When the prospectors crossed the karroo and entered the stretches of pasture-land which the Dutch called veld, the scenes of their marches were much more lively and cheery. Little farmhouses dotted the plains and valleys, rude cottages of clay-plastered stones or rough timbers, but hospitable with fires blazing on open hearths, big iron pots hanging from cranes and simmering with stews; and broad-faced, beaming vrouws and clusters of chunky boys and girls greeted the arrival of an ox-wagon from the coast as a welcome splash in the stagnant stream of their daily life.
At some of the halting-places on the banks of streams, or where plentiful water was stored in natural pans or artificial ponds, the extraordinary fertility of the irrigated soil of South Africa was plainly to be seen in luxuriant gardens, with brilliant flower-beds and heavy-laden fruit trees and vines. Here figs, pomegranates, oranges, lemons, and grapes ripened side by side, and hung more tempting than apples of Eden in the sight of the thirsting, sunburnt, dust-choked men who had plodded so far over the parched karroos. They stretched their cramped legs and aching backs in the grateful shade of spreading branches, and watched with half-shut eyes the white flocks nibbling on the pasture-land, and the black and red cattle scattered as far as the eye could see over the veld. Tame ostriches stalked fearlessly about them, often clustering like hens at the door of the farmhouse to pick up a mess of grain or meal, apparently heedless of any approach, but always alert and likely to resent familiarity from a stranger with a kick as sharp and staggering as any dealt by a mule's hind leg.
The interior of the homes in these oases was not so inviting, for the rooms, at best, were small and bare to the eye of a townsman. But some were comparatively neatly kept, with smoothly cemented floors, cupboards of quaintly figured china and earthenware, hangings and rugs of leopard, fox, jackal, and antelope skins, and brackets of curving horns loaded with hunting-arms and garnished with ostrich-feathers. For the guests there was probably the offer of a freshly killed antelope or sheep; but the farmer's family was often content with "biltong," the dried meat that hung in strips or was piled in stacks under his curing-shed.
When a settler was fortunate in getting a tract of land with a pan or a water-spring, he almost invariably gave the name to his farm, as Dutoitispan, Dorstfontein, Jagersfontein, Bultfontein -- names of inconsiderable little patches on the face of South Africa, which were destined to become memorable by approaching revelations.
Attracted by the good pasturage and water and the sight of flowers, fruits, and birds, even the eager diamond-seekers were not loath to linger for a day at one of these oases and rest themselves and their cattle before pushing on to the Vaal. As they drew near to their goal the face of the country began to change. After passing the Modder River, the grassy plains stretched out wider and longer and more gently undulating, and the mirage was more greatly magnifying and illusive. Herds of wild game, chiefly springbok, blesbok, hartebeest, wildebeest, and koodoo, were now frequently seen, and the ears of the travellers were tickled with the cheery "karack-karack" of flying korhaan and the pipes of red-legged plover.
There were great numbers, too, of the paauw (or Cape bustard) near the Modder River, and red-winged partridges and Guinea fowl that gave a welcome variety to the meals of the travellers.
“God often bestows temporal prosperities on the wicked, to show how lightly he esteems what the world is so dazzled with; but crosses he reserves for his own, whom he would humble under his Almighty hand, and make them the objects of his delight.”
–Fenelon