S. Africa. [a. Cape Du. trek = Du. trek draw, pull, tug, march, f. trekken, TREK v.]
1. In travelling by ox-wagon, a stage of a journey between one stopping-place and the next; hence, a journey or expedition made in this way; also, journeying or travel by ox-wagon.
(Cf. trek-tow occurring in 1834.)
1849. E. E. Napier, Excurs. S. Africa, II. 1. First day’s ‘trek’ in lower Albany.
1863. W. C. Baldwin, Afr. Hunting, vii. 233. I joined Swartz … and went with him to Letloche, about fourteen days’ trek.
1906. Harper’s Mag., June, 30/2. Distances in Africa are not reckoned by miles, but by treks or days.
b. An organized migration or expedition by ox-wagon.
1890. Times (weekly ed.), 28 Feb., 17/3. The proclamation of President Kruger forbidding the formation of a ‘trek’ to enter Mashonaland.
1901. Scotsman, 8 March, 6/2. There had been a Boer trek into German South-west Africa, but it was only on a small scale.
1901. Daily Chron., 30 May, 3/2. The men above-mentioned, or their sons,… led the great trek of 1836–9.
c. transf. and fig.
1895. J. G. Millais, Breath fr. Veldt, v. 102. A big troop of guinea-fowls … following each other in their afternoon trek to the water. Ibid., vi. 123. From the sun-parched wilderness of Africa to art criticism is a big trek.
1902. Cornish, Naturalist Thames, 67. The first [birds] to begin the ‘trek’ down the river are the early broods of water-wagtails.
2. attrib. and Comb., as trek-cattle, -ox; trek-chain, trek-rope = TREK-TOW.
1900. Daily News, 6 April, 3/1. The local supply of *trek cattle … from the farms of the Boers.
1850. R. G. Cumming, Hunter’s Life S. Afr. (ed. 2), I. 220. I purchased … several excellent horses and *trek-oxen.
1906. Harper’s Mag., June, 29/1. The northernmost limit of the trek-ox in Africa.
1883. Cornh. Mag. March, 293. The oxen loosened from the *trek rope.
