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SOUTH-AFRICAN TRAVELLING.

which the team pulls the waggon is then stretched, and the driver, whirling his gigantic whip round his victims, and with a shrill yell that a demon might utter, shouts, "Trek! Trek! Achterman! Roeberg!" (the names of two oxen) "Trek ye!"

The long whip is then brought down with a neat flip on the flank of some refractory animal who is hanging back, and out of whose hide a strip of several inches in length is thus taken.

A shout at Englishman-generally so named from being the most obstinate in the team-Zwartland, Wit Kop, &c., is followed by a steady pull all together, and the waggon moves off. When the driver has flogged a few more of the oxen to let off his superfluous anger, he mounts on the waggon-box, and exchanges his long whip for a short strip of seacow-hide, called the "achter sjambok," with which he touches up occasionally the two wheelers. Lighting his pipe, he then complacently views the performance of his stud through its balmy atmosphere. Should there be an ox so obstinate as to refuse to move on, or wish to lie down, &c., who can paint the refined pleasure this same Hottentot driver feels in thrashing the obstinacy out of the animal, or how entire is his satisfaction as he kicks the poor brute in the stomach, and raps him over the nose with the yokes-key, or twists his tail in a knot, and then tears it with his teeth. Martin's Act is a dead letter in Africa.

A few days in Graham's Town were quite enough to satisfy my curiosity; in this part of the world, the sooner one gets beyond the half-civilization the better.

FRONTIER OF THE COLONY.

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I joined two friends, and started for Fort Beaufort, a day's ride distant. I was much amused at the cool manner in which our dinner was provided at the inn on the road. "What will you have, gentlemen?" was asked: "beef, a turkey, or-" "Turkey roast I vote," said one, in answer to the landlord's question. "Piet!" cried the landlord, "knock over that turkey in the corner." "Ja bâs," answered a Hottentot servant. A log of wood flew at the turkey's head indicated, and, with unerring aim, he was knocked over, plucked, drawn, and roasted in about an hour and a half, and was very good and tender.

The frontier of the Cape colony is a very wild and rather barren district, and in many parts there is a scarcity of water and verdure. At certain seasons of the year quail come in abundance, thirty or forty brace for one pair of barrels being by no means an uncommon bag. One or two of the bustard tribe are also found here, and are called the diccop, coran, and pouw. I saw but little game besides those creatures which I have just mentioned, as we were at war with the Amakosa tribes, and it was not prudent to venture far from our forts. I employed my time in making portraits of the friendly Kaffirs who came in to see us, and also in acquiring their language, which struck me as particularly harmonious and expressive. Frequently thirty or forty men would come in of a day under some pretence or other, and I had good opportunities of watching their manners and attire, the latter, by the bye, being particularly simple,

C

CHAPTER II.

Dutch and Kaffir words-Frontier Kaffirs-Kaffir women-Kaffir soldiers Cattle-stealing-Bush-fighting-Colonel Napier's opinion-Equipment of English soldiers-A British soldier in the bush-Kaffir manœuvres— Corn-pits-Treatment of Kaffir thieves-The assagy and other weapons -Moral qualities of the Kaffirs-Native marksmen-Power of the chiefs-Religious opinions-Hottentot soldiers.

THE different terms that I shall employ, viz., Kraal, Spoor, Kaffir, and Assagy, are not known to the Kaffirs themselves, except through their commerce with the white men; but as the words are in general vogue through the colony, I am forced to use them.

Kraal is a Dutch term, and means an inclosure for animals. I fancy that they call the Kaffirs' residences by this name to indicate their contempt for the people; the Kaffirs call their villages "umsi."

Spoor is also Dutch: the Kaffirs speak of spoor as umkondo. The footmarks of a particular animal are then named as Amasondo injlovu, footmarks of elephants; umkondo being the singular,- one footmark.

"Kaffir" is also a term unknown to the men so called; they speak of themselves by the designation of the tribe. Kosa is a frontier Kaffir, ama, the plural, being prefixed, makes Amakosa Kaffirs; thus, Amazulu, Amaponda, &c. A Hottentot is called Umlao.

An assagy is called umkonto; the plural is here irregular, izakali being assagies. A kaross is called by Kaffirs ingulu.

The frontier Kaffirs are fine athletic men, and stand generally about six feet in height: they are nearly black, and have woolly hair, although the features are in many cases almost European. The intombi's, or young girls, are often quite pretty, with wild, free, dark eyes, that may well plead as excuses for the young Kaffirs' propensity for cattle-stealing, the decimal coinage of Kaffirland being 10 cows = 1 wife.

One very soon gets over the prejudice of colour, and after having looked for some time on the rich black of a Kaffir belle, a white lady appears bloodless, consumptive, and sickly in comparison. The hard work that an umfazi, or wife, has to perform very soon spoils her girlish figure and appearance, and she then becomes a haggard, wrinkled, repulsive old witch. The coolness of all these women is often surprising. A skirmish with the Kaffirs and our troops might take place on one day, and on the next the women belonging to the Kaffir men engaged would come into the camp and offer wood or milk for sale, calling to us to "tenga" (buy). I suspect that these women are often sent in merely as spies.

There is a great mistake prevalent in the minds of most English people, and that is, their habit of underrating the Kaffir as a foe. He is looked upon as a naked savage, armed only with a spear, and hardly worth powder and shot. But in reality the Kaffirs are a formidable race, and, from their skill in many arts in which we are deficient, are much to be dreaded. Nearly every frontier Kaffir is now provided with a gun, thanks to the English traders, and very many have horses. The

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KAFFIR LIGHT INFANTRY.

Kaffirs, being also particularly active and always in excellent training, make splendid light infantry. I believe it was Napoleon who remarked that legs won as many battles as arms: should this be true, the Kaffirs certainly have a great advantage over us, as they can go three miles at least to our two.

Although indifferent marksmen, they are not inferior to the average of our private soldiers, and they are fast improving. Their training from childhood consists in a course of assagy-throwing and a cunning way of approaching and surprising an enemy. As they are in such cases destitute of clothes, they move through the thorny bush with great ease, and are in such light marching order that their impediments are nothing in comparison with those of our soldiers, heavily burdened and tightly strapped. A Kaffir is also seasoned by hardship from childhood, and keeps fat and sleek on the roots and berries which he picks up, occasionally eked out with scraps of meat; while Englishmen rapidly lose their form and flesh by living on the tough old ox that is killed and immediately served out to them as rations.

The individual courage of the frontier Kaffirs is undeniable, and they have given many proofs of it. One case I may mention, which will show the great risk which they will run for their favourite stake, cattle. It was related to me by an eye-witness.

During the time that there was encamped on the Debe flats a force consisting of upwards of two hundred men, the cattle were inclosed nightly in a kraal, formed of bushes and trees cut down, and inclosing a space of some