space, marked by the ruins of a mission-house that had been burned down some years previously. A short distance from the mission-house stood the church, a long but insignificant-looking edifice, built of unbaked bricks, with a gabled roof covered with dry grass. At the time of my visit there was no missionary there, but the London Missionary Society, in whose district it lies, have since sent out one of their body.