YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

THE

DORP AND THE YELD

SIX MONTHS IN NATAL

BY CHARLES BARTER, ESQ., B.C.L,
FELLOW OP NEW COLLEGE, OXFORD.

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LONDON:
WILLIAM S ORR AND CO., AMEN CORNER.

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PREFACE.

It will matter verj' little to the reader of these pages what were
the motives which induced the writer to undertake a voyage to Natal.
Perhaps he was agent for some embryo land company ; perhaps he
nourished hopes of some colonial appointment ; he may have been the
bearer of a private despatch from Lord Grey to the King of the
Zulus, or of a commercial missive from Messrs. Silver & Co. to their
correspondents in D'Urban ; he may have sought to recruit his health
or relax his mind ; pleasure or profit may have been the object of his
voyage ; to make money, to save it, or to spend it ; or his character
may have resembled that which I once heard a lady, learned in the
science of grapho-phrenology, ascribe to a certain style of hand
writing — that of one who would like to breakfast in England, lunch at
the Cape, and dine at New Zealand. Whatever mystery there be the
reader will doubtless solve after his own fashion, as we jog on to
gether ; perhaps there is no great secret in it after all. Thus much I
may as well confess, since it forms one of my claims on his attention,
and may add some weight to my opinions on debated subjects ; that
I have been long a traveller and a colonist ; that I have farmed and
lumbered in New Brunswick, and traversed Canada from east to
west ; that I have been in nearly all the United States, and am as

IV PBEfACE.
familiar with the Ohio and Mississippi as with the Thames and Seine,
and that the promotion of emigration having always been with me a
favourite pursuit, I have made it my business to embrace every oppor
tunity of collecting authentic information abont those colonies whjch
I had not visited in person.
I wiU add, that beyond the possession of some forty acres of waste
land, which are probably of little or no value, I have not the slightest
interest in the country about which I am going to write, and I am
equally ignorant of any cause which should prejudice me against it.
My only wish is to convey a correct impression of a land to which so
many of our poor countrymen are looking with anxious and too often
delusive hopes ; and to prevent, as far as I can, the bitter disappoint
ment, not to say despair, consequent on the faUure of so important a
step as that of emigration. If at the same time I can while away an
otherwise listless hour for those to whom the subject is not of the
same interest, and thus attract the attention of a single person whose
power and influence might aid his will in promoting the welfare of
his fellow-creatures, I shall not have written in vain.

CONTENTS.

I. ¦Weighing Anchor — Sporting Emigrants — The Voyage — Which
Course to steer — ^A close Shave — Land Sharks — A Night in
Harbour — A Eeverie  1
II. B'Urban — A Glass of Champagne — Inns — 'Wagon-hunting — The
Coach-office — A cool Eeception — Civility of Custom-house
Officers — Contradictory Eeports — Natal Plagues — "More Ticks
thau Grass"— Commerce^ — Cape Trade ... 7
III. One too many — En Eoute — The Berea — Cotton Farm — Pine
Town — Botha's — Pluck has it — Wild Turkeys — Uys' Dooms
— Eapid Else of Streams — Fallacies of Guide-books— Arrival
at Maritzburg — Our Driver — Agreeably disappointed — De
scription of Maritzburg  17
IV. Letter of Introduction— Comfortably settled — Laid up — Society
in Maritzburg — Colonial Aristocracy — Dutch and English —
Emigrants indeed! — The Church — Lawyers and their Bills —
An universal Genius — Doctor Jack — Surveyors — 'Bus versus
Wagon — A Meeting in the dark — The Natal Horse . . .24
V. The Auction — A queer Lot — Mr. Otto's Farm — Kafir Labour —
Mule-breeding — Hippopotami Preserve — A new Acquaintance
and an old Friend — Change of Places — Tent in the Market
place — The Wagon Whip — Colonial Symbols — ^African Wagon
— Storm — Terrible Effects of Lightning  39
VI. Om: Party— The Trek— A Jib— Fbst Outspan— The TJmgeni
FaUs — Dutch Pilgrims— Mooi Eiver — My sleeping Apartment
— Bushman's Eiver — The Bosjes Men — Visit to a Dutchman —
I've done the Englishman — Ante-nuptial Contracts — Country
Quarters — Mr. P  • and the Premier — Kafir Butchers —
Bathing . — Cockney Shop-keepers — Our Span — Treacherous
Murder of the Dutch by Dingaan — The Tugela — Picturesque
Scenery — Natal stony .Deserts — Dutch Exiles — Horsea lost —
Crossing the Klip — Description of the Drakenberg — A Voyage
of Discovery — The foot of the Mountain — Ourebis — Schut-
kraal— A Night in the Veld  47

>i CONTENTS.
CHAP. ^^O'^
VII. A misty Moming— The Dutch Boer— Ascent of the Drakenberg
—Half-way up — The " Smous " — The Curtain drawn— A
squint Path— A full Span — View from the Summit — Ant
Heap — Jack and the Bean-stalk — The Sovereignty — Geo
graphical Division — Natural Division — Vlakten — Dutch Hunt
ing — Highlands — How to settle a Country — Land Sale —
Nelson's Kop — Ostrich Hunt — Plaatberg by Moonlight —
Where's the Wagon? — Harrismith^ — Pinch and Neco — The
Marquee— Our Host — Kafir Trade — A hot Walk — Coneys —
Missing Oxen — ^Au Adventure — ^^Three Shots — -Take that —
Search for a Farm — Hors-de-combat — Topography — Oxen
Found — Parting — A Bit of Sentiment ... 73
VIII. Plaatberg Farm — House-building — A Wretched Specimen —
Thunder-storm — Sleepy Work — Hired Kafirs — Six Tribes- —
Tarry Fingers — ^Equipped for the Chase — A long way astern
— The Schimmel Hunter — Lying in Ambush — The Father of
the Herd — Schutkraal and the Quaggas — The Captive — Eesist
ance — Nursing — Natural History — The Fate of a Pet — A New
Arrival — Patriarchal Joumey — Drought — Ladies in the Veldt
— A Eace with a Storm — The Thief intercepted — Night
Prowlers — The Stel — The Mishap — Vanger avenged — Mis
nomers — Angling — The Harrismith Pack — Farming in the
Sovereignty — Want of Neatness — Prospects of Harrismith- —
Eetum to Natal — A chance Meeting — Up-biU Work — "She
Milked the Dun Cow" — Who are you.' .... 103
IX. A Morning at Christmas Time — The Cavalcade — The Settler's
Hut — Forest Scenery — Schutkraal in Distress — A Kafir Mis
sionary- — Fingers before Forks — A grotesque Scene — A Plea
sant Bed-fellow — The Dargle — Good Quarters — The Kafir Path-
— A Halt in the Eain — Good Tidings — Bread and Butter —
Spyoen Kop — Kafir Police — The Alarm — Bare-legged — The
Dead Ox— The Guest— AU in Vain— The War Dance— Cor
poral Cork — Ball Practice — The Eide Home — Dismounted — A
Clean spUl — ^A sUppery Descent — ^E  at Home . .128
X. The Way-side Inn — Uncorking — The Hut — Gentlemen Inn
keepers — My Father was a Sweep — Fine Feathers — Go and
sleep in the Veldt — Dutch Hospitality — How to behave 
Hold your Tongue — Swollen -Eivers — Fatal Accident — Father
and Son — Schutkraal in a Fix — The TJmgeni — Drift at Mid
night — The Kaar-Kloof Falls — The Country Seat — Devonshire
Cream . .  139

CONTENTS. va
CHAP. PASS
XI. The Farm on the TJmlas— Cracking Almonds — A Night among
the Gooseberries — Klip Spruit Farm — The Garden — The Dairy
— Kafir Milking — Pigs — Masters and Men — Farm Occupations
—Baking — Hedgerows — Will it pay ? — Land cleared aud un
cleared — Combination of Agriculture and Stock-keeping neces
sary — Convict Labour — Kafir Labour — Tropical Productions —
Cotton — Indigo — Tobacco, &c. . .... 151
XII. Causes of the Kafir War — Pseudo-Philanthropy — Kat Eiver Hot
tentots — ^Extinction of coloured Eaces — How to deal with the
Kafir — A clear Border^No Concession  168
XIII. Alarm at Maritzburg— Disbanding of Yeomanry — Zulu Expedi
tion — Its Chances — Mr. Shepstone — The Press — Project aban
doned — History of the Zulus — Ancient Inhabitants of Natal —
Chaka — Dingaan — Panda — Zulu Immigration — John Bull's
Soliloquy — Embarrasments — Mr. Cloete's Opinion on Manage
ment of Eefugee Zulus — Plan of the Commissioners — Plan of
the Colonial Secretary — Its Eeception' in the Colony — Final
Promulgation and Effects — Mr. West — Mr. Pine — Hopes and
Fears  ... 182
XIV. Night Music — A fuU Haycock — Zulu Kraal — Implements — ^Arts
— Ornaments — Petty Larceny — ^Ware Sjambok — Honour
among Thieves — ^Watered Honey — ^ZingoUi — A royal Eeception
— Smoking — No Change — Like Master like Man — One Groom
— Little Bit — Edge-tools — Language — Oratory — Mimicry —
Difficulties of Conversion — PoU — Specious results of Missionary
Teaching — Need of Church Disciphne — Danger of Pet Estab
lishments . . •  208
XV. A Sick Nurse — Eecovery — Homeward bound — Eide to D'TJrban
— ^Embarkation — Delays — A Fortnight in Harbour — ^A Wet
Walk — A Gale in the Port — The Bar-Goiog out of Harbour —
At Anchor — The " Hannah" sets sail — Death at Sea — A false
jttove — AStorm — Algoa Bay — The Surf — Wasley's — The Town
— Missionary bumt in Effigy — Hottentots — "Oue for Sorrow"
 More Storms — Lady Passengers — Head Winds — Short
AUowance — GaUant Exploit — A narrow Escape — More good
than evU — Tom saved  234
XVI. Pleasant Contrast — Mrs. Parker's — Agreeable Society — Cape
Town — The Queen's Birthday — ^Eaoes — Seizure of a Slaver —
The Don — Awkward Eenoontre — Homeward bound — St.
Helena — Sierra Leone — St. Vincent — Home — ^L'Envoi . . 252
Geneb.vl Index  260

EEEATA.

FAOE LINE
17, 11, — Mo< to be omitted.
23, 11, — for quina read quince.
43, 9, — for Ouer read Ober.
53, 4, — for outport read outpost.
61 , 33, — for Iiuman read Plaatberg.
61, 33, — for Phinveld rea.i Engeland.
62, 3, — ^for linquists read linguists.
76, 15, — for their read those.
132, 10, — for Dingle read Dargle.

THE DOEP AND THE YELD.

CHAPTER I.
WEIGHING ANCHOR — SPORTING EMIGRANTS — THE VOYAGE — WHIOH COURSE
TO STEER — A CLOSE SHAVE — LAND SHARKS — ^A NIGHT IN HARBOUR —
A REVERIE.
It was about midnight, on the 22nd of June, 1850, that, after a
parting dinner with some friends at the Pier Hotel, and a sentimental
stroll in the RoshervOle Gardens, I found myself on board the barque
" Globe," Al, 310 tons or thereabout (I like to be particular). Captain
Liddell, Commander, bound for Port Natal. She was weighing
anchor, and there was the usual amount of shouting and swearing, of
late arrivals and tender farewells, of broken hearts and missing
luggage, while high above the din rose the cheering chorus of the
sailors, as they heaved at the capstan : —
" *Tis time for me, 'tis time for you,
'Tis time for us to go ;
Hurrah ! hurrah ! my hearty honnles,
'Tis time for us to go."
By the second morning the pUot had left us, we had rounded Beachey
Head, and were running down Channel with a fresh north-easterly
breeze. Ours was not an emigrant ship, properly so called, and we were
therefore free from the discomfort of crowded decks, as well as from
the evils that attend the division of authority between the captain
and surgeon in these vessels ; indeed, there was no regular surgeon
B

2 SPOETING EMIGRANTS.
on board ; no steerage passengers, and the " intermediates " had
the run of the poop, and mixed with the occupiers of the higher- -
priced cabins without restraint. They were not above twenty in
number, consisting chiefly of small tradesmen, taking out a little
money, and, with few exceptions, a stock of very useless goods. There
was a church-warden who delighted in abusing parsons, and a
very small insignificant-looking chartist, who, on the strength of
a pair of bushy whiskers, tried to look stern, and talked about
" physical force " and the convincing power of cold steel. But,
whatever their age, or calling, or previous habits, or to whatever
employment they might look forward on their arrival in the land of
promise, not one of them was without a gun. Such a collection of
fire-arms I had never seen before, — singles and doubles, smooth bores,,
two-grooved, and poly-grooved, of all sizes and qualities, from the pea-
rifle to the monster elephant-gun carrying four to the pound — from
the costly and highly-finished Lancaster to the cheap Birmingham ;
pistols, revolving and not revolving ; all these, and many more, were
there to be found. The very ladies carried light fowling-pieces, and
the caboose was continually beset by bullet-casters, to the great dis
comfiture of the good-natured black who presided there. As many
of them had never handled a piece before, some of their manipula
tions were amusingly eccentric; but when they began actually to
load and fire " for practice," as they said, I trembled with apprehen
sion, and the captain, sympathising with me on account of his spars
and rigging, put a hasty stop to the exhibition. I need scarcely say
that not more than two or three of these men, since they landed in
the colony, have ever had occasion to take guu or pistol in hand,
unless to offer them for sale. Spite of these, however, and some other
instances of partial insanity, they were, altogether, a pleasant hearty
lot of fellows, and Ihave seldom seen so few of these petty jealousies.
and quarrels, that convert a ship into a Pandemonium, as among the
passengers of the good barque Globe.
A voyage, unless it be varied by mutiny or shipwreck, is always
a monotonous affair, and as ours was happily not relieved by any
such exciting incident, I will spare the reader the infliction of a sea-

WHICH COURSE TO STEER. 3
log. "We were nearly forty days reaching the Line, being harassed,
after losing the N.E. trades, by an obstinate wind from S.S.W., which
lasted a full fortnight — not an uncommon occurrence. The S.E.
trades were more favourable, carrying us down to latitude 20° south,
and bringing us close alongside of the Island of Trinidad, a solitary
rock in the South Atlantic Ocean, partly covered with wood, and said
to be inhabited by pigs.
We were off the Cape of Good Hope on the 1st of September, and
the same evening we saw the Kght on Cape Agulhas, the southernmost
point of Africa, distant about eighteen miles. The strong south-west
current, which always sets down the Mozambique Channel and round
the southern coast, renders the navigation between the Cape and
Natal very tedious and uncertain, and there is great difference of
opinion as to the best course to be steered. Some keep far away to
southward and eastward, on the outer edge of the current, while
others prefer the inner course, between it and the shore. We chose
the latter, passing in sight of Algoa Bay, the mouths of the Keis-
kamma. Great Fish, and Buffalo Rivers, and of the flres which were
burning along the whole length of coast. Nor was our captain far
out in his calculations, for on the 7th of September we were abreast
of our port, which we had passed in a gale of wind the day before,
after a voyage of 76 days ; thus accomplishing the distance from the
Cape in six, — a far shorter time than is usually required by the regular
coasters. I afterwards ascertained that all the shortest passages
between the Cape and Natal had been made by ships pursuing this
course, and am inclined to think it generally the best, though in the
summer, when the south-east winds prevaU, it may be sometimes
advisable to give the land a wider berth.
The outside and inside of a harbom- are not quite the same thing,
as many have found to their cost, since the Grecian fleet was wind-
bound off Aulis, and the blasts that came down from the Strymon
BpoTotv&Kai, veavTe Kal ireKrfjtdTwy hpeiSeis
made tiieir anchorage anything but secure. Off Natal it is not an

4 A CLOSE SHAVE.
uncommon event for a vessel to be detained a fortnight, waiting for
spring tides and a fair wind to enable her to cross the bar ; and the.
roadstead outside, though tolerably safe, is by no means a comfortable
place in a severe gale. The fate of the Minerva, a fine 1400 ton ship,,
which dragged her anchors and was driven ashore on the bluff, about
two months before our arrival, is a sad proof of this. She went to.
pieces in a few hours with aU her cargo on board ; and, though no:
lives were lost, yet more than a hundred emigrants were landed in a
state of utter destitution.
As we drew near the shore, sail after sail appeared in view, till
we counted six or seven vessels ; some were on the point of departure,
but the greater number anxiously waiting for the pUot, as the spring
tides were now at their height, and to-morrow entrance might be
impracticable. The pilot himself, however, seemed to care very little,
about it, or perhaps he did not like the idea of one escaping the usual
ordeal, for as he approached our ship he sung out to let go the
anchors, and appeared quite taken aback when we refused to comply
with his request. We had made up our minds to be inside the har
bour that evening ; accordingly we tacked up and down till the tide
served, and then, coming gracefully round, took the lead, and stood
in for the shore. As we approach the streak of foam which marks the
line of the bar there are not many words spoken, and a shade of
anxiety may be detected on several countenances ; not that there is.
any ground for fear, but we draw eleven feet and a half of water, and
we wish to do the thing well. Another moment, and we are upon it.
One slight shock, which is nevertheless felt throughout the ship, and
we are in still water ; — the first English ship that has entered the
harbour without dropping anchor ! Three cheers for the Globe !
If we had been disappointed by the rugged aspect of the coast in
the various glimpses we had obtained of it during the course of the
last few days — and they certainly had not been encouraging, we were
amply recompensed by the glorious view which burst upon ns as we
emerged from the narrow channel into the open bay. Surrounded by
wooded heights, forming a mass of luxuriant foliage, broken by patches
of the low white buildings which form the vUlage of D'Urban, vidth a

LAND SHARKS. — A NIGHT IN HARBOUR. 5
background of bare mountain in the distance, and the deep blue
cloudless sky over all, the bay of Natal is indeed a lovely spot, hardly
needing the immediate contrast which it presents to the wide expanse
of ocean, to enhance its beauties in the eyes of the newly-arrived
visitor. The custom-house, a substantial stone edifice, with a slate
roof, is the most prominent object in the scene ; it stands on the
beach, just at the termination of the bush and the commencement of
the spit of sand which runs out to the bar, and of which the bar is, in
fact, a part. Here all seemed Hfe and animation; gay parties on
horseback, among whom we could detect more than one riding-habit,
crowded to the edge of the water, while every boat in the place
appeared to be afloat, and filled with eager faces. We had scarcely
taken up our position, and laid hold of African soU, ere we were
boarded by a motley crew of agents, store-keepers, custom-house
oficers, and a fair proportion of a class known in America as
"loafers," and by saUors universally as land-sharks. There are
plenty of such cattle in all colonies, and I mean no ofi'ence to the good
folk of D'Urban in saying that they are not exempt from the pest.
AR were of course eager for news, and for some time there was a
perfect torrent of question and answer, interrupted only by exclama
tions of surprise, or satisfaction or displeasure, as the contents of our
budget chanced to affect the listeners. Newspapers were at a pre
mium, and the bearers of private letters were important personages.
The approach of night at length put an end to the tumult, and we
were again left to ourselves, one only of our passengers having
gone ashore ; he had been a commercial traveUer, and was bent on a
spree. There is something in the reaction which follows moments of more
than ordinary excitement, ever impressive, if not actually solemn ;
and as I leant over the tafifrail, watching the countless shoals of fish
that broke the smooth surface of the water, this feeling came upon
me with peculiar force. The stiUness of the sea, the silence, broken
only by the distant cry of jackal or wild cat, the absence of the usual
watch on board, the ship herself motionless and lifeless, with naked
spars, reposing on her watery couch as if she too knew that her

6 A REVERIE.
labours were at an end ; the perfect security which this repose indi
cated, the loom of the dark forest on either side, the mingled sensa
tions of which even the veteran traveller must be conscious, to some
extent, on his arrival in a new and unknown land, the uncertainty
which begets wild fancies and speculations, and dreamy visions, soon
to be dispelled, the brief but death-like pause before entering on an
untried sphere of action; — all these thoughts and objects, within and
around, combined to make that night more memorable to me than
days of " moving accident by flood or field." But I can scarcely hope
that my musings will be deemed equally interesting, even by the
most friendly reader.

 ^^^4^i^^^~~

CHAPTER II.
D'URBAN — A GLASS OP CHAMPAGNE — INNS  WAGON-HUNTING — THE COAOH-
OPPICE — A COOL RECEPTION — CIVILITY OP CUSTOM-HOUSE OPPICERS —
CONTRADICTORY REPORTS  NATAL PLAQUES — "MORE TICKS IHAN GRASS"
 COMMERCE  OAPE TRADE.
The next morning we landed, and, taking off shoes and stockings,
walked across the wet sands, which at low water are laid bare over
nearly a third of the harbour, to the vUlage of D'Urban, distant about
a mile and a-half. When the tide is in, the road lies through the
bush, making a detour of a mile round a mangrove swamp, and
passing the head of Cato's Creek, so called after one of the most enter
prising merchants in the colony.
D'Urban is supposed to be laid out in streets at right angles, but
the various forms of the buildings, the clumps of bush which conti
nually intervene, and the sandy plain on which the whole place
stands, give it a very irregular but at the same time a picturesque
appearance. Now a neat little brick cottage presents itself, with
green verandah and low thatched roof. Now an edifice of wattle and
dab, which, though it is nothing more than a series of large sheep
hurdles plastered with mud, makes a very comfortable habitation ;
reed and dab is preferred by some, as offering more effectual resist
ance to the attacks of the white ant. Here stands an uncouth building
of corrugated iron, there a Kaffir hut of sticks and grass, looking Uke
a large and very rough bee-hive ; by its side a house of boards, and in
one or two instances a stone or brick building of two stories. Houses
of every kind were in process of erection, while clusters of tents here
and there shewed where the newly arrived emigrants were making
their flrst essay of colonial hardships, and completed the foreground
of the picture. It was backed by the fine sweep of the Berea, a
densely-wooded hill, which almost encircles the plain, and shuts out
the view of the interior, — destined, perhaps, hereafter to be the site of

8 A GLASS OF CHAMPAGNE.
many a beautiful vUla, but at present almost impervious to the white
man, the favourite abode of snakes and leopards, and not unfrequently
visited by herds of wandering elephants. It was Sunday, and the
gay plumage of the fair part of the population, while it showed that
even here fashion had her votaries, formed an odd contrast with the
dusky, though not ungraceful limbs of the naked Kaffirs, whom we
met at every turn, and whose appearance, after all, was most in
keeping with the tout ensemble of the scene. The dress of the men
generally was not out of character, though every now and then the
absurd custom of black coat and cylinder hat, under a burning stm,
reminded one strongly of the self-imposed tortures of the Hindoos,
and argued little for the common sense of the wearers.
As I was walking up the sandy street in company with two or
three fellow-passengers, all of us, I have no doubt, looking the
"freshman" to perfection, a little incident occurred which, if only for
its rarity, is worth recording. Passing one of the eccentric iron
buildings which I have noticed, and which must be famiHar to the
London reader, we were politely accosted by the proprietor, and after
a short conversation, invited to enter his store. It was roomy, well
ventilated, and much cooler than I could have supposed, and fiUed
with a large assortment of ironmongery. He told us that he had
erected it himself, and that though prices were continually fluctu
ating, owing to the large stocks brought out by successive emigrants,
which are often sold at great loss for ready cash, he was still doing a
very fair business. While we were talking, a bottle of champagne
was quietly uncorked, and, as if it had been a matter of course, glasses
were handed round, and we were heartily welcomed to Natal. A
kind offer of assistance or advice in case of need was not wanting, and
we continued our walk, considerably pleased with our first reception.
There are two inns in D'Urban, where the fare and accommoda
tion are very passable, and where the traveller might be sufficiently
comfortable (colonially speaking) but for the constant and excessive
consumption of strong liquors prevailing there. Sitting in the pubhc
room, it is often difficult to avoid a row ; a stand-up fl'ght is an every
day occurrence, and the horrors of delirium tremens a frequent exhi-

INNS. — WAGON-HUNTING. 9
bition at these places. Woe to the unlucky emigrant who, on his first
ai-rival, with money in his pocket and Uttle power of self-control, falls
among the set that congregate there ! His career will be short, and
its end may be easily foretold. The charge at these inns is five shil
lings per day, the principal proflts arising from the sale of beer, wine,
and spirits. An excellent boarding-house has since been estabUshed
by Mrs. RusseU, one of the sufferers in the wreck of the Minerva,
which is frequented by the principal merchants, and is entirely free
from the evil alluded to ; and others, I believe, of an humbler class,
are now to be found ; but the inns sadly need reformation — they are,
in fact, little better than canteens. We took luncheon, however, or
tiffin, as it is called in Africa, at one of them ; and as it was our first
meal ashore, were little disposed to find fault, though the absence of
anything Uke fruit was a sore disappointment. After all we had
heard and read (how it had made our mouths water in the tropics !)
about the rapid growth and easy cultivation of pine apples, oranges,
and aU kinds of thirst-quelling productions, to find that except in the
gardens of one or two of the principal people, fruit was an entire
myth, just as much as the golden apples of the Hesperides, or those
whioh gemmed the trees in AUadin's cave ! What a falHng off was
here ! We consoled ourselves as well as we might, with a glass of
very tolerable poulac, and after perambulating the town tUl its novelty
had weU nigh worn off, retumed by the bush road to the ship — where,
through the captain's kindness, two or three of us stiU retained our
cabins — very UttlB enUghtened by our day's quest.
I had seen quite enough, however, to determine me on proceeding
at once to Maritzburg ; and, one of the most agreeable of my fellow-
passengers being of the same mind, we resolved, without loss of time,
to hire a wagon in which we might transport thither ourselves and
our effects. This proved a more difficult task than we had imagined,
and in the prosecution of it we were passed on from house to house,
after a kind of " send the fool forward" fashion, which was anything
but satisfactory. One wagon was just let, another was at the farm,
the oxen were astray, or ill, or otherwise employed. For further
information we were always referred to the market-place, which, after

10 A COOL RECEPTION.
having innocently traversed, at least a dozen times, we discovered at
length to be a sea of sand, studded here and there with islands,
thrown up by the white ant, and covered with bush. The sand to
which I have previously alluded has accumulated considerably since
the removal of the Hne of bush that grew along the shore, and
served as a protection against the easterly winds. By the side of these
enormous ant-heaps is the rendezvous for the wagons to and from
Maritzburg and all parts of the country ; in short, it is the general
coach-office of D'Urban. Even here our search was unsuccessful, and
we were about to abandon it in despair, when my friend bethought
him of a letter of introduction, of which he was the bearer, and felt'
sure that he need only present it in order to put an end to aU our
difficulties. Though not equaUy sanguine as to the result, I was yet
anxious to leave no means untried, and therefore said nothing to damp
his ardour. He aocordingly departed, having fixed our place of meeting
at the inn. At the time appointed I found him sitting in the"corner
of the room, looking very disconsolate, and smoking as a man only
can smoke when thoroughly out of temper with himself and mankind.
A cool reception^ — -to be kept standing at the door, not even asked to
sit down : these things are trying to an EngUshman's temper, but
should cause little surprise or indignation in a colony where self-
dependence is the chief virtue, and the motto too often — " Every man
for himself," &c. " But he might have expressed an indefinite hope
of seeing me again, if only for the sake of common civiUty,'' argued he.
" So he might ; but, perhaps, he was too honest, or too independent
to say what he did not mean. At all events, he has taught us a good
lesson, for which you will thank him one of these days."
I do not think my homUy had any great effect, but we had no
time to waste in words, as our luggage was yet on board, and there
was the much dreaded process of examination to go through. And
here an agreeable disappointment awaited us, our boxes being aUowed
to pass, as in common sense they should, without even the ceremony
of opening, and every vexatious delay or impediment being removed.
Indeed, I cannot speak too highly of the way in which business is
carried on in every department of the custom-house at Natal, nor of

CONTRADICTORY EEPORTS. U
the readiness shown by its officers, the two Messrs. Newton especi
ally, to facihtate the disembarkation of the emigrants.
The carriage of luggage from the Point to the town is five shUlings
the cart-load — generaUy drawn by sis or eight oxen — and it affords a
profitable occupation to a considerable number of people. On my
return with the last load, I was deUghted to flnd that L.'s visit to the
coach-office had been at length successful, that he had hired a wagon
and pair of oxen for £3, the regular charge, and that we were to
start (D.V.) the next morning.
That evening at the inn we met several farmers, and it was quite
perplexing to hear the different accounts which each gave of the capa
biUties of the soil in the neighbourhood. One of them, an enterprising
young emigrant from the pastures of Essex, spoke in the highest
terms of the country. He was renting land under Mr. Willy, a large
proprietor there, and, according to his own account, had come out, but
a few months before, with twenty-eight shUlings in his pocket ! His
opinion was, that barley, oats, rye, and aU kinds of vegetables, would
grow weU, and he had little doubt about wheat, of which he had a
crop that promised to be very flne, but was not yet arrived at matu
rity. He evidently spoke from an overflow of high spirits, and his
experience was of short date ; he confessed, too, that he had undergone
great hardships, and he was, besides, a man of that elastic character
which must, if joined with steady perseverance, command success
anywhere. GeneraUy the tone was desponding ; the outcry agaiust
Mr. Byrne's scheme was then at its height, and the complaints were
bitter and clamorous. The town was crowded with emigrants, who
had either, from gross mismanagement, been unable to obtain their
miserable allotments of twenty acres, or who had been deterred from
taking them up by the discouraging reports of those who had returned
in despair, quelled by the obstacles that presented themselves, and the
apparent hopelessness of overcoming them. I must say that there
appeared very Uttle of that stubborn energy which characterizes the
Canadian backwoodsman among the emigrants at D'Urban, and that
there was a Ustlessness about most of them which may probably be attri
butable in great measure to the climate, but which, from whatever

12 NATAL PLAGUES.
cause it may arise, is certainly not favourable to the development of
the resources of a new country, or the rapid progress of a young
settlement. My own opinion of the agricultural qualities of the coast
land I shall reserve for a future chapter, but, before leaving D'Urban,
I must pass sentence upon it as one of the last places I should ever
choose or recommend for a residence. Its climate is excessively
hot and enervating, and must be very trying to most constitutions,
its sandy streets form anything but an agreeable promenade, and it
is, moreover, infested with two or three plagues pecuUarly its own.
Chief among them we have the ticks, which though more or less com
mon throughout the sea-land, abound here to a fearfiil extent, and are
determined enemies to the comforts of every other living creature. Ia
removing them from the person great care is required, lest the head
should remain behind, as when once the skin has closed upon it it is
not easily dislodged. But the poor animals suffer most. I have fre
quently taken them from the bodies of horses, swollen to the size of a
large acorn, and I have seen cattle actually devoured by Hiem. From
this circumstance, as well as from the deficiency of good pasture and
fresh water, it is next to impossible to keep oxen, horses, or even
dogs, in decent condition. Those who value their horses keep them
constantly stabled, which, owing to the high price of forage, is an
expensive plan, and not nearly so healthy for the animal as being
turned out to grass where it is practicable. The disease, too, so fatal
to horses in many parts of South Africa, is very prevalent here ; its
symptoms somewhat resemble those of pleurisy, but its real nature is
very Uttle understood, and no remedy has yet been discovered for it.
I have hinted at the absence of fresh water : this is indeed a great
evil, and prabably the cause of many others. The water used in the
town is chiefly drawn from a spring in the neighbom-hood of the
camp, and is decidedly brackish and unwholesome, and the same may
be said of the two rivers which flow in at the head of the bay. Pure
water for the supply of ships and individuals who require it must be
brought across the Berea from the Umgeni, and few think it worth
the trouble of fetching. To lead a channel from the river into the
bay so as to ensure a constant supply of its clear stream to the inha-

" MORE TICKS THAN GRASS." 13
bitants of D'Urban, has always been a favourite project vsdth those
who have the interest of the place at heart. I beUeve that an engineer
was employed to survey the ground, and that he reported favourably ;
indeed, I rather think the work was actually commenced, but from
want of funds was abandoned before much progress had been made.
This is a matter so intimately connected with the health of the town,,
that nothing short of the absolute impracticabUity of the scheme
should interfere with its immediate completion, and I have Httle
doubt that the necessity wiU soon become so urgent as to ensure thisi
result. Another plague pecuUar to the environs of the bay, the cause of
which is unknown but may probably be referred to the last mentioned
deficiency, is the Natal sore, a very painful boU which makes its
appearance on the arms and legs of new-comers, often defying aU
attempts to cure or to reduce it. Few on their flrst arrival escape this
disorder, and even old colonists are not exempt from its attacks.
They are generally successive, one sore appearing as the other dies
away ; and this sometimes continues for many months. AU kinds of
infallible nostrums are in request both among the Dutch and EngUsh,
and all are equaUy useless ; the best being a moderate but not too low
diet, adhesive plaster, frequent bathing, and patience. The vulgar
error, of course, prevaUs, that they are " a healthy sign." They are
unknown at Maritzburg ; nor have I ever seen or heard of them in
any other part of the country; but I have frequently known a single
day's sojourn at the Bay produce them in numbers.
The Dutchmen, whose habits are chiefly pastoral, hold the place
in utter aversion, and send their oxen thither, even for a few hours,
with great reluctance. One of them, in conversing with me on the
subject, summed up its merits in a few words : — " I don't Uke the
place," said he, " more ticks than grass."
In spite of all these drawbacks the town increases, and shows
many signs of prosperity. Large stores are erected, a public library
has been estabUshed, a municipality talked about, and the good people
hint at the removal of the seat of govemment to their town from
Pieter Maritzburg. But there is Uttle chance of such an event being

14 COMMERCE.
even contemplated by the authorities, and it were a thousand pities
that it ever should. As long as emigration continues, the port derives
the most immediate benefit from the inflow of capital and enterprize,
a large proportion of which is necessarily arrested in its furthet
progress, and diverted into channels which all circulate within its
limits ; while the inland town requires the support of a govemment
to attract and encourage an agricultural population, on whom its
welfare, and, indeed, that of the whole colony, must ultimately depend,
to say nothing of the necessity of a central position from which aU
parts of the country may be commanded, in case of internal disturb
ance or foreign invasion.
The commerce of D'Urban is not yet in a sufficiently settled state
to deserve more than a passing notice ; indeed, without exports, it
can hardly be said to exist. The rapid succession of immigrants, and
the consequent abundance of ready money, have given an extra
stimulus to trade, which, for some time, assumed the appearance of
full-blown prosperity. Persons of sanguine temperament saw in this
precocious development the immediate promise of a golden harvest,
and speculation ran riot, thongh not to the alarming extent that has
always preceded a commercial crisis elsewhere. As, however, none
of the money remains in the colony, but, after a brief circulation,
returns, through the hands of the merchants, either to the Cape or to
the mother country, it is evident that this prosperity must be not only
transient and faUacious, but injurious to the best interests of the
settlers, and that whenever the tide of emigration shaU cease to flow
a great amount of ruin and bankruptcy must be the result. Already
signs of instability have appeared ; one or two houses have faUed, and
a large body of the merchants of D'Urban have adopted the ominous
restriction of allowing only two months' credit to their customers,
which, besides the inconvenience it occasions to the farmer in the
interior, where cash is raised with difficulty, is in itself an admission
of the insecure grounds on which their business has been heretofore
conducted. The fact is, that trade occupies a very undue proportion of the popu
lation, when compared with safer and more useftQ pursuits ; whether

COMMERCE. 15
this is owing to a disincUnation to hard manual labour — natural in a
warm climate, or to the previous habits of the class from which the
emigrants have chiefly been selected, is not easy to define ; but one
great reason is the absurd practice which prevails, and which, from
interested motives, is too often recommended to intending emigrants,
— I mean that of taking out cargoes of goods far beyond those needed
for their own use, with the idea of increasing their Httle capital by
their immediate sale at a considerable profit. I need scarcely say that
their expectations are seldom, if ever, realized. There is a glut of such
imports in the market ; and the emigrant, finding his supposed treasure
Httle more than an incumbrance, is driven to the alternative of either
selUng off at once, at a very great sacrifice, or of setting up a store, and
entering into aruinous competition with the already established trades
man, without even the prospect of success to justify the undertaking.
The reader wUl conceive the foUy of this practice when I mention
that I have seen drills, scarifiers, and other costly implements totally
unsuited to a new soU, lying on the beach where they have been
landed, the owners being unwilUng to incur the expense or trouble of
removing them, and that I have known some of Ransome's best
ploughs sold for £2. Guns and rifles may generally be bought far
cheaper than in England. One of our passengers had brought out a
Scotch cart, which he told me had cost him £35, before it arrived in
Natal, and he was glad to part with it at a much less price, for
though handy things on a farm, they are not suitable for long jour
neys, and do not supersede the necessity of buying a wagon.
But next to the absence of exports, the greatest drag to the com
merce of Natal is its intimate connection with, and almost entire
dependence on the old colony, resulting partly from its geographical
position and the want of means to establish other relations ; but more
especially from the fact of the original settlement of the country
having proceeded thence.
To the simple Dutch farmers. Cape Town was the ne plus ultra of
civilization and reflnement, the fountain of wealth and commercial
enterprise. To them it was in the fullest sense the MetropoUs, for,
of their own mother country they knew Httle and cared less ; and

16 CAPE TRADE.
it was bound to them by stUl closer ties. Many of them could
number among their relations one, at least, of the Cape merchants.
and, with a people so clannish in their habits, it was a matter of
course that the very few wants, incidental to their primitive style of
living, should be suppHed from that quarter. As the settlement
increased, some of the Cape houses found it worth while to form
branch establishments in the new colony, which, uniting a large trade
in ivory and other native produce to their own ostensible business,
became flourishing concerns.
On the abandonment of the country by the Boers many of these
merchants still remained, and on the arrival of the EngUsh colonists
held the trade in their own hands, while the advantages of an organ
ized system, and of long experience, enabled them for some time to
defy competition. But the EngUsh colonist, however humble, was
far too knowing to give his ready money for the slop goods which
had satisfled his Dutch predecessors, and for which they had willingly
exchanged the produce of their farms, or the spoUs of their skUl and
daring in the chase ; nor did it need any great sagacity to discover
that the unloading and unshipping of English goods at the Cape, the
double payment of port dues and customs, and the additional delay
in the transit of perishable materials from the place of their manufac
ture to that of their sale, could have but one result : the Natal pur
chaser was suppHed with an inferior article, the refuse, perhaps, of
the Cape market, at a higher price than it would have cost biTn to
obtain goods of first-rate quaUty from England, were a direct com
munication estabUshed. To the attainment of this very desirable end
the inability to provide a retum cargo for ships unloading at the
port of Natal has hitherto proved an unsurmountable obstacle ; and
EngUsh merchants are thus driven into the Cape trade, which, with
its manifest disadvantages, flourishes greatly, and employs a con
siderable number of coasters — not the least prosperous adventurers in
that part of the world. A regular steamer, running between Natal
and the Cape, in immediate connection vdth the Screw Steam Ship
Company's line, would remove this drawback, and effect a rapid and
complete revolution in the commerce of D'Urban.

CHAPTER III.
ONE TOO MANY — EN ROUTE — THE BEREA — COTTON FARM — PINE TOWN—
BOTHA'S — PLUCK HAS IT — WILD TURKEYS — UYS' DOORNS — RAPID RISE OF
STREAMS — PALLACIES OP GUIDE-BOOKS — ARRIVAL AT MARITZBURG — OUR
DRIVER — AGREEABLY DISAPPOINTED — DESCRIPTION OP MARITZBURG.
A WET day, not a Scotch mist, but a steady hard drenching rain,
put travelling out of the question, and kept us close prisoners in the
hotel. As the roads are generally nothing but wagon-tracks, more or
less worn according to the traffic npon them, a few hours' rain makes
them so sUppery that the oxen can with difficulty keep their footing
even on plain ground, while the hiU sides are perfectly impassable.
The retuming sunshine, however, quickly dries them again, and as
they are never traversed when in a soft state they are Httle cut up by
wheels, and a muddy road vyith deep ruts, such as one meets with in
dear damp England, is unknown in Natal.
The foUowing morning was bright, cloudless, and not without a
trace of yesterday's storm. Soon after breakfast the loud smack of
the whip announced a wagon, and presently the long line of oxen
passed slowly by, and the huge tent-covered vehicle stood before the
door. I looked in vain for the Dutch driver whom I had seen on the
previous day, but, being told that it was " all right," was preparing to
load, when a second wagon rolled up, on the voor kist of which I at
once recognized our man. It appeared that L  , to make assurance
doubly sure, had hired two wagons instead of one, and the embarras
de richesses was Uke to prove as great an annoyance as the dearth
we had experienced before, when he luckily stumbled on the fact that
one of the wagoners had only been engaged conditionally, and that as
the contract had not been ratifled in a second interview it was null
and void. The rejected, who was an EngUshman of very unprepos
sessing countenance, was by no means satisfied with our decision, C

18 EN ROUTE.
and talked blusteringly about the terrors of the law ; but, finding aU
his threats ineffectual, he departed with the vague warning that we
had not seen the end of it. Meanwhile we were busily employed in
stowing away our luggage, a process which requires some skill, and
which three or four Kafirs rather interrupted than forwarded, though
they did their best, and worked wilUngly enough.
At length all was ready, and at the word " trek" the oxen moved
slowly off over the sandy plain. L— — and I walked on a-head, and
were soon ascending the steep side of the Berea, our road bordered
on either hand by the castor-oil plant, which grows here in profusion.
There was not much appearance of fine timber, but the underwood
was matted together into a kind of net-work, and seemed quite im
penetrable, save where some shrubs, or broken branches marked the
path which the elephant had forced through the tangled thicket.
From the summit the view was exquisite : the quaint irregular town ;
the smooth bay, with its miniature islands ; the various vessels riding
at anchor, amongst which our graceful barque, with her lofty white
tapering spars, was easily recognized ; the bold outHne of the bluff,
with the signal-post on its crest, and the breakers dashing at its feet ;
and the calm though treacherous ocean, glowing Uke liquid fire in
the noonday sun; so beautiful did the whole appear that all the
defects we had discovered in the plain vanished for the moment from
our recollection, and it was with Hvely admiration, not unmixed with
regret, that we turned our backs upon the scene and continued our
journey. Beyond the Berea the country was rather more free, though stiU
bushy and broken into a succession of hiU and dale. About five
miles out of D'Urban, our driver called a halt, and having " out-
spanned," or freed the oxen from the yoke, suffering them to graze
at Uberty, proceeded to kindle a fire, and prepare the noonday meal.
Slices of beef were spitted on a long stick, which was then stuck into
the ground so as to hang over the fire. The meat thus broiled, with
a loaf of bread and a cup of exceUent coffee, formed a sumptuous
repast, to which a pipe suppHed the never-faiUng dessert. After
about an hour's rest we resumed our journey, the countiy becoming

COTTON FARM — PINE TOWN. 19
less and less bushy, tiU not a shrub was visible, and assuming a
mountainous and rugged appearance.
At the fourteenth mUe we passed German Tovra, the site of Mr.
Bergtheil's German settlement for the cultivation of cotton. Some
pods which we examined were pronounced by L  , who is a judge,
to contain good samples, but the season of harvest was long past,
and we were told that for want of labourers to pluck it a great
quantity of the cotton had been suffered to decay upon the ground.
The nest halt was at Murray's, the farm of an inteUigent emi
grant, with a good deal of the Yankee spirit of enterprize in his
cofliposition, who has perhaps accompUshed more than any other
settler in the colony. His soUtary house has now become the nucleus
of a thriving circle of farms, and a vUlage has sprung into existence,
caUed, after the Lieutenant-Governor, Pine Town, which promises to
be one ofthe most important in the district. Here we took our evening
meal, and, climbing the steep ascent of Cowie's Hill, from whose
summit we caught the last gUmpse of the sea, continued our trek
beneath a clear soft moon, to Botha's, the halfway-house between
D'Urban and Maritzburg, where we rested for the night. Finding
the Httle inn, however, already occupied by a noisy party, we
declined the offer of accommodation, and retiring to our wagon we
nestled in among the luggage, and slept the wholesome sleep that
exercise alone can produce.
There was little variety in our next day's route. The road was
still hUly, the scenery still wild, and of that character which gene
rally denotes the intersection of stratified formations by the primaeval
rock. Considerable improvements have been made at different parts
of the road ; some hiUs have been avoided by a detour, while in others
cuttings have been made, and trenches dug to carry off the violence
of the summer floods. Eight miles beyond Botha's is Sterk Spruit, a
shallow brooklet, whose steep and broken banks showed plainly that
at times it was transformed into a roaring torrent. Here is another
way-side inn, which we passed unvisited, preferring our al fresco
meal under the shadow of the wagon to its questionable advantages.
At our next outspann we overtook W  , a 'fellow-passenger.

80 PLUCK HAS IT.
who had started from D'Urban two days before us with a wagon and
the Scotch cart already mentioned, and had met with a complete
chapter of accidents. His oxen, a pair which he had purchased at
the Bay, had refused to draw, and the Kafirs whom he had hired
either could not or would not drive. One whole span had strayed
away the previous evening, and not being able to recover them
he had been obliged to leave his cart on the road. He was ac
companied by his wife, who was rather cast down at this unpro
mising commencement, though she could not faU to be cheered by
the indomitable pluck with which her husband encountered all his
difficulties, shewing that he at least was weU fitted for the task he
had undertaken. On this plain, which was greener than any we
had yet seen, we observed several paauws, or wild turkeys, and
endeavoured by stalking to get a shot, but, the grass being short,
there was no cover, and the birds were wUd, and would not suffer us
to approach them.
Towards evening, our route became less hilly, and enUvened by
clumps of the African thorn, or mimosa, which graduaUy spread over
the whole plain.
This tract is called, after one of the origiual Dutch settlers, " Uys'
dooms," * and here is the last house on the road before arriving at
Maritzburg, from which it is about eight mUes distant. We out-
spanned for the night among the bushes, and, though sleeping on the
ground, were tormented by none of the insects with which Africa is
said to swarm.
In the cool of the morning, L — — and I had a refreshing bath in a
brook hard by, which, like most of the streams at this season, was
very low, though by no means dried up. The reader may form some
ideasof the rapidity with which these rivulets swell and subside, when
I inform him that on one occasion a friend of mine, having crossed this
very brook without difficulty, the water being scarcely up to his
horse's knees, was surprised to flnd that only a few hours before a
* Uys was one of the most intrepid leaders of the Dutch immigration, and -was killed
in an enga,i;ement with the Kafirs. His gallant defence and death are well described hy
Sir W. C. Harris, in his " Wild Sports tn South Africa."

RAPID RISE OF STREAMS. Sl
private of tie Cape Mounted Rifles had been swept away with his
horse by the violence of the flood.
The remainder of our road was good, and comparatively level ; but
as our driver took advantage of this to urge forward the oxen at a
brisk trot, the jolting, which at all times is sufficiently violent, was
tremendous — even worse than on the rougher parts of the road. The
heat, too, was intense, and the aspect of the soil around, from which
the last year's grass had been lately burned, arid and desert-like.
I may here remark that the first impressions of the traveller in
Natal depend entirely upon the season of his arrival, the face of the
country changing, after the summer rains, from fresh green to withered
brown or coal-black. Hence arise the contradictory accounts which
have reached England, the authors representing either appearance as
a permanent feature of the country in proportion as their own ideas
have been coloured by the realization or disappointment of their hopes,
too often, it is to be feared, with the interested view of producing a
particular effect on the minds of intending emigrants.
Our first view of Maritzburg scarcely tended to raise our spirits, or
appeared to justify the enthusiasm with which it was regarded by our
driver, whose father, Maritz, had been one of its founders. It is
situated on a bult, or hump of land, rising out of a natural basin,
and surrounded by hills, which, to the west and north-west, stand in
high ridges, and whose bare, black sides, nnreUeved to our eyes by a
single tree, formed a dreary boundary to the scene. The " Little
Bushman's River," a third-rate stream, almost encircles the town, and
is spanned at the entrance on the D'Urban road by a wooden bridge.
Crossing this, and passing alongside of the turf waU that fences the
thinly-tenanted cemetery, in which an obeUsk now marks the grave
of the Lieutenant-Governor, Martin West, we found ourselves at the
outskirts of the town, where, as it was Sunday, and high noon, we
made our flnal outspan, Maritz having kindly allowed us to leave our
" notions " in the wagon, till we had decided on a place of residence.
Throughout the journey, we had received more than ordinary
civility and attention from our Dutch driver, almost amounting to
cordiality, though, Uke most of his countrymen, he was rather taciturn

2-2 DESCRIPTION OF MAKITZBUEG.
than communicative, and was not without his prejudices. His mling
passion seemed to be a hatred of the Kafirs, which was not to be won
dered at, seeing that his father had been killed by them, and that
there was scarcely one of his kindred who could not trace some irre
parable injury or loss to their agency.
We found the inn crowded with loungers, and, though with rather
more pretension, not less objectionable than those at D'Urban, and
congratulated ourselves upon the foresight which had prevented us
from unloading there, and saved us the trouble of a second removal.
After dinner, we strolled about the town, which, on a closer inspec
tion, revealed an interior far different from that which its distant view
had led ns to anticipate. Not that there was anything imposing, or
grand, or even beautiful, in any of its features, nor that it contained
any strange or foreign objects, whieh would strike the eye, or command
attention. There were wanting even the irregularity of outUne and
variety of execution which formed one of the chief attractions of
D'Urban. Its streets were really at right angles, its simple white
washed houses exhibited few architectural vagaries, nor was there
much taste or elegance displayed in their construction or adornment.
The Colonial Offices, the Court-House, Gaol, and Dutch Church, were
plain, unpretending edifices ; and the two-storied house of Mr.
Zietsman, with its corniced roof and balustrade, the most ostenr
tatious buUding in the town, had quite a soUtary and discon
tented look by the side of its humble neighbours. Neatness was
perhaps the prevailing characteristic ; and yet we could not fail at
once to observe that the selection of the spot and the original design
had been the work of no mean 'prentices of their craft, and that
it was something more than a mere inland vUlage which they con
templated. The abundance of water, which, flowing on either side of the
streets, not only suppHes the ordinary wants of the inhabitants, but
enables them to irrigate their gardens with the fertUizing stream, —
the large market square which the hopeful eye might 'easily picture
thronged with a busy and industrious population, and teeming with
the produce of well-cultivated farms. The happy slope of the ground,

DESCRIPTION OF MARITZBURG. S3
by which drainage is facilitated and health secured — the commanding
position of the camp which overlooks the whole extent of the plain,
form a combination of advantages not always to be found in large and
populous cities, and we could not but confess that should the colony
increase in prosperity and importance even so as to equal the expec
tations of its most ardent admirers, Pieter Maritzburg was in no re
spect unworthy to be its capital.
Apart from these practical considerations there were not wanting
efforts of taste and reflnement just sufficient to show how great in
this respect also were its capabiUties for improvement. Here and
there green hedges of quina or pomegranate inclosed the nicely-kept
garden; verandahs, around whose posts were trained beautiful and
luxuriant creepers, reUeved the uniformity of white wall; roses
abounded, and the weepiug-wiUow had been planted by the side of
the Httle shots, or water-courses, and flourished amazingly, as did
the seringeboom or lilac-tree. One or two specimens of the blue
gum, planted four years before, had already attained a great height,
and there appeared no reason why many foreign trees should not
succeed equaUy as well. Were the experiment of planting tried on
a large scale, and should it prove successful, I know of no greater
boon that cotUd be conferred on the town or its inhabitants. A want
of shade is at present one of its chief natural deficiencies, — no slight
one beneath the rage of an almost tropical sun. This want suppHed,
the now open and bare-looking market-place surrounded with a cool
and shady promenade, the entrances to the town and some ofthe streets
planted in avenues, and each erf contributing its quota of varied
foliage, Maritzburg would be one of the prettiest and most deUght
ful, as well as one of the best situated and planned of colonial cities.
There is about the^whole place, too, an air of tranquil repose, we^l
SIU ted to the centre of an essentially pastoral district, and vividly
recalling the primitive habits of its original families. The Duteh
element has not yet, as in D'Urban, been quite extinguished by its
more active and powerful rival, and I confess that greatly as I admire
that restless energy which marks the progress of English trade and
enterprize, I shaU be almost sorry to see its final triumph here.

24

CHAPTER IV.
LETTER OF INTRODUCTION — COMPORTABLY SETTLED — LAID UP — SOCIETY IN
MARITZBURG — COLONIAL ARISTOCRACY — DUTCH AND ENGLISH — EMI
GRANTS indeed! — THE CHURCH — LAWYERS AND THEIR BILLS — AN
UNIVERSAL GENIUS — DOCTOR JACK — SURVEYORS — 'BUS VERSUS WAGON — ¦
A MEETING IN THE DARK — THE NATAL HORSE.
There are times when a sense of loneUness, not easily accoimted
for or dispelled, will creep over the most seasoned minds. Such a
feeling was upon me when, after parting with regret from my friendly
and agreeable fellow-traveller, whose business led him in a different
direction, I started to deliver a letter of introduction, of which I was
the bearer, to Mr. Henderson, one of the chief merchants ofthe place.
I need scarcely say how all my apprehensions gave way before a
frank and hearty reception. Now all difficulties vanished, and every
thing assumed a cheery and hopeful aspect. Under Mr. Henderson's
guidance I was soon comfortably settled in a newly established
boarding-house with all my traps about me, and was deep in the
mysteries of unpacking. I had taken the precaution of having all
my boxes lined with tin and soldered, and had the satisfaction of
finding bits, stirrups, and guns in untarnished brightness. Here I
had ample time to consider my future movements, being laid up with
one of the painful sores which I mentioned in a former chapter, and
unable even to put my foot to the ground. In this interval I made
one or two pleasant acquaintances, and was duly instructed in the
gossip of the place till I became quite au courant des affaires, and
as many of the discoveries I thus made were confirmed by after ex
perience I may as well take this opportunity of imparting them to .
the reader.
I found society in Maritzburg partaking more than usually of that
anomalous character which it so frequently assumes in colonial towns
as well as in many remote . places where the finer materials for its

SOCIETY IN MARITZBURG. 25
organization are deficient. In such confined circles those who, faute
de mieux, hold the highest places are too apt to be over-jealous of
their tenure not to be incessantly haunted by the fear of compromis
ing their position in the smallest degree. They regard all new
comers with an eye of suspicion, and are very strict in requiring
vouchers for admittance into their coterie. To a certain extent these
precautions are not only excusable, but really necessary. Among
the higher classes emigration, with its novelty and its daring and
adventurous character, has lost also its prestige. It has become
popular and vulgar ; it has dwindled from a national enterprize to a
mercantile speculation. Instead of a noble profession, full of great
aims and important duties, and offering perhaps the widest scope of
any for the profltable exercise of youthful energy and talent, it has
too often been regarded as the last resource for the bankrupt in for
tune, character, and reputation, or as an escape-valve to those undis-
cipHned spirits, which, boiUng under the restraints of an artificial
state of society, are in constant danger of breaking out into open
mutiny. To such as those the colonies offer a ready asylum, while
those who, with Pisistratus Caxton, make emigration the object of
their early and deliberate choice, are comparatively so few that there
is a positive prejudice, not altogether without reason, against gentle
men emigrants.
But if, on the score of moral propriety, a certain degree of exclu
siveness is thus rendered indispensable, exclusiveness of caste is alto
gether without justification. The very essence of colonial prosperity
is unity of purpose and of action, and this can never be obtained
whUe social distinctions, with all their array of internal warfare, are
allowed to prevail. The Phoeaeans left their native country " omnis
execrata civitas,'' bound by one oath, stimulated by one common
desire, or they would never have founded an important province in
the heart of Gaul. It was a band of brothers who landed in New
England and sowed the seeds of a mighty nation in the barren soil
of Massachussets. " LibertS, Egalite, Fraternite," those terms so
much misused at home, have, or ought to have, a real and useful
meaning in a small community, which cannot afford to split into

88 COLONIAL ARISTOCRACY.
different classes, each set against the other, and where the arena is
so confined that the contrast is not, as in the mother country, one of
masses, but of individuals, and is consequently more bitter in its
nature, and more injurious in its results.
But the greatest argument against these distinctions is the diffi
culty, not to say the impossibiUty, of maintaining a high standard
for the first, or exclusive class, for want, as I hefore observed, of
sufficient material for its formation. The small circle of government
officials is scarcely sufficient of itself to constitute a class, and with
the exception of these a new colony is composed almost entirely of
working men, tradesmen, farmers, and labom-ers. There are no men
of leisure ; literature and the flne arts have neither scope nor oppor
tunity for their development ; time and means are wanting for the
cultivation of the elegancies and refinements of domestic or social
life. The attempt, therefore, to establish an aristocratical pre-eminence
is at once vain and absurd, and only ends in fostering that worst of
dynasties, a plutocracy. As the colony grows and strengthens, and
ripens into a nation, the various elements of its society will graduaUy
faU into their natural order ; the ornamental parts in aU their grace
fulness will then appear like tracery, adding beauty and lightness to
a building abeady firm and solid, and combining to form " one har
monious whole."
The peculiar position of Maritzburg, that of an EngUsh town
rising out of the ruins of a Dutch dorp or vUlage, tends to make
the evils to which I have alluded more apparent. The obstacles to a
cordial intercourse naturally arising from difference of language and
national customs, are here heightened by the irritation unavoidably
created in the minds of the losing party against those who have
superseded them, and still further by the distrust which om- subse
quent treatment of them has unfortunately occasioned. So strong is
this feeling, that to many it appears quite unsurmountable, and cer
tainly the task of conciliating a Dutchman is generally attended with
such difficulty, that even the kindest and best-intentioned English
men have abandoned it in despair. StUl, much might be done

" EMIGRANTS INDEED !" 87
towards so desirable an end, if those who are acquainted with the
language, and from long residence in the colony, from constant inter
course with the Dutch in the way of business, and sometimes from
having formed connections among them, hold, as it were, the Unk
between them and their own countrymen, would use their influence
to bring them together. As it is, they but help to widen the breach.
Espousing with great vehemence the side on which their sympathies
have been enlisted, they are ever meditating or inciting attack, and
keeping alive the flanies of discord. Those indeed, and they are not
a few, who from conviction or association adopt the cause of the
Dutch, go beyond them in the violence and absm'dity of their pre
judices, and in their contempt and jealousy of EngUsh intrusion.
The effect of aU this is to encourage a party spirit, which would
otherwise have died away, but which wUl now endure tphile a single
Dutchman remains in the colony. Our table d'hote was often the
scene of disputes on this eternal subject, ending, as such disputes
invariably do, in every one's retaining his opinion and losing his
temper. As an instance of the false ideas that have thus found their way
into circulation, I may mention that the word " emigrant" had fallen
quite into discredit, and had become almost a term of reproach.
Having a habit of calUng persons and things by their right names,
and being ignorant of this particular prejudice, I was unfortunate
enough to give great offence to a lady of my acquaintance by the
casual application of the proscribed word. The toss of the head, and
the tone in which " Emigrant, indeed !" was uttered, were a history
in themselves, and not without a moral.
Our simple predecessors little understood these distinctions, nor
were they adepts at such ingenious devices for self-deception or self-
aggrandizement ; yet those who know Maritzburg during their occu
pation, say that in that quiet Uttle republic there was more inter
change of hospitaUty, more of those reunions whioh promote harmony
and good feeling, nay, more gaiety than, with all the eclat of a
Government and a Governor, is to be found among the present inha
bitants. Not that there are wanting amiable and agreeable persons,

28 the church.
or pleasant famiUes, but that they lack the bond which should unite
them, and are unable to co-operate, either for amusement or for more
practical and useful purposes. Unfortunately, too, the Lieutenant-
Governor, whose courtesy and affabUity have made him very generaUy
popular among all classes, is as yet unmarried, and is thus prevented
from fully exerting the influence he possesses on the society of the
town. For this evil, however, we may always hope a remedy,
Maritzburg being by no means destitute of female attractions, as her
Majesty's gallant officers, several of whom have here met their fate,
can bear witness.
The learned professions do not as yet occupy a very important
place. The Church has much to contend with, the fleld being pre
occupied by dissenting missionaries ; but it has some earnest sup
porters, and a zealous minister in the person of my excellent friend,
the Rev. J. Green. Divine service is for the present performed in
the Govemment school-room, but a new church is to be erected as
soon as sufficient funds have been obtained. The plan is chaste and
correct, it is to be built of the sandstone of the country, which is
abundant and works well. Independently of the high object and
character of such a work, the employment it will afford to a number
of distressed labouring emigrants, whom a rash and Ul-digested
system of speculation has poured into the country, gives it an addi
tional claim upon the church at home ; and those who have both the
power and will to assist in the propagation of the Gospel, cannot err
in giving it their assistance and encouragement.
Natal is in the diocese of the Bishop of Cape Town, and had heen
visited by that prelate in his progress through the vast district com
mitted to his oharge some time before my arrival. The immense dis
tance, however — nearly 2000 mUes — between the two extremities (the
island of St. Helena being also included), and the huge tract of almost
uninhabited ground which intervenes, point out the inconvenience of
this arrangement. An interesting account of the Bishop's journey,
from his own pen, has lately been published by the Society for the
Propagation of the Gospel, and the idea which it conveys of the mag
nitude and importance of the work before him, even though measured

LAWYERS AND THEIR BILLS. 29
by the untiring zeal and energy which he has brought to bear upon
it, affords a still further proof of the inadequate provision for the
spiritual wants of the people. His earnest call for help will surely
find a response, and I trust the day is not far distant, when Natal
wiU have an increased number of clergy, and a separate Bishop of
its own. The law, thanks to John Bull's litigious spirit, is much more
numerously represented, and is ably presided over by the Supreme
Judge, Mr. Cloete, Recorder of Natal, whose decisions in civil
cases, where trial by jury is not admitted, appear to give general
satisfaction. Criminal cases are tried by a jury of nine ; they are not
often of a very serious nature, the chief offenders being di-unken Hot
tentots and discharged soldiers. The ordinary punishment is working
in chains on the road.
The natives, except in criminal cases, are allowed, to a certain
extent, to retain their own laws, which are administered by magis
trates appointed for that pui-pose by the Lieutenant-Governor, and
acting under the superintendence of Mr. Shepstone, the Diplomatic
Agent with the native tribes.
The established law of the colony is the Dutch Roman law, which
though needing reformation in several essential points, is in many
respects well suited to the wants of an infant community. Actions
for debt are among the most fruitful causes of litigation, and give
employment to a whole host of attorneys, who, being all allowed to
plead, do not contribute much to the dignity of the profession. Their
bills, too, are no exception to the universal rule. An amusing in
stance of this occurred to a friend of mine, who, having been charged
twenty-five pounds for the dravsdng up of a lease which ought not to
have cost five pounds, and objecting to pay so exorbitant a demand,
was immediately presented with a receipt in fuU, — the attorney pre
ferring to cancel the debt, with an air of integrity, rather than admit
himself to be in the wrong by abating his claim. Nor is the union of
many different employments thought prejudicial to success in any one
business or profession. It might not be impossible to find united in one
individual the various functions of lawyer, sectarian preacher, editor.

30 AN UNIVERSAL GENIUS.
Store-keeper, agent, and politician, aU discharged with equal energy
and punctuality, and reaUy serving rather to assist than interfere
with each other. Do you want a horse ? Your attorney has one at
a low figure, made on purpose for you. Has your own animal a sore
back or any other disease? or is he a confirmed kicker? Your
attorney will play the veterinary surgeon or rough-rider for you with
equal skill and confidence ; and should either remedy fail, will assist
you in getting rid of the useless encumbrance. Have you need of
anything — from a wagon to a spade, from a house to a clasp knife ? — ¦
your attorney, if you choose aright, shall supply your wants, and
save you much time and trouble ; I do not add money ; — that is another
question. In spite of the boasted healthiness of the climate, doctors cannot
be dispensed with, and there are two or three in regular practice ia
the town; but, as several have betaken themselves to farming or
other occupations, I conclude that they had no great chance of making
a fortune by the mere exercise of their profession. Dysentery is the
most prevalent disease, and the most obstinate ; but it is not the only
one, for I heard of a medical man who, being questioned as to his
prospects of employment, repUed that there was " a pretty sprinkling
of rheumatism." Medicines of all kinds are excessively dear, although
many of the most useful, such as senna, sarsaparilla, and castor oU,
&c., abound in the colony ; and I have no doubt that a careful search
might bring to Ught a store of heaUng virtue, hitherto unknown,
which might prove a valuable addition to our pharmacopoeia. That
the Kafirs have in use several herbs and plants with which we are
not acquainted, is certain ; and that they are by no means inexpert
in the treatment of wounds and diseases, both surgical and medical,
I can vouch from personal experience, as well as from hearsay and
observation. My leg continuing to give me great pain and incon
venience, and defying every authorized prescription, it occurred to me
that the evil being a local one the remedy would probably be found
in the same neighbourhood, and that it would be known to the natives.
Accordingly, I determined, without delay, to consult our host's chief
Kafir servant, an intelligent lad of flfteen or sixteen, who, having

DOCTOR JACK. 31
been in the service of one of the officers of the garrison, had picked
up some slight notion of civilized habits, and a tolerable smattering
of the English language, which he pronounced very correctly. He
had quite astonished me, a day or two before, on my asking him to
take a message for me, by replying in a deep, but sufficiently clear
voice, " Wait a bit. Sir, tiU I clean the boots ! "
I must confess, by the way, that the facility with which these
savages acquire both the English and Dutch languages quite puts to
shame the intellectual superiority of the white man, and goes far to
justify those who would attribute to them an equal share of mental
capacity. Jack was certainly no beauty ; but he was a powerful-looking
fellow, though not tall, and his wide mouth was distended with a
perpetual grin of good humour. We were already very good friends,
but I thought it prudent to give him an interest in the case, and
offered him a shilling in case of success. After a grave inspection of
the place, and some consultation with a feUow-servant who was
standing by, he took a pinch of snuff from the hollow nut which
served him for a box, and said that he knew something which would
ease it, but that it grew a long way off, and that he would go out
early next moming to fetch it.
I had not risen the following morning, when the calico curtain
that formed my bed-room door was moved aside, a dark figure noise
lessly entered, and a gruff voice said, in the barbarous mixture of
EngHsh, Dutch, and Kafir, used by the colonists in their intercourse
with the natives, " Jack come mak muschla umlunga " — (make well
white man). He carried in his hand a round, green, prickly fruit,
about the size of an orange, which he called Tuma, a rusty naU,
and a knife. After cutting open the fruit, he poured in some water,
and, having stirred it well with the nail till the inside was softened,
proceeded with the same delicate instrument to apply the pulp to
the part effected, and all this with as much gravity and method
as if he had been performing a grand operation. I can only add,
that after repeating the application two or three times, I was once
more set upon my feet, and for the present, at least, perfectly cured.

33 SURVEYORS.
But of all professions, the most prosperous and lucrative is that of
the Government Surveyor. His employment, and consequently his
gains, are not Umited by the wants or caprices of his cHents ; his pay
is ample, and though not always prompt, is sure. The nature of his
occupation, which keeps him ever in the open air, renders it at once
healthy and interesting. To him alone the real beauties of Natal
scenery are unveiled. Mounted on his trusty steed, his theodoHte
strapped upon his shoulder, he penetrates wooded vaUeys whioh the
eye of the traveller or tourist has never seen, and whose very exist
ence is unknown but to the wandering savage ; or tracks the course of
some crystal stream, through aU its mazy windings, from its rocky
source in the mountains to the bed of slime and sand at its mouth.
He knows the inaccessible nooks and comers, for such there are, in
which Nature delights to hide her choicest gems from the vulgar
gaze, and which those who follow the beaten path are seldom per
mitted to discover.
His home, sometimes for many months, may be his wagon or
tent; or, mayhap, if his stay in one place should be prolonged, a
Kafir hut or deserted farm-house. But he carries with him most of
the comforts, and often the luxuries, of civUized Hfe, and is exposed
to none of the hardships or privations which many wonld deem in
separable from such circumstances. Nor need he, if a married man,
be without the society of his family ; his wife may, and often does,
accompany him, and his young ones return with sun-burnt faces and
sturdy frames that contrast forcibly with those of the better preserved,
but less hardy, children of the town. His work, meanwhile, is not
difflcult, nor does it require any extraordinary amount of atterftion or
abiUty. No large and expensive apparatus, no very close or accurate
measurements are necessary ; there are no " offsets " to be made. The
farms are divided, wherever it is possible, by natural boundaries, and
their limits marked by beacons on elevated positions : but an acre
more or less, in six thousand, is of no great importance, and the
minute details, with which our railway surveyors are familiar, would
be here superfluous.
From these causes, an excellent opening is afforded for young

the horns of a dilemma. 33
raen, such, indeed, as in the palmiest days of railway projects was
scarcely to be commanded without high talent and reputation ; and
the profession is so popular, that it is in great danger of being over
stocked. The only test required, beyond the ordinaiy testimonials,
is that the candidate should pass a previous examination, — no very
formidable barrier, — after which the way is clear before him, and with
common prudence and economy his position is secured, and a com
fortable independence, if not a fortune, is in his grasp. A young
friend of mine, sharp and clever, but without any practical experience,
made £300 during the first six months of his residence here ; and
those who have obtained greater proficiency are easily able to clear
from £800 to £1000 a-year, without devoting more than nine months
out of the twelve to their professional duties.
This harvest-time can, of course, only last as long as the work
remains unfinished, and the continued arrival of emigrants renders it
necessary ; but some years must elapse before the whole of Natal cau
be brought into occupation, and the days of the surveyors shall have
passed by. At present they are the princes of the colony ; their credit
is high, their bills are more negotiable than those of the best mercan
tile houses, they ride the finest horses, Uve on the fat of the land, and
are. independent of all contingencies, save a Government bankruptcy,
which, I trust, is not a very likely occurrence.
Besides the Kafir police, whom I shall mention hereafter, there
are several white men employed for the maintenance of order and
good behaviour in the town. The extent of their duty is to give a
night's lodging in the tronk, or gaol, to some overtaken citizen,
whose potations may chance to evaporate too noisily.
The streets, however, are occasionally tenanted by monsters of
another kind. Going one dark night to a friend's house, and keeping
in the middle of the road to avoid the " sloots," I stumbled over some
unseen obstacle, and suddenly found myself between the horns of a
very unpleasant dUemma, in the shape of a large black ox, one of a
lot of fourteen that were reposing undisturbed in front of their owner's
house, and blocking up the whole street, to the no small danger of
her Majesty's liege subjects. I have a great mind to say to whom
d

34 'bus versus wagon.
they belonged, but " 0ods ivi y\ticrari neyas," so I shall hold my
tongue. These same streets of Maritzburg, by the by, are in wet weather
as impassable as the country roads. Walking is no joke, and riding
is positively dangerous, the horse's feet being Uterally taken from
under him, and the animal frequently falling so suddenly and com
pletely, that the rider incurs the risk of a serious accident. A Ught
wagon or omnibus has lately been imported from England by one of
the most enterprising colonists (a lawyer of course), for the purpose
of carrying passengers from one end of the town to the other, a
distance of nearly a mile and a half; but I fear that, unless for occa
sional hire, it is not likely to pay its expenses. It is something,
however, to see horses in harness ; for, with the exception of a couple
of pony-phsetons, an Irish jaunting-car, and the baker's cart, and,
perhaps, now and then a Dutch horse-wagon from some distant farm,
no attempt has been made to supersede the Cape wagon, vrith its long
team of patient, slow-moving oxen.
A Ught carriage of this kind is much wanted on the road from
D'Urban to Maritzburg, to insure a regular and rapid communication
between the port and the principal town. The mails are carried by
a mounted orderly, and one horse will frequently accompUsh .the
journey in .eight hours ; but for those to whom this means of locomo
tion is inaccessible the joumey is, as we have seen, long and tedious.
The ready and certain conveyance of smaU parcels, and the lighter
kinds of merchandize, would be a great boon to the shopkeepers, as
also to the pubHc at lai-ge, the price of aU imported goods being at
present nearly twenty-five per cent, higher at Maritzburg than at
D'Urban. The carriage of fresh fish, which abound in the bay, would
alone go far towards defraying the expenses of the journey; and,
while supplying the inhabitants of the capital with a wholesome
variation to their everlasting beef diet, would, at the same time,
afford encouragement to the flsheries of the sea-coast, which are now
almost entirely neglected, but which contain inexhaustible resources,
and might become a profitable object of trade.
The attention of the colonists, moreover, would thus be tumed to

the natal horse. 35
the improvement oftheir horses, which are now ill-suited for draught,
ihough in many other respects pecuUarly fitted for the country and
for the work which they have to perform. The Natal horse, indeed,
deserves something more than a mere passing notice.
He is a small, and by no means a showy animal, nor does he
possess any of the points for which an Englishman would look in a
good hunter or hackney. His shoulder is very much depressed, and
the withers are generaUy so low that when on his back you have, to
use a famiUar expression, " nothing before you," and it is no easy
matter to keep the saddle in its proper place. He is very narrow in
the ribs, so much so that an EngHsh saddle, unless made by one who
thoroughly understands the matter, and weU stuffed, is sure to gall
the back — the worst evU that can happen to an African horse. To
avoid this a false pannel is often added, and saddle-cloths are in very
general use, but as they increase the heat it is better to do without
them if possible. The trash which EngUsh shopkeepers are in the
habit of sending out as export saddlery has been the rum of many a
fine animal, and has brought great discredit on our wares. So weU
do the old colonists know this, that they vrill hardly look at a saddle
unless it bears a name well knovra. and esteemed at the Cape. Pea-
comb is their great favourite, but any good tradesman, under proper
directions, can furnish you with the right article. Mine was made
by Messrs. Milroy, of CornhiU, and was one of the best in the
colony. There is now an excellent saddler at Maritzburg, in con
nection with Peats's estabUshment ; he was one of the unfortunate
Minerva passengers, and lost all his stock in the wreck, but he
is a hard-working and attentive tradesman, and, as his work is re
markably good, he is Ukely to meet with the success which his per
severance deserves.
The hind-quarters of the Natal horse resemble those of some of
our Irish hunters, except that they are more angular and unsightly.
The legs are short and muscular. As there is no deep ground, and
no fences, curbs seldom, if ever, make their appearance ; splints are
common, but rarely produce lameness ; indeed a horse unsound in
wind or Hmb is a rarity. Considering their size, and the natural

36 THE NATAL HORSE.
degeneration of the breed from want of fresh crosses, the amount of
work they are capable of performing is really astonishing. I have
frequently known them accomplish upwards of seventy miles within
the day, and that with fourteen stone upon their back. More than
this has been done ; but they should be rested and relieved of the
saddle at least once in every three hours, and should never be pressed
above their natural pace, which on a journey is reckoned at about
six miles per hour. When put to the mettle, as in the chase, they
are not deficient in speed, and are remarkably active in scrambling
among rocks, loose stones, or precipitous and broken ground, and in
avoiding the numerous holes which constitute the chief danger of
African hunting.
They are easily shod; nor are shoes required, unless for long
journeys over hard-beaten roads. They are very hardy, and are never
better than when in work and turned out to graze in healthy situa
tions. Low rich valleys, where the pasturage is most luxuriant, do
not suit them, and it is in such places that the disease of which I
have before spoken is most frequent and fatal. When kept in the town
they are fed principally upon oat hay, which should be chopped small
to avoid waste. Indian corn is also used, both as dry and green food ;
in the former state it is heating, and should be given sparingly. At
hotels, &c., the charge for horses at Uvery is from 2s. 6d. to 3s. per .
diem. The unhealthy season is the latter part of Febmary, March, and
April, when the grass is in seed and beginning to tum colour. It is
thought, too, that the dews, which are very heavy, are at all times
unwholesome ; but I cannot say that I have ever observed this to be
the case. The following plan was recommended to me by a colonist
of twelve years' experience, who had always found it successful in
preventing disease and keeping his horses in good condition, viz.,
to tum them out in the day-time and keep them in at night during
the summer months, reversing the process in the winter. The theory
of this treatment is to allot in each case the larger portion of the
twenty-four hours to grazing, to preserve the animal from the danger '
x)f unwholesome night-dews in summer, and to supply the deflciency

the NATAL HORSE. 37
of pasturage in vpinter by giving him plenty of dry food in the
stable. Riding-horses when tumed out are generally well haltered ; but,
even when this precaution has not been taken, aKaflr will seldom be
long in finding and driving them in.
Their favourite pace is a short ambUng canter, which they will
keep up for hours. Those who possess this accompUshment to per
fection are in high estimation among the Dutch, who call them
trippelaars. They are no great walkers, and a trotter is a rarity.
When well broken they make good ladies' horses ; but unfortunately
this important requirement is seldom fulfiUed, too many colts being
spoiled both in mouth and temper by injudicious treatment and the
use of sharp bits — a very popular colonial fallacy. Among the vicious
tricks which they are thus aUowed to acquire is that of " bucking,"
a mode of emptying the saddle practised also, I believe, by the
Australian horses, and certainly a most expeditious one. It consists
in dropping the head between the fore-legs, arching up the back like
that of an enraged cat, and twisting rapidly round, performing all
the while a series of tricks and plunges which would unseat a
Centaur. I have but two pieces of advice to give on this head.
First, never mount a bucking horse if you know it ; secondly, the
moment your horse begins to buck throw yourself off. It is just
possible that by leaning backwards, and pulling hard on the curb,
you may succeed in keeping his head up and frustrating his evU
intentions ; but when once the head is down it is all over, and you
may just as well foUow the example of the Coon, " come down and
give in."
The price varies from £10 to £25 and £30, but nothing tolerable
can be had under £15. On a late occasion, when it became neces
sary to remount the artillery, which had been unhorsed by order of
the late Lieutenant-Governor, the maximum aUowed by Government
for the purchase of each horse was £26, and few, I fancy, were
bought very much cheaper.
At present Natal is not a good breeding country, and all the best
horses are brought over land from the frontiers of the old colony by

38 THE NATAL HORSE.
traders, who find it a very profltable speculation ; but there are now
many upland farms on which they may be reared with perfect safety,
and nothing is needed but a few judicious importations from Eng
land to insure an improved and useful race of animals, which would
not only supply the wants ofthe colony, but become a valuable article
of export to India.

CHAPTER V.
THE AUCTION — A aUEER LOT — ^MR. OTTo'S PARM — KAPIR LABOUR — ^MULE-
BREEDING — HIPPOPOTAMI PRESERVE — A NEW ACQUAINTANCE AND AN
OLD FRIEND — CHANGE OP PLACES — TENT IN THE MARKET-PLACE — THE
WAGON WHIP.  COLONIAL SYMBOLS — AFRICAN WAGON — STORM — TER
RIBLE EPPECTS OF LIGHTNING.
Since the "trekking" of the Dutch farmers from Natal, Maritz
burg can scarcely be said to have a regular market. Its substitute is
the auction, which takes place every Saturday, and is the great ren
dezvous of the whole neighbourhood. For a study of colonial charac
ter, you cannot find a fitter opportunity or a better place than the
front of Mr. Fereira's, in Church Street. In Natal everything is done
in the open air, nor is this an exception. Mounted upon that long
table, covered with a more incongruous assemblage of merchandize
than ever appeared in a Wardour Street shop, his official hammer in
his hand, is a pleasant-looking Uttle man, in a brown coat. That is
Mr. Fereira himself, our amiable and worthy auctioneer. Long may
he occupy his chair ! How his quiet eye ranges through the crowd,
selecting the most Ukely purchasers for each article, and charming, as
if by some spell, the hesitating bidder into the fear of competition !
How instantly the nod or the raised finger is interpreted and answered !
But let us glance at the catalogue.
Here is a dinner-set, fit for a London dining-room ! It was brought
out by a gentleman emigrant, who finds that tin pannikins and plates
answer his purpose on the farm much better. It will not want pur
chasers, though, among the Maritzburg householders Here is a
Mortimer rifle, value £30 ; it will perhaps fetch £10. Here is a
comparatively worthless piece, ornamented (or, as some would think,
disflgured) with brass or german-silver mounting : there will be no
loss upon this. Here are bags of imported flour and rice, brass bed
steads, a wheelbarrow, a looking-glass, a plough, a coUection of

40 A QUEER LOT.
books, a wardrobe ; and, can it be ? Yes !— a pair of skates ! Well,
it does freeze sometimes, and pretty sharply too ; besides, we may Uve
to see a glaoiarinm.
Nor is the moving portion of the show less motley. I wiU wager
you never saw such various crafts lying alongside of each other be
fore. There is the true Dutch build, aU huU, and, pardon me, rather
round in the stern ; there is something of the Yankee clipper— evi
dently all for speed, if not for lasting, and carrying no useless top-
hamper, one of the real go-a-head sort ; yonder is a trim yacht, with
rather more of show than use about it, but all a-tanto, and carrying
crowds of canvas ; here is a nondescript that might flnd its type in
the Chinese junk, so outlandish is its appearance ; there is the British
trader, with all necessary saU set, and everything in its place, quiet
and orderly ; there are rough, homely, but honest coasters, surrounded
by all sorts of piratical-looking vessels, carrying anything but their
own colours ; and crowds of small vessels exhibiting every possible
variety of build and rig. As for the latter — to drop the metaphor —
you will see every degree between the full dress of the officer and the
undress ofthe Zulu — jackets predominating especially among the far
mers and equestrians from the country.
The sale, after all, is to many Uttle more than the ostensible plea
for a morning lounge, answering all the purposes of a club. Here are
discussed the news of the week, the scandal of the town, the arrival of
the last ship and the contents of the mail, the state of the crops, the
price of provisions, the land question, and the latest Government
measure. On the industrial population, however, a great beneflt is conferred
by the facility thus afforded of turning property of any kind into
ready cash. Hither the storekeeper brings the least saleable though
not perhaps the worst part of his stock, which would otherwise re.
main profltless upon his hands. Here the farmer brings his cattle or
produce, secure of a fair average price, and, what is more important,
of its due payment. Here, too, the reduced emigrant brings the
superfluities of his home outfit, — too often its necessaries also, — that he
may obtain wherewith to carry on the struggle which disappointed

MR. OTTO S F.iRM. 41
expectations, want of requisite means, total unfitness for the task he
has undertaken, or perhaps his own folly or ill-conduct, have com
bined to render almost hopeless. Not that I would be understood to
infer such to be the necessary consequence of emigration, unless mis
directed and abused ; but of this hereafter.
Among my fellow-boarders I was fortunate in making the ac
quaintance of three brothers, who had come out with the intention of
farming, but had since adopted other occupations more congenial to
their taste. In pursuance of their first design, and with a view to
make themselves acquainted with the mode of tillage, &c., practised
in the country, two of them had resided for some months on the farm
of a Dutch proprietor in the neighbourhood, where they were in
stmcted in the mysteries of Natal agriculture, giving their work as an
equivalent for their board ; an excellent arrangement, wherein the
mutual advantages of instruction on the one hand, and labour on the
other, were combined, with the rarer additamenta of a pleasant home,
and the society of educated and agreeable people. As I was also in
terested in the subject of farming, my new friends strongly advised me
to follow the same course, to which I was by no means disinclined ;
and as their late host was in the habit of coming into town every
Saturday, they took the opportimity of introducing me to him. My
plans afterwards took a different form, and I was only the gainer by
another very pleasant acquaintance ; but had circumstances permitted,
I am convinced that I could not have spent a few months at once
more pleasantly and profitably than at Mr. Otto's.
The farm on which that gentlemen resides (for he is the owner of
several) is situated on the banks of the Umgeni, about ten mUes dis
tance from Maritzburg, and probably contains nearly 6000 acres. At
least flfty of these, — an unusually large proportion, — are under cultiva
tion, and produce fine crops of Indian corn, oats, polatoes, &c., the
remainder affording pasturage to large herds of cattle, the Dutch far
mer's chief source of wealth, and yielding, besides, a considerable
profit in the bush with which it is covered, and which is sold for fire
wood in the town.
Mr. Otto encourages the settling of native families on his land, and

42 MULE-BREEDING.
has been more successful than many of his neighbours in obtaining
their steady and continuous labour, his numerous stock enabling him
not only to supply them with abundance of milk, of which they are
very fond, but to pay them with young heifers, which, as the means
of purchasing wives, are to them a most tempting reward.
He has devoted much time and attention to the breeding of mules,
for which there is a good market at the Mauritius ; but though he has
succeeded in rearing several of good quaUty, I do not think the specu
lation proved very lucrative, one great drawback being the extreme
wUdness and intractabiUty of the young animals, and the difficulty of
breaking them.
Game is abundant, and the weekly chase rarely fails to add a
dainty ourebi {A. scoparia), or fat riet bok {A. eleotragus), to the
contents of the larder ; but shoidd that fail, there is a nearer resource
at hand. What does the reader think of a preserve of hippopotami,
within gunshot of the house, like the moor-hens in a lake at the bot
tom of an EngHsh garden ? But there they are, among the reeds of
the Umgeni, — ready for a " waltz ''with any adventurous son of Nimrod,
who shall dare the encounter, — to the number of eight or ten, and
likely to increase, for Mr. Otto preserves them strictly, and, except
on grand occasions, they remain imdisturbed.
They form, indeed, by no means a contemptible article of food,
their flesh resembling that of pork, and the fat (zee hoe spek) being in
high estimation in the Dutch cuisine, as an accompaniment to the
antelope venison, which is mostly lean and dry.
It was not fated, however, that I should become an inmate of this
Dutch Arcadia. My plans, as I before hinted, underwent a sudden
revolution, and this was effected by one of those incidents which ap
pear strange, but are of every day occurrence in a roving life.
I had been about a fortnight in Maritzburg, and was just restored
to the use of my Umbs, when one evening I fotmd myself seated at
the dinner table by the side of a gentleman just arrived by the over
land route from Algoa Bay. The conversation turning on home
matters, as is always the case when two Enghshmen meet in a foreign
country, we were soon discussing subjects of mutual interest, and

TENT IN THE MARKET-PLACE. 43
chatting of mutual acquaintances as though we had been known to
each other of old, when, as if to complete what was so pleasantly
begun, a reply to some accidental question of mine disclosed the un
expected intelligence that his compagnon de voyage was an old
friend, whom I had lost sight of for many years, and of whose pre
sence in Africa I had never even dreamed. They had left Algoa
Bay three months previously, with the view of selecting a spot for a
farm, and, crossing the Orange River, had traversed the northern
sovereignty and descended the Draakenberg into Natal. The Oner-
berg country, however, pleasing them most, they were about to re
turn thither, and hoped to leave Maritzburg in a few days.
A joumey through the centre and beyond the boundaries of Natal !
a pleasant companion, and an old friend ! Such an opportunity might
never occur again, and I at once resolved, if possible, to join their
party. My proposal was received with a hearty welcome, the only
objection being the impossibUity of making the wagon a bed-room
for three, which was disposed of by my preference for a less confined
sleeping-place on the open " veld."
Though staying in a town, my friends had made no alteration in
the mode of Hving which they had practised during the journey, and
their encampment would have appeared strange indeed in the eyes of
a London citizen. They had pitched their tent in the centre of the
market-place, by the side of the wagon, which had been emptied of
its contents in order to undergo some repairs, having been overturned
in crossing the Suurberg, a chain of mountains lying between Algoa
Bay and Somerset in the old colony. The kitchen fire was Ughted as
usual on the grass, for they did not patronize the inns ; and around
it were strewed numerous articles Uttle known to refined Ufe. Two
half-drunken Hottentots, with large ostrich feathers twined round
their straw hats, might be seen hanging lazUy about, perhaps occu
pied in splicing a new trecktouw, a trace made of plaited stripes
of hide, or putting a new voorslag (lash) to the wagon-whip, that
its smack might be clear and loud.
To produce this sound from an African whip is a high colonial
accompUshment, and like the cast of the fly-rod, or the catch of the

44 COLONIAL SYMBOLS.
thong, cannot be attained without habitual practice. Indeed its
immense length of fourteen feet in the stock, with a lash of perhaps
twenty-five feet, renders it as awkward an instrument in the hands
of a novice as it is a terribly efficient one in the hands of an adept..
Standing on the fore-part of the wagon, our driver, Aaron, shall with
equal faciUty draw blood from one of the leaders in a span of fourteen,
" some forty feet him fro," or flank the " achter os'' immediately be.'
neath his feet.
It is curious to notice how the characters of soU and climate in
our different colonies, the nature of the work to be performed in each,
and the habits which result from them, are Ulustrated by particular
implements, each of which might serve as an appropriate emblem of
the country in whieh it is used. Australia has her stock-whip, vrith
short handle and tremendous thong, formed for equestrian use, with
which the active squatter pursues his herds of half-wild cattle ia
headlong chase over her boundless plains : Canada may be known at
once by the narrow axe, by whose stroke her mighty forests are
subdued — the never-failing weapon of the stout back-woodsman : and
Africa has her wagon-whip, type of no useful employment, but too
true a representation of what have hitherto been the habits of her
people, teUing of tedious journeys and desultory wanderings, home
steads neglected, and farms half cultivated ; a scattered and divided
population, an unsettled frontier, and a territory so extensive that it
can neither be occupied, governed, nor protected by those to whom it
belongs. The expert use, too, of each of these implements consists in a pecu
liar knack, which is best acquired in childhood ; and, while in Canada,
you may see an urchin of eight years old perched upon a huge maple
log, wielding with ease and dexterity an axe nearly as heavy as him
self, in Africa the Dntch child is smacking a gigantic wagon-whip
with equal faciUty, and urging an imaginary span of refractory oxen
with shrieks and yells which none but a Dutchman or a Hottentot
can imitate, and none but an African ox understand.
For the next few days aU was active preparation, stores were laid
in, guns were overhauled, bullets melted, covers made for the saddles, ;

THE AFRICAN WAGON. 45
to preserve them from injmy, rough clothes hunted out, and finery
put aside. Lastly, the wagon was loaded, and — fitted up with side
and fore-chests, pockets for stray articles, and sUngs for guns — began
to assume a habitable appearance.
A Cape wagon is already so well known, through the medium of
African travellers, that I need not enter into a minute description of
it. The specimens in Mr Gordon Cumming's exhibition must have
made many of my readers familiar with its peculiar construction.
For those, however, who have not seen it, I may just mention that its
chief principles are strength and looseness. This latter quality is
essential to its resistance to the numerous shocks it is destined to
encounter, which would otherwise soon cause its destruction. As it
is, each part yields to a blow or strain, and a breakage seldom occurs.
Its length, at a rough guess, is about twelve feet, its breadth inside
from three and a half to four feet. It is principaUy made from the
stink wood {laurus bullata), which is of great strength, and if well
seasoned lasts a long time. This precaution is very necessary, as the
extreme dryness of the atmosphere in the interior ofthe counti'y
rapidly absorbs all the moisture of the wood, causing it to shrink and
spring apart at the seams. In damp weather the wood swells again,
and all appears taut and sound, and of this circumstance the unprin
cipled wagon-builder often takes advantage to deceive the unwary
purchaser, sometimes resorting to artificial means to produce the
desired effect.
Most of the Boers constmct their own wagons, though there are
some who make it their especial business, and are famous throughout
Africa for the excellence of their workmanship. The price of a new
wagon at the Cape is from £70 to £80 ; at Algoa Bay something
more, and in Natal, where skUled labour is dear, the lowest price is
£100. Ours had cost £75 at Algoa Bay, and, as it had been standing
for twelve months in the sun, was thoroughly seasoned. It was con
sidered a great bargain, as it eventually proved, being sold on the
borders of Natal, after a year's constant use, for £70.
The evening before our start the town of Maritzburg was visited
by one of the most tremendous thunder-storms it has ever been my

46 THUNDER-STORM.
lot to witness. The Americans are wont to " brag" (if one can use
such a term without impiety) of their thunder and lightning, but a
Natal storm far surpasses in grandeur and sublimity anything of the
kind that I have seen elsewhere, unless perhaps at sea, when another
element combines to heighten the effect, and where, from the exposed
situation, and the sense of danger attending it, one is more open fo
the impressions which such a scene is calculated to produce. On this
occasion the hills around seemed literally on fire, so rapidly did flash
succeed flash, each appearing rather to rise out of the earth than to
descend upon it, while the rattling peals of thunder immediately
overhead threatened to burst the very ears of the listener. The rain,
too, descended in rivers, converting the whole town into a swamp,
and nearly washing my friends out of their tent. The abundance of
iron in the soil may, in some degree, account for the frequency and
fury of these storms, which are occasionally attended by disastrous
effects ; but it is the opinion of many that as the country becomes
more occupied they wiU decrease, and that they are even now less
violent than they were a few years ago when it was flrst settled.
Not long before my arrival, however, twelve oxen, out of a herd, were
killed by one stroke on a road near the town, where the bones stiU
He to attest the fearful catastrophe, and I myself witnessed the de
struction of some buildings attached to Port Napier by the electric
fluid. The smoke which rose from the thatched roof was almost
simultaneous with the flash, and the flames spread so rapidly that
before I could throw the saddle on my horse and gallop to the spot
the whole of the wood-work had been consumed to the bare walls, and
it was only by the prompt exertions of the soldiery that some of the
property within was rescued from the overthrow.

47

CHAPTER VI.
OUR PARTY — THE TREK  A JIB — FIRST OUTSPAN — THE UMGENI PALLS. —
DUTCH PILGRIMS — MOOI RIVER — MY SLEEPING APARTMENT — BUSHMAn'S
RIVER — THE BOSJES MEN  VISIT TO A DUTCHMAN  I'vE DONE THE
ENGLISHMAN — ANTE-NUPTIAL CONTRACTS — COUNTRY QUARTERS — MR.
P  AND THE PREMIER  KAFIR BUTCHERS — BATHING  COCKNEY
SHOP-KEEPERS  OUR SPAN — TREACHEROUS MURDER OF THE DUTCH BY
DINGAAN — THE TUGELA — PICTURESQUE SCENERY — NATAL STONY
DESERTS  DUTCH EXILES — HORSES LOST — CROSSING THE KLIP — DESCRIP
TION OP THE DRAKENBERG  A VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY — THE FOOT OP
THE MOUNTAIN — OUREBIS — SCHUTKRAAL — A NIGHT IN THE VELD.
It is indispensable to the harmony and comfort of an expedition
such as we contemplated, that the party should have an acknowledged
leader, and this post was occupied by my old friend Darnell, whose
two years' residence in the old colony, and perfect acquaintance with
the Dutch language, pecuUarly fitted him for it. His great personal
strength and determination were also useful quaUties in a country
where the milder forms of persuasion are apt to faU, and they have
since gained him honourable mention among the volunteers in the
Kafir war. My new acquaintance, Barkley, was the youngest and
most active among ns, and in aU difficulties and emergencies prompt
and energetic. For myself I was not yet sufficiently recovered to be
of much service, and was little more than an additional weight.
Our cargo consisted of our luggage, beds and bedding, our pro
visions, tea, sugar, ¦ flour, salt, &c., and some fresh meat to begin
with, saddles and bridles, two rifles, four double-barreUed guns, and
a large Dutch piece, or roer, with plenty of powder, buck-shot,
loopers, or slugs, and bars of lead, hardened with tin ; a chest of
tools, a medicine-chest (with which Barkley had already estabUshed
a reputation among the Boers), our tent, a folding-table, and chairs,
and a good stock of tobacco and pipes, completed our equipment.

48 DOGS.
Three horses, in very poor condition, but a little improved by a
month's run at Maritzburg, followed the wagon, to which they were
fastened by riems or thongs of hide, the general substitute for cord
in this country. Nor must I omit our canine followers, of whom
there were four. Nero, a handsome tawny dog, with something of
the Englisb mastiff, something of the large stag-hound about him ;
Volteur, a fawn-coloured long-muzzled animal, between a Im-cher
and deer-hound; Kafirland, a long-haired Kafir bitch, of any, or
rather no breed at all ; and last, not least. Pinch, an enormous, ugly,
brindled, butcher-like cur, who had of his own accord joined the
wagon, medio itinere, and. remained with it ever since. I say it,
for it viras to the wagon alone that he showed any signs of attach
ment, keeping so close to it that he was perpetually getting his foot
under the wheel. He received the name of " Pinch" from his starved
appearance. " There came one Pinch, a lean and hungry villam."
He was now, however, in good case, having, during his stay in Maritz
burg, wisely taken up his quarters at the butcher's, and lived on the
fat of the land.
I am sorry to add that a more useless set of creatures I never
saw. In open ground they invariably spoiled our chance of a quiet
shot by dashing in upon the game, and showed great reluctance to
hunt the kloofs where their assistance was really wanted. Nor,
vrith the exception of Pinch, can I say much for their courage. The
fact is, that dogs are very apt to degenerate when taken out to Africa,
and I have reason to beUeve that the finest breeds are most affected by
the climate. One or two fox-hounds have been imported into Natal,
and some good sport has been had vrith the jackal, who has some
times afforded a run of eight or ten miles ; but for the various descrip- :!
tions of antelope, and indeed for all four-footed game, the lurcher on
a large scale is found to succeed best. For the larger beasts of prey
the best dog is one that will keep at a respectful distance, as the
high-mettled animal is sure to fall a rictim to his temerity. A good
breed of pointers would be the most valuable importation, as the

ATTENDANTS. 49
country swarms with birds of the partridge and pheasant tribe, which
it is very difficult to find in the long grass.
I had really forgotten our biped attendants, though I scarcely
know whether they deserve any priority of mention over the qua
drupeds. Darnell's white servant was one of those strange instances
which one occasionally sees of the result of varied travel on an iUiter
ate mind. He was a German by birth, had been an English sailor,
and had since Uved much among the Dutch. He had lost his own
language, but retained just enough of it to impart its idiom to his
English, which was a most absurd medley. Mackenzie, for he bor
rowed his name from a fourth country, was a good cook, and useful
servant on the treh, but, Uke most of his class, an inveterate
drunkard when in a town. During their stay in Maritzburgh, Dar-
neU finding strong measures necessary, had treated him to a sound
thrashing and a day's lodging in the tronh, and he was now full of
promises of good behaviour.
Our driver and leader, or voor looper, were both Hottentots, and
were average specimens oftheir race; expert in all that pertained
to the management of a wagon, and when properly {i.e. severely)
treated, capital servants, but lazy when they could escape notice, and
impudent when they could be so with impunity.
From this point I have extracted from my journal such notes of
out trek as I have thought would be interesting to the reader, and
would serve to present a tolerable picture of a tour in South Africa.
October 1. — Inspanned about noon, and after many delays got
clear of the town. Our route lay right over one of the highest of the
hills which bound Maritzburg on the north and north-west, and as
the road is perhaps one of the worst in the colony, we soon had a
specimen of the difficulties we were destined to encounter. On one
of the steepest pitches our oxen stuck, and a scene ensued which none
but an African traveller can imagine. The oxen twisting round in
the yoke, facing all ways, and presenting a mass of seemingly inex
tricable confusion, some dropping down on their knees, others rolUng
over to the imminent risk of strangling themselves before the riems
can be loosened that tie them to the yoke ; Hottentots rushing to
E

50 FIRST OUTSPAN.
and fro, urging them with unearthly shouts, yells, and execrations,
and plying the tough sjambok, or large wagon-whip, with terrific
effect, whUe the cracks resound like pistol shots among the hUls;
now twisting the tails of the unfortunate animals, now positively
gnawing them with their teeth, to induce them to face their work,
leaping on and off the dissel boom, or pole, with frantic energy, or
stooping to set large klips (stones) behind the wheel, to prevent the
wagon from slipping back ; loud cries of "juh," to start the oxen, or
" Ah now J" to stop them, or " om," to make them tum round, the
last generally accompanied by a poke in the face with the hut-end
of the whip-stock. AU this conveys but a faint idea of the reaUty.
At length the lucky moment arrives ; the leading oxen, which have
been tumed down the hill to give them a run, are started forwards,
the whole span trek together, the ponderous wagon rolls after;
and, amidst repeated cries and crackings of the whip, whose lash
descends with frightful rapidity and precision on the offending carcass
of any who show the slightest symptoms of hesitation, the summit is
reached, and the difficulty, for this time at least, surmounted.
• The ascent of this hUl occupied us three good hours. To those
who inhabit the country beyond, such loss of time is a great incon
venience, making a visit to the town quite a serious business ; and as
it is on the highway by which all the trade of the interior passes into
Natal, there is the less excuse for its existence, especially as a road
might be easily led round the valley beneath, so as to avoid the worst
parts, if not the whole of the ascent.
From this point the view of Maritzburg is very pleasing. The
elevated position of the beholder enables him to look right into
tlie town, and the trees wilh which it is already ornamented, and
which could not be seen from the other approach, now form an im
portant addition to the picture and give it a fresh and green appear
ance which contrasts well with the bare hills around.
Here we outspanned and dined, while the oxen roamed at will
over the Veld, and the horses enjoyed the same Hberty except that
they were knee-haltered. We made but a short evening's trek, and
encamped for the night at Riet Spruit, (or Reedy Brook,) having ac-

THE UMGENI FALLS. 51
oompUshed little more than ten mUes. This evening our fire was of
mest or dry cow-dung, which bums to a white ash, gives a great
heat, and is no bad substitute for wood. And here I may observe that
as a general rule throughout the centre of Natal, wood is only found
in deep kloofs or ravines, which are not always visible to the traveller,
who may ride many a weary mile without seeing a single bush to
enliven the monotony of the prospect.
October 2. — Less than an hour's trek brought us to the
Umgeni. A few yards below the drift or crossing are the falls,
which are said to be three hundred feet in height. The river was
low, so that we missed the imposing effect of a large body of water ;
but the scene was grand notwithstanding. Bare rocks rise from the
bottom like pillars, hemming in the gorge into which the stream
rushes ; further on steep banks, now also bare, but which in summer
may be clothed with grass, form the walls of the ravine ; while, far
below, the river dwindled to a shallow brook, winds round an angle
of the rock and disappears. It was a wild, savage, stern-looking spot,
but not without beauty.
The Umgeni Falls are a favourite resort of the pleasure-seekers of
Maritzburg, who disturb their soUtudes with noisy pic-nic parties,
and help to fill the pockets of Old Lodge, a quondam ship's purser,
who keeps a smaU house of entertainment on the bank, and a punt for
crossing the river in times of flood. For this last office he is paid by
Government, whose servants he is bound to ferry over in case of need.
The Umgeni valley is one of the most fertile in the district, and a
spot has been wisely selected as the site of a village on the further
bank, where there is every faciUty for leading out the stream so as
to convey a good supply of water — an advantage which an African
river does not everywhere present.
We continued our route through a hilly country, and towards
night arrived at the " Stink bout rand," a ridge, so called from the
abundance of this useful wood with which it is clothed. Our road
lay along the edge of the declivity, on what would in some parts of
England be called a " hog's back." At the bottom is an extended
plain of more than average fertiUty, where a few tents mark the out-

52 DUTCH PILGRIMS.
lines of another settlement, caUed after its promoter Lidget Town,
the success of which may be confidently predicted if only from the
abundance of fine timber in its immediate vicinity.
In the course of this day's trek we met no less than ten or twelve
wagons containing Dutch families on their way to Maritzburg for
the half-yearly " Nacht maal" or sacrament. The Dutch are very
punctual in their attendance on these occasions, and travel iramense
distances in order to be present. They generally make a week's stay,
in which they transact all their business, and buy their stores for the
next six months. Unfortunately Maritzburg gains Uttle beyond a
temporary increase of population, as we did not see a single wagon
loaded with produce of any kind. The fine span of twelve or
fourteen oxen which might with ease have carried down a couple
of thousand pounds weight of grain, served only to draw the
stout Boer, his vrouw, and their aUotment of oUve branches, to their
destination. October 3. — Left all signs of wood behind us, as we approached
the valley of the Impafane River, the favourite country of the Dutch
settlers, who have bestowed on the stream the name of " Mooi," or
Beautiful. It is shallower than some of its sister rivers, and therefore has
more effect on the soil through which it flows, but the district to
which it gives its name is one of the most deficient in the two
essentials of wood and water, though considered equal, if not superior,
to any for grazing purposes. Barkley and I had a delicious bathe in
the refreshing stream, which, like all those of the inland part of
Natal, is eminently pure and limpid, I improved my sleeping accom
modation by the purchase of a grass-mat which a passing Kafir sold
for the really moderate price of sixpence, but I was glad to spread
my mattress under the shelter of the wagon, in spite of the danger
incurred by such close proximity to the iron of the wheels in the
event of a storm. I took the precaution, however, of letting the
chains of the "riem scoon," or drag, hang to the ground, to serve as
conductors, and slept soundly as usual.
October 4.— A morning treh of five hours brought us to Bushman's

THE BUSHMEN. 53
River, where we outspanned, aud, as we intended resting a day or two,
pitched our tent.
There is a small fort here, and a detachment of the 45th Regiment
and of the Cape Mounted Rifles, who are placed as an outport against
the Bushmen, a race of degenerate Hottentots, who inhabit the spur
which at this point runs out from the Kathlamba Mountains, and are
a great nuisance to the settlers, — steaUng their cattle, horses, &c., and
committing all kinds of depredations. They are troublesome and
dangerous neighbours, being most expert in "driving" and using
poisoned arrows. When followed, they retreat into inaccessible parts
of the mountains, and if pushed hard, unless completely taken by
surprise, cut the throats of the cattle, thus rendering pursuit useless,
as well as hazardous. To induce the oxen to venture up these preci
pices, whioh it would be otherwise impossible to make them attempt,
they have recourse to an ingenious stratagem. They smear the ground
with fresh " mest," which the sagacious animals detecting, are
deceived into the idea that the path has been trodden by others of
their kind, and thus gain confidence to proceed.
The Cape corps are continually employed in the harassing duty of
pursuing these marauders, and occasionaUy, after great fatigue and
exertion, succeed in recapturing a few cattle, but beyond killing one
or two stragglers, have never been able to inffict any signal punish
ment on the tribe, or to repress their lawless outbreaks.
There is but one remedy for this evil — the entire extermination of
these ChUdren of the Mist, whom it is impossible to reclaim, and diffi
cult to hold in any check ; and this would long ago have been effected
by the colonists themselves had not the Govemment refused to lend
its sanction to the enterprize. Meanwhile, no decisive steps have
been taken towards ridding the country of the pest. It would really
seem as if they were preserved like other noxious vermin, for the
especial sport of her Majesty's troops, who ought to be grateful for so
amiable a distinction. If this were the case, the sooner a general
battue is ordered, and the head-quarters of the game beaten up,
the better. But, joking apart, the truth is that the fault does not Ue
with the Government, but with those who, under the plea of humanity.

54 THE BUSHMEN.
—and it is to be feared too often underthatof Religion— have warped
the public mind by misrepresentations, and excited it by clamorous
appeals, thus creating a morbid sensibiUty and false feeUng which has
rendered the exercise of wholesome severity not only difficult, but
almost impossible. These agitators either forget or voluntarily shut
their eyes to the fact, that in many cases, clemency to the savage is
positive injury to their fellow-countrymen ; and that forbearance on
our part is sure to be repaid by increased audacity on the part of the
offenders, to the heavy cost of the farmer, who is thus left mthout
protection or redress.
A similar case occurred some years ago in AustraUa, which was
nearly terminating in the ruin of all the graziers along the border
line of the interior ; as the shepherds and stock-keepers refused to be
responsible for their charge unless allowed to retaliate upon the blacks
for the injuries which they inflicted, and for the occasional murder of
some of their number.
The result was, that after repeated appeals to the authorities at
Sydney, which met with no effectual response, the squatters did take
the law'into their own hands, and having surprised their savage foes
on the top of a wooded hill, slew more than seventy of them, and
thus put an end, for a time at least, to their marauding expeditions.
Such would have been the course pursued by our Dutch predeces
sors, from whom, spite of our .superior intelligence, and the compara
tive darkness in which ignorance and prejudice have enveloped them,
we have yet to learn some useful lessons in the management of native
tribes. Difficulties, it is true, might arise in the prosecution of an enter
prize such as I have suggested, from the remarkable position of the
stronghold of these Bushmen, which has I beUeve been scarcely ever
risited by white men, but is supposed to be a deep circular basin in
the heart of the Kathlamba, near the sources of the Tugela and
Orange Rivers, accessible only at one point, and there by a narrow
and precipitous defile, which a knowledge of the locaUty would
enable its defenders to maintain against a greatly superior force ; but
to suppose that these obstacles, even if they have not been exagge-

VISIT TO A DUTCHMAN. 55
rated, could not be overcome, or that a well- organized attack upon
such a foe could fail of complete success, is an idea which no colonist
would entertain for a moment.
Nor, even if unsuccessful, would it lead to any extension of hosti
Uties, or tend to embroil us with other and more dangerous neigh
bours. The Bushmen are not, Uke the Kafirs, part of a great nation,
between whose scattered tribes, however dirided by intemal feuds,
there is on some points a community of feeling sufficient to unite and
render them truly formidable ; on the contrary, they are, even among
thefr fellow-savages, a proscribed race — they dwell apart — " Their
hand is against every man, and every man's hand against them ;'' and
in compassing their destruction, though we might obtain little efficient
assistance, yet we should carry with us the entire sympathies of our
native popiUation, as well as of the Kafirs beyond the Drakenberg,
all of whom are their deadly enemies, and would rejoice at their
downfall. Our first object was a call on a neighbouring Boer, in whose care
Darnell had left his oxen on his way towards Maritzburg, to recover
from the fatigue of their long and toilsome journey, and to escape the
risk which they would have incurred in the lower and less healthy dis
tricts of Natal. A quarter of an hour's walk up the bank of the river,
along a vrinding path broken by deep g^lHes, and through a vrilder
ness of mimosas, brought us to the farm, where we found the master,
Martinus Oosthuizen, busily engaged in the slaughter of an ox. He
proffered us his hand, which, though bearing evident tokens of his
occupation, we knew better than to refuse, and inrited us into his
house. My stock of Dutch was at that time so limited that I was
unable to join in the conversation which ensued between our host and
Darnell, but I could understand that Oosthuizen assured him of the
health and safety of the oxen, and of their good condition. WhUe
we were sitting there, the head of the prettiest horse I had yet seen '
in Africa appeared above the sill, or lower half of the door, and Lieu
tenant MUl of the Cape Corps announced himself. He had been
stationed at the fort for some time, and, from the reception which he
met from the old farmer, it was plain that he had had the good sense

66 I've done the englishman.
to cultivate his Dutch neighbours, and was a frequent and welcome
visitor at their houses. Whether the bright eyes of the Dutch lasses
had anything to do with the matter, I cannot say ; but certain allu
sions to a dance, and some sly questions about " the other evening"
were sufficient proof that these attractions were not wanting, and the
following story, which gave us many a hearty laugh, shows that there
is spirit as well as beauty to be found among the fair sex of this wild
region. The event which it relates had just taken place, and had
caused quite a sensation in that part of the country.
An English gentleman, whose duty called him to reside at Bush
man's River, had beguiled the time which hung heavUy upon his
hands, by falling in love with the pretty daughter of one of his Boer
neighbom's ; and though the young lady herself manifested no great
ardour, she was at length induced by the pressing importunities of
her admirer and his friends, to yield a reluctant consent to his pro
posals. Report says that these importunities partook of the nature of
threats. However that may he, the happy lover made all prepara
tions for the marriage : his house was enlarged, new furniture pur
chased, &e., and on the day appointed the clergyman arrived from
Maritzburg, a distance of sixty-four miles, to perform the ceremony.
There was no " kirk to deck at morning tide ;" but, as in the old song,
" The priest and bridegroom wait the bride" in vain. The damsel,
repenting of her engagement as the hour of its fulfilment approached,
had actually started off at midnight on a horse, which she borrowed
from her brother-in-law, who was no other than our friend Martinus
himself, and, accompanied by her younger brother, had taken a preci
pitate flight. She rode for eight hom-s without " off saddling," and
never drew bridle rein till she was " o'er the border." Her first
words when she arrived at her journey's end are worth recording, as
they contain a whole chapter on the feeling which exists between the
two nations. Leaping gaily out of her saddle, as if she had taken but
a morning's ride, she cried, " Ih heb den Engelschman verschalkt"—
" I've done the EngUshman." There was some talk of a " Jock of
Hazeldean" behind the scenes, but I believe that the mmour was a
false one, and that the young lady is stUl unmarried.

ANTE-NUPTIAL CONTRACTS. 57
As to the disappointed swain, when, after a persevering search,
not by " bower and ha'," but in corn-lofts, and cow-houses, and all
possible and impossible hiding-places, he was at length convinced
that she was gone, his rage was extreme, and the whole Dutch nation
was included in his vindictive anathemas. The Boers, meanwhile,
smiled, and said, that Mr.  was a kwaad (angry) man.
WhUe on the subject of marriage I may remark that the colonial
law of succession to property is one which is hardly suited to our
EngHsh notions, and which, besides that it bears witness to a rare
degree of petticoat supremacy, is really productive of many serious
evils. On the death of her husband the widow becomes entitled to
three-fourths of the property, the remaining fourth being divided
among the chUdren, who are thus left comparatively destitute, in the
very probable event of their mothers contracting a second marriage.
This may of course be avoided by a prerious deed of settlement,
or, as it is here called, an ante-nuptial contract, but to such a pro
ceeding the ladies naturaUy entertain a very decided repugnance ;
and once when I was rash enough to attempt its defence in thefr
presence, a torrent of reproaches poured in upon me, and to fiU up
the measure of my confusion a haughty maiden with flashing eyes
exclaimed, " Sir, were a man to make such a proposal to me, had he
the wealth of a king and the rirtues of a saint, I should give bim his
dismissal on the spot." I was silenced, as the reader may suppose,
and was careful not to offend again in like manner during my resi
dence in the country, and even here, though at a tolerably safe
distance, I write these words with fear and trembUng.
In a remote part of the world Uke that in which we now found
ourselves, where one does not generally see the best possible speci
mens of one's own countrymen, it is always a pleasant thing to meet
an educated EngUshman, with whom one can converse on equal
terms, and in this respect our chance encounter with Lieutenant
Mill was particularly fortunate. His courtesy and kindness, and his
agreeable company, made our sojourn at Bushman's River, which
would otherwise have been merely a vexatious though necessary
delay, one of the most pleasing episodes in our journey, and I the

58 MR. P  AND THE PREMIER.
rather mention it because such conduct is by no means so universal
as it should be among Englishmen in a wild country, and because
the duty of hospitality though not positively neglected, is still not
so much a matter of course in South Africa as to be passed without
notice or acknowledgment. Mill's quarters consisted of one small
room, with the usual flooring of clay and mest. Thick walls of
adobe, however, rendered it delightfully cool, especiaUy when con
trasted with the burning heat of our tent, which was scarcely endur
able. Here, while smoking our pipes after a substantial breakfast,
we were entertained with one of the most amusing instances of
rhodomontade that has ever come under my notice, even in a colony
where drawing the long-bow is practised to perfection.
The unconscious exhibitor, whom I shall call Page, had, according
to his own account, been an officer in the navy, and was in the
receipt of an annual income of £500, the enjoyment of which he
left to his wife and family in England, while he himself was content
to occupy the humble position of tutor in a Boer's family, at the
liberal salary of £40 a-year, whieh he indignantly informed us was
about to be reduced to £20. Not content with this strong beginning,
he launched into the private history of his family, which, if Mr.
Burke has omitted in his " Landed Gentry," it is a hiatus valde de-
Jlendus which should be filled up as soon as possible. His intimacy
with all the great men of the day reminded us strongly of PeU and
the Lord Chancellor, especially when he told us how the Duke of
Wellington, dining on board the ship in which he was a midshipman,
had patted him on the head, exclaiming, " Page, my boy, go on as
you have begun, and you will be an honour to the navy." He con
cluded with the following graphic description of an interriew with
the Premier, which is really too good to be left out : — " Before leav
ing England," said he, " I called to take leave of my friend Lord
John Russell, and found him at breakfast. On sending up my card,
however, I was instantly admitted, and after a cordial greeting,
' Page,' said his lordship, ' have you breakfasted ?' ' Yes, my lord.'
' Are you sure you've breakfasted. Page ?' ' Yes, indeed, my lord.'
' Then sit down and make yourself comfortable whUe I eat my

KAFIR BUTCHERS. .59
egg.' When the egg was flnished his lordship turned round with
a confldential air, and said, ' Now, Page, you're an old naval
officer, give me your candid opinion on the repeal of the navigation
laws !' "
I need scarcely say that a roar of laughter foUowed this anecdote,
but vrithout at aU discomfiting the worthy " captain," who never
appeared to dream of our doubting the authenticity of his narrative.
This species of bravado is, as I have before said, no uncommon
thing in colonies, the impossibility of testing the accuracy of state
ments leaving a wide range open to the invention, and offering every
encouragement to the aspirant after cheaply earned greatness. It
may well be supposed that the industrious settler holds such charac
ters in supreme contempt.
October 5. — An incident occurred this evening which gave us a
more correct idea than we had hitherto entertained as to the real
nature of the unreclaimed savage. Hearing that an ox was io be
slaughtered for the use of the camp, Barkley and I, who had had a
discussion on the respective merits of steel and lead for the purpose,
were tempted to witness the operation. The butcher happening to
be absent his duty devolved on his Kafir servants, who set about the
work with far more than their usual alacrity, eridently considering
it rather as an amusement than a task.
The herd being driven as near as possible to the place of slaughter,
one of the Kafirs proceeded to capture the doomed one, by throvring
over his vride spreading horns a noose fastened to a long pole, which
he carried in his hand. The sagacious animal, however, as if sus
pecting the intention, pertinaciously decUned the encounter, eluding
every attempt by a rapid movement ofthe head, and at length, when
hard pressed, breaking from the herd and scampering over the plain.
His pursuers gave chase with yells of delight, and after he had tried
every means of escape the poor creature was caught by one of his
hind legs, and dragged backwards by main force to the fatal spot,
where a gallows was erected, consisting of two poles and a cross
beam, such as is to be seen on every African farm, serving the double
purpose of a stake to which the living ox may be fastened previous to

60 BATHING.
his execution, and the means of suspending the carcass above the
reach of marauding wolves or jackals.
The beast's head once made fast to this post, or to a ring in the
ground, the coup de grace is usually administered by dividing, with
a sharp-pointed instrument, the first joint of the spine ; when this is
properly done death is instantaneous, and almost without pain. But
so merciful a proceeding did not agree with the temper of these
savage butchers, who would thereby have lost the best half of the
entertainment, besides which they were by this time much too excited
to give a steady, and therefore a final blow. Stab after stab was
dealt with furious energy in any but the fatal part, and whUe the
blood spouted on all sides, and the poor beast kicked and struggled,
his deUghted tormentors danced for very joy, laughing, tossing their
arms about, and displaying the most intense gratification. I may as
well close the scene which was eminently disgusting, but at which I
could not help wishing that some of the " Aborigines Protection
Society" had been present.
At least twice a-day during our stay on the banks of this beauti
ful stream, did we plunge into its waters, deriving fresh vigour and
health from every immersion. A smooth ledge of rock, sheltered by
the bank, which rose high above it, formed our dressing-room, from
which we leaped into a depth of ten or twelve feet of water. These
ledges, or klip plaats as the Duteh call them, are to be seen in all the
Natal rivers, and not unfrequently in the smaller brooks or spruits.
Where they cross the stream there is usually a slight fall or rapid,
terminating in a deep pool, below which there is generaUy to be
found a ford or drift. These pools, which I have often found, on
diving to the bottom, paved with a flooring smooth and even as
polished marble, were the favourite haunts of the hippopotamus,
when that animal was more common within the colony, and before
the roer of the Dutchman had startled thefr solitary retreats, and
carried havoc among their herds. Underneath these ledges were
their secret chambers, which the diver, to his great risk, discovers
far beneath the surface. They are stUl called zee hoe gats (Hippopo
tamus holes).

COCKNEY SHOPKEEPERS. 61
On the further bank was a solitary little cabin in which, however,
the spfrit of trade was actively at work, making for itself a fresh
starting-place from which to spread over the whole of this now deso
late region. Here as spruce a shopkeeper as ever stood behind a
London counter, with a large-eyed, theatrical-looking wife, from the
sweet shades of Norwood, and one or two thumping babies, had
established himself, and, monopolizing the custom of the little garrison
vrith that of chance travellers, was already doing a business which
would be considered very decent in a country town in England. It
sounded quaintly enough in such a place to hear the wife, with her
empressS and rather affected manner, apologize for the dishabille of
her husband who was plastering the wall of his tiny shop. Nor did
it appear less strange when we inquired into the contents of the
store, to hear of champagne, EngUsh preserves, and other super
fluities, to which we had bidden a long adieu. We treated ourselves,
however, to the luxury of a nice loaf made by the fair hands of Mrs,
Flory herself, and sixteen fresh eggs, for which we paid a shilling.
October 8. — Struck tent and inspanned our oxen, which had been
driven in the previous evening, and which, in spite of Oosthuizen's
assurances, did not seem to have gained much by their stay on his
farm. Indeed thej' presented a miserable appearance, — two only of
the small though hardy Zulu breed, which thrive under all cfrcura
stances, looking fit for work. I have by me the names of the oxen,
which, as a curiosity to English readers, I insert, with their respec
tive places in the span : —
Colesberg. Human. Wildemau. Plaatberg. Vryman. Sausman.
Leerman. Botman. Oortman. Kleinveld. Engeland. Koopman.
The wheelers, or pole oxen, are called by the Dutch, whose phrase
ology is universally adopted in all matters regarding a wagon, achter
ossen. The next pair naast achter, the next op zes, the next o;j acht,
and so on tUl the foremost but one, which was called naast voor, and
the leaders or voor ossen. Thefr terms for " near " and " off'" are hot
and har, so that in our span " Human" would be hot op acht. " Rhin-
veld," har naast voor. These two words, har and hot, to which the
dictionary gave no clue, puzzled me not a Uttle, and the only explana-

62 MURDER OF THE DUTCH BY DINGAAN.
tion I can offer is contained in the names of two towns on the oppo
site sides of the Seine, JTarReur and Jlon&eai, — so I leave the matter
to better linquists than myself.
Bidding adieu to MUl, whom a predatory incursion of his pleasant
neighbours the Bushmen summoned in a different direction, we crossed
Bushman's River, and its tributary the little one ofthe same name, and
began the ascent of a steep hUl on the other side. Here the weak
state of our oxen began to tell, and after a simUar scene to that which
I have attempted to describe at the commencement of the chapter, we
were obliged to outspan four of them, and drive them on by the side,
contenting ourselves with a reduced team of eight. Towards evening,
we entered upon a less hiUy country dotted with thorns, and ouf^
spanned for the night at Blaauw Krans Spruit, the scene ofone ofthe
most frightful massacres on record, even among savages.
Four hundred Dutch famUes, men, wives, and children, who, on
thefr first entrance into Natal, were encamped with thefr 600 wagons,
along the banks of this stream and its tributary, which now bears the
ominous title of " Moord Spruit," were treacherously surprised by the
Zulus, and, in spite of a gallant defence, were alraost all barbarously
murdered. The details of the affair are too horrible to mention ; but I have
been informed by Paul Beste, now magistrate of Harrismith, that he
himself superintended the burial of 250 corpses on one side of the
Spruit, while at least an equal number were interred on the other.
Darnell had seen and conversed with a woman, one of the few
survivors of this tragedy, who bore fearful witness to its reality,
having still the marks of seventeen distinct assegai stabs on her
person. Her name is, I think, Ratz,
The unfortunate party was commanded at the time of the on
slaught by GreyUng and Gert Maritz, the latter of whom gave one-
half of its name to Pieter Maritzburg, The chief commander, Pieter
Retief, after whom the town is also called, had been invited by the
wily Dingaan to a feast at his own " Kraal," and had gone there in
unsuspecting confidence, with sixty of his party, hoping to conciliate
the savage, and to secure his countrymen from future molestation.

PICTURESdUE SCENERY. 63
The main body who were left vrith the wagons, being thus compara
tively unprotected, feU an easy prey to the swarm of Zulus dispatched
by Dingaan for thefr destruction ; as for Retief and his band, I need
hardly say that they never returned from the feast, where they were
butchered Hke the poor ox, whose fate I have described, and with the
same manifestations of deUght and triumph.
October 9.— Darnell shot a large hawk, measuring more than three
feet between the tips of the wings. These bfrds, and the white
spotted crow, are continually hovering over the outspans, especiaUy
when food is preparing.
A short trek over a flat country brought us to the Tugela, the
principal river of Natal, which is here more than a hundred yards
wide. Crossing it, we outspanned for three or four hours, in order to
give Mackenzie time to maie a loaf. Evening trek through the most
picturesque country we had yet seen. Our route led us for some dis
tance along the banks of the Tugela, which was here very beautiful,
in one spot especially, where the river was crossed by one of the
rocky ledges I have mentioned, and expanded below into a pool of
more than ordinary width, the banks of which were covered with
reaUy green grass, and on the further side ornamented with clumps
of mimosas; the scene was charming, and almost realized the falla
cious descriptions of park-Uke scenery, with which the guide-books
abound. Leaving these beauties with reluctance, we now came upon
a desert of stones, the whole surface of the country being Uterally
covered by them. After toiUng up one or two rocky hills, between
which we caught a gUmpse of the frregular outline of the great
Drakenberg, we outspanned on a plain by a soUtary kameel doom
free, a lofty species of mimosa, so caUed from its leaves being the
food of the stately giraffe.
This evening we saw seven rheeboks {JRedunca capreolus) with
a young lamb ; and DarneU got a long shot which, however, was un
successful. This was the first appearance of game since we left
Maritzburg. The whole of this district, now so solitary, bears marks of having
been once thickly inhabited. On every side, the ruins of old cattle

64 STONY DESERTS,
kraals, round inclosures of loose stones, meet the eye ; but not a single
native is to be seen. They have all been driven out or exterminated
by Chaka, that monster in human form, of whose atrocities Mr.
Isaacs has given most frightful accounts in his interesting book on
Natal. October 10. — Through a flat country, sprinkled with thoms, to
" Klip River," a narrow stream, with steep banks, where our poor
oxen stuck again, and detained us a good hour, A new viUage has
been founded on the banks of this stream, to which the ridiculous
name of " Ladysmith " has been given as a pendant, I suppose, to that
of Harrismith, on the other side of the mountain. We had intended
visiting the place, and paying our respects to its able and efficient
magistrate. Captain Strubin ; but we missed the route, and found too
late that we had passed it by. Our afternoon's trek was the most
tedious we had yet made, and was rendered doubly unpleasant by a
dry, searching wind, which blew right in our teeth. The aspect ofthe
country now changed, presenting avast plain, arid, burned, and stony,
varied only by small round hills, or kopjes, which were scattered
here and there on the otherwise level surface, and seemed rather to
have dropped down from above, than to form integral parts of the
scenery. The outUne of the Drakenberg became hourly more distinct,
standing high up against the sky, a fine background to a dreary and
uninteresting picture.
Many a rare and beautiful flower bloomed in the bare soU, or lifted
its head above the huge stones which encumbered the ground — flower^
that would have delighted the eye of the horticulturist, and would
have been valued treasures in an English conservatory. Many of
them are yet unknown to science ; at least they puzzled Darnell, who
is an accomplished botanist ; but for myself, I would rather have seen
one bank of green turf and one spreading elm, than the rarest flower
that ever bore the palm at Chiswick, or filled half a dozen pages of
the " Gardener's Chronicle."
These plains, however, are not always so desolate : let one short
month pass, and the wilderness of ashes shall be changed into a vast
carpet of luxuriant green, which the enthusiastic traveUer shaU de-j

DUTCH EXILES, 65
scribe in glowing terms, stigmatizing this journal as false or prejudi
cial. But never mind ! It is better to be agreeably disappointed than
the reverse, — which was my lot.
The melancholy impression which the scene was in itself calculated
to produce was increased by the aspect of the few farms over which
we passed. They were for the most part entfrely deserted, and fast
relapsing into a state of nature. Where are the owners ? — the sturdy
Boers, who, as they fondly fancied, had bought this fafr country to
themselves for a perpetual inheritance ? Over yon range of moun
tain, across the distant Vaal, far up towards the Limpopo, whose course
is yet a problem to geography — they have fled from British govern
ment, from British interference. There the Uttle repubUc stagnates
in safe obscurity, and sends messages of innocent defiance across the
border. And there let them remain, since they will have it so. We
would be weU content that they should stay among us, and become
one vrith us, in the hope that prejudices and animosities might be
rubbed off on both sides by close and continual intercourse. But we
vriU not now disturb them in their banishment ; our hands are full
enough as it is. Let them not think, however, to hand down to their
posterity even these remote solitudes, — for, as surely as the Orange
River runs into the Atlantic Ocean, or the NUe into the Mediterranean,
so surely vriU the energy and perseverance of the Anglo-Saxon, his
powers, nay, even his very language, penetrate, subdue, and civilize
the interior of this vast continent, from Abyssinia to the Cape, from
the Channel of Mozambique to the PUlars of Hercules.
And yet it was a sad sight, this premature decay— this ruin with
out the softness of eld — this death before Ufe had weU stmggled into
existence ; and it suggested a gloomy train of thought, which the
reader will thank me for forbearing to infUct upon him.
Right glad were we aU, when having, after a long search, dis
covered a small spruit, not quite dried up, the oxen were halted and out-
spanned for the night under the lea of one of the round kopjes which
I have mentioned above.
Octoher 11. — This morning our horses, which had been knee-
haltered as usual, and turned out to graze the previous evening, were
F

66 HORSES LOST.
not to be found. We had nothing for it but to despatch the boys,
Aaron and Kinett, on the spoor, and to await thefr retum with what
patience we might.
A Hottentot, I should observe, Uke a post-boy, is always a boy
though he be tottering with age; whether he enjoys the same univer
sally conceded pririlege of immortality, I have not been able to ascer
tain. The Kafir war has ere now solved that problem. Woidd that
itself might be solved as easily.
We passed the day as we could, gathering flowers which we were
unable to name, cleaning and trying our guns, and sleeping, — the great
resource in a hot climate. The weather, however, had become sen.-
sibly cooler as we approached the mountains. Towards evening,
Aaron and Kinett came back with the horses, which they had fracked
to our last outspan, whither they had retumed for fresher pasture.
Here they had found nothing but last year's grass, yellow and
withered. Darnell also returned from an unsuccessful search for
game ; and Mackenzie, vrith better fortune, brought a sheep, which
he had purchased at a neighbouring farm for four dollars (six shil
Ungs). The Boer had at first refiised to sell it, but was overruled by
his better half, who had, as she said, traveUed across the desert her
self, and having experienced the want of food, could feel for poor fel
lows in the same predicament. " Haud ignara maii." Kind crea
ture ! How thankful we were ; for we had actually no meat, and the
mountain air sharpened our appetites.
October 12. — A short trek brought us again to Klip River, where,
the ascent on the other side appearing very steep, and a storm coming
on, we outspanned, and were glad to huddle up in the wagon for shel
ter, shivering with cold. But the rain soon ceasing, we resolved to
attempt the drift, and endeavoured to make the bank less sUppery by
throwing over it some dry earth and ashes, the contents of a curiou!
hole in the ground, that appeared to have done serrice for an oven.
Notwithstanding our precautions, the oxen stuck, and the usual pro
cess was repeated. Darnell lighted his pipe, and walked sfraight
a-head — his invariable habit on these occasions; Barkley bnsicdj
himself energetically among the horns and tails of the unfortunate

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAKENBERG. 67
oxen ; the Hottentots worked well, being in their element ; Mac
kenzie appeared very active, but did nothing ; and your humble ser
vant fulfilled his aUotted task of setting the stones under the wheels,
at the imminent risk of crushing his fingers. At length the oxen
chose to trek all at once (which, if they had chosen to do two hours
before, they would have saved themselves and us a great deal of
trouble), and drew the wagon out with the greatest ease. The fact
is, that in these long spans half the strength is wasted, from the dif
flculty of making all the oxen draw together, which they are very
rarely persuaded to do.
Thence over a gently undulating country, the veld improving as
we proceeded, till we struck the Klip River again, and outspanned
on its southem bank tmder a stony hUl covered with the prickly
aloe, whose dead leaves helped to make our fire. Here we bathed,
dined, and stayed the rest of the day. We were now within a short
trek of the Drakenberg, which on a nearer view rather disappointed
our expectations both as to height and boldness of outUne. Indeed
it seemed little more than a very high range of grassy hill, broken at
intervals by dark woody kloofs, but presenting no formidable barrier
to our exit. We had approached the mountains at the point of thefr
smallest and least abrupt elevation, learing the loftier and more inac
cessible portion of the range far away to the south and west. That
the reader may the better understand our position, and the general
nature of these mountains, I vrill here quote the words of Dr. Stanger,
Surveyor-General of Natal, which wUl convey a more correct idea
than any description that I can offer. I extract them from Mr.
Christopher's work on Natal.
" The Draakberg, instead of being considered as one continuous
chain of mountains, may be more correctly dirided into two, of differ
ent geological structures, and having different directions ; the one
forming llie north-western boundary I shall call the Small Draak
berg, and the other, forming the westem boundary the Great Draak
berg. The north-western portion of the Draakberg is of the average
altitude of five thousand feet above the level of the sea, and about
fifteen hundred feet above the general level ofthe country at its base.

08 DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAKENBERG.
The outline is in general round and soft, presenting some remarkable
features, and occasionally high table-lands with precipitous sides.
These mountains are composed of beds of sandstone cut through by
veins of trap, and dirainish in height as they advance to the north
east, until at some distance beyond the source of the Umzimyati they
appear to terminate in low hills. They are passable almost at any
part by horses and cattle, but there are only three passes in use by
the Boers : one near Bezuidenhout's farm, in lat. 28° 33' south, and
long. 28" 44' east, and one at De Beer's, in lat. 28° 26' south, and long.
28° 52' east ; and another a little to the south-west of Bezuidenhout's.
The two former are in constant use, the latter rarely."
[It was by this latter pass, which to any but an African wagoner
would appear impracticable, that the Boers made thefr first entrance
into Natal. I have never seen it ; but my companions, who descended
the mountain by that route, describe it as almost precipitous, and
consisting in some parts of shelves of rock, down which the wagon
drops thi-ee or four feet at a jump. They accompUshed the descent
in safety, but, while outspanned at the foot of the mountains, saw a
Dutch wagon, whose driver was either less skilful or less fortunate,
roll from the top to the bottom. One can imagine the result.]
" The Great Draakberg, 'or that portion of it which forms the
western boundary, has a dfrection N.N.W. and S.S.E. The junction
of this with the former, or Small Draakberg, is ten or twelve miles to
the south-west of Bezuidenhout's pass; from this point rises the
Tugela. These mountains are much higher than the others, and arc
quite impassable, presenting a rugged outline and bold precipitous
escarpments. " From a distant riew, from the nature of the outline (not having
been near them) I infer that they are granite."
I should add that the native name " Kathlamba," though common
to the whole range, is more especially applied to this last dirision,
which Dr. Stanger has called the Great Draakberg.
The reader will at once perceive that it was the Lesser Draakberg
which we were now approaching ; in fact we were in the neighboui-
hood of De Beer's pass, though we contemplated making the ascent

A VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY. 69
by another road, a Httle to the north-east of De Beer's, and known by
the name of the " Quagga Pad," from being the usual track of these
animals in thefr annual migrations between the Sovereignty and the
higher parts of Natal. This is considered the easiest pass for a loaded
wagon, and is therefore in most frequent use.
Easy as it might be, it was pretty clear that it would prove too
much for our reduced span of eight oxen in their present feeble and
emaciated condition, and a committee of ways and means was accord
ingly held, in which it was determined that Darnell should set off
the following moming for the new town of Harrismith, which lay
about twenty mUes beyond the Drakenberg, at the foot of the Plaat
berg, a very remarkable table-mountain, whose summit was even now
visible in the clear horizon. This was to be our first halt, if not the
end of our journey, my friends haring partly made up their minds
to the purchase of a farm in its neighbourhood, and here Darnell ex
pected to find two oxen, which he had left in the care of a farmer
on his dovniward route, and to be able to hire others if necessary to
help us over the pass,
October 13.. — At daybreak Darnell started, mounted on " Schut
kraal," an old bay horse, which, as his name infers, had been purchased
out of the Pound for sixty-four rix-doUars, and which, being a hardy
animal, had suffered less than the others from change and deficiency
of pasture, or from the long drag behind the wagon. Barkley and
I made a short treh to the foot of the Drakenberg, crossing the Klip
River on om- way, for the third time, with the usual incidents,
our best ox, Koopman, narrowly escaping from strangling himself in
the yoke.
The scenery became more and more varied and picturesque as we
advanced (when is not mountain scenery beautiful ?), and our out
span was a delicious spot.
A mountain stream of crystal purity ran babbling through the
windings of a narrow valley, now hidden among tall reeds, now run
ning evenly between Soft grassy banks, anon rushing swiftly over
smooth beds of rock, whose every vein might be traced through the
medium of its glassy waters, or diving into a miniature ravine be-

70 OUREBIS.
tween steep overhanging cUffs, whose sides were clothed vrith shrubs
and creeping plants, and here and there with trees of fantastic growth,
which cast a dark shadow on the little pool that slept beneath, un-
risited by the flerce rays of the noonday sun, ever fresh and cool
and unruffled save by a leaf dropping from above, or the light dance
of a buzzing insect on its surface. A steep hUl-side, which we had
just descended, sprinkled with thorns and evergreen shrubs, walled
in the valley to the east, terminating just where the stream made an
abrupt angle, and was lost to view in a deep hloof, whose recesses
the eye sought in vain to penetrate ; while to the west the ground
sloped gently upward, and then broke into knolls and hoeks, or cor
ners and ridges and hollows, and more kloofs and more rarines juat
as the roots of the Drakenberg might chance, as they struck into the
soil of Natal, to spread, or swell, or twist, or bury themselves beneath
or above its surface. The earth was covered with rich verdure, and
for the colouring ofthe picture, in the exquisite varieties of light and
shade, a painter alone could do it justice.
Here we spent a day of quiet enjoyment (for it was Sunday, and
we had arrived before noon) wandering along the course of our Uttle
stream, and fllling our senses with beauty till our conversation took
quite a poetical turn. Do not be alarmed, gentle reader ! I am not
going to conclude this day's journal with " Lines on the Draken
berg." We started several ourebis, and I do not say that we might not
have been tempted, spite of poetry and sentiment, to flre at them, but
our dogs started them out of shot, and we were spared the alternative.
Voltein and Kaflrland, however, had no hesitation on the matter, and
continued the chase long after it was hopeless, — which indeed it was
from the flrst, — the ourebi being the swiftest of the antelope species,
and few dogs a match for him,
October 14. — Breakfast was just over, and we were smoking our
matutinal pipes in the shadow of the wagon, when we were aroused by
Aaron's cry of " Keek ! daar de Baas," * and, looking up, saw Darnell
slowly descending the hill on foot, driving Schutkraal before him,
• See, there is the master.

SCHUTKRAAL. 71
whose drooping head, and tottering pace, plainly showed thathe was
thoroughly knocked up. Nor did our friend appear in much better
plight. Wet, weary, and haggard, and, if the truth must be told, not
in the best of humours :
" In other guise than forth he yode
Returned Lord Marmion."
He said little tUl he had flnished a cup of strong coffee, and had
made considerable inroads into Mackenzie's last loaf (capital bread the
fellow made by the by), then, being in some measure refreshed, he
gave us the following history of his adventures : —
" I ascended the pass, in which there is only one awkward bit for
a wagon, and foUowed the track that appeared to lead towards the
Plaatberg; but as there were several roads branching off in different
dfrections, I did not feel quite sure, and chancing to meet a Boer vrith
his wagon, I asked him the way. The rascal must have misled me
on purpose. I thought I saw a grin on his countenance as he was
speaking. I rode on for at least twenty miles, tiU the old horse
showed erident symptoms of fatigue ; whereupon I off-saddled, and
leaving him to graze in a green hoUow, walked flve or six mUes
farther, but though I gained the top of a hiU which coraraanded an
extensive view, I could see nothing like dorp, or farm, or human
habitation of any kind. I had nothing for it now but to return to
the spot where I had left the horse, and, having mounted, I set off at
a good pace, hoping to reach the wagon before night. At flrst he
appeared refreshed, and went pretty well, but he soon began to flag
again, and when vrithin about ten miles of the top of the mountain
carae to a dead stand-still. I plied whip and spur as long as they
produced any effect (here Darnell showed his Molucca hunting crop,
which was shivered into fibres), and then looked out for a sleeping-
place. I chose a dry flat rock in the bed of a shrunken stream, tole
rably sheltered by the banks, but I need not tell you, quite sufficiently
exposed for the cHmate, which is several degrees colder than below
the mountain, and not particularly suited to an asthmatic constitution.
There was a small drizzUng rain, too, throughout the night, which

72 A NIGHT IN THE VELD.
did not improve my position. From every quarter came the howl of
the jackal and hyena — a pleasant lullaby — and once or twice I thought
I heard the distant roar of a Uon, which eflTectually counteracted any
disposition to sleep. It was just in that neighbourhood that Lacey
the ' Smous' had a flue horse killed by the side of his wagon, and I
confess the thought made me feel rather uncomfortable. Schutliraal,
I think, must have shared my apprehensions, for when I rose from
my hard couch in the grey of the morning, and tried to approach him,
he thought it better to decline the interview, evidently regarding me
with an eye of suspicion. Knee-haltered as he was, it took me more
than two hours to catch him, and when caught, I found him so Uttle
recovered from yesterday's fatigue, that I was obliged to walk almost
the whole distance, driving him before me as you saw. I was lucky
enough, however, to meet a man at the top of the mountain, from
whom I ascertained that there is a Dutch farmer within two mUes of
this place, who has oxen for sale or hfre. So let Mackenzie go at
onee and see about it ; he can buy a sheep at the same time. As for
me, I shall turn into the wagon and take a snooze."
And I think, dear reader, that if you had ridden forty miles and
walked twenty, passed a wet night on a stone, knocked np yonr
horse, lost your way, missed the object of your journey, and fasted
for thfrty hours, you would have been right glad to follow his
example.

73

CHAPTER VII.
A MISTY MORNING — THE DUTCH BOER — ASCENT OP THE DRAKENBERG — HALF
WAY UP — ^THE " smous" — THE CURTAIN DRAWN — A SQUINTPATH  A PULL
SPAN — ^VIEW PROM THE SUMMIT — ANT HEAP — JACK AND THE BEAN-STALK
— THE SOVEREIGNTY — GEOGRAPHICAL DIVISION  NATURAL DIVISION—
VLAKTEN  DUTCH HUNTING — HIGHLANDS — HOW TO SETTLE A COUNTRY —
LAND SALE — NELSON's KOP — ^OSTRICH HUNT  PLAATBERG BY MOONLIGHT
— ^Where's the wagon ? — harrismith — pinch and neco — the mab-
aUEE — our host — KAFIR TRADE  A HOT WALK — CONEYS — MISSING OXEN
— AN ADVENTURE  THREE SHOTS — TAKE THAT — SEARCH FOR A PARM — ¦
hors-de-combat  TOPOGRAPHY — OXEN POUND  PARTING  A BIT OP
SENTIMENT.
October 15. — Mackenzie's embassy proved highly successful. At
daybreak I was awoke by a peculiar shout, which I at once recog
nized as that of a Kaffr herdsman, and, creeping out from under the
wagon, saw a troop of huge shadowy creatures advancing through
the mist, followed by what appeared a wefrd giant of unmeasured
height, and undistinguished form.
As they drew nearer, they subsided into a span of fourteen beau
tiful Uttle Zulu oxen, of uniform size, shape, and colour, and a tall
native, wrapt in a cow-hide, and carrying the carcass of an animal,
by courtesy caUed a sheep, though the piebald thing had a very goat
like appearance, which its taste, if I reraeraber right, did not fail to
justify. The Kaffr announced the speedy arrival of his " Baas," and
we had scarcely finished a hasty breakfast, when the old Boer made
his appearance, mounted on a strong good-looking chestnut, and
leading a stout bay. He was clad in a narrow striped jacket, such as
footmen in England occasionaUy wear, and trousers of black corduroy ;
his hat was tied up in a many-coloured handkerchief, and at his side
hung a huge powder-horn.
His moustache and whiskers were united, and both were snow-
white, and his countenance was more expressive and less stolid than

74 THE DUTCH BOER.
that of most of his countrymen, while his frame was that of a taU
powerful man.
Hans de Lange, for such was his name, was altogether a very fine-
looking old fellow, and did not beUe the character which he bears of
a brave man, and a keen sportsman, and especially of a daring and
successful lion-hunter.
Dismounting, he shook hands vrith us severally, bid us a gruff but
hearty " goeden dag," and gave the order to inspan. The first part
of the ascent was very gradual, so that notvrithstanding the slippery
state of the ground (for a drizzling rain was falling), we proceeded
steadily onward, almost imperceptibly rising, tUl many of the kloofs,
whose summits, as we gazed upwards from below, had been lost in
the morning mist, yawned at our feet as we passed along their upper
edge, like the mouths of huge caldrons, seething with dense clouds
of vapour. Here and there we came upon knoUs covered with the
evergreen Suiker hos a graceful shriib, which imparted a lawn-like
cultivated appearance to the spot on which it grew, and added soft
ness to a scene which, though wild, exhibited none of the stern
features of a more rocky and precipitous range. In Httle more than
an hour we had reached a bit of table land, about half way up the
mountain, and here, as the worst part of the ascent was yet to come,
and it was not judged safe to proceed in the present state of the
ground, we were reluctantly compelled to outspan.
Even in this solitary spot we were not alone. A wagon, which
had passed us the prerious evening, stood on one side of the road, its
long trech touw hanging idly on the ground, while a thick smoke that
struggled up through the fine rain, and a savoury odour that greeted
our nostrUs, were unmistakeable signs of that cooking aniraal, man.
We soon recognized Mr. Murphy, one of those enterprizing traders,
or, as they are colonially termed, smousen, who journey through the
deserts of the interior supplying the wants which have arisen with
the growth of civilization among the remote Boers and natives, and
who are, to the scattered population of their thinly-inhabited districts,
what the itinerant pedlars once were to the secluded villages of Eng
land — retailers of damaged stuffs and old news, of tinsel jeweUery

THE " SMOUS." 75
and idle gossip. Like the pedlars also, if report speaks truly, they
have no objection, when they meet with a safe customer, to deal in
contraband goods, and many a musket, and many a pound of powder
that are now doing terrible execution upon our brave soldiers, may
have been supplied by thefr agency.
They seldora deal for money. The Boer is natm-ally a hoarder of
gold, and is very loth to open the chest, or disturb the buried stock
ing ; and, as for the savage, his wealth does not consist in stamped
coin. But their wagons return to the great towns loaded with bags
of mealies (Indian corn), or with a far more precious cargo of ivory
and skins, while herds of cattle and horses, the produce of many a
clever bargain, follow in thefr train. There are few people for whom
a roring occupation Hke this, once experienced, does not possess a
pecuUar fascination ; nor is the African smous an exception to the
rule, — hardship, privation, and danger threaten him in vain. His
wagon may break down in tlie bare desert, where not a stick can be
found to repair the damage ; his cattle may sicken and die, his oxen
fail in raid-journey; the Uon may carry off his best horses, whose
price had already been fixed, and for whom a sure purchaser was in
prospect ; he may suffer hunger and thirst, and the extremes of heat
and cold ; none of these things are sufficient to disenchant him, or
to inspire him with a wish for a more settled and less adventurous
existence; the town soon wearies him, and, after snatching a short,
though often a riotous season of enjoyment, as men are wont to do
when intervals of holiday are brief and far between — the sailor on
shore, the AustraUan settler on his annual risit to Sidney with his
yield of wool, the Canadian lumberer when " stream driring" is over,
and the logs of a winter's chopping deUvered to a merchant — Uke
these, he returns with fresh zest to his darUng occupation; his
wagon is reloaded with goods, his oxen inspanned, and he is off again
to the wilderness, prepared, if need be, to encounter the same, or even
greater hardships than before, and confident, in the end, of reaping a
golden harvest.
Nor are such anticipations likely to be disappointed. Secure from
competition, and subject to no law, but that of the seller's own eon-

76 THE "SMOUS,"
science, — not a very favourable one for the buyer, — the trade cannot
be otherwise than lucrative. The outlay, moreover, is small in propor
tion to the profits, which are enormous ; the risk is trifling, and the
return immediate. Of course, in these bargains, there is plenty of
room for the exercise of that species of comraercial shrewdness which
is apt to stretch the bounds of honesty to their farthest extent ; and
when Greek meets Greek, the game is fair enough ; but it is obrious
that in nine cases out of ten, the Dutch, or native purchaser, can have
as little chance in a bargain with the smous, as a novice on the turf
in the hands of a professed leg.
StUl, these men are far frora being useless in their generation !
they are the links between the busy ports and the far interior ; they
bring into notice many valuable productions which would, bnt for
them, remain unknown to the commercial or the scientiflc world;
they open up the buried resources of their unvisited regions; they are !
the pioneers of civilization ; and, if they do now and then take ad
vantage of thefr unsophisticated customers, when have white men, in
their intercourse with their fellows of a darker hue, failed to do the
Uke ? Is not the whole history of our commerce with the American
Indians full of such instances ? Who does not remember the story of
the fraud practised on the Blaekfeet Indians, which changed their
friendship into deadly enmity ? How the American fi-ee-traders gave,
in exchange for pUes of beaver and buffalo skins, a few grains of
powder, telUng these credulous natives that the seed would produce I
an abundant crop — and how the Indians, the next season, retaUated j
the abominable trick, promising that the skins shonld be forthcoming
when the seed appeared above the ground ? No such enormity has
ever been laid to the charge of the African trader, and if we are in*
clined to be over scrupulous, we must be silenced by the old proverb,!
" Non est inquirendum unde venit venison." While the reader, there
fore, cuts the leaves of this book with his ivory paper-knife, let him
thank Messrs. Murphy and Co., for the luxury, and not he too curion?
about the price of the tusk from which it was made, a
But where is Mr, Murphy all this time ? I have heen very negli-i
gent, and owe him, and Mrs. Murghy also, for he travelled en

THE CURTAIN DRAWN, 77
famille, a thousand apologies for so long delaying their introduction.
Nor ought I to forget the contents of the large iron pot, nor the cup of
hot coffee vrith which we were kindly entertained. He was a warra-
hearted Irishman, and I think coffee could hardly have been his
favourite beverage. Indeed, I have no doubt that he owed his recep
tion among the Boers to the case of brandewyn in his wagon, as much
as to the fact of his having married one of their countrywomen, which
would alone have been sufficient to establish his claim of relationship
in almost all thefr houses.
Not even Mr, Murphy's society, however, was sufficient to make
that home in the mountains an agreeable one. ' Shivering with cold,
(for cold, after all, is only a relative feeling, and does not depend on
the state of the thermometer), drenched with rain, and vexed at the
inopportune delay, we were as thoroughly miserable as such a com
bination of cfrcurastances could make us. Suddenly, Hans de Lange,
who had been watching the vapoury heavens for sorae tirae with an
eye aUve to the slightest indication of a change, caUed our attention,
and, pointing in a southerly dfrection, showed a bright patch of
landscape which was disclosed through a smaU rent in the thick
curtain that surrounded us, and seemed to be basking in the rays of a
noonday sun. " It is just twelve o'clock,'' said Hans, " and we shall
have a fine day after aU." Scarcely had he uttered these words of
hope, when the bright spot vanished as in a dissolving view, and the
curtain of mist closed again thicker and more damp and chilly than
before. StUl Hans persisted in his augury ; and now again it is lifted
in the form ofan arch, and underneath appears the top of a low hill,
whether far or near we know not, but very clear as if seen through a
telescope ; and now the arch widens and fresh rents are visible, and
the edges of the curtain contract and melt like the breath on a pane
of glass, and now it hangs in tattered shreds, that curl upwards
swiftly but imperceptibly : and now it is gone, and the deep blue sky
is over head, and the genial sun blazes forth from above,
"And the moist earth is laughing below.''
The magical change which I have here attempted to describe, is so

78 " WAIT A BIT."
vividly painted by Scott in the " Bridal of Triermain," that though the
lines may be familiar to many of my readers, I cannot resist the temp
tation of inserting them : —
" A summer mist arose ;
Adown the vale its vapours float,
And cloudy undulations moat
That tufted mound of mystic note,
As round its base they cIorc.
And higher now the fleecy tide
Ascends its stem and shaggy side,
Until the airy hiUows hide
The rock's majestic isle ;
It seemed a veil of filmy lawn.
By some fantastic fairy drawn,
Around enchanted pile.
The breeze came softly down the brook.
And sighing as it blew,
The veil of silver mist it shook,
And to De Vaux's eager look
Renewed that wond'rous view.
For though the loit'ring vapour braved
The gentle breeze, yet oft it waved
Its mantle's dewy fold ;
And still, when shook that filmy screen,
Were towers and bastions dimly seen.
And Gothic battlements between.
Their gloomy length unrolled."
But there is no time for delay. The ground is drying fast; and there
will be good foothold on the pass by the time the oxen are inspanned.
Murphy is of the same opinion, and is akeady driving up his span,
from whose reeking hides a cloud of steam is exhaled. But he has
no ambition to take the lead j not from any excessive timidity, but
that he may have the advantage of our track for guidance, or warning,
as the case may be.
Let us walk on, and reconnoitre. The wagon can follow at leisure.
For some distance, the road winds gently upward with an easy as
cent ; and look ! there is the last pitch straight before us— rather
steep, but nothing for our fourteen fat little Zulus : the pass is no such
great affair after all. " Vacht een heetje.^' (wait a bit), said Hans,
" there is a hollow between us and that pitch which will give us some
trouble yet." As he spoke, we gained the top of the brow whicjihad
interrupted our view.

A SQUINT PATH. 79
The road ran round a projecting swell of ground, which, descend
ing almost abruptly, left no level space for the wheels, and made what
the Dutch call a " scuinseh pad," and a very squint path it was cer
tainly. The rain had settled in the lower rut, softening the earth,
which, forced up by former wheels, had afforded a slight protection
on that side, and the chance of a sUp was thus increased. The con
sequences of such a sHp may be imagined when I add that scarcely
ten feet below this sidelong track was the edge of a large kloof ¦which.
appeared to have been scooped by some gigantic hand out of the
mountain sides, vrithin whose depths, now no longer lost in mist, we
could see, far beneath us, the tops of tall frees, whose roots were
fixed but half way down its precipitous sides. StUl overhanging this
abyss, the track then dipped into a hollow trough, which might have
been the channel of the summer floods in thefr passage to the plains
below ; beyond this rose the last steep pitch, which it requfred nothing
but a long and strong pull to surmount.
Indeed, the slanting bit which I have described hardly amounted
to what Aaron would call a " leelyhe pleh " (an ugly spot), nor would
any further precaution than careful handling of the oxen have been
necessary, but for the sUppery state of the ground, which called for
more than the ordinary expedients. The one to which we had re
course is very effective, though it may appear ludicrous to the EngUsh
dragsman. Taking three or four riems of stout buffalo hide, of which there
should always be an ample stock at hand, we made them fast by one
end to the outer part of the wagon, on the higher or up-hill side, and
hanging on to the other ends with aU the force and weight we could
muster, endeavoured to counteract the downward inclination of the
vehicle, and preserve its equUibrium,
When we had all a flrm hold, the oxen were started, and by dint
of pulling, scrambUng, sHpping, and shouting, passed the point of
danger triumphantly, and reached the bottom of the last steep ascent.
Whether our safe passage was entfrely owing to our exertions, I
hardly know ; for my own part, though I pulled vigorously, I cannot
flatter myself that I was of much service, for the sloping ground

80 ANT HEAPS.
giving me no point d'appui, — each pull threw me fafrly on my back,
to the no smaU amusement of our two Hottentots, who laughed up
roariously- Having got over the difficulty ourselves, we ran back to assist
Murphy, who had not followed our track so exactly but that his lower
wheel had slipped off the road, and a capsize was inevitable, when,
just as our united efforts were failing, a lucky bolt of the oxen, wliich
appeared to threaten certain destruction, extricated hira from aU
danger. The oxen, I suppose, content with this involuntary feat, re
fused to face the last ascent, and it was not till twelve of our span
were yoked in front of his own, making a span of four and twenty,
that his wagon was drawn up, and stood beside om-s on the summit of
the Drakenberg, A moment's breathing,— for it has been sharp work,
— and then we turn to look at the riew, which is well worth all the
trouble we have had to reach it.
Beneath us lay discovered in their deep recesses many a wooded
hloof, rich in the variety of foliage, shrubs, and flowers, and orna
mented here and there vrith fine timber trees. A rich carpet of ver
dure clothed the side and foot of the berg, as well as its summit,
while beyond, and far as the eye could reach, the Natal country lay
stretched out before us like a map, the fresh green gradually fading
into yellow and brown, as it receded frora the mountain, and the
round kopjes that dotted the surface, looking like overgrown ant-
heaps, bare, treeless, and desolate.
I have forgotten to mention that real ant-heaps form a consider
able feature in South African scenery. For miles and miles they are
the only objects that meet the weary traveller's eye, mayhap recalhng
to him, .by the regularity in which they occur, and by their resem
blance in size and shape, the manure heaps that are lying ready to be
spread over the cultivated fields of his deserted English farm, which,
in spite of taxes, landlords, and hard times, he already begins to look
back upon with fond regret. They are of a light grey colour, are
baked hard by the sun, and are said to make tolerable bricks.
Connected with them, also, is a far less pleasant association. In
the annals of savage history, fit only to be written in letters of blood.

JACK AND THE BEAN-STALK. 81
we find them used as an instrument of perhaps the most infernal tor
ture that the ingenuity of man, " Suadente diabolo," has ever invented.
The wretched victim, whether prisoner of war or offending subject,
having been smeared with some oily substance, was partially interred
in one of these heaps, when, if not previously roasted by the burning
sun, he was literally devoured alive by the myriads of insects which
have thefr habitation there ! I have heard it asserted that some of
our own countrymen have met this dreadful fate ; but I would fain be
lieve this to be without foundation.
And now having climbed the mountain, the reader will doubtless
be preparing himself for its descent on the other side. What, then, will
be his surprise when he learns that there is no such thing; but that
the sumrait, like the top of Jack's celebrated bean-stalk, is the level of
a vast tract of country occupying an area of about 50,000 square mUes.
We are now in the Vaal River district, the raost northerly dirision of
the Orange River Sovereignty.
As this extensive territory is beginning to atfract pubUc notice,
and is, I fear, likely still further to engross it, from the spread of dis
affection among the coloured inhabitants, it may not be amiss to give
a brief account of its history, natural capabUities, and geographical
position. The Sovereignty is bounded on the south by the Orange River, the
great artery of South Africa, which separates it frora the Cape Colony
Proper, or, as it is generally called, the Old Colony. To the north, it
is bounded by the " Likwa," or Vaal River, which at present consti
tutes the well-defined limits of the southern line of the self-constituted
Dutch RepubUc, to which I have, in a former chapter, made casual
aUusion. To the west, the boundary is formed by the confluence of this
stream with the Orange River. Both these rivers take their rise in
different parts of the Kathlamba or Drakenberg mountains, whose
continuous ranges, known by different local names, form a natural
harrier to the eastward, utterly impassable for a great portion of its
length, and effectually dividing the Sovereignty from the Zulu country.
Natal, and the line of sea-bord which stretches southward to Kafirland.
It is divided into four districts : that of Bloem Fontein to the
G

S3 THE SOVEREIGNTY.
south and south-west, in which is the town, of the same name, the
capital of the country and seat of Government ; that of Caledon, whose
principal town is Smithfield ; that of Winberg, in the centre, with a
village of the same name ; andthe " Vaal River District," to the north
and north-east, in which the principal,' and indeed the only, town is
the newly-founded dorp of Harrismith, situated in lat. S. 28°, 15',
long. E. 28°, 42'.
With regard to its natural characteristics, it admii^a of a threefold
division. The Highlands adjoining the mountain ranges, the great
plains of the interior, and the patches of soil, more or less productive,
that are found along the course of the principal streams.
These last are of too rare occurrence to deserve muoh notice. They
may include many degrees of fertiUty, the highest scarcely reaching
an average standard of excellence, and far inferior to the soil of Natal,
in corresponding situations.
The plains, or vlakten, occupy more than two-thirds of the
whole extent of the Sovereignty, and may be said to constitute the
general character of the country.
They are vast flats, dry, barren, and desolate, entirely bare of
wood, even of the stmited bush, which is sometimes dignified by the
name, and almost equally destitute of water. For all agricultural or
pastoral purposes they are utterly valueless ; but the amount of animal
life which they support would appear fabulous were not the fact
attested by so many credible witnesses, that all doubts on the subject
have long merged into wonder and admfration.
Here are the chief haunts of those countless herds with which the
whole interior of Africa appears Uterally to swarm, and which afford
such rapturous deUght to an enthusiastic sportsman. The grotesque
gnu, the graceful quagga, the light and elegant spring-bok, the swift
blesbok, may be seen here in thousands, aye, and tens of thousands,
spread over the plain, or marching in almost endless Hne across its
surface ; while on their tracks, with sure but stealthy ti'ead, follow the
lion, the prowling hyena, and that sleek, well-fed vUlain, the jackal,; j
the dread of the African sheep-farmers. Nor are these their only,
enemies — hunger and cold destroy many ; and after a severe winter, or

VLAKTEN. 83
a season of unusual drought, the bones of those that have perished are
often found in immense numbers bleaching on the dry soil, and too
truly attesting, what its inhabitants are very loth to confess, that the
climate of their beloved Sovereignty is not always so genial as they
would fain have us beUeve. The Dutch Boer, also, to whom the chase
is not merely an amusement, but a serious business, having no less an
object than to supply the necessary food for himself and his family,
contributes largely to the work of destruction. His plan is, when his
stock of provisions becoraes low, to inspan his wagon, and travel a
day or two's journey into the vlakten, till he has reached the head
quarters of the game, when his party (for he is generally accompanied
by two or three neighbours) encamp near some well known pool or
ready watercourse, and, leaving their native servants in charge of
wagons and oxen, give themselves wholly to the work of slaughter.
Armed with their long roers, weU mounted, and thoroughly conver
sant with the habits of the various animals, acting, too, in perfect
concert under the guidance of an experienced leader, foUowing a
regular system of tactics, and harapered by no sportsmanlike scruples
as to the means by which thefr object may be attained, they rarely
fail of success, and a few day's exertion is sufficient to furnish a
supply of meat for many weeks to come. The flesh is immediately
cut up into long strips, sUghtly salted, and then strung upon the side
of the wagon to dry. When thus prepared, it is caUed bettong, and
requfres no further cooking. It is rather hard, but by no means un
palatable ; indeed, even the flesh of the quagga, which, though highly
esteemed by the Kafirs, is of so rank a nature that its very smell is
insupportable, becomes, in this state, a pleasant and wholesome article
of food for Christian men.
The traveller occasionally meets with native hraals in his passage
over these sea-like wastes, but with the exception of a chance wagon
on the route between Natal and the Cape colony, no other signs of
human life are to be seen.
I cannot better conclude this brief sketch of the vlakten than by
the following beautiful description of the western prairies of America,
by Longfellow, which, though far too highly coloured for a South

84 VLAKTEN.
African landscape, is still sufficiently near in resemblance to convey a
general idea of the peculiar character of scenery common to both
countries. The points of difference will suggest themselves to the
reader at once : —
*• Spreading Tjetween these streams are the wondrous, beautiful prairies.
Billowy bays of grass ever rolling in shadow and sunshine.
Bright with luxuriant clusters of roses and purple amorphas,
Over them wander the buffalo herds, and the elk, and the roebuck.
Over them wander tbe wolves, and herds of riderless horses ;
Fires that blast and blight, and winds that are weary with travel.
Over them wander the scattered tribes of Ishmael's children,
Staining the desert with blood ; and above tbeir terrible war trails
Circles and sails aloft, on pinions majestic, the vulture,
Like the implacable soul of a chieftain slaughtered in battle.
By invisible stairs ascending and scaling the heavens.
Here and there rise smokes from the camps of these savage marauders.
Here and there rise groves from the margins of swift-i-unning rivers.
And tbe grim taciturn bear, the anchorite monk of the desert,
Climbs down their dark ravines to dig for roots by the brook side.
And over all is the sky — the clear and crystalline Heaven,
Like the protecting hand of God inverted above tbem."
The thfrd natural dirision, that of the Highlands, extends along
the eastem line of the Sovereignty, broken by the various spurs of the
Kathlamba, such as " the Wittebergen," the " Rood rand," &c., and
to the north-east, running paraUel with the main range of the Dra
kenberg as far as the sources of the Vaal. It is chiefly confined to
the Vaal River district, of whieh it occupies a considerable portion.
Owing to its great elevation, and the consequent decrease of tem
perature, this division does not appear to have attracted the attention
of the Boers in thefr migration from the old colony, and but few of
them settled upon it ; it has lately, however, begun to rise in general
estimation, and is now acknowledged to possess greater advantages
than any other part of the Sovereignty, especially for the purposes ofn
pasture. The grass, while it wants the luxuriance of the rich valleys
of Natal, is exempt also from the sour taste which renders them unfit
to support sheep, and though short and tufty like all mountain
herbage, is remarkably sweet and wholesome ; and, which is of still
more importance, is little affected by the droughts whioh prevaU to so
destructive an extent in the lower districts of Winberg and Bloem
Fontein. Water is tolerably abundant, both in springs and rivers;

HOW TO SETTLE A COUNTRY. 85
and there is plenty of light bush for fuel. Horses and cattle thrive
there, and it is thought that the fine-wooUed sheep may be reared
with great success. Afready more than one enterprizing farmer from
the old colony has announced his intention of testing the capabiUties
of this hitherto neglected district, and the sale of land has proceeded
rapidly. Here was an excellent opening for a weU-digested plan of emigra
tion. Twenty or thirty famiUes of that useful diass who combine
labour and a small capital, would, if placed on these farms, not only
have secured an independence for themselves, but have developed, by
slow, yet sure degrees, all the resources of the country, and have
forraed the nucleus of a resident British population permanently
attached to the soU, and likely, in course of time, to spread over the
habitable parts of the district, and to form the surest defence of the
colonial frontier against native disturbances or Dutch aggression.
The only objection to such a scheme would consist in the inabUity
of these emigrants to pay an adequate sum for the lands allotted to
them, and this, frora the necessary size of a pastoral farm, which
ranges between 3000 and 6000 acres, might at first appear insuper
able ; meanwhile, let us see whether, under another system, the land
is likely to be more profitably or advantageously disposed of.
The attention of Government was first drawn to this part of our
dominions in the year 1848, when the rebeUion, which imraediately
foUowed the proclamation of British authority between the Vaal and
Orange Rivers, had been brought to a close by the defeat of Pratorius
and the insurgent Boers, at Boem Plaats, in the August of that year.
TranquilUty being thus restored, active measures were taken for the
establishment of order, and for securing the undisturbed occupation
of the country. A fort was erected at Bloem Fontein, and a garrison
placed there for its protection. Fines were levied upon the Boers
who had been impUcated in the late outbreak, in proportion to the
extent of thefr criminaUty, the estates of those who refused to pay the
demand were confiscated, and the land-surveys, which had been in
terrupted, were resumed.
In the course of these arrangements it was found necessary to

86 HOW TO SETTLE A COUNTEY.
separate the Vaal River district from that of Winberg, of which it
had hitherto formed a part ; and a site was accordingly selected for a
new dorp, to which the name of Harrismith was given in commemo
ration of his Excellency's risit to the place on the occasion of his
journey to Natal some months before, and over which Paul Beste,
one of the insurgents who had shown the first example of submis
sion, and had sincerely returned to his allegiance, was appointed
magistrate. »
The report of the new district was most favourable. In addition
to the advantages which I have already enumerated, its proximity to
Natal, and its central position, lying, as it does, on the only route
between the interior and the nearest or eastern sea-port, were calcu
lated to enhance its value, and to give it a coramercial importance
beyond that which it could have claimed from its mere capability of
production. It naturally became the object of Government to encourage the
establishment of settlers in this promising region, and a commission
was appointed to survey and raark out urban and suburban lots, and
to define the limits of future farms or those already existing, with
authority to make grants of lands to those who should apply for them
at a quit-rent of from £2 to £8 per annum for each farm. It may be
supposed that there was no lack of candidates on these terms, and an
upset price, which was soon added to the quit-rent, hardly served to
check the eagerness of the competition. This did not suit the views
of the land speculators, who had afready fixed their eyes on the open
ing prospect of gain, and every possible device was employed to keep
purchasers out of the market, and to hinder the further increase of
the price. The old trick was resorted to, of crying down the goods
they were anxious to buy, and reports were industriously circulated to
the disadvantage of the new settlement, which were so far successful
as to cause an immediate falling off in the number of appUcations, and
to divide at least, if not to turn, the tide of public opinion.
Taking advantage of this temporary depression, and of the alarm
of the authorities lest thefr nursling should perish in the birth, they
contrived, by using their influence at head-quarters, that the best

LAND SALE. 87
farms should be put up to iraraediate auction, and a sale was actually
held at Bloem Fontein, ostensibly public, but vfrtuaUy, from the
want of due notice and other causes, as close and private as they
could desfre, at which fifty ofthe best farms in the immediate vicinity
of the new town were sold for £20 a piece.
Thus more than 30,000 acres of Crown land passed into the
hands of men whose only object was to sell at a profit, and who
would in all probabiUty never bring a single rood into cultivation.
Many of them were afready the owners of immense farms, or rather
territories in different parts of the colony, which they held on a
similar speculation.
No sooner was the result of the sale known than it became
erident that under fafrer cfrcumstances the land would have found
purchasers at a much higher rate ; and an upset price of £50 was
forthwith set upon the remaining farms, which besides being at a
greater distance from the dorp were in all other respects, such as
quaUty of soil and supply of wood and water, far inferior to those
afready disposed of.
On my risit to the place more than a year after these events I
found that of aU the farras purchased at the sale above mentioned
two only might by courtesy be said to be occupied, and on neither of
them was there any habitation more substantial than a tent, or any
signs of cultivation beyond a strip of unfenced garden. They were
both for sale, and from £300 to £500 was asked for each, whUe the
lowest sum for which one of the most distant and least eligible of the
granted farms could be bought was £150.
If the reader bears in mind that the word farm signifies nothing
more than a given quantity of wilderness, he will be at some loss
to account for this increase in value, and will doubtless agree
with me that the man to whom the task of reclaiming it may. fall
wUl hardly need the intervention* of a middle-man to increase his
difficulties at starting, or to absorb beforehand whatever profit may
result from his long continued toil and perseverance.
It is much .easier at all times to find faults than to suggest re
medies, and I am well aware that every endeavour has been made by

88 THE " SMOUS' IN A FIX.
the insertion of occupation clauses, &c., to ensure to the actual cul
tivator the benefit of the Government grants and sales ; but one can
not doubt that it is by such transactions as these that the true end of
emigration is frustrated ; opportunities of good are lost, and the poor
man is made to feel that the hope of independence for which he left
his cottage home to seek a distant colony is still as far from his grasp
as ever. But it is high time to return to the trek, which this, tedious
digression has sufficiently interrupted. Hans de Lange has long left
us, and is by this time half way to the Plaatberg, sitting upright oa
his chestnut, and foUowed at a respectful distance by his Kafir, who,
bestriding his second horse, and carrying his master's large unwieldy
roer, in a cover of leopard skin, over his shoulder, looks the " tiger"
to perfection, aud would make a flne caricature of a sporting groom
for some would-be African Nimrod.
We continued our route over a green undulating country, congra
tulating ourselves on having arrived at the end of aU our difflculties,
but we were soon undeceived, on reaching the bottom of a hUl whose
whole side, road included, was covered with huge loose stones. We
found this ascent far worse than the QuaggaPass, which is all soft grass,
and our gallant little span stack on it so long that we began to despair
of surmounting it. By dint of voorslag, or whip-lash, however, we
at length overcame all obstacles, and gladly outspanned in the vale
below after a short but fatiguing day's journey. (Loose stones make
the worst of all roads for oxen, cutting thefr feet, and giving them no
sure foot-hold.) We were obUged as before to double Murphy's span
by the addition of our own, in order to enable him to get over the hill.
High as we are there is a higher still. We passed this morning
under a mountain whose summit is garlanded with a ring of perpen
dicular rock, appropriately termed hrans. We crossed a nice sfream,
which we afterwards discovered fo be the Wilge, or WUlow Eiver, a
tributary of the Vaal, which here turns inland, after a course of flfty
miles along the summit of the Drakenberg. Our way now led over a
series of wide-spread undulations, the veldt becoming drier and drier
till not a blade of grass was to be seen. Murphy, whose wagon fol-

nelson's kop. 8!)
lowed close upon ours, pointed out to us a wUderness farm of 6000
acres, one of the outlying Harrismith estates of which I have given
the history, which he was good enough to offer us for £150. A more
barren-looking piece of ground I have seldom seen. A high hill
lying to our right attracted our attention fi-om the remarkable shape
of a rock which projected from its summit, and which, from itS fancied
resemblance to a human head, is known by the name of Nelson's
Kop. We were pleased to imagine that sorae sturdy old tar, whose
destiny had wafted him to these shores, instead of consigning him to
pensioned rest at Greenwich, might have paid this tribute to the king
of saUors, but our flight of fancy was soon checked by the informa
tion that the Nelson in question was some great merchant in the old
colony, probably a sugar vendor in Graham's Town, or some such
place. A worthy man no doubt, but we never dreamed of a classical
association with anything African from that tirae forward.
Game now began to be more plentiful than we had yet seen it,
though the vast herds of which I have spoken had afready begun
thefr annual migration to the interior. In the winter want of pasture
drives them from thefr favourite vlahten into these raountain districts,
which, except in unusually arid seasons like the present, are never
entfrely dried up, but as soon as the summer rains set in they return
to the plains. We saw a herd of spring-boks (gazella euchose) at a
distance, and a couple of blaauw wildebeests, or brindled gnus [cato-
blepas gorgon) stared at us from an opposite hill, but they were too
wild for us to approach them easUy, and we had not time to stalk
them. We now came to a spot where two roads branched off, and, being
imcertain which to take, chose that to the left, which turned out to
be anything but the right. After a morning's treh of four hours and
a half we outspanned near a spruit, or rather a succession of^ deep
pools without any risible communication between them. In one of
ihem Barkley and I bathed, and found the water intensely cold
(though in a burning sun) and of great depth. We could neither of
us reach the bottora, though tolerably expert divers.
These holes are probably connected by subterranean passages.

90 OSTRICH HUNT.
which are by no means uncommon in African waters. A heavy
thunder-storm detained us here beyond the usual period of the mid
day rest, and we were still further delayed by our hired oxen, which,
as soon as they found themselves at Uberty, had started off home
wards, and were not easily recaptured.
We inspanned again at half-past three, and soon reached the
bottom of the Plaatberg, but saw nothing of dorp or farm. Barkley
made a desperate attempt to get a shot at a couple of ostriches whieh
ventured within a few hundred yards of the wagon, but the dogs
spoiled sport as usual. These bfrds are very common throughout the
Sovereignty, and their feathers, so precious in England, have been
long the usual ornament for the straw hat ofthe colonist; indeed
they are beginning to be voted vulgar by the elite, and have descended
to the Hottentots, who, unUke the Kafir, is fond of imitating the
white man in his dress, of which he often presents an exaggerated
picture. The speed of the ostrich is proverbial, and it is considered a great
feat to ride one down. A Boer once gave me the following account
of a chase of this kind, for the truth of which, however, 1 do not pre
tend to be answerable. Having deterrained to lose no chance of
effecting his object he lay in wait near the spot where the bfrd was
accustomed to drink, which they do but once a-day, and then in such
quantities as materially to affect thefr speed, or at aU events their
power of endurance in a long run.
As soon as the ostrich had drunk his fill the Boer gave chase,
mounted on his best steed. He had preriously observed the course
which the bfrd usually took on leaving the water, and had sent on
two horses to aot as relays in case of necessity. Nor was the pre
caution superfluous, for it was not till the third horse was ridden to a
stand-still that he was able to come alongside of the object of his
pursuit, and to give the halloo of victory. His triumph was dearly
bought, for of the three horses he had ridden two lay dead upon the
plain, and the thfrd never completely recovered the effects of this
terrible burst. Swift as he is, however, the employment of a simple
stratagem renders the ostrich an easy victim to his pursuers. A

WHERE'S THE WAGON? 91
stern chase is always a long chase, and, well aware of this truth, the
hunters, three or four in number, separate theraselves, and try to
head and surround the bird, tiU, harassed and beset on all sides, it
loses the power to escape, and, standing helpless and motionless, suf
fers itself to be captured without a struggle.
The country now began to assume a bleak and desolate appearance,
and the climate became very perceptibly colder. We rounded three
sides of the Plaatberg, crossed the rocky bed of a river, and proceeded
along a straight and apparently endless track by the Ught of a bright
cold moon. Heartily tired of the slow monotonous tread of the oxen,
and anxious to discover, if possible, some more terrestrial gleam which
might dfrect us to the much desfred dorp, Darnell and I walked on
a-head, for some distance, tUl, chancing to turn our eyes backward,
we perceived that the wagon had disappeared, nor, though we Ustened
attentively, could we catch the dull sound of the wheels, or the en
couraging or admonitory shouts of Aaron. We immediately turned
back, thinking that some accident must have occurred, but we re
traced our steps for more than a mile without meeting any sign of
wagon or comrade ; all had vanished from t^ plain which lay aroun,d
us stUl and lonely, like the calm surface of the ocean, while the
shadowy side of the Plaatberg loomed like the shore of sorae rocky
island on our lee. We began to think that we were on enchanted
ground, the rictiras of some mysterious or magical agency, and to fear
that we might be doomed to make the perpetual tour of this mountain
in fruitless search of Harrismith. "Italiam sequimur fugientem."
We shouted to break the spell, but not so much as an echo repUed,
and we were just making up our minds to the positive evils of a
supperless night in the veldt, quite sufficient without the addition of
supernatural terrors, when, as I was incredulously following Darnell
who had started off in pursuit of some light whioh he fancied he saw
in the distance, I stumbled all at once upon the fresh tracks of our
wheels, where they had left the road and turned off to the right.
The reader can imagine our delight. As for me, I shouted " Eureka"

93 HARRISMITH.
at the top of my voice, and dashed off Uke a hound on a fresh scent.
We had not followed the track far before we heard the crack of the
whip, and soon after the report of a gun which Barkley had fired to
dfrect us. Dipping into a little valley which had before escaped our
notice, and crossing, for the third time to-day, the WUge River, we
found the wagon halting where two roads branched off, and hastened
to outspan, after a fatiguing trek of five hours fi-om our last halting-
place. October 17. — It had rained hard all night, and on creeping out
from my damp bed under the wagon at early dawn, I felt Uttle dis
posed for a renewal of yesterday's wanderings. What was my joy
therefore, when, on casting my eyes towards the foot of the mountain,
I saw, within a few hundred yards of us, the long-sought town of
Harrismith ! It needed a Httle African experience to recognize it as
such, but I was getting accustomed to thefr vocabulary, and was well
aware that one stone buUding, one Hartebeest-house, (a lean-to of
reeds set against a frame of poles), a sod wall, and a water-course,
were quite enough to constitute a dorp, and I hastened to communicate
the welcorae discovery t|i my companions.
Breakfast over, we walked to the town, which is prettily situated,
well supplied with water, and not quite so badly off for wood as we
should have expected ; old Plaatberg disclosing on a nearer riew
many a depth in his rugged side, thickly set with stunted bush, whieh
wUl be quite sufficient to keep the kitchen fires of Harrismith blazing
for sorae years to corae, even should it increase as rapidly as its most
interested admirers foretell.
It is destined, say they, to be the centre of a large curie of .
flourishing corn and sheep farms, to be the granary of Natal, and the
capital of a populous and cultivated district. At this time it consisted
of the two buildings I have mentioned above, and one more in process
of erection belonging to our friend Hans de Lange.
Paul Beste, the magistrate, and proprietor of the stone honse, had
not yet arrived to take up his residence ; and the only inhabitants of
the town were a couple of ruffianly-looking Englishmen, whose
famUar address we had some difficulty in cutting short with a Ireez- ;

PINCH AND NECO. 93
ing reception, and a wUd frishman who was more amusing and less
offensive. On inquiry for Mr. Moffat, the gentleman with whom
Darnell had left his oxen, we were informed that his farm was on the
other side of the mountain, and that we must have passed close by it
the day before. We had, in fact, made an unnecessary circuit of not
less than fifteen mUes, and had yet to double a fourth corner of the
Plaatberg, before we could arrive at our destination.
Accordingly, about 2 p.m., we inspanned, having with difficulty
obtained some beef from a Dutch farmer in the neighbourhood, of
which we stood in great need. Our track lay through what is called
<a poort, or narrow neck between two mountains, stUl keeping
Plaatberg close on our right.
Hunger made this afternoon's treh a short one, and we outspanned
in one of those wUd passes where, after some frouble in finding mest
and Hghting our fire, we sat down to a supper of boiled rice and
beef and cakes done on the gridiron, vrith an appetite which a day's
fast, and the keen mountain afr, rendered positively ravenous.
Our adventures for this day were not closed with our supper : at
midnight, I was awakened by the furious barking of the dogs who
were evidently venting thefr rage against some beast whom they
dared not attack more closely. It was quite dark, so that we could
not see the object of thefr alarm, but a low smothered roar gave us a
pretty clear notion on the subject. Pinch behaved vaUantly, and we
could hear his deep growl far up the mountain where the enemy,
probably in ignorance ofthe force and number ofhis foes, had retired,
but the other dogs contented themselves with swelUng the chorus at
a respectful distance, and as for Keco, the handsomest and best bred
of them all, he showed hiraself an arrant coward, not only being the
first to run away, but dashing in under the wagon and trying to sneak
in beneath my piUow for protection, — a retreat from which he was
summarily ejected.
October 18. — Heavy mist in the morning, which cleared as we
ascended from the hollow in which we had passed the night. We
had heen dfrected to look out for a white krans in the mountain, as
marking the site of Mr. Moffat's residence, and following this guide.

94 KAFIR TRADE.
in less than two hours we came in sight of a tent which for the
present constituted the homestead or erfoi the farm.
It was pitched in a pretty little hollow, formed by two spurs from
the side of the Plaatberg, and terminating in a large reedy vUy
which opened up from the valley of the Wilge River. A babbUng
spruit ran along the bottom, whose further bank rose high and steep
from the water, and was thickly overgrown for a considerable part of
its length with underwood, such as thorns, acacias, and a small free
which, from its vrithered appearance, is caUed oud hout, and is usefol
for staves of small casks, buckets, &c. On the hither side the ground
sloped graduaUy upwards, presenting a fafr surface for cultivation.*
The peculiar shape of the hUl had enabled its owner to frrigate it
with great facility, and of this favourable cfrcumstance he had taken
the fullest advantage, haring led the water from the head of the
spruit to the very suramit of the bult, to the extreme astonishment
of the Boers, who were quite at a loss to account for the apparent
phenomenon. Mr. Moffat was not only a clever enterprising man, but a practical
engineer, having held the office of surveyor to the Northem Sove
reignty, which he had lately resigned for the more congenial occupa
tion of farming. He is the son of the well-known missionary of
Kuruman, whose hospitality many an English traveUer, whether in
pursuit of sport or scientific research, has gratefully acknowledged,
and with whose interesting account of his labours among the native
tribes of the interior most of my readers are doubtless famUiar.
The host was absent when we arrived, but we were welcomed as
expected guests by his servants. In the tent, or rather marquee,
for it was double, containing an inner sleeping room, we found not
only shelter from the hot sun, but a large coUection of books, upon
whieh we feU with an avidity such as none but a traveUer in the
wilderness can comprehend, and feasted for the rest of the day in a
happy state of lazy abandonment. In the evening Mr. Moffatt re
turned with his wagon, and gave us a hearty reception. He had been
on a trading expedition among the Kafirs, and brought back some
sheep and goats, for each of which he had given an iron pick, snch as

A HOT WALK. 95
the natives use in preparing the ground for their crops of maize and
miUet or Kafir corn, and which cost him 2s. 6d. a piece. A muid* of
either of these grains might be purchased at the same price, whUe at
Maritzburg Indian corn was now selling at from 25s. to 30s. per muid.
Beads have been much used in traffic with the natives; they
should be white, blue, or red, and bright transparent ones are most
prized ; but the Kafirs are beginning to prefer the useful to the orna
mental, so that rings and other tinsel finery, no longer find a market
among them. The stock most advantageously exchanged is salt, a
muid of which wiU purchase a wagon of Kafir corn and mealies.
Some idea may be thus formed of the profits of this trade, which,
however, are fast decreasing as the visits of the white man become
more frequent, and the Kafir, who has a natural turn for commerce,
begins to find out the real value of his merchandize.
October 19. — We went up the valley in search of game, the wild
pig especially, several of them having been lately seen in the neigh
bourhood. We had a broUing walk, without any success to compen
sate for the fatigue. We flushed one bfrd of the partridge tribe, at
which it was useless to fire, as our guns chanced to be loaded with
ball. We got a snap shot or two at a curious Uttle animal with a
pointed nose, caUed by the Boers das, and supposed to be the coney
of scripture. They certainly have their habitation among stony
rocks, for in the place where we found thera the Uttle stream was
walled in by craggy and almost precipitous banks rising high above
our heads, and scarcely leaving a passage for our feet by the water
side, while masses of stone were thrown abont upon the face of the
cliffs, and others had fallen into the bed of the stream, damming up
the current, and forming rude bridges and miniature faUs in its
othervrise placid course.
Emerging from this defile into the broad vley, we toiled through a
forest of reeds that reached above our heads, where I momentarily
expected some wild beast or stUl more dangerous reptile to spring up
in my path; we started nothing however but a soUtary riet-bok,
which escaped unmolested.
• A muid is 2972-lOOOths of an imperial bushel, and weighs about 196 lbs.

96 AN ADVENTURE.
The boys returned to-day from a fruitless search after Mr. Moffafs
herd of oxen, twenty-two in number, including two which Darnell
had left in his care. They had been missing for some days, and
though the boys had struck the spoor, it had been lost again in the
hard ground. Three contingencies are to be apprehended for the herd,
— they maybe hunted by lions, stolen by Makatee Kafirs, or driven off
by Bushmen. In the first one, the fattest only will have suffered, the
lion being a delicate feeder, and an excellent judge of condition ; in
the second, they may be recovered by the aid of legal intimidation ;
in the third, they are irreparably lost.
October 20. — Our five dogs had not tasted food for a week, and were
so famished that it was absolutely necessary to procure something for
them, and Barkley accordingly set off early this morning, determined
to kill a quagga for the poor animals. About mid-day, he retumed,
looking, as we thought, a little paler than usual, at which, on hearing
his adventures, we were no longer surprised.
He had fallen in with a herd of quaggas, and was in full pursmt
of them, when, crossing a valley, he observed four large animals at
some distance drinking at a pool. Judging them from their size to be
elands {Bosclaphus oreas), the largest and most esteemed of the an
telope tribe, he iraraediately abandoned the vUe game, and gaUoped*
towards them, upon which they retreated slowly up the bult, three in'
advance, and the fourth, which he judged to be the male, bringing up
the rear. Barkley had afready marked this one for his own, and was
now within two hundred yards of his stern, when the flying party
turned slowly round, and to his surprise and consternation, he dis
covered he had been chasing a lion and three lionesses !
Vfrgil tells us of a youthful hero who, while enjoying the pnny
sport of stag-hunting, longed to see a tawny lion approach ; but even
Ascanius might have been taken aback had he found himself unex
pectedly brought face to face with four ; and it was no disparagement
to my friend's courage to say that he felt, as he candidly confessed,
anything but comfortable. He was armed only with a single-bar
relled rifle, and his horse, old Schutkraal, was in no plight for a race
with the king of beasts, which can outstrip the svriftest antelope.

AN ADVENTURE. 97
In this emergency, however, his presence of mind did not forsake
him, and knowing that to show any symptom of fear, would increase
the danger of his position, he pulled short up, and sat motionless,
with his eye flxed upon his formidable adversaries.
The three feraales dropped quietly upon their haunches, gravely
returning stare for stare ; while the old " mannetje," as the Dutch
familiarly caU him, a splendid feUow, with a long black mane, and
his sides literally shaking with fat, stood a little in front, ever and
anon whisking his tail over his back, but made no movement in ad
vance. Barkley, on his part, had no idea of coraraencing hostilities,
and when this mute interview had lasted some minutes, he turned his
horse's head round, and rode slowly away. No motion was made in
pursuit, and as long as the spot was in sight, he could distinguish the
four figures, to all appearance remaining precisely in the same position
in which he had left them. In his way back, he found the carcass of
a quagga, not a quarter of a mile from our tent, recently killed, and
bearing evident marks of his late acquaintance's workmanship. We
sent the boys for it ; the ribs had been picked clean, but the hind
quarters gave the poor dogs two or three hearty meals.
We congratulated onr friend on his escape, which was the more
remarkable, as during this month and the next, these animals are
especiaUy savage and unapproachable. Lions are indeed soraething
more than mere bugbears in this country. Sorae time before our ar
rival, Hans de Lange had a valuable horse destroyed by them in the
very market-place of Harrismith. His native servant, on rising one
morning, to set about his daily labours, was suddenly heard to ex
claim — " Daar leg een zwart ding .'"* and immediately afterwards —
" Keek ! daar loop een geel ding! het lyh net zoo als een leeuw."^ And
a lion it was, who, after deliberately contemplating the " black thing,"
no other than the carcass of De Lange's favourite black horse, turned
round, and trotted away, as if indifferent about pursuit. Hans, how-
, ever, did not take the matter quite so coolly ; but, burning with rage
at his loss, and at the impudence of the old shelm, as he called him,
seized his trusty roer, and throwing himself upon the first horse he
• There lies a black thing, t Look, there goes a yellow thing. It is very like a lion.
« H

98 THERE LIE THIRTY POUNDS.
could find, without waiting for assistance, started off at a speed that
soon brought him on the heels of the Uon, who, finding himself pressed,
bounded up a small zant, and haring thus secured a vantage ground,
faced his pursuer, and stood at bay. A large dog that was rash
enough to venture within his reach he caught up, and, with one Ught
stroke ofhis paw, swept him under his chest, when the flowing mane
completely hid it from sight. Meanwhile Hans had disraounted, and
now taking a steady aim, lodged a bullet just behind the shoulder. The
Uon neither fell nor moved till a second bullet from the same barrel
had struck him, and in the same fatal spot. He then sprang forward.
One bound wonld have ended the old Dutchman's history ; but an
other of his faithful dogs throws hiraself in the way, only to share the
instantaneous fate of his comrade. The delay is but for a moment ; but
Hans, whose self-possession has never failed him, takes advantage of
it to reload, and, quick as lightning, the heavy roer is at his shoulder, the
unerring ball finds its mark, and the noble beast sinks slowly down,
and expfres without a struggle. The skin was given to Barkley, who
has brought it with him to England ; the three holes are so close that
they may be easily covered at once with three fingers. The old Boer
thinks little of the exploit, but still grieves over his horse, whose bones
he pointed out to us, bleaching in the spot where the catasfrophe oc
curred, vrith the characteristic observation, " Daar leg dertig ponden,"
(There lie £30 !)
Mr. Kostern, another Dutch farmer, lately settled at Harrismith, had
one horse kUled, and another wounded by a lion, not six weeks before
Barkley's adventure, and it is remarkable that in neither of the cases
which I have mentioned was the carcass devoured, or even mutilated,
vrith the exception of the neck-bone, which is invariably broken.
Some idea may be formed of these animals in the Sovereignty from
the fact that an officer ofthe 45th "bagged" no less than seventeen
in the course of the last year, by his own rifle, in the neighbourhood
of Bloem Fontein, and that, in this district alone, from seventy-five to;?
a hundred are annuaUy killed by the Boers.
I cannot help adding one more anecdote, as it was told me by an
eye-witness, on whose authority I can depend. He was fraveUing

SEARCH FOR A FARM.

99

beyond the Vaal River, when a lion, alarmed by the approaching
wagons, made off from the side of the road, and in his haste to escape,
disturbed a hen ostrich sitting ! The enraged bird, starting from her
nest, rushed after the intruder, and dealt him a ftirious kick with its
long and powerful leg, which so disconcerted the king of beasts, that
he never once turned, but fled in headlong terror.
I have before observed that the chief object of my two friends in
visiting this district was the purchase of a farm. Had their intention
been carried out, it is probable that the aTithor of these sketehes would
have been now deep in the mysteries of sheep-shearing and bullock-
driving, and that his hand would be wielding the wagon whip or the
plough handle, instead ofthe pen. I trust the reader will not be of
opinion that his time might have thus been more usefully employed.
But after spending some days in riduig about the country, under the
excellent guidance of Mr. Moffat, with the riew of selecting a suitable
spot for commencing operations, DarneU was obUged to confess that
the search had ended in disappointraent. One lot was without wood ;
upon another we could flnd no trace of water ; a thfrd was almost
inaccessible frora the broken nature of the ground, and there were
none that appeared capable of repaying the comparatively large out
lay necessary to the estabUshment of a farm of mixed agricultural and
pastural character, even on a very raoderate scale.*
The project of settUng in the Vaal River district was accordingly
• For the benefit of those who may desire more particular information, I subjoin a
rough estimate of the outlay necessary for thoroughly stocking a farm, combining the
breeding of sheep, horses, and cattle, which was drawn up by an especial hand. The
cattle alone are indispensable, and, of course, the scale might be reduced to suit the
means of the beginner ; —

Farm, 600 acres, .

. £100 0

0

Brought forward, . £303 15

0

Ten milch cows, £2 10s.,

25 0

0

One span steady oxen, five years

Fifteen heifers, £1 lOs.,

22 10

0

old, at £3, ... 36 0

0

One bull,

7 10

0

One young do., three years old.

;Two riding horses, £12,

24 0

0

at £2 IOs., ... 30 0

0

One stallion,

50 0

0

Bullock wagon complete, . 85 0

0

(Five Mares, £5, .

25 0

0

Plough, do., ... 10 0

0

fifty ewes, 7s. 6d.,

18 15

0

Six spades, 6s  1 16

Two rams, £3,

6 0

0

Three picks, ... 10

0

Fifty wethers, 6s.,

15 0

0

Money in reserve for sundries, 100 0

0

Four slaughter oxen, £2 IOs.

, 10 0

0

Total, . . £567 11

«

Carry forward.

303 15

0

100 HORS-DE-COMBAT.
abandoned, and as my friends had no further object for remaining in
these parts, they determined to return to the frontiers of the Cape
colony ; Darnell, who suffered much from asthma, having found the
warm but moist climate of Natal less suited to his complaint than a
sharper and more bracing atmosphere. I should have liked much to
have continued a journey which had been, in spite of all petty dis
comforts, most delightful ; nor was it without great reluctance that I
could resolve on bidding adieu to my kind and agreeable fellow-
travellers, — but there was no help for it.
The D'Urban plague still clung to me, and my health was alto
gether so much impaired as to render me quite unfit for a long and
toilsome journey, the end of which was uncertain, as might also prove
the opportunity of returning ; more especially as the rainy season was
now fast setting in, and my bed beneath the wagon was likely to
prove anything but a dry one. Add to this that the route would lie
through, perhaps, the least interesting part of South Africa, where
there would be little to gain, either in the way of amusement or useful
information. Upon these considerations, I resolved to remain behind, and
accepted Mr. Moffat's hearty invitation to take up my quarters with
him, until an opportunity should offer of a conveyance to Maritz
burg. And here I cannot help adding my sincere acknowledgments
of that gentleman's kindness and hospitality. He not only insisted
on giving up his only bed to me as an invalid, and made every possi
ble arrangement for my comfort, but was withal a pleasant companion,
and so well-informed on all subjects connected with his native Africa,
of which he was enthusiastically fond, that, though suffering from
pain and illness, I really enjoyed my sojourn, and was able to add
considerably to my stock of colonial knowledge.
Mr. Moffat is- peculiarly interested in topography, and has taken
advantage of the opportunities which his professional employment
offered of collecting data to correct the gross inaccuracies which cha
racterize all the hitherto published maps of South Africa, especially j
of the Northern Sovereignty, the country on both sides of the Dra
kenberg, and the Trans- Vaal territory, of which little is yet known.

TOPOGRAPHY. 101
Two of the most important problems stUl to be solved are the course
and embouchure of the Limpopo River. The unhealthy nature of tiie
climate along the eastern coast, which is almost equally fatal to men,
horses, and cattle, renders anything like a survey of this part of the
country impracticable ; and it is only by a careful cross-questioning
ofan occasional Boer, or adventurous trader, that any information on
these points can be obtained, nor when obtained is it easily reduced
to any tangible form. All this, to Mr. Moffat, is a labour replete with
interest, and I beUeve that his researches will have greatly assisted
in the construction of a very perfect and accurate map of the colony,
which was in contemplation by the authorities, and which will be a
great addition to geography; I am also indebted to him for the
rough sketch of the Vaal River district, which forms the frontispiece.
Meanwhile, day after day, continued but unavailing search was
made for the missing oxen. Whether the Hottentots were really as
diligent in the quest as they professed to be, it is difficult to say ; but,
as they always carried a gmi, and on one occasion returned with the
ear of a " wildebeeste," the carcass of which poor Schutkraal had
to bring horae the next day, it is probable that they spent their tirae
rather more to thefr own satisfaction than that of their masters, and
made holiday to their hearts' content. As it often happens, however,
we had no sooner ceased all efforts for the recovery of the herd, than
tidings reached us that they had been seen quietly grazing under
Nelson's Kop, their number not only undiminished, but increased, by
the addition of a calf born during thefr wanderings, which, with its
mother, was reported to be doing well.
And now the day arrived (the 23rd of October) which my friends
had fixed for thefr departure. Through the intervention of our host,
Darnell had been able to effect a ruiling or " swap " of his poor and
weary oxen for a fresh span, which, though not equal to ours in
beauty of forra and colour, were in better condition for a long treh
; through a dry and pastureless country.
( The Dutch are as particular with regard to the uniform size and
;; colour of their span as a coachman would be about his blood team,
;; and as eight of ours were a perfect match, being roode ivitte rug, or

102 A BIT OF SENTIMENT.
red, with a white streak on the back, a colour much esteemed, they
were readily taken in exchange, the more so, as not being required
for immediate use, the fresh pasturage of Harrismith would soon
restore them to health and condition.
With the same hope, I became the possessor of old Schutkraal,
at a price whicll I must refrain from mentioning, lest the intending
emigrant should deceive himself with the idea of making equaUy
cheap bargains, and Jay his disappointment on my shoulders.
Oue should be in the wilderness to feel, in its whole force, the
pain of separation, even from a casual acquaintance. In the hustle of
the world new faces succeed those which have passed by, — new friends
replace the old ; the mind is so occupied with the cares of business or
the eager pursuit of pleasure, the eye with the ever recurring changes
of external objects, that no one image can dwell long on the glass,
no one thought occupy all our attention. But he who watches the
retreating form of a friend along the dreary track of the' desert, and
then turns to the monotonous and lonely scene around, — doubly mono
tonous and doubly lonely then, — and thinks how it was just now
enlivened by friendly faces and friendly talk, perhaps seen and heard
for the last time, has no such care-dispelUng remedy at hand: he
knows not the " sweet sorrow " of parting, when " good night " bids
look forward to " good morrow," but the desolate sensation of com
plete and utter soUtude, the void which there is nothing present to
refill, the shadows which memory conjures up, and which Time alone
can render less distinct, but which not even his touch can efface.
But I am grovring sentimental ; it is high time to close this chapter.
I accompanied my friends some distance on thefr road, tiU the
approach of evening warned me to return. My horse, which was tied
in his usual place behind the wagon, is saddled, a brief parting, a
warm shake of the hand, the hearty "good-by," the promise of
correspondence, and, best of all, of returning to Natal in a few months,
the loud crack of the wagon-whip, then a waving of caps, and Schut-
kraal's head is turned towards Plaatberg, which, though distant a
good three hours' ride, seems as close as he did this morning, but
more stern, and gloomy, and forbidding, than ever.

103

CHAPTER VIII.
PLAATBERG FARM — HOUSE -BUILniNG  A WRETCHED SPECIMEN — THUNDER
STORM — SLEEPY WORK — HIRED KAFIRS — SIX TRIBES — TABKT FINGERS —
EQUIPPED POR TBE CHASE — ^A LONG WAT ASTERN — THE SCHIMMEL
HUNTER — ^LTING IN AMBUSH — THE FATHER OF THE HERD — SCHUTKRAAL
AND THE aUAGGAS  TBE CAPTIVE  RESISTANCE — NURSING — NATURAL
HISTORY — THE FATE OF A PET — A NEW ARRIVAL — PATRIARCHAL JOUR
NEY — DROUGHT — LADIES IN THE VELDT — A RACE WITH A STORM — THE
THIEF INTERCEPTED — NIGHT PROWLERS' — THE STEL — THE MISHAP —
VANGEE AVENGED — MISNOMERS — ANGLING  THE HARRISMITH PACK —
FARMING IN THE SOVEREIGNTY — ^WANT OF NEATNESS — PROSPECTS OF
HARRISMITH — RETURN TO NATAL — A CHANCE MEETING — UP-HILL WORK
. — "she MILKED THE DUN COW" — ^WHO ARE YOU.'
Mr. Moffat's farm was, as I have before stated, yet in its infancy.
It had been preriously occupied by one of the rebel Boers, on whose
refusal to return to British allegiance, it had been granted to its
present owner. Sorae rough cultivation had been attempted, and
very fine crops of wheat had been produced ; but the fires which,
whether Hghted by careless travellers, or purposely kindled by the
natives to destroy the last year's grass, annually spread over the
country, had passed throngh the neglected farm, leavingno vestige
beyond the faint marks of the plough on the surface of the soil, and a
few blackened stumps where the posts of the house and the cattle-
kraal had stood. A fresh beginning was to be made, and my host
set about it with his usual energy- Besides the water-course before
mentioned, which must have been a work of time and trouble, and
along which he had sown the seeds of the seringeboom a strip of
ground had been turned up with the spade and set with young fruit-
trees and garden plants, and the ground-plan of a complete and sub
stantial dwelling had been marked out, and a contract made for its
erection.* The two workmen who had taken the contract were, as is
• The following specification of tbe building contract may serve as a guide to the
settler. Where wood is plentiful, wattle and dab would be the materials used, and

HiJia. , iilM,iS.ii^ 1

104 HOUSE-BUILDING.
often the case in these parts, discharged soldiers, who, attracted by
the fame of the rising place, had wandered thither from the frontier
in search of employment.
It was settled that they should at once take up their reridence on
the farm, and they accordingly returned to Harrismith for thefr tent
and household gods, one of them having a Dutch wife. The next
morning they made thefr appearance in a Hght horse-wagon, drawn
in this instance by oxen, and driven by the most wretched specimen
of a Boer I had yet seen. His tall lathy person was set off by a short-
skirted linen shooting-jacket, evidently intended for a body rather
less than the middle size, while the decidedly hang-dog expression of
his countenance, otherwise passable enough, was not diminished by
the mass of long coal-black hair that fell straight over his forehead,
and the ample folds of a dingy white handkerchief which enveloped
his throat, and was tied in a small knot in the centre. Everything
about him was lank and dirty, and unwholesome. Add to this that
one of his hands had been mutilated by the bursting of a gun, and
you may conceive that Thys Swanepool's appearance was anything
but prepossessing. He was, nevertheless, received at once into the
tent and entertained as a guest. It is difficult to make any distinc
tion in the treatraent of Boers, some of whom are very decent fellows'
while, with others, it is next to impossible to sit at the same table,
since, if one of them should fancy that he has met with scant courtesy,
the character of the host is lost, the Boers having very high theo
retical notions on the subject of hospitaUty.
We were visited for several successive evenings by violent storms
from the north-west, accompanied by tremendous thunder-claps, and
would of course, be much cheaper. In Natal the expense would be considerably less.
The agreement was for the sum of £90 to make 55,000 bricks, and to erect a house of
fifty-five feet by twenty-four, containing four rooms ten feet by fifteen, one room sixteen
feet square, and a pantry four feet by twelve ; to put up outer and inner walls, plastered'
and rough-cast outside, and iine-plastered within, the roof not included. The timbers,
were supplied by Hans de Lange, from his forests under the Drakenberg, at the following
prices : — beams, twenty-three feet long, nine broad, three and a-half thick, 13s. 6d. each;
planks, twenty feet long, twelve wide, one thick (half of them cut into laths), 8s. 3d.
each, sa-wn and delivered at Plaatberg farm ; a day and a halPs treh with a wagon. Boti
beams and planks were of yellow wood {^Taxm latifolia) which is not unlike deal.

SLEEPY WORK. 105
incessant flashes of lightning, the weather side of the tent presenting
the appearance of one continued illumination. It was a fine yet
awful sight to see the electric fluid striking against the rocky side of
Plaatberg, and rebounding Uke a dart from the mailed crest of some
veteran warrior. The old mountain is not unscathed by the many
tempests he has witnessed. Huge portions of his craggy garland
have been struck off, and now lie in masses around his base. The
earth also bears marks of the same mighty agent, many wide and
deep fissures having been opened in its surface, connected with each
other by subterraneous passages. One of them was close to our tent,
and formed a substitute for a kitchen, so that our position was not
without its danger. But habit wUl reconcile one to these things, and
enable men to sleep soundly, even ou the crater of a volcano or the
edge of a precipice. Onr only discomfort arose from the rain, which
flooded the tent, and sfrained the canvas till we expected it moment
arily to burst asunder, which it would probably have done, had we
not sallied out and slackened the ropes so as to give it more play;
after which it stood bravely.
The variations of temperature were remarkable. On the first day
of this storm the thermometer actually fell, in less than two hours,
from 91° to 63° Fahrenheit. The evenings were so raw and chilly
that we were glad of a pan of wood ashes to keep our teeth from
chattering. Our daily routine was seldom varied by any unusual incident, and
its journal would contain Httle worth recording. As for work,
though we now mustered several hands, I cannot say that much was
done ; indeed, accustomed as I had been to the constant and stfrring
employment of a Canadian wilderness farm, where exertion is never
suffered to flag, where the axe or the plough are always at work, and
the different tasks of clearing, stumping, fencing, &e., succeed one
.another without an interval of rest; with these reminiscences of
agricultural life, I could not avoid being struck with the contrast
presented by the listless inactivity, I might almost say drowsiness,
that pervaded everything at Plaatberg Farm.
There was as yet but one plough in the district, and that was

105 TARRY FINGERS.
engaged by the rival agriculturist at Harrismith, spade cultivation
was not thought of, and the only real work, the herding and tending
ofthe cattle, milking the cows, c&c, was performed by Kafirs, seven
of whom had come to seek for employment, and had been engaged for
a year, at the wages of a heifer a-piece, in value about £2.
These Kafirs belonged to the Makatees, who, together with five
other tribes, the Corannas, the Bustards, the Barilongs, the Bataunys,
and the Bassutos, form the coloured population of the Sovereignty.
They are quite distinct from the Zulus, and some of them are alhed
to the great Bechuana family, whose language, vrith some variations
of dialect, is I believe common to most of the tribes west of the Dra
kenberg. They were quick and intelUgent servants, and I was sur
prised to observe the facility with whioh they caught up and imitated
our methods of work, though they were probably quite new to them.
In rough brick-making they soon became so handy as to be most
useful assistants to the masons, who were putting up a sraall room of
half dried bricks for their temporary accommodation whUe engaged
in building Mr. Moffat's house.
Friend Swanepool had departed to Nelson's Kop, whence he
brought back his wagon-load of reeds. He intended taking them as
a return cargo to Bloem Fontein, a distance of nearly 200 miles,
where they would fetch a good price for thatching. I was beginning
to be ashamed of my prejudice against this man, who appeared in
great distress, and complained sadly of the hard treatment he had
received at the hands of his feUow-travellers, one of whom, he said,
had beaten him ; but I have no doubt the fellow richly deserved it.
We had reason shortly afterwards to suspect him of being what
one of the man called tarry fingered, an adhesive property, from
which, to do them justice, the Dutch are singularly exempt ; and our
suspicions being reduced to certainty by the examination of his
voorhist, which contained a motley assortment of pUfered goods, we
resolved ourselves, in the absence of a magistrate, into a court special}
and haring formally signed the depositions of the witnesses, and the
result of the trial, decided that he shonld be kept prisoner until the
arrival of Paul Beste, who wjs shortly expected at Harrismith.j

MONOTONOUS EXISTENCE. 107
Had this happened in California, he would doubtless have been
lynched on the spot ; and I confess, that though no adrairer of these
lawless executions, I was in this case incHned to recommend the
immediate infliction of the sjambok, and disraissal of the culprit. My
motion, however, was negatived, and after detaining the miserable
fellow for some days, we suffered him to steal quietly away, and right
glad we all were to be rid of his presence. I have mentioned this
occurrence rather to indicate its rarity than for any other reason;
and I must emphatically repeat, that there are no men more honest
than the Boers.
So monotonous was our existence, that the occasional appearance
of a sfray buck on the edge of the rock, was quite sufficient to throw
us into a state of unusual excitement. Most of the men were crack
shots, and the intruder generally paid dearly for his temerity. Some
times it would be a rhee-bok [Sedunca capreolus), with his light
tapering horns ; sometimes the larger, but less graceful riet-bok, the
sfriped quagga, or the brindled gnu ; nothing came amiss to us
either for sport or food. The latter consideration, indeed, was by far
the most important, as the flesh of the Kafir goats was not particu
larly fat or tender, and the continual sacrifice of oxen threatened to
put an end to the herd. Not that we fared badly : exceUent tea and
coffee, rice and sugar ; cookies, or unleavened cakes of coarse meal,
baked on the gridiron, and, above all, a jar of delicious wUd honey,
left us Uttle to complain of on that score. Mealies and milk, or
Indian corn, pounded and boiled after the manner of oatmeal por
ridge, made a superb dish ; and even Kafir corn, in spite of its red
colour, which reminded me of a linseed mash, was not unpalatable
when treated in the same way. The wUd asparagus grew in profu
sion in the patch of bush in front of our tent, and though not equal
in flavour to the cultivated plant, was a welcome addition to our
table. MeanwhUe, old Schutkraal had been enjoying a season of unin
terrupted rest and plenty in the rich pastures of Plaatberg, and was
as frisky as a young colt. It was high time to give him a gallop, and ,
I was anxious, besides, to make my first essay in African hunting,

108 EQUIPPED FOR THE CHASE.
which my unlucky illness had so long delayed. Sir W. C. Harris
and Mr. Gordon Cumming have made the reader so familiar with
every detail of this sport, that I have little hope of exciting his
interest in adventures which, by the side of their gigantic achieve
ments, must sink into utter insignificance ; but it would ill become
one who has undertaken to write of the Veldt to pass over its chief
attraction ; nor as a true son of the chase, can I consent to risk the
imputation of indifference or ignorance in her affairs which I should
incur by silence ; so I can only promise the reader to be as brief as
possible, give him fair notice to turn over, and skip, if he will, the
following pages.
Behold me, then, equipped for action, not in scarlet and leathers,
but in homely fustian, jacket and continuations included; a napless
green covering, of the wide-awake class, does duty for the velvet
hunting-cap. The spurs are the only correct part of the turn-ont,
though they are somewhat out of character with the vel schoen, or
shoes of rough brown skin. But how is this? There is only one!
Never mind, it is the custom ; so we follow it. My horse has rather
a large head to be sure, and the stirrups are not so bright as they
might be, but one must not be too particular in the Veldt. My atten
dant, I should rather say my companion, Moffat's little apprentice,
Jem, looks scarcely more respectable than myself; but he sits well
upon his horse, a stray one which we have found near the farm, and
are keeping till the owner can be discovered ; a little exercise in the
meantime will do it no harm. Jem is unarmed ; I carry, resting on
my right thigh, in true Africandee fashion, a double-barreUed smooth
bore ; which, as I never shoot further than I can see, I prefer infinitely
to a rifle, even for ball, to say nothing of the convenience of being
able to vary the charge according to the size or nature of the object
which may chance to present itself, from a partridge to a lion, — and
now, vamos !
We had ridden about five miles without seeing a Hring creature
to relieve the eye, weaiied with the endless prospect of mountain and
plain, hrans, and ant heaps, when on topping a low road, we came
suddenly in sight of a herd of some fifty or sixty quaggas, which were

A LONG WAY ASTERX. 109
quietly grazing about a quarter of a mile from us. We immediately
tumed, and keeping under the shelter of some rising ground which
favoured our design, approached unperceived within a few hundred
yards of them, when the chase commenced in earnest. A cloud of
dust marked the course of the herd, as they dashed off at a slapping
pace, followed at very unequal distances by Jem and myself at the
top of our speed.
I soon found that old Schutkraal, though decidedly improved in
appearance, was in no condition for a twenty minutes' hunt with
twelve stone on his back ; and though pUed with bit and spur he was
faUing rapidly behind. Jem's horse, on the contrary, carrying
feather-weight, held gallantly on, and soon brought his rider up
with the troop, into the very centre of which he dashed, trying to
separate and turn them, so as to give me the chance of a shot ; in
this, however, he did not succeed, and finding that I was unable to
overtake him, he abandoned the pursuit, after a run of about three
miles. Had I been decently mounted, the herd would have been quite at
our mercy ; for these animals are no match for a horse, and if hard
pressed, are soon brought to a stand-still. At a farm on the Valsch
River, where a number of Kafirs were employed, a quagga was every
morning singled from the herd, hunted down, and driven into the
kraal, where the natives dispatched him with their assegais, and fed
on the flesh, of which they are very fond. This feat was performed
daily for more than a year by one horse, a large grey, or schimmel,
the favourite colour in South Africa. I speak literally when I say
that the horse performed the feat ; for the rider, any Hottentot or
Kafir who could sit on his back, had no share in the matter, the
animal him'self hunting, turning, and driving the game in the most
skUful manner, and evidently enjoying the sport with the keenest
zest. Turning our heads homewards, we soon fell in with another herd,
composed chiefly of blaauw wUdebeests, who were eating their way
towards a smaU opening in the ridge, behind which we had retreated
the moment we caught sight of them.

110 LYING IN AMBUSH.
As they were coming down the wind, I resolved to await them,
and despatched Jem with dfrections to get, if possible, in their rear,
and drive them into the ambush. Meanwhile I dismounted, and
knowing that some time must elapse before the manoeuvre could be
effected, stretched myself on the stony ground (there is no turf in
Africa) just below the edge of the sand, and lighting my pipe,
amused myself by watching the motions of the advancing herd,
which my position enabled me to do without the slightest danger of
exciting thefr alarm, and defeating my plans for thefr destruction.
They were headed by a large bull, evidently the father of the herd,
with a long flovring mane on his neck, and a bristly beard descending
down the dewlap to the breast — a noble-looking animal, whom I at
once singled out for the flrst barrel. Now he would lie down and
take a deUberate roll, the herd stopping as if to witness the grotesque
exhibition ; then he would engage in a mock fight with one of his
subjects, the ungainly creatures butting each other with their curi
ously-shaped horns, and cutting the most antic capers, in evident
good-humour and diversion. Suddenly a quick movement is risible
in the rear of the herd ; the combatants cease thefr game, and throwing
their heads up, " A moment snuff the tainted gale."
Another moment of indecision, and they are off, the large bull still
leading, and, to my intense deUght, making straight for the poort
within sixty yards of which I am now crouching dovra, almost
breathless with excitement, but quite determined not to throw away
my first shot. As they come nearer, I stoop down tiU the rim of my
green hat touches the grass, from which it cannot be distinguished||
— and now they approach the opening, and are fafrly within shot. I
can scarcely contain myself, but must wait till the foremost have
passed through, so that I may take them from behind. Another
second of suspense — painfully long — and then a black head issues
from the little pass. There is no hurry now : the sight of my gun is
on the object — follows it steadily for an instant. A loud report,
succeeded by that pecuUar " thud" which the archer knows as the
sign of a successful aim, and the fine animal is rolling in the dust,

THE CAPTIVE. Ul
while the affrighted herd rush over the body of their late leader,
and scamper wildly across the plain, one of their number carrying
off with some difficulty the contents of my second barrel, which had
not been aimed with equally fatal accuracy. Eager to follow up the
wounded game, I turned round to look for my horse, whom I had
left with the bridle-rein hanging to the ground, which ought to have
heep. sufficient to secure his remaining in the same spot ; but, to my
consternation, he was nowhere to be seen, and it was not till after a
hard chase that he was recaptured by Jem, who had seen his escapade
from afar, and who found him, notwithstanding his assumed weari
ness, gallantly heading another herd of quaggas, without any appear
ance of exhaustion or fatigue. While engaged in pursuing him, Jem
contrived to separate a young filly from the herd. The little crea
ture, missing its mother, followed the horse willingly ; keeping up
with it at a fast gallop, though it did not appear to be above a fort
night old. I at once determined, if possible, to take it back to the
farra and rear it ; and accordingly, we not only gave up all further
thought of the wounded game, but, on the principle that a live ass is
better than a dead Uon, decided on leaving the rictim of my first shot
on the field ; contenting ourselves with piUng stones over the carcass
to secure it from the aas vogels or vultures, who seldom fail to discover
the hunter's cache, and who were even now appearing Uke specks
on the horizon, attracted from unknown distances by thefr unerring
instincts to the scene of slaughter.
For some time the young quagga appeared perfectly contented
with its new corapanions, galloping round and round the house, and
snuffing about as if in expectation of a feed ; but presently, finding
itself disappointed, it set up a shriU neigh, and showed symptoms of
uneasiness, and at length made a desperate attempt to escape. We
managed to keep it between us, and to slip a noose over its neck, the
other end of which we made fast to the head-staU of my horse. Thus
deprived of Uberty, the Uttle animal made the most determined
resistance, hanging back with its whole weight, darting round,
kicking, snapping its jaws, as yet innocent of teeth, and exhibiting a
mixture of strength, ferocity, and determination worthy of a ftill-

11-3 NATURAL HISTORY.
grown mule, and quite wonderful in so young an animal. We then
tried to hoist it on Sehutkraal's back, but its violent struggles, and
its weight, which was no trifle, put this out of the question ; besides,
We were afraid of injming it. I then dismounted, and fastening the
rein round my own waist, tried to drag it along by main force ; bnt I
was soon obUged to desist. Arriving at a pool, we moistened its lips
with water, after which it followed with less reluctance, till at length
we reached the tent, having accomplished about four miles in as many
hours, and tied our prize to the wagon-wheel. After a general con
sultation, a cow's horn was prepared with a mouthpiece of soft
leather, and a plentiful feed of new milk was then administered
which appeared to revive it considerably. I had now leisure to
observe it more attentively, and to verify a suspicion which I had all
along entertained as to its correct zoological classification.
There are in South Africa three varieties of the genus Equus— the
true zebra, or wilde paard; Burchell's zebra, or the bonte quagga;
and the quagga, properly so called.
The two last are very common, and inhabit the plains of the
Sovereignty in immense herds. The true zebra is rarer, and is found
only in mountainous regions. They are easily distinguished from
each other ; but the generic name of quagga is erroneously applied-'
to all, — and my knowledge of natm-al history was not accurate
enough to determine at once the species to which my little captive
belonged. From the regularity of its stripes, however, which
extended over the whole body, I was inclined to think that it was a
zebra, in opposition to the opinion of all on the farm, who pronounced
it to be a quagga ; and the question was discussed with great anima
tion, till Sir W. Harris's work was produced, which contains a minute
description of the wild animals of South Africa, — when we discovered
that the mane and tail of both the quaggas were equine, and that
of the zebra asinine. This decided the matter ; for though my anta
gonists could, even though vanquished, argue still, yet there was no
disputing the fact that my little filly had a donkey's tail ; and upon i
comparing the description ofthe zebra with our specimen, they tallied
so exactly in every point, that no doubt remained upon the subjeolt^

THE FATE OF A PET. 113
My prize now became doubly valuable, as estabUshing the fact that
the zebra inhabits the edge of the Drakenberg, which did not appear
to have been previously acknowledged, and I was more than ever
anxious to preserve it.
For some days, I had every reason to anticipate success ; the
young creature fed heartily, and was soon able to dispense with the
horn, when we ad,ded a little bran or soaked meal to the mUk. It
became quite tame also, and would follow me about Uke a dog, push
ing its way in between the folds of the tent, and rubbing its head
against my shoulder, tUl I really became quite attached to it.
But, alas! the fate of aU pets, whether zebras or gazelles, was not
to be averted ! One morning, on issuing from the tent, I found my
favourite lying at the door quite dead. It had been a rough night,
and I blamed myself for having turned it out the evening before,
when it came in as if to ask for shelter ; but I afterwards ascertained
that one of the Kafirs, in his mistaken zeal, had given it boiled mUk
which had been the cause of its death. I half suspected that the deed
was of malice prepense, and done with a riew to the flesh ; but if so,
the viUain was disappointed, as the hyeena came early the same
evening and carried off the body from within five yards of the tent.
The next morning, one or two bones picked clean, lying by the side
of the spruit, were aU that remained of my zebra filly.
About this time our party was increased, and some life infused
into our dullness, by the arrival of Mr. M'Cabe, an enterprising farraer
from the Bloem Fontein disfrict, who had given up his land on the
Modder River for the mountain pastures of Harrismith. He had
travelled in truly pafriarchal guise, with all his vee or Uve stock,
consisting of a flock of five hundred Merino ewes, a herd of a hun
dred and forty cattle, and from fifteen to twenty horses, mares and
foals. His joumey had been attended with unusual difflculties and
disasters, and he gave us a melancholy account of the country through
which he had passed. A severe drought had visited the district — not
a blade of grass was to be seen. The cattle were dying in all dfrec
tions i and those of Maroko, the friendly chief of the Barilongs, were
I

114 DROUGHT.
said to have perished by hundreds. M'Cabe himself had lost several
horses on the road, and all his stock was in a deplorable condition.
To add to his troubles, it was lambing-time with his flock, and his
mother and sister, who accompanied him, had often been obUged to
share the already narrow accommodation of a loaded wagon with the
new-born offspring of thefr sheep and cows. But discomforts and
privations from which an EngUshwoman would shrink with horror
are little regarded by her Africandee sister, and these ladies not only
appeared in exceUent health and spirits, but by thefr cheerful
actirity, and that peculiar talent for making the best of everything
which women alone possess, put our indolent habits to the blush, and
converted our previous lethargy into something like spirit and anima
tion. The day after his arrival we were all hard at work buUding a
kraal for the lambs : loosening huge masses of mountain Umestone
from thefr beds, rolling them down the steep hill-side, and piling
them into a rough but very substantial wall. The next day a hunting
expedition was arranged ; and, taking the wagon with us to carry
home the game, we started with a fuU determination to lay in provi
sions for the next month at least. Our expectations, however, were
deceived, and the wagon returned empty ; the few herds that yet
remain at this season being very wUd and unapproachable, and at the
sHghtest alarm making off for the Vlakten, where we had no time or
inclination to follow them.
As we turned homewards, after giving our horses an hour's rest
in the veldt, the clouds suddenly gathered in our rear, threatening A
storm. It is no pleasant thing to be caught in an African thnnde^
shower, and, as the weather was " coming up," we resolved to give
it a race, and endeavour to reach home before it conld overtake us.
We had about six raUes to go, and there was no time to be lost. We
had scarcely started when the storm burst forth in our rear : we
could hear the pelting of the rain npon the turf behind us, and plied
whips and spurs with increased energy. We had just reached t|e
edge of our Uttle hock, when M'Cabe's quick eye detected a jackaJrl
on ovinary thoughts intent, steaUng along the edge of the buM. To
gallop up the steep bank, to dismount, and fire, was the work of »

A RACE WITH A STORM. 115
moment; and a broken shoulder brought the villain's predatory
excursion to a premature close.
Just then the storm broke upon us in all its fury. M'Cabe's horse,
startled by the virid flashes of Ughtning and the terrific peals that
rattled in his ears, dashed off for the tents, and, though chased by
Moffat, was not overtaken till he had reached there, to the great
alarm of the ladies. Meanwhile, I turned to pursue the jackal, who
had limped off, on three legs, at a tolerable pace ; but all my efforts
faUed in persuading Schutkraal to face the storm. So violent was
it, that I could with difficulty keep my seat, and we had the mortifi
cation of seeing our prey disappear into his earth, from whence it
was useless to attempt to dislodge him.
With these animals, and the wolves, we carried on an incessant
and not very successful warfare. The wolves, especially, baffled all
our attempts to capture them. Night after night their ill-omened
howl would warn us of thefr vicinity, of which we were sure to find
sad proof next moming in the diminished number of the flock. Some
times they would devour thefr prey on the spot, learing, as in the
case of my zebra, only a bone or two as eridence of thefr audacity ;
and a tin flask, with a bullet in it, which we had hung round the
neck of a valuable foal as a protection, was actually devoured with
its wearer hy one of these rapacious creatures, who, it was to be
hoped, had swallowed more than he could easily digest. Grown
bolder by impunity, they at length had the hardihood to attack our
full-grown horses, falling upon the herd and scattering thera in all
dfrections, and dreadftiUy lacerating the flank of Moffat's favourite
steed. The poor animal had a narrow escape. The wolf had evi
dently made a short spring, and haring fastened only one fang in hia
side, had been unable to keep his hold ; had both fangs been fixed,
he would not have let him off' so easUy. At length, finding open
hostiUties ineffectual (for our dogs refused to face the enemy), we
resorted to stratagem, which in suoh a case needs no apology.
" Who ever recked, or how or when
The prowling fox was trapped or slain! "
However uncongenial this sentiment may appear to the EngHsh

116 NIGHT PROWLERS.
sportsman, it would serve well for the African hunter's motto. There,
too, it admits of a wider application ; but our business is now with
wolves. The trap or stel which we used is constructed in the foUowing
manner : — A square hole is dug in the ground, into the bottom of
which a forked stick is fixed — the forks downward ; a loaded gun is
then secured by pegs, so that the muzzle points dfrectly over the
hole, in which the bait, a piece of flesh of any kind, is next cast, tied
to a string, the other end of which runs through the forks of the
stick, along the barrel of the gun, and, after passing round a peg jnst
behind the lock, is attached to the trigger. Pieces of the bait are
then dragged along the ground in the neighbourhood of the stel to
entice the wolf, who seldom fails to risit the spot. As soon as he has
seized the bait and begins to pull it up from the bottom of the hole,
he tightens the string, releases the trigger, and, if the stel is properly
set, receives the bullet in his head. Our fiirst attempt was an unfor
tunate one. We had set three traps, and were sitting up in the tent
anxiously waiting the result, when the sound of a gun was heaid,
and we salUed forth, lanterns and axes in hand, dogs and men in a
state of great excitement. Among the dogs was one of unusual speed
and courage, for which Moffat had exchanged an ox, having seen him
perform the almost unparalleled feat of running down six bles-hoks
(gazella albifrons) in one day. " Vanger " was a determined enemy
to the wolves, who, arrant cowards as they are, would always make
off when they heard his deep growl ; and, this evening, knowing the
cause of our sortie, he rushed on a-head, eager to be flrst at the death
of his foe.
Alas ! he was himself destiued to be the flrst rictim. The stel
was untouched, and the poor hound, unable to resist the sight ot the
bait, pounced unsuspectingly npon it. A loud report, followed imme
diately by a dreadful yell, told us of our unlucky mistake, and running ,
forward, we found the poor creature in the agonies of death, his lower
jaw having been shot clean away. A blow of an axe soon put him
out of pain, and we returned sad and dispfrited. Vanger, however
though dead, helped to avenge himself; for, having reloaded the gan,

MISNOMERS. in
and left his body beneath it, we found a very large wolf lying beside
him the next morning.
The mystery of the first gun-shot was never explained : we could
only conjecture that the sound had been produced by the vibration of
one of the tent-cords, which will sometimes give a loud report Uke
that of a pistol.
As I have used the local term " wolf " so frequently, it is right I
should inform the reader that the animal properly so-called does not
exist in South Africa. The three varieties known in the colony
respectively by the names of " wolf," " straud-woLf," and " wilde-
hond," all belong to the genus hysena, and are specifically distUi-
guished as S. crocuta, fusca, and venatica. The last of these hunts
in large packs like the true wolf ; the others are soUtary.
This is not the only instance of misnomer in the zoology of Africa.
The leopard is promoted to the rank of the tiger, whUe the gfraffe
sinks to an ordinary camel. The Americans, falling into a similar
inaccuracy of speech, do not pay a high compUment to the noble
bison, by confounding him with the sinister and ungainly buffalo.
It is scarcely fair to caU the poor beasts " out of their names ; " and, as
they cannot speak for themselves, I beg to enter this plea on their
behalf. The removal of our tent to another farm of Mr. Moffat's, on the
banks of the Wilge River, gave me an opportunity, which I had long
desfred, of testing the sport afforded by an African river to the
angler. My rod was the stock of the wagon- whip, my tackle a piece
of twine, terminating in a large whiting- hook, which the fish, though
they tried hard, could not manage to get into thefr mouths. My bait
was a small locust. With this horaely apparatus, I contrived to de
ceive two or three dozen of the scaly tribe, averaging about half-a-
pound a-piece. They belonged, as do all the fresh- water fish I have
seen in Africa, to the cyprinidce, and partook largely of the bony
nature and insipid flavour which distinguishes that order, but they
were sweet and wholesome, and made a pleasant variety at our table.
Some of them, with long wattles or beards, reminded rae of the
Thames barbel ; others, in colour and form, closely resembled the

118 ANGLING.
carp, and another sort, which rose greedUy at flies, I supposed to be
muUet. I am told that there is a fish in the Orange River called the
barba, whioh grows to an immense size, and from its description, I
should conceive it to be identical with the bearded fish above men
tioned. I have since wetted a line in most of the Natal rivers, and
always with tolerable success, as far as flIUng my basket was concerned,
but the sport is scarcely worth the attention of the scientific angler,
and would certainly not repay the discomforts of a voyage round the
Cape. The emigrant, however, will not regret haring taken ont his
fly-rod, and as he whiles away an hour, not altogether unprofitably,
in the intervals of his labours, he may be pleasantly reminded of the
miU-tails and shallows which he has whipped for the silverjr dace on
a summer's evening, by the banks of the Lee or Wandle.
My stay in the Sovereignty had now been prolonged to nearly
six weeks, and I was anxious to return to Maritzburg. The absence
of aU means of conveyance had hitherto been the only obstacle to my
departm-e, for though I had a horse, my state of health was not such
as to allow of my risking a night in the veldt, should I be unable to
reach a place of shelter at the end of my day's journey — a contin
gency which the limited powers of my nag, and the chance of wan
dering from the road, and losing my way, rendered not improbable.
Setting this out of the question, a soUtary ride of a hundred and flfty
mUes, offered no very enticing prospect, and it was with pleasure that
I heard my host announce his intention of taking his wagon down to
Natal, for the purpose of bringing up prorisions for his workmen, and
getting the window-fi-ames, &c., for his new house.
I confess I was heartily weary of the Sovereignty : weary of its
undulating plains and boundless prospects, its kraus-encfrcled moun
tains, its searching dust-compelling winds, its unvarying monotony.
Its very sports had well-nigh ceased to interest me, and I could
balance the value of a dead quagga against the toU of a long gallop
under a burning sun, with a coolness which, some months before, I
should have deemed impossible. Indeed, after the first novelty ofthe
thing has worn off, this mixture of hunting and shooting becdmes
very tfr'esome ; and I used to long for the music of a pack of hounds

THE HARRISMITH PACK. 119
to awaken the slumbering echo, and break the sUence of the desert.
The idea is well worthy the attention of those who risit Africa for the
sake of sport, and it could be carried oat without any difficulty. The
pack should be of a race that would unite the necessary speed for the
pursuit of the antelope, with the sfrength to pull down the "wUde-
beest" or the savage hysena, — say a cross between the blood-hound
and Scotch deer-hound.
The head quarters of the hunt might be at Harrismith, which
had increased to seventeen houses before I left South Africa, and
bids fafr soon to double the number ; the dogs would keep themselves
in food, and there is no lack of pasture for the horses which are here
exempt from the diseases which prevail to so fatal an extent both be
yond the Vaal and below the mountains. The Boers and farmers
around would gladly join in such a scheme, and would give early in
timation of the whereabouts of the herds, especially of the rarer and
more valued animals, sueh as the eland and the hartebeest, {acronotus
eaama), which would secure one against that worst of erils, — a
blank day.
I dare say the old Afiioan hunter wiU laugh at the attempt of a
six months' tourist to infroduce EngUsh innovations into his ac
customed method of chace, but let the reader judge for himself if he
should ever have the opportunity; and when he has carried a heavy
double barrel on a fidgety horse through the long summer's day, or,
on recovering his scattered senses after a heavy faU, has found his
favourite rifle snapped short off at the stock, beyond aU possibility of
repafr, — when these and many other annoyances have befaUen him,
he vriU not think my suggestion altogether unreasonable. The gun
is aU very weU in a bush country or in the long grass, where it is un
certain whether a leopard or an antelope may spring up under the
feet of the. pedestrian, but in the open plain, where stalking is not
easUy practised, and a fair run must generally decide the event, it is
Uttle better than an incumbrance ; whereas, suoh ground is pecuUarly
adapted for hunting, as it presents no obstacle to oheck the speed of
the pack or to throw them off the scent. A light carbme or pistol
might stUl he carried in case of need, as tho " wUdeheest" sometimea

120 THE HARRISMITH PACK.
shows fight; but few beasts, except the lion, would be a match for
two or three dozen well-bred dogs, and I doubt if the king of beasts
himself would like to face them.
Now that Africa, thanks to Mr. Gordon Cuming, is Hkely to be
come as fashionable as the moors, I seriously recommend this hint to
those who wish to make the most of a single season. They vrill avoid
the great expense and trouble, as weU as the loss of time incident to
a journey beyond the Vaal ; they wiU not be at the mercy of Hot
tentot servants, nor be subject to the interference of rebel Boers, nor
wiU they see their cattle and horses sicken and die one after the other
tUl, as sometimes happens, scarcely one in twenty survives. They
wUl be within easy reach of the coast, and in direct communication
with it, as the overland mail between Natal and the Cape passes
Harrismith once a-fortnight ; and vrith all these advantages there
would be no counterbalancing disproportion in the amount of slaughter
which seems now-a-days to be the chief point. As for the few animals
of the larger kind whieh are not to be found there, such as the
elephant and giraffe, a short excursion into the Zulu country, below
the Drakenberg, or towards the sources of the Vaal, wiU place the
hunter in the midst of them. Natal will supply others that may be
wanting, and thus, with one or two exceptions, every variety of
African game may be obtained within two hundred miles of the ports
and within the Hmits of British protection.
The best season would be the vrinter, from March to SeptemberjC
when, as I have before observed, all the game flocks to the highlands;
in the other months it would be easy to shift the quarter to Winberg,
or to Bloem Fontein, where there is always a detachment of oficers,
and pleasant society.
Another great recommendation to such a place as I have proposed
is, that it would involve a comparatively small outlay, whUe an expe
dition beyond the Vaal is a very expensive affafr. Sfr W. C. Harris,
I beUeve, estimates the cost of his journey at £800. It is frue that
there is the possibility of a return from the sale of ivory, &c., but itis
a possibility so remote, and against which the chances are so numerous,:
that I should have Uttle faith in a calculation based on such visionary

THE HARRISMITH PACK. 121
grounds. The keen Africandee hunter, and trader by profession, or
the hardy Boer vrith every advantage that local knowledge and ex
perience can give, are often deceived in their expectations of gain ; but
the araateur who ventures vrith such a hope is pretty sure to be dis
appointed, and wUl most Hkely come out, to use Uncle Sam's expres
sion, " at the small eend of the horn." It is at best a wUd specula
tion, quite out of the prorince of the tourist or sportsman.
On the other hand, I am confident that the whole expenses of a
himting estabUshment in the Sovereignty, supposing it to be kept for
six months, would not exceed £100, and in this I would include the
trek to and from the port, purchase of horses, Kafir servants, &c. The
equipment, I suppose, brought out from England. I have not counted
the price ofthe wagon and oxen, because they might be sold at a very
sUght loss at the end of the season, as might the horses, if judiciously
purchased. The chief thing for sueh a party to avoid, if they vrish to
study econoray, is the appearance of ti-avelling en grand seigneur, since
Natal prices are apt to vary with the supposed means of the purchaser,
and are not always the same to the emigrant and the tourist. Such
bfrds are as yet too raw to escape plucking, unless they are gifted
with more caution than EngUsh fravellers are wont to exhibit, or
have the assistance of an experienced friend in the colony. At all
events, there is perhaps no other place in the world where so much
sport may be obtained at so small an expense, and in spite of the dis
turbed state of Africa, and the evU anticipations of alarmists, I expect
to see Natal become the rendezvous of the adventurous youth of Eng
land, for whom the pastimes of their native land cannot yield sufficient
variety or excitement.
If they retum with renewed zest to home pursuits and home amuse
ments, they wUl have gained something by the experiment ; for my
own part, I have long ago learned that lesson, and can fully sympa
thize with the talented author of " Hochelaga" whb, after a virid
description of a Canadian moose-hunt, with all the novelty of night
encampments, snow shoes, and Indian guides, and aU the charm of
lake and forest scenery to heighten the effect, is fain to exclaim
" One day with the Tarporley were worth them all !"

122 FARMING IN THE SOVEREIGNTY.
But I must not bid adieu tothe Sovereignty without a brief review
of its qualifications as a field for emigration, in which I shaU confine
my observations to the Vaal River disfrict, both because it contains
more avaUable land than any of the others, and because, lying adja
cent to Natal, its prosperity must be ever more or less connected with,
and dependent on, that colony.
I have afready said enough to show that it is even less fitted than
other parts of Afiica to support a concentrated agricultural population.
There are not, upon an average, more than flve acres in a thousand,
where irrigation is practicable, so as to prepare the soU for the pro
duction of wheat and other grains. Where this facUity exists the
crops have been plentiful, and free from rust, and the natives succeed
in producing their mealies and Kafir corn without using other water
than that which falls from heaven — but it is yet to be proved that
wheat, and other Eui'opean seeds, would flourish imder a sinular
treatment. For the presentj however, the land can be tumed to better
purpose, and the occupiers of a large pastoral farm is quite content if,
with the most slovenly tUlage, he can keep his Kafir servants in
mealies, and grow a few vegetables for his own consumption.
For sheep walks the merits of the land are beyond dispute ; the
only doubt that existed whether the cUmate of the winter might not
prove too severe for the fine-wooUed merinos has been, ere this, solved
by Mr. M'Cabe. If, as I cannot but anticipate, it has been found
necessary to house them, the difficulty of finding material for sheds
will be a serious drawback. To the breeder of stock, and of horses
more especially, this country offers a rich source of profit. Mares may
be purchased on the borders of the Cape colony at from £2 to £5 a-
piece, and each male foal of ordinary breed at two years old wiU be
worth from £10 to £15 at Pieter Maritzburg.* There are no inte^
mediate expenses. The herd roam at large, requiring no care beyond
* Mr. Lindley, a fai-mer in'the neighbourhood of Bloem Fontein, lately Imported »
horse from England, tor whose stock he finds eager purchasers at £30,— a high price in
Africa for unbroken colts. The value of the foal depends entirely on the reputation ol
the sire, while very little attention is paid to tbe quality and breed of the mares; this ifl
chiefly owing to an absurd prejudice against their use, which has always existed amongst
the Dutch, and which made it almost a disgrace to be seen riding them.

WANT OF NEATNESS. 123
that of a Kafir boy, by whom they are driven in every night in order
to accustom them to be handled, and also as a protection against the
wolf, the chief, indeed the only, som-ce of anxiety to the stock farmer.
Disease and drought are unknown, and perhaps there is no occupation
in which the risks are so small, or the income so sure. On the other
hand, there is the expense of house-building, and the difficulty of pro
viding even the common comforts and conveniences which can give
the appearance of home to the most desolate spot. AU ideas of neat
ness, 'order, and compact arrangement, must be discarded. The trim
court, the inclosed garden, the fenced field, must henceforth exist only
in imagination ; instead of these a soUtary house standing out from
the bare plaLo, a cattle kraal of rough stones, a small place inclosed
by a sod waU to serve as kitchen or dwelling for the Kafirs, a patch
of ploughed ground, lying open to the visits of bucks, or the passage
of the herd who gaUop unreafrainedly over it, perhaps a reed shed
for the calves. Such are the premises of an African stock-owner's
farm. He must be content, too, with a lonely existence, or the
company of chance visitors, not always preferable to that of his Kafir
herdsmen, and he will be lucky if his nearest neighbour is within
two or three hours' ride. Some of these disadvantages may be traced
to the indolent habits and indisposition to improvement whioh have
hitherto characterized the owners of the soil, who, as long as thefr
herds increased, were content to lead a desultory, hand-to-mouth ex
istence, and to leave no better prospect to thefr chUdren ; but the
greater part of them are inseparable from the nature of the country
and the character of the occupation ; and, on the whole, this account
may be taken as a fafr specimen of stock-farming in the Sovereignty.
It is obrious that however profltable such pursuits as these might
prove to a few enterprising individuals, they would not be sufficient
to support a large population, or to give assurance of prosperity to a
newly founded town, and Harrismith would never emerge from in-
signiflcance had it not a more secure and ample source of wealth to
depend upon.
The commerce vrith the interior is yearly increasmg in import
ance, and the discovery of the Great Lake, and the researches of such

1S4 PROSPECTS OF HARRISMITH.
men as Messrs. Osuell, Hamilton, and others, are likely to open up
new fields for the restless sons of trade, and to pave the way for the
introduction of British manufactures into the very heart of Africa.
The twelve thousand Dutch malcontents beyond the Vaal, though
they have done thefr best to put themselves beyond the pale of civili
zation, and to stop the current of improvement towards the regions
which they are yet permitted to retain, cannot be altogether inde
pendent of supplies from the Port, or the chief towns ofthe colony;
and the road to the Mooi Dorp, the capital of their territory, is' con
stantly traversed by wagons loaded with merchandize for the self-
exiled people. The missionary establishments, too, contribute not a
Httle to swell the extent of this traffic, the greater part of which,
since the occupation of Natal, flnds its way over the Drakenberg, and
must pass through Harrismith, thus making it the rendezvous of the
traders from every side. Here the Natal merchants will estabUsh
stores to supply their inland customers, who will gladly unload their
wagons on that side of the mountain, and spare their oxen the toil
some journey through the hUly roads and unhealthy climate of Natal,
with the chance of swoUen rivers to prevent thefr return. Thus, in
addition to a constant succession of passing risitors, a resident popu
lation wUl spring up, under whose auspices the dorp will rapidly rise
in importance. Farras will no longer be suffered to lie waste and
uniraproved, but wiU be covered with flocks of sheep, and herds of
cattle and horses ; the qualities of the soil will be ascertained and'
turned to the best advantage, and Harrismith will justify the praise
of its supporters, by becoming the first city of the northern Sove
reignty !
I wUl not weary the reader with the details of our journey back
to Natal, which could contain nothing novel or interesting.
We left Plaatberg on the 2nd of December, and the foUovring day
descended th? mountain without accident or difficulty. Not far from
its foot, close to the head waters of the KUp River, I descried a tent
at some distance from the road, indicating a new settler's location;
and as on the veldt a human habitation of any kind is seldom passed
unvisited, I threw the saddle on my horse, and galloped across to

A CHANCE MEETING. 125
make a passing call, and satisfy my curiosity. As I drew near I was
struck with the extreme beauty of the situation, which had eridently
been chosen rather by a lover of the picturesque than by a mere
practical farmer. It was one of those little nooks, formed by the
projecting roots of the Drakenberg which I have mentioned in a
former chapter as constituting part of the scenery at its base. In
front rose a thickly-wooded bank, vrith green sides sloping gently
down to the newly-born stream, whose banks had not yet assumed
the broken and precipitous appearance that African rivers are wont
to present, but were soft and rounded Uke those of an English
meadow brook. On all sides the rising ground shut out the dreary
prospect, and gave a sheltered appearance to the spot, very different
frora the open plains of the Sovereignty. As I was foUovring with
my eye the mazy windings of the stream through the rushy vlei be
yond, I was accosted by a shout of welcome from a well-known voice,
and turning round recognized my feUow-passenger W  , the im
porter of the Scotch cart. After the first exclamations of surprise
and greeting he told me that — being resolved not to settle on a place
vrithout trees — he had traversed Natal in the vain search forland which
united the requfred condition vrith other eUgible quaUties, till, chance
conducting him to this spot, he determined to pitch his tent here,
and had purchased a hundred acres fi-om the Boer to whom they
belonged — and who turned out to be our old acquaintance De Lange —
for the apparently moderate sum of £10 (one-half the price of Crown
land in Natal). Hans was too glad to catch a purchaser, and made
ample promises of assistance, to which W  had given more credit
than they deserved. He had since been struggling against a host of
hardships and difficulties, before which a less determined spirit would
have quailed. His Kafir servants had deserted him, as they are apt
to do, either from caprice or from some misunderstanding, which a
knowledge of their language might have prevented, and for a long
time he was unable to find a white man to supply their place. " Do
you see that fellow ?" said he, pointing to a most suspicious-looking
character who was sauntering along with a few sticks under his arm,
" he is a runaway sailor, and came to me in great distress. He is

126 "SHE MILKED THE DUN COW."
sullen, lazy, and impudent, and yet I hardly dare find fault with him
much less give him the thrashing he richly merits, lest he should
leave me. Worthless as he is I cannot well do without him, and he
knows it. I have got a few mealies in, and have been trying to make
a garden, but the ground is so hard that after breaking three spades
I have been obliged for the present to give up the attempt. For food
we live on mealie oakes, eggs, and milk, thinking ourselves lucky if
we get a piece of meat once in the three weeks. The worst part of the
business is the tent, which, whUe it affords but a poor shelter from the
rain, is a perfect oven in sunshine, and in a high wind threatens to fall
upon our heads. There is as yet no sign of the house which De Lange
promised to put up for me, and I find, now that I have paid for the
land, that I cannot reckon much upon his assistance. If I add that
I have been for some time without tobacco I beUeve my catalogue of
miseries will be completed. For the rest we were never in better
health, and my vrife, who was rather disheartened at first, is begin
ning to be reconciled to her lot, and, as you see, takes her share of
the duties of the farm." And I hastened to pay my respects to Mrs.
W  , who, neat and cheerful as ever, was busily milking a veiy
vicious-looking cow. " Do not come too near," said she, as she held
out her hand, " Mietje might kick ; she will let no one tonch her j
but with me she is as quiet as a lamb. Ar'nt you, Mietje ?" and
Mietje gave a pecuUar shake of her horns, which I beUeve was in
tended as an acknowledgment. I spent a pleasant evemng with my
friends, who were loth to let me depart, and at length took leave,
charged with sundry commissions at Maritzburg, which I duly exe
cuted. I have never heard of them since, and I dare say they are
still in thefr tent working as hard and as cheerfuUy as ever; but
though the land is certainly equal, if not superior, to the average in
point of fertility, and though W  is one of those characters that
seem made for flghting an up-hill game, I fear it will be a long time
before their labours will produce any material effect towards the im
provement of thefr condition. Situated in a remote corner, amongst ;
a population entfrely Dutch, and at so great a distance from any
market, they have fearful odds to contend against, and should they

WHO ARE TOU.'' 187
succeed they will shew that the downright perseverance of an Eng
Ush gentleman can baffle the calculations of the most experienced
Dutch farmers, and friumph over all obstacles.
We reached Bushman's River on the '7th. Mrs. Flory welcomed
me back to civUized life with her best curtsey, and, still better, with a
real Sunday dinner of roast beef and plum-pudding, and a bottle of
pale ale, which, as she observed, after coming from " those savage
parts," I was in a disposition to enjoy thoroughly. My appearance,
I fear, must have fully justified the good lady in her remark, for
when, on our arrival at the Umgeni, I encountered at Lodge's door a
well-dressed pic-nic party, with several of whom I was acquainted,
the ladies started back, and gave me, as Lodge had it, " a vride berth,"
whUe my friend Charles Fyvie, who eridently felt caUed upon to
assert his dignity as the Cavalier des dames, stared up in my face with
a look of cool astonishment, which seemed to say, " Pray, sfr, have
you not mistaken the room ?" I began to think I had, and to recol
lect that a dress such as I have described in the early part of this
chapter, with a beard of two month's growth, were not exactly
fitted for appearing in respectable society. So I retreated to the
kitchen, took my glass of beer there in quiet obscurity, and did not
mount Schutkraal for a twelve mile gallop into Maritzburg, till a
razor and the pick of my scanty wardrobe had metamorphosed me
into something less savage and alarming.

128

CHAPTER IX.
A MORNING AT CHRISTMAS TIME — THE CAVALCADE — IHE SETTLER'S HOT—
POREST SCENERY- — SCHUTKRAAL IN DISTRESS  A KAPIR MISSIONARY—
FINGERS BEFORE FORKS — A GBOTESaUE SCENE — ^A PLEASANT BED-PELLOW
— THE DARGLE — GOOD aVARTBRS — THE KAFIR PATH — ^A HALT m IHE
RAIN — GOOD TIDINGS — BREAD AND BUTTER — SPYOEN KOP — KAFIR POLICE
THE ALARM — BARE-LEGGED — THE DEAD OX — THE GUEST — ALL IN VAIN—
THE WAR DANCE — CORPORAL CORK — BALL PRACTICE — THE RIDE HOME
 DISMOUNTED — A CLEAN SPILL — A SLIPPERY DESCENT — E  AT
HOME.
Christmas in the southem hemisphere ! the thermometer at 86°,
and everybody panting for shade ! all superfluous clothing discarded!
linen jackets and straw hats ! ripening grapes, and grass breast
high ! Who ooiUd recognize Christmas in such guise ? Where is
" The scattered hair with sleet like ashes iilled.
The breath congealed upon the lips."
Where are the snug carpeted room, the close drawn curtains, the
Hghted tapers, the blazing Yule Log ? Surely it must be a dream!
Such were my thoughts as, on returning from a moonlight ride,
with which we had concluded our Christmas festivities, I gazed from
my bed-room window just before sunrise, on the 26th of December. ;
A gauzy heat-mist hung in the afr, through whose fransparent veil
the landscape seemed invested with a softness foreign to its character, I
while a streak of pale pink from behind the sable-mountain heralded
the dawn, and spread a warm blush over the sky. It was just the
morning for a pleasure excursion, and to such a purpose we had
directed it, having made up a party the prerious evening for a visit
to Spyoen Kop, a post of the Kafir police, near the Kathlamba moun
tains, about thirty-five miles due west of Maritzburg. We had been
invited to accompany Mr. Houel, a captain of the corps who was
proceeding thither on duty. I say we, for I had retumed to my old i
quarters, where there were just enough resident boarders to form a

THE CAVALCADE. 129
pleasant Uttle coterie, independent of chance visitors and passing
guests, so that " Balcony House," or " The Coonery," as it was
jokingly caUed, wore rather the afr of a club than a place of pubUc
entertainment. Onr host E  , a jorial Irishman, whose good humour and
droUery contributed to make his house agreeable, was on this occasion
to make his first essay in African horsemanship, and we anticipated
no smaU amusement from the exhibition. My two friends J. and
C. F  , with one more, completed our party.
CUmbing the steep hill, whose ascent had cost us so much frouble
with the wagon two months before, we turned off the main Draken
berg road, and cantered gaily along a narrower but stUl perceptible
faack, which in about three hours brought us to the farm of an
English settler, remarkable for the pecuUar construction of the dwel
ling-house. It was composed entfrely of sticks and grass, Uke a
Kafir hut, but instead of being shaped Uke a single bee-hive, it was
like two dirided, and put together thus CTj^" ^^^ ^^ elevation at a
distance gives us the idea of half a gigantic melon. The rough and
simple materials were so neatly put together as to have quite a finished
appearance, and a Uttle porch completed the effect, and made it look
not only habitable but really elegant, and certainly much more suited
to the country than a staring white house, such as is to be seen on
most of the Dntch farms. Proceeding onward, we crossed the Umgeni
by a ford called " Old Man's Drift," and towards evening entered on
a wooded and highly picturesque landscape, such as I did not believe
to have existed in Natal. There was no Une of demarcation to show
where the plain ended and the forest began ; but the two were insen
sibly blended ; patches of yellow sward running in among the trees,
and clumps of bush standing out in the open field, tUl one might
almost fancy oneself in an EngUsh park. OccasionaUy yelping of curs,
and perhaps a thin coluran of smoke, would announce the vicinity
of a Kaifr kraal, for the natives prefer a bush country, and dis
play great taste in the choice of a situation. Engrossed with the
scene, I had lagged some way behind my comrades, and in pushing
forward to overtake them was surprised to fiud Schutkraal exhibit
E

130 SCHUTKRAAL IN DISTRESS.
unequivocal symptoms of fatigue, which I discovered to proceed from
a galled back, the result of my carelessness in omitting the saddle
cloth. The poor horse flagged more and more, and by the time I had
joined the rest of the party, who had waited for me, it became quite
clear that his day's wort was done, and that we must look out for
shelter for the night. Mr. Howell's knowledge of the country was
now invaluable : guided by him we struck across the Veldt, and soon
descried a cluster of huts, and a dingy-looking hovel surrounded by a
patch of mealies, and other signs of cultivation. This was the residence
of Barnabas, a Kafir teacher, placed here by one of the missionaries
for the enlightenment of his brethren, a task which he performed no
doubt to his own entire satisfaction, and on the strength of whioh he
lived in a mud-house instead of a hut, wore a shfrt and trousers, spoke
with a peculiar snuffle, and thought himself a ciriUzed man.
Here it was decided that four of our party should remain, making
what arrangements we could for passing the night, whUe the other two
proceeded to the house of a settler in the neighbourhood, on whose
hospitality we did not think it fafr to intrude six hungry travellers.
The condition of my steed left me no alternative, and those who have
experienced the misery of riding a tired horse wiU conceive with what
deUght I threw saddle and bridle on the grass, and after a long
draught of amaas, or sour mUk, the most wholesome and refreshing
beverage in the world, sat down to the enjoyraent of a comfortable
pipe, a luxury which none but a fraveller on the Veldt can thoroughly i
appreciate. Smoke, however, though a capital thing in its way, is a poor sub
stitute for solid food ; and, as our breakfast had been an early one,
we soon began to think about supper. On questioning Barnabas as
to the state of his larder, he pointed to some ambiguous creatures
pecking about the door of his house, frora which we concluded that
" The meat which we must sup withal
It runneth yet on foot."
The Kafir inkoho, or fowl, be it known, is not so particular inits choice
of food, as to be considered a deUcacy, and my friend, Charles Fyvie, ^

FINGERS BEFORE FORKS. 131
was at first inclined to turn up his nose at the idea, but fastidious
ness has little chance with a keen appetite, a bargain was soon
struck with Barnabas, who, after a little haggling, consented to sell
us three for a shiUing, and in a very short tirae the fowls were trans
ferred to the pot, together with some Kafir corn, the only thing in the
shape of grain or vegetable which we could discover. E  acted as
executioner, and reminded me of a similar scene which I had once
witnessed in a rural inn in France, when the hostess, a fat good-
natured old vridow, perforraed the operation with a pafr of scissors
that dangled at her gfrdle, exclaiming, as the creature fluttered in her
grasp, " Ah le vilain, il ne veut pas mourir ! " E  . was not
exactly pleased at the comparison.
I was roused frora a short nap by the announcement that supper
was ready, and could not avoid being struck with the novelty of the
scene. A scanty flre in the cenfre of the hut shed an uncertain light
on the rude walls and grotesque flgures within. On either side two
of our party lay stretched upon the mud floor, their heads propped
upon thefr hands, and looking, if one might judge by thefr counte
nances, not very happy or comfortable. Barnabas, who had superin
tended the cooking, sat crouched against the wall, with his chin
resting upon his knees, with less of curiosity than contempt in his
stoUd countenance, while his little fat children could only be distin
guished in their remote corner by the sparkle of thefr eyes through
the smoky atmosphere. To complete the picture, Schutkraal had
poked his head over the door sill, as if to see what was going on.
For my own part, I had spent too many nights in the open air, not to
be thankful for any shelter, and I did my best to encourage my com
panions by setting to work at once upon the fare. Our only weapon
was a pocket-knife, and our carving, which was none of the neatest,
was flnished by two of us taking a leg each, and tearing the bfrd
asunder. The small grains of the Kafir corn were a coraplete puzzle;
and after sundry attempts to ladle them out of the pot on the end of
a knife, we decided that they were not worth the trouble. Our
repast being accompUshed, and Barnabas haring discreetly retired
with his wife and family into the inner compartment of their luxurious

132 A PLEASANT BEDFELLOW.
house, we folded our jackets under our heads to serve as pillows, and
were soon fast asleep. I can answer at least for myself, and so could
poor E  to his cost, for when I shook him a Uttle before day
break, and asked how he had passed the night : " How should I have
passed it," said he, " when you've been taking me for Schutkraal the
whole time. When next you mean to go out hunting in jour sleep,
I'd adrise you to take off your spurs before you Ue down — ^you have
given me a dose of riding for once.'' There was no choice for him
but to mount again, and we started under the conduct of Barnabas
for Mr. Fanning's place. The Dingle, where we hoped to rejoin onr
friends. A ride of half an hour along a broken path brought ns to
the spot, which is really not unworthy of its name. Seated in a
romantic glen, vrith a group of fine frees behind the house, a brawling
stream in the bottom, and a thick forest on the opposite side, broken
here and there by glades, seen, too, through the medium of the grey
moming mist, it almost realized my fafrest dream of a woodland
home. Cultivation was making way in this wild vaUey, and true
taste was not wanting to complete what nature had so weU begnn.
We found our two friends in a Kafir hut close to the house, with
matted floor, and aU the appurtenances of a comfortable bed-room.
They were very loth to be disturbed, but we were not disposed to
pity them, especially when they began to speak of the pleasant even
ing they had spent in the enjoyment of music and agreeable conver
sation. Nor was it any consolation to us that Mr. Fanning had sent
us a leg of hartebeest the night before, which his lazy Kafir had not
brought tUl just as we were starting. A good cup of coffee set us all
to rights, and having, as we thought, obtained ample directions for the
way, which was said to be but slightly marked, we proceeded on oar
journey. The track led us round deep hloof s, and up and down
precipitous hiUs, for a mile or two, when, at the edge of a wood, it
suddenly deserted us, and after half an hour's wandering in the vain
attempt to recover it, it became a question not very easUy answered
in which way lay the Dingle, or Spyoen Kop, or Maritzburg. Very
pleasant this in a country like Africa on a wet day, and in a fog so
thick that you could scarcely see a foot before you, and appeared to

A HALT IN THE BAIN. 133
be riding a headless horse. We plodded on, however, for several
hours, tiU faUing into a Kafir path, we reached the top of a stony
hUl. Here it was agreed that we should wait, whUe HoweU, who
was the best mounted, rode on to explore. The rest of us off-saddled,
and sat down, vrith very littie confidence as to the result. Poor
E  • was quite overcome, and after registering a vow, that if he
once reached Balcony House, no one should ever tempt him into the
Veldt again, he threw himself down flat upon a stone and forgot his
sorrows in sleep. We waited a long time, and had just resolved to
return to a neighbouring kloof, and to Hght a fire, when to our great
joy we beheld a Kafir approaching at the regular frot which these
feUows vriU keep up for twenty-four hours at a sfretch, and bearing
a note on the end of a cleft stick — thefr usual method of carrying
letters. Our guide, it was proved, had led us as dfrectly as if his
course had been steered by a compass, and the few words he had
written conveyed a weU-merited rebuke of the mistrust which some
of our party had erinced in his judgement — " Don't try to teach old
colonists the road."
FoUovring our sable Mercury, we soon reached the farm of Maritz,
a hospitable Dutchman, who entertained us with a plentiful supply of
bread and butter. Another mUe and we were at the Post, and never
did any one utter a more hearty sigh of reUef than E  , as he
slowly and wearily disengaged himself from his nag, Otaheite, and
descended to terra firma, congratulating himself that one half of his
penance was at an end.
The cluster of tents and huts which formed the station was pitched
at one end of a wide plain, bounded by distant mountains ; behind
rose a long bare ridge, forming a sheltering waU, while close on the
left was a beautifid green hoek, surrounded by banks of thick bush,
with some fine timber. They rose to a great height, and, running on
in a sfraight l''ie for many miles, constituted the boundary to the
plain in that di ection. Immediately around the Uttle settlement
were signs of industry and improvement. Patches of ground had
been tumed up and were covered with fair crops ; the frame of a
large wattle-and-dab house had been erected for the residence of the

134 KAFIR POLICE.
officer in comraand, and an extensive garden was laid out and partly
cultivated. The Kafir PoUce was established partly with a riew to repress the
predatory incursions of the Bushmen, partly to assist in confining
the natives to thefr respective locations, and partly as a check against
Panda, who seemed inclined to pursue his fugitive subjects across the
border. It amounted at one time to two hundred men, but has since,
owing to the inabiUty of the Natal Treasury to defray the expense of
its maintenance, been reduced to its original complement, viz.: — A
native force of 5 sergeants, 5 corporals, and 90 men, commanded, by
European officers — 1 captain, 2 Ueutenants, and a sergeant-major.
Mr. T. Shepstone, the diplomatic agent, whose influence over the
natives is universally acknowledged, and who is looked up to by them
as the great " Samson" or " Sagem" of thefr tribes, holds the chief
coramand in this corps, which, without his assistance, would never
have been organized. Its efficacy has never been tested in any great
emergency, but it has been tried ; nor is there any reason to doubt
that the experiment, if carried out upon a larger seale, would answer
equally weU. It is something, at all events, to accustom the Kafir to
pay obedience to the white man, a habit he is too apt to unlearn.
The number of officers has lately been increased; a patriotic young
emigrant having volunteered his gratuitous serrices, which, as he had
been an officer in the army, were doubly valuable. But to return to
our narrative.
I had taken off my wet top-boots, and was paddling about in the
stream in all the luxury of bare legs, when I was startied by the
voice of E  , whom I had left fast asleep in the hut.
" Make haste," said he, " flve lions have just kUled an ox of
Maritz's, and are now gorging on the carcass !"
Guns were seized, horses were franticaUy caught and saddled,
" and there was mounting in hot haste." I soon gave up an ineffec
tual attempt to pull on my boots, and throwing myself, bare-legged
as I was, into the saddle, set off at full gallop after the rest of the
party, who had started some minutes before. My galled and jaded
steed, catching some of his master's enthusiasm, scarcely needed the

THE DEAD OX. I35
spur, and passing flrst E  , for whom the pace was too good, and
then the ai-med body of poUce, running at the top oftheir speed, with
the sergeant-major at thefr head, I overtook Howell and the rest, and
we pressed onwards towards the scene of action.
There lay the dead ox, with a hind leg broken, and the marks of
the Hon's paw on flank, shoulder, and face. Maritz was standing
over the victim, uttering many a pitiful exclamation, mingled with
threats of vengeance on the spoilers, but busily engaged meanwhile
in taking off the skin that he might save what he could before they
retumed, which they were sure to do after dark, as they had been
disturbed frora thefr feast by the shouts of the herdsraan, and had
made off into the bush close by. We were aU impatience to follow
them, but Howell, who was an experienced hunter, convinced us of
the impossibUity of attempting it at so late an hour, so that our
excitement for that day ended in a quiet ride home, a capital dinner
of beef and meaUes, and anticipations of to-morrow's sport over a
glass of cognac.
Sleeping on the floor of the hut, wrapped in a soldier's coat, and
vrith our heads on our saddles, we suffered much from cold, though it
was midsummer — the door, which was of reeds loosely fastened
together, serving rather to increase the draught than to exclude the
outward afr.
The next morning we rose in high spirits, and eager forthe chase.
Our toilet and breakfast were soon over, and, aU armed except E  ,
who declared he was more Hkely to shoot himself than the Hon, we
salUed forth. It was a pretty sight to see the Kafirs in thefr white
shfrts and black belts, thefr bayonets gleaming in the rays of the
morning sun, treading in single file the mountain path before us.
StiU more interesting was it when we had reached the place of
slaughter which the lions had risited again in the course of the
night, to observe how the Kafirs hunted up the spoor, spreading
themselves over the ground, examining every mark of the lion's paws,
which, though as large as a man's hand, were only visible at distant
intervals, tUl at length they hit off the last track, and followed it up
to the edge of the bush. Just inside we found the marks of thefr

13$ CORPORAL CORK.
lafr, and there was Uttle doubt that they were still within the circuit
of the wood.
And now, lest the reader fall into the same mistake with our
selves, and work himself into a very unnecessary fit of excitement, I
may as well disappoint him at once. In vain did the Kafirs, in open
Une and with bayonets fixed, traverse the tangled forest once and
again frora end to end, flIUng the afr with thefr shouts ; in vain did
we, posted in pafrs at the most Ukely points of exit, anxiously listen
for the sUghtest sound that might indicate the approach of the royal
game, exhorting one another to stand firm in case of a charge. The
lions kept close ; and without dogs it was impossible to rouse them.
So after riding up the perpendicular sides to the top of the ridge,
whence we got a fine riew of the Mooi and Bushman's Rivers, and the
whole country, from the Maritzburg hUls on the one side, to the
Drakenberg on the other, we were obUged to return to the camp
without accomplishing our object!
To console us for our disappointment, HoweU entertained us with
a Kafir war dance, of which I cannot hope to convey more than a
very faint impression. The Kafirs formed themselves into a semi-
cfrcle, and began by slowly moring feet and arms to a monotonone
tune. Growing more and 'more excited, thefr action increased in
energy and fierceness, their songs became louder, tiU at length there
was a perfect storm of singing, yelUng, and stamping, the latter,
especially, so regular and riolent, as to leave a deep dent in the hard
BoU. Throughout the whole of the manoeuvres, they kept the most
correct time with voice, arms, and feet, and observed an erident
method in the midst of the apparent tumult and disorder. We were
particularly amused with the coolness of Corporal Cork, a squat Utfle
figure, whose appearance with the welcome cup of coffee in the mom
ing was always haUed with deUght, and who, on the sfrength of his
position as attendant on the white men, did not think it necessary to
over-exert himself, and though he joined in the movements of Ha
brethren, seemed to consider the whole affafr as a good joke, and
grinned famUiarly at us, as much as to say that he only did it ia
humour them. There was no dent lu the ground where he stood.

THE RIDE HOME. 137
After this the men were ordered to bring thefr muskets, and we
had an opportunity of witnessing their skiU in baU practice, which
was very tolerable. The mark was a stone, the distance about a hun
dred and fifty yards; and though they handled thefr pieces in aU sorts
of queer ways, some firing before the musket was at thefr shoulder,
whUe others held it there for a minute or two, yet the stone was re
peatedly struck, and on the whole I have seen worse shooting among
regular soldiers.
We spent three pleasant days at Spyoen Kop, and then bid adieu
to our kind entertainer, and started on our homeward trek, not with
out some apprehensions as to the possibility of accomplishing it withn
the day. We chose the wagon road, which, though longer, was easier
to find, and which, besides, would lead us over a new country. We
passed through the same beautiful forest scenery which I have afready
described, and saw several weU-kept farms, with brick houses and
buUdings upon them, and the only incident which occurred before we
reached Umgeni was a chance shot at a bosch-bok {Tragelaphus
sylvatica). Long before this, poor Schutkraal was reduced to a walk,
and when we off-saddled on the other side of the drift, we had the
pleasant prospect of sixteen mUes at a foot* s pace under a pelting rain,
for I was obUged to dismount, and could not persuade my companions
to push on and leave me.
Many a laugh we had enjoyed that day at the expense of poor
E  , whose short figure, clothed in a long shooting-jacket of mine,
bobbing up and down upon his saddle (no easy-chafr to him), was a
perpetual source of merriment. But the tables were now to be turned.
-After I had trudged on for some mUes, my friends so kindly persisted
in offering to reUeve me, that I at length acceded, and mounted a
spirited Uttle horse of Charles Fyrie's, who undertook the difficult
task of leading, or rather dragging, Schutkraal along, while I insisted
on carrying his g^n in addition to my ovra, confident of my horse
manship, and disregarding my fiiend's warning, " that WUtshfre was
not to be trifled vrith." He was right enough : no sooner did the
Uttle animal feel the increased weight, and the contact of the barrel
with either shoulder, than he arched his back, sprung up in the afr,

138 A CLEAN SPILL.
and coramenced a kicking pirouette, which would have done honour
to Astley's, but was anything bnt agreeable to his rider. With a gun
under each arm, I had no possible control over hira ; and as I saw the
catastrophe was inevitable, I loosened my feet from the stfrrup, and
taking a flying leap over his head, found myself sitting comfortably
on the ground. It was fortunate that no accident occurred, for one of
the guns, of which I had never lost my hold, was discovered to be full
cocked, the hammer having sprung back in the faU. I need not say
on which side the laugh was now !
I have described the ascent of the Maritzburg hill ; but its descent
was', if possible, worse. It was, in fact, one complete sUde ; and as
we led our horses along, for riding was out of the question, we were
in continual danger of pulling thera upon us. E  , who had gone
on to order dinner, was soon so bevrildered by the fog, thathe lost the
little notion he had of the road, and was possessed vrith a vague idea
that he was returning to Spyoen Kop ; and it was not tiU the walls of
Fort Napier stood close before hira, and he was almost within the
town, that his Ulusion was dispeUed.
" They may talk of the pleasures of the Veldt," said he, that even
ing, as he was helping the soup at the head of his table ; "but those
who think it pleasant to be bumped about all day, and spurred all
night — to be wet through in a mist one hour, and dried in the sun,
like a piece of beltong, the next— faith ! it's a droU notion of pleasure
they've got, anyhow."

139

CHAPTER X.
THE WAT-SIDE INN — UNCORKING  THE HUT — GENTLEMEN INNKEEPERS — MY
FATHER WAS A SWEEP — FINE FEATHERS — GO AND SLEEP IN THE VELDT
— ^DUTOH HOSPITALITY — HOW TO BEHAVE — HOLD YOUR TONGUE — SWOL
LEN RIVERS — ^PATAL ACCIDENT — FATHER AND SON — SCHUTKRAAL IN A
FIX — THE UMGENI — DRIFT AT MIDNIGHT — THE KAAR-KLOOF PALLS — THE
COUNTRY-SEAT  DEVONSHIRE CREAM.
Those who vrish to see Ufe in a colony in its most genuine, though
not, perhaps, its most atfractive form, cannot choose a better fleld for
thefr obervations than the wayside inn. With the reader's permission
we wUl take a peep at one of them, having flrst divested ourselves,
as much as possible, of every notion of such a place which our Euro
pean experience may suggest.
An hour's sharp canter out of the town brings us in sight of a
neat Uttle white house, standing prettily araong straggUng thickets of
mimosa, on a rising sweU above the spruit whose rapid and dangerous
rise I have mentioned in an early chapter. This is the residence of
Mr. L  , the landlord at Uys' Dooms, to whom we are going to pay a
visit. As we draw nearer, we can detect a Kafir hut within a few
yards of the house. This is the inn. Let us ride up and dismount —
cautiously, though, for the ground is strewed with empty beer bottles,
mostly with broken necks, haring been opened by a stroke vrith the
back of a knife, an equaUy effectual and more expeditious method
than the legitimate cork-screw.
We are surprised to find in the landlord, who coraes out to receive
us, in his shirt sleeves, probably without shoes or stockings, a distin
guished-looking person, evidently a gentleman by bfrth and education,
and we are almost ashamed to allow him to take our horses. This,
however, is one of the anomaUes that meet the colonial observer at
every tum, and it admits of easy explanation. The gentleman emi
grant seldom comes out vrith any definite plan of action. He has no

140 GENTLEMEN INNKEEPERS.
trade or business to which he can betake himself, as a matter of course,
on his arrival ; he has been accustomed rather to spend money than to
earn it, and his expectations are more frequently based on a vague
idea of getting on somehow or other, and a general confidence in his
ovm abiUties, than on sober, well weighed calculations. Ignorant of
farming, disgusted vrith a soUtary life, unfit for coramerce, he fritters
away his time and his means, and is soon a disappointed man. Too
many give way under this pressure, and, falling into idleness, dissipa
tion, and low company, become ineritably ruined. But vrith men of
energetic character, it is often the turning point of thefr career.
Ashamed to return home vrith a confession of failure, and seeing no
alternative in the colony but labour or ruin, they throw pride and
prejudice aside, and set to work manfiilly and in earnest. Little do
mothers or sisters in England dream how thefr emigrant sons or
brothers are employed, or what hardships they are undergoing, rather
than disappoint the fond hopes which have heen entertained on their
behalf. With such men as these, the wayside inn is a favourite resource.
It requfres no prerious apprenticeship, and very Uttle capital— is a
social breathing kind of existence, and one in which the prospect of
cash returns is not so distant or so problematical as in the majority of
colonial pursuits.
But let us enter the hut. No room can be neater or more com
fortable. The clean-swept floor, the yellow wood table, the beds
ranged against the wall, a Une of shelves and a cupboard. What
more can the traveller require ? Horns of various antelopes fastened
to the posts that support the low flat roof, serve as pegs to hang coats
and shot-belts ; ablutions are generally performed in the open air.
If the reader pleases, we vriU move the table outside, and, while
we enjoy a cup of tea and a pipe, amuse ourselves with watching the
successive departures and arrivals, and getting a Uttle insight into
colonial manners.
A hard task has our landlord to accommodate himself to the tem
pers of his different guests : to humour the discontented, to please the
exacting, to repress the insolent, and to keep the riotous in order j m

MY FATHER WAS A SWEEP. 141
short, to discharge all the duties of his occupation, vrithout bringing
himself down to its level. This requfres the greater tact, since, from
the confiision of classes, every one claims the title of gentleman, and
expects to be freated accordingly, though the homely adrice, to " be
have as such," would not be inappHcable to the greater number.
I remember coming to a river in Canada just as the ferry-boat
was starting, when a fellow, who was chopping wood by the side of
the road, seeing me running, cried out, " TeU the gentleman at the
boat to wait, there's a man coming." I was rather pleased than other
wise vrith the compliment, knovring that a gentleman is synonomous
vrith an idle man, who is in America an object of universal contempt.
Unfortunately, in Natal the distinction is less aptly drawn, and
labour has not yet attained its due pre-erainence. Boisterous famiUarity
and impudence, however, wUl carry off any amount of pretension, and
requfre a rough check to put them down. Observe with what an off
handed air that spruce Httle man in the Nevraiarket coat, who has
been chatting so gUbly to us of the turf, — about which he knows less
than he does of the counter, — accosts the plain-looking fraveller who
has just ridden up, and who does not appear particularly pleased vrith
the renconfre : —
" How are you, my dear fellow ?"
The traveller, who has never seen his dear friend but once, and
then casuaUy, draws himself up — " I was not aware, sfr, that I had
the pleasure of your acquaintance.''
Little Man, nothing daunted. — " Oh, you remember, old feUow, I
met you with my firiends, P. and C," &c.
Traveller. — " WeU, then, P. and C. may encourage your femUiarity,
if they like ; but I certainly shall not."
Little Man, firing up. — " Sfr, I can teU you I am as good as you :
my father was an officer.''
Trflceffer.—" Was he really? indeed! I beg your pardon. My
father was a sweep !"
Here comes a party of another stamp— a thriring merchant and
his wife, with prancing steeds, new saddles, and feathers in the lady's
riding-hat. Mark the superciUous tone of thefr address.

142 FINE FEATHERS.
" Pray, can Mrs  and myself obtain accommodation for the
night ?"
Landlord. — Certainly ; if Mrs.  wiU come into my house, my
wife will do what she can to make her comfortable, and you can have
a bed in the hut."
" That will never do ; cannot we have the hut to ourselves ?"
" Hardly ; unless you will keep the door against all comers — ^hslf
a dozen wagons may arrive to-night."
" Then you must tell them that the apartment is engaged."
" Thank you. I had rather not get up so often ; but since you
insist on the hut to the exclusion of all my other customers, some of
whom will be offended and leave me, of course you wUl not object to
pay a larger sum for its use ?"
" Decidedly we should. Your charge, I believe, is eighteenpence,
and I could not think of paying more."
" Then, I think, Mr.  , you had better go on to the next house.
And after a Uttle more to the sarae purpose, the consequential
shopkeeper continues his ride, which is likely to be a dark one, for the
evening is closing in, and the sky looks cloudy.
But by far the most exacting risitor is the newly-arrived emigrant.
L  told me of one of those who arrived at his place in the evening,
and, on dismounting, walked naturally enough towards the house.
" This way, if you please," cried L  , pointing to the hut, "that
is where my family live."
" So," said the sfranger, "you keep that house for your own family,
and this  hut for your customers ?"
" Exactly so ; my wife and children Uve in that little house, and
my guests here.''
" Well," exclaimed the newly-arrived, as his eyes slowly wandered
from clay floor to stick ceiUng — " Well ! I have fraveUed in India, in
AustraUa, and America, and I never slept in a more wretched place
than this."
This was rather too much. " So," said L  , " you have fravelled
in all those countries, and never slept in a worse place than this hut!"
" No, never," (emphatically).

GO AND SLEEP IN THE YELDT. 143
" Then you shaU have an opportunity of doing so to-night. Now
go out and sleep in the Veldt .'"
" And if a night under a thorn tree, in a drizzUng rain," concluded
L  , " did not teach him the value of a good bed in a Kafir hut, he
must requfre a pretty severe lesson, and vrill have to buy his experi
ence at a high price."
These are a few of the scenes to be met with at the wayside inn,
to say nothing of drunken sprees, and the quarrels resulting from
them, which are much the same in all countries, but more frequent
and riolent where the restraints of society are less binding.
These inns are only to be met with on the main roads. The
fraveller along by-paths must betake himself to the nearest farm-house,
where shelter for the night wUl never be refused; though, if the
owner be a Dutchman, the reception will probably be neither warra
nor encouraging. Among their own people, the Boers exercise a rude
and cumbrous hospitaUty, attended vrith a whole host of pecuUar
. ceremonies, one of the most remarkable of which is the practice of
firing off guns on the arrival or departure of thefr guests ; but even
these friendly risits are generally Umited to a very short period, and
_ the old Canadian rule is rarely infringed, " Not to stay tiU the rye
loaf is laid on the table."
But to an Englishman hospitaUty is accorded solely as an
,^ unpleasant duty, frora which there is no escape ; and no pains are
taken to conceal from him that he is anything but a welcome guest.
Indeed, I have myself been frequently told as much, though not, I must
confess, till after I had been regaled vrith a hearty supper, and had
won the confidence of my entertainer, by Ustening to his catalogue of
grievances, and taking in good part his tirades against the Govern
ment ; indeed, for my own part, I have never had to complain of
'* scant courtesy, and have always found the surly manner thaw after a
' few good-humoured answers, especiaUy if I could throw in a joke,
^ however poor the attempt. Once make a Dutchman laugh with you
and he is won. There are several rules, however, which the traveller
'^¦^ vriU do weU to observe on his arrival at a Dutch farm, if he wishes to
'•'"¦make a favourable impression on his host and, consequently, on all

144 DUTCH HOSPITALITT.
the Dutch in the colony. In the first place, he must never approach
the house otherwise than at a slow and quiet pace. Secondly, when
asking^ifor hospitality, he must never dismount tUl it is granted, and
the Boer tells him to " off-saddle." Thfrdly, he must shake hands
vrith the whole family, down to the urchin of four years old. He
must not offer any rerauneration, unless it be for forage for his horse,
as it would be deemed an insult. He must start as early as possible
next morning, and on no account prolong his stay beyond the time
absolutely necessary for the rest of himself and his nag. He must
never pass his entertainer again vrithout shaking him by the hand;
and, as a general rule, he must be very cautious lest in common con
versation he may let a word drop which may be construed against the
Dutch, singly or coUectively,— for a bird of the air wiU carry it, anda'
hasty wor^ may cost bim many a night in the Veldt, and many a
refusal of aesistance when most he may need it. A fnend of mine who
was tempted, in the heat of argument, to use a sarcastic expression,'
vrith reference to the Boers, became from that moment a marked
man among them ; and a Yorkshfre farmer, whose letter, containing an
exaggerated picture of Dutch manners and customs, intended, pro
bably for the amusement of his friends, was indiscreetly published
in the papers, roused thefr indignation to such a pitch, that, had Afiica
been a land of bowie-knives, I would not have given much for his
personal safety. The Dutch, indeed, are quite as susceptible on this
point as the Yankees. " They must be cracked up, or they rile."
But their bark is worse than thefr bite, and they have more of the
milk of human kindness about them than thefr talk would lead a
granger to infer. A remarkable instance of this is said to have
occurred at Boem Plaats. An officer of the Cape Corps, being wounded
and unhorsed, was left to the mercy of the rebels, who were about to
dispatch him, when he cried out, '• Moet ne schiet ne. Vrouw en
hinder!" Don't shoot— wife and chUdren." They could not resist this
appeal to thefr home sympathies, and actually lowered their pieces
and suffered thefr enemy to escape. Such an incident occurring m
the heat of a desperate skirmish, is rare in the annals of civilized war
fare, and is highly honourable to a rude and uncultivated

SWOLLEN RIVERS. I45
rankUng under the sense of injury, whether real or supposed, and
inflamed by the artful misrepresentations of a clever and unprincipled
leader. With regard to the cruelties of which they have been accused, in
thefr dealings with the natives, they will appear, if judged by comraon
sense, instead of the morbid sensibiUty which prevails in reference
to this subject, to be no more than the natural results of all conflicts
between the white man and the savage, in whatever country they may
occur, and thefr conduct is mild and gentle when compared with that
of our own colonists towards the native tribes of America. As raasters,
the Dutch are severe but rarely unjust ; and it is notorious that they
not only make better servants of thefr Kafitrs, but retain them longer
in thefr service, than Englishmen can do.
Much as I have said about African travelUng, I have as yet
aUuded but casually to its chief incident, the crossing of flooded rivers,
at aU times attended with difficulty and delay, and occasionally with
great danger. Ferries are now estabUshed along the line of road
between Maritzburg and the mountains, and the only inconvenience
incurred is that of unloading the wagon, and taking it to pieces. It
is then conveyed across with perfect safety. The oxen are driven
into the sfream, and flnd their way over easUy enough. Horses are
made to swim by the side of the boats, one at a time, guided by a rein
fastened round the neck, and held by one of the passengers. But
where such means of transit do not exist, the passage is often a very
hazardous affair, and seldom does a suramer pass without its catalogue
of mournful events from this cause. During my stay in the country, the
Umgeni and Tugela were impassable for several weeks, and, among the
fatal accidents, the colony was deprived of one of its most enterprising
settlers, Mr. M'NeU. He was a bold and expert swimraer, and on
reaching the bank of the flooded Umgeni, had tied his clothes in a
bundle round his neck, and plunged without hesitation into the water.
, The current was strongest on the landing side, and whether he was
too exhausted to stem it, or struck against some rock beneath the
.surfacp, or was pulled down by the weight of his bundle, it was
impossible to conjecture, but he suddenly disappeared from the sight

146 FATHER AND SON.
of his friends, who were anxiously watching him from the bank, and
who were unable to render him the sUghtest assistance.
At the drift just above the Falls, a still more distressing accident
took place. Lodge's son, a fine boy, of twelve years old, was ordered
by his father to take a traveller's horse across the ford, which, thongh
the water was very high, the old man stUl judged practicable. Twice
did the boy urge the unwiUing aniraal into the boiling stream, and
twice returned to shore, finding it irapossible for the horse to keep his
footing. A thfrd time, at his father's command, he ventured in, and
had gained the middle of the ford, when the horse stumbled over a
large rock in the bed of the river, and unable to recover himself, was
swept into the rapids towards the fall. The poor boy clung to the
stirrup with desperate energy, and, had he been able to retain his
hold, raight possibly have been saved, as the horse managed to gain
the shore, but, striking against a stone, he was forced to relax his
grasp, and in another moraent was whirled over the edge of the cata
ract into the foaming pool beneath. The wretched parent rushed
frantically along the bank uttering the most heart-rending cries, and
was with difficulty prevented from throwing hiraself headlong into
the chasm. When I saw him a few weeks afterwards, he was
inclosing the solitary grave with a railing, and observed, in a tone of
that peculiar selfishness which often characterizes the grief of such
people, that he must do the work himself now, for his only help was
gone. I had occasion shortly after to cross this drift myself, when the
water was unusually high, in a dark night ; and a nervous undertaking
I found it. I had crossed early the same morning in the boat, taking
over ray two horses ; for I was going a long distance, and hoped to
reach ray destination before nightfall.
Old Schutkraal, however, who was the led horse, and who was
always getting me into some scrape or other, took a fancy to the grass
of a farra which we passed on the road, and positively refiised to ,
proceed further. I had foolishly neglected to tie the leading rem to
the head-stall of the horse I was riding, and had fastened it instead
to my own wrist; and the consequence was that the old horse, W?

SCHUTKRAAL IN A FIX. 147
starting aside with a sudden spring, jerked me fafrly out of the
saddle, and, as soon as I had disengaged my arm, started off, and led
me a fine chace up and down precipices, and in aud out of ravines,
till I was so provoked and wearied as almost to sympathize with a
man who, placed in a similar position, had lost all patience, and shot
his horse dead on the spot. It was his only one, and he had to
walk home eighteen miles, carrying the saddle, — which, I suppose,
was no more than he deserved ; I had often exclaimed against the
cruelty of the action, and yet I am not quite sure that Schutkraal
did not owe his safety as much to the fact of my being unarmed as to
my regard for him ; and I had a regard for the old horse, though a
more stubborn self-willed animal never existed. When at length I
did succeed in catching hira, I found myself involved in a perfect
labyrinth of deUs, with but a faint guess at the direction in whichthe
road lay. The sun, too, was setting, and a road here is never very
discernible even in broad daylight, unless it be in the immediate
neighbourhood of a town. In this dileraraa, observing Schutkraal to
hang on the rein as if he had a decided opinion about the matter, I
resolved to abandon myself to his guidance. As soon as he found the
rein loose, he started off at a brisk pace, and it was not long before
the roar of the cataract informed me that we were returning to the
Umgeni. We soon reached the bank of the river, which had
evidently risen stUl higher since the moming, and was rushing im
petuously on to its leap of three hundred feet, as the high-bred courser
springs forward when the opposing barrier is in sight. On the other
side I could see the lights in Lodge's cottage, but could not hope that
my shout would be heard amid the roar of the waters. It was clear
that I must either tempt the stream, or pass the night on the bank ;
for, with a house of public entertainment in sight, I had not the face
j to ask shelter at one of the neighbouring farms. My mind was now
; made up. Having knee-haltered and turned loose the young horse
¦fl had heen riding, which I did not think quite equal to the attempt,
I mounted Schutkraal, threw the stirrups over the saddle, lest they
.should entangle his feet, and, trusting partly to his sagacity and
partly to my own knowledge of the ford, rode boldly into the stream.

148 FORDING THE RIVERS.
At the third step the water flowed above my knees with a force that
made Schutkraal reel. At one moment he mounted upon a rock
which rose almost to the surface ; the next he was out of his depth,
and struggling with the current. A desperate plunge, and he has
regained his feet, and holds on bravely, while I encourage him with
hand and voice. A stumble were destruction, — but the shallow water
is gained now, and the old horse deUberately stoops down and takes
a long refreshing draught. Then, pricking his ears, he springs np
the steep bank, breaks into a voluntary canter, and in another minute
stops at Lodge's door.
I knew a colonist who, when he came to a deep river, always rode
his horse into the stream, and then, slipping over his back, swam
behind, holding on by the fail, — thus serving as a mdder to steer his
horse, while he reUeved him of his weight, and also supporting him
self against the violence of the current. If this sounds like a joke, I
can assure the reader that it is gravely meant, and that, having tried
the plan myself, I can honestly recommend it. To a nervous person,
it has this great advantage, that it deprives bim of the power of
clutching at the bridle, which he would otherwise infalUbly do when
his horse is swimraing, and which is the readiest method of drowning
him. " When he feels the bottom," said the same adriser to me,
" hold hira up with hand and heel ; but the moment he is out of Ms
depth, let him have his head quite free, or he is gone."
To the Kafir these swollen rivers are no obstacle. He takes to the
water like a Newfoundland dog, whose manner of svrimming he
closely follows ; and it is a strong current that stops him on his way.
But white men are not all quite as amphibious ; and a few bridges
would be a great boon to the colony, whenever the money can be
found for thefr erection. One was talked of across the Umgeni
before I left, and, I dare say, has ere now been completed.
About ten miles beyond the Umgeni Falls, there is a cataract, on
one of its tributary streams, which, though less known, equals it in
height, and far surpasses it in beauty. I
Having stood upon Table Rock, and gazed upon that wonder of
wonders, Niagara, till an idea of its immensity grew upon the mind.

KAAR-KLOOF FALLS. 149
swallowing up all other thoughts, and learing nothing but a painful
sensation of helplessness and feebleness, such as one might expect
to feel in the presence of a superior being, I suppose I ought, in strict
propriety, to speak of an African waterfall with something very like
contempt. I know many a fisherman who, after having felt a sixteen
pound salmon at the end of his line, laughs at the light single-handed
rod with which his friend loves to beguile the lively, but less ponder
ous trout, and calls it a child's toy. I confess, that to me this habit
of viewing everything comparatively has ever appeared most absurd,
tending as it does to circumscribe within such narrow Umits one's
enjoyment of varied fraits or diversion. Having killed raany a
salmon, I can thoroughly enjoy a day among the gudgeon; — and
haring seen Niagara, I could still find much to admire in the Kaar-
kloof Falls.
Let the reader imagine himself walking along the bank of a Uttle
spruit such as I have afready more than once described, and let it be
in sumraer, that the grass may be high and green ; suddenly he flnds
himself, vrithout any prerious warning (unless a dull roar, appearing
to corae frora the bowels of the earth, shall have awakened his
curiosity) on the dizzy edge of a rocky precipice, over which the tiny
stream is poured, to be lost instantly in a dense mass of foliage that
clothes it from top to bottom. Peering down through the interlacing
boughs, he sees a silver thread winding along the centre of the
ravine ; and, turning half round, the FaUs are full before him. Up to
the very edge of the spray come the trees, giving by the contrast of
thefr deep dark green a richer and purer robe of white to the column
of glassy water, and a brighter hue to the gems of light that sparkle
on its snowy side, like diamonds on a train of silver tissue. Hundreds
of baboons sport in fantastic gambols around the pool beneath, whieh
looks neither deep nor dark, for the rays of the noonday-sun strike
up the middle of the ravine, and illumine its profoundest depths.
The scaly liguana glides within its waters, or lies basking his whole
length (some four or five feet) on a fragment of rock by its side,
ready to dart in at the slightest alarm. High among the topmost
twigs that fringe the edge of the rarine, flit the tiny sugar-bfrds.

150 MR. METHLBV'S FARM.
with thefr gay and sfreamy plumage, but far below, in the recesses of
the impenetrable bush, dwells the savage leopard, and the not less
dreaded buffalo, whose haunts few would care to disturb. Above the
chief Falls are two minor Falls, both of great beauty ; and higher
still, you may see the river flowing gently through a wide plain,
which offers a more extended surface for cultivation than is usually
met with in Natal.
Here Mr. Methley, the author of a little work on Natal, written
in rather too enthusiastic a spirit, owns a large farm, and here, on a
rising ground above the stream, he has built what may be called, ^w
excellence, the country-seat of Natal. Indeed, it is the only buUding,
out of Maritzberg or D'Urban, which pretends to be more than a
cottage, and it must have cost a considerable sum. The chief room is
a large handsome library, with carved panels to the doors and stained
glass in the windows, that give it quite an old-fashioned English
appearance. There is a handsome verandah, opening on a terrace,
or rather a succession of terraces, communicating with one another
by steps, where the garden is to be laid out ; but when I was there,
though the house was complete, and large stables were in process of
erection, there was no sign of plough or spade, beyond a Uttle plot of
unfenced ground with a crop of pease. In a Canadian clearing, on
the contrary, a barn would be the first building put up, and it is often
filled up more than once before the settler thinks of anything beyond
his log-hut for his own habitation. In this case, however, the plan
is Ukely enough to answer, as Mr. Methley has managed to attract
some of the best and most hard-working emigrants to his neighbour
hood, and has sold or let them portions of his land, which they are
turning to good account. One of them, a gentleman from Devon
shire, regaled me with a bowl of genuine clouted cream, such as I
have never seen equalled but in one dear home on the banks of the
Dart. — We shall never taste it there again !
Mr. Methley's house was advertised for sale ; and, shoujd it flnd
a good purchaser, is Hkely to be the centre of a very pleasant circle of
society,^ — for some of the nicest families of the colony are to be found
between the Umgeni and Kaar-kloof.

151

CHAPTER XI.
THE FARM ON THE UMLAS — CRACKING ALMONDS — A NIGHT AMONG THE
GOOSEBERRIES — ^KLIP SPRUIT FARM— THB GARDEN — THE DAIRY — KAFIR
MILKING  PIGS — ^MASTERS AND MEN — FARM OCCUPATIONS — BAKING 
HEDGEROWS — ^WILL IT PAY — LAND CLEARED AND UNCLEARED — COMBI
NATION OP AGRICULTURE AND STOCK KEEPING NECESSARY — CONVICT
LABOUR — KAFIR LABOUR — TROPICAL PRODUCTIONS — COTTON — INDIGO —
TOBACCO, &C.
" Upi inhlela na Klip Spruit, groot Englishmans Plaas ?" (which
is the way to Rocky Brook, the big EngUshman's farm ?) This bar
barous jargon of mixed Dutch and Kafir was addressed to a soUtary
native whom I met at the foot of the Umlas, about fifteen miles south
east of Maritzburg, with his bundle of knob-sticks and assegais in his
hand, and a calabash hanging over his shoulder. I had accepted an
inritation from a friend to spend a week or two on his farm, the more
gladly as I was anxious to exchange the close and sultry afr of the
town for a keener and less enervating atmosphere, and was also very
desfrous to see something more of a settler's Hfe in Natal than I had
hitherto had an opportunity of doing. I was now, as far as I could
guess, about half way on my journey thither, but this part of the
country was new to me, and I did not feel very sure that I was on the
right track. Nor did my sable friend's answer tend much to enlighten
me on this iraportant subject. At first his only reply was, " Mina ai
aze" (I don't know), the Kafirs ordinary response to the white man;
but a small present of tobacco haring cleared his idea, he pointed out
the dfrection with his hand, and said something about " umcumcum''
(the reader need not tey to pronounce the word, for the c is a cUck).
By this I was reassured, as I knew that " umcumcum" meant the
Cape gooseberry, and had been informed that I was to turn off the
road on arriving at a smaU thicket of this shrub. MeanwhUe it was
high time to off-saddle, and having prevaUed on the Kafir to go and

158 THE FARM OF THE UMLAS.
fetch me a bowl of amaas from a neighbouring kraal, I tumed towarda
a ruined building which stood on the bank of the stream, and marked
the site of the deserted farm. Disraounting under the shade of some
splendid seringas that ornamented the stoep, I strolled into the
neglected garden. It had eridently been once well stocked and
tended, and must have richly repaid its cultivator.
Vines were straggUng along the ground in wild luxuriance; the
peach-trees were still laden with fruit, though the reUcs on the
ground showed that they had furnished many a feast to the native,
or passing traveller ; and underneath an almond tree, covered with
ripe almonds, I found two stones, one with its surface sUghtly hol
lowed for the reception of the nut, and another to serve as a hammer,,
placed there as if on purpose for the accommodation of the hungry
wayfarer. The garden fence on one side was of the fig-tree, whose
fruit, in my opinion, is the wholesomest and best in Africa ; and on
the other a magnificent hedge of pomegranate, at least eight feet
high, vrith its ruddy apples nestling amid the bright green leaves,
and looking all the more tempting from the contrast.
With these, and a draught of sour milk, I made a capital lun
cheon, and after filUng my pockets with almonds, saddled up, and
proceeded on my journey.
I should not orait to raention for those who wish to know the
price of improved land in Natal, that this farm was for sale, and I
believe £1000 had been asked for it. At the average price of two
shillings per acre, for which land may generally be purchased from
private individuals, this would allow £400 for the improvements—
considerably above thefr value ; for the premises would requfre re
building, and the ploughed ground, overrun vrith weeds, would be
more troublesome to bring into cultivation than vfrgin soU. But in
the mania for land speculation that lately existed, the sum was not
an excessive one, and the beauty of the situation and near neighbour
hood of the river, might almost warrant the owner in putting a fancy
price upon it.
The sun had set ere I reached the gooseberry bushes, and after
one or two ineffectual attempts to discover the Kafir path by which

A NIGHT AMONG THE GOOSEBERRIES. 153
I was to turn off, I resolved rather to spend the night where I was,
than to wander on at the risk of losing myself entirely. Here was
at once a supper, and a more sheltered couch than is usually to be
found on the Veldt, and the night wind is sometimes raw and chUly,
even in midsummer. So I took off bridle and saddle, knee-haltered
my horse, and having seen hira take his usual roll, as a proof that he
was not the worse for his day's fatigue, fell to picking gooseberries.
I am sorry that I cannot give the botanical narae of this pleasant
fruit. It is inclosed in a leafy envelope, which becomes yellow and
withered as it ripens; it is of a bright golden colour, and has a
slightly smoky taste. There are no thorns on the stem ; in short, it
is as unUke a gooseberry as possible. Having picked ray hat fuU, I lay
down in the thickest part of the bush, not without some apprehen
sions on the score of snakes, for whose habitation the place seemed,
peculiarly adapted, and with the help of my saddle, made myself
tolerably comfortable for the night. The almonds helped to eke
out my supper, the never-faUing desert followed ; and then such a
refreshing sleep as I never manage to get now, since I have taken
to scribbling and feather-beds.
The next moming I discovered the path, not many yards from my
sleeping-place; and following its narrow windings through rank
grass that reached to my horse's shoulder, in about an hour I arrived
at my destination, when I did ample justice to the substantial
breakfast that awaited me.
I shall devole the rest of this chapter to a sketch of the farm, and
of our daily occupations upon it, frora which the reader will be able
to form sorae notion of the nature of agricultural pursuits in Natal, as
well as of the habits and manner of life of those who are engaged in
them. The farm contained 500 acres of as good soil as is to be found in
any part of the colony. Distant from the sea about fifteen miles, it
united the almost tropical climate of the coast, with the healthier and
purer afr of the inland country, and, whUe it possessed in an erainent
degree the agricultural qualities of the former, was entirely free
from those erils, which render the lower part of Natal so fatal to

154 KLIP SPRUIT FARM — THE GARDEN.
stock of all kinds. Ticks were unknown, and even when brought up
by the oxen from the Bay, soon disappeared, leaving the hide to
become smooth and glossy as that of a thorough-bred Durham. A
remarkable instance of this came under my notice. A span of eight
oxen, which had been taken down to the bush country beyond the
mouth of the Umgeni, on an elephant-hunting expedition, returned
to the farm in most deplorable condition, almost devoured by ticks,
faint and feeble, and reduced to perfect skeletons. One of the number
had died on the road, and two raore, injured beyond recovery, dropped
down suddenly and expfred within a few days of thefr arrival; but
the remainder rapidly recovered flesh, and after a fortnight's run were
hardly distinguishable by their condition frora the rest of the herd.
The homestead was prettily situated on a slope, surrounded on
three sides by the Umquahumbe, a perennial tributary of the River
lUovo. As yet, it consisted but of three Kafir huts, a cook-house,
a kitchen built of sods, a shed for the calves, made of poles and reeds,
a fine square cattle-kraal, strongly fenced vrith posts and raUs, and
the gallows, which I have afready mentioned as forming a conspicuous
but not very ornamental object on every farm. A bank and ditch
separated the kraal from the ploughed ground, which, to the extent
of seven or eight acres, was almost entfrely occupied by mealies
— some just bursting above the ground, some half-grown, and others
quite ripe, and so high that the horseman, as he rode up the path
that led through them to the hut, was lost to sight as if in a forest.
Above, on the crown of the hill, was the wooden framevrork of a wattle-
and-dab-house, fifty feet by eighteen. The poles, mostly of white
iron-wood, were all brought from a hloof on the farm. In front of
the house was the garden, containing about an acre of ground, and
inclosed by a bank and ditch. It could be put under water at plea
sure, and, indeed, nothing more was needed than a water-course a
quarter of a mile in length to irrigate the whole hill-side. But the
meaUes do not appear to requfre it. The garden had been too lately
commenced to make much shew. A crop of oats had been taken off
it, and they were now ploughing for EngUsh potatoes. Green peas
were seldom wantuig at our table, and pumpkins and melons grew in

THB DAIRY. 155
profusion. Cuttings of various fruit-trees, brought from the deserted
farm on the Umlas, had been stuck in here and there, and were
flourishing without exception.
There were about forty head of cattle, including a span of twelve
trek oxen of the large Fatherland breed, which, though highly prized,
are surpassed, for aU working pm'poses, by the Ught and hardy
Zulus. The dafry was a sad failure, as it is wherever the cows are left to
the management of Kafirs. Calves are seldom weaned in Natal till
they are at least a year old, and it is no uncommon sight to see a cow
giring suck to an animal quite as large as herself. The mUking
process is quite a savage affafr. The cow is hunted up into a comer
of the kraal, and made fast by the horns to one of the posts, as if for
slaughter ; her hind legs are then tied together, that the operation
may be rendered as disagreeable as possible ; the calf is next per
mitted to take a draught, when he is pulled aside, and the remainder
of the milk is yielded per force into the paU. It is the business of the
Kafir to prevent the calves from anticipating this hasty meal by a
fuUer and more leisurely one, which they vrill assuredly do, if they
can get the opportunity; and, when the cattle are let out in the
morning to pasture, the calves are always driven in an opposite
dfrection to that which is taken by the rest of the herd ; but, notwith
standing this precaution, it is a frequent complaint that they have
taken aU the milk, and that there is none for tea. Nor is this the
only inconvenience that results from infrusting the matter to Kafir
management. A cow that has been accustomed to native milking
wUl seldom aUow a white man to touch her ; still less will she yield
her mUk to his manipulations ; so that, if, as frequently happens, the
Kafirs should take it into thefr heads to leave the farm, the whole
business of the dafry is at a stand-still.
Pigs are not often found on a Natal farm ; there is no inclosed
yard, and the difficulty of keeping thera out of mischief is so great as
to counterbalance, in the opinion of most settlers, their many advan
tages. Besides which, there is little vegetable refuse, and a more
profitable use can be made of meaUes and potatoes than pork-feeding.

156 MASTERS AND MEN.
I confess, I should not be inclined to give up bacon so readily; but
my host assured me that he had made the experiraent, and was glad
to bring it to an end by the aid of his gun ; as to any more butcher-
Uke method of terminating their existence, it was out of the question
— the pigs being perfectly conscious of thefr delinquencies, and
keeping aloof, on the principle of " no catchee no havee."
At meal times, in the principal Kafir hut, we mustered a strong
party. There were two white servants : a rough hard-working
labourer fi-om the midland counties, and an experienced wagon-driver
frora the old colony. My host and his partner (for the farm was a
joint concem), with a young lad who had come to acqufre a practical
knowledge of colonial farming, completed the regular group, which
was now augraented by several guests ; and on one occasion no less
than four sons of English clergymen were gathered round the yeUow
wood table.
To save time and trouble— for, as there were no women in the
estabUshment, the cooking devolved on one of the labourers, and
interrupted his more important occupations — masters and men dined
at the same board, and a round game of cards often concluded the
evening, at which gun-wads were the harmless substitute for counters
or coin. Sometiraes we were entertained with music by young
H  ; who played remarkably well on the accordion, and had an
inexhaustible fund of melodies and variations, from the Overture of
" Semiramide" to " Jack Robinson." There were two capital iron
beds in the hut, and those who could not find room in them were
content with mattresses on the fioor, or climbed up to roost in ham
mocks suspended from the ceiling, by no means the worst berth on a
hot night. At sunrise we sallied forth, without much previous
toilet, to the brook, about a hundred yards from the door, where a
deep pool made a splendid bathing-place, and, after a refreshing
plunge, set about our daily labours. The wagoner is busy making a
new tent for the cart ; the labourer is ploughing up new land with a
team of eight or ten oxen — and it is hard work even then. It must
be a strong machine that stands long against the frequent jars which
a Natal plough has to encounter ; and I am not sure that the Dutch

FARM OCCUPATIONS. 157
one-handled affair, unwieldy and cumbrous though it be, is not better
for breaking up new land than Ransom's most perfect instruments.
Our host is putting a new raU in the gate of the kraal ; the cattle
having forced it open last night, and found thefr way into the stand
ing corn. One of the Kafirs is hard at work hoeing young mealies ;
while two more of our party are picking the ripe cobs, stripping back
thefr leafy covering, and hanging them in pafrs across the sticks to
keep tiU they are taken to market. They wiU keep better so than if
the grains were separated frora their cells — a long and tedious
process. So Uttle are the seasons yet understood, that seed-time and harvest
are often coincident; and the general idea seems to be, with few
exceptions, that, put seeds into the ground when you will, they are
sure to come up, — but the variety of success attending the introduction
of European plants and grains affords a plain proof that the observance
of stated periods for the different processes of cultivation is of import
ance here no less than in our northern clime. It remains for experi
ence to define their limits, and to establish something Uke a regular
system of Natal agriculture.
One Kafir has driven off the cattle to pasture, whUe another is
gone to the vlei to cut tamboohie grass for the thatch of the new
house. S  and I have each taken a scythe, and are working
away at the endless hay-field that surrounds us ; partly with a riew
of securing some good fodder for the horses through the vrinter
months, and partly to obviate the necessity of burning close round
the homestead, and to keep the fires, which will be spreading in all
directions in February and March, fi-ora approaching too near the
crops. Besides, I have little doubt that constant mowing would
tend to sweeten the grass, to check its rank growth, and improve its
quaUty as pasture.
H  has brought up some pine-apple crowns from the Bay, and
is digging up the ground in the most sunny spot he can find to plant
them. A Kafir is making holes for the posts of a small fence. The
way in which he handles the spade is remarkable. He grasps the
handle with both hands, holding it at arms length, with the face of

158 BAKING.
the spade turned towards him, and sticking it into the ground with
the swing of his arms. He never presses it vrith his foot, or uses the
handle as a lever to shovel out the loose earth, but all is done with a
jerk ; and yet it is astonishing how quickly he works through the
hard soil.
A portion of the morning raust be devoted to baking ; and as we
are all first-rate hands, at least in our opinion, we take turns at this
necessary occupation. How the first lump of dough was raised on
the farm is a mystery ; but that once accomplished, there is no
further difficulty, a handful of yesterday's dough making leaven for
to-day, and serving all the purpose of a separate preparation of yeast.
It is baked in an iron pot among the wood ashes, just as the kettle
loaf is done in Devonshire, and turns out as good bread as ever was
tasted ; but there is no satisfaction to the colonist in eating imported
flour, and were I on a farm of my own, I would forego the luxury
of wheaten bread till I could raise it myself. It is still a question
whether wheat wUl succeed in Natal, but it wiU never be solved
while farmers are content to grow mealies for sale, and buy the more
expensive grain for their own consumption.
I have already spoken of the inconvenience arising from the
absence of fences in Africa, as well as of the naked appearance
which the farms consequently present. Our young maize was nearly
devoured by riet-boks, and during my stay there was a constant
cry of " Schutkraal is among the pumpkins," and a general rush
towards the garden— upon which the old horse would hop over the
low bank, and canter off to a safe distance, whence he would return
to renew his depredations as soon as we were out of sight.
These banks are quite an insufficient protection, unless the ditch
be very deep and wide, and the labour of constructing them is
immense. There is no reason why every crop should not be sur
rounded by a hedge-row as thick and impassable as a brick wall. The
materials are at hand in every part of the countey — the prickly cactus,
the mimosa, with its hooked thoms, from which the tree has receiyedl 4,v
the name of " Wait a bit," the Kaflr broom, a light underwood, which
grows like a weed — all of them, and many more, might, with little

HEDGEROWS. 159
frouble, be made to serve as inclosures to fields of large size, while the
pomegranate and quince, frora their thick growth, would be well
suited for fencing smaU courts and gardens.
Nor is it only as a protection against marauding antelopes that I
make the suggestion. Even were no more solid advantage to be
gained, fhe emigrant farmer will not regret the labour spent in thus
giving to his erf an afr of comfort and neatness, a horae appearance
which will go far to compensate for all other deficiencies. There is
more depending on such simple matters than might at first be
supposed. Order, arrangement, and method, are lost in the confusion
of garden, field, and premises. Slovenly and careless habits are
insensibly engendered through the eye upon the mind ; and it is to
these that we may trace the shambling, irregular style of Uving too
common on African farms.
To the Africander, accustomed to the open scenery of his country,
when the -sight is Umited but by some distant rand or mountain, and
where a home view is seldora to be raet with, this may appear almost
incomprehensible ; but the EngUshman, with the recoUection of farm
yard and close, orchard and paddock, and aU the detaUs of an
English homestead fresh in his mind, wUl feel the force of my
remark, and acknowledge that if these advantages are to be obtained,
they are well worth the trouble of planting a few roods of cuttings,
which requfre little more than sticking into the ground to ensure
thefr growth. For my own part, I much fear that the sight of a
hedge-row would go far in deciding me on the purchase of a farm. I
can even now remeraber the delight I experienced when, after a tour
among the prairies of America, whose characteristic beauty no African
plain can rival, I first saw the neat hedges and green fields on the
Cheshfre bank of the Mersey.
To those who can sympathize in the deUght of returning after a
long exUe, I need not apologize for inserting the foUowing lines, which
recurred to me at the moment : —
" The hedgerows of old England 1
I see them once again,
In many crossing lines of green,
Spread o'er the distant plain.

160 WILL IT PATt'
I 've teen ¦where trackless forests lie-
Across the ocean's foam —
And the hedgerow is a welcome sight,
For it speaks to me of home.
" Along the sunny upland,
Across the sheltered vale,
"Where the willows hear the streamlet tell
Its gently murmured tale :
Around the grassy meadow,
And the wavy field of corn.
And the wood whose lengthened shadow ' ' ,v
Comes hetween me and the morn.
" Along the dusty highway,
By the weary traveller's side,
And round the cottage garden.
The peasant's care and pride —
Now in a graceful circle,
And now in formal square,
And now a zig-zag course that hreaks
In patterns quaint and rare,
*' And now in russet brown arrayed,
, And now in gayest gi'een,
And^now in white that glimmers bright —
The hoar-frost's robe of sheen. '' '-¦
Still in each dress the seasons bring , .
New beauties shall appear,
And the hedgerow be a grateful sight
Through all the livelong year." i
But while I am dwelling on the ornamental part,. the reaA^ripiay
be longing to ask the plain question, " Does all this pay,?". -Isvtlie
pursuit of agriculture likely to prove a lucrative speculation to the
capitalist, or to afford a^living to the laborious emigrants, so many of
whom have left our shores within the last two years to embark in it?"
I will answer first in the words of a Dutch gentleman, — a twelve
years' resident in Natal, — whose opinion is at all events disinterested,
and whose well-known talents and enterprize give weight to his
judgment. Of course, he takes matters as they have hitherto been,
without making allowance for the improvements which may be intro
duced, or the discoveries which may be made, for the opening of
fresh resources, or fresh markets, or any other effects of an extensive
emigration from England. *' Agricultural farming by itself," said he,
" will not pay in any part of Africa ; and if by stock-breeding a man
can live and bring up a family comfortably, it is as much as he can

LAND CLEARED AND UNCLEARED. 161
expect. No African farmer can afford to pay high wages, i. e., to
employ white men as labourers, and native labour, since the abolition
of slaves, is so uncertain, and so little to be relied upon, that it can
scarcely be taken into consideration at all." Now, this verdict,
although it must be received cum grano, still contains sufflcient ta'uth
to form a fair starting-point for onr inquiries.
It has been the fashion with those who have promoted emigration
to Natal, to insist much in thefr guide-books and prospectuses, on the
fact that, throughout the greater part of the counfry, no clearing is
requfred to prepare the soil for the seed, but that the settler, on
arriving at his location, can at once commence ploughing without any
of the previous labour or expense which he must incur in an American
forest. All counterbalancing difiaeulties are passed over in silence,
and the reader is left to infer that in other respects there is at least
an equality of advantages, and that the Natal emigrant is, at fir^t
starting, so much in advance of his Canadian brother. If the soil of
Natal were a rich raass of soft vegetable mould, so easily worked as
to need no other preparation than that of a light harrow for the
reception of the first seed ; if its natural qualities were such as to
enable it to bear the same crop year after year without artificial aid ;
if, in short, it resembled an IlUnois prairie, the comparison would then
indeed be altogether in its favour. But since, on the contrary, its
surface, when not composed of sand, is so completely baked as to
ofi'er a strong resistance to plough or spade, since, at least, it is but
ofan average degree of fertiUty, by no means independent of manure,
stUl less of irrigation, for which moreover the facilities are frequently
wanting, the fact of its being, as some of the advertiseraents
friumphantly affirm, " for miles uncovered by a bush," is not after
all so great a matter of congratulation ; and I shrewdly suspect, that
if accounts were compared after the first harvest, the crop taken from
among the stumps of a Canadian forest, would go farther towards
defraying the expenses of clearing than the produce of the unen
cumbered ground of Natal towards repaying the necessary outlay of
ploughing, digging a water course &c.
I have said quite enough to prove that unless in peculiarly
M

163 CONVICT LABOUR.
favoured situations, or in the immediate neighbourhood of a town, a
system of small allotments, such as twenty, flfty, or even a hundred
acres, is a raanifest absurdity, and therefore that for labourers with
out capital Natal does not ofifer an advantageous prospect. Agricul
ture must be combined with stock farming, not only for the sake of
the manure, but also for the simple reason thatit cannot support itself
alone. Six thousand acres of land have hitherto been considered
necessary to support an undertaking of this double character. Bnt
we will suppose that one thousand might be sufflcient, and that on
every estate of that size twenty acres of frrigable land might be
found, which is rather above than below the mai-k, still a capital of
at least £400 would be required for commencing operations with any
hope of success. With this sum in his pocket, and a well-selected
lot, (for it is not every farm in Natal that is high and healthy enough
for cattle), the steady, industrious settler who devotes his time entirely
to his business, goes rarely to the town, and can do a fair day's work
himself, will run Uttle risk of failure, though not to him, nor even to
a larger capitalist, can I hold out the hope of making anything like a
fortune by these pursuits.
And this brings us to the second part of my Dutch friend's com
plaint which is no new one in Africa. For many years the Cape has
been imploring frora the mother counfry a large importation of
labourers sufficient to bring down wages to such a price as the farmer
could afiord to pay, though when her request was answered by the
ofi'er of convict labour, which had afready raised a younger colony to
a height of prosperity far above her own, she not only rejected the
boon, but treated its very proposal as a matter of serious ofi'ence. The
grounds of the refusal were plausible enough at first sight, and parti
cularly fitted to catch the popular ear, but quite untenable when
calmly weighed against the soUd advantages which experience has
proved the scheme to possess. No better plan could be devised to
encourage the development of the resources of a new country than
the ticket-of-leave system, combining as it does the gift of cheap and
efficient labour for the settler, with the best chance of reformation for
the convict, who is at once restrained by the fear of punishment

KAFIR LABOUR. 163
following imraediately on the slightest ofi'ence, and stimulated to
perseverance in well-doing, by the hope of restoration to his forfeited
privileges. Had such an arrangement been established in Africa, its
effects would ere this have been visible in the fresh impulse which it
would give to the industry and activity of the population, and in a
corresponding increase in the value of property. As to the dread of
moral taint, I believe it to have less foundation than is generally
supposed ; at all events, such scruples, which may well befit an inde
pendent and self-supporting colony, do not come with so good a grace
from one which has never ceased to be a heavy burthen to the
mother country, while the returns of its commerce have been far
from bearing an adequate proportion to the benefits received. Western
Australia, acting'on other and wiser calculations, has gladly accepted
the assistance so lightly esteemed by the Cape colonists, and has
already so far emerged frora the state of prostration in which she had
been sunk, as to encourage the most sanguine hopes of her ultimate
prosperity. The raere amount of expenditure contingent on a local
convict establishment is an advantage not to be despised by a rising
colony ; though this is but a secondary consideration in comparison with
the profit resulting from such a measure to the cultivator in the interior.
In Natal, it was supposed that the native population would afford
the means of dispensing with extraneous aid, and this circumstance
has been held out as au additional temptation to the emigrating
capitalist. Whether continuous and steady labour can ever be
obtained from the Kafirs, and by what means, is yet a problem. It
certainly is not to be had under the present system. As long as he
chooses to work he is a good herdsman, invaluable as a messenger
across the Veldt and, though far inferior to the white man in energy,
perseverance, and bodily strength, yet capable of being made skilful
and hardy in almost any light work. Five shillings a month are all
the wages he requfres, and his keep scarcely costs as much again;
but he will seldom engage for a longer period, and often takes his
departure before the tirae has elapsed, sacrificing even his wages, of
which he fully knows the value, to the whira or fancy of the moment.
Impatient of control, a sharp word will sometimes be sufficient to

164 KAFIR LABOUR.
drive him away, and his place is not easily supplied. It matters not
to him how important his services may be to the luckless farmer,
whether cotton be bursting in the pod, or mealies dropping from the
stalk ; whether cows need their milker, or a span of oxen their
leader, he is off at once to his kraal, and neither entreaties nor threats
can avail to detain him. The latter might perhaps be of some use,
but that the cunning fellow is perfectly aware that he is effectually
protected against the anger of his master, who, on the other hand,
cannot have him punished for his breach of contract, without more
trouble and loss of time than he is likely to incur for the purpose. In
short, as long as the savage has a choice in the matter, he will prefer
idleness to work, his wandering habits to a more settled existence,
and the enjoyment of his own notions of liberty to a state of resfraint
and servitude. At present he has no incentive to labour, beyond that
of providing himself with the means of purchasing a wife. His own
wants are few and easily satisfied, and he is in fact richer and more
independent than his employer. The application of some more
stringent measure than has yet been adopted is necessary to compel
him to work with anything like regularity, and to ensure to the
farmer the benefit he has been taught to expect from a neighbourhood
which, on other considerations, he wonld be far from desiring.
But it is not to such agriculture as I have described, nor to
pastoral farming, that Natal must look for the chief sources of her
prosperity. Even if the labour-difficulty were removed, these pursuits
will never support a dense population, or do more than enrich a few
large proprietors. They will be useful as supplementary aids, but
should not forra the chief objects of attraction. Neither com, nor
wool, nor hides, nor tallow, nor horses, will bring wealth to the
colony, or tend to raise it above a humble mediocrity. She cannot
hope to compete with Australia and America in any of these, and if
she succeed in producing such a supply of them as to render her own
inhabitants independent of imposts, it is as much as can reasonably
be expected. She has other resources, however, which, if fully im
proved, would soon place her on a level with the most flourishing of
southern countries.

TROPICAL PRODUCTIONS. 165
Along the whole line of the coast, and extending inland from ten
to fifteen mUes, is a belt of land covered for the most part with thick
underwood, occasionally interspersed with fine timber. The soil is
chiefly a Ught sand, becoming redder and stifl'er as it recedes frora the
sea. The climate, though less healthy than in any other part of
Natal, is not positively unhealthy, except for horses and cattle ; to
these it frequently proves fatal. The boa hides his lengthened coil
in the matted woods, whUe the alligator lurks in the sandy beds of
the wide shallow rivers. Here, if anywhere, are the head-quarters
of the insect tribe, so much dreaded by the European. Of the tick
the reader has afready heard enough.
This is not a promising sketch, and yet it is in this district that
the capitalist who looks for large returns must invest his money ; it is
here only that the labourer with twenty acres of land can hope to
earn a livelihood. Here those valuable tropical productions which
form so great an item in the commerce of England may be raised with
little less than certainty. Cotton, indigo, tobacco, and the castor-oil
plant, are indigenous and grow luxuriantly, while experience has
shown that cofi'ee may be cultivated with perfect success.
Among these cotton claims the first notice, as being the most
valuable and the most easily produced. It is a received fact, not only
that it can be raised to any extent in Natal, but that the climate is as
well adapted to its growth as even that of Georgia. The samples
which have been sent to Manchester have been pronounced to be
beautiful in quality, uniform in staple, reraarkably clean and white,
pecuUarly suitable for the manufactures of Lancashire, and so supe
rior that any quantity which might be exported would find a ready
market. The plant, which elsewhere is an annual, is here perennial,
and ripens throughout the year, though the chief harvest is from
January to the end of March. Several companies have been already
formed for the cultivation of this plant on a large scale, and if they
have not succeeded so weU as might have been anticipated, it has
been rather owing to the incompleteness of their own arrangements
than to any disappointment in the crop. The difficulty which the
grower on a smaU scale has to encounter is the want of a purchaser

166 GROWTH OP TOBACCO.
on the spot, his capital not enabling him to ship on his own account.
To obviate the inconvenience arising frora the precarious supply of
labour, the introduction of CooUes from India has been suggested,
and as the experiraent is about to be tried by a gentleman who has
invested a large sum in cotton farming, we shall have an opportunity
of testing its success.
Many varieties of indigo grow wild in the colony, and there is not
the slightest doubt that it will prove a valuable article of commerce)
but the heavy expense attending the manufacture has hitherto been a
bar to any extensive speculation in this drug.
The culture of tobacco may be particularly recoramended to the
attention of the cottager, as it involves no expensive or heavy labour,
and his wife and children may assist him in cutting and drying the
leaves. A small plot of ground is sufficient to produce a large quan
tity. Two crops may be grown in the year, and he need not go far
for a market in a colony which imports annually thousands of pounds
weight from Araerica. The native weed grown by the Kafir I can
warrant of excellent flavour, but for those who are more fastidious,
the seed from Virginia and Havannah has been introduced, and thrives
equally with the indigenous plant.
I might enumerate many other natural productions, all of more or
less importance, which are to be found in abundance in this region,
and which might be turned to profitable account by the aid of science
and industry. It were easy also to enlarge on the details of their
cultivation, and to show by figures that the necessary outlay could
not fail to be remunerative ; but I should only be trenching on the
province of the guide-books, and wearying the reader who may
already be yawning over this uninteresting chapter. Those who
may desire to obtain more practical information, I would refer to Mr.
Christopher's useful work on Natal, which contains many interesting
particulars ; though his observations, like those of other authors on ;
similar subjects, have been taken through a highly-coloured medium.
One fact, however, cannot be too much insisted upon, or too sfrongly
enforced on the notice of the public, namely, that Natal undoubtedly
possesses the means not only of producing a staple article of export

GROWTH OF TOBACCO. 107
sufficient to ensure her own ultimate prosperity, but of furnishing the
mother country with the material of her most important manufacture,.
and that in such profusion as to render her independent of those
contingencies which, however remote, must always render the supply
of a foreign market uncertain and precarious. With these advan
tages in her favour no difficulties can long continue to impede the
progress of Natal. Corn may fail, cattle may die, Dutchmen may
grumble and Kafirs refuse to work, but, if the assurance of a profitable
investraent should once succeed in attracting English capital to her
shores, she will form no exception to the invariable success which
attends its weU-dfrected employment.

^--^^^^i^~^

168

CHAPTER XII.
CAUSES OF THE KAFIU WAS — PSEUDO PH1LANTHE.0PY — KA.T EIVER HOTTEN
TOTS — EXTINCTION OF OOLOUEED EACES  HOW TO DEAL WITH THE
KAFIE — A CLEAR BORDER — NO CONCESSION.
It is not alone to the mystical view of the seer that the shadows
of coming events are disclosed. Though the depths of futurity Ue
shrouded in impenetrable darkness, we can yet see far down the
gloomy path, — far enough to shape our course with safety, — ^if we make
the best use of what Ught we have, and keep a good look out a-head.
The mfrror of the past, if we have scanned it well, and turned it
aright, wiU throw its rays in advance of our steps ; we may read in
the countenance of the Present, if we will but study, the features of
its unborn offspring to-morrow clearly pourtrayed ; and if the lamp
within be kept burning, and not suffered to wax dim by carelessness
or neglect, we may push on boldly, yet cautiously, trusting always in
a merciful and over-ruling Providence, yet not so as to let go the helm
altogether, or to set at naught the rules which reason and experience
suggest for our guidance in the dangerous journey.
Few, perhaps none, of those occurences which are called unexpected,
whether they have been for good or for evil, whether they have come
upon nations or individuals, have come without warning. There have
been signs in earth, in afr, on the wide sea, in the spirits or actions of
men, in the times, — though none regarded them ; the finger has been
on the wall, though none read the writing ; and yet those who run
may read. While yet fhe sky is clear and cloudless, and the bosom
of ocean calm and unruffled as an inland lake, and thought of danger
is furthest from the mind of the heedless passenger, the watchful eye
of the captain sees the coraing squaU. A low sough of wind in a
particular quarter, a ripple on the sea that has no business to be there,
an overloaded, oppressive feeling in the atmosphere, nay, the very

CAUSES OF THE KAFIR WAR. 169
deadness of the lull that prevaUs around j these are signs — (jiavavra
(Tweromv — that speak clearly enough to him, and the energy with
which he calls all hands to shorten sail, shows that he has read them
to some purpose.
The outbreak of the disastrous Kafir war, now raging in South
Africa, was no exception to this universal law, by which the cause
precedes the effect, and the one may be anticipated in the other as
surely as the coming of night is foretold by the setting sun, or the
approach of dawn by the first gleam in the eastern sky. Long before
the storm burst forth, those who carefully exarained the political
horizon, and were best acquainted with its phenomena, knew that it
was inevitable. They knew that a vacUlating policy had destroyed
in the breast of the savage our only safeguard against his overwhelm
ing numbers — the dread of the white men ; that that dread was fast
changing into confidence and contempt : confidence in his own
numerical strength, in the inaccessible nature of the country he in
habited, in his increased resources, in the arms with which he was
suppUed, in the experience whieh he had obtained from intercourse
with us ; contempt of our divided counsels, of our half measures, of
our forbearance, which he construed into fear ; they knew that though
the crafty Kafir might be quietly planting his garden or herding his
cattle, or even working for the hated Umlungu with apparent zeal
and docility, he was only biding his time ; that the fire which for three
years had been smoiddering unchecked, needed but a breath to kindle
it into a fiame.
They knew more; they knew that in the very nurseries of
civilization, and alas ! of religion, among the pet chUdren of British
philanthropy — cited as triumphant examples of converted heathenism —
the seeds of rebeUion had been long sown, and were fast arriving at
maturity j that the pampered Hottentots, taught to consider them
selves an oppressed and plundered people, and to regard the white
colonist with suspicion and dislike, were ready to join their natural
enemies, the Kafirs, against a Government which had spent more
than £20,000 a-year in thefr support; that such a coalition had
actually been formed on a previous occasion, and that the same

170 PSEUDO PHILANTHROPY.
agents who bad produced it then were still at work, with all their
exciting misguiding influence, their politico-religious agitation, their
misstatements and exaggerations, their parade of sentiment, their
enlisting of sympathies on the wrong side, their party spirit, their
making the worse appear the better cause.*
• This may perhaps appear strong language, and, indeed, if the evil were even now
at an end, and the public secured from further delusion, one inight he well content to
let the facts speak for themselves, and to pass over in silence conduct "which cannot but
have a tendency to reflect disgrace on the sacred cause with which it has been associated.
But such, unfortunately, is not the case. To the obstinate theorist, lo the prejudiced
partizan, it is easier to pervert truth than to admit its evidence against thempelves, or
their fixed code of opinions, though clear as noon-day. There is scarcely a colonist on
the frontier (and who should be better able to judge 1) who will not trace the Hottentot
rebellion to missionary interference, the Kafir war to the policy with which it is
connected (of course I speak of primary cauFes, not of the immediate pretext of the
outbreak), and yet, in a book entitled "A Tour in Africa," written hy the "Home
Secretary to the London Missionary Society," and published in 1851, the author not only
repeats the old cry of " Justice to the Native," with variations — not only makes up cases of
oppression and hard treatment with a skill that would do credit to an Old Bailey lawyer—
not only palliates rebeUion, and so artfully excuses the rebel, that an enlightened (?) jury
will not fail to find a verdict of acquittal for his client, — but boldly takes the bull by the
horns, and speaks of the notorious Kat River settlement (the great difficulty of Governor
after Governor, the pest of the colony, the hot-bed of disaffection and sedition, and now
the very centre whence revolt, robbery, and murder have spread over the surrounding
country) in terms of perfect satisfaction and complacency, as '* anything but a failure;"
talks of its "brightening prospects," of the "thoughtful, intelligent, and earnest
character of its population ; " of their requiring ' ' equitable treatment and kind encourage
ment;" oftheir being "goaded into unjustifiable extremes," ete. This gentleman
appears to have travelled through Africa, lance in rest, as the avowed champion and
knight-errant of discontented natives, and to have " run-a-muck" against all who differed
from him in opinion. The following observation of Sir Harry Smith, in a despatch fo
Earl Grey, written in reply to some very trivial and unfounded complaints addressed to
the latter by this gentleman, on the subject of the annexation of the Sovereignty, aad
the alleged forcibly depriving the natives of part of their land, is a sufflcient corament on
the prejudiced spirit of a work, which, in the hands of weak or ignorant readers, is sure
to produce a totally erroneous impression, and which appearing at a moment so critieal aa
the present, and so fraught with danger to the very existence of the colony, is likely to
work incalculable mischief. The author has the candour to insert the letter in his book,
from which I make the extract : — " Judging of this gentleman by his proceedings while
travelling in this colony, I may here remark, that like aU prejudiced men, he seeks for
evidence to strengthen his own preconceptions, and loses sight of the general bearing
and view of the subjects upon which he has so freely commented ;" and again, " I cannot
refrain, my Lord, from adding, that if reverend gentlemen, in the position of Mr. Free
man, would take a comprehensive, and not a contracted and prejudiced view of matters
affecting the object of their mission, a greater degree of benefit would arise to the parties
whom their laudable exertions are intended to civilize." With regard to the war, Mr.
Freeman gravely advises us at once to enter on a system of conciliation and jwtice,~
rather contradictory terms when applied to acknowledged rebels and traitors in arms,—
and sums up his lengthy sketch by a recommendation that the coloured races of Africa
should be put on a level with the civilized nations of Europe, and that no affront should

PSEUDO PHIL.INTHROPT. 171
There is not the least doubt that if left to himself, and allowed
to make the best use of his own resources in his own defence,
unhampered hy political or philanthropic interference, the border
colonist would have held his ground against the native without the aid
of a single roode baatye (red coat), or the discharge of a single cannon.
There would have been some rough work ; doubtless, cases of reckless
daring, of flerce retaliation, of bloodshed, of cruelty and injustice, if
you will, would have occurred, such as are best passed over in silence,
such as swell the pages of Cooper's stirring novels, and furnish food
for the horror-loving appetites of the listless reader ; but there would
havebeen no Kafir War, the treasury would not have spent millions
in a contest at once fruitless and inglorious, the flower of our troops
would not be wasting their valour against a foe utterly unworthy of
their steel, and learning at the same time that most dangerous lesson
for an army to learn — doubly dangerous now — the lesson of defeat; —
and, for bloodshed, let the weeping mothers ofthe brave who have fallen
by the bullet or assegai of the savage, or sunk beneath the hardships
and privations of frontier war, say whether that has been spared !
The philanthropist (forgive me for misusing the term) is for ever
ringing the changes upon the cry of "justice to the native," and
there is a speciousness in this plea which attracts many; for what
Englishman is not a friend to justice ? Let us follow it out for a
moment, and see where it will lead us. If we are to deal vrith the
natives on the ground of strict justice, what right have we to occupy
be offered to the fomier whicli we should not dare to offer to our most powerful conti
nental neighbours ! In the whole book tbere is not a word of pity for the poor colonist,
robbed of his flocks and herds, his smiling homestead converted to a heap of smouldering
ashes, his fruitful garden trampled into a waste, all the results of years of careful
industry destroyed in an hour ; no horror is expressed at the butchery of unoffending
settlers with their families, men, women, and children ! The crimes of murder, insult,
plunder, and arson are glossed over, extenuated, almost justified on the plea of provoca
tion, and our sympathy is requested on behalf of the criminal— tbe persecuted Kafir ! the
goaded Hottentot ! "When such sentiments as these fill books of 500 pages in length,
when they are disseminated by a portion (however small and insignificant) of the public
press, when respectable men stand forward on platforms, and enunciate them to crowded
assemblies with all the aid of eloquence and dramatic effect ; it behoves those who have a
regard for truth and common sense, for the welfare of the colony, and the safety of those
who have sought a home within its boundaries to speak plainly, earnestly, boldly. The
subject is of too deep importance for mincing of words.

172 EXTINCTION OF COLOURED RACES.
their country at aU ? What business have we in Africa, in Australia,
in New Zealand, in America? No one, I suppose, would contend
that the purchase of a territory for a looking-glass, a few beads, or a
hatchet, was a fair and equitable transaction, or that the title thus
conveyed had any better foundation than the old maxim : —
** That they should take who have the power,
And they should keep who can."
" But," urges Philanthropy, (shifting his ground as a lawyer
knows how), " we deceived them for their good ; we have come to
soften, to teach, to civilize, to Chi-istianize them ; why should not the
two nations dwell together in peace and friendship, on equal terms ?"
This argument is, if possible, stUl more specious than the other, but
equally hollow and fallacious. In the flrst place, the civilization of
the natives was the last object dreamed of by the avant-couriers of
British occupation in any of our colonies. They were for the most
part unscrupulous traders, and daring adventurers, men of desperate
fortunes and characters, of strong hand, and hard heart, of firm will,
and undaunted resolution ; their motives, lust of gold, or of fame ; a
I'estless spirit, a feverish thirst for excitement — such have been the
flrst instruments in the hands of an all-wise Providence for the
accomplishment of that end, which, however retarded by temporary
obstacles, is steadily advancing the spreading of the white man, and,
with him, of civilization, knowledge, and religion over the whole
surface of the earth as the waters cover the sea. Little recked these
hardy pioneers of teaching or converting the savage. They met him
as the hunter meets the wild beast in the wUdemess ; if timid and
spiritless, they enslaved him ; if hold and warlike, they fought and
conquered him.
In the second place, the experience of ages, the records of colonial
history, all the data with which the events of the past or the present
supply us, unite' in the conflrmation of this fact, that the two races,
the white and the coloured — be it black, brown, or red— cannot exist in
close contact with each other, but on one condition — thatof the entire
dependence of the weaker upon the wiU of the stronger. The notion

EXTINCTION OF COLOURED RACES. ViS
of equality, equality of rights, or equality of treatment, is at best an
amiable theory, unsupported by a single evidence drawn from sound
reason or experience. Where are the numerous and powerful tribes
that, but a century ago, inhabited the eastem coasts of America ? — a
population that might be counted in nations ! Broken, dispersed,
destroyed ; reduced to a small and miserable remnant, which, maugre
all our efibrts to preserve it, is fast dwindling away, and approaching
the period of its utter dissolution. What of the Myal of Australia,
the Maori of New Zealand ? Fostered and protected by the Govern
ment with a care almost maternal, they are still, slowly it may heJ
yet perceptibly and surely, obeying the mysterious law which haa
ordained that the brown men should disappear before the white, asl
the snow melts beneath the rays of an April sun. Turn westward
onee more, and look at the southern states, the stronghold of that
slavery which it is the boast of Britain that she has done her utmost
to abolish. What do we see there ? A people held in the closest
bondage, subject to the severest restraints; if we are to believe all
that is said of them, oppressed and persecuted ; and yet, so far from
decreasing under this harsh treatment, they have thriven and multi
plied to an extent which already makes them formidable to their
masters, and necessitates the employment of the strictest coercion to
guard against the possibility of successful insurrection.
It is a question well worthy the consideration of the philosopher
and ethnologist, how far the extinction of the coloured race is con
nected with the abolition of slavery, and whether England, in her
laudable efforts for the universal freedom of the savage, has not been
herself an unconscious means towards the fulfilment of his inevitable
destiny. Most of my readers have probably seen exhibited a cage, in which
the sparrow and the hawk, the owl and the mouse, and other creatures
between whom the fiercest antipathies are known to exist, dwell
together in perfect security and concord. Did it for a. moment
occur to them that this principle could be carried with safety into
general practice ? Or did they, on the faith of this experiment, let
loose an army of cats upon their aviary, or admit the fox into their

174 KAT RIVER HOTTENTOTS.
poultry-yard ? No. They kept the door closed against " Puss," and
if they tried to domesticate Reynard, it was with a collar round his
neck, and the length of his chain to limit his excursions. And thus
it is with the rare instances of the perfectly tamed savages which ai'e
paraded at Exeter Hall meetings, or quoted by well-meaning, but
enthusiastic and visionary theorists. They are the exceptions which
serve to add strength to the general rule. The very eclat with which
they are heralded should bid us beware of them ; were they more
common, they would excite less attention, — they would need less
advertising. If we wish to avoid a general collision between the two
races, such as is now taking place in South Africa, we have but two
alternatives : to keep the native at arm's length, or keep him in sub
jection. I do not say in slavery, — though that is a question which
admits of grave and serious discussion, — but in strict and positive subr
mission. Let him once feel that he is independent, and he becomes
from that moment dangerous. The case of the Kat River Hottentot,
to which I have already made passing allusion, is a remarkable
example of this rule. We found the Hottentot a slave ; we made
him free. We found him fast losing his claim to existence as a nation,
and gradually amalgamating with the general community; we
gathered together the scattered remnant, and planted it anew upon
our borders, and concentrated into one body the fragments of its ex
piring vitality. We taught the emancipated serf to feel the value of
his altered position ; we filled him with notions of his own impor
tance, of his own rights ; we made him a discontented citizen, a rebel
and a traitor. We sowed the seed, and, verily, we have reaped an
abundant harvest.
But if the Hottentots, the aborigines ofthe soil, have thus rewarded
our exertions in their behalf, the Kafir has a still slighter claim on
our sympathy and protection. An intruder of comparatively recent
date on the very ground which he occupies, he cannot urge the plea
of ancient and undisturbed possession ; the vanquisher and spoiler of
other tribes, his tenure is that of all usurpers : —
" By the sword they won the land,
And by the sword they hold it still."

HOW TO DEAL WITH THE KAFIRS. 175
Almost destitute even of natural affection,* he has no home attach
ments, no ties of kindred but such as are connected with the desire of
accumulating property, his wives and female children being literally
his goods and chattels, and having a proportionate value in cattle,
according to their age or appearance. Utterly incapable of gratitude,
he is as unable to appreciate kindness or forbearance, as he is as sure
to take advantage of it to the injury of his benefactor. By profession
a warrior, by education and habit a thief, by nature bloodthirsty,
cruel, and treacherous, he is a formidable enemy, a dangerous and
troublesome neighbour ; but most formidable and most dangerous as a
friend. With a people of this character, and of such imposing numerical
strength (Mr. Preeman estimates the Kafirs in South Africa, already
well known to us, as amounting to 2,000,000, and I have no doubt
he is under the mark), it is obvious that the safest course would have
consisted in the first of the two alternatives which I have suggested
above, viz., in keeping them at a distance ; and it would have been
well if, in the enlargement of our colonial boundaries, we had followed
the wise example of the American government, and removed the
native tribes far beyond the border line, and the chance of collision
with our settlers ;f if, instead of compelling the Boers, who, with all
* Ths following illustration of this heartless trait in the Kafir character, which came
under the notice of the missionary at Beersheba, a Basuto station on the Caledon River,
is related by Mr. Freeman, in the work which I have already quoted ; — *' Mr. RoUand,
on conversing with me about his station, remarked that on his first coming to reside
here, he was much struck with the almost total absence of children. On inquiry it
appeared that most of them had been destroyed, thrown away, or devoured, during the
wars. In trying to make their escape from a pursuing and ferocious enemy, none but
women of a very strong and healthy condition could save their infants, whom they
were obliged to carry with them in flight ; and often when it was found that these infants
impeded the mother's progress, and so hindered the escape of the parents, the father
would call out, 'Throw away tbat thing,' meamng the infant. The command was
obeyed, and so the child perished." — Page 338.
+ Did the views which I have here and elsewhere advocated, on this important sub
ject, need further illustration, they could not be more strongly confirmed than by the
following passage from the pen of Mr. Power, author of " Sketches in New Zealand," a
work which has been justly characterized by Mr. Sidney, in his " Emigrant's Journal,' *
as the only recent full and impartial account of that singular country. It is with great
pleasure that I note this coincidence of opinion, which did not meet my eye till after
this chapter was completed : —
"It appears tome, also, to have been a mistaken and injudicious policy to have

176 HOW TO DEAL WITH THE KAFIRS.
their faults, were the best guardians of our territories, to seek an
asylum across the Vaal, there to relapse into barbarism, and nourish
disaffection to our government, we had forced the Kaflr back in a
northerly direction, keeping him always before us in our gradual
advance towards the centre of the continent, the restless colonist,
discontented with our narrow limits, might still have sought a wider
range of pasture, a more ample fleld of enterprize and adventure ; the
Boer might still have trekked inwards ; the Smous have extended the
circle of his trade ; the hunter his quest of game or ivory ; the white
man might still have encroached upon the territories of the black, and
border feuds raged with undiminished violence ; but within the
colony there would have been peace and security. Agriculture and
commerce would have thriven, unchecked by the devastating tide
of war, or the blighting influence of panics and alarms : and when
the rifle of the hardy pioneer had triumphed over the assegai of
the savage — when the nearest tribe had been cowed into sub
mission, or driven into retreat, and the flow of population towards
that quarter not only warranted annexation, but made it a wise and
necessary measure, government might have stepped forward and
entered into quiet and undisturbed possession of an additional
province, of which, as the acquisition had been costless, so neither
would the retention have been likely to involve future embarrassment
or danger. But a course so simple and straightforward is little suited to the
theorizing politician who delights in the intricacies of a tangled skein,
and prefers any means, however complicated, to those which suggest
themselves at once to ordinary comprehensions. And so,.instead of
driving the Kaflr back, we have hemmed him in ; instead of a well-
extended English law and govemment to the whole island at once ; and it would have
been better to have imitated our Yankee friends, in advancing our frontier only afl ve
required more room and verge. Beyond a declared line, the natives might have been left
to their own management ; and then, if settlers, or pioneers, attracted by good soil, at
convenient situations, chose to cross the boundary and squat ainong them, it ought to
have been at their own risk, so as not to have drawn the Government into the dilemmaB
we have seen at Manawata, Wanganni, and Taranaki, and which, under less judicioVP;
management than that of Governor Grey, might have ended in the destruction of the
colony." — Sketches in New Zealand, bi/ W. Tykone Powbr, D.A.C.G.

HOW TO DEAL WITH THE KAFIRS. 177
defined border between the white man and the black, we have estab
lished one between the two portions of our scanty European popula
tion ; instead of letting our pioneers clear the ground, and ourselves
reaping the proflt, we have not only harassed and abused them while
working, but havo, in more than one instance, undone their work
when completed. Instead of holding the Kafir in wholesome subjec
tion, we have tried to rule him by an elaborate policy which has not
even the merit of consistency to recommend it. We have suffered
the two races to play the old game of "Tit tat to" over the surface
of South Africa ; aud it is still a question who is to be the winner.
The war, miscalled a frontier war, is really in the very centre of our
possessions ; for, like a pursuing enemy, we have pressed onwards with
such incautious haste, that we are in our turn surrounded and exposed
to a cross fire.
With regard to the cumbrous machinery which we have em
ployed in our attempt to govern the native, I will not try the reader's
patience by taking it to pieces, or pointing out all its defects and
contradictions. It may be sufflcient to observe, that neither in the
Glenelg system of conciliation, nor in the coercive system established
by Sir Benjamin d'Urban, are the materials to be found for securing
the blessings of peace and order to the colony ; the absurdity of the
former needs, I trust, no further demonstration, — founded on false
principles, and based on an entirely mistaken estimate of the charac
ter of those to whom it was to he applied, its failure was obvious
and inevitable ; while the latter, though sound in theory, broke down
from the impossibility of carrying it out, on a large scale, with suffi
cient vigour to ensure its success.
But there is, thank Heaven, a bright lining to the darkest cloud;
and even the Kafir war, with all its disasters, will be a happy epoch
for South Africa, if her colonists will but all agree to read the lesson
aright, and to insist upon the only course which can save them from
utter ruin. We have reached a point where hesitation is dangerous,
and retreat impossible ; our fine-spun webs of policy are scattered to
the winds ; our diplomatic negotiations, our well-digested plans, have
proved fruitless and unavailing. Like obstinate, blundering English-

178 HOW TO DEAL WITH THE KAFIRS.
men, as we are, we have walked with open eyes into the snare ; like
determined Englishmen we must cut our way out with the sword.
" Now closed is the gin, and the prey within,
Ey the Rood of Lanercost ;
But he that would win the war-wolfs skin
May rue him ofhis boast."
The question is now reduced to a very simple one : Are we to
retain Africa, or to abandon it ? If we choose the former alternative,
and for very shame we dare not do otherwise, we must waste no time
in party strife, in long deliberations and wire-drawn arguments, in
timid calculations of expense and petty measures of economy. The
saving of a few tons of coal in the voyage between England and the
Cape, will not recompense us for the loss of a regiment ; and no
expense will be so heavy as that which we shall incur by delay. The
combat is a V outrance, — let it be short, sharp, and decisive. If we
throw our undivided energies into the scale, there can be no doubt of
the result. But, chiefly, let us beware, lest in our haste to sheathe
the sword, we do so hefore it has half completed its work ; lest, in
our eagerness for peace, we buy it on such terms as will only sow the
seeds of future war. In the early spring you may HU the queen
wasp, and escape the pest of her brood ; in the summer you must
burn out the nest.
The Kaflr has fairly forfeited his claim to the south-east cornel of
Africa. He should be no longer suffered to retain it. Let the coast
line from Natal to Algoa Bay, from the Stormberg and Kathlamha
Mountains to the sea, — probably the richest and most fertile part of
the colony, — ^be swept clean of these robber tribes, for whom, towards
the north-west corners of the Sovereignty, or even beyond the Vaal,
in an open and accessible country, a fit asylum might easily be found.
Let the conquered territory be divided into farms of available size,
according to the different qualities of soil, the supply of water, and
other local circumstances; and let such farms be freely granted, on
condition of occupation and gradual improvement, to Enghsh emi
grants, and to such of the exiled Dutch as would then gladly retum
to their allegiance. Let all large settlements of natives within the

HOW TO DEAL WITH THE KAFIRS. 179
colony be done away with, and let thera, if retained at all, be dis
persed, in families, among those settlers who desire it, — who will
allow them to cultivate for themselves only so long as they supply a
certain amount of labour, in proportion to their numbers and the land
they occupy : but no idle married men, supported by the labour of
their wives, should on any account be tolerated ; no chiefs be per
mitted to exercise the slightest authority. I will not now enter
farther upon the details of a plan of which the most obvious advan
tages are — first, an unbroken Hne of communication between the two
extremes of our South African possessions ; secondly, the certainty
that whatever dangers might threaten us from without, we should be
secure against ti'eachery from within ; thirdly, that the defence of the
colony being entrusted to the owners of the soil, its proper protectors,
there would be no need of a military establishment, beyond what
would be required for parade purposes, — to sustain the prestige of the
Governor, to keep up the spirit of credit among the merchants and
tradesmen, and to save the Cape Town belles fr'om civilians and
despair. We should have no grave proposals for the construction of a
Corniche road across the Amatolas, or a Via Appia through the Water-
kloof. The bush, where too extensive, might be reduced by flre ;
and the kloofs would harbour no deadlier inmate than the tiger or
buffalo. And, lastly, government would regain the confidence, the
affection, the loyalty, of all the European subjects. They would feel
that they were no longer to be sacrificed on the shrine of canting
pseudo-philanthropy or stereotyped humbug ; that their right to
self-defence was become tardily acknowledged and respected; and
that they would be henceforth treated at least on an equality with
the savage, and entitled to an equal share of consideration and
support. But another alternative has lately begun to suggest itself, first in
mysterious whispers, as if its advocates were ashamed of it, then in
louder hints ; till at length it finds place in the official instructions to
the newly-appointed Governor of the Cape, as a question of serious
consideration, and is openly recommended in the leading articles of
our metropolitan journals. And this alternative is the contraction of

180 A CLEAR BOEDER.
our frontiers within such limits as we can easily defend, or, in other
words (for to that, if once begun, it must eventually lead), the abandon
ment of Kaflrland to the Kaflr; the Sovereignty to the six or seven tribes
within it ; and Natal to the Zulus, or rather to the Boers, who would
be quietly located in Maritzburg within a month of our departure.
Now, I have already endeavoured to show that our advance
towards the interior of Africa has been far too rapid and incautious;
that we have allowed our mania for exploration and discovery to lead
us into unnecessary danger ; and that we should have done far better
had we waited for the natural course of events, which must sooner or
later place the whole of the continent at our disposal. But the con
viction of this error, which is now forcing itself on the minds of even
the most superficial observers, does not in any way justify a retro.
grade movement. The very morale of snch a step — apart from the
particular circumstances of the case which stamp it with folly and
injustice — is entirely at variance with the true spirit of colonization,
and could not fail to weaken the prestige of our authority, not only in
South Africa, but in all our colonial possessions. Our settlers are
both able and willing to defend themselves ; but they will not feel
much gratitude or respect towards a government which has promised
SO much and performed so little, which, after tying their arms behind
their backs, and bidding them rely on it alone for safety, deserted
them in the hour of peril, granting them then, when it could no
longer be retained, the boon which they had so often asked in vain,
and which amounts pretty much to this, — that as the govemment is
unable to protect the colonist, the colonist may now protect himself,
unless he likes to give up his farm, and retire within the new boun
dary ; i. e., to be ruined. There can be little doubt which course he
will pursue, and the result will be that, besides the 1200 Dutch now
beyond the Vaal, we shall have an independent population, three
times the number, growing up without the pale of our dominions, ia
disaffection to the Crown ; and that when, in course of time, the
game of annexation has to be played over again, it will be attended
with difficulties of a novel character, but as formidable, and far more
painful than those which oppose us now.

NO CONCESSION. 181
On the Kafir the effect of our retreat would be obviously to increase
his audacity, and stimulate him with a nearer view of the realization
of his darling project, — the driving the white man into the great sea.
He would still hang upon our skirts, and follow our retiring herds,
if we contracted our borders to within sight of Table Mountain ; and
flve years hence, the alternative of a war of extermination, or the
entire abandonment of the colony, might present itself, under far less
favourable circumstances than at present, and when the odds against
us, in case of our adopting the former decision, might be fearfully
augmented. No ! let us not think of jdelding a single inch of soil to
the robber band who would never be content with less than aU ; let
them not find that they can set at naught our laws, insult our
authority, and defy our vengeance with impunity ! Above all, let it
not be said that Britain returned from a contest, and with such a foe,
— relictd non bene parmuld !
And for the ground which we occupy in Africa, though it be more
extensive than either our necessities require or wisdom would have
advised, yet we cannot now spare an acre of it ; least of all, can we
suffer Kafirland, in the hands of an enemy, to interrupt our coast
line, and isolate our best-promising offspring. Natal. Even the
Sovereignty must not now he resigned ; though, being comparatively
free from bush, it can never become a dangerous harbour for native
marauders. Let us keep the advantages we have gained, though at a
cost so far beyond their value ; it is much easier and safer to hold
them now than to recover them if once abandoned. With a healthy
system, founded on sound practical common-sense, and carried out
vigorously and consistently, we shall have no difficulty in maintaining
our ground; and the Kafir war, once brought to a complete and suc
cessful issue, wiU he the last in the records of British colonial
history.

182

CHAPTER XIIL
ALARM AT MARITZBUKQ  DISBANDING OP TEOMANKT — ZULU EXPEDmON—
ITS CHANCES — MR. SHEPSTONE — THE PKESS — PKOJEOT ABANDONKD—
HISTORY OF THE ZULUS — ANCIENT INHABITANTS OP NATAL — CHAKA—
DINGAAN — PANDA — ZULU IMMIGRATION  JOHN BULL'S SOLILOQUY—
EMBARASSMENTS — MR. CLOETE'S OPINION ON MANAGEMENT OP HEFUGEE
ZULUS — PLAN OP THE COMMISSIONERS — PLAN OP THE COLONIiL SEOEE-
TART — ITS RECEPTION IN THE COLONY — ^FINAL PROMULGATION AKD
EFFECTS — MB. WEST — MR. PINE — -HOPES AND FEARS.
Never shall I forget the effect which the tidings of the melan
choly events of Christmas 1850, and the subsequent proclamation of
war upon the frontier, produced upon the hitherto quiet and peaceful
inhabitants of Natal. It was as if a firebrand had been thrown into
the centre of the colony. The spirit of the young man, eager and
impetuous, bounded at the prospect of action and excitement ; the
confident made light of the danger, or denied its existence ; while the
prudent and experienced received the news, without fear indeed, but
vrith sorrow and grave misgiving; the many with ill-concealed
apprehension ; and the weak and timid with undisguised alarm. All
subjects of minor interest, business, or pleasure — even scandal, that
never-faUing topic in a country town — ceased for the time to engage
attention. Old men and beldames did not prophecy in the streets,
for there are as yet few specimens of eld in our little metropolis ; but
had the " gentle Hubert" been amongst us, he would have seen full
as many gaping mouths, and faces of anxious curiosity, and heard as
many incredible stories, as when five moons shed their baleful light
upon distressed England, and the tale was told
" Of a many thousand warlike French
That all embattled were, and ranked in Kent."
Nor was the sensation confined to the town. From distant and

ALARM AT MARITZBURG. 183
outlying stations emigrants brought in their wives and children, not
content till they had placed them under the range of the guns of Fort
Napier and the immediate protection of the gallant 45th; while
sturdy settlers formed bands for mutual support, and busied them
selves in the construction of laagers, or fortified kraals, to which they
inight drive their cattle at the first appearance of danger, and within
which, should it become necessary, they were prepared to defend
themselves, and their families and their property, against any number
of enemies, to the last gasp.
Our Lieutenant-Governor was not the man to suffer aU this excite
ment to die away without turning it to some useful purpose. His
first act was to disband the yeomanry, which had hitherto been a
merely ornamental corps, rendered still less efficient by being com
posed of elements which no skill could induce to amalgamate, and
chiefly remarkable for its handsome and expensive uniform, which
did great credit to the taste of one of its officers, the principal tailor
in the town. A good militia system was much needed, and I believe
Mr. Pine's plan would have fully met the contingency ; but the want
of active co-operation among the colonists themselves, and other
obstacles, — among which, I am sorry to say, factious opposition was
the most prominent and most insurmountable, — prevented him from
putting his design into execution at the moment. Long ere this, I
doubt not, he has succeeded in perfecting an arrangement so indis
pensable for the safety of the colony.
But his activity did not rest here. Ere long we were startled
by rumours of a project, which was certainly one of the boldest, and
wanted but success to make it one of the most splendid ever conceived
by prompt and daring leader at the critical moment. This was no
less than to despatch a force of 10,000 Zulus, headed by their own
, ! chiefs, under the supreme command of Mr. Shepstone, the Diplomatic
, • Agent, through Faku's and Kreli's country, with the view of creating
a diversion in favour of Sir Harry Smith, by taking the Gaikas in
the rear, and of overavring the hitherto neutral tribes to the south-west
of Natal, so as to prevent them from joining in the war. Mr. Pine had,
5 5 I believe, on a former occasion, suggested the idea to Sir Harry, who

184 MR. shepstone.
had now taken him at his word, and required the fulfilment of Ms
somewhat rashly made promise.
It was a question much debated at the time, whether, in such an
expedition, the chances of success or failure predominated. Those
who took a favourable view of the matter, dwelt on the deadly enmity.
which has always existed between the Zulus, and the frontier Kafirs,
and on the dread which the peculiar mode of warfare employed by the
former has ever inspired among the neighbouring tribes. The Zulus
fight in serried phalanx, hand to hand, and use the assegai as a pike
and dagger ; while almost all other Kafir nations use it as a javelin,
which, though they hurl it at a distance of thirty yards, with great
precision and effect, is yet by no means so formidable at that distance
as at close quarters ; besides which, when their sheaf of five is ex
hausted, they are teTn^orarilj hors-de-combat. It is a point of honour
with the Zulu to bring his assegais out of the battle ; the non-observ
ance of this law was formerly, nay I believe is now, beyond the hmite
of British authority, visited by the chiefs with capital punishment,
whether the issue of the combat has been victory or defeat.
Great faith too, and not without reason, was reposed in the known
abilities of the Diplomatic Agent, and in the influence which his
thorough knowledge ofthe language, his position, and, more than all,
the energy and decision of his character, enabled him to exercise, not
withstanding the insufficiency of the means at his command, over the
coloured population of Natal If there were a white man in Africa
who could raise an army of savages, and, when raised, command it,
that man was Mr. Shepstone.
Add to this the incitement of a promised share in the spoU, and
the prospect of returning rich in plundered herds, — so likely to prove
powerful agents in securing the active co-operation and fidelity of
these irregular troops, — and the fair side of the question is pretty
fully before us.
Unfortunately there was a reverse to the picture, one which pre
sented itself much more readily to the eyes of the general run of
observers, and carried with it a far greater appearance of reality. To
arm the savage and to lead him forth to battie, under any circum-

DANGER OF ARMING THE KAFIRS. 185
stances, seemed at best a hazardous experiment, fraught with danger
to the colony at large, and more especially to those to whom the task
of carrying it out should be entrusted. To lead Kafir against Kafir,
and that at a period when a universal coalition of the black tribes
against the white man was the threatening cloud in the horizon,
seemed little short of actual insanity. National sympathies, and the
awakened hope of triumph over the common foe, would in all proba
bility outweigh the recollection of extinct feuds, and the expectation
of an allotment of spoil ; and desertion or treachery once within the
camp, the influence of Mr. Shepstone would be as a reed hedge before
a torrent, equally powerless to check the stream, or save itself from
destruction. Setting this risk aside there was the possibility of defeat,
involving consequences almost equaUy disastrous, and, from the con
fidence which it would give to the rebel bands, more fatal to the cause
of the royal troops, than the mere non-arrival of such questionable
assistance. But even supposing that none of these apprehensions
were realized and that the expedition, as far as its immediate object
went, were crowned with success ; who could pledge himself for the
harmless retum of the victors to their peaceful avocations ? A dis
banded soldiery was proverbially a curse to the country upon which
they were let loose ; how much more an army of savages, flushed with
recent triumph, their natural ferocity excited by the taste of blood
from which they had been gradually estranged, and their cupidity
just sufficiently whetted by partial indulgence to make them long for
the opportunity of satisfying it vrithout restraints. Meanwhile the
levy of the Kafir tax, which was proceeding most prosperously, must
be interrupted, and the colony lose, at a time when it was most
needed, one of the chief sources of its revenue.
Nor were there wanting men short-sighted and selfish enough to
argue that there was no need for Natal to interfere in a quarrel with
which she had no concern, that the Cape colonists had no legitimate
claim upon her assistance, and that it would be far wiser for her to
husband her strength for her own defence than to waste it in sending
help to those who inight not prove equally ready to return the favour
were the circumstances reversed.

186 THE MARITZBURG PRESS.
But the main objection to the proposal was that it involved the
absence of the Diplomatic Agent, and placed his life in jeopardy. The
colony could not spare Mr. Shepstone ; there was no one to supply
his place, even for a single moment ; should he fall there was no one
to succeed him. While he was marching at the head of 10,000
Zulus, who was to manage the 190,000 that remained behind ?
There were two newspapers in Maritzburg. If any of my readers
wish to know what sort of a thing a colonial newspaper is, I cannot
do better than refer them to the pages of " Pickwick,'' where they
will find an apt representation, not the least exaggerated, in the
Eatanswill Gazette and Independent. Mr. Pott and his antagonist,
of buff notoriety, will stand very well for the respective editors, who
were of course at daggers drawn, and who, if they did not actually
belabour one another with carpet bags and broomsticks, yet contrived
to carry on a very pretty duello with the goose-quill which they
wielded with tremendous effect. The interesting details of the war
fare, varied by unsparing attacks upon all constitutional authorities,
and enlivened by a happy mixture of personal abuse and private
scandal, made their clamours on the whole excessively piquant and
entertaining. Even with all these attractions however, to say nothing
of the satirical pieces by the colonial Byron, the sonnets by the young
Minerva, whom nobody could identify, and the spirited advertise
ments, master-pieces in the puff style, by our George Robins, whom
not to know was to be unknown, the want of novelty would some
times make itself felt, and it may easily be imagined with what
avidity a topic of such universal interest, and affording such ample
field for discussion as the Lieutenant-Governor's project, was seized
upon by the rival dignitaries of the Maritzburg press. The Natal Wit
ness was flrst in the field, and took up the opposition side with such
rabid violence as almost to defeat its own object, by shaming all but
the most shameless into something like a spirit of loyalty, and ahenat
ing from its party all the respectable portion of the populace, whose
organ it affected to be. Had her Majesty's representative been setin
the pillory, as the butt for plebeian insolence and rotten eggs, he
could not have been assailed by coarser witticisms, or pelted with a

COWARDICE OF THE ZULUS. 187
greater collection of filth, than was hurled at his devoted head from
the printing-office in " Church Street." I need scarcely say, that Mr.
Pine treated all these attacks with the contempt they deserved, and
that their effect was rather to increase than to diminish his popularity ;
but one could not help doubting whether, after all, the boasted liberty
of the press might not be a questionable advantage, and sighing for
the rerival of some good old law for slitting the ears of impertinent
slanderers. As for Mr. Shepstone, the object of so much tender solicitude on
the part of those would-be patriots, he was too busy with the prepara
tion for the ensuing campaign to trouble himself about the opinions
of his neighbours. On accepting the charge, he had only stipulated
that, as the whole responsibility must devolve on himself and his
brother officers of the Kafir police, so the risk incurred, and the glory
to be gained, should be confined to them; and. two or three young
colonists, who would gladly have shared the perils of the adventure,
met with a somewhat cavalier refusal. That point settled, he devoted
himself with his accustomed energy to the task imposed upon him.
Messages were sent to all the petty chiefs resident within the district,
bidding them appear with their following, on a certain day, at the
Unzinculu drift, which was the appointed muster-place of the
expedition; and no arguments were omitted which were likely to
ensure a ready and punctual obedience. How these summonses were
in all cases received, and whether the contemplated gathering of the
clans would have been effected or not, it is no easy matter, among
many contradictory reports, to decide. My own opinion is, that the
Zulus, as a body, were disinclined to move — first, because in spite of
big words and bombast, with which the young warriors abounded,
they were really and truly afraid, the courage for which, under the
despotic rule of their kings, they obtained so much credit, being rather
attributable to the fact that cowardice and defeat were visited with
certain death, than to any inherent quality existing within them
selves. Many of them, indeed, especiaUy in the country, where, from
rare intercourse with the white man, they had made little progress in
the art of dissembUng, did not scruple to confess this weakness, and

188 THE LAWYER EDITOR.
without any apparent shame or reluctance, the invariable answer to
my question, whether they intended joining the expedition, being
Kafula byna bang ; Amahosa byna schelm ?*
Happily for Mr. Shepstone, the interruption to his proceedings
came from a quarter over which he had no control, and he was spared
the mortification of an acknowledged failure. The popular cry
became too strong to he safely resisted. The factious editor, not con
tent with the legitimate vehicle which his paper afforded for dissemi
nating his opinions, and determined at any cost to achieve notoriety,
had recourse to another expedient, and, availinghimself of a smattering
of legal knowledge (for he joined the profession of lawyer to numerous
other avocations), brought an action against the captain and officers
of the Kaflr poUce, with the view of compelhng them, under pain of
divers penalties, to disobey the orders of the Lieutenant-Governor,
and remain within the territory {ne exeant regno) ; and, that nothing
might be wanting to express the virtuous indignation of this gentle
man and his clique, a memorial was drawn up by the same hand, and
signed by a sprinkUng of malcontents, such as may always be found
ready to take part against the powers that be, petitioning for the
recall of Mr. Pine, and the appointment of some more eUgible person
as his succeesor.
Heaven help the colony if they had been permitted to choose for
themselves ! As for the action, it did positively come before the court,
where it was very summarily disposed of; and the memorial fell
through for want of cordial support. Bnt I fancy that neither Mr.
Pine nor the Diplomatic Agent were sorry to find in them a full and
sufficient cause for the abandonment of an enterprize which had
proved much less feasible than they had anticipated, and in the pro
secution of which they had already encountered so much difficulty
and annoyance.
The tryst day was flrst deferred for a week, then for a longer
period, till at length the affair sunk into silence, and died a natural
death, its only effect having been to give a handle to poUtical and
seditious agitators, to throw the whole coloured population into a
' The Kaflr is very frightened— the Amakosa is a great rogue.

HISTORT OF THE ZULUS. 1S9
ferment, and to put a complete stop, for the time, to Kaflr labour, to
the no small inconvenience of farmers, merchants, and housekeepers,
in town and country. It was for some time rumoured that Mr. Fynn,
the Resident Agent in Faku's country, would be despatched with a
much smaller force, selected from the Kaflrs south of the Uncomazi
River; but this also expfred, and the foUowing scrap, taken from
among the " On dits " of the Natal Independant, April 10, 1851, (a
paper which, I must do it the justice of observing, had embraced the
side of moderation and respectabiUty throughout the late discussion),
contains probably the last notice of the grand Zulu expedition : —
" Resident Agent Fynn, it is said, has collected an army of flfteen
men ; if true, he had better say to them, ' Begone, brave army, and
don't kick up a row.' "
But though we have done with the expedition, we cannot thus
unceremoniously dismiss the Zulus themselves from our pages. They
are of far too great importance already, and are likely to exercise far
too great an influence on the destinies of Natal to be so lightly passed
over ; besides which, the reader is doubtless anxious to know more of
their history, of their present position, and of the poUcy wliich we
have adopted towards them, than can be found in any one work on
South Africa yet pubUshed. He must not therefore be alarmed if I
carry him back to a very early period, nor complain if, in order to
present a complete sketch, I am obUged to lead him over ground
which, it is possible, he may have travelled before, and in pleasanter
company. The joumey wiU not be long, and some features in the
scenery may still be new to him.
Our flrst authentic accounts of Natal are now nearly two hundred
years old. They are obtained chiefly from enterprizing navigators
and shipwrecked sailors ; and in spite of a strong tinge of the romance,
for which the reports of travellers in those times are proverbially
famous, are full of entertaining and useful information. From them
we leam that the whole country was thickly inhabited by a pastoral
people, evidently of the Kaflr race, yet differing in many important
respects from the present occupants, and equally distinct from the
frontier tribes with whom we are now at issue. They are represented

190 ARABIAN ORIGIN OF THE KAFIE.
as indolent, but cheerful and good-tempered, just in their dealings,
kind and hospitable to strangers ; and this character is confirmed by
the experience of two English seamen, who resided five years amongst
them, and whose departure is described as attended by some show of
feeUng on the part of their simple hosts, and some regret on their
own. We have no data for ascertaining the exact extent of territory
occupied by this people ; but it would seem probable that it must have
comprised the whole region hetween the Kathlamba and the sea, as
far, at least, in a north-easterly direction, as Delagoa Bay. This
appears a key to the difficult question which would at once suggest
itself, viz., how a population so quiet and peaceful in its habits, so
Uttle apparently trained to warfare, and yet offering so rich a tempta
tion to the spoiler, should not only have preserved its existence, but
have remained unmolested for a long series of years, in the immediate
neighbourhood of a fierce tribe of warrior banditti, such as were their
flnal conquerors, the Zulus. It agrees also with the generally received
theory which traces the origin of the Kaflr to Arabia, or some other
portion of the south-east corner of the Asiatic continent. We can
easily imagine long intervals to have elapsed between the movements
of different bodies of immigrants, in their gradual progress to the
south-west, and that the flrst settlers upon any tract of country might
have held undisturbed possession of it for centuries, before the pressure
from the northward became so violent as to endanger their security,
and force them to resistance or flight.
It was, not, however, in the nature of things that this security
should last for ever. The evil day came at length, and when it came
brought with it not danger only, but utter destruction. We are
spared the details of the horrible massacre, for such it must have been,
of this gentle and harmless people ; we know not whether their Umits
were gradually contracted, and their numbers thinned, by a lengthened
though unequal contest, or whether they perished all at one fell
swoop; whether they showed the courage of despair in the last
struggle, or were cut down trembling and unresisting ; all we know
is, that on the arrival of Lieutenants King and FareweU, in 1823,

ZULU REIGN OF TERROR. 191
they found the whole country in the hands of the Zulus, and scarcely
a vestige remaining of the ancient inhabitants. Of those who sur-
rived the indiscriminate slaughter, the greater part had been incor
porated vrith the Zulu nation, a few escaped into the bush, and the
rest, after enduring all the horrors of servitude to a foreign master,
were removed to the old colony, where, under the name of Fingoes,
or slaves, they have since proved the most faithful and tractable
among the coloured subjects of the Crown, and still retain, in great
measure unchanged, the peculiarities of character for which their
ancestors were so favourably distinguished in days of yore.
But we must return to their conquerors. The Zulus, or Zoolahs
(for there is no limit to the variations of Kaflr orthography), appear
to have been always under despotic government ; a circumstance to
which their strength as a military nation may be chiefly attributable.
At the time of which I am speaking, their king was Chaka, a mon
ster in comparison with whom the ogres of our nursery tales sink
into mild and harmless insignificance.
I have already referred my readers to the pages of Mr. Isaacs' in
teresting work for a full account of the barbarities of this tyrant,
which I wUl not here attempt to describe. He maintained his
authority by the wholesale murder of his subjects, whenever they
became too numerous, or too powerful to be easily kept in subjection.
His standing army amounted probably to not less than 30,000 men,
and he could at a few hours' notice bring more than double that force
into the field. The discipline of these troops would have put to shame
many a European regiment ; like all good soldiers, they were equally
serriceable as executioners; they knew no law but that of their
general, and were as ready to turn their arms upon their countrymen,
comrades and relations, as against a foreign foe. Their reviews, which
were of frequent occurrence, were held not so much for the sake of
display, or the practice of military evolutions, — though in these points
they wanted nothing of brilliancy and perfection of detaU, — as for
the ulterior purpose of slaughter ; and the butchery of eight hundred
unoffending creatures in a single morning, with every variety of torture,
forms no very remarkable event in the annals of this reign of terror.

192 KING CHAKA.
Alas ! for civilization and reflnement ! for the arts that soften and
humanize ! for the profession of Christianity ! WhUe we shudder at
the bare recital of these horrors, not only is their parallel enacted
within a stone's throw (so to speak) of our doors, but men look on
with calm indifference ; and some there are bold enough to defend and
applaud ! Tried by the test which these men would adopt, Chaka
was doubtless a bold and successful politician, a wise and prudent
monarch. He was an usurper certainly ; but he preserved his na
tion from the evils of anarchy and confusion, and deserves to be
chronicled as a staunch friend to order, discipline and passive obedience.
" Eespice finem respice funem," " look to the end, look to a rope's end,"
says the old proverb ; and we who view aU Chakas with the same
abhorrence, whether they be dressed in fine Unen, or untanned hide,
whether they dwell in marble palaces, or in grass-roofed huts, may
comfort ourselves with the assurance that thefr tether is a very
limited one, and that the day of retribution will not be long delayed.
Chaka haring filled the measure of his enormities, was assassi
nated by his subjects, and was succeeded by his brother, Dingaan,
who had been at the head of the conspiracy. Before his death he had
made over a portion of his newly-acquired dominions to the Enghsh
in the person of Lieutenant FareweU, and, flnding the country which
he stUl retained too extensive for the system of concentration neces
sary to the security of a despotic government, had retfred with his
whole tribe to the north-eastern bank of the Tugela, which henceforth
constituted the south-western boundary of the Zulu territory, pro
perly so-called. Natal was thus left almost entirely deserted. About
2000 of the original inhabitants stUl remained, widely scattered ia
smaU parties in the neighbourhood of the fort, where the thick bush
enabled them to evade the pursuit ofthe Zulus; and these, aooordmg
to a report drawn up in 1843, by the resident commissioner, Mr.
Cloete, formed on the arrival of the earliest emigrants, the entire
population of the country. « These natives," continues Mr. Cloete,
" placed themselves and thefr descendants under the protection of the
European residents at the fort, to whom they voluntarily acknowledg
thefr state of vassalage."

KING PANDA. 193
MeanwhUe, the new King of the Zulus, though he was vriUing to
tolerate the intrusion of a few white men, dwelling along the sea
coast, and vrithin certain limits, was yet by no means disposed to
ratify the bargain of his predecessor, or to relinquish all claim to the
conquered territory ; and when in 1838 the Dutch emigrants, rolling
their wagons down the steep sides of the Drakenberg, poured into the
fertile plains of Natal, expecting to take peaceful possession, they
were encountered by a fierce and determined opposition, and had to
flght their way, inch by inch, to the site of thefr future capital. The
hardy Boer, however, was a very different foe from the timid and
effeminate native ; and though he suffered severely, and the soU of the
promised land was plentifuUy watered with his blood, yet, in the
end, he proved more than a match for his savage antagonist. The
massacre at Blaauw Krans Spruit, recorded in an earlier chapter, is
but one of the many tragedies which signalized this short, but event
ful contest — a contest in which we have the greatest interest, since we
alone reaped its fruits. We aU know how it terminated ; Dingaan
was compelled to retreat vrithin his legitimate boundary, well pleased
to have concluded a bargain, by which he transferred to the rictors
on very reasonable terms, the land which had afready been disposed
of by his predecessor, whUe the Boers founded Maritzburg, and con
stituted themselves into an independent repubUc.
In due time, Dingaan met with the usual fate of Zulu monarchs,
learing behind him a name, which, whether for good or ill, is con
stantly in the mouth of his former subjects and thefr descendants,
whose invariable form of emphatic affirmation is " Yebo Dingaan.''
He was succeeded hy Panda, the present king, of whom we have
every reason to say "vivat" for, being too fat and too lazy for violent
exercise, he is averse to war, and, on the whole, is rather amiably dis
posed than otherwise towards his sister sovereign Queen Victoria.
¦ There is no saying how soon his death might change the face of
affafrs.
! Among his own people he is as great a tyrant as were either
."Dingaan or Chaka, but his resources have been considerably dimi
nished, and the whole of his available force cannot now be estimated O

194 ZULU IMMIGRATION.
at more than 15,000 men. It is to the cause of this decrease of power
that I wish especially to caU the reader's attention.
The occupation of Natal by the Umlungus had another effect
besides defining the boundaries of the Zulu kingdom. It opened a
door of escape for the oppressed subjects of these arbitrary monarchs,
which they had never before dreamed of, and which now baffled all
thefr precautions. Even in Dingaan's time, those who had incurred
his displeasure, and who but a short time before would have submitted
in sullen despafr to the seizure of thefr cattle, the abduction of thefr
wives, or the fatal stab of the assegai, now fled across the border, and
threw themselves upon the protection of the white man. This was
more particularly the case with the transplanted natives, who were
treated with tenfold cruelty by thefr captors, and on whom the hope
of returning to thefr native soU, under any terms, acted like an irre
sistible spell. Dingaan did not care to foUow up the pursuit ; he had
had sufflcient experience of the Dutch roer, and had no mind to ven
ture again within its deadly range. The example of flight was
therefore caught up vrith avidity, and Natal promised to be speedily
repopulated. The new repubUc looked on this inroad with a jealous and watch
ful eye ; they were well pleased to flnd a supply of herdsmen to tend
thefr rapidly-increasing troops of cattle, and to perform those menial
offices, in which, before the days of emancipation, they had been
always accustomed to employ slave labour ; but, on the other hand,
they were fully sensible of the danger of aUowing the savage to take
fresh root in the soU, whence it might be difficult a second time to
eradicate him. It was, therefore, decreed by a resolution of the
" Volhsraad," that no additional natives should he allowed to take
up thefr residence within the colony, save and except the number of
able-bodied young men actually employed by the settlers ; and that this
number should be limited to flve males for each farmer without their
families. By this wise measure a check was put upon the threatened
inundation, which, under proper control, became a manageable and
fertilizing stream.
But in 1842 the scene was shifted; the pastoral repubhc Id

JOHN bull's soliloquy. 195
played out its last act, and a new set of characters appeared upon the
stage. British rule was once more proclaimed ; the elaborate machi
nery of the Colonial Office replaced the simple working of a patri
archal govemment ; experiment superseded experience ; and, instead
of the practical remedy suggested on the spot by each succeeding
emergency, was substituted a procrustean code, for universal applica
tion, imported from distant head-quarters, and contrived with a noble
disregard of place, time, and circumstance. In short, the motto of
this administration was, though in a very different sense from that
which the poet intended —
" Mihi res, non me rebus, subjungere conor."
The unlucky Boer, harassed with restrictions to which he was
Uttle accustomed, and technicaUties which he Uttle understood — dis
trustful even where his interest was consulted, and having but too
many grounds for reas6nable complaint — struggled awhile among the
meshes in which he found himself entangled, till at length he fafrly
shook the dust off his feet, and, quitting the country of his affections,
sought a new home in wilds where red tape is yet unknown, and
Downing Street influence, vrith its Briarean arms, has not yet been
able to reach.
Nor was this the only result of British occupation. The Zulu
malcontents, discovering as if by instinct that all bar to their entrance
was now removed, swarmed by thousands into the deserted country,
and, led by thefr different petty chiefs, settled themselves wherever
choice or fancy directed ; herded thefr cattle, built their huts, and
planted thefr meaUes, as quietly and coolly as if they had recaptured
the territory, and had no leave to ask but their own.
But what did " John Bull " say to all this ? At flrst he was taken
hy surprise ; so he stared and said nothing. Then he began to
grumble, and talked about interfering in the matter — a threat which,
of course, he never carried into execution. At length a happy thought
sfruck him ; his countenance brightened ; he put his hands in his
breeches'-pocket, and, with a good-humoured smUe, gave utterance to
something like the following sentiment : — " It can't be helped now ;

196 EMBARASSMENTS.
so the less said about it the better. It does seem a Uttle strange,
certainly, to drive out white farmers to make room for black thieves;
but, after aU, I do not much Uke those Boers ; they were too sturdy
and independent to be pleasant neighbours; and as to these poor
black cattle, who 'a afraid of them ? Let them come in— the more the
merrier ; we can always turn them out if they are troublesome. It
would be a disgrace to humanity to refuse them admittance ; and,
besides" (and here he is said to have chuckled audibly) "the best
part of it is, that they bring us the very thing we want, in commou
with every other colony — cheap labour ; and with cheap labour and
cheap land, if the fortune of Natal is not made." John smote.his
pockets tiU the silver rattled again, and relapsed into a state of com
placent tranquUity.
And thus Natal became, as the mother country ever has been, one
great city of refuge for her distressed neighbours ; and the cruelties
of Panda, — who had himself, during the reign of his predecessor,
headed a body of these fugitives, — becoming day after day more insup
portable, the plot continued to thicken, tUl, by 1845, there were not
less than 120,000 Zulus estabUshed within the colony. Their
numbers, at the present moment, cannot amount to less than 200,000,
Now, those who sustained the argument I have just quoted,— and,
in sober sadness, it was advanced by very many at the time, — laboured
under a threefold delusion :— Ffrst, that it was safe to admit the
Zulus ; secondly, that it was a duty ; and, lastly, that the colonists
would be the gainers by it. On the two flrst points I have stated my
opinion so fully in the last chapter, that I can add nothing of my own
that will not be mere repetition, and am quite content to leave them
to the judgment of the unprejudiced reader. In support of those
opinions, I wUl only adduce the testimony of Sir Henry Pottinger,
contained in the following extract from a despatch, addressed, in
July, 1847, to Mr. West, late Lieutenant-Governor of Natal, as it
suggests a new and forcible argument, peculiar to the case under
consideration : — " My conviction daily becomes stronger tiiat it is
desfrable to check, as far as possible, the influx of petty chiefs and
thefr tribes into Natal, both because they occupy land which may

EMBARASSMENTS. 197
hereafter be turned to better account for European settlers, and, more
particularly, because our affording protection to such refugees seems
sure to involve us in angry and unsatisfactory discussions with thefr
paramount chiefs, over whose conduct and proceedings we can hardly
be said to hold the smallest control."
When I add that nearly half a thick volume of Blue Book is
occupied by negotiations between the King Panda and the Natal
government, — all, without exception, undertaken with the riew of
settUng disputes arising frm this one cause, and in which, if an open
rupture has been avoided, it has been only by the nicest tact and
most skilful manoeuvring, — it wiU be seen how fully subsequent
events have justified these apprehensions.
With regard to the thfrd delusion — the most attractive and the
most deceitful of aU — I have already shown what dependence can be
placed on Zulu labour : I wUl now go further, and assert that not
only has the experiment failed to realize the hopes that were built
upon it, but that its positive results have had a dfrectly contrary
effect; and have tended rather to cripple and impede the efforts of the
settlers than to give them the assistance and encouragement which
was contemplated by its well-meaning but mistaken advocates.
Instead of proriding the farmer with cheap labour, we have brought
a rival producer into the market, to whom we have given every
possible advantage, as if those which nature had given did not render
him sufficiently formidable. The Zulu has nothing to leam or
unlearn ; he attempts nothing new, he risks no loss ; he incurs no
expense ; and though he shows but Uttle energy when working for
the white man, he will work hard enough for himself when the flt
takes him ; and if not, he can set his slaves, his wives, to work for
him. The crops, also, to which he conflnes his attention are those
whioh are best suited to the soil and climate — are raised with least
frouble, and in greatest quantities — and are therefore in the greatest
general demand ; the very same to which the ordinary settler must
look for the chief means of support. And it is here that the competi
tion is most keenly felt.
In looking over the accounts of our different colonies, one cannot

198 EMBARASSMENTS.
help being struck with the regularity with which the same fallacies,
attended with the same results, are repeated, as if it were not worth
while to try another plan, with a riew to a happier issue. In the
case of New Zealand, the parallel is so exact, that the very words in
which it is described wiU apply, without alteration, to the question
before us. Mr. Hursthouse, in his excellent work on New Plymouth,
speaking of the native, says — " Hitherto it has been found difflcult
to induce the natives to work for hire." And his inteUigent reriewer
continues — " The author hopes that they vriU improve in this particular
as they advance in civilization. It seems to us that, as they can
have land for nothing, civiUzation is not Ukely to teach them the
advantage of working for themselves, unless in such cases as the
government roads at WeUington, where they are paid high wages for
very little work!"* And Mr. Power, whose authority I have before
had occasion to cite, speaks still more to the point. Discussing the
chances of a settler in New Zealand, he concludes — " There is another
competitor, too, coming into the fleld, against whom there will be no
contending, as he gets the pick of the land for nothing, and has
plenty of cheap labour at command. This is the Maori." Can
analogy give stronger conflrmation than this ?
Such was the state of things which greeted Mr. West, the flrst
Lieutenant-Governor of Natal, on his arrival in December, 1843 ; the
tone of his despatches, as well as those of Sfr Peregrine Maitland, the
Cape Governor of that day, betraying but too evidently the despondent
view which they took of the prospect before them. They are the
writings of men at once perplexed and alarmed ; and no wonder— for
the skein which they had to unravel was too tightly knotted to yield
to gentle means, and the clue was held in other hands. Urgent
appeals for an increased military force were met by suggestions!
for the formation of a native miUtia ; and a despairing hint at the
necessity for abandoning the colony elicited an essay on the influence
which the civilization of the refugee Zulus would have in the diffusion
of Christianity throughout south-eastern Africa, and the proposal of
a general survey. • " Sidney's Emigrant Journal." Second Series. Page 194.

MANAGEMENT OF REFUGEE ZULUS. 199
Meanwhile the black swarm daily increased, till the danger
became so imminent, that it was plain something must be done. The
first proposition was natural enough ; — Turn them out ! But this, on
mature consideration, was found to be no such easy task. The stream
which, in its infancy, had been guided and controUed by the Boers,
had now sweUed to an overwhelming torrent, whose waters might,
indeed, find deposit in various reservoirs, but which, to turn aside,
was as great a work as the drainage of the Haerlem Lake. There
were other obstacles, too, in the way. Having once admitted the
claims of these refugees on our protection, we could not abandon them
to the tender mercies of the tyrant from whose oppression they had
escaped; if, therefore, we expelled them from our borders, a tract
must be found for thefr occupation; and this could not be accom
plished without encroaching either on the private property of indi
viduals, or on the territories of our independent neighbour, Faku,
with whom we had generally been on amicable terms.
It being decided that they could not be expelled, the next ques
tion was, how to proride for thefr management and efficient control ;
for, the absurdity of aUowing upwards of 100,000 natives to remain
in the disfrict " vrithout any law whatsoever actively operating upon
them," was too obvious to require pointing out. Indeed, this ques
tion had begun to occupy the minds of the authorities as early as
1843, when, in the able report afready quoted, the following sugges
tions had been made by Mr. Cloete : —
" That the natives should be considered as divided into two sepa
rate classes, viz., those who formed a part of the original inhabitants
of the soil, and the Zulu immigrants. That with regard to the former,
certain fracts of land should be unaUenably vested in the chiefs of the
different kraals or villages, in trust, for the use of all the inhabitants
of such kraals, as tenants in common. In regard to the latter, that
they should be gathered into a certain number of distinct locations
under the superintendence and direction of the missionaries, some of
whom were estabUshed in different parts of the country, and one of
whom. Dr. Adams, had afready from ten to twelve thousand nominally
under his guidance."

800 MANAGEMENT OF REFUGEE ZULUS.
Taking these suggestions, which had now been three years under
consideration, as the ground-work of thefr plan, it was at length
resolved that some decisive steps should be taken ; and a committee
of flve was appointed, consisting of the Surveyor-General, the Diplo
matic Agent, two American missionaries, and a Lieutenant of Royal
Engineers, to devise the best means of carrying this important project
into immediate execution.
Thefr report, which appeared in 1847, and which sets forth at
large, and very clearly, thefr riews on the subject in question, is, as
might be expected from the well known talents and high characters
of its authors, a most valuable document ; and, if the plan which they
proposed was a Uttle too elaborate in its details, or too perfect — so
to speak — in its arrangements, most assuredly it was not only the
very best that could have been devised, but the only one which could
ensure the continued peace and order of the coloured population, and,
consequently, the permanent safety and prosperity of the colony. I
regret extremely that my limits wiU not permit me to print more
than a rough outUne of this truly sensible, as well as clever, report,
which, inclosed in the ominous blue cover, and lying concealed among
the voluminous pages of the parliamentary annals of 1848, is too likely
to escape general notice. Its main points are as foUows. After
stating the causes which led to this vast immigration, the probable
number of natives resident within the colony, the very limited propor
tion of white inhabitants, and the critical position in which they were
placed ; after alluding to the lawless state of the coloured population,
freed as they were from the restraint of the most despotic of despotic
governments, for which as yet no other efficient law or authority had
been substituted, it goes on to propose that each of the locations, to
which the natives were to be removed, should be governed by a
superintendent or local magistrate.
That he should be furnished with one or more assistants, according '
to the size of his location.
That upon each location a native police force should be estabUshed
under an European poUce officer, &c.
That the resident agent should have authority to punish simimarily

MANAGEMENT OF REFUGEE ZULUS. 801
minor criminal offences, and to decide upon civU disputes to a certain
extent, after which there should be an appeal to the Diplomatic
Agent, who should have power to dispose of them, as much as possible
to the principles of the British law, the object being, that by degrees
the whole may be brought under one code.
That aU serious criminal trials be at once referred to the supreme
court of the district.
That a complete registration should be made of all natives on each
location, man, woman, and child, with the number of cattle possessed
by each. That thefr laws as to marriage and divorce be remodelled, and be
made more strict (this is very important, as the doing away with
polygamy would tend to make them more dependent on thefr own
personal labour).
The establishment of schools and missions is strongly recommended
as a supplementary aid on each location ; but the employment of
missionaries as superintendents or magistrates was not contemplated
by the commissioners; indeed, I have reason to beUeve, it was dis
countenanced. Speaking of the expense, it goes on to say, that " though the sum
required for such a system of management may appear large, yet,
when the cfrcumstances of the natives themselves, the vast capabiUties
ofthe disfrict, and the relative positions of the white and black popula
tions within it, are considered, the conclusion must be arrived at that
the system for the government of the natives, to be efficient, must be
complete in all its details : that the persons through whose instru
mentahty it is to be worked must be such, as by thefr characters furnish
a guarantee for success : that to secure such persons respectable salaries
are necessary, and sufficient assistance from inferior officers, to be
appointed to each location, indispensable." "We are deeply im
pressed," add the commissioners, " with the conviction, that unless such
a plan of government as this is established over the natives, and that
speedily, the consequence to the district at large will be disastrous in
the highest degree. To preserve them obedient subjects they requfre
constant and steady control, and strictly impartial justice, both

802 MANAGEMENT OF REFUGEE ZULUS.
in the redress of thefr wrongs and the punishment of thefr misde
meanours,'' &c.
The reader wUl observe that in all this, the important point kept
in view, is the entfre subjection of the Kaflr to white authority, and
the gradual aboUtion of his own national laws and usages, the only
means whereby a native population can be safely retained (if they
can be retained at all) in close contact with European settlers.
Unfortunately the treasury of Natal was in no condition to provide
the funds necessary for carrying these proposals into effect. The
import dues, coUections, &c., were Uttle more than sufficient to pay
the salaries of those employed in collecting them ; exports there were
none ; the native tax was as yet only an idea ; the sale of crown
lands, the never-failing recipe for colonial embarassment, scarcely
formed an item on the credit side of the account ; and as to pecuniary
assistance from the mother country : — if the object had been to colonize
a barren island in the South Seas, or to send squadrons to broil on
the Line, under pretence of putting down the slave trade — to establish
a naval station on an iceberg, or to transport a ready-made EngUsh
city to the plains of Australia or New Zealand — the money would
have been forthcoming at once ; but for such a simple common-place
purpose as the protection of EngUsh emigrants, even for the pet
colony of the office, it was absurd to expect it for a moment.
Lord Grey, of course, saw this at a glance ; hut he also saw and
acknowledged the value of the commissioners' suggestions, and felt
that his refusal to sanction the scheme before him, entaUed upon him
the obligation of supplying another which should be equally efficient,
more profitable, less costly, and therefore more suited to the means of
an infant community. The plan derised by his Lordship was at
least an ingenious one, and has so far answered its purpose that, in
the hands of the most skilful and judicious agents, and worked with
the most consummate tact and management, it has almost attained
the reputation of a successful measure. Its main principle was, that
the Kafirs should be governed by thefr own laws, and through their
own chiefs, whose authority was to be dfrected, not controUed, for the
maintenance of order. But we will hear the despatch speak for itself:

MANAGEMENT OF REFUGEE ZULUS. 803
" It should be expressly declared to the inhahitants of Natal
that, in assuming the sovereignty of the district, the Queen has not
interfered with or abrogated any law, custom, or usage prevailing
among them antecedently to the British rule, save only such laws
customs, or usages, as are abhorrent from, and opposed to the general
principles of humanity and decency recognized throughout the whole
civiUzed world : and further, that the Queen has not interfered with
or abrogated the powers which the law, custom, and usage of the
inhabitants vested in the chiefs or in any persons in authority among
them, but that in all 'transactions between themselves, and in all
crimes committed by any of them against the persons or property of
those of their own race, the natives will be permitted to administer
justice toward each other, as they had been used to do in former
times. This impUes that some control should be exercised over the
chiefs, in order to restrain them from those acts of cruelty which are
so common among savages, but which cannot be tolerated even among
them whUe Uring under the protection of a ciriUzed nation."
This control, which might have proved, and indeed, under Mr.
Shepstone's management, has hitherto proved, the safety-valve of this
dangerous measure, is immediately so Umited as to be merely nominal.
It is not to impafr the power of the chiefs in any way, or to prevent
thefr maintaining a strong authority. The manner in which the
chiefs govern thefr tribes is not to be minutely inqufred into, even
though much oppression, and the commission of many acts highly
repugnant to our notions of justice and humanity, should be the
consequence ; even the power of inflicting capital punishment to
be restrained rather than altogether taken away ; and, in short, the
only interference that appears to be contemplated is — the prohibition
of any punishment on people accused of witchcraft or neglect of
reUgious observances.
This is the substance of the despatch ; the rest contains nothing
new or remarkable, unless we except the Kafir tax, a most necessary
and unexceptionable measure ; the enrolment of a native miUtia on a
large scale ; and the establishment of a body of pensioners at Maritz
burg, which was not encouraged by Sfr Harry Smith. I should add

804 MANAGEMENT OF REFUGEE ZULUS.
that the principle of governing natives through thefr chiefs was
approved of by the gallant Baronet, who cited the success which had
attended a similar experiment in Kaflrland, a success which we can
now estimate at its real value.
Before I go on to state the reception which this despatch met with
in Natal, I must put the reader in possession of one or two important
facts which must not be overlooked.
In the first place, chieftainship had long vfrtuaUy ceased to exist
among the refugee Zulus in Natal. The system, unsupported by
constitutional right or physical force, had died a natural death ; and
if Lord Grey's proposal were to be adopted, would have not to be
maintained, but to be revived, or, to use a still stronger expression,
created anew. Secondly, aU the authority which had formerly been
exercised over the natives by thefr own chiefs had been by themselves
voluntarily transferred to the white mau, and was centred in the
person of Mr. Shepstone, who, under the anomalous title of Diplomatic
Agent, and rather by general consent than under any definite appoint
ment, had discharged, and was still discharging aU the functions of
judge and ruler amongst them, settUng thefr disputes, punishing thefr
misdemeanors, and wanting only a confirmed and duly recognized
office, an increased staff, and very Uttle additional means at his
command, to reduce them to perfect aud unconditional obedience to
his administration. As it was, he had succeeded almost to a mfracle,
and few ventured to dispute his power. Now, it is very evident that
the first effect of the proclamation of the decree above quoted would
be to destroy the prestige of Mr. Shepstone among the natives, and to
undo aU the good which he had effected. " Let weU alone," is a
sterling though homely adage, and if want of funds prevented an
advance in the right dfrection, there was, at aU events, no reason for
a retrograde movement, — of all steps the most dangerous.
In the colony there was but one feeling on the subject — a feeling
of extreme dissatisfaction and disappointment — and this was expressed
in words too clear to be misunderstood. We have the recorded
opinions of Mr. Cloete and Mr. Shepstone, confirmed by the consent
of the whole executive councU of Natal, that the promulgation of the

MANAGEMENT OF REFUGEE ZULUS. 205
ordinance would be ruinous to the peace and prosperity of the colony ;
and the land commissioners appointed to select the sites of the diffe
rent locations, went so far as to say that " if the declaration to be
made by His Honour were to have the effect of giving to the natives
greater power than they now enjoy, the locations, not being so situated
as to prevent an intermixture of the natives with the white population,
would be Uable to serious objection; and that in this case itwould be
advisable to take into consideration the practicabUity of remoring the
bulk of the natives beyond the Umrinkulu " (the south-west boundaiy
of Natal). And Mr. Cloete, among the immediate effects of the
proclamation, enumerates the following : —
" 1st, It will produce on the minds of the emigrant farmers a
feeUng, which is but too prevalent already, that the natives wUl be
subject to laws and regulations, securing to them greater rights and
pririleges than are possessed by the generality of the inhabitants ; the
effect of whioh wiU be, to produce, and keep aUve, a spirit of disaffec
tion towards the government, and of hostUity towards the natives,
which cannot but become detrimental to the interests of the latter.
2dly, That the natives, and more particularly thefr petty chiefs, will
become impressed vrith the belief that her Majesty intends to acknow
ledge their entfre independence from all our laws, as they wUl have some
difficulty in comprehending the exception made as to offences against
humanity; the effect of which will be to set up thefr own authority in
dfrect opposition to that of the Government," &c.
These arguments, which need no comment of mine, joined to many
others equally cogent, had, and most justly, so much weight with the
Lieutenant-Governor and council of Natal, that they came to the
unanimous decision, that the announcement of any change in poUcy,
with regard to the natives, should be deferred ; and accordingly things
continued as they had done before, and might have done so to this
day, but for an event which occurred some months afterwards.
Mr. Shepstone, in the exercise of his anomalous functions, having
risited, June, 1849, a case of murder among the natives* with the
• I do not remember the particulars of this crime ; but the punishment does appear
hardly adequate to the offence. The Recorder had always been a strenuous supporter of

206 MANAGEMENT OF REFUGEE ZULUS.
punishment of a flne, this was regarded by the Recorder as an
encroachment on the jurisdiction of his court (the colony being all
under the Dutch Roman law), and, a dispute arising, the Lieutenant-
Governor, as the only means of preventing the recurrence of such an
uncomfortable affair, gave immediate force to the edict, which, while
it freed the Kaflr from the trammels of British law, left to Mr. Shep
stone a quasi authority over the newly-created chiefs, which he has
since done his utmost to preserve : and it is his greatest praise that
notwithstanding the difflculties of his position, he has so far succeeded,
that though war has now raged on the frontier for a year, all is, as
yet, quiet in Natal. Still his influence, though considerable, is not
what it was, when he was without a rival in the eye of the native : "
and even were it undiminished, a system which depends entfrely for
success upon the abUity of one man, and which must fall with him, has
Uttle to recommend it.
Fortunately, we have another reason to be hopeful. Mr. West
died in the autumn of 1849, and was succeeded by the present Lieu
tenant-Governor, Mr. Pine, a gentleman who, wMle his views are
those of a sensible and unprejudiced man, has, at the same time
energy and resolution to carry them into practice. He has many
obstacles to contend against, — want of cordial co-operation, both in
the colony and at home ; want of men to work with, and of means to
pay them. This last deflciency may indeed be to some extent suppUed
by the tax of seven shiUings per hut, levied on the native population,
which has been in most instances collected without difficulty, and
which, though it has completely failed in its anticipated effect of
compeUing the Kaflrs to labour, is still a welcome addition to the
hitherto scanty revenue. It produced, the flrst year of its trial,
Mr. Shepstone's authority ; and the case must have been a strong one, which elicited the
expressions whioh he is reported to have used on the occasion. The fact is, however, that
theformsof the Dutch Roman law are quite as unsuited to om* Zulu subjects as their own.
What is required is a code, at once simple and severe, admitting neither of doubtful
interpretation or delay, and administered solely and immediately by the Diplomatic Agent
and his colleagues.
+ For this assertion I have the authority of Mr. Shepstone himself, he having informed
me, in a conversation whieh I had with him, the mormng before my departure from
Natal, that unless his staff were greatly increased, he could not answer for the continued
preservation of order among the natives.

HOPES AND FEARS. 807
£3600; but, by this time, it ought to yield an income of fully three
times that amount.
Another important step has heen the appointment of magistrates
to some of the Kaflr locations, who, by thefr activity and determination,
have done much to check the growing insolence of the natives. More
wiU doubtless be added as flt men can be found. This is all in the
right direction, and Mr. Pine would doubtless go further had he the
power ; for the steady uniformity with which he has always lent his
support to uphold the authority of the Diplomatic Agent, and the
decisive manner in which his influence has always been thrown into
the scale, when prompt and stem measures have been required, are
quite sufficient proofs that he knows both the critical position of the
vessel under his charge, and the only course to be steered vrith safety.
But neither Mr. Pine's energy, nor Mr. Shepstone's skill, can do
more than delay the catastrophe, unless the fatal edict which
emanated from a higher quarter than thefrs, be reversed.
It is a notorious fact that the Zulus are growing daily more and
more independent, more and more dangerous. No longer tractable
and suppUant refugees, they are gradually consoUdating themselves
into a rich and powerful nation {imperium in imperio), and already
begin to freat thefr preservers on equal terms. This equaUty cannot
be of long duration.
With Panda on one border, and Faku on the other, vrith Boers
and Bushmen, and a host of rebel tribes on the west, and the sea
closing her in on the eastern side. Natal had need be whole and
sound, if she is to maintain her existence as a British colony — much
more, if she is to tum her vast and undisputed resources to account.
No CEdipus is requfred to solve her riddle. Two nations are strug
gUng within her ; one must give way. Which shall it be ? It is to be
earnestly hoped that the new colonial minister wUl see these matters
in their true Ught, and vrill not suffer the youngest and mostpromismg
of Britain's daughters to be strangled in her very cradle, the last off
shoot from the parent tree to be choked by poisonous weeds, or a
single tiny rosebud to fall from the chaplet that forms the noblest
ornament on the brows of our gracious Queen.

808

CHAPTER XIV.
NIGHT MUSIC — A FULL HAYCOCK  ZULU KRAAL — IMPLEMENTS — ARTS^
ORNAMENTS  PETTY LARCENY  WARE SJAMBOK — HONOUR AMONG
THIEVES — WATERED HONEY — ZINGOLLI  A ROYAL RECEPTION — SMOKING
¦ — NO CHANGE — LIKE MASTER LIKE MAN  ONE GROOM — LITTLE BIT —
EDGE-TOOLS — LANGUAGE  ORATORY  MIMICRY — DIPPICULTIES OP CON
VERSION — POLL — SPECIOUS RESULTS OP MISSIONARYT BACHING — ^NEED
OF CHURCH DISCIPLINE — DANGER OP PET ESTABLISHMENTS.
It was, I think, about three days after my first arrival in Maritz
burg that I was sitting in the mud-floored parlour of Balcony House,
inditmg a letter to friends in England, and in that dreamy mood
when external sounds and objects blend fantasticaUy with the
thoughts within, and, though present to the senses, carry no real
impression to the mind, when I became gradually conscious of a
deafening noise, which I at flrst took for the howling of a pack of
wolves; but it lacked the prolonged and mournful cadence of the
note, if note it could be called; and besides, it appeared to be
stationary, and very near.
My next thought was a more natural and alarming one. I seized
my cap, and hurried out to solve the mystery.
It was a lovely evening (the evenings always are lovely in Natal,
except when it rains) ; the moon was just conung up behind a bank
of clouds, " with a star or two besides," and shed a dim drowsy Ught
on the quaint objects around — just enough to bring the white walls
of the scattered houses into strong relief, and to cause an occasional
sparkle on the surface of the tiny brook by the street side. But for
that, the wide market-place opposite might have been a lonely wUder
ness, so stiU and quiet was the night, so Uttle appearance was there
of human habitation.
Could that noise he human which still continued to echo in •

A FULL HAYCOCK. 209
my ears, and which seemed not only to come from the bowels of the
earth at my feet, but to he multiplied in fainter repetitions at greater
distances on every side ? As I was lost in idle conjecture, E  joined
me on the sto^, and, to my increased surprise, entered into quiet con
versation, as if there was nothing extraordinary going on. Dreading
that I was under the influence of some enchantment, I determined to
ascertain at once its nature, and, summoning courage, asked my host
whence, and from what kind of beings, these unearthly yells might
proceed. " Whether from man or beast," said E  , " is more than I can
tell you ; but the noise comes from that hut yonder, and is caused by
Behren's Kaflrs, and a most confounded row they are making. I
beUeve a law is to be made to stop the nuisance. But perhaps you
would Uke to look in upon them at thefr orgies ; I can promise you it
is a sight worth seeing."
We accordingly hent our steps to the hut, which was not twenty
paces from our door, in the court-yard of the next house; I had
hitherto taken it for a large haycock. As we approached it, however,
I discovered a low doorway, or rather square opening, not quite two
feet in height, through which something was exhaled, which was
certainly not the smeU of hay, whUe my ears conrinced me that I
had found the whereabouts, at aU events, of the noise by which I
had been so thoroughly awakened.
Twb senses were fuUy satisfled, vrithout further trial ; but when,
stooping low, or rather lying flat on my face, I peered cautiously into
the orifice, I could scarcely refrain from an exclamation of momentary
terror at the sight that presented itself. In the centre of the hut,
though the night was close and sultry, a few red embers served rather
to increase the general darkness, than to dispel it, and created an
atmosphere in which the process of respiration appeared almost a
mfracle. Around it, as far as the eye could distinguish, in a regular
cfrcle, a group of naked flgures were squatted in that pecuUar position
which none but a Kafir, or the India rubber man of circus celebrity
can assume ; thefr bronzed faces set between thefr knees, as if the
head had no other support, and had been removed from its ordinary P

210 A FULL HAYCOCK.
fixture on the shoulders, for the sake of froUc or a change of posture.
Had they been motionless they might have been taken for the carved
representations of heathen deities, that disfigure the waUs of Hindoo
temples ; nay, thefr very movements, which were incessant, seemed
the results of some intemal machinery artfully contrived, rather than
the spontaneous exertion of muscular force. The whole body, with
the exception of the feet, was jerked up and dovni, and swayed from
side to side, slowly or rapidly, in perfect time with the monotonous
song or chant, whUe the snorting which at intervals accompanied the
music, and the perspfration, which streamed dovm thefr sides like
rain, showed that thefr amusement, Uke that of thefr civilized
brethren, was in reaUty very severe toil. If they would bnt work
with half the spfrit on the meaUe plot, or the cotton plantation. Natal
would not he long a vrilderness !
But I cannot say that any such utilitarian thoughts entered my
head at the time. I was dreaming again, and my dreams recaUed the
pictures which, as a chUd, I had often painted to myself, asleep or
awake, of the Eril One, and his abode (a subject, by-the-by, which
is more frequently present to a child's imagination than thefr parents
and governesses wot of). Black devUs and blue, white devils and
grey, with horns, and tails and pincers, and aU the horrid apparatus
that the Nursery Witch loves to conjure up before her frembling rictim,
danced before my eyes ; aU the diabolical legends I had ever heard,
from St. Dunstan and his tongs, down to the strange man who met a
farmer, as he was retuming from church, and provoked him to a
wrestUng match, but, finding he had the Prayer-Book in his pocket,
went off, as the man himself assured me, in " a flame of smoke ;" these
and many others flitted before me, and " surely," said I at length, "if
ever such absurd ideas could be reaUzed, are they not reaUzed here?
Is a single feature wanting to complete, on a smaU scale, the vulgar
notion of an ' Inferno ?' Ffre, smoke, darkness, black figures, grin
ning faces, hideous distortions, horrid yells! As to the brimstone
the less said the better : —
* I dare do all that may become a man.
Who dares do more, is none.'

A FULL HATCOCK. 211
" But if, as chemists tell us, human beings requfre a certain pro
portion of oxygen and nitrogen to support Ufe, those who rejoice in
an atmosphere in which the latter gas so decidedly preponderates,
may be fafrly reckoned under the second category defined by the
poet; and so the case of the poor Kaflr is syllogisticaUy sealed."
But I was again' awakened, this time by a gentle tap on the
shoulder. "How many of those feUows do you think there are inside,"
asked E  , who had heen awaiting the end of my soUloquy vrith
exemplary patience.
" About ten, as far as I can guess," repUed I, " the hut cannot
hold more."
" We shaU soon see," returned E  , " for here comes the Baas
to turn them out, and high time, too."
As he spoke, our neighbour came up, flourishing a sjambok in
menacing mood.
"The rascals," said he, "have taken a particular fancy to my
premises; I verily heUeve half the Kaflrs in the town are here. I'U
soon have them out, however ;" and without firrther word, he dived
into the hole and disappeared. The noise instantly ceased ; there was
a sound of many feet, a smack or two, not very loud, and then a black
head appeared at the aperture. One bound, and a tall native stood
beside me; the drops on his skin glistering in the moonUght, his
white teeth grinning very good-humouredly, and, on the whole,
looking a very amiable deril, considering how unceremoniously he
had been disturbed in a favourite occupation. Another and another !
ten, twelve, fifteen ! More yet ! I had heard of the man who puUed
a carpet out of one pocket, and a horse, saddled and bridled, outof the
other; but that was, as a Yankee would say, a mere cu-cumstance
compared to this. To be short, I counted thfrty-five of them, all
sfrapping feUows too, make thefr exit from that one hollow haycock ;
and they did not look at all hot, or uncomfortable. Human beings,
indeed !
But the song; yes, I had forgotten the song; it was aU about
cows: the only subject which, in the absence of war, ever enters into

812 ZULU KRAAL.
thefr thoughts. I managed to catch the first line and the chorus,
which I offer as a specimen. I am afraid the notes must be left to
the taste of the reader : —
" Inconyama pu2a manzl,
Heitchi, tchi!"»
(All the calves are drinking water).
So much for the Kaflr's town-house, where, Uke his betters in
large cities, he is rather pressed for room. His country-seat is a very
different affafr. A Zulu kraal is buUt in circles like those of a target.
The centre may be very appropriately called the " buU's eye," since
it is devoted to the cattle. It is inclosed by a high wattle fence, not
unUke our sheep hurdles, where wood is to be got, and a Kafir has
more than one reason for preferring the neighbourhood of bush, if he
has the choice ; in the upper parts of the country, stone is more
frequently used. The space between this and the outer inclosure is
occupied by the huts, at equal distances from each other. The Zulu
has a good eye for proportion, and is as precise in the arrangement of
his kraal, as you, gentle reader, may be about that of the flower beds
in your front garden. Not a blade of grass, nor a weed is to be seen
in this ring, which is kept clean as the door-step of a citizen. Around
each hut a Uttle gutter is dug, to carry off the excessive rains ; and no
loose wood, straw, or any other combustible matter is allowed to
accumulate in its neighbourhood, for fear of danger from an opposite
element. The garden of pumpkins, mealies, or Kaflr com, is most probably
securely hedged, whUe that of his white neighbour is, ten to one,
quite unprotected. A troop of viUainous curs yelp about the estab
lishment; I could never divest myself of a suspicion, that they served
for food.
The housekeeping utensUs, though few and simple, erince con
siderable ingenuity. There are earthen jugs and pots of all shapes
and sizes, only requiring a Uttle glaze to make them reaUy pretty;
• In the written Kaflr language, the vowels, by general consent of the missionariei
and others, who have devoted themselves to the subject, are sounded respectively a* in
the ItaUan and Spanish : — u, oo ; i, ee, and so on.

ZULU IMPLEMENTS, ARTS, ORNAMENTS. 213
spoons of wood and horn, neatly and sometimes elaborately carved ;
the grass mat which forms thefr bed I have afready noticed ; and a
basket of the same material, which I brought home with me, has
atfracted universal admfration, for the closeness and exceUency of its
fabric. But the Zulu is not only a potter, a carver, and a basket-maker,
he is also a smelter of fron, and a smith, and from the native ore,
which is abundant, he contrives to make the rude hoe or pick, with
which he turns up the soU ; the needle or skewer, for sewing together
his scanty clothing; and the blade or point of his assegai. The pick
and the needle are now superseded by EngUsh manufacture ; but for
the war and the chase, the Zulu prefers to rely on the work of his
OWL hands, — experience having taught him the great inferiority of
the Birmingham frash, with which he was suppUed, at not much
more than twenty times its value.
I must not omit the piUow, which consists of a flat and very narrow
surface, slightly hollowed to receive the head, and supported by two
feet, cut out of one block of hard wood, and occasionally ornamented
either by carving or partial buming. I tried it once, and did not care
to do so again.
Among aU nations there is some distinguishing mark, some change
of habit or costume, to express the entrance on what, according to
Shakespere, may be called the thfrd stage of life. The EngUshman
lengthens his coat ; the Yankee marries ; the Indian leaves on his
head nought but the soUtary scalp tuft, ready for the grasp of his
mortal foe ; the AusfraUan knocks out a couple of his front teeth
The Kaflr umfane (boy) when he becomes an indola (man), shaves
his head, and sews into the scalp a cfrcular coronet of reeds, about
half-an-inch thick, and rising about the same height above the skin.
How it is managed I know not ; but it is quite black and smooth, and
has the appearance of a thick whip-lash.
The ornaments of either sex, the bead necklaces, copper armlets
and anklets, and gfrdles of plaited grass, cow-hide, or nuts strung on
the sinews of animals ; these have too often been described to requfre
more than a passing allusion. There is a fashion in these matters, as

214 PETTY LARCENY.
well as in silks and muslins; and the large blue bead which was the
rage last season, may this year be thrown aside for the small red and
white, which will, in thefr tum, become useless lumber in the wagon-
chest of the trader. This fastidiousness is probably the sign of a
complete revolution in native trade, — not that they erince the sUghtest
tendency to the adoption of European clothing, which only chafes and
annoys them, but that they begin to judge every article by the value
in which it is held by the white man, and to reject those which he
esteems Ughtiy as worthless. On this principle, they have lately
taken a great fancy to steel in any shape, as I found to my cost,
having lost no less than six curb-chains, one after the other, in as
many weeks.
The fact is that the Kafir has, for some time, made the discovery
that, next to cattle and wives, a certain number of threepenny pieces
(the prevaiUng form of smaU change current in Natal) is the most
desfrable of possessions ; and nothing which is not readily convertible
into maii, or hard cash, has now much attraction for him. The most
obvious result of this universal knowledge of good and evil, has been,
to multiply his temptations to commit petty thefts, a crime from which
he was once singularly exempt. He lifted cattle like our own
ancestors, and kidnapped women Uke the Romans of old ; but as it is
recorded of a celebrated highway robber, that he indignantiy repeUed
the charge of steaUng a pocket handkerchief, so the Kafir had tbe
reputation of disdaining petty larceny. This is not the case now, and
I should seriously advise intending emigrants to take boxes with locks
and keys, and to keep them carefuUy closed, if they wish to preserve
thefr tobacco, thefr sugar, or stUl more the Uttle knick-knacks, which,
though of no real worth, are often the most highly prized of their
possessions. Summary punishment is the only remedy for this
growing evil, the Kaflr being not only entfrely destitute of moral
feeling, but lacking even the Spartan sense of shame at detection.
Here is an instance. I had dismounted one day, accompanied by a
friend, at the door of a shop, learing the horses according to custom
standing outside, with the ends of thefr bridles fastened together. We
had scarcely entered when a tall native lounged in and offered s

SUMMARY PUNISHMENT. 215
sjambok for sale. As I happened to be in want of one, I asked the
price, and soon agreed to buy it for the moderate sum of sixpence.
It was very cheap ; but the Kafir seemed mightUy pleased with his
bargain, and showed his teeth in a series of grins, as he proceeded
leisurely to deposit the tiny coin in a curious purse, consisting of roUs
of leather, rag, and other materials, one vrithin the other, very care
fuUy folded and tied, and which appeared to contain at least a dozen
half-crown pieces, besides sUver of smaller dimensions. While he
was thus occupied, my friend, who had been busUy engaged at the
other end of the store, joined me, and as he was an old colonist I
called his attention to my new purchase, asking whether it was not
weU worth the money." — the Kafir grinning aU the whUe. My
friend took the sjambok in his hand, and examined it for a second.
" Yes," said he, " it is decidedly cheap, for it cost me two shilUngs
last week, and it hung in the gfrth-sfrap of my saddle yonder five
minutes ago."
The Kafir now slunk towards the door, stUl grinning however ;
and, when stopped and questioned, met us vrith a cool and impudent
denial, nor was it tiU, vrith a decision Uttle expected, my friend had
seized and made him fast to the wheel of a neighbouring wagon, and
given him ample cause to beware of meddling for the future with
sfray sjamboks, that he changed the grin into a whine, and proffered
a restitution of the sixpence, which he extracted from his extraordi
nary purse, with a reluctance so truly miserly, that, notwithstanding
aU our efforts to look grave and dignified, as Judge Lynch ought to
do, we could hardly refrain from a burst of laughter.
As a set-off against this, I vriU relate another anecdote, which tells
rather more in the poor Kafir's favour, proving that the principle of
" honour amongst thieves " is not confined to our own criminal heroes,
who diride the palm in pubUc estimation with warriors and states
men, but that even among these humble tyros in crime it is held in
high respect.
During my stay vrith Mr. Moffat, in the Sovereignty, and shortly
after the arrival of Mr. M'Cabe, with his vee, the Kaflr labourers
belonging to the latter took it into thefr heads to decamp one night,

816 WATERED HONEY.
having previously made a feast on two of thefr master's flnest sheep.
Among them was a native who had arrived that evening with a
message from a neighbouring farm, and who, though present when
the crime was committed, and probably a sharer in the feast, did not
join in the subsequent flight, and was found on the spot the foUowing
mormng. When questioned by the enraged Baas, he asserted his entire
ignorance of the whole affafr ; and even when tied up for punishment,
though promised immediate release and free pardon, if he would
confess aU he knew of the matter, he refused to say a word which
might inculpate his comrades, but underwent his penalty, which,
though pretty severe, was no more than justice demanded, in perfect
silence, and with a dogged stubbornness which might easUy have
been mistaken for heroism. Indeed, I was almost cheated into
admiration myself.
Though his ideas on the subject of meum and tuum, are thus
Umited, the Kaffr is nevertheless a clever and successful trader. Like
the Jew, from whom he is often said to be descended (what nation has
not, about whose origin there is any question at aU ?) ; he has a
natural taste for comraerce, and at a deal is not easily matched. One
of his most common tricks is an affectation of innocent simpUcity,.
under cover of which he will frequentiy pass off a studied ruse upon
his unsuspicious customer. Nor is this talent confined to the male
sex. While at KUp Spruit I had several opportunities of obserring
this ; one instance I particularly remember.
Two intombis (unmarried gfrls) came one day to the hut with a
pot of wild honey, which they offered for a shUUng ; it is generaUy a
welcome dish on an African farm ; but this was dry and waxy, and
we rejected it accordingly. An hour afterwards the same fair
damsels retumed with another pot, containing, as they told us, some
fresh honey, much better and more Uquid than the last. And more
liquid it certamly was, haring been, as I at once detected, diluted
vrith a plentiful proportion of water from the crystal Umquehumba ! ^
So true is it that there is nothing new under the sun ! After escaping
from London " sky blue," I had come to the other end of the world

ZINGOLLI. 817
to buy watered honey! But when I reproached them for thefr
dishonesty, one of the gfrls, putting on an afr of would-be perplexity ;
asked me : —
" What I had to complain of? The white man was very hard to
please ; he said the honey was dry, and then he was angry because it
was too wet."
There was no contending with such casuists, so I simply dismissed
them, not vrithout a fear that, like the Sibyls, they would make their
appearance a thfrd time, and with an article stiU more adulterated ;
but they did not repeat the experiment.
About five nules from KUp Spruit, on the banks of the lUova,
dwelt ZingolU, one of the numerous petty chiefs, by whose aid,
according to existing regulations, the Diplomatic Agent conducts the
administration of his government. A very decent specimen of a
Kaflr chief was ZingolU, between whom and our host, the groot
Engelshman, frequent interchanges] of civiUty, and neighbourly
intercourse, used to take place. Seldom did a week pass without our
receiving a visit from his Majesty's henchman, a sedate, dignifled
man, mounted on a pack-ox, and carrying a long Bfrmingham
fowUng-piece, in deflance of aU rules or ordinances to the contrary.
Entering the hut with the usual salutation of " Saga bona Inhos"
he would seat himself on the ground close to the door, and proceed
to deUver his errand, which was sure to be a request for some trifle
or other, of which his Majesty stood in need, — a Uttle coffee, or sugar,
or tobacco, or a bit of caUco, or an old shfrt. On one occasion the
chief wanted a box in which to keep his money, of which he had a
good store, partly accumulated by the sale of cows and produce ; but
mainly collected from his subjects in the shape of tribute. In return
for these favours we occasionally received a jar of honey ; and after
harvest-time sundry pots of utshuala, a fermented Uquor, made from
the grain of the amabale* or Kaflr corn, of a Ught chocolate colour,
sharp, yet pleasant to the taste, and very wholesome. The brewing
• Though I have elsewhere given the name of "millet" to this Kaflr corn, I am by
no means sure that I am right in so doing ; its grain is very small, reddish brown, and
resembles rape-seed more than anything else.

218 A ROYAL RECEPTION.
of this beer, which takes place as soon as the crop is gathered, is
celebrated with a great feast, at which there is an extra quantity of
singing and dancing, such as I have already described, and a Uttle
intoxication j though in this last respect the Kafir, to do him justice,
is stiU far behind the white colonist ;— if he remain long so, it wUl not
be, alas ! for want of example.
ZingolU sometimes paid us the compUment of a visit in proprid
persona, laying aU ceremony aside, and dropping in, in a friendly
way, generally about dinner-time. He prided himself on his know
ledge of European habits, and would not only sit at table, and handle
his knife and fork Uke a Christian, but really appeared at his ease
whUe doing it. He gave us many a pressing invitation to his kraal;
but the report which our man gave of the road thither was so
unfavourable, that it was long before we summoned courage to try
it; at length, however, partly because we feared offending his
Majesty, and partly tempted by the prospect of a day's fishing in the
lUova, we resolved to accomplish the joximey. The distance was but
five mUes, — ^but such miles ; up and down perpendicular hiUs, across
marshy vleis filled vrith a thick forest of crackling reeds, over
loose stones that sUpped from beneath the feet, or against which,
hidden in the long grass, the unwary pedesfrian stmck with a force
that shook his whole frame, and perhaps threw him head foremost to
the ground ! The last descent was nothing but a series of stumbles,
some of which might well have produced worse results than the burst
of laughter which invariably followed them. We reached the
bottom, however, vrithout any untoward accident, and were weU
rewarded by the lovely scene that awaited us.
At our feet flowed the crystal stream of the Hlova, its waters
sparkling when they caught the rays of the sun, but elsewhere dark
vrith the reflection of the wooded heights that hemmed the narrow
gorge into which we had dived. Between the bank and the foot of
the precipice, nestled in among clumps of scrubby but picturesque
underwood, was the kraal of our host, who gave us a right royal
welcome, and quartered us in one of his best and cleanest huts. I
need not describe the feast, which consisted of beef, Kafir corn,

SMOKING. 21»
meaUes, and tefshtmla, eked out with some coffee, and a few other
European luxuries, for whieh ZingolU fancied he had acqufred a taste.
But for the beneflt of the respectable community of smokers, of which
I am myself an ancient member, I wUl describe a method of inhaling
the deUcious poison, with which even the most experienced among
them may possibly be unacquainted, and which is certainly omitted
by Byron in Ms celebrated address to tobacco, in which, after enume
rating aU the forms which it is made to assume, he gives his preference,
very erroneously, as I think, to the cigar.
In the first place, the Kaflr does not smoke tobacco; ZingolU
himself did, because he was a chief; bnt his subjects inhale the fumes
of the dakha, a taU plant, which I imagine to be (bnt do not stake
my botanical reputation upon it), a species of vrild hemp ; and this is
the way in which they use it : — ^in the outer side of a moderate-sized
cow-hom (I say moderate, since many horns in Natal are four or five
feet in length), a smaU hole is bored, into which a hollow reed is
closely fitted ; the horn is then fiUed with the weed and Ughted, and
the Kafirs, sitting in a circle, pass it round, each in his turn taking
one long draw of several seconds duration at the mouth-piece. What
becomes of the smoke I do not quite remember ; but, the inhaling
process concluded, the spitting begins, which is indeed the chief part
of the entertainment. Ejecting thefr saUva in smaU cfrcles on the
floor, they proceed vrith thefr fingers, and the said choice material, to
design various flgures, and to scratch plans of kraals, camps, &c.,
chatting aU the whUe, and evidentiy carrying on some game or con
test, in which they take great interest. When the game is played
out the marks are rubbed over, the hom is passed round, and the
same elegant amusement recommences. I beUeve the intention is to
exhibit a mock representation of a battle or cattle-lifting foray, and
that it may he considered as the savage type of the refined and noble
science of chess.
In these and other amusements the women take Uttie part ;
indeed, a Kafir woman has hut a wretched existence ; before marriage
she is kept Uke a piece of goods ticketed for sale, and ever after she is
a drudge. No wonder she spends her wedding-day in tears. Some of

220 FISHING IN THE ILLOVA.
the girls are perfect models of symmetry, graceful, Ught, and firm in
carriage ; but work soon teUs upon them. As to thefr characters and
habits it is the most painful riew of the whole Kafir subject, and may
as weU be passed over in silence.
We stayed two nights in the glen, and had a most successful day's
whipping in the lUova, catching two or three stone of flsh, which, as
we had brought salt with us, we were able to preserve for future con
sumption. I suppose the largest may have weighed about three
pounds, but we lost several much larger, (what flsherman ever went
out without hooking and losing some monster of fabulous size ?), and
with a net I have little doubt we might have fiUed a cart. As it
was, we had quite enough to make the ascent of the first hill,a Hercu
lean labour ; and had not our kind host sent a Kaflr to reUeve us of
'the burden, we might have stuck midway to this very hour.
As far as I saw of ZingolU's government he seemed to hold a
gentle sway over his subjects, and to be in high favour amongst them.
I have generally observed that the Kafirs throughout Natal appear
attached to thefr chiefs (one of the best reasons, by the by, for doing
away with the system altogether). My doctor. Jack, owed aUegiance
to one Goza, whom he was always extolling to the skies, but when I
asked him why he respected him so much, his reply was, " Wow ! Goza
greatjgentleman, Uke Mister Fjrrie ; he got three horses." Divert the
tribute money from the chief's pocket to the pubUc treasury ; make
them poor, and thefr power ceases at once.
I have often spoken of the difficulties which the farmer finds in
deaUng with his native labourers ; but I have omitted one, which is
the cause of much annoyance. At the end of the month the Kafir
expects his flve shUlings, and of course he generally gets it to the day.
Sometimes, however, it happens that there is no sUver on the farm,
and then some such scene as this takes place. Boy enters the hut,
and asks for his wages. The master, after convincing himself that
five shUlings cannot be coUected among aU the hands on the place,
makes shift to explain the matter to Boy, who either does not, or
vrill not understand. " He must be off to his kraal, and wants the
money."

LIKE MASTER LIKE MAN. 231
" But I have no change ; if you wUl wait tUl so and so returns
from the bay, you shall be paid."
Boy sits down in the corner of the hut, and mminates for an hour
or two, and then gives it as his opinion that it is quite impossible that
an Inkos Inkulu (great chief) like the Baas, should have no money.
To reassure him on this point, master shows him a sovereign, and
explains (as weU as he can) that it contains four times the value of
his wages ; but that he cannot turn it into shiUings at a moment's
notice. It is aU in vain : Boy sits down again, sulky, and uncon
vinced, and seems likely to become a fixture in the hut ; so he is at
length kicked out, and probably starts off at once to his kraal, and
tells how the Englishman cheated him out of his wages.
I did know one really good Kafir servant, and I must chronicle
him. He was not a Zulu, but a frontier Gaika, and had Uved with
his master, a farmer in the Sovereignty, for many years. So devoted
was he that he turned his talent of lying, a talent which these fellows
excel in, to his master's serrice. I called there one day vrith the in
tention of buying a trek ox, and the farmer not being at home, his
native servant, who spoke EngUsh fluently, took me to look at the
herd. I fixed my eyes on a fine grey steer.
" Has he ever been broken to the yoke ?" I enquired of my sable
conductor. " Yes," repUed he : " he has trekked har op acht, in the young
span every day."
The animal had never had a yoke on his neck, and I knew it ; but
snch an instance of zeal for another's interest, on the part of a native,
was worth a dozen oxen, and I could not find in myheart to be angry
with him. " Like master, Uke man," says the proverb, so I took the
hint, and went elsewhere for my purchase.
The Zulus are not generally handy about horses. Mount them,
and they vriU ride anywhere; but woe betide the poor animal
entrusted to thefr care. Klaas, our groom at Balcony House, was an
exception to this rule. The boy delighted in horses, and was a natural
jockey ; and I verUy believe, vrith a Uttle training, would have made
a successful dehUt in an English stable. His great delight was to go

222 "LITTLE BIT."
out in search of stray steeds, when he wonld take a quiet gaUop
before bringing them back. The cunning feUow always knew where
to pitch upon each particular horse ; but he knew also how to enhance
his services by making the task appear more difficult than it reaUy
was. Schutkraal was a continued source of revenue to him. The old
horse had no idea of confining himself to the Maritzburg vlei, haring
a natural instinct for smelUng out the best pasturage vrithin ten miles
of the city. The consequence was that he was seldom forthcoming
when wanted, and Klaas was despatched in search. After some hours
he would come back vrith the news that Schutkraal was nowhere to
be found. This would eUcit the offer of a shiUing as an encourage
ment, which generally had the desfred effect ; but, on one occasion, the
rogue kept me in suspense for a fortnight, tiU at length, in despafr, I
rose the offer to a crown. That evening Schutkraal was inthe stable.
E  ^"s remaining servant was " Bitji," or "little bit ;" so called, I
presume, on the principle of lucus, a ndn lucendo, as he was a gigantic
copper-coloured animal, but cheerful withal, and one who loved a dry
joke in his way. During a severe iUness which I had towards the
end of my stay in Natal, Bitji performed many of the offices of a sick
nurse, and the quiet tread of his naked feet was grateful to my excited
nerves, as he moved about my Uttle chamber. He had no idea, how
ever, of paying all these deUcate attentions for nothing, and had fixed
on his reward; which was no other than an antique shooting-jacket,
which was certainly no longer respectable for a decent citizen, and
which Bitji thought might be transferred to him, without any great
loss on my part. Now it so happens that I have an affection for an old
jacket, faded and worn though it be, and that I had destined this one
in particular, for my expeditions with the casting-net, and had cut off
the buttons that they might not catch in the meshes ; and, finally
that I had another present in riew for friend Bitji which, for reasons
of my own, I reserved to a future period. But my nurse was not so
easily put off; he had set his heart upon the jacket, and the jacket he
would have. Morning, noon, and evening, in the parlour, in the
passage, on the stoep, wherever he met me, I was always accosted
with the very same words : — " Mina sibenza Umlungu byna sich ;

EDGE TOOLS — LANGUAGE. 223
nika Kafula haatje !" which compound of Dutch, English, and Zulu
means — " I worked for white man when he was very sick ; give the
Kafir the jacket." I need scarcely add that his importunity succeeded.
In temper I should be rather inclined to caU the Zulu phlegmatic
than choleric ; yet I have known several instances in which he has
obeyed the sudden impulse of passion. I have knovm him, when
struck, and hut sUghtiy, by his master, for some fault, seize his
assegai, (which as a rule he should never be permitted when in service
to retain), and hurl it at the striker ; fortunately he missed his aim,
and before he could spring beyond its reach the long lash of the
wagon-whip was playing about his legs with an effect that soon
brought him to the ground whining for mercy. On another occasion,
1  , the landlord at Uys' Dooms, being requested by a neighbouring
fanner to send forward a young buU which the latter had just
purchased, rode over to a kraal with a view of engaging a Kafir for
the purpose. It was just at the time that the Zulu expedition was on
foot, and there was a meeting of young warriors at the kraal who, on
L  's arrival, surrounded him, brandishing thefr newly-sharpened
weapons, dancing, shouting, and gesticulating with a vehemence that
was almost alarming.
At last, the point of an assegai grazing his cheek, he began really
to doubt thefr intentions, and, on the impulse of the moment, seized
the offending weapon by the shaft. The owner immediately snatched
it away with an exclamation of anger, and in so doing drew the
blade through L  'shand, inflicting a severe and painful wound. I
beheve they were sorry or frightened at what they had done, and offered
aU the remedies in thefr power ; but the fact is they are like chUdren
with edge tools, and should be very sparingly allowed to use them.
Perhaps half the misunderstandings which arise between the
Zulu and the colonist may be fraeed to thefr mutual ignorance of
each other's language. The magnitude of this evU has been felt
nearer home ; and it would be weU if means could be taken for
obriatUig it, by compelling the rising generation to speak EngUsh,
which they readily learn to do, and letting the Zulu graduaUy faU
into disuse, tiU, like the Hottentot tongue, it becomes obsolete and

224 ZULU LANGUAGE.
perishes. But till such a plan can be carried out, and it cannot be so
long as chieftainship exists, there is no excuse for the almost total
ignorance of the Zulu language, and the indifference as to acquiring
it exhibited by the many otherwise inteUigent emigrants. Now that
it is reduced to writing, and that through the medium of the papers,
as well as in cheap and useful vocabularies, every facUity is offered
to the student ; a very Uttle perseverance would enable any one of
ordinary capacity to master it.
Though a poor it is not an imgracefiil language ; in sound it some
times reminds one ofthe Spanish, and were it not for the indescribable
clicks and the frequent recurrence of gutturals, it would be really mel
lifluous. Its chief peculiarities are the common preflx of u, or uku, to
all infinitives, and the great majority of nouns ; the formation of the
genitive by the prefix of w, y, or b ; of the dative and oblative by the
addition of em or ini; and ofthe plural number again by ama or izi
prefixed. For example, inhlu, a house ; benhlu, of a house ; enhluini,
to, or in a house ; izinhlu, houses. The initial letters of words, and
sometimes the terminals also are changed for the sake of euphony,
which here means alUteration, to an almost endless variety. The
pronoun aho, thy, has not less than eight of these variations — saho,
haho, lako, wako, yako, nako, zako, and kwako. As a set-off against this
torrent of k's, I will only mention the Zulu " good night," lala cushla,
which recalls the cushla machree of the Irish, and the very sound
of which is enough to ensure " pleasant dreams and slumbers Ught."
As might be expected, the chief strength of the language Ues in
the multiplicity of terms belonging to cattle ; they are almost innu
merable ; not only every colour, but every possible manner in which
any two colours may be found united in the same animal, having a
distinct word to express it. In pronunciation the vowels are, with
few exceptions, broad- and full, and are independent of the surround
ing consonants.
The natives generally express themselves very plainly, and make
Uttle use of metaphors, or other rhetorical ornaments, yet instances of
almost poetical language are occasionally met with, sufficient to afford
additional proof, if it were needed, of the close connection that sub-

KAFIR ORATORY. 225
sists between the most reflned and studied form of oratory, and the
natural correct expression of the untutored mind.
" Those rules of old discovered, not devised,
Are nature still, but nature methodized."
In Panda's verbal despatches, whether to the Lieutenant-Governor
or to other Kaflr chiefs, these flights of eloquence frequently occur,
especiaUy when his majesty is in a complaining or threatening mood.
Thus in a message to the late Mr. West, soon after the arrival of the
latter, begging that his Aunt Mawa, who had taken refuge in Natal,
should be deUvered into his power, and complaining of the non-ful-
flUment of promises which had been made him on this subject, he
says : " He (Panda) went to Major Smith, and found him a rock."
And, again, " The feet of the messengers demanding redress and
restoration, are worn out in vain, — no redress has been given." At
another time Panda tells Langulabele, a petty chief, who had also
thrown himself on our protection, that "he must plait for himself a
rope that wiU raise him from the earth to avoid his vengeance ; but
that as long as he remains on its surface he cannot avoid it. He
alight think of assistance from the frogs (the EngUsh), but that this
hope was also a vain one, as he would find to his cost." And to
PntUe, another object of his displeasure : " My great men only have
gone to avenge themselves as yet ; when I go I shaU leave all whiten
ing." Among Kafir accompUshments I must not forget to mention,
that of being excellent mimics. In conversation they make plen-
tiliil use of gesture and action to Ulustrate thefr meaning, and in
describing what they have vritnessed they vriU represent each of the
different characters that figured in it by some pecuUarity of carriage,
gait, or general appearance, caricatured indeed, yet so to the Ufe as
to be unmistakable. " Who was that passing up the street ?" I
asked one moming of Crapai, an independent intelUgent lad (the two
epithets generaUy go together when applied to Zulus), whom my
friend C. Fyrie had lately engaged as his valet. For answer Crapai
raised his arm, after the manner of an auctioneer's hammer, and in a
tone which no dweUer in Maritzburg could have faUed to recognize,
cried out, " Going for three and sixpence ! No advance— gone." No
Q

226 KAFIR MIMICRY.
clown in an English pantomime could have done it better ; indeed
there are some of these fellows who, if imported, would, without
much teaching, make the fortune of a London theatre.
It may be easily supposed that this talent would be turned to
ample account by a knot of young EngUshmen, Uving in the same
house, and sometimes rather put to it to find vent for thefr exuberant
spirits. It is a bad plan to jest with a Kafir ; he ought to be kept at
a respectful distance, and taught to know his place. But what then ?
Fun must be had — eoute qui eoute. As the eldest in our little party
at Balcony House (a quaint reason by-the-by) the seat at the bottom
of the table d'hote, with its questionable honours and arduous duties,
had been assigned me. Being a near-sighted man, I discharged my
task, which generally consisted in the dismemberment of a couple of
tough ducks (nothing is tender in Natal), in a manner pecuUarly my
own, but which, from habit, I had long ceased to regard as singular.
Our head waiter. Jack, it seems was of a different opinion ; for, hearing
an immoderate burst of laughter proceed one moming from the par
lour, and naturally wishing to share in the entertainment, though
without any suspicion of the cause, I entered, and discovered my
gentleman seated gravely at the table before a large and enlightened
audience, the carving knife and fork in his hands, and an imaginary
duck before him, on which, with head on one side, and very much
depressed, and eyes turned all manner of ways, he was performing
, sundry fantastic operations, by which the wretch intended to represent
 . I cut him short by a sound box on the ear, whereupon he ejacu
lated " Wow !" and fled to his own regions, stopping for a moment at the
door to show his face distended with a grin of incorrigible impudence.
But my Umits wam me that I can no longer delay to enter
on a subject which I would fain escape altogether, for I can say
nothing that is satisfactory or encouraging, — I mean the capabiU
ties of the Zulu to receive permanent reUgious impressions, and
the degree of success that may be reasonably expected to attend
the efforts of those who devote themselves to his conversion. It is no
pleasant task to damp the ardent hopes of zealous and enthusiastic
spirits, or to cast the chill of discouragement npon the warm glow of

DIFFICULTY OF CONVERTING THE KAFIRS. 227
active and untiring benevolence, ever seeking new objects for its
attention, new spheres for its exercise and development ; but it is to
prevent these hopes from meeting with a late and bitter disappoint
ment,— to guard this benevolence against misappUcation or imposition,
against wasting itself in fruitless endeavours, and sometimes even
producing positive evU where most it wished to do good,— that the
fruth must be bared of aU excrescence, and put in its stern simpUcity
before the pubUc eye.
Speaking, then, from my own experience, and stiU more from the
unbiassed opinions of those who have had far more opportunities than
I have had of looking closely into this matter in aU its bearings, I
should unhesitatingly affirm the conversion of the Kafir, under any
chcnmstances, to be next to an impossibiUty, — under the Missionary
system, as it at present exists, utterly impossible.
Of Natural ReUgion, after mnch enqufry and some personal
observation, I have never been able to discover more than the very
famtest frace among the benighted people — so faint, indeed, that it
needed a keen eye to detect it at aU. Some few ceremonies they have
in which ingenious minds have discovered a fancied resemblance to
portions of the Mosaic institutions, and upon which they have tried
very hard to build something Uke a tangible theory ; but the founda
tion has proved too slender even for so unsubstantial an edifice. Of
the reUgion which the French caU culte,—o{ worship of any kind,
whether in the form of idolatry or the acknowledgment of an Unseen
Power— that is, of a merciful and beneficent Power — they have
KteraUy none. They pay respect to the manes of their chiefs, who,
though dead, seem stUl to inspfre them with a certain degree of fear ;
and they ascribe every event which passes thefr Umited comprehension
to the influence of magic. Hence they are the prey to designing
conjurors, medicine-men, and false prophets, who lead them completely
by the nose, and tum thefr superstition to the accomplishment of
thefr own rile ends ; hence, too, the present executions for supposed
Ititchcraft, the horrible torture of the ant-heap, which I mentioned in
|n early chapter, and many other barbarities too hideous to relate.
¦ But all these difficulties nught easily be overcome ; indeed, the

228 DIFFICULTY OF CONVERTING THE KAFIRS,
mind of the Kaflr being, as far as religion is concerned, a rasa tabella,
it would seem the better calculated to receive and retain the great
doctrines of Christianity: it is in his natural disposition that the
insurmountable obstacle lies — in his secret heart, which is that of an
irreclaimable savage — sullen, crafty, selflsh, maUgnant, treacherous.
His intellect may be cultivated to a certain extent, with considerable
success. Like the parrot, he will readily repeat his lesson — nay, he
will imitate, and naturally assume the tone of voice, the afr and
mamier of his teacher ; he will read his Testament, and sing psalms
translated into his language by the indefatigable missionaries, with
the true dolorous nasal twang of the conventicle ; but in this very
aptitude Ues the great danger ; that which is in reaUty but the clever
acting of an accompUshed mimic is too often taken as the eridence of
a changed heart, and is quoted in support of a system which is not
only inefficient but radically wrong.
An instance very much to the point occurs to me at this moment,
which wUl illustrate far better than I can explain the nature of those
superflcial results, and the amount of faith which should be placed in
them. A Kaflbr servant having brought a note one evening to Balcony
House, the loungers on the stoep, according to the bad habit prevailing
amongst us, fell into conversation with him, and soon discovered that
he had had the benefit of more instruction than usually faUs to the
lot of his kind. Needing no encouragement, he chattered away with
easy familiarity, giving his opinion on various subjects, till at length
he spoke of reUgion, and thus described his idea of the immortality of
the soul. " When I die," said he, " umzimba (the body) harriha (go)
so," (pointing to the earth) — " Umoya (the spirit — properly wind)
so,". — and folding his hands together, he blew gently through them
upwards, as signifying the flight of the immortal part to the realms
above. Could anything be more beautiful or more striking ? Would
not the very recital of suoh a scene in dear credulous England have
drawn tears fi-om the eyes and money from the purses of listening
multitudes ? Would it not have been received as undoubted proof
that the Kaflr was not only a man of genius and a poet, but a sincere

THE CONVENT PARROT. 229
Christian ? Alas ! alas ! Boy was simply acting over again what
his kind master or mistress had so prettily taught him; and some
other parts of his conversation, which did not proceed from so pure a
source, showed that his mind, Uke a mfrror, reflected all images pre
sented to it with equal fldelity, and retained them, as far as any good
purpose was concerned, with a hold equally transient. In short. Boy
was, morally speaking, a decided scamp.
There was once a parrot, which Uved in a convent, and leamed his
mes and credos, and became so renowned for his devout character that
people made pilgrimages from far and wide to see and converse with
him. The abbess of a nunnery, of a superior and doubtless more
wealthy order, had long set her eyes on this paragon of birds, and
after many a fruitless negociation, became at length the happy
purchaser, at an untold sum. So one fine morning. Poll was brought
down to the convent-gate, and consigned, amid tears and lamentations,
to the hands of a lay brother, who was charged, under pain of all
sorts of penalties, to convey him by the canal-boat safe to his destina
tion. Poll's last word, as he parted fi-om his old friends, was
" Senedicite." But on the canal-boat the company was not quite so
select; and before the exemplary bird had been there an hour he had
begun to learn a new language, of a very different style to that which
he had hitherto known, but which, under the auspices of an old
bargeman, a travelling musician, and one or two other passengers of
ambiguous character, he acquired so rapidly, that long before the end
of his journey he was master of a complete vocabulary.
Arrived at his new abode, he was received with rapture ; but what
was the astonishment of the assembled sisters when Poll, perching
upon the back of a chafr, lifted his right claw to his beak, and with a
knowing look, asked the abbess (in German — for it was in Germany
this took place) whether her mother knew she was out ! The effect
may be imagined : but when this was foUowed by something more
decidedly profane, and flnaUy by a perfect torrent of what in England
would be termed " Billingsgate," they decided that the bird was
bewitched, and had recourse to exorcism und holy water. It was all
in vain : poor PoU retumed, indeed, occasionally to his ancient role,

230 SPECIOUS RESULTS OF MISSIONARY TEACHING.
which he sustained with becoming grarity and decorum ; but the
lesson of the canal was never effaced, and one or the other was
equally likely to be uppermost in his throat. So he feU into disgrace,
and was soon ignominiously expelled the convent.
Now, the Kaflr only differs from the parrot in that he has the tact
to adapt his conduct and conversation to the cfrcumstances and the
people among which he flnds himself ; and therefore seldom falls into a
similar scrape, otherwise the resemblance holds good in every parti
cular. In short, nothing is easier than to make him a canting hypocrite
— nothing more difficult than to make him a sincere Christian. Indeed,
the very first and the most prominent effect of missionary teaching upon
him is to raise his self-conceit, of which he naturally has a fafr allow
ance, to a height at which it is almost unendurable. How far removed
from the humility and diffidence which should attend the faintest
dawn of Dirine truth upon the soul !
I shall never forget my disgust when, having off-saddled one
broiling day, after a ride of about twenty or thirty miles, at a large
missionary establishment, and having grievously committed myself
by requesting a draught of utshuala, I was incontinently set upon by
one of these hopeful converts, who was determined not to lose the
opportunity of displaying his superior attainments. There was no
Apollo to preserve me, and the feUow earned his right of boring by a
pot of amaas, whieh, he informed me, was much better than utshuala,
and would not make my head go so (suiting the action to the word).
Everything, according to his creed, was " ai muschla'' or not good. It
was " ai muschla " to drink beer, to smoke, to sing about cows, to go
naked, to have more than one wife ; — but it was good to sing psalms J
and, bringing a hymn-book out of his pocket, for he wore shfrt and
trowsers, he forthwith gave me an opportunity of judging of his pro-
flciency in sacred music. I must candidly confess that I have heard
quite as bad singing in an English parish church. He showed me
his wife's Testament, too, in which her name was written, as he
affirmed, by herself ; if so, she might give a lesson to many a young
lady of my acquaintance in penmanship. But what displeased me
was the fellow's manner, which said, as clearly as words could have

NEED OF CHURCH DISCIPLINE. 231
done, that as far as reUgion went, he was perfectly indifferent ; but,
on the one hand, he had the sense to see that, by falUng in with the
missionary's notions, he got better treatment, and was altogether the
gainer in worldly wealth ; and on the other, his vanity was tickled
with the idea of being raised to a superiority over his fellows, and
placed on an equality with the white man, an idea which he had
imbibed to some purpose ; for when I asked him whether he would
accompany me to England, he hesitated a minute or two, and then
made me the foUowing modest proposal : — That if I would take him,
and his wife, feed and clothe them, and give them £4 a month, he
would consent !
The Church, indeed, possesses, in the authority with which she is
invested, in her immediate connection with the secular power, and
more than all, in her excellent doctrine of silent obedience and sub
mission, a powerful antidote against the evils to which I have aUuded :
and far be it from me to deny that her efforts may be attended vrith
a blessing which can scarcely be expected to foUow those of unautho
rized and unordained preachers; but I much fear that even her
teaching would be thrown away upon the full-grown savage, whether
male or female. It is upon a new generation that her hopes must be
hoilt, and upon which aU her exertions should be concentrated. With
the chUdren, if completely isolated from the rest of thefr kind, and
brought up from thefr tenderest years under sound reUgious training,
strict discipline, and carefuUy regulated instruction, something may
he done j at aU events, the experiment is weU worth the trial, and in
such hands, cannot lead to harm. A habit of docile humble submission
once established in thefr minds, the way would be laid open for the
inculcation of the doctrines with which such a disposition can alone
aceord. In allthis, I would not be understood to imply a single word which
might be construed into an attack upon the dissenting missionaries
now settled in Natal. I have every reason to beUeve them earnest,
mdefatigable, self-denying labourers. If they have failed in accom
plishing muoh actual good, it has been the fault of the system which,
as members of different societies, they are compeUed to adopt — not of

233 DANGER OF PET ESTABLISHMENTS.
any want of zeal in themselves. With the system alone, therefore, is
my quarrel. To teach the Kafirs to read and write, to distribute
thousands of Bibles amongst them— this is a mere secondary point ;
indeed, it may be questioned whether the Bible itself, without the
authority of the Church to guide and dfrect the reader, would not be
the means of confusing rather than enUghtening the minds of these
benighted people.
Because a Kafir wears trousers, drinks no utshuala, has but one
wife, reads his Bible, and argues plausibly and cleverly on reUgious
topics — ^because he subscribes for the erection of chapels and schools —
nay, because he is invested with the office of deacon or elder, it does
not necessarUy follow that he is a Christian. He may be, and has
been all this, and yet remains, to all intents and purposes, an uncon
verted heathen. Sound discipUne must be the basis of conversion, and
that cannot be attained under the present system.
If the Government will work cordially with the Church, great
results may follow, otherwise we shaU find that " the dog wUl return
to his vomit," and the apostate disciple prove worse than the natural
uncultivated savage.
Horace tells us something about driving out nature with a pitch
fork ; and the warning of an earlier poet against pet menageries is so
remarkably appropriate, that I cannot better conclude this chapter
than by transcribing it. For the sake of my fafr readers I have
clothed it in an EngUsh garb ; the scholar wUl excuse the palfry
attempt, — it is not intended for him : —
Thus hath a man
Reared for his house's bane
A lion cub, new weaned ; —
In the flrst jousts of life
Gentle, and mild, and tame :
The children's playfellow— the old man's joy ; —
Oft would they in their arms, ^
Like to a nursling babe.
Dandle their savage guest ;
And he, when hunger pressed.
With look benign, would greet the extended hand ; —
But in due tinie he told
The nature which of old,
Even from his birth, had slumbered in his breast.

DANGER OF PET ESTAB[LISHMENTS.
For on the slaughtered flock
Making forbidden feast,
He with its bloody frag:m.ents strewed the floor,
And stained the house with gore, —
An ill requital for their fostering care j —
Too late the inmates found
A mighty pest revealed,
A grief they could not shun,
A many-killing curse ;
As if with foul intent,
By evil spirit sent,
Destruction'B minister had eome.
And they been doomed to nurse
The destined spoiler oftheir peaceful home.*
' ^chylus Agamemnoa : idpe^ev 6e K4opra' k.t.A.

m

CHAPTER XV.
A SICK-NUKSB — EECOVERY — HOMEWARD BOUND — RIDE TO d'UBBAIT— EMBAR
KATION — DELAYS — A FORTNIGHT IN HARBOUR — A WET WALK — A GALE
IN THE PORT — THE EAR — GOING OUT OF HARBOUR — AT ANCHOR — THE
HANNAH SETS SAIL — DEATH AT SEA  A FALSE MOVE — A STORM — •
ALGOA BAY — THE SURF — WASLEY's — THE TOWN — MISSIONARY BURNT IN
EFFIGY — HOTTENTOTS  "ONE FOR SORROW"  MORE STORMS — LADY
PAS.SENGEES — HEAD WINDS— SHORT ALLOWANCE — GALLANT EXPLOIT —
A NARROW ESCAPE — MORE GOOD THAN EVIL  TOM SAVED.
During the illness which I incidentally mentioned in the last
chapter, Bitje was not my only nurse. A week or two previously I
had been agreeably surprised by the sudden appearance of Barkley,
who came in, true " Smous" fashion, with a string of young horses and
cattle, — the former from the renowned Hantam district, in the old
colony; the latter from the Sovereignty, where he had disposed of the
wagon, and much of its now useless contents. He had slipped across
the frontier just before it became impassable, and had had a tedious
and solitary, but not disastrous journey.
His companion had changed his ploughshare into a sword, and
had afready figured in more than one despatch ; but the two friends
had agreed to meet at Algoa Bay, and proceed home together. I was
homeward-bound myself, and though I had not contemplated an
immediate departure, was easily persuaded to hurry my preparations,
and secure that best antidote to the tedium of a voyage, the com
panionship of kind and pleasant friends.
I was yet confined to my room when this resolution was taken ;
and so reduced by illness, that on the removal of our host, E  , vrith
aU his estabUshment from Balcony House to Verandah Lodge, a large
and handsome buUding, which the increase of his business had enabled
him to venture upon, I was carried, helpless as a child, upon Barkley's
shoulders, and deposited in the pretty little chamber allotted to me in

HOMEWARD BOUND. 235
our new abode, which, but for his stout arm and kind heart, I scarcely
know how I should have reached.
Eecovery, however, when once begun, is astonishingly rapid in
this deUghtftil climate, and within a week after my removal, I was
gaUoping over the vlei on one of the newly-imported steeds, and
longing for a stiff fence to try his mettle and my own. A few days
more, and all was ready for a start. Natal horses, saddles, and all
kinds of movables and immovables — strictly colonial — were sold
and, notwithstanding the press of time, without loss ; parting visits
were paid ; letters, and parcels, and messages entrusted to our care ;
horns, skins, and Kafir ornaments were collected for our curiosity-
loving friends at home ; aud, best thing of aU, the painful process of
packing was completed.
It was on the first of AprU, — a year ago this very day that I am
writing it, — somewhere about seven in the morning, that I turned
round in the saddle to wave a last (?) adieu to the famiUar forms upon
the stoep of Verandah Lodge, whence many an expression of good
will and kind regard followed me on my way. " Come back again,"
cried one, " vrith a wife and a fortune ! " " Stay at home, if yon are
wise," cried a second. " Don't forget to write," said several voices
at onoe ; and thefr echo was in my ear long after I had cleared the
town, and was fafrly out on the open country.
People may rail at the world, and talk of its coldness, and the
want of kindred spirits and true sympathy. I beUeve the deficiency
to be in themselves ; and that if they could shake off thefr own icy
wrappers, and meet their fellows with a warm and natural grasp,
they would find few hearts or hands that would not thaw to the
touch — few natures that would not respond to the invitation— very
few that would not repay the effort. For my own part, I have
seldom made a sojourn in any place (and my experience has been
pretty extensive) where I have not left at parting quite enough of
kindly feeling — call it regard or affection, or the mere result of
famiUar intercourse — to cause a vacuum in some comer of the heart,
which has heen none the Ughter for the loss. Indeed, as on this
morning the empty corner has been filled up with regrets and recol-

236 RIDE TO D'URBAN.
lections, and distrustful anticipations, which weigh much heavier,
and do not sit so easy.
Natal, too, as if in sympathy, was putting on her autumn dress
again ; and she looks neither cheerful nor pretty in it. Hers is not
the gorgeous Uvery of the October forest : —
The " bright leaves reddening ere they fall,"
or that of the yeUow hedge-rows stripping off thefr faded apparel,
and hanging the ruby berries on thefr bare but graceful branchlets.
The rank grass, bent with the weight of its own ripe seeds, its ver
dure and freshness gone as though pestilence-stricken in the height
of its luxuriance ; or the black ashes, that showed where earthly fires
have been doing the sun's work more completely and expeditiously, —
these do not combine to form an exhUarating picture ; and had I been
alone, I should probably have had to recaU this — my last ride — with
much less pleasure than any I had taken in the colony. A lively
comrade, however, is a sure remedy against blue devUs, from what
ever cause they may arise ; and the young emigrant who rode by my
side was too full of cheerfulness and animation for dullness to exist
long in his company. We slept that night at Klip Spruit, where the
kind host insisted on giving up his bed for my accommodation, and
the next evening, after a long but not tedious ride through the most
beautiful forest scenery I had yet met with in Africa, found ourselves
in the broad vlei that stretches up from the sea between the Berea
and the wooded high land terminating in the Bluff, whose bold
outUne stood out right before us, keeping quiet watch over the
narrow entrance-gate of the colony.
I had never been in D'Urban since my first arrival, and was able
to appreciate the rapid strides it had made in a period of scarcely
seven months. Houses had sprung up in aU directions. Brick and
mortar was in many instances superseding wattle-and-dab ; and large
warehouses and stores were beginning to give a more substantial and
business-like appearance to this quaintest of cities. I could not help
suspecting that the credit of some of the proprietors rested on a
foundation Uttle more secure than the sand on which their ambitious

EMBARKATION. 237
structures were raised, and into whioh, or into a gulf equally
profound, thefr over-bold speculations were but too likely to plunge
them. There was quite a show of shipping in the bay, but we had no
eyes for any but the brigantine Hannah, which lay nearest the
outlet of the harbour, ready to slip away with the first breath of
westerly wind ; for it was in her that we had taken our passage to
Cape Town. She was to call at Algoa Bay en route, and expected to
make the voyage in eight or ten days. Her captain was well known
to us personally as weU as by reputation, both for good seamanship,
and other agreeable qualities, and our disappointment was very great
oa finding that he had for this frip entrusted the command to his first
mate, and that we should lose alU^e the pleasure of his company and
the certainty of good management in every particular which his
presence on board would have ensured us. This was but the begin
ning of our misfortunes. As I have already hinted — to take a ship
out of the harbour, a westerly wind is absolutely necessary ; while
from the moment that she is in open sea, the fair wind for Cape Town
must come from an exactly opposite quarter. Owing to this cfrcum
stance, and the want of a steam-tug, which would at once remedy the
eril, ships are often detained for days, and even weeks, in the
harbour ; and when at length they have crossed the bar, they have to
contend for many days against a head wind, and one, too, which in
the winter season, is almost always a gale. It was on the 4th of
April, that a -strong westerly breeze having suddenly sprung up, the
passengers for the Hannah were hurried frantically on board,
urged by the repeated maxim, that " time and tide wait for no man,"
and the warning that there would be another shift of wind within
twenty-four hours.
The shore-going friends have taken a parting glass in the cabin,
and dropped one by one over the side ; the sea-going have gazed on
one another as if calculating the chances of pleasure or the reverse to
be derived from each other's society ; berths have been inspected and
Arranged, and all are eager for a start. The pilot boat has gone
forward to examine the bar, and we only wait its retum. Alas !

238 DELAYS.
after an hour's anxious expectation, the report reaches us that the
surf is too heavy to make the attempt to-night, and that we must
wait the next tide. The foUowing morning we are rocking lazUy at
anchor, whUe a steady easterly breeze, to which, if outside, we might
spread every rag of canvas, played away over our loose masts and
useless rigging.
A fafr scene is the harbour of Natal : but lovelier prospects might
well become distasteful to the most devoted admfrer of Nature's
beauties, under cfrcumstances of such tantalizing delay. Nor was our
temper improved by the constant arrival, during this and the following
day, of successive boat-loads of sugar, which we shrewdly suspected
had more to do with our disappointment of the previous night than
the riolence of the surf or any other alleged cause of detention. Those
of the passengers who had homes or fiiends at D'Urban left the ship
at once, determined not to be lured hack by any false alarm, while the
rest of us passed an amphibious kind of existence, half on shore and
half on board, and endured it with what patience we could muster.
Some tedious hours we whUed away with rod and Une at the
foot of the bluff, where the breakers dash among the jagged rocks and
the fragments of the Minerva Ue scattered along the beach. The fish
were of indescribable shapes and of all the colours of the rainbow ;
and we rarely caught two of the same species. Those of the perch kind
were especially beautiful and delicious eating. Sometimes we would
row up the bay, and, landing on one of the islands, feast on the wUd
plum or umtumgula, a choice and delicate fruit, particularly ex
ceUent as a preserve, which grows luxuriantly there.
But if the delay was sufficiently irksome to us men, to the ladies
it was perfect misery. To one ofthem, indeed, a poor gfrl in the last
stage of consumption, it was something far more serious. She had
been brought to Natal in the vain hope of benefit to be derived from
change of air, and she now only longed to return home to die. Bitter
indeed to her was the sickness of " hope deferred," as she felt the
days of her life di-awing rapidly to a close, and the chance of her ever
seeing the beloved Cape growing hourly less and less ! She never
did see it !

A WET WALK. 239
The 15th of April, and stiU the Hannah Ues motionless in the
harbour; and not she alone, but four other vessels are loaded and
ready for departure. On the afternoon of that day, tokens of change
once more appeared ; and Barkley and I, who had been up at the
riUage, were adrised to lose no time in returning to the ship. As
the tide was making out, we took off our shoes and stockings and
started off by the short cut across the angle of the Bay which, at the
ebb, is perfectly dry, and on which we did not expect more than a
few inches of water in the present state of the tide. Wet feet are a
luxury in Natal ; and we did not count upon more, but whether that
In the dusk of the evening we mistook our point, or whether we had
not aUowed sufficient time for the water to retreat, we had not gone
far before it fiowed first above our knees, and then up to our waists,
and we expected it at every step " to win our hats abune." Some
fairy influence seemed to be at work in the matter ; for at one moment
the frees of the opposite shore would seem close at hand, and the next
there was nothing but " water, water, everywhere." We began to
feel rather uncomfortable, and really it was more by good luck than
cunning that we at length found ourselves under the Custom-house
bank, none the worse except that we were nearly parboiled with our
exertions in the tepid element.
The kind of mfrage by which we had been deceived is no un
common thing in the Bay and its " WUl-o'-the-wisp" tricks are
sometimes ludicrous enough ; but had we by chance turned our heads
a frifle more to the right, we should soon have found it no laughing
matter. As it was, we plodded on along the sand till we came abreast
of our ship, when our haU was answered by the unwelcome intelUg
ence that the boat was gone up the Bay to the town.
Constrained to wait on this inhospitable spit of sand, I tumed the
opportunity to account by examining the works constructed by Mr.
Milne, the engineer employed for the deepening, and, if possible, the
entfre removal of the the bar. This being the shallowest side, he
has thrown out a number of small piers, consisting simply of two
rows of stakes driven deep into the sand, the space between them
fiUed with large stones. By this means the channel is narrowed

240 A GALE IN THE PORT.
and the whole force ofthe stream throvm on the other side under the
bluff, where the water is deepest. There is afready a decided im
provement, but to what extent it can be carried is yet doubtful. I
believe that from fifteen to sixteen feet can now be got on the har in
spring tides. Intent on these observations, I had forgotten aU about
the promised change of weather, when I was startled by Barkley's
exclamation : " Here comes the wind." I looked up ; a black cloud
had suddenly made its appearance on the western horizon ; the sea
breeze had suddenly dropped ; there was a sense of struggle among
the elements, a whfrling movement in the afr ; and then the squall
burst out of the west, driring before it a cold piercing rain that did
not materially add to the comfort of our position. In three minutes
the Bay, which had been calm as a pool, was lashed into a sheet of
foam, the waves breaking round the Uttle piers, and sucking in the
sand at our feet in perfect whfrlpools. We were now doubly anxious
to get on board, and, returning to the Custom-house, made earnest
application for a boat, but were informed that the attempt to board
the ship would be hazardous in the extreme. Just then we heard a
rushing sound upon the water, and, looking out to sea, saw what.
might be a vringed creature dart like a meteor down the bay, casting
a white cloud of spray around its glancing course. We shouted ; but
we might as well have hailed a hurricane. Back we ran at the top
of our speed to the spit opposite the Hannah ; but the boat, if boat it
were, had disappeared. We afterwards found that she had been
driven round the point, and upset ; and that the men who, like all
sailors when left to themselves, had been " carrying on" in spite of
the squall, had narrowly escaped drowning. For ourselves we had
now no alternative left but to trudge back to D'Urban ; and, after a
heavy walk over the sands, we reached Mrs. EusseU's in time for a
very acceptable cup of tea, and a glass of pontac, which was scarcely
less so.
This time the wind did not fail us as before, but, when the gale
ceased, which it did vrith day-break, continued to hang, though but
lightly, in the same quarter. All were once more on board; the
owner himself, with a large party of friends, had come to see his ship

DEATH AT SEA. 241
safe over the barrier, and as we got under weigh rather more expe
ditiously, and vrith less bustle, than we expected, our visitors, some
what against their wUl, were obliged to bear us company through the
most delicate and dangerous bit of navigation which the voyage was
likely to present. The wind, as I have afready observed, was very
Ught, and we were more than once so near to the shore that an active
man inight have leaped from the bulwarks on dry land, and we were
only saved from being sfranded by a prompt dropping of the anchor ;
but by dint of very careful handling we at length passed the bar
withont a touch, and, as the wind then became foul, anchored out
side, to await a change. The Dreadnought and Mountain Maid
foUowed safely in our wake, but the Vixen was not so fortunate,
turning broadside on the bar, and coming off with the loss of both
her anchors. Our friends meanwhile had returned in the pilot-boat,
giring us a lusty round of cheers as they shoved off, which we as
lustily returned. That day and the next we rocked heavUy at anchor,
than which no motion can be conceived more calculated to clear the
after-deck, and to reduce would-be nautical gentlemen to their proper
terrestrial level.
Of all days in the year it was Good Friday that our voyage
actually commenced ; and never did voyage more fuUy confirm the
idea of ill-luck which sailors attach to any enterprise begun on this
day. On Easter-Eve the poor girl breathed her last so quietly that
we could hardly tell the moment of her departure. On Easter-Day
we committed her body to the deep, with less of ceremony, perhaps,
but I trust with not less decorum, or true feeUng, than attends such
an offlce on shore. The late captain of the Minerva, Mr. Moir,
read the funeral service, and as the corpse, in its simple canvas
wrapper, sunk beneath the clear, calm, green sea, I could not help
contrasting the present scene with some sights I had witnessed in our
city churchyards, and feeling that as far as it was aUowable to have
a choice in such matters, this was the resting-place I should select for
my mortal part to remain in tUl the time when earth and sea shall
alike give up thefr dead, and the body shaU rise again to new life,
cleansed from the dishonours of the grave.

243 A FALSE MOTE.
On the morning of the 23rd we were, by reckoning, abreast of
Algoa Bay, but seeing our consort, the Mountain Maid, tack to
eastward, our captain concluded that we had overrun our point, and
put the ship about. We did not find out our mistake tiU we had lost
precious time, and a breeze that would have taken us right into port.
An opportunity missed is not easily recovered, as we experienced to
our cost, for just as we had entered the bay, and had caught a glimpse
of the lights in Port Elizabeth, and were congratulating each other
on the prospect of a supper on shore, a black arch suddenly spanned
the landward horizon, and, darting from its centre with a roar like
thunder, the north-west hurricane burst upon us. " Down vrith the
helm ! hard up." " Hard up, it is sfr," shouted the captain. Heavily
the schooner swayed round, her masts creaking and groaning with
the sfrain, and her whole frame trembling, as if with instinctive fear;
another minute and she was dashing madly forward, while the demon
of the storm shrieked and howled above, beneath, and around her, as
if in furious pursuit. As one by one, with that energy which sailors
in the moment of danger so prominently display, gib, mainsail, and
foretop-saU were staved, hauled down, and clewed up, her head rose
more buoyantly above the threatening surge, her motion became
lighter and more controlled, and in haK an hour's time she had got
well clear of the land, and lying-to with nothing but her mainstay-
sails set, was as snug and secure as any floating creature could be
that was exposed to that awful tempest. A gale on the south coast
of Africa is no very rare occurrence, nor'-westers and' sou'-easters
diriding the year pretty equally between them ; and I can speak of
tliis one with the less fear of falUng into the suspicion of dealing in
landsman's exaggeration, since I have the authority of a captain of
twenty year's experience in the coasting trade between Algoa Bay
aud the Cape, who assured me that he had never known it to blow
harder. The next morning we were fifty iniles from land, and my
sea-log, which lies open before me, adds, " gale moderating," " sea
mountains high." It was not till the evening of the 25th that, under
happier auspices, we again entered the bay, and stood in for the
anchorage.

ALGOA BAY. 243
Algoa Bay, in common with most African ports, is Uttle better
than an open roadstead, exposed to the full sweep of the south
easterly gales ; and when these prevail, as they do pretty generally
throughout the summer months, it is by no means a pleasant place to
cast anchor in. So well is this known to the commercial world, that
the rate of insurance to this port is, with one exception, higher than
to any other frequented by English vessels. The wrecks which may
be always seen along its surf-gfrt shore, bear fearful testimony to the
number of casualties, which, however, have been somewhat diminished
by the erection of a splendid lighthouse, with what is termed a flash
ing light, on Cape Eecife, the low point at its western extremity, on
which many a gaUant ship has been lost. Another great drawback
to the Bay is the surf, which makes landing at all times troublesome,
and in rough weather, to inexperienced hands, extremely dangerous.
To obviate this difficulty a pier was carried out into the smooth water
beyond; but it was of wood, and an unfortunate ship driving straight
upon it, it was shattered to pieces. But courage and skUl are gene
rally at command where an obstacle of this kind exists, and the
harbour boats in Algoa Bay are perhaps the flnest in the world ;
certainly a finer crew could not be found. Under thefr guidance the
feat is no more than shooting a St. Lawrence rapid in one of the
Tregular steamers. The passenger can enjoy the excitement, with little
risk and no responsibiUty. As we approached the frothy border, the
head of the boat was square on to the beach; the stroke, always
•regular and even, was increased in power and velocity ; a bound Uke
the shy of a well-bred courser, and we appeared to fly into the air,
fcffhence, pausing the hundredth part of a second, we descended an
abyss so steep, that as I sat in the stern sheets, holding on for the
bare life, the bow oar appeared at the bottom of a precipice beneath
my feet. Another bound ; and, as the keel touches the sand, out
spring the hardy crew on either side, and, while some hold fast the
boat against the resorbent influence of the tide, others seize each
¦a passenger in their brawny arms, or receive him upon their steady
shoulders, and bearing him through the creamy foam, deposit him
safe on dry ground. There is but one thing to comjilain of in all

244 WASLEY 8 HOTEL.
this, and that is the extravagance of the charge. There were five of
us, and we paid seven shillings and six-pence a-piece ; which, con
sidering that the crew might easUy make half-a-dozen trips in the
forenoon, may be reckoned pretty considerable pay. But we were in
no mood to grumble, though quite ready to do justice to an excellent
breakfast of boiled fish and penguin's eggs, among other luxuries, at
Wasley's, a very pattern of an hotel, with the additional recommen
dation of a capital biUiard-table, and a most obliging and com
panionable host. The eggs are procured from an island in the Bay,
where these remarkable birds have a perfect colony, and where, on
the night of the storm, the Mountain Maid had a narrow escape
from being wrecked. So imminent was the danger, that the captain
had actually secured his papers and other valuables about his person,
in momentary expectation of her striking, thinking it impossible that
she could pass in safety the narrow channel through which he was
compelled to steer.
Port Elizabeth is a bustling, thriving place, with no beauty to
recommend it ; but their is an animation and progressive spirit about
its inhabitants that must always ensure its prosperity ; and should
the seat of government be removed to Graham's Town, as sooner or
later it must be, will make it the most important of South African
cities. I am told that there is a homely, hearty tone in the society
here, which may be sought for in vain either amongst the gay and
fashionable circles at the Cape, or the less refined settlers at Natal;
and from what I saw during my short stay, I should be disposed to
put the fullest faith in the assertion.
The town itself is built on the side of a hill, whose summit is
clothed with short grass, Uke the Brighton downs, and quite as
vrindy, — a nice place for a gaUop after a day's work in the dust and
sand below. The aspect of the country is very unpromising, either
to the agriculturist or the seeker of the picturesque ; nor is there any
great improf ement tUl you reach Uitenhage, at twenty mUes distance,
well known as a perfect paradise of luxuriant vegetation. The streets
are regular and well stoned, and the houses substantial, and some
times even handsome. I remember being particularly disappointed

MISSIONARY BURNT IN EFFIGY. 245
on being told that a fine building, of chaste and true ecclesiastical
style, which ought to have been the church, belonged to a dissenting
congregation. The church, otherwise a respectable edifice, was quite
thrown in the shade, — emblem of the subordinate part which the
body it represents has hitherto played in the religious affairs of the
oolony ; a reproach which the indefatigable Bishop is now straining
every nerve to remove. May he meet with the success his zeal and
singleness of purpose merit ! There is more, even in a political sense,
involved in the issue of his labours, — more that is fraught with results
whioh must affect govemors as well as governed, than statesmen of
the nineteenth century have either eyes to perceive or courage to
confess : so nearly aUied are loyalty and churchmanship, and so iden
tical the causes which lead to contempt of temporal and of spfritual
authorities. A remarkable exempUfication of this occurred during our short
stay. A soi-disant reverend happened to arrive from Graham's Town,
whence he had been obUged to fly the fury of the populace, being
shrewdly suspected of having had a finger in that most villainously
concocted pie— the Hottentot rebelUon. It is not necessary for me
to enter upon the question of the justice of these suspicions ; the Bay
people eridently thought them worthy of belief, since he was not only
bumt in efiigy in the streets, and treated to all the honours that are
usually paid to " Guy Fawkes, the prince of sinisters," but so com
pletely was he tabooed, that the very boatmen refused to carry him
through the surf, and captains preferred empty berths to so ill-
omened a passenger. He has since come to England, and has, I
doubt not, given his own version of the story ; but as in these matters
belief is entfrely subservient to incUnation, and judgment always
precedes the hearing of evidence, the less said on the subject the better.
Apart from the macadamized streets, stone houses, and other
marks of long-established prosperity which make the contrast between
D'Urban and Port Elizabeth sufficiently striking, there is one remark
able point of distinction which more than streets or buildings atfracts
the fraveUer's attention, stamping a pecuUar character on either town.
I allude to the complete change which here takes place in the coloured

246 "ONE FOR SORROW."
population ; the tall and lathy Kaflr, with his belt and apron of cats'
tails, being replaced by the squat Hottentot, in European costume,
with his broad-brimmed hat, and crown of ostrich feathers. The
women too, who, in D'Urban and Maritzburg, rarely make their appear
ance, except to bring in country produce, fruits, reeds, or wood to
market, here swarm like monkeys in a kloof, and keep up a clamour
as incessant and unintelligible. Their graceful forms clad in bright
cotton petticoats, with gaudy 'kerchiefs about thefr heads, add much
to the liveliness and animation of the scene. Their faces apart, many
of them might be called beautiful; and some half-castes of taller
stature, with the negro features softened down, and the colour very
little darker, than to be just sure proof, might contest the apple with
many a fair Helen of the north on terms of equal rivalry. They
remind one of the quadroons of the southern states, whom, unfor
tunately, they resemble but too closely, in other points besides personal
appearance. We spent four very pleasant days at Wasley's, and it was with
regret that I found myself unable to make a longer stay ; the more
so, as our party on board was diminished by the loss of its most
agreeable members, — an officer in the commissariat who had come round
to join the forces on the frontier, and Barkley, who, under pretext of
awaiting tidings of our mutual friend, exchanged his narrow berth in
the little schooner, for the chance of better quarters, and a shorter
sea voyage.
As we glided out of the Bay on the evening of the 29th, our sails
just flIUng to a light but a fair breeze, a single porpoise darted across
our bows, and for some time continued to play round us, drawing
bright streaks of light on the calm surface, that flashed, and vanished,
and then appeared instantaneously on the other side of the ship, as if
coming from a different quarter. I am not superstitious ; but these
creatures are seldom seen except in shoals ; and though there is nothing
in common, that I know of, between a porpoise and a magpie, yet I
could not help fancying that the "one for sorrow," might prove as
applicable to the flsh, if flsh it can be called, as to the bfrd. " Quite
as appUcable," says the strong-minded man with a sneer ; and he is

MORE STORMS. 247
probably right ; and yet, within twelve hours, it blew a hurricane.
Four days after we were still abreast of Cape Eecife, haring been
unable, even vrith the Mozambique current in our favour, to make the
slightest progress to westward. I can convey no idea to a landsman
of the fury of a nor'-wester in these latitudes ; the sailor needs no
description of mine. The schooner was in light ballast trim, tight as
a drum, buoyant, and in every respect as good a sea boat as ever
floated ; but, on the other hand, she was never what is commonly
termed a clipper, and on the present occasion was so high out of the
water that, when saiUng "by the wind" she made more lea than
headway, and when hove-to, as she was sometimes for days together,
she drifted broadside-on, Uke a feather, before the blast. From the
same cause, when under snug canvas, she rolled so fearfully that we
were in momentary expectation of seeing her masts go over the side
— an apprehension which rose into real alarm, when in the height of
the storm, mainstay and backstay successively parted, the latter with
a report loud as that of a musket. HappUy this occurred in the day
time, when it was comparatively easy to secure the flapping tackle,
and make all fast again vrith a new spUce : had it happened in the
night, it would have been a much more serious affair. It is a common
saying among sailors that, unless you have rounded the Cape, you do
not know what is meant by a sea ; and certainly neither the heavy
swell of the Bay of Biscay, nor the long roll of the Atlantic, nor the
short chop, less appalUng but more dangerous, of our own channel, gives
more than a faint idea of the tumultuous strife of waters that accom
panies a gale of wind on AguUas Bank. Lashed into ungovernable
fury, the waves appear no longer to succeed one another at regular
intervals, but to be tossed into a confused and struggUng heap, whose
contending parts only unite to pour their avalanche upon the vexed
barque that labours and strains and plunges among them.
It is true, that in all this, there was more of the appearance than
the reaUty of danger ; and that the critical moments when danger did
occur, passed generally unnoticed by the trembling passengers, whose
faces rose and fell with the roar of the wind in the cordage, or tha
'¦ hoHow sound of the roUers, as they broke agauist the firm knit timbers

848 LADY PASSENGERS.
of the old ship : but still there was enough to account for a blanched
cheek, even among the men ; and as for the poor women, the horrors
of actual shipwreck could have added Uttle to their distress. Pent in
a close stifiing cabin, which hardly aUowed them standing room;
their berths only separated by a curtain from our common dinner
table, with no one to wait upon them but a miserable little scarecrow
urchin, on whom, in the Ulness of the steward, all his multifarious
duties had devolved; exposed to the society of a captain, whose
obtrusive familiarity was only equalled by his coarseness, whose every
word was an execration, and who inspired as little confldence in his
skill as respect for his authority ; with a discontented and all but
mutinous crew ; and with the hope of speedy release becoming daily
more and more distant and uncertain, it was no marvel if even the
patient endurance for which their sex has been renowned, gave way
before so severe a trial. On the whole, they behaved nobly; and
when a worse evil appeared to threaten us, and our provisions, which
had been amply, nay sumptuously, calculated for a voyage of eight or
ten days, began, after the thfrd week, to run short, they not only put
us to shame by their qxdet and cheerful submission to privations
which must have come with tenfold hardship upon them ; but, like
true useful Englishwomen, turned thefr house-keeping talents to
account, and were of the greatest assistance to us, in eking out what
remained of our stores, and concocting palatable messes, with the
smallest quantity, and most unpromising kind of material.
The storms generally lasted from four to five days, and were
dirided by intervals of dead calm of from twenty-four to forty-eight
hours' duration. Thefr approach was always intimated by a sudden
fall in the barometer, which, a sure monitor in every sea, is in these
latitudes an unerring and invariable one ; nor can its warnings be
neglected with impunity.
I vriU not detain the reader with the contents of our sea-log, which
is full of tackings and reefings, of setting and taking in of sails, and
many other manoeuvres which, though painfully interesting at the
time, requfre the pen of a Marryat or a Chamier to make them other
wise than tedious and unintelligible on paper : nor wUl I attempt to

GALLANT EXPLOIT. 849
describe our course, which crossing and recrossing itself in aU possible
dfrections, resembled, when drawn upon the chart, with its multi
plicity of angles, some infricate problem of Euclid, over which the
arithemetic mathematician might pore with delighted perplexity —
it was a veritable pons asinorum to us. I would rather, before bidding
a final adieu to the Hannah, chronicle an instance of daring gallantry
which occurred on her last voyage from the Cape to Natal, and which
from the modesty of the chief actors in the scene, and the remoteness
of the theatre on which it was performed, is scarcely likely to reach
the public ear through any other channel.
There were on board three officers, whom the exploits of Gordon
Cumming, and the sight of his gorgeous heap of frophies, had fired
with an ardour for wUd sports, which nothing short of an expedition
to South Africa could quench ; and they were now on the very road
to Natal whence their start was to be made for the far interior. I do
not know that I should he pardoned for mentioning thefr names, but
I shaU ever count the few days which I spent in their company, before
leaving Maritzburg, among the pleasantest of my sojourn in the
colony. The incident which I am about to narrate was told me by
our captain, who, in his more suitable capacity of mate, was present
on the occasion, and who, to do him justice, showed more feeling in
his manner of relating it, than I should have been disposed to credit
him for.
A heedless Uttle headstrong lad, the steward's drudge and general
fag of the ship, stepping thoughtlessly out on the bowsprit, and
gossiping with the men, or doing anything rather than looking care
fully to|his steps, missed his footing and dropped into the sea. At
the cry of " boy overboard," C  and W  , two of the offlcers I
have mentioned, who chanced to be standing on the deck, plunged
without a moment's hesitation over the side, and struck out boldly to
the rescue. The water was smooth and calm, and the ship was
gUding quietly along, under royals and studding sails. The poor boy
had heen carried right under the keel, and coming up astern, had
seized a fishing-Une that was hanging from the taflfraU, and might be
seen clinging to it with desperate tenacity.

250 A NARROW ESCAPE.
" Will he hold on till help reaches him ? " Alas! that grasp will
never be loosened while flesh and bone cUng together on the lifeless
corpse ! For the frail line has broken, and his last cry had been
drowned beneath the curling eddy in the ship's wake. And weU was
it for the gallant fellows who sprang in to save him, that it was so ;
encumbered by their clothes, thefr most strenuous exertions scarcely
served to support themselves on the water, and the clutch of the
drowning lad must have been fatal to them. As it was, one, a very
powerful and athletic man, managed to catch a rope that was thrown
out to him, and so to climb up the side ; but when the boat was
lowered, which it was with a promptitude and energy which showed
how high the two adventurers stood in the good graces of the crew,
so completely exhausted was W  , that it was with the greatest
difficulty, the united strength of the mate and sailors succeeded in
dragging him on board.
Thanks to true English hearts, there are seldom wanting out of
the smallest company men who will risk thefr lives for that of a fellow
creature; but in these days, when evil-disposed people set the poor
against the rich, and excite the jealousy of the lower classes against
all who are favoured by birth, station or fortune, it may not be amiss to
record how two young pleasure-seeking officers sprang into an ocean
abounding with sharks, and narrowly escaped death to save the life
of a poor cabin boy.
It is a bad thing to have a foul wind ; but on board the Hannah we
had the peculiar art of making a fair breeze a foul one ; and twice we
had the mortification of seeing an opportunity of making our desired
point thrown away, — once through an error in the chronometer, which
put us on the wrong side of the Cape of Good Hope, not many mUes
from the scene of the disastrous wreck of the Bfrkenhead ; and again,
when our captain, thinking we were a-head of Table Bay, stood
straight in for shore, in a thick fog, and in less than a quarter of an
hour would have run us on the breakers, had not a schooner, shooting
out of the mist right under our bows, proridentially warned us of our
dangerous vicinity.
If there be a weak pointin a man's character, such a voyage as this

TOO FAT TO BE SAFE. 831
must bring it to light, and he may well be called totus teres atque
rotundus who stands the test. I need scarcely say that we were
beginning to get weary of each other's society, that some lost their
spirits, and others their temper ; and yet, on the whole, I look back
with pleasure upon that little cabin. To be sure there were two old
Dutch ladies (maiden ladies of course) who were sea-sick all the time,
only somehow it never interfered with their appetites ; and I have a
grudge against them, because, when we were reduced to famine
rations, and liring on rice and gruel, they said nothing of two large
Natal hams, which were lying in the hold, and which they had not
the generosity to sacrifice for the public good. But then there was
dear good Mrs. S  , with her lively amusing little gfrl, the pattern
of cheerful patience and good humour ; and there was the Irish
widow, with whom we used to play at cribbage, and laugh till the old
timbers rung again, and with whom somebody was very much smitten;
and there was Mr. C  , who tried to keep us aU in order ; and last
of all there was the old tom cat, the genius of the ship, who would sit
so gravely, rocking to and fro, and steadying himself against the
uneasy motion like an old tar, and who got so spitefully fat upon
nothing that we could not have abstained much longer from putting
our reiterated threats into execution, of turning bim into soup.
But everything has an end, and just as poor pussy's Ufe was
trembling in the balance, the long-delayed breeze filled our sails, and
sweeping gently up the coast, in the shadow of the Lion's Eump we
rounded the low promontory of Green Point, and on the evening of
the 22ad anchored our storm-tossed barque in Table Bay, after a
passage of thirty days of actual sailing, and just forty-eight days
from that on which we had first embarked.
Of all the ships that sailed with us, either from Natal or Algoa
Bay, but one had arrived ; and, as we afterwards learned, none had
escaped loss of spars, or injury or accident of some kind ; so that we
had every reason to be most thankful.

258

CHAPTEE XVI.
PLEASANT CONTRAST — MRS. PARKER'S — AGREEABLE SOCIETY — CAPE TOWN —
THE OUEEN'S BIRTHDAY — RACES — SEIZURE OF A SLAVER — THE DON —
AWKWARD RENCONTRE — HOMEWARD BOUND — ST. HELENA — SIERRA
LEONE — ST. VINCENT — HOME — l'eNVOI.
From the deck of the Hannah to a snug room at Mrs. Parker's
— a well-dressed dinner, and a bottle of very tolerable Madefra — could
any confrast be more complete ? We have been but a couple of hours
on shore, and yet the last month's privations and dangers, and the
wearisome length of the voyage, appear to us like an unsubstantial
dream, which we recall with difficulty to our bewildered imagination.
All we feel is, that we enjoy the comforts that surround us with
unusual zest, and that we need have no scruples in doing so. And
right well does Mrs. Parker provide for the comfort of the weary
voyager, who frequently prolongs his stay from weeks to months,
unwilling to exchange such luxuries for the precarious accommodation
of ship or country quarters. Her table d'hote, where continental
freedom is blended with just enough of English reserve to keep off
vulgarity, and enough English heartiness to banish formal resfric
tions, is, in my opinion, one of the pleasantest in the world. Working
soldiers from Indian or African campaigns ; young cadets fresh from
the great nursery, and eager to prove their mettle ; weather-beaten
captains, and raw middies ; servants of the company with long purses
and sallow faces ; sportsmen tried and untried, from the tme Gordon
Cumming breed to the fashionable ennuyS, who expects to bag lions
like Norfolk partridges; ladies en route to India for husbands, or
homeward for health ; engineers, emigrants. Government officers ; —
these, and many other varieties of the genus " TraveUer," confribute
to form a society ever changing, ever original, from which it is a

CAPE TOWN — THE QUEEN's BIRTHDAY. 253
man's own fault, if he do not exfract both agreeable excitement and
sound proflt.
I shall not attempt to describe Cape Town. Who is not famiUar
with its peculiar, its indescribable scenery ? Shut out, as it appears
to be, from the rest of the world, with the rude waves dashing in
front, and the mighty Table mountain rising immediately behind, it
is at once a picture of man's enterprise, and of his insignificance !
Taken by itself, it is simply a clean, neat, regularly-buUt town, with
a general air of comfort, and even luxury about it, and with three or
four tolerable attempts at more ornamental structm-e. The Bay wUl
challenge comparison with Algoa as a dangerous roadstead ; the only
difference being, that here the north-west vrind is the dreaded enemy
instead of the south-east; the latter, however, though generally
harmless at sea, is by no means so on land, as it whfrls aloft, not
only the red soU, but the very pebbles, which descend occasionaUy
like a storm of hail, to the great annoyance of all who venture
abroad. It is this vrind, too, which spreads the remarkable covering
of cloud upon the mountain, known as the " table-cloth" — a pheno
menon I had not the luck to vritness during my short stay.
A right loyal people are the inhabitants of Cape Town, and
nowhere have I seen her Majesty's birthday kept with more hoUday
observance. The festirities had heen for some time preriously
announced to take place at the vUlage of Wynberg, about nine iniles
from the town ; and every four-legged creature in the neighbourhood
was engaged three deep; so C  and I, having resolved to be
present at the fun, were content, not without sundry misgivings, to
commit ourselves, with thirty-six equally reckless companions, to a
kind of van or omnibus, drawn by four horses, and very much
resembUng those of Hampton Court celebrity at home. More than
one of them had been upset on this eventful morning, but we
managed to preserve the centre of gravity, though the rocking
reminded us strongly of the Hannah.
The road, which is Uned with trees and rillas, and has quite an
EngUsh appearance, was thronged with carts and carriages, eques
trians and pedestrians, and made a show that would not have dis-

254 CAPE EACES.
graced a Derby Day. The Malay women, with their coal black hair,
and yeUow handkerchiefs, were the most novel and striking feature
in the scene, which had otherwise nothing foreign in its composition.
Indeed, all was honestly EngUsh ; the macadamized road, the jolting
omnibuses, the merry hearts, the homely wit that was flying about,
the love of sport that drew us aU together. And when we arrived
at the course, we drew up at a little public-house, where everything,
from the clean sanded parlour, with its high-backed chairs, and old-
fashioned clock, to the jolly landlord himself, was thoroughly English
— more EngUsh indeed than England herself is becoming now-a-
days. The ground was a hill-side, plentifully sprinkled with underwood,
fern, &c. ; the course was about half a mile, mostly up hUl. There
was no stand, the only building on the common being the tronk, or
gaol, the very sight of which was I suppose sufficient, for, thongh
there could not have been less than three or four thousand people
collected, there was no need for a single policeman. It was altogether
a very gay and pretty sight ; and the weather (the only un-English
part of the affafr) was perfect. The bill of fare was ample, and if the
racing was not quite Newmarket, or if the costumes displayed more
quaintness and variety than correctness of style, the fun at least could
not have been excelled. Besides the legitimate races, which included
horse, hack, pony, mule, and donkey, there was climbing greased
poles, jumping in sacks, and all the other etceteras of a country fair ;
and lastly, there was an attempt at a hurdle race, which was rich in
unseated jockeys and other catastrophes.
It may seem a trivial observation, but I believe it to be a true one,
that few things tend more to keep alive in our colonies affection for
the mother country than the love of sport, which all Englishmen have
more or less in common, and which, as one of our chief national
characteristics, should never lack encouragement. The Queen's
health has seldom been more heartily drunk, or more sincerely wished
than it was by her distant subjects on that 24th of May ; and the
circenses had a good deal to do with it.
I would with pleasure have lingered a month at the Cape ; and

SEIZURE OF A SLAVER. 255
should especiaUy have enjoyed an expedition into the country, and a
visit to some of its highly cultivated farms. But I had no excuse for
loitering. Our party was again complete by the arrival of Barkley,
who had, with his usual luck, got a friendly passage from Algoa Bay
in a Government steamer ; and our berths were secured on board the
Bosphorus, the pioneer of regular steam communication between
England and the Cape.
It was just ten days after our disembarkation from the Hannah
that we once more turned our backs upon shore, and steamed out of
Table Bay on our homeward voyage. We had no quiet Uttle party
here, but as motley a set of passengers as could well be brought
together. A Eoman Catholic bishop, and a dissenting missionary ;
an officer on sick-leave from India, and a snob returning from the
same place with a fortune picked up in trade ; a Jew teader from the
Sovereignty, and a French baker, and a Swedish captain ; an Algoa
Bay shopkeeper, and a veteran colonel; — suoh were some of the
repugnant elements that were, for more than a month, to he thrown
into contact with each other. Even now I have forgotten our Portu
guese, the pleasantest and most gentlemanly fellow of the lot. Don
Francisco had but one faiUng ; and so good a fellow was he, that
I would refrain from mentioning it, lest I should prejudice you,
gentle Eeader ! against him, — but there is a Uttle tale attached to
him. The fact is, the Don was a slave-dealer. At aU events, his
brig had been captured and brought into Cape Town by H.M.S.
Orestes some time before ; and the Commissioner had to decide
whether she was a lawful prize. On this point the two judges were
at issue : our Commissioner contending that she had been rightfully
seized, while the Portuguese Commissioner was of opinion that she
had been employed in a legal pursuit. Now, ia the international
treaty for the suppression of the slave-frade, it was decided, that as
the difficulty of catching slavers in flagrante delicto was very great,
and considering the impossibUity of proving a case against a slaver
if eridence of the fact were requfred, it should be sufflcient that so
much eridence should be adduced as should convince the judges that
there was an intention of slave-dealing, in order to warrant the con-

856 AWKWARD RENCONTRE.
fiscation of the vessel. The point, in the present case, was rather a
deUcate one ; the only tangible ground for suspicion being a deriation
from the course whioh, if a fair trader, the Eola ought to have held,
and the discovery of a number of mats, which, spread over the cargo
in the hold, constitute what is called a slave-deck. This latter
eridence appeared sufficient to the arbitrator, and accordingly the
Eola was condemned, and the Don, who was supposed to be super
cargo, or boat-owner, was held to bail to appear on trial.
Among the party who came on board to wish some friends good
bye, and see the steamer off, was one of the judges who had decided
this case, and, as ill-luck would have it, on his descending to take a
glass of wine in the cabin, he was met by the Don, who, thinking
that they were now upon neutral ground, came and shook hands with
him in the most courteous manner possible. The judge's consternation
was exfreme. Here was the man escaping from baU. He felt it his
duty to arrest him ; but was neither very wUling to take advantage
of the accidental meeting, nor very sure that he was able to do so, —
and so it turned out. For though the ship was stopped at his request,
yet the captain refused to lend the slightest assistance in making the
arrest, pledging himself only to stand neutral; and the boatmen from
shore taking the same Une, the amiable and worthy magistrate was
obliged to retfre, having done his best to perform an unpleasant duty,
but not sorry, I really believe, that he had not succeeded in aceom-
pUshing it.
As for the passengers, they made common cause with the Don ;
got him a passport for Lisbon at Sierra Leone ; and by this time, I
have little doubt, our gentlemanly passenger has laid in a fresh cargo
of black cattle, as he called them, and will keep a very sharp look-out
for her Majesty's cruisers.
At midnight, on the Sth of June, we passed within half a mile of
St. Helena. We were all on deck ; and I, for one, remained gazing
at the dark mass of rock for several hours. But I confess, that the
feeling of interest attached to the first sight of a much-talked of place,
and the awe with which a bold rocky shore always impresses me,
were not a bit heightened by any sentiment about Napoleon, on

HOMEWARD BOUND. 267
whose account I never could confrive to raise one spark of enthu
siasm. Far more delighted was I, when, waking at an early hour on
the 17th, after a night on the skirts of a tornado, and peeping
through my port-hole, I saw the rich glorious coast of Sierra Leone.
After all I had heard against this place, the view that met my eye
perfectly astounded me.
Instead of the barren, brown, adust appearance which the south
coast of Africa presents, a fresh verdure was all around : green frees
waved their boughs over the very edge of the water, and there was a
softness and brightness about the scene very unusual in an African
landscape. Boats, full of jabbering niggers and negresses, were shooting
rapidly about; and we were quickly boarded by a multitude of
women, clamorous for the washing, in which, by the way, they are
unrivaUed. As we had sixty tons of coal to take in, we determined
to make the most of our time, and were soon ashore.
Freetown has a more foreign appearance than any of the South
African cities. .Many of the houses are well built, and the streets are
laid out with great regularity. The smaller shops are quaint little
sheds, the upper part projecting over the lower ; and they are all
kept by women of colour. As there are few, or rather no carriages,
there is no dust or dirt in the streets, which are merely wide foot
paths, bordered by the very greenest turf— real turf— such as South
Africa knows not.
Of the negro population I need say nothing. These people are
much the same everywhere ; only there is more cant about them
at Sierra Leone than in America. I must not, however, fail to
acknowledge a share in a sumptuous luncheon, with unlimited cham
pagne, with which Mr. Pratt, a black merchant, who was our fellow-
passenger to England, entertained us, and which was really princely.
The true natives (the Medingos), are a very different race. From
the Uttle I saw of them, I should be inclined lo think them superior
in intelligence, if not in physical power, to the Kafir. I am told they
are very warlike ; that they have cavalry armed with lances, and

858 SIERRA LEONE.— ST. VINCENT.— HOME.
have given our troops some trouble. A musical instrument of their
manufacture, which I saw and heard, exhibits very great ingenuity.
It is made of fiat bars of wood, of different lengths, set across a frame,
on the lower side of which three or four hollow calabashes are fas
tened. The bars of wood are struck with sticks covered vrith a
material resembUng gutta percha, and thus the most deUcious sounds
are produced.
Among the chief delicacies of this luxurious country are oysters,
said to be the finest in the world, and pine-apples, which were sold at
three halfpence. Of curiosities, the black monkey skin is in greatest
esteem, and the mats are of various patterns, and prettUy worked.
Away from this paradise (I could hear nothing of fever or ill
health, except as the result of dissipation) with our rigging hung
with pines and bananas, and their perfume loading the afr.
Our next halt might have been at the Antipodes. St. Vincent,
where we stopped again to coal, is a rocky island of the Cape
Verde group, of volcanic origin, with scarce a blade of grass upon it,
barely enough to subsist a few goats, and a scanty crop or two of
Indian corn. The town is a wretched coUection of hovels, the inha
bitants, Africano-Portuguese, no less dirty and miserable looking ;
population about one thousand. The only remarkable thing onshore,
besides its extreme barrenness, is a burial ground, made by the offlcers
and crew of an American ship, ten of whom died of the African fever,
and were buried here. Strangers are requested to contribute to its
preservation ; and they seem to have complied ; for its white wooden
monuments and white railings are in good order. The harbour is
full offish ; we caught a great variety over the side, and all were good.
East winds rendered the last part of our voyage tedious ; but, on
the whole, it was a very prosperous one ; and convinced me of the
superiority, as far as comfort and management are concerned, of the
screw over the paddle. We shall know more about the speed after
Mr. Mare's large ships have made a trial or two. On the Tth of July
we reached Plymouth, just as all our coals were exhausted, and the
boiler so encrusted with salt, that we could not get more than six or
seven pounds of steam.

L'eNYOI. 269
I have but one thing to add, dear Eeader, to this book, before I
submit it to your approval. Long before it meets your eye, if, indeed,
it should ever do so, its author hopes to be again among the scenes he
has endeavoured to describe, where'he has fixed his residence for
some years, perhaps for life. He has not attempted, as you can bear
him witness, to puff his adopted home ; but he can assure you, if you
are inclined to try the experiment, and ship yourself and your family
to Natal, that you have heard the very worst of it, and that you may
treat aU depreciating accounts that go beyond this with contempt.
The best is yet to come ; and if it should be the author's fortune to
address you again, he has Uttle doubt of being able to do so in a bolder
and more confident strain of encouragement.
And so FareweU !

c  e»Q*!4i#iJ.a--J

260

INDEX.

Africa, South, vast amount of
animal life in, 82 ; natural
history of, 112 ; hunting in 120
Agriculture, in South Africa,
41 ; (see Farming and Land).
Algoa Bay, passage near, 3 ; de
scription of . . .243
Ambush, lying in .110
Angling, in Natal . 117, 118
Animals, vast number of, in
South Africa . . 82
Ante-nuptial contracts . . 57
Ant-hills near D'Urban, 10 ;
multitude of, 80 ; horrible
use of, for punishing crimi
nals  81
Atmosphere, changes of the . 77
Attendants in travelling . . 49
Attorneys at Natal . 29, 30
Auction at Maritzburg, descrip
tion of the . . . 39,40
Baking, process of . . . 158
Barkley, Mr., unexpected risit
of  234
Bathing, 60 ; intense coldness
of the water . 89
Beltong, a prepared flesh . 83
Bitji, the Zulu, anecdote of . 222
Bloem Fontein, a district of the
Orange River Sovereignty, 81 ;
fort erected at . . 83
Boers, defeat of the insurgent,
8.3 ; characteristics of the,
104 ; treatment of the . . 195
Botha's farm . . . .19
Braggadocio, a specimen of . 58
Bushman's Eiver . . .21
Bushmen, Hottentot marauders,
kept in check by the Cape
corps, 63 ; mistaken leniency
to the, 64 ; their stronghold 64
Byrne, Mr., his emigration
scheme . . . .11

Caledon, a district of the Orange
Eiver Sovereignty
Cape Town, the metropolis of
Natal, 15 ; trade of, 16 ; pas
sage to, from D'Urban, 237 —
261; airival at, 262; festivi
ties and amusements at 253,
Carriage- conveyance wanted at
Maritzburg
Cattle, of tbe Bushmen
Cavalcade, the
Chaka, king of the Zulus, atro
cities of, 64, 191 ; assassi
nated . ...
Champagne, the glass of .
Chance meeting
Chase, equipment for the, 108 ;
adventures ofthe 109 et seq.
Christmas, morning at . .128
Church, difficulties of the, 28 ;
government school-room ap
propriated to the .
Church discipline, necessity of
Climate of Southern Africa
Cloete, Mr., his opinions regard
ing tbe immigrant Zulus 199,
Cockney shopkeepers
Colonial aiistocracy, 26 ; sym
bols . . . . 44
Colonization, remarks on, 25, 26
Colony, how to settle a . 86, 86
Coloured population, on the ex
tinction of the, 172; great
change in the . . . 246
Commerce of Natal, 14 ; in
creasing spirit of the . 123,124
Courict labour, advantages of 162
Cork, Corporal
Cotton, a valuable production of
Natal ....
Cotton farm near D'Urban
Course, which to steer
Cows, Kafir management of
Curtain drawn

82

254 34
63
129

192

126

28
231 77
205 61

136

165 19 3
155 77

index.

Custom-house officers, civiUty
oftlie . ... 10
Dairy, mismanagement ofthe . 155
DarneU, Mr., a feUow-traveller,
47, 63 ; his personal quaUties 47
Death at sea . . . .241
Deserts, stormy ... 64
Diary of travelUng . 73 et seq.
Dingaan, king of tbe Zulus,
slaughters the Dutch caval
cade, 62; his tyranny, 192;
assassinated . . . 193
Dishonesty of the Kafirs 216, 216
Doctor Jack . . . .31
Doctors at Natal . . .30
Dogs of Natal, 48 ; thefr hark
ing, 93 ; their hunger . .96
Dorp, what constitutes a . .92
Drakenberg, description of the
mountain, 67, 68 ; ascent of
the, 74 et seq. ; its difficulties,
79; its summit, 81; a vast
tract of table land, ib. ; jour
ney over and descent from, 88 et seq.
D'Urban, riUage of, 5, 7 ; inns
at, 8 ; commerce aud trade of,
14, 15; ride to, 236; rapid
improvements in, ib. ; har
bour of, 239 ; gale at . . 240
Dutch, of the Cape, 16, 16;
party feeling with regard to,
27 ; famUies of, travelling to
Maritzburg, 52 ; cavalcade of
murdered by the Zulus, 62;
oharaoteristios of the, 143 ;
their hospitality . . . 144
Dutch Boer, interview with a . 73
Embarkation from D'Urban . 237
Emigrant ship, described . 2
Emigrants, how to settle 85, 86
Farm, search for a, 99 ; estimate
of the outlay for stocking oue,
99 ; occupations of the . . 157
Farming in South Africa, 41,
122 ; want of neatness in,
123 ; badly managed by Ka
firs, 166 ; does it pay ? . 160
Farms, notices of . . 150, 154

Father and son, a distressing scene 146
Fereira, Mr., the auctioneer . 39
Fishing in the lUova, 220 ; at
Natal  238
Flory, Mra., her hospitable wel
come  127
Freetown, of South Africa . 257
GaUant exploit . . . 250
Game, the great abundance of,
42, 83, 89 ; hunting for . 95
Geutlemen innkeepers . . 140
Geography of S. Africa, incor
rectness of the maps . . 100
German town . . . .19
Gooseberries, a night among the 153
Green, Eev. J., notices of . 28
Hans de Lange, a Dutch Boer,
74, 76 ; his fearful adventure
with a lion . . . .97
Harrismith, town of, 82, 86, 92 ;
hunting pack at . . .119
Haycock, a full one . . .211
Hedge-rows, beauty of, in farm
ing, 159; lines on, . .159
Highlands, district of the . . 84
Hippopotami, a preserve of . 42
Homeward-bound . 236, 257
Honey, dishonest sale of . .216
Horus of a dUemma . . .33
Horses, breed of, 35 ; their de
fects and characteristics, 36,
36 ; prices of, 37 ; breed im
ported from England . .122
Hottentots, character of the, 66 ;
state ofthe . . . .174
Housebuilding, expensesof . 104
HoweU, Mr., local knowledge of 130
Hunting, iu South Africa, 83,
95, 120 ; adventures iu, 96,
99; 109 etseq. ; equipments for 108
Hunting pack at Harrismith . 119
lUova river, 218 ; fishing in the 220
Impafane river . . .62
Indigo, culture of . . .166
Inns, thefr charges and accom
modations atD'Urban, 9; scar
city of in general . . .143

Jackals, depredations of

. 116

index.

John BuU's soliloquy

PAGE
. 196

Kaar-kloof falls . . .149
Kafir butchers . . . .69
KaEr Police. . . 134,137
Kafirs, trading with the, 94, 96 ;
employment of, 106 ; their
war-dance, 136 ; bad farmers,
155 ; difficulty of obtaining
their labour, 163, 164 ; causes
of the war with, 169 ; pro
bable number of, 175 ; how to
deal with them, 175, 179; its
difficulty, 180 ; danger of arm
ing them, 185 ; their Arabian
origin, 190 ; anecdotes of, 208
et seq. ; musical group of, 209 ;
a full haycock of them, 211 ;
their dishonesty, 214, 216 ;
their mimicry, 226 ; difficulty
of converting them, 227;
their ignorance of religion . 227
Kat river Hottentots . .174
Kathlamba, the stronghold ofthe
Bushman . . . .54
Klip plaats, ledges of rocks . 60
Klip river ... 64, 66
Klip Spruit farm . . 154
Labourofconricts, 162; ofKafirs 163
Ladypassengers, hardships of the 248
Ladysmith, viUage of . .64
Land, sale of, 87; cleared and
uncleared . . . .161
Land-sharks of Natal . . 5
Language of the Zulus . . 224
Law, state of, at Natal . . 29
Lawyer editor at Maritzburg . 188
Lawyers and thefr bUls . . 29
Learned professions, absence of 28
Letter of introduction . . 24
Limpopo river, ita course and
embouchure . . . .101
Lindley, Mr., a farmer at Bloem
Fontein . . . _ . 122
Lions, fearful adventure with,
96 ; their ferocity, 97 ; hunt
ing of . . . . 98, 136
LongfeUow's description of the
western prairies of America . 83
Love, an EngUshman disap
pointed in . . . .66

Luggage, carriage of

FAGS
. 11

M'Cabe, Mr., his arrival at Har
rismith .... 113
Mackensie's peculiar quaUties 49
Maritz, the hospitable Dutch
man ..... 133
Maritzburg, first riew of, 21;
description of, 21, 23 ; society
of, 25 et seq. ; its pecuUar
position, 26; the streets of,
impassable, 34 ; an auction at,
39 ; our departure from, 49 ;
pleasing -new of, 50 ; return
journey to, 128 et seq. ; the
hiU ascending to, 138 ; alarm
at, from fear of the Kafirs,
183; newspaper press at . 186
Market, tent in the . . .43
Marriage, law of property con
nected with . . . .57
Masters and Men . . 166
Medicines, expenses of . .30
Methley, Mr., his farm . . 150
MiU, Lieutenant, visit to . .67
Milne, Mr., the engineer . . 239
Mimosa, the African tharn . 20
Minerva, wreck of the . . 4
Missionary burnt in effigy . 246
Missionary teaching, specious
results of . . . .238
Moffat, Mr., search for his re
sidence, 93 ; character of, 94,
100 ; his hospitality, ib. ; his
farm  103
Monotonous existence . 107
" More sticks than grass " . 13
Mules, breeding of . . .42
Murphy, Mr., an enterprising
frader ... 74, 76
Murray's farm . . . .19
Natal, harbour of, 3, 4 ; a night
in, 6 ; land sharks of, 5 ;
plagues of, 12 ; its dependence
on Cape Town, 15 ; the dio
cese under the Bishop of Cape
Town, 28 ; its great distance
from the capital, ib. ; state of
the law at, 29 ; rivers of, 60;
increasing commerce of, 124 ;
return joumey to, 126 ; alarm

INDEX.

263

at, &om fear of the Kafirs,
182 ; occupied by ihe Um
lungus, 194; by numbers of
the refugee Zulus, 196, 199,
207 ; heavy gale at, 240 ; final
departure from . . . 241
National customs . . .213
Natural history of South
: Africa .... 112, 117
iNelson's Kop, description of . 89
Newspaper press of Maritzburg 186
" Old Man's Drift" . . .129
Omnibua versus waggon . . 34
One too many . . . .17
Oosthuizen, Martinus, a Dutch
Boer, risit to ... 65
Orange Eiver Sovereignty, ac
countof the, 81 etseq.; farm
ing in the, 112; our anxiety
I to leave it . . . . 118
tOstriches, their amazing swift-
' ness ..... 90
Otto, Mr., his farm . . .41
Ourebis, a species of antelope,
swiftness of the . . .70
Ox, anecdote of an, 69 ; kiUed
by a Uon . . . . 1 36
[Oxen, various names of, 61 ; be
longing to the Zulus, 73 ; re
covery of ... . 101
Paauws, the wild turkeys of
South Africa ... 20
Page, Mr., a specimen of brag
gadocio . . • .68
Panda, king of the Zulus . 193
Parker, Mrs., comforts of her
establishment . . • 2o2
Parrot, curious anecdote of a . 229
party, the • ¦ • ; ^'
iaul Beste, a Dutch Boer, and
' amagisteate . • 8^,92
Pet establishments, danger ot . 2rfi
Pigs, Kafir management of . 165
Pine Town, flourishing state oi 19
Plaatberg, scenery of by moon
Ught, 91 ; farm of, 103; our
I departure from . ¦ • i^*
Plagues of Natal . •„ fl '
PoUce, state ofthe, 33; Kafir, ^^^

Port Elizabeth, flourishing state
of  244
Pottinger, Sfr Henry, his opi
nions respecting the Zulus . 196
Property, colonial law of suc
cession to . . . .67
Pseudo-phUanthropy . 170, 171
Quaggas, hunting of the, 96,
109 ; a young one captured,
111 ; natural history of the . 112
Queen's birthday at Cape Towu 263
Eaces at Cape Town . , 254
Eeligion, Kafir ignorance of . 227
Eetief, Peter, murdered by the
Zulus  63
Eiet-Spruit, encampment at . 50
Elvers of Natal, 60 ; swelling of
the, 145 ; and melancholy ac
cidents, 146 ; fording the . 148
Saddlery, defective state of the 35
St. Helena, view of . . 256
St. Vincent's, town of . . 268
Scenery of South Africa 63, 69, 80
Schimmel hunter . . . 109
School-room of the Government
appropriated to the church . 28
Schutkraal, the horse so named,
travelling anecdotes of 69, 71, 130,
146, 147
Scotf 3 " Bridal of Triermain,"
lines from . . . .78
Sentiment, effusion of, . . 102
Settler's hut . . . .130
Shepstone, Mr., the diplomatic
agent at Maritzburg ISS et seq.
Shopkeepers of Natal . .61
Sierra Leone, view of . . 257
Slaver, seizure of a . . 255
Smithfield, town of . . 82
Smoking, Kafir mode of . .219
" Smous," the . . 75, 88
Sniker hos, an evergreen shrub 74
Society, state of, in Maritzburg 26
Soil of Natal, its capabUities 11
Sporting emigrants ... 2
Squint path, a ... 79
Stanger, Dr., Surveyor-General
of Natal, 67 ; his description
of the Drakenberg . . 67

864

INDEX.

PAGE
Sterk Spruit, watercourse of . 19
" Stink hout rand," arrival at . 51
Storms, their riolence, 104, 240,
247 ; race with one . . 114
Streams, rapid rise of the . 21
Streets of Maritzburg . . 34
Surveyors, advantages of their
profession . . . .32
Swanepool, the pilferer, trial of 106
Table d'hote, at Cape Town . 252
Temperature, variations of .106
Tent in the market-place . 43
Thunder-storm at Maritzburg,
sublimity of a, 45; fatal effecta 46
Tobacco, culture of . . 166
Trade of D'Urban, 14, 15; of
the Cape . . . .16
Trading with the Kafirs . 94, 95
TraveUers, conversations with . 141
Travelling, from D'Urban to
Maritzburg, incidents of, 17 —
23 ; general provisions for,
47 — 49 ; diary and incidents
of, 49 .et seq., 73 ; of Dutch
famiUes, 62 ; fatigue and dif
ficulties of, 71, 79, 92, 93 ;
over the Drakenberg, 88; from
Plaatberg to Maritzburg 128 et seq.
Trek, the, ... 49, 50
Tropical productions . .165
Tugela, principal river of N'atal 63
Tuma, a medicinal fruit . .31
Uitenhage, town of . . 244
Umgeni, falls and valley of .51
Umlas, sale of a farm ou the . 152
Umlungus, Natal occupied by 194
Uya, the Duteh immigrant 20
Uys' dooms, tract of . .20
Vaal river, 81 ; a district of the
Orange Eiver Sovereignty 82,86
Vanger, bravery and death of . 116
Veld, a night in the, 72 ; cross
ing the . . . .130
Vlakten, vast amount of game
in the  83
Voyage from England to the
Cape, 1 — 4 ; from Natal to the

PAGE
Cape, 237—251; from the
Cape to England . .¦255—258
Wagons, travelling by, .17 et
seq. ; description of, 45 ; their
various prices, ib. ; loss of a 91
Wasley's hotel, at Algoa . . 244
"WaterfaUs of South Africa, 148-150
Wayside inn . . . . 139
Weighing anchor ... 1
West, Mr., Lieut.-Governor of
Natal  198
Whip, the African . . .43
Widow, right of a, to her hus
band's property . . .57
WUderness, pain of separating
from a friend in the . '102
WUge river . . . .94
WUly, Mr., a landed proprietor 1 1
Winberg, a district of the Orange
Eiver Sovereignty . 82, 86
Wolves, depredations of, 116 ; -
trap for, 116; natural hiatory 117
Zebra, natural history of the . 112
ZingoUi, the Kafir chief, anec
dotes of . . 217, 218
Zulus, a Dutch family murdered
bythe, 62 ; thefr warlike qua
lities, 184 ; their cowardice,
187 ; thefr hiatory, 189 ; thefr
reign of terror, 191 ; thefr
kings, Chaka, Dingaan, and
Panda, 191 — 193 ; tyranny of
their kings, ib. ; quit the ter
ritory of Natal, 192 ; re-enter
Natal in great numbers, 193 —
196 ; impolicy of admitting
them, 196, 197; difficulty of
expelling them, 199; manage
ment of them, 199—207;
hopea and fears respecting,
ib. ; anecdotes of the, 208 et
seq. ; implemeuta, arts, and
ornaments of, 213 ; customs
of, ib. ; their management of
horses, 221 ; our ignorance of
their language, 223 ; its pecu
liarities, 224 ; thefr oratory, 225^
Zulu kraal, description of a .212

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