il M H 'Will THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES -W* &, FSflTON. * ON. THE TBANSYAAL OF TO-DAY "Countries wear very different appearances to travellers of different circumstances. A man who is whirled through Europe in a post-chaise, and the pilgrim who walks the grand tour on'foot, will form very differ- ent conclusions."— Goldsmith. THE TRANSVAAL OF TO-DAY WAR, WITCHCRAFT, SPORT, AXI) SPOILS IN SOUTH AFRICA ALFRED AYLWAKD COMMANDANT, TRANSVAAL REPUBLIC ; CAPTAIN (LATE) LYDENBERG VOLUNTEER CORPi NEW EDITION" WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AO SONS EDINBURGH AND LONDON MDCCCLXXXI or Ml TO THE ROYAL ENGINEERS AS A TOKEN OF HIS APPRECIATION OF THEIR SOUTH AFRICAN SERVICES, THIS BOOK IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED PY THE AUTHOR. 1160720 PREFACE TO FIEST EDITION. The " South African Question " will probably, by the time this work reaches the public, be a burning one, and it is my design to make its study easier both for rulers and people. The condition of South Africa is interesting to others than the parliamentarians and politicians of England. It is one that appeals to the merchant, the intending emigrant, and the soldier, as much as, or more than, it does to the professional politician. It appeals strongly to the English tax- payer ; and before July 1871), will appeal forcibly and deeply to his pockets. A recent writer has asked, and very fairly asked, Why must our artisans be taxed in aid of populations who have no millions of paupers to support ? He enters in his ' Greater Britain ' at length into this question, which is essentially a ratepayer's :one. I am prepared to give the answer — in fact, the story that I tell answers it. I have written solely in the interest of truth. I have sought to epitomise — for the benefit of politicians, sportsmen, travellers, and intending emigrants — the experience of years. When the present troubles are over, I shall endeavour to put further information — Vlll PREFACE. sound practical information — before intending settlers and enterprising men desirous to invest capital in the Transvaal. The knowledge I have acquired of colonial men and manners depends on ten years' intimate connection with the press and people of South Africa. In this work I represent no especial party. I am not writing either to praise or to blame, but simply to state facts cal- culated to bring the cause and the costs of the war now being waged on the north-eastern border of the Trans- vaal fully, fairly, and intelligently before the British public. If what I have written causes inquiry, awakes a livelier interest in subject populations, and, however indirectly, saves one human life, I shall rest satisfied that I have performed a duty. October 1878. NOTE TO SECOND EDITION. The first edition of ' The Transvaal of To-day ' having been exhaiisted, the greatly increased public interest in the subject and continued demand for the work, have led to the issue of a new and cheaper edition. The Author has not in any way altered the original text, and the reader will thus be enabled to verify the correctness of his forecast of the probable course of events in South Africa. " March 1881. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. HISTORY OF THE BOERS. PACE Serfs or subjects ? — Pilgrim Fathers — Fighting for life — Glimpse of freedom — Chaka — Policy of Earl Grey — Founding republics — A convention — The Transvaal Treaty, .... 1 The " trek " — Unprofitable occupation — Material successes — A race of peasants — Domestic habits — Mission work — The "mountain of sorrow"— Heroic women — Hospitality — Paying for his plunder — Our girls, ....... 13 CHAPTER III. FIRST SECOCOEXI AVAR. Sococoeni's people — Gold — The outbreak — Misunderstood piety — Mistaken impressions — A Bushman's stratagem, . . .32 CHAPTER IV. LYDENBERG VOLUNTEER CORPS. The fort — Scenes in Kafirland — Recruiting under difficulties — Our first fight— Foreign Enlistment Act — Kafir intelligence — Battle of Mount Morone — A fatal fight— Fall of Von Schlieck- mann — An anTient city — Skirmishing — AVindvogel — Life amongst the L.V.C. — A night march — Kafir allies — Wild dogs — Stratagems of Kafir war — "The Gunn of Gunn" — A converted piper — Burnt alive, ...... 43 X CONTENTS. CHAPTER V. THE LYDENBERG VOLUNTEER CORPS AT THE COLD FIELDS. Surface diggings— The shop-boy aristocracy— An outrage — Peace- making — A gay and festive scene — "Sic transit," . . . 95 CHAPTER VI. THE LYDENBERG VOLUNTEER CORPS AGAIN — 1877. Keeping the wolf from the door — Prospecting parties — An ambush defeated — Change of rule — Guilty or not guilty — Right or wrong — Good-bye, ........ 103 CHAPTER VII. TRANSVAAL RESOURCES. Land-sharks — Professional mine-salters — Artistic swindling — The reason why — Agriculture — A happy home — Princely profits — What we can grow — Statistical — Stock-farming— Profit and loss — A shameful gold-swindle — Our mines — Glacial action — Sculptured stones, ........ 113 CHAPTER VIII. WILD AND HOSTILE KAFIRS. Boundary-lines — The Zulus of Zululand — Ecclesiastical opinion — Polygamy — The Amaswazi — A white chief, .... 132 CHAPTER IX. , SECOCOENI. The present quarrel — Death of Jonathan — A critical position — White witchcraft — Amenities of Kaiir war — An error of judg- ment— Soldier's war-dance — A contrast, . . . .140 CHAPTER X. OUR TAME KAFIRS. Value of language —Slaves or servants — A bond of gratitude — Teaching him manners — Mr Froude on serfdom, . . . 140 CONTENTS. XI CHAPTER XI. OUR SUPERSTITIONS. The Little Tugela ghost — An exorcism in Irish — A spiritual victory — The spirit of the storm — A midnight apparition — The demon- dog — The snake at Spion Kop— Tutelary spirits, . . . 154 CHAPTER XII. OUR SPORTS AND TRAVELS. When not to hunt — Horse-sickness — "Salted" horses — How to start properly — Whipping a lion — Bushcraft — A hunter killed — Diminution in game — Came or wild beasts — South African sportsmen — Snakes and swords — Wolves and dogs — How to choose horses — Via Delagoa Bay — The mocking-bird — Stam- peding, . . . . . . . . . .166 CHAPTER XIII. BLUNDER I NO. Misleading artu-les — A self-contradictory historian — The battle of Boomplaatz — Our bitter beer — Slavery — Zulus and Basutos — A startling fact, 198 CHAPTER XIY. PLUNDERING. Fronde and Sonthey — Diamond Fields revolt — Muzzle to muzzle — A prophecy— The "house on fire," ..... 216 CHAPTER X V. .STIRRING EVENTS — SIR THEOI'IIILUS AND HOW HE DID IT. Rational paralysis — Foredoomed — Too late — The reaction — Our first mistake — A sinister proposition— Arming the blacks — Illegal armaments, ........ ^-2', CHAPTER XVI. DISTINGUISHED VISITORS. Two pleasant gentlemen — A Landdrost's cottage — A South African dinner-party — General Sir A. T. Cunynghame, K.C.B. — A border banquet — Captain Canington, ..... lol Xll CONTENTS. CHAPTER XVII. SECOND OR PRESENT AVAIL A wily savage — An intelligent native— Mapoch and the sheriff — Murder of Bell — The new police — The outbreak — Evacuation of Fort Weeber — The fever of 1878 — Massacre at Massello- room — Fort Mamalube, ....... 241 CHAPTER XVIII. FIGHTS AND FAILURES. Fatal affray at Magnet Heights — Mutiny of Zulu police — Advance of her Majesty's troops, . ....... 255 CHAPTER XIX. TO-DAY IN THE TRANSVAAL. The people — The railway party — The annexation, . . . 262 CHAPTER XX. THE KEY TO THE FUTUKE. Delagoa Bay — How to pay for the railway, ..... 267 CHAPTER XXI. O INCLUSION. Justified or not ? — A court of appeal — Slaves to theories — Froude on the Free States — Proconsuls — Conclusion, . . . 275 Appendix, 289 THE TEANSVAAL OF TO-DAY. CHAPTER I. HISTORY OF THE BOERS. Serfs or subjects ? — Pilgrim Fathers — Fighting for life — Glimpse of freedom — Chaka— Policy of Earl Grey — Founding Republics — A Convention — The Transvaal Treaty. While many writers have devoted much space to descrip- tions of Kafir life and character, none have even attempted to deal with the state and position of the Boers, in such a way as to lead intelligent readers to form anything like a fairly accurate mind-picture of them as a people. This it is my pleasing duty to endeavour to do ; and bringing, as I can, ten years' actual experience of Boerdom to the task, I hope to be able to set before the public a correct view of them in all their relations — social, political, and religious. The Boers were subjects of Holland, and were essentially the Cape Colonists, when, by treaty and conquest, England got, in the beginning of this century, a footing in South Africa. As my object is not to write a history of past events, but to explain the facts of the present hour, I shall not encumber these pages with tedious descriptions of the marches, fights, and sufferings of those poor people during the last fifty years, but shall, as nearly as possible, confine myself to an examination of the reasons they put forward to justify them in their exodus from British territory. In 1833, a large number of farmers found themselves, without any A 2 HISTORY OF THE BOERS. desire on their part to become British subjects, in the posi- tion of " accidents of territory " ceded to the British by the Dutch. The sovereignty over the land on which they dwelt was undoubtedly vested in the European Government of Hollaud ; but it is an important question whether a ces- sion of territorial sovereignty can really be held to include the transfer of people as serfs from one Government to an- other. A serf is undoubtedly a person attached, and owing certain servitudes, to the soil on which he is born. I know of no law, human or divine, by which the right of the Dutch inhabitants to remove from the soil transferred in sovereignty to England can be denied. Therefore if any one of those " subjects by cession " desired to remove himself, with his belongings, to the Dutch East Indies, there could be no objection to his doing so ; nor, because he fell under British dominion by the cession of the Cape territory, could he have been prevented from returning to other Dutch territory and to his Dutch allegiance. I hold that he had only become a British subject in relation to his occupation of British terri- tory, and that it was perfectly open to him to cease to be a subject by quitting that territory. It is certain that if the emigrant Boers had passed on in their flight from British rule to lands subject to the authority of other states, they would have again become foreign subjects, and could no longer have been compelled to own an allegiance to Eng- land. But the lands to which the Boers retired did not happen to belong to any recognised or constituted authority. They fled from what they, rightly or wrongly, considered to be misrule, into the " desolate places of the earth," where no man was master. Mr Oliphant, the Cape Attorney-General (in 1834), in speaking of the Voortrekkers (advanced pio- neers), says, in answer to a question put to him by Sir Benjamin Durban, then governor of the Cape Colony : — "The class of persons under consideration evidently mean to seek their fortunes in another land, and to consider themselves no longer British subjects so far as the colony of the Cape of Good Hope is con- cerned. Would it therefore be prudent or just, even if it were possible, to prevent persons discontented with their position to try to Letter themselves in whatever part of the world they pleased ? The same sort of removal takes place every day from Great Britain to the United States. Is there any effectual means of arresting persons determined to run away SEKFS OR SUBJECTS ? 3 from an enforced allegiance short of .shooting them as they passed the boundary line ? I apprehend not — and if so, the remedy is 'worse than the disease. Government, therefore, must ever remain without the power of preventing this evil, if evil it be." The Boers did not want to be British subjects. They found what even Englishmen to-day are complaining of as an inconvenience, if not an evil threatening their very existence. They said they were badly protected as against the aborigines of the country — a set of thieving savages, whose conduct on the frontier in 1878 seems to differ very little from what they were guilty of in 1834. The Boers knew that the territory then actually under British rule in South Africa was limited ; and gathering together their flocks and herds, they proceeded to march out of it into " fresh fields and pastures new." It must never be said that any hatred of civilised government, as such, led to this step. This would be a base calumny on the character of a body of men whose motives were as pure as those that actuated the " Pilgrim Fathers " — Englishmen who left England for conscience' sake. When, and so often as, those people secured new homes for themselves, and established laws and government for their own guidance, they have found that their allegiance has pursued them, and consequently they have been over- taken, shot down, and annexed repeatedly — all their efforts for their own emancipation from a rule which they never sought, being defeated by brute force. It is now not denied by impartial historians, that when the Boers entered Natal that land was no man's land. Nor can it be asserted that their irruption into the Transvaal destroyed any settled government, or effected any injustice. It is, on the other hand, admitted that their inarch towards the Orange River, and beyond it, was the means of breaking the power of Moselekatze, a warrior chief whom they found engaged in a course of rapine and destruction almost without parallel. This man with his army had burned and devastated an enormous tract of country, and until he met with the Boers, had succeeded, not in subjugating, but in almost entirely annihilating, the various tribes and disorganised bodies " under the name of Barolongs, Basutos, Mantatees, Kor- 4 HISTORY OF THE BOERS. annas, Bergenaars, and Bushmen," whom his advance had found occupying the game-covered flats and hills outside and north of the British line. This . great murderer himself commenced hostilities by attacking a small weak party of the fugitives from the Cape Colony. The main body of the emigrants succeeded, however, in 1838, in resisting successfully a raid made by the " Amandabele " upon one of their camps ; but having lost in the encounter much cattle, their only means of subsistence, they sent forth a party to follow up the raiders and recover the booty. This little body succeeded so well in its mission, that Moselek- atze, who had never before been checked in his career of bloodshed and extermination, fled hastily to the northwards. By this means, by breaking the power of this formidable warrior, the emigrant farmers became fairly possessed of vast territories which they had delivered from his murder- ous sway. Subsequently another — a very large — portion of tbem penetrated into Natal, which was certainly not then British territory. At the period when the Boers succeeded, after wonderful labours and difficulties, in opening up pathways for themselves through the great Drakensberg down to the sea, there were not, on the millions of acres that lay below them, any population worthy of mention. A great con- queror had swept over the country before them, reducing its inhabitants to less than 3000 in number, who dwelt in holes, without cattle or means of subsistence, — an unarmed, feeble, and disorganised fragment of the former resident tribe. This had been done by Chaka, who is well de- scribed in the excellent though prejudiced work on " South Africa " published last year by John Noble, clerk of the House of Assembly of the Cape Colony, in the following words : — "He was a cruel, savage being, who steadily pursued one object, — to destroy all other native governments, and exterminate such of their subjects as did not choose to come under his rule. The fame of his troops spread far and wide ; tribe after tribe was invaded, routed, and put to death by them, either by firing their huts or by the spear, and in a few years Chaka had paramount sway over nearly all South- Eastern Africa, from the Limpopo to Kaffraria, including the territories now known as Natal, Basuto Land, a large portion of the Orange Free CHAKA. 5 State, and the Transvaal. It is estimated that not less than one million human beings were destroyed during the reign of this native Attila, be- tween 1S12 and 1828. His death was, as might be expected, a violent one." Now it can hardly be said that to occupy a country which had no inhabitants and no government, and to snatch it from the power of such a wretch as Chaka, was an act which should properly arouse the anger of any civilised Government. The Boers were weak, and they say that therefore they were found to be in the wrong by the powerful Government from under whose sway they had thought to deliver themselves. To Chaka succeeded Dingaan, also a Zulu, and of course, like other Zulus, a treacherous and murderous ruffian. Dingaan and the emigrants at first seemed to have been on friendly terms. Dingaan resembled modern monarchs in one noticeable particular : he was greatly in the habit of allocating to the use of friends and confederates, and giving away to applicants, what never belonged to him, and that to which he had no right. About the period of his accession to the sovereignty of the Zulus, a few white men lived at " The Bay," where Durban now stands. These were the means of introducing missionaries amongst the Zulus, and one of them obtained from the chief a recognition of the independence of the small white settlement on the sea. The chief also about the same time gave to the emigrant Boers permission to occupy the country, the desolation of which by Chaka I have just pictured. This is Natal, as distin- guished from Port Natal, the small coast settlement referred to. But Dingaan's profession of friendship was hollow and insincere. His savage nature incited him to an act of wanton and unnecessary bloodshed. He attacked and killed, with circumstances of great barbarity, a large party of the farmers under Piet Ketief, who were visiting at his chief town, and engaged in the peaceful enjoyment of his hospitality. Then, flushed with his easy triumph, and stimulated by the hope of plunder, he endeavoured to cut off all the Europeans, with- out respect of persons, in Natal and on the coast, and in- vaded a country to which he had no claim, and to whose occupation by strangers he had consented. The coast G IIISTOKY OF THE BOERS. English and the Boer countrymen both offered to this scheme a vigorous resistance, — even the Boer women and children performing prodigies of valour and shedding blood that would have consecrated their freedom in the eyes of equit- able men of any race. In the joint campaign, however, they were terribly unsuccessful, the British settlers not tmly quitting the country entirely, but even taking ship from the coast. The farmers in Natal, left in the hand of God and to their own resources, rallied around one Pretorius, invaded Zulu- land itself, and nearly entirely destroyed Dingaan's power in two expeditions ; in the latter of which they were assisted by Panda, a revolted brother of the great Zulu warrior with whom they were contending. Then, and not till then, when they had conquered a peace, and purchased security at a vast outlay of blood — just when one would have thought they had sufficiently demonstrated their self-reliance — British protection sought them out. They were again in- formed that they were guilty of unwarrantable conduct, and once more found themselves called upon to give ready obedience to the rule of the English governors of the Cape Colony. Once more, however, for a short period the poor persecuted people were destined to be free. The commander of the English forces in Natal, Captain Jervis, withdrew his troops from the country in 1840, saying — " It now only remains for me to wish yon, one and all, as a com- munity, every happiness, sincerely hoping that, aware of your strength, peace may be the object of your counsels ; justice, prudence, and modera- tion be the law of your actions ; that your proceedings may be actuated by motives worthy of j'ou as men and Christians ; that hereafter your arrival may be hailed as a benefit, having enlightened ignorance, dis- pelled superstition, and caused crime, bloodshed, and oppression to cease ; and that you may cultivate those beautiful regions in quiet and prosperity, ever regardful of the rights of the inhabitants whose country you have adopted, and whose home you have made your own." The Boers, although sadly reduced in numbers both in Natal and in the country west of the Drakensberg, now considering themselves free from further interference, pro- ceeded, for the first time, to form ''republics." On doing so, their territory was again invaded, by Captain Smith in FOUNDING REPUBLICS. 7 1842, with a flying column sent forward for that purpose by Governor Napier. The Boers attacked and cooped Smith up on the coast, but not until he had first assumed the aggres- sive. When the weak fight against the strong, the result is not hard to foresee. More British troops arrived ; the Boers were, of course, defeated ; and Natal became again, and probably for ever, British territory. But, wonderful to relate, a number of the Boers were still dissatisfied, and again abandoned their lands in order to be free from all obligations of allegiance to England ; and they went back still further from the Power they dreaded, reuniting them- selves to their brethren in the vast plains of what are now known as the Free State and the Transvaal. These countries had, as I have said before, been desolated by Moselekatze, and were, so far as regarded human inhabitants, a desert. Mr Noble, an historian anything but favourable to the Dutch, says — "They found no difficulty in taking possession of the territory, for the greater part of it was lying waste, the haunt of wild game and beasts of prey. The dreaded chief Moselekatze had abandoned it, having tied north into the region between the Limpopo and the Zambesi rivers, where his tribe, the Matabele, under his successor Lobengulo, now dwell. Those remaining were 'weak and broken' people, ruined by Moselekatze. They welcomed the emigrants as their deliverers from that tyrant's cruel sway, acknowledging them as the governors of the country, and allow- ing them to appropriate whatever ground they required. As the emi- grants found their strength increased by the accessions they received from Natal and the colonial boundary, they asserted more authority, — establishing their own form of government, under commandants, land- drosts, and field-cornets, and dictating to the natives encompassing them the laws which should prevail. These laws were similar in character to the regulations which applied, under the old Dutch government, to the coloured class in servitude within the colony — namely, that they should, when required, give their services to the farmers for a reasonable sum ; that they should be restricted from wandering about the country ; and that no guns or ammunition were permitted to be in their possession or bartered to them. Potgieter and his followers, in declaring their new government — the ' Maatschappij ' — claimed absolute independence ; and when a proclamation issued by Governor Napier reached them, stating that the emigrant farmers were not released from their allegiance to the Crown, and that all offences committed by British subjects up to the 25° of south latitude were punishable in the courts of the colony, they re- solved to abandon Potchefstrom, and moved further northwards, forming new settlements at Zoutpansberg, Ohrigstad, and finally at Lydenberg, whence they contemplated opening communication with the Portuguese port of Delagoa Bay. In these remote wilds, now forming the Transvaal, 8 HISTORY OF THE BOERS. they were left to work out their own destiny, without any interference or control." Even here they were again called on to give allegiance to the British authorities. A Mr Menzies issued a proclama- tion declai'ing that, in the name of her Majesty, he claimed what may he briefly described as " all South Africa." Who was Mr Menzies ? He was a Judge of the Supreme Court of the Cape Colony, and had apparently no business what- ever to meddle with boundaries, or to set himself up as an extender of the empire. This act was subsequently dis- claimed and disavowed by the Colonial Government ; yet, in pursuance of it, or at least of some fixed plan based on a similar policy of monstrous usurpation, the flying people were again pursued, again fought with, and, of course, again defeated. A long series of troubles, quarrels, and vacilla- tions on the part of the British authorities ended, in 1848, in her Majesty's Government eventually proclaiming its sovereign authority over " territories north of the Orange Biver, extending as far as the Vaal Biver on the north, the junction of Vaal and Orange rivers on the east, and that portion of the Drakensberg which forms the boundary of Natal on the west." The Natal Boers — that is, those who had remained there — had by this time again got into a state of utter discontent with British government. The real cause of this is not far to seek. When they (the Boers) first entered Natal, they had found it depopulated ; and before the British had come into possession of the country, the Boers had not only conquered their fierce neighbours the Zulus, but had imposed a king of their own nomination upon the enemy. Under the English, however, myriads of Kafirs were permitted to flock into Natal; and the country by 1848 showed visible symptoms of becoming what it now is — a colony under European gov- ernment, but in which all the abominations of paganism flourish, to the disgust of European women and the moral corruption of Christian children, — a land overrun by 400,000 Kafirs, speaking their own language, practising polygamy, holding females in the most debasing slavery, and consti- tuting for the settlers a great and ever-increasing danger. It is needless to record here the attempts, no doubt well THE TRANSVAAL TREATY. 9 meaning and kindly, which were made by the British authorities to keep the Dutch farmers in Natal. A large body of them, in March 1848, fled from the country, and joined the western emigrants. Of course there was another war. Sir Harry Smith, with his usual vigour and success, attacked the Boers at a position called Boom Blaats. Lives were lost ; and the result, of course, was a still further humiliation of the Dutch and a still stronger reassertion of British authority. Preforms, the Boer commander, fled to the far Transvaal, still hoping to be let alone. The English Government for a short time ruled over the territory they had conquered between the Vaal and Orange rivers, which they called the Sovereignty. This, however, they afterwards abandoned, when it was found to be a costly and troublesome possession. Earl Grey writes, in 1851, when speaking of this renun- ciation — "The ultimate abandonment of the Orange River Sovereignty must be a settled point of our policy. ... If you are enabled to effect this object, you will distinctly understand that any wars, however san- guinary, which may afterwards occur between the different tribes and communities which will be left in a state of independence beyond the colonial boundary, are to be considered as affording no ground for your interference. Any inroads upon the colony must be promptly and severely punished ; but, after the experience which has been gained as to the effect of British interference in the vain hope of preserving peace amongst the barbarous or semi-civilised inhabitants of these distant regions, I cannot sanction a renewal of similar measures." This statement of rational policy becomes of serious im- portance when, later on, we have to consider the recent annexation of the Transvaal. It is sufficient for the present to state that the Boers of the Sovereignty thus became free. In 1853, British Special Commissioner Clerk voluntarily pro- posed to the inhabitants that they should elect representa- tives to take over from him the government of the country. A convention was subsequently agreed to in explicit words and terms, which still holds good as regards the State called The Orange Free State. A republic was founded under its provisions, and subsequently acknowledged as an independent State by royal proclamation of the 8th April 1851. 10 HISTORY OF THE BOEKS. In the Appendix will be found the text of the convention, 1 which mainly consists of a clause declaring the Boers to be a free and independent people ; a declaration that her Majesty's Government will not enter into treaty or alliance with natives to the detriment of the new Republic ; and the agreements for reciprocations, exchange of prisoners, recog- nition of marriages, &c, necessary for mutual comfort be- tween states having lengthy conterminous border-lines. While this was in progress, the same policy that dictated the liberation of the Boers of the Orange River Free State had manifested itself in a similar direction with regard to the emigrants north of the Vaal River ; and as the tale can be told in no shorter or better form of words than I find in ' Noble's History,' I shall extract his account of the transac- tion by which was created the late South African or Trans- vaal Republic : — "While the Assistant Commissioners were yet at Bloemfontein, making efforts to establish affairs on a footing more in unison with the wishes of the inhabitants, they received, through accredited messengers, a communication from the emigrants north of the Vaal River. The majority of them — Pretorius among the number — said they were anxious for peace and friendly relations with the Government, in order that their hands might be strengthened in establishing order, and effectually checking the agitation of a few reckless spirits who wished to make another attempt at rebellion in the Sovereignty. The Commis- sioners considered that the reconciliation of the emigrants to the Gov- ernment would doubtless have a favourable effect in checking native hostility, and encouraged the suggested negotiations. They at once made use of the power provisionally intrusted to them by the High Commissioner to rescind the proclamation of outlawry against Pretorius and others. This act of grace paved the way for a meeting with the delegates of the emigrants, headed by Pretorius himself as Command- ant-General. The meeting took place near the Sand River on the 17th January 1852, when a convention was entered into on behalf of her Majesty, allowing the community north of the Vaal River to form such government as might seem best to themselves. They were assured of non-interference in the management of their affairs, and non-encroach- ment on the part of the Government. This boon had been virtually granted by Earl Grey's explicit directions that British dominion should not be extended, but the Commissioners were able to make a favour of what must have soon followed as an inevitable concession. The conven- tion thus concluded was fully approved of by Sir G. Cathcart as Hiidi Commissioner. The confirmation of it was one of the first acts of his administration, and in the proclamation ratifying it he expressed his hope that the freedom which the emigrants were now graciously per- 1 See Appendix A. THE TRANSVAAL TREATY. 11 mitted to exercise might result in lasting peace amongst themselves, and in fast friendship with the British Government. " The following were the articles of the Convention : — ■ " ' 1. The Assistant Commissioners guarantee in the fullest manner, on the part of the British Government, to the emigrant farmers beyond the Vaal River the right to manage their own affairs, and to govern themselves according to their own laws, withoixt any interference on the part of the British Government ; and that no encroachment shall be made by the said Government on the territory beyond, to the north of the Vaal River ; with the further assurance that the warmest wish of the British Government is to promote peace, free trade, and friendly intercourse with the emigrant farmers now inhabiting, or who hereafter may inhabit, that country ; it being understood that this system of non- interference is binding upon both parties. " ' 2. Should any misunderstanding hereafter arise as to the true mean- ing of the words "The Vaal River," this question, in so far as regards the line from the source of that river over the Drakensberg, shall be settled and adjusted by commissioners chosen by both parties. " ' 3. Her Majesty's Assistant Commissioners hereby disclaim all alli- ances whatever and with whomsoever of the coloured nations to the north of the Vaal River. " ' 1. It is agreed that no slavery is or shall be permitted or practised in the country to the north of the Vaal River by the emigrant farmers. "'5. Mutual facilities and liberty shall be afforded to traders and travellers on both sides of the Vaal River ; it being understood that every waggon containing ammunition and firearms, coming from the south side of the Vaal River, shall produce a certificate signed by a British magistrate or other functionary duly authorised to grant such, and which shall state the quantities of such articles contained in said waggon, to the nearest magistrate north of the Vaal River, who shall act in the case as the regulations of the emigrant farmers direct. It is agreed that no objection shall be made by any British authority against the emigrant Boers purchasing their supplies of ammunition in any of the British colonies and possessions of South Africa ; it being mutually understood that all trade in ammunition with the native tribes is pro- hibited both by the British Government and the emigrant farmers, on both sides of the Vaal River. " ' 6. It is agreed that, so far as possible, all criminals and other guilty parties who may fly from justice either way across the Vaal River, shall be mutually delivered up, if such should be required; and that the British Courts, as well as those of the emigrant farmers, shall be mutu- ally open to each other for all legitimate processes, and that summonses fir witnesses sent either way across the Vaal River. shall be backed by the magistrates on each side of the same respectively, to compel the attendance of such witnesses when required. " ' 7. It is agreed that certificates of marriage issued by the proper authorities of the emigrant farmers, shall be held valid and sufficient to entitle children of such marriages to receive portions accruing to them in any British colony or possession in South Africa. " ' 8. It is agreed that any and every person now in possession of land and residing in British territory, shall have free right and power to sell his said property and remove unmolested across the Vaal River, and vice 12 HISTORY OF THE BOERS. versa; it being distinctly understood that this arrangement does not comprehend criminals, or debtors, without providing for the payment of their just and lawful debts.' " In 1854 the Voortrekkers had thus at length won their independence, and set up government on their own account. 13 CHAPTER II. THE BOER OF TO-DAY. The ' ' trek " — Unprofitable occupation — Material successes — A race of peas- ants — Domestic habits — Mission work — The Mountain of Sorrow — Heroic women — Hospitality — Paying for his plunder — Our girls. The Free State Laving little to do with this work now drops out of my narrative, except so far as I may require to illustrate some phase of Boer character by reference to it or its inhabitants. Omitting the history of the struggles of the Transvaal Boers with nature, and their natural enemies the Kafirs, during the earlier days of their independence, 1 come now to the men themselves, and their habits and cus- toms as I found them. One indelible feature has by their long and continuous wanderings been impressed upon their character — that is, an unsettled and vagrant disposition. Having been on "trek" for forty-four years, the "trek" has eaten itself into their hearts. They are still on " trek ; " and few, indeed, are there who are not ready at a moment's notice to hurl themselves once more into the desert in search of brighter and happier homes. This " trek " feeling had led them, in the earlier days of the Transvaal, to overdo their occupation, to spread themselves too far out into the wilds around them. The Boers coming from the Cape Colony naturally sought in their new homes the peculiar features that had made the old ones pleasant ; wood and water, easily worked ground, and rich runs for their cattle were the chief objects of their search. These the Voorloop- ers 1 did not find on the Highveld, as the large, bare, but 1 Every team of bullocks has a leader — generally a native boy — who holds a tow-line fastened to the horns of the front oxen, hence the word 14 THE BOER OF TO-DAY. healthy elevated plateau — the great watershed of the Trans- vaal — is called ; but where it declined into the lower coun- try, north and east, suitable locations, abounding in grass, water, and warm-looking bush, were discovered. The people, therefore, marched on to the lower levels, leaving unoccu- pied behind them vast tracts of country, which, after remain- ing for years the abode of countless thousands of game, are now being more and more closely settled and built upon by the farmers, who have found that at first they had neglected the very best part of their country, and occupied only the unhealthy and less profitable places. This is the real cause of that abandonment, of certain fever districts to which Sir Theophilus Shepstone alludes, and of which he makes such forcible use in his annexation proclamation when he says : " After more or less of irritating contact with aboriginal tribes to the north, there commenced, about the year 1867, gradual abandonment to the natives in that direction of territory settled by burghers of this state, in well-built towns and farms, and on granted farms ; " and " that this was suc- ceeded by the extinction of effective rule over extensive tracts of country included within the boundaries of this state, and, as a consequence, by the practical independence, which still continues, of large native tribes residing therein who had until then considered themselves subjects." That a recession of white people from points long pre- viously occupied has occurred I do not seek to deny, but that such was a sign of weakness in the Eepublic no one who knows the country thoroughly will feel inclined to admit. The Gold Fields have been, since the British an- nexation, practically abandoned, yet no one would venture to blame the Government of Sir Theophilus Shepstone for the existence of the state of things that led to this move- ment. The Origstadt valley, with its pretty town, w;is deserted because, and only because, of its fatal fevers ; and the wheat-growing farms of the northern portions of Lyden- berg district have been allowed to fall out of cultivation simply because wheat did not pay, — a sufficient reason to a man of ordinary common -sense who is not forced to " Voorlooper/' which is applied variously to any advanced settler — to the star that heralds the morning star, kc. DID IT PAY? 15 strengthen an argument by alleging false motives for acts in themselves easily explained. Sheep on the Highveld pay better, and with less labour and risk, than corn does in the bush country. Besides this, Origstadt and the wheat districts are unhealthy for horses ; and all other things being equal, a farmer will prefer to live where he can ride to where he must walk. Wheat, when grown, had to be brought down by waggon to Natal — a distance of 400 miles — to find a market. This became a yearly labour. Such absences from the family were not patiently borne by farmers ; so, naturally, when they dis- covered the value of the plateau as a sheep country, they fell back on it. Besides this, it is notorious that wherever wool is produced, stores soon spring up to buy the farmer's produce at his own door, and thus save him the yearly journey to far-away Natal. Schoemansdal, in Zoutpans- berg, was abandoned for not altogether dissimilar reasons. In the early days traders went there attracted by the vast quantities of ivory, feathers, and interior produce, then obtainable at low prices, in exchange for goods. Then was brought to market by the natives, ivory and other treasures, the accumulations of years ; fortunes were made, and great things planned. In due time this excessive supply fell off, and only what was bartered for and shot in each season came to hand. Even this yearly supply became scantier as the game got driven further and further back, until, finally, the cost of bringing goods so vast a journey, and of living, was not equalled by the value of the ivory and interior pro- duce got in, and the place collapsed. Fever played its part in thinning out the inhabitants ; and no doubt Kafir neigh- bours were troublesome at times; but if "it had paid" on the old scale, Schoemansdal would not have failed to retain a population. Like the Gold Fields under our new Govern- ment, Zoutpansberg was deserted because it was not what the slang of the present day calls "good enough." Still, with all this abandonment of non-paying and fever-stricken localities, the Boers opcupy an extensive country : and on its surface they have wrought improvements, which, com- pared with their numbers, are sufficiently astonishing. There are roads — and very good roads — everywhere. There are 16 THE BOER OF TO-DAY. churches, courts, and jails in sufficient number; and when one considers that in consequence of their distance from the coast, they had for years no local markets for their super- fluous productions, but had to consume all they grew, the extent of ground under cultivation is very great. There are, roughly speaking, in the Transvaal about 7000 families living by farm-work of one sort or another ; and they have all houses, habitable, and, under the circumstances of the country, fairly comfortable. It would appear to an impartial investigator to be little less than miraculous how a people, fresh from their wanderings, had succeeded, in so few years, not only in planting the features of a successful civilisation over 130,000 square miles of country, but in wringing from the land of their adoption the wherewithal to pay for the clothes, arms, and imported articles consumed by them during their periods of " trek " and settlement, as well as for the materials and utensils of comfort and necessity which they have gathered round them or used for the ornamenta- tion of their houses. The Boers are really a peasantry — the largest land-owning peasants and peasant proprietors in the world — but they are nothing more. Hence the feeling of disappointment with which some visitors — casual observers — view their present condition. Men cannot conceive how the proprietors of vast lands and owners of flocks and herds have advanced so little in the acquisition of the comforts and luxuries of European civilisation. They look for farmers where they should ex- pect only to find wealthy peasants ; and as they see no evi- dences around them of the wanderings, fights, fevers, agonies of long travel and suffering through which these poor people have passed, they are but too ready to accuse them of un- progressiveness and want of enterprise, where really the enterprise has been exceptionally great, and the progress remarkable, under the circumstances. The character of the Boers, as well as their habits and customs, are strongly im- pressed by their wanderings and sufferings. If one of the family is about to ride but a few miles beyond his own ex- tensive holding, before leaving his house he respectfully bids farewell to his father and friends with almost as much cere- mony as a European would use before undertaking a journey DOMESTIC HABITS. 17 of weeks' duration. In the same way persons, whether they be visitors, strangers, neighbours, or kinsmen, coming to a homestead, greet each of the family on their first entrance under its roof, and are in turn shaken hands with by each and every member of the household. This custom arose from the meetings and the partings of forty -four years, during which those who met, met as persons delivered from great dangers ; and those who parted, parted as do those who may meet no more. The Boers had few candles in the wilderness during their long and weary pilgrimage. A little coarse fat from slaughtered animals, with a bit of rag, made their only lamp. They consequently acquired habits of retiring early to rest, — the daylight throughout its entire length being utilised for their labours. This habit, with the necessity for early rising incumbent on herdsmen, has clung to them ; and it is but rarely you meet with a family that enjoys those pleasant evening hours so dear to Euro- peans, when, amidst comfortable lights and fires, the labours of the day being at an end, the household devotes itself to the innocent pleasures of social and domestic intercourse. With the Boer, the sun being set, and the cattle and stock impounded in their kraals and places of safety, the short twilight is almost immediately followed by a dinner and supper, all in one — the meal of the day. The table is no sooner cleared than the family assembles, as it had done for years in the desert, for united prayer. This duty accom- plished, they separate at once to their various quarters. People complain much of the Boers' houses, saying they are untidy, unfloored, and insufficiently lighted. It should be remembered, on the other hand, that the house is almost always the work of the owner's own hands. It has been put up under difficulties of a most exceptional nature, in a country but yesterday rescued from wild beasts and still wilder barbarians. Whether it be beside some beautiful stream, or standing upon a naked and desolate flat, or buried under steep hillsides in some lonely or almost inac- cessible mountain kloof, it has been constructed without the assistance of skilled labour, and from rough materials found upon or near to its site. Beams do not grow in every direc- tion ready cut and dressed to the builder's hand. Those B 18 THE BOEll OF TO-DAY. that the Boers have used have been procured at a cost of much labour and expense from very considerable distances. The difficulty in obtaining heavy timber has exercised an influence even over the shape of the farmers' houses, which cannot afford the luxuries of immense rooms and spreading roofs. In the same way window-frames, and glass to fill them, were for years almost entirely unobtainable by the settlers north of the Orange and Vaal rivers. Therefore the windows are in many houses small and few in number, resembling, more often than otherwise, shot-holes. If one also considers that in a majority of instances, boards suitable for flooring, after being purchased far away in Natal or the Cape Colony, had then to be conveyed by waggons, at an immense expenditure of valuable time and labour, to the Boer's place, the poor people who have settled down and built their houses in a new land, within the last few years, may well be excused the heinous crime of living upon earthen floors hardened with ant-heaps. Everything that the Boer required of comfort or luxury had to be brought from a distance. Even now, most of the • com- modities consumed by him are imported, reaching his hands only through Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, or Port Xatal, loaded with heavy duties and middleman's profits. Yet, with all these difficulties, observant persons can always see signs not only of progress, but of an active, living, and quick improvement amongst even the rudest of these unfor- tunate but brave and enterprising people. I have noted with satisfaction, on nearly every farm I have visited, that new and improved buildings follow rapidly on the comple- tion of the first. Everywhere one may observe that older houses are being used as waggon-shelters, coach-houses, and tool-rooms ; whilst the families, and especially the more recently married members, live in buildings of later date, much more carefully constructed and incomparably better furnished than the first had been. Frequently these im- provements have followed so rapidly upon each other, that upon one farm may be seen five, six, and even seven dwel- ling-houses ; while yet another is in course of construction for the occupation of some would-be " Benedict." Quite apart from the influences of the various South African A MODEUN ADAM. 19 Governments, the same class of progress is everywhere visible, — just as much visible in the far Transvaal as along the north-western border of the Cape Colony, or in the nearer and more recently settled district called the " Middle- veld "of the Orange Free State — a district whose progress has been accelerated by its nearness to the Diamond Fields. There are hundreds of English farmers living away from the coast, whose houses are quite as open to reproach, on the grounds of clay floors and ugliness, as are the worst of those of the Boers. Yet these farmers had advan- tages the Boers never had. They had come prepared with money, brought from Europe, or perhaps earned on the Diamond Fields, to settle and set up houses for themselves. Their capital, much or little, was in their own hands, and could be laid out upon improvements. How different from the condition of the Boer ! This man, with his family, sur- rounded by women and helpless little children, driving before him a few animals, then of no market value, but which he had to defend from hour to hour against watchful and ever- hostile enemies, having saved a remnant of his stock and his family from fever, thirst, war, and the desert, at length found a spot whereon he could make his home. He had to commence almost like another Adam. Yet in twenty- five years he had not only created a home, but a country, which was worth taking from him. This is what angers the Boers. It has been asserted that the country was insolvent — hope- lessly broken and bankrupt. It has been proved that it owed a quarter of a million. The people, however, point to their 145,000 square miles of new territory, traversed in every direction by roads ; adorned in a few places with churches, small towns, and rising villages ; and sprinkled over, at distances of nine or ten miles apart, with the dwel- lings of faithful and persevering pioneers. They say : — ■ " The debt of which you accuse us bears no proportion to the work we have done — is nothing compared to the value of the wilderness we have reclaimed. Crime is unknown amongst us. We have jails, but they are comparatively empty, although convictions here bear a very large propor- tion to the reported criminality. We fled from you years ago — leave us in peace. We shall pay our debts easily 20 THE BOER OF TO-DAY. enough — your presence can but tend to increase them, and to drive us through fresh wanderings, through new years of bloodshed and misery, to seek homes whither you will no longer follow us. We conquered and peopled Natal ; you reaped the fruits of that conquest. What have you done for that colony ? Do you seek to do with our Transvaal as you have done with it, — to make our land a place of abomina- tion, defiled with female slavery, reeking with paganism, and likely, as Natal is, only too soon to be red with blood V" l It is with arguments such as these, urged by desperate men, those who have, in the name of England, annexed the Transvaal, will soon have to deal ; and it is to prepare England and the English people for a ready comprehension of difficulties rapidly arising, that I have ventured, in plain and unmistakable language, to put the Boers' case — as Boers see it — before the nation. The Dutch South Africans, as a people, have never been averse to religious or educational influences, though they have been accused of being hostile to both. Occasionally, however, one finds, by reference to the works of persons who cannot be accused of being prejudiced in their favour, little incidents that show their character in a very different and much brighter light than one would expect from un- friendly critics. The Rev. Mr Thomas, a Welshman, even so far back as 1858, spoke of them in the following way : " Although the coloured people are seldom allowed to enter the Dutch Church, still the masters build commodious places of worship for them, and even support missionaries who labour amongst them." He gives an instance of this, as seen by him at Victoria West, which was then, and still is, as much a piece of Boerland as if situated north of the Vaal River. He mentions that the Rev. Mr Leibrandt, whom he calls "the respected and much-beloved minister of the Dutch Reformed Church," had succeeded in erecting a large 1 "Here, in Natal, are nearly 400,000 natives who have come in under shelter of the British Government to escape the tyranny of their own chiefs. The}' are allowed as much land as they want for their loca- tions. They are polygamists, and treat their women as slaves, while they themselves idle, or do worse. There is little wonder that with such surroundings few English colonists think of Natal as a permanent home. " — Froude. MISSION WOEK. 21 and substantial chapel for the use of the natives — for whom the Dutch farmers supported a missionary. Again, we find that the services to the natives at all the mission stations were almost invariably in Dutch, proving sufficiently that it was the civilising influence of the Dutch and their language that had brought light first amongst the converts. In page 47 of his book, the same writer, after describing the Boers' conquest of Sechele, says : — " Being taught by sad experience that the level country or open field would give his foe the advantage over him, Sechele had selected a most inaccessible spot upon which to build his new town. It was a high and very rocky hill in the midst of others ; and to prevent the approach of the Dutch cavalry he had sunk holes around the foot of it. Since the breaking up of the mission at Kolobeng, six or seven years previously, a native teacher named ' Paul ' had been left with Sechele. Not satisfied with a man of the same colour as himself, and despairing of getting another European missionary from the London Missionary Society, Sechele appealed to Preforms, the President of the Transvaal Republic, for German missionaries, and obtained them. These missionaries were Hanoverians, and had been resident at Liteyana for some time before we passed through. " In addition to this incident, which shows the desire of the Dutch to extend honest Christian influences even amongst the unfriendly tribes, it has come within my own observa- tion that much consideration has been shown to missionary interests in the Transvaal proper. At many places, the most noteworthy of which is Botsabelo, large establishments are maintained for the conversion of the heathen ; and it is a matter of complaint amongst Englishmen, and persons engaged in trade, that too many facilities, and too many protections, and too much consideration, have been given by the Dutch Government to these institutions. It is a fact — and I wish here to draw especial attention to it — that the stations are permitted to import goods duty free, whereby they are enabled to undersell the storekeepers and shop- keepers of neighbouring villages. That trading forms a marked feature of some of the foreign mission stations in the Transvaal is simply undeniable truth. A couple of years ago I wanted saddles at Middleburg, which I could only obtain at my price, by the shopkeeper from whom I desired to purchase obtaining them from the missionary, who had imported them duty free. 22 THE BOER OF TO-DAY. Iii the matter of education, the Boers, notwithstanding the slanders of their enemies, can be proved to be eminently progressive. I have never known any other people whose children, of themselves, so earnestly sought for and so con- stantly desired to be placed within reach of modern culture. I have known English children shunning the schoolmaster as they would the plague, whilst little Boers were glad to avail themselves of every possibility of acquii'ing instruction. Their Church law and their domestic system both tend strongly in this direction ; and it is want of opportunity, and not want of earnestness, that should be cited as an all- sufficient reason for the (to casual observer) apparent ignor- ance of too many families. I have known repeated instances where the children of even the poorer Boers, struggling for light and knowledge, complained, with justice and reason, to their parents of idleness and neglect on the part of the masters hired to teach them. In connection with this subject, it is not a little interest- ing to remark the hold education has taken in the Orange Free State, essentially a Boer republic. Its grants for edu- cational purposes are greater, in proportion to the number of its inhabitants, and its allowances for teachers and schools of the normal and rudimentary type are more liberal, than those of any of our colonies. In every village, and in nearly every ward, schoolhouses have been built at an expense of from £300 to £400 each ; and the provision for teachers is sufficient to enable them to live and marry in comfort and respectability. In the district of the Great Middleveld, which a few years ago was but a trackless plain of limestone and sand, great and important changes have been effected through the loan by Government to the farmers of capital destined for an educational fund. This money was lent to proprietors, on mortgage (at from 6 to 12 per cent per annum), for purposes of permanent improvement. By it, dams in great numbers, and having an enormous collective capacity, have been con- structed to retain the rainfall over a previously arid and desert country. The interest of the money so invested forms a permanent source of income for the Education Board. Whether one looks to the Boers of Natal, where there are PKIMITIVE HABITS. 23 still a few — to the Cape Colony, where they are the majority — or to the Free State and the Transvaal, in which they are predominant, — hearty praise and genuine admiration must be the result of an examination of their attempts at self- education. Children are not, by the Church law, admitted to Church membership by confirmation till they can show some progress in the knowledge of that which is the founda- tion of all true education — " religion and the truth of the Gospels." This Church regulation is capable of being made more stringent as years roll on and educational facilities be- come multiplied. I have thus no doubt whatever that these peasant proprietors will, ere long, place themselves on a level with, if not ahead of, races labouring under no such terrible disabilities as they have been subject to during their forty-four years of sorrowful journeyings in the wilderness. I have said before that their character is deeply impressed by their long period of homeless flight. This is remarkable even in the names they have given to their settlements. Weenen, in Natal, means " the weeping ; " Lydenberg, in the north-east of the Transvaal, is " the mountain of sor- row." The " trek " has set its mark even on their house- hold ways. Hundreds of families, down to the present hour, have not abandoned the practice to which they were reduced in the wilds, of sleeping half dressed, ever ready to repel an enemy, or to protect their stock from wild beasts and prowl- ing thieves. This habit, so easily accounted for, is abhorrent to the untravelled European, who, not finding in his own experience anything to justify such a departure from civil- ised custom, most uncharitably sets down these poor people as persons of dirty ways and uncleanly habits, because they are not as he is. I think it must have been many years after the Israelites made good their journey over the Jordan before they had regained the point at which the commencement of their great " trek " found them. An impartial historian, comparing the two peoples, would certainly be inclined to give a great deal of credit to the South African Dutch for their adherence to virtue, their fidelity to religion, and their steadfast cliugings to old customs and old ways through long periods of contact with an ever-present barbarism, and of separation from every refining and conservative influence. 24 THE BOER OF TO-DAY. They have come victoriously out of a dreadful trial. Is it to be wondered at that now they cry aloud to England, say- ing, " Do not rob us of the freedom we have won through so much trial and agony ? " Amongst the influences which have been most potent in restraining the Dutch South Africans from being corrupted by the barbarism with which they were in almost continual contact, the chief was that of their wives. These devoted females have ever been more patriotic and more determined to be free than even their lords and masters. When the great "trek" commenced from the Cape Colony, the women took as prominent a part in the emigration as did the men. Families moved off together, old and young, male and female, with their waggons, horses, cattle, sheep, goats, and some little furniture. Thus a domestic character was given to the movement from its very initiation, which made it differ, in an immeasurable degree, from the pouring forth of hordes of young unmarried men that we witness nowadays. The proportions between the sexes maintained themselves through- out the whole of the journeyings of these people. Children grew up and were married, new families were formed, other children were born and grew up in their turn to be fathers, before the final settlement and consolidation of the Trans- vaal took place in 1858. Throughout the whole of this period — as girls, as mothers, and as grandmothers — the softer sex accompanied and shared in the perils, the labours, and the privations of the men. In Natal, in the earlier days, many of them performed acts of heroic courage — carrying the bullet-bags, replenishing the powder-flasks, removing the wounded, bringing water to the thirsty and food to the hungry, in many desperate and fatal engagements. True as wives, tender as nurses, earnest in prayer, and wise in council, these women not unnaturally gained a lofty influence amongst the migrating people. They have ever been, and still remain, entirely anti-English. Major Charters, E.A., speaking of them as he saw them in 1841, says : — - "The spirit of dislike to English sway was remarkably dominant amongst the women. Many of the*e who formerly had lived in uithience, but were now in comparative want, and subject to all the inconveniences GRACEFUL HOSPITALITY. 25 accompanying the insecure state in which they were existing, — having lost, moreover, their husbands and brothers by the savages, — still re- jected with scorn the idea of returning to the Colony. If any of the men began to droop or lose courage, they urged them on to fresh exertions, and kept alive the spirit of resistance within them." This feeling in favour of independence is as vivid to-day, and as truly a part of the character of the female Boer, as it ever has been. These women are thoroughly and entirely at- tached to their families — are strictly conservative, and would urge, and are prepared now to urge, that every sacrifice, in- cluding life and property, should be made for the furtherance of the desire of their people to be free from the original allegiance that was forced on them by the cession of the Cape Colony in 1806. I have heard them say that, " if the mothers and wives of England could be made aware of their losses, trials, and sorrows, and of their determination to expose themselves to fresh miseries and still greater evils rather than submit to a rule they detest, the sons and husbands of English homes would never have been sent to destroy theirs." This feeling has, I am sorry to say, been recently added to and strengthened by a most uncalled-for and reckless at- tack upon the Dutch South African women, which appeared in the ' Nineteenth Century,' and is ascribed to an inexperi- enced attache of Sir Theophilus Shepstone — one who knows about as little of the women he defamed as a Patagonian savage might. This aversion to English rule must not, however, be supposed to include any personal hostility or want of hospitality to Englishmen. Captain Patterson, who was recently travelling with Mr Sargeaunt, junior, a son of William C. Sargeaunt, C.M.G., Crown Agent for the Col- onies, and others for hunting purposes, through the north- eastern districts of the Transvaal, has repeatedly and publicly stated the extreme gratification he and his party felt at the kindness with which they were everywhere treated. A Scotch store-keeper also, who attempted to journey from Upper Caledon to Durban, with a trap and two horses, told me " that he was not only most kindly welcomed and made comfortable all along his road, but that be could not prevail upon his Boer entertainers to accept payment, even for the feeds supplied to his horses." 2G THE BOER OF TO-DAY. Of course, along the main routes of traffic, travellers cannot expect to meet with such liberality from the farmers whose houses are continually invaded by wanderers — chiefly poor Englishmen and other Europeans — who re- semble in many important peculiarities the ubiquitous British tramp, so well known in casual wards and county prisons. The Boers have acquired a horror of this sort of representative of England's greatness. The fellows have been known, at lonely farmhouses, to force their unwelcome presence on the inhabitants with threats ; and their appearance throughout the country has become a source of continual complainings and heart-burnings by reason of their depreciations and levying of black-mail. But very different from the reception given to these va- grants is that accorded to people of any nation, travelling with decent equipages or on horseback. These, if they are commonly polite, and fall in with any degree of grace with the customs of the country, are invariably well treated, being admitted to the house, and freely offered what food and accommodation it can afford. I ma} 7 here note one of the charges most frequently made against the Boers, — that they are unneighbourly, cannot live at peace with English farmers, and are always striving to shake themselves free from the ways and surroundings of civilisa- tion whenever it approaches them. That this is not un- natural a glance at their cattle-farming arrangements will easily show. An Englishman has to live beside a Boer farm, instantly a danger arises that disease will be brought amongst the cattle. The Englishman swaps (chops) and exchanges, engages in transport-riding, obtains cattle he cares little how or where, and may at any moment be the cause of great loss to his neighbours by contaminating their herds with lung sickness and worse diseases. Disputes, therefore, constantly arise about boundaries, which would be of little or no importance if only Boers were neighbours to Boers, because the Dutch South African farmer's stock is always of his own, or of other clean and well-known raising. So fond, indeed, are the Boers of keeping the same stock in a family, that at their auctions, which invariably take place on the occurrence of a death, members of the deceased's A RASCALLY TRICK. 27 family will bid double the market value for the animals put up for sale rather than allow a clean herd to be broken up and scattered away from the original proprietary. Dis- putes about boundaries are quickly followed by the impound- ing of cattle — a source of grave irritation. I am sorry to say that English settlers have been known in a poor neigh- bourhood to live almost entirely from pound-fees and mile- age, earned by continual and often very unnecessary inter- meddling with their neighbours' herds. This, with the insolent contempt for his neighbour's ways and habits too often manifested by the stranger, is the cause of many feuds and removals. The foreigner comes into a country which has been conquered by the energy and at the risk of other men. For a few pounds he finds ready to his hand a place cleared equally of wild beasts and fierce bar- barians. He has no sympathy with the people amongst whom he comes to plant himself — no share in their sorrows, and no interest in their history. Is it to be wondered at that a mutual repulsion should exist between such opposites ? There are often also to be found amongst our colonists men capable of any meanness, and who are only restrained from open robbery by fear of the law. A circumstance which took place some years ago, and by which the English name was brought into great contempt amongst even a Kafir race, may not here be out of place. A Basuto chief wanted a cannon, and had repeatedly asked an English trader located at his kraal whether one could not be made if he provided the materials. The trader knew nothing about cannon-founding, but having been a puddler, or some such thing, in his youth, he calculated how he could best outwit the man under whose protection and at whose place he was living. He told the chief that a brass cannon could be made ; and to that end induced him to purchase no less than 12,000 lb. weight of expensive brass and copper wire, promising that by the time all the material would be col- lected, a brother of his from the Eoyal Arsenal in England would arrive to make the gun. The difficulty now was about the brother. One night, however, a half- starved vagrant crept up to the trader's hut, having slipped into Basutoland to be out of the way of the police. The instant 28 THE BOER OF TO-DAY. lie hove in sight our friend rushed forward eagerly, exclaim- ing in English, " Don't speak for your life ! throw your arms round my neck and pretend you are my long-lost brother." The warm greeting requested was instantly ex- changed between the two rascals, and the new-comer was speedily hurried into the house, out of sight, where he was washed, dressed, and instructed in the part he had to play. The next day the chief, who of course had heard of the arrival, came down to inquire if this was not the cannon- founder? and was gratified by hearing that it was. An attempt was now made to commence the work. A large quantity of metal was actually fused, and a coarse casting made of what might, by a stretch of the imagination, be conceived to represent the rudimentary form of a cannon. With this success the Basutos were, of course, delighted. The next part in the play was to get a last haul out of the chief before the confederates would decamp. He was sent for and told that a lathe with a bore of enormous size, some valuable finishing tools, and other things, were re- quired to complete the work. These goods could be obtained in Natal, but only by white men, as an inquiry for them by Kafirs might arouse suspicion. The unsuspecting chief gave sixteen horses for this purchase. The thieves then pre- tended to remember that a portion of the breech — -that con- taining the touch-hole — should have let into it a mass of solid silver to prevent its burning away too readily. Ac- cordingly a collection of half-crowns and shillings was made, with which and the horses the confederates bolted, leaving their brass casting as a standing monument and perpetual reminder of their rascality. Other blackguardisms are often practised not only against Kafirs but against farmers. There are everywhere to be found men whose thefts, frauds, and daring robberies have rendered them almost universally known throughout South Africa. Those who read newspaper " daily " reports will not find it difficult to guess who are pre-eminent in brutality. As I was travelling in Jane by post-cart from Pretoria, I heard from a fellow-passenger, Mr Jennings, a story of revolting cruelty, that has evoked, for hundreds of miles throughout Boerland, deep and widespread contempt for a people who PAYING FOR HIS WHISTLE. 29 can be guilty of such crimes. There was not long ago a forge near Strydoms Spruit, a little river on the Pretoria road, where a white girl of good family was brutally ill-used by her brother, and compelled to labour as a blacksmith's help. This unfortunate creature eventually became mad, and has been seen tied up, hungry, to a willow-tree, while her screams pierced the air. Death, I have been told, sub- sequently released her from her sufferings. Such foul treat- ment of a woman, and that woman the fellow's sister, had never previously been heard of amongst the primitive, order- loving, mother-revering farmers. They could hardly con- ceive it possible that earth could shelter such a monster as this inhuman brother. I have been told that they have been additionally shocked since by seeing the same man or his brother — a leader of ton — received into governing circles, and placed amongst the new rulers of their land. That the Boers have vices and strong prejudices I do not deny. Some of these give rise to comical incidents, showing at once their simplicity and their weakness. I remember long ago, some farmers at Nacht-maal — the communion service of the Dutch Church — thronged into a store to make purchases after their usual fashion. One of them who had bought a box of tea, open, and out of which a few pounds had been taken as a sample, became enamoured of a fine bar of lead lying on the counter. With a rapidity which, nevertheless, did not escape the eyes of the store- keeper, he popped it into the tea-chest, which had been already weighed. When he was settling up, however, pre- tending to discover some defect in the weighing, the counter- man reweighed the case ; and as he charged 4s. 4d. per lb. for tea, the Dutchman (who of course could not draw atten- tion to the nine-pound bar he had thrust into it) had the pleasure of paying at that rate for the lead. The principal evil amongst them seems to be their system of too early marriages. Young people are not unfrequently beginning life as married men and women at the period when an Englishman's apprenticeship more often com- mences. They take on themselves the cares of a family, and all the troubles of domestic life, at almost incredibly early ages, sometimes beginning the world with very scanty 30 THE BOER OF TO-DAY. means, and having to labour in much the same way as their fathers did during the original settlement, for many long years before they can gain any approximation to the com- forts they enjoyed in the paternal homes. This early domesticity, no doubt, has in some directions excellent results, but it unfits many young men for war and border service, weakening terribly the available force of the farm- ing population. Many of the girls are extremely pretty, and I have found beauties amongst the Boers quite as much in demand as amongst more favoured nations. I have known a young girl whose manners, self-possession, and education would have been creditable to the daughter of people of a far higher class in life. She could dress well and dance well, and was as virtuous and amiable as any young lady in Europe. She married among her own people ; and I am not the least ashamed to say that many Europeans, including myself, seemed to have been very sorry for it. Many of the elder Boer ladies are not uncomely. Even in the wild neighbourhood of Lydenberg itself there are some to be seen bearing traces of beauty of no ordinary character, and whose lives are useful, adorning and cheering the homes of their husbands and children. The men, as has been remarked by many previous writers, are splendid specimens of humanity — far over the middle height, powerful, robust, and inured to hardships and long travel; simple and temperate, they are the material of which, with proper care, a far-seeing man would essay to build up a nation. They are called parsimonious and mean, but for my part I feel inclined to commend them for frugality and thrift, rather than to despise them for their avoidance of luxury. They are essentially colonists and settlers. They look for no home outside South Africa ; and in this, I am persuaded, consists their great excellence as a colonising people. A European entering into South Africa almost, invariably directs all his exertions to the making of what he considers a sufficient sum with which to return to his old home : this too frequently leads him to acts of question- able morality. But South Africa is the home of the Boer. He is ever and always the domesticated South African settler ; and therefore, as a rule, we find him a farmer and "PIANISSIMO." 31 a herdsman, a flockmaster or a minister of the Dutch Church — but seldom or never a storekeeper or a middleman. In connection with these middlemen and their influence on political questions T shall have something to say when I deal with trade in a later chapter. In this, I have tried to confine myself to the Boers and their ways. I have said before that the Dutch are, in religion, a nar- row-minded people. This was exhibited in a peculiarly strange form, during the late war, in the Kruger's Post laager. In the little fort was an English storekeeper named Glynn, whose daughters had a piano, on which they would occasionally play " dance and other profane" music. This was a source of great annoyance to their pious neighbours, who in many respects resemble our own early Puritans. It was requested that the piano should be silenced, as the music might tempt the anger of Heaven, if persisted in, during a time of war and trial. If a girl in the laager (a defended encampment) were frivolous or light in her conduct, she was liable to be arrested and brought for trial before the fathers of the Church, from whom she might receive a severe cau- tion, or even the punishment of removal. I have not heard, however, that this authority had to be at any time enforced against any of the young ladies, whose conduct in confined quarters and crowded barracks, exposed to many temptations during the war, was thoroughly and entirely creditable to their religious training. 32 CHAPTER III. FIRST SECOCOENI WAR. Secocoeni's people — Gold — The outbreak — Misunderstood piety — Mistaken impressions— A Bushman's stratagem. Secocoeni, chief of the Bapidi, the son of Sequati, as I have more fully explained in another chapter, occupies a very rugged and barbarous district in the far north-east of the Transvaal. This reserve, by treaty with Sequati his father, should be bounded on the south and south-east by the Steelport Eiver, and would comprise the district (includ- ing the Lulu Mountains) confined in the angle between that stream and the Oliphants River, into which it flows. By the Boundary Treaty, armed men were prohibited from crossing the Steelport River, lest they should disturb relations on either side. Later on, the chief, following a policy not dis- similar to that which marked the course of the formation of other and greater Kafir nations, and especially of the Arnan- dabele, sought, by receiving refugees under his protection, to increase his tribal power and territorial influence. In this way he added to his hereditary tribe a body of men who had quarrelled with the Amaswazi. The chief of these refugees — Umsoet — brought about 300 warriors with him. Besides these there came Mapolaners, Knobnose Kafirs, Can- nibals, Mambeyers, and other small knots of men from broken tribes, or sections that had split off from greater tribes, hav- ing quarrelled with their supreme chief. Each of these frag- ments, seeking refuge with Secocoeni, marched in under the guidance of its own chiefs and headmen, under whose gov- ernment their new protector permitted them to remain. He AX UNHEALTHY DISTRICT. 33 gave them land and fixed them along the outposts, and in places where they could protect the more exposed portions of his own mountainous and difficult country. These gradu- ally formed a chain of defence, extending from the Drakens- berg along the hilly country by the Origstadt and Speck- boom, past the south point of the Lulu to Mapoch, a chief whose strong position almost impinges upon the main road from Middleburg to Lydenberg. As the chief thus increased the number of his people, he was favoured in his project for extending his territory, by natural circumstances, which con- spired to force back from the " treaty boundary line " the European farmers living closest to it. The border lands, which may generally be taken to mean the whole country between the main transport road — from Middleburg to Pre- toria's Kop, via Pilgrim's Rest — and the Steelport River, consist of Bushveld, the habitat of fever of a malignant de- scription, and are unhealthy during the greater part of the year, not only for stock but for men. In the valley of Orig- stadt, a town formed by the Boers was long since entirely abandoned by them — not in consequence of Kafir aggres- sion, but because the settlers had been twice decimated by fever. There was no family resident in that valley into which death had not made its way. Some perished entirely. The same thing occurred along the whole border line, and the farmers tracked out to what is known as the Highveld — the great, bare, but healthy and excellent pasture-lands form- ing the plateau of the Transvaal proper. It is unnecessary for me here to go at great length into the distinction of Highveld and Bushveld. It is sufficient for the purpose of this narrative to state that northward and eastward from Lydenberg, Bushveld and Lowveld are convertible terms, and that the prevalence of sickness has hitherto caused hundreds of farmers, with their families, to quit the lower and more bushy country, and go to the higher, cooler, tree- less regions which they had neglected to occupy on their first migration into the country. This enabled Secocoeni, without actual hostilities, to fill up with his new allies and dependants lands on the Transvaal side of the treaty line. The tribes or fragments of tribes to which he gave lands were invariably better fighting men than were his own sub- 34 FIRST SECOCOENI WAR. jects ; some of them were Zulus ; all were poor, fierce, and contentious, and they swarmed, armed and insolent, over the ground which, by Sequati's treaty, they should not have in- truded on. I must now state what seems to have been hith- erto ignored, — that my own observations have led me to the conclusion that the Boers did not in any way covet the lands of the chief; neither did they object very much to the slight extension of territory gained by his system of harbouring refugees ; all they seemed to have desired at any time was, that the savages on their borders, or living on and amongst their farms, should not steal, or make armed encroachments into the more settled portions of the country. Discoveries of gold, however, in 1871, brought into the neighbourhood, and especially into a location called Pilgrim's Rest, 36 miles from Lydenberg, numbers of adventurous miners. These men sought labour, and also desired to be permitted to extend their prospecting and mining operations over territories be- yond the limit of Republican control ; and the first hint that reached my ears of trouble with Secocoeni was when, in 1874, an English gentleman — the gold commissioner — irri- tated (justly or unjustly, it matters not which) by the con- duct of his Kafir neighbours, got himself into a position of pronounced hostility against Secocoeni. Of course there had been in previous years border troubles. Mapoch, living within the line, had been in arms against the farmers, but had been twice reduced to submission, and was now confined to his own mountain. Thefts had occurred ; Umsoet and others had stolen cattle from the Boers ; but with the Bapedi there had been peace from the time of the treaty with Sequati, Secocoeni's father, of whom I have spoken. A new element now comes into the story. Some German missionaries having failed to convert to their views the chief and headmen of the Bapedi, left Secocoeni's country, flying by night from the vengeance of the king, and took refuge with their converts near certain Transvaal towns. The Rev. Mr Nachtigal subsequently established a very fine and flourishing station between Lydenberg and the Speck- boom River. Lower down this stream, however, one Jo- hannes settled himself in a strong position, where he built a DIFFICULTIES WITH JOHANNES. 35 fortified village, whence lie could either visit the mission station or steal cattle, whichever suited his disposition. Now, although the ground on which this man, who called himself a convert (because he and his people wore clothes, and were greater rogues than any other Kafirs in the vicinity), settled, was rocky and sterile, yet its possession was important, situated as it was amongst occupied farms, which were lawfully and entirely the property of the neigh- bouring farmers who visited this part of the country for purposes of timber-cutting and winter-pasturing. It is not to be expected that the Rev. Mr Nachtigal and the expelled missionaries bore any goodwill to the chief who had banished them from his territory, by whom their lives had been threat- ened, and themselves seriously injured in property and pros- pects. I am not going to say that in anything which after- wards occurred, the Rev. Mr Nachtigal, for whom I have much esteem, acted maliciously or from a desire to create ill-will and bloodshed ; but it is to be feared that he, having suffered so much, not unnaturally was prone to exaggerate the hostile intentions of the Kafirs to his mission people, and to call out " War ! war ! " when there was no w T ar. In the early part of 1876, Johannes's people began to be pecu- liarly obstructive to the farmers and mission station " volk," forbidding them to cut wood on the farm of Jankowitz, to which the Kafirs had not a shadow of right. From this small circumstance came the first war — a war for which Boer aggression is in no way responsible — a war which was perhaps unavoidable, but a war which, as I hope to show clearly, was not the result of an insatiate desire for lands on the part of the farmers, nor of a desire by any person to rob the Kafirs of their cattle ; but which was deliberately provoked and brought about by Johannes's contempt of law, and fostered, I am sorry to say, by persons who had personal motives for believing the worst of the Kafirs, and who were not sorry that an opportunity should arise for weakening or breaking altogether the power of Secocoeni. A wood-cutting party being turned back by Johannes's people, they complained to the magistrate. This man was ;i European, named Cooper. Under him there were no strictly Dutch officials, the public prosecutor being a German officer 36 FIRST SECOCOENI WAR. from the British German Legion, and the sheriff and jailor Englishmen, or of English, not Dutch, descent. Mr Cooper very properly ordered the sheriff to protect the woodcutters, and to arrest and bring before him any persons molesting them. They subsequently returned with their waggon to the farm, close to Johannes' Stadt, where they proceeded to cut poles, and load them up for removal. Here they were again ordered by Johannes to desist, and were molested and threatened. The sheriff unfortunately failed to do his duty ; and thus, for the first time, the Kafirs successfully defied the law. This was duly reported to the Executive in Pre- toria as an act of rebellion. From the time of this occurrence it began to be alleged that Johannes was acting under the orders of Secocoeni, that his intention was to provoke a quarrel, that the Bapedi had hostile intentions to the mission station and its people, and that war was inevitable. Kafirs employed on farms and in villages began to abscond, some stating that they had been sent for by their chief, while others left without giving notice. The foreign residents on the Gold Fields called loudly for protection, and by their action very much embar- rassed the Republican authorities. On the Gold Fields, as elsewhere, there were to be found unscrupulous men, whose interest lay in fanning the flames of war. They may be briefly described as gun-runners and powder-sellers. They are a class not unknown in strictly British territory. Some of the miners, who had been prevented from prospecting in Secocoeni's territories, desired war, in order that that country might be thrown open to them. The mission Kafirs, fearing the king, spread the most alarming reports concerning his intentions ; and whilst the executive power in Pretoria was engaged discussing the contempt of law committed by Johannes, a letter arrived from the Rev. Mr Nachtigal, stat- ing that his mission station had been burned and mission Kafirs killed. There is but one post weekly from Lydenberg to Pretoria ; and although it turned out afterwards that Mr Nachtigal's report was unfounded — being the result of some panic rumour that had reached him at the last moment before the mail started — war was declared asrainst the Kafirs. For THE COMMANDO DISSOLVED. 37 this war the Republic was unprepared. The President was entirely on the side of peace ; but the news of the attack on the mission station, with the other reported lawlessnesses of the Kafirs, so excited the Raad, that Thomas Burgers, even against his own convictions, was forced into the field. Of the war itself I need say little. Its history has reached the public distorted to such an extent by the bias of partisan writers, that I can have little hope that anything I may say will induce persons to view the circumstances connected with it in a way different from that in which they have hitherto viewed them. The public have been told that the Boers behaved in a most cowardly manner— that they fled from 'Thaba Mosegu in wild confusion to their homes, after having refused to advance against the enemy, or even to continue an assault already commenced. This I must say, — farmers are not under the same discipline in the field as drilled soldiers have to submit to. The war was not con- ducted according to farmers' methods of fighting. It seemed to them a vast meaningless promenade, undertaken at enor- mous expense, which kept themselves, their waggons, and cattle, from their homes at a most unseasonable period. They knew the country they were in ; they were aware that if they remained a few weeks longer in its deadly and pesti- lential climate they would be almost certain to lose hundreds of horses, thousands of cattle, and many valuable lives, by irresistible fevers and dreadful desolating sicknesses. There was no more chance of holding them together than Charles Edward had in his attempted advance on London, in 1745, of keeping his Highland clans from retreat, when they had once resolved upon their return homewards. The army was too large. Some had left their houses hurriedly, and wanted to go back to look after their children and stock. Self-interest, family ties, weariness of continual travel, fear of fever and horse-sickness — all these, combined with the most amiable motives, which in any other place but a battle-field would have been highly praiseworthy, dissolved the Commando. 1 The enemies of the Republic have since 1 Commando, an unpaid force levied under border law, with the pub- lished consent of the Executive. 38 FIRST SECOCOEXI WAR. succeeded in inducing the world to fix upon it the stigma of cowardice. But whatever may be said of the Boers' desertion from the field, they had already done the Kafirs much injury, and had effectually checked the cravings for war of a majority of the Basutos. I intend to deal in another place with the story of Johan- nes's Kop, the Boers having in this instance been accused not only of cowardice, but of treachery to their allies. The circumstances, doubtless, still dwell in the remembrance of many. I shall only now say that I have good grounds for stating that a fine of £500, imposed by the Boer Govern- ment on Commandant Coetzee for alleged cowardice on that occasion, has been remitted by the English authorities, who are satisfied that the punishment and the imputation were alike undeserved. A short story will illustrate the very feeble grounds on which some persons pretend to impute cowardice to others whose simple manners and religious training they are un- able to appreciate. On the march from Lydenberg to the ground to be occu- pied before Johannes' Stadt, a farmer and hotel-keeper was riding through the night on a small worthless pony beside a Boer. The way was dark, the ground broken and intricate. There was no road, and every bush or rock might swarm with enemies. A man might reasonably expect wounds or death at any moment. The Englishman heard the Boer praying to himself, or rather to God, as he rode along — praying that God would deliver him from the dangers of the fight, and give him strength and courage to do his best for the Commando. The Boer's simple habits of earnest piety had taught him no false shame ; he felt nothing to be ashamed of in praying at a period of danger. This prayer did not stop his horse ; he was still riding on to where they expected to meet the enemy. My civilised friend mistook the man's feelings altogether, and said to him, " Change horses witli me ; my pony is good enough for you to ride home on. I shall make proper ex- cuses, so that you shall not be blamed for your absence. PIETY MISUNDERSTOOD. 39 As you are afraid, why not go?" The poor Boer's reply was characteristic, at once of his faith, his simplicity, and his idea of duty, which, after all, is something higher than mere courage. "No, my friend," he said; "I have come, and I have got to go on, and do my best. I am afraid, but 1 will go on, and God will help me." The man, in my opinion, both then and on the next day, did his duty with honour and courage ; but I cannot yet persuade my sceptical friend that this pious man was not a most horrible coward. So much for Johannes's affair. If the President, Thomas Burgers, had known the Kafirs thoroughly, the ridiculous statements that got into circula- tion after his retreat from Secocoeni — to the effect that the Kafirs were victorious, and were now prepared, as the ' Scots- man's ' correspondent of 4th December 1876 says, in their turn to invade the Transvaal — could never have got afloat. If the Boer Commando had been really unsuccessful in the estimation of their enemy, it would never have escaped without serious loss from the valley of Mosegu. The fact is, and was in reality then, but the President did not know it, that the natives looked on the Boers' return to their own country as the most natural and proper thing in the world. Secocoeni's town was in flames ; he had seen an enemy clambering over his highest hills, burning and slaying within the stone walls of his favourite stronghold ; and he considered their retreat from the fever, horse-sickness, and other disagreeables of his miserable and devastated country, a most reasonable, rational, and victorious pro- ceeding. Throughout the march from Secocoeni's hills to Kruger's Post, but one attempt was made — and that by but a small body of Kafirs — to molest the Commando. One man only was lost — shot dead in the President's waggon — in this so- called disgraceful flight. This phase of the question has been very clearly and accurately referred to in a letter, dated " Albemarle Hotel, 10th July 1878," written by the deputation from the Transvaal farmers, Messrs Kruger and Joubert, to her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies, wherein I find the following words : — 40 FIRST SECOCOENI WAR. "With rospect to the third point — viz., the defencelessness of the country, the encroachments of the natives, and the failure of the war with Secocoeni — these, as well as the financial troubles, we are also pre- pared to a certain extent to admit, though we utterly reject the exaggera- tion with which they have been described, and the inferences of utter disorganisation and danger which have been drawn from them. "We deny the inference which has been drawn from the failure to dislodge a chief from fastnesses, such as Secocoeni occupied, at the first attempt. He had been reduced to the greatest straits, and had sent to Pretoria to sue for peace, which, under the pressure of the circumstances in which the Government of the Republic found themselves, owing to the action of the British authorities in supporting the cause of the rebel chief, was ultimately agreed to upon the payment of a fine, which fine is now being enforced by the Administrator. It is utterly incorrect to say that there was any danger to be feared from Secocoeni, for it is well known that he never came beyond his own strongholds. " The Kafirs, far from being likely to invade the Transvaal, were in a condition of utter doubt and uncertainty for weeks after the great Commando had left the country, and the abandonment of the campaign by what is most unjustly termed the flight of the farmers, which occurred on the 2d of August 1876. It was not until the 29th of September that the natives mustered courage sufficient to assume the aggressive against Fort Burgers, where, as I have told elsewhere, they failed to make any impression on the little garrison. From this latter date, as is well known, the initiative had always to be taken by the volunteers. I knew a Bushman once, who, when in the Thorn veld, far from his home, discovered that a lion intended to make a meal of him. The great brute met him in a jocose sort of way, at two or three points of his path, bounding on each occasion back into the bush, making his startled victim fully believe his time had come. When the lion had played this trick for a third and a fourth time, in much the same way as a cat might do with a cockroach, the path entered great reeds and tall grass. The Bushman, who still kept his wits about him, now determined to pay off his enemy in his own coin. Knowing the lion was in front of him, he dodged off to the right, under the wind, ascertained the whereabouts of the beast, and betook himself to a course of quiet watchfulness. The big cat, when he in his deep wisdom thought the man A BUSHMAN S STRATAGEM. 41 should come along the path, found to his evident surprise that disappointment was in store for him. He put his head to the ground and roared with annoyance, when his eye caught sight of the Bushman peeping over some grass at him. Before he had quite made up his mind what to do, the poor little man was taking sights at him from another quarter, to which the lion of course at once directed all his attention. The Bushman now shook the reeds and showed in another place, when the powerful but suspicious animal, getting alarmed in his turn, began to think he was the hunted party. The brave little Bushman, who left no circumstance unnoticed, began to steal slowly but visibly towards his foe, who, falling into a state of utter doubt and trepidation, fairly bolted. The Kafirs, after the retreat from Secocoeni's town, felt much as the lion did, and consequently were not dangerous to the Transvaal. The Boers, who are well aware of this fact, feel not unnaturally aggrieved at Lord Carnarvon being so easily persuaded to sanction an annexation, which was unfairly represented to him as necessary for their preser- vation. In the beginning of August 1876, the President decided to contain Secocoeni within his own limits during the spring, summer, and autumn — that is, the then fast-approaching sickly season — by volunteer forces who would live in forts, stop the Kafirs from cultivating their lands, and prevent them making irruptions into the settled country. One of these forts was occupied almost entirely by Africanders, the other by men of European birth. The men who occupied these advanced positions were, by the enemies of the Re- public, who now became noisy, repeatedly accused of com- mitting atrocities, and of murdering captives and others in cold blood. I am glad to be able to state that the British authorities, on taking possession of the Transvaal, after proper inquiry made from the enemy, as well as of the volunteers, have found no reason for believing those charges ; and a distin- guished officer of the Queen's army, General Sir A. T. Cunynghame, K.C.B., said, at a public banquet given in 42 FIRST SECOCOENI WAR. his honour at Lydenberg, " The army which he represented was satisfied that the volunteers had done their duty with honour and courage." In January 1877, Secocoeni sued for peace from the Republic, which was granted to him, after some demur, conditionally — on his confining his tribe within narrowed limits, and on his agreeing to pay a couple of thousand cattle as a war indemnity. 43 CHAPTER IV. LYDENBERG VOLUNTEER CORPS. The Fort — Scenes in Kafirland — Recruiting under difficulties — Our first figlit — Foreign Enlistment Act— Kafir intelligence— Battle of Mount Morone — A fatal fight— Fall of Von Schlieckmann — An ancient city — Skirmish- ing— Windvogel— Life amongst the L.V.C. — A night march— Kafir allies — Wild dogs — Stratagems of Kafir war — " The Gunn of Gunn" — A con- verted piper — Burnt alive. I do not think any work on the Transvaal would be com- plete without a sketch of the Lydenberg Volunteers, the first body of foreign troops ever employed by the Republic. Their origin was thus : When the Boer Commando deter- mined on moving homewards, and had reached the Steelport River, about eighteen miles from Secocoeni's town, Captain von Schlieckmann, a young, handsome, and brave German, the favourite nephew of General Manteuffel, related to many Prussian notables, who had been decorated for Weissem- bourg with the Iron Cross, and had been aide to Count von Arnim, and who had attracted the President's attention by his reckless valour, proposed that he should raise a corps which with others should occupy the frontier, live in forts, and from them harass the enemy during the spring and -summer, so as to prevent Secocoeni acquiring an undue stock of food with which to engage in a second campaign. This counsel was plainly good. It would not do to leave the border-line exposed to any raids Secocoeni might feel inclined to make. At the same time, the farmers could hardly be expected to remain on duty the whole season. It must always be remembered in favour of the farmers, that the country they inhabit is as large as France, and that they are thinly scattered over an immense area — so 44 LYDENBERG VOLUNTEER CORPS. thinly, indeed, that the average distance from farm to farm throughout the whole Transvaal is nine English miles. Each family requiring a protector and bread-winner, it was clearly necessary that some force must be hired to keep the field whilst the farmers went back to their proper avocations. A very great difficulty now started up. If the forts were built far from Secocoeni, he would enlarge his boundaries, and be all the harder to watch ; if, on the other hand, they were built close to Secocoeni's town, the loss of Imman and animal life during the coming sickly season must prove enormous. A sort of compromise was effected. It was settled that one fort, for which Africanders were to be recruited, was to be established on the comparatively healthy and open plateau west of the Lulu Mountains. A second was projected for the spot then occupied by the re- treating army — viz., the confluence of the Speckboom and Steelport rivers, in the bushveld and fever country. Von Schlieckmann volunteered, if properly supplied with " salted horses " and arms, to hold this most dangerous posi- tion. Rules were drawn up by which volunteers were bound to occupy the forts, and do their utmost to prevent the enemy from picking, ploughing, or sowing. Government, on its side, was to find for them 100 horses : rifles, ammunition, saddles, food, and £5 per month per man, and give each of them a farm of 4000 acres on the close of the war. These farms the volunteers should occupy and defend, by them- selves or by approved substitutes, for a period of five years. A few men were got together on the spot, and the Steel- port fort, afterwards called Fort Burgers, was commenced, — a six-angled enclosure about thirty yards wide, having a ditch, drawbridge, parapet, and platform. This did not take long to build. From its easterly angles were run out two long curtain-walls, enclosing what is known as a " kraal " for cattle and horses. These curtain-walls were protected by the fire of the angles from whence they sprang. The kraal or cattle-enclosure had its own gateway and drawbridge. At the end of the kraal furthest from the angular fort] was a sort of irregular redoubt, with a deep ditch and mud walls, defended by the thorns of the country laid along the para- SCENE IN KAFIRLAND. id pet. The whole constituted the fort, which was situated on the edge of a flat overhanging a sharp bend of the Steel- port, where this river, after flowing for miles between high mountains, turned and ran straight across the front of the position before bending again eastwards to its junction with the Speckboom. For beauty the site could hardly be surpassed. West from the gate the view was splendid. In front over the river was a plain, dotted with mimosa and camel-thorn, here and there forming even a close bush. This plain was hemmed in by mountains — on the right by the spurs of the Lulu, and on the left by the towering height of Mount Morone, along the base of which the Steelport ran. The plain narrowed backwards between the ranges into a valley or poort, which, as it receded from the fort, presented a gloomy and sometimes even terrific aspect. This was the Steel Poort, or pass. Through it, — winding in and out amongst rocks, under fearful precipices, past wild and gor- geous hollows rank with semi-tropical vegetation, through heavy clumps of thorny bush, and over naked rocky ridges, — ran a small footpath that led slowly upwards into a fertile valley, over which frowned the stronghold 1 of Umsoet, the most notorious and daring of the robber chiefs that fought for Secocoeni. To the north, and trending northwards twelve miles from the fort, spread the Lulu Mountains, a large portion of whose lower sides being clothed with bush presented a sombre aspect ; but the upper portions of which, formed of crags and scarped walls of granite and porphyry, glittered grandly in the sun, affording in daylight a glorious and ever - changing spectacle, stretching out for miles to where the range ended abruptly near the Oliphants River. Separated from this range by a sandy and thorny valley, down which ran the main road to the king's place, was Dwarsberg — a lofty mountain, presenting a vast buttress of red rock towards Fort Burgers. High on its rocky ter- races eternally smoked the fires of the enemy's scouts, who, from their sheer elevation of 1700 feet, watched the fields and the fort below. To the east, vast piles of mountains cut the sky-line, ending far off in their parent mass, the 1 Matrnet Heights. 46 LYDENBERG VOLUNTEER CORPS. Drakensberg. South and south-east the view was more limited, being closed by some rising grounds, bushy, thorny, and barren, over which lay the road to Kruger's Post and home. On every side the fort was cut off from supplies, save those that might find their way through the devious defiles and dangerous passes of Oliphant's Poort and Krum Kloof (crooked glen). Wherever one looked — on the flats or down the valleys — nothing but dark thorns, large and small, met the view ; wherever one turned his eyes higher, frowning mountains, wooded kloofs, stony gorges, or bril- liant-red precipitous rocks were to be seen in endless variety. And on these rocky points, and deep in those wooded glens, fires and smokes constantly told of the presence of a wander- ing and watchful foe. The fort being commenced, the great Commando con- tinued its march, and as it has no more concern with us, I shall follow it no farther. Von Schlieckmann started for the Gold Fields to recruit. There he found a certain hostile element, which, encouraged by the mistaken action of the English Government in giving belligerent rights to Seco- coeni, and in recognising him as an independent sovereign, had now determined to prevent volunteers from the Fields joining the Republic. This was simply madness. The Gold Fields were in the Transvaal, and subject to Transvaal laws. A more stupid piece of impolicy can hardly be con- ceived than that which, for political spite or personal anti- pathy, would refuse assistance to order against barbarism. Newspaper articles were written, meetings held, and resolu- tions passed, deciding that any man daring to volunteer for the fort should never be permitted to return to the Gold Fields, — much the same thing as if the French Huguenots, when first in England, resolved to cut off and expel from their society any refugee who might enter the British ser- vice ; or as if the Germans resident in America during the civil war had resisted recruiting amongst them for Federal purposes. In defiance of all this nonsense thirty-seven volunteers were mustered, and marched off to Fort Burgers, the road to which, as I have previously said, ran through desperate defiles and gloomy passes. At one of these places Mapethle, HOW NEWS TRAVEL AMONG THE KAFIRS. 47 one of Secocoeni's principal warriors, lay in wait for them. The path, after leading for a few miles over a bushy flat, skirting the vast mass of Mount Morone, was here suddenly obstructed by, and forced to wheel round, three lofty, rocky hills, also clothed in bush — spurs of the" great mountain. The way narrowed to a width of a few feet, and passed so close under the rocks that stones could be thrown from them far over it. On the other side of the road spread an almost impenetrable jungle, as far as the Speckboom, about four miles off. At this nasty place an ambush was laid, but the volunteers, although they had never before been under fire, rapidly dispersed the enemy, driving them up the rocks and out of effective range in a few moments. The men reached the fort some hours afterwards — weary, but safe. In the meanwhile, Von Schlieckmann, remembering that he had friends on the Diamond Fields, wrote to the author to recruit a hundred men for him, and he at the same time sent an agent to pick up any Germans that might be found there. The Foreign Enlistment Act presented a few diffi- culties, but these were overcome by a little ingenuity, and a body of ninety men — very decent fellows — were soon got together at Christiana, the nearest town in the Transvaal to the British Territory of Griqualand West. There a most extraordinary incident occurred, showing the wonderful speed and accuracy with which news is circulated amongst the Kafir races. On the 2d of October, Mr Best, the resident magistrate, was informed by Kafirs coming from the Harts River that, on the previous Friday, an attack had been made on Fort Burgers ; that two great white chiefs bad been killed, many cattle taken, and that the place was not only surrounded but in danger. This news was treated as an exaggerated rumour ; but on the Saturday night following, the down mail from Pretoria brought tidings of its almost literal accuracy. An express had reached Pretoria — 300 miles nearer to Steelport than we were — telling of an assault on Friday, September 29th, on Fort Burgers, in which Lieutenants Knapp and George Robus had been slain, and no less than forty-three head of cattle captured by a Kafir Commando under Umsoet. This express was ridden by Mr Thomas Crane, of the firm of 48 LYDENBERG VOLUNTEER CORPS. Paul Henwood & Co., in the sharpest time on record. He rode with the despatches, on one horse, from Lydenberg to Pretoria — a distance of 180 miles' measurement — in twenty- four hours ; but, through Kafir sources, the information had headed him and the mail by hundreds of miles. The story of the attack of the 29th and its repulse — for it was bravely repulsed by the little garrison — may be very properly given here in the order of dates. From the fort to the foot of Morone stretches a sandy plain, dotted with trees, containing about 2500 acres. This, as it gets narrowed into the gorge between the river and the mountains, becomes broken, being intruded upon in every direction by foot-hills and water-courses. The fort cattle were grazing on this plain, just out of rifle-range, on the morning of the 29th, in charge of some Dutch volun- teers. Suddenly sprang out from gully and kloof hundreds of swarthy warriors, who set to work, shouting and tiring, whilst others drove the cattle up over the steep hills be- tween the river and the mountain. The guard, surprised and outnumbered, fled at once. Reidel, a German artillery officer, who had been left in temporary charge of the gar- rison, at once ordered men in pursuit. He, however, it must be remarked, had a force of but thirty-seven in all. Of these a few misbehaved ; but Knapp, Eobus, Kuhneisen, and a so-called infantry officer, whose name in mercy I will not mention, with sixteen men, sallied out on foot. Their object was to intercept the cattle now being run off at a prodigious rate, and to secure the horses which had broken away from the Kafirs, and were stampeding about in all directions. After a run of a mile, Knapp, Robus, and Kuhneisen — Euro- peans — found themselves amongst the enemy near the cattle, and involved in the broken water-worn foot-hills of the beginning of the pass ; but on looking back, Knapp saw that he was no longer followed by the cautious infantry lieutenant, who had taken himself to safer ground instead of following the brave men who rushed so fiercely into danger. Undauntedly Knapp pushed on, fired at from all sides, his gaze fixed on the cattle — his whole demeanour, as the Kafirs afterwards described it, like that of a man possessed — his eyes glaring with fury and excitement. He was still closely A DEVOTED COMEADE. 49 followed by Robus, firing from a Winchester, and the gallant Kuhneisen. Suddenly the low banks of the ravine, up which they were rushing, swarmed on both sides with the enemy ; others were in front. These quailing before the fiery aspect of Knapp, opened out, and let him pass through, while a shower of bullets and a forest of spears hurtled and plunged after him. He was never again seen alive. The natives say he rushed forward for a dozen yards, bristling with spears like a porcupine. Robus fell at this moment, shot through the stomach, and calling to Kuhneisen not to desert him. Now ensued an episode worthy of all honour. Alone, amongst a thousand enemies, Adolph Kuhneisen fought on, till the Kafirs, believing him to be a demon, shrank from his horrid vicinity. Then — still watched and occasionally fired at — he bore his comrade's body back to the foot of a rock by the river, brought him water, and stubbornly awaited death. But although the Kafirs often threatened him, they molested him no more. Whether they feared that lonely grimy European, clad only in shirt and trousers, kneeling, rifle in hand, over the fallen man's body, or whether some gleam of mercy crossed their savage hearts, I know not ; but they let him alone. Had they attacked him again, they would have had an easy triumph. He had come to his last cartridge, and his grim resolve was, on firing it, to stab his comrade through the heart and then slay himself, that they might both escape the fiendish tortures and mutilations that Kafirs delight to deal out to a foeman taken alive. He was spared this dread- ful necessity, — the sounds of the fight died away, and an hour afterwards he bore the nearly lifeless body of poor Robus to the gate of the fort. Another young German l also distinguished himself on this occasion. About an hour after the first alarm he was seen returning with two muskets and a bundle of spears taken from the enemy, driving before him a cow which he had recaptured, having, in fact, made a sally on his own account. While these events were in progress, from the other side, down from the krantzes (precipices) of Dwarsberg, and up from the valley of Secocoeni, rushed at least 2000 Kafirs, 1 Haagman, now in the " Jagers," Prussia. D 50 LYDENBERG VOLUNTEER CORPS. who now believed the fort an easy prey. But Reidel knew better : he brought his gun — a 4-lb. Krupp breech-loader — into action, and his deliberate fire soon tamed the impetu- osity of the enemy. Wherever they massed — and some- times they appeared within 500 yards — he dropped a shell. For a few hours they threatened a siege, but long before nightfall a mounted patrol was able to scour the country over a radius of three miles without finding any enemy. What the Kafir loss was in this, their first and last assault on Fort Burgers, I cannot say. Much or little, poor Knapp was worth them all. For Kuhneisen's bravery a rifle of honour was awarded him. I shall now go on with the story from where I dropped it. Schlieckmann went by post-cart to Pretoria, and thence to the front ; I followed with the volunteers. We were sup- plied with four waggons, six slaughter cattle, and a few hundred pounds weight of meal, sugar, and coffee for the journey to the capital. On the way the men behaved well, and the country people had no reason to complain. One fellow only had an adventure, which brought on him both ridicule and punishment. This man was fond of savoury food, and cared little for mess-beef. He accordingly pleaded recent rheumatism as an excuse for sleeping in farmhouses and out of camp at night. One evening — his first at this game — a terrible cry rang out from a Dutchman's coach- house : the guard dashed in, and were instantly informed by the malingerer that a dreadful snake had bitten him, and even now he could hear it " hiss. 1 ' A light, soon struck, dis- covered a different state of facts. He wanted to steal fowls, but had not remarked a lonely goose amongst them. On his stretching out his hand to grab a hen, the watchful goose had hissed fiercely, and struck him with her bill on his bare arm ; hence, from the sudden " hiss and blow," he believed he had waked up a puff-adder. It is needless to say he slept in camp ever afterwards. Were I now inclined, I might, after the manner of book- makers, fill pages with useless and uninteresting details of how we rode on, at what hours we inspanned (yoked in the bullocks), and trekked through that spruit (brook), and past WEEDING-OUT THE VOLUNTEERS. 51 such and such farms ; but this is certainly not my intention. In clue time we reached Clarksdorp — a paltry village on the edge of the country comprised in the Keate award, of which more elsewhere. At Potchefstroom — the oldest and most respectable town in the country — we played cricket, and were soundly beaten by the English and _utch youths. There a political enthusiast asked us to accept a fine copy of the British flag, so that we might march to glory under its honoured folds. This would have been treacherous to the people we came to help, so the offer had to be de- clined, with thanks. Everywhere we were treated with courtesy, even by those who were from conviction opposed to our mission. At the end of October we reached the capital, which is well enough known, from Mr Anthony Trollope's description of its unfinished and sardine -box- strewn appearance, to need no words from me in its praise. On arriving, however, an unpleasant incident occurred. Some young fellows who went there to join us had mis- behaved en route and in the town, and by their conduct the character of the corps might be injured. At a general parade in the market square the delinquents were cautioned — two of them summarily dismissed the ranks — and others awarded various punishments. This had a good effect on the inhabitants, many of whom are English, and who now felt assured that the corps would be creditably led, and conducted so as to be a security, instead of, as they had been led to expect, a danger to law and order. The President himself superintended the arming of the corps with Westley-Richards's breech-loading carbines of the triangle pattern — a splendid weapon — then and now very deservedly an almost universal favourite with the Boers. He gave us nine waggons, loaded with ammuni- tion, food, and necessaries, and bade us God-speed in a few affecting words, in which he laid great stress on the fact that we were " Christians and subjects, as well as soldiers, and that our conduct must be marked by humanity, lest, afterwards, savages might say we were like unto them." On this subject he was most emphatic ; and I am glad to say that, although I have vaguely heard of atrocities being committed by irresponsible individuals, I can appeal to every 52 LYDENBERG VOLUNTEER CORPS. European, be lie merchant or missionary, in the Transvaal, to prove that they never heard of any act of cruelty or op- pression attributable to the force under my command. The Government had failed to secure the troop-horses promised us, so we left Pretoria without them. The treasury at the time was nearly empty. I had to pay two men, and make some advances ; but all Government could contribute to the military chest was £25 in small silver, which I took, and was grateful for. On the 12th of November the corps reached Lydenberg, the capital of the north-east. Here it was again joined by Von Schlieckmann, who had in the meantime visited the fort and restored confidence and order, sadly impaired through his absence. The inhabitants of this town, as we had been informed, were hostile to the President, and looked with aversion on his new supporters. Notwithstanding this, we fraternised amicably, and by the time we left, the Lyden- berg Volunteer Corps was as popular with the townspeople as one could wish. On the 13th we reached Kruger's Post, the residence of the Glynns and Erasmuses, where the Boers of the Origstadt ward lay in laager. This laager was simply a stone enclosure, bastioned and loopholed, situate on a running stream and in the middle of a flat, across which surprise ought to have been impossible. In the night we were awakened by the call to arms, but it proved to be occasioned by the return of twenty -four Boers, with one hundred allied natives, who had just made a very successful onfall on Maripi — a treacherous Kafir chief living below the Berg at Hellpoort. In the fight the farmers had lost one white man and two Kafirs. So far as I know of the affair, it was a perfectly justifiable, plucky, and successful raid. The leader — Mr Erasmus, born in Natal — is now a British field-cornet for the ward in which he then held office for the Eepublic. In the early morning, preceded by thirty-six horsemen (forty-three horses had at length reached us), the infantry, fifty in number, marching with the waggon-train, we started into the enemy's country. We were accompanied by a Mapolander named Windvogel, or the Windbird, from his extraordinary speed and endurance. This generous, truth- A BREAK-DOWN ON THE MARCH. 53 ful, and brave savage had suffered terribly by the enemy. His wives and children were slain by Johannes's " volk " early in the war — the breasts of one of the women having been cut off by the murderous wretches while she was still alive. This horrid act was, through a misconception, or a misprint, by one of the colonial papers, attributed to the Boer's Swazi allies ; though it was really the work of our enemies, and the means through which we obtained the faithful services of Windvogel and his followers. We had also with us a prisoner named Kameel — a Knobnose Kafir — whose after-alleged treachery cost the life of the gallant Von Schlieckmann. From Kruger's Post the road to the fort lay up a narrow valley, from which, after an ascent of 150 feet, it stretched out on to a grassy plain, eight miles wide, called De Beers Hoogte or height. On the left of this — we were now going north-west — could be plainly seen the Waterfall Mountains, Johannes's Kop, and the ridges that terminate in the canon of the Speckboom, which flanked our course till it turned abruptly across it, at the mouth of the pass by which we should descend into the lowlands. The first water was at the bottom of a steep, rocky, but heavily bush-grown gorge, fourteen miles from our starting-point. Near this we slept, gxiarded and watchful. Morning found us ready to attempt the pass, which through a scene of gloom narrowed before us. The cavalry went ahead ; infantry worked along the high ridges of mountain that overhung the road on both sides ; whilst the waggons, now nearly worn out by their long journey, toiled along the bottom. At twelve in the day, a scout on the hills within 500 feet of the waggon-track shot a bull koodoo (a lai-ge long-horned antelope). Many other varieties of game were seen ; and our spies informed us that, in a gorge three miles to the left of our path, a kraal of cannibals had been sighted. These cannibals have since been converted — or slain. Just as the last waggon was within two miles of the mouth of the pass a wheel broke down utterly, and as the main body had to encamp on the river, I was left with twenty-four men to guard the wreck. This was my first real duty in Kafiiiand. I got the men into a safe place, 54 LYDENBERG VOLUKTEER CORPS. where, lying four yards apart, in a sort of hollow square, they passed the night ; alternate men being kept awake in spells of two hours. Had the enemy scented the broken waggon and tried to loot it, half a hundred of them must have been shot before they could have broached cargo. In the morning, no alarm having occurred, the broken waggon's freight was transferred to the others, and with a lessened train we pursued our course. From this place to the fort is only sixteen miles, yet we had to travel all through the clay and the whole of the next night to reach it, in consequence of the hilly and broken nature of the road past the three kopjies (little hills) before mentioned, and round the base of Mount Morone. On reaching, at sunrise, the slopes above our home, the guns saluted the new company. The journey was at length happily concluded, amidst the rejoicing of those we had come to relieve. At 2 p.m. I was called to tiffin, where I met James Edward Ashton, acting surgeon to the force, and the other officers, the principal of whom was the lieutenant before alluded to as a failure. He had very martial moustaches, and was ap- parently clever and well bred. Of the surgeon I cannot speak too highly. He was the most amiable little fellow imaginable, from somewhere near Warrington in Lancashire. Everybody loved him, and deservedly so, for his attention to his sick, as well as his bearing in action, were alike admir- able. He was, moreover, a combatant officer, and in the field did duty as an extra aide-de-camp, until some poor fellow with a bullet in his body wanted his services. After tiffin the captain ordered me to fall in the men in silence at 10 p.m. ; cavalry to stand to their horses, all duly armed and equipped. I then went on the rampart to view the country. Two columns of smoke — one from a point high on the Red Krantz of Dwarsberg to the north, and one west of the fort between Mount Morone and the river — attracted my attention. I was told these came from the enemy's fires ; and it was per- fectly true. At the fire on the hill by the river, the forms of Kafirs could be perceived by the aid of the glass ; the other lot were too far off for me to distinguish them, even in that splendid translucent atmosphere. The reason of their A NIGHT EXPEDITION. 55 being allowed so near was simply because Captain Reidel was on leave, and the other artillerists were not up to much. With me, from Pretoria, was a Captain von Spandau, of the Royal Dutch Artillery, who came up for a commission with the highest possible testimonials from his honour the Presi- dent. He was asked to try his hand with the Krupp, and, assisted by Bombardier Atkinson, an English midshipman who had served in the Euryalus, he soon got a gun out and pointed. They made the range 4800 yards, and at the first shot the shell was plumped on the fire, scattering it in all directions. We never again saw enemy's smoke within three miles of the fort. At 10 p.m. the men were got under arms, were inspected, and turned.in again ; but Von Schlieckmann told me to turn out without lights, bugle, or noise of any kind, at 2 a.m. He had information that a large number of cattle were in a kloof seven miles down the - valley ; and he meant to surprise the village, and take all the beasts he could get. He did not expect serious resistance ;- the enemy would be surprised. He told me later on, to keep thirty-eight men for garrison, and give him all the cavalry that could be spared. The in- formation on which he was (acting he had received from Kameel, whom he had pardoned for some past offences, and meant to use as guide. Punctually to the hour appointed, the men for the expedition formed outside on the parade- ground. No light was seen or sound heard. The roll was called in whispers, and all were ready, wTIen, with a dreadful scream, a man fell forward on his face in an epileptic fit. This was afterwards looked on as an evil omen. Ashton came into the fort with the sick man, and the troops vanished into the bushes. Although the night was still, and the river within a hundred yards, the sentries on post never heard the expedition crossing the river. This I mention as an example of the silence that must attend night movements in Kafirland. Not a chain must jingle, or a word be heard ; and a man who would so far forget himself as to light a match or speak should be fearfully punished. When the expedition was well gone, and the fort drawbridges up, Ashton demanded to be let out. He had been in with the sick man, and must now rejoin Von Schlieckmann. No per- 56 LYDENBERG VOLUNTEER CORPS. suasion would induce him to stay. He fairly leaped his horse over the sally-port ditch, and rode after his doomed friend. The rest of the night passed off quietly. I remained for hours on the rampart ; but morning broke, and the world waked up without sound or sight of conflict, or its African accompaniment — conflagration — being detected. At half-past ten I was asleep, and was awoke to be in- formed that three horsemen were riding furiously towards the fort. The gate was ordered to be opened, and in a few minutes Otto von Steitencron, with Kuhneisen and another orderly, came in with the sad news that Von Schlieckmann and six men were shot, and the whole force scattered — part being mewed up with the wounded at some water near the mouth of Mahera's Kloof; that the captain had called for me, and they had ridden in for stretchers, food, and help. A re- lief-party was at once organised of twenty-eight men, carry- ing stretchers, brandy, and bandages. In advance of them, accompanied by the orderlies, I rode off to the scene of the disaster, which was at a great kloof in the Dwarsberg, down the valley on the right of the road leading to Secocoeni's. Crossing the river by the same ford used by the expedi- tion on the previous night, we had ridden not more than two miles when we met some cavalry returning with wounded men lying across their horses. During the next mile we came across our Kafirs driving before them in triumph a few wretched goats, the capture of which had cost the lives and wrecked the hopes of so many. In another quarter of an hour we came out upon an immense cultivated flat, terminating to the right in a long, dark, and winding gorge, black with bush, and skirted by huge preci- pices of sandstone and granite. Into this we turned, follow- ing a Kafir path marked with tracks made during the night and morning by bodies of our own men. When we had got fairly within the kloof, we entered a bush of about ten acres, in the centre of which, a burnt village, with other sinister appearances, marked Von Schlieckmann's course. From this we emerged on another bare tract, from which again we passed into a similar but smaller bush, also shrouding burned huts. Here marks of recent fighting were plainly visible. By this time the precipices on both sides seemed A PUZZLED ENEMY. 57 to close and frown most threateningly on our way, and the voices of Kafirs shouting and calling to each other, to be heard. Riding out on the edge of a small stream, we now ex- pected, being in sight of the last kraal — the only one unburnt — and within about a thousand feet of the end of the gorge, to come across some trace of the infantry and wounded. From the left, a Kafir called to us in Dutch, " Come a little farther till we kill you as we killed the other white men." Being but three together, the invitation was, of course, unheeded. We were within easy range, and did not require to get closer. To attract the attention of our friends, wherever they might be hid away, we now fired our rifles in an order usually used for signalling. No response came, except the howling and challenging of Kafirs from the neighbouring rocks. The signalling by shots was repeated several times. For an hour we wandered about from left to right, looking for the spoor, or some traces of the whereabouts of the main body. It was not until the arrival of the relief-party that we discovered a path to the extreme right — in fact, actually on the hillside — a short cut to the fort. The surface show- ing numerous boot-marks, proved it to have been used for the retreat. The dodging about of three white men right in the Kafir front had, however, not been without its effect. The Kafirs could neither make head nor tail of it, and were, by the mysterious movements, deterred from harassing the column retreating with the wounded which, we learned afterwards, had left the ground on the one hand, only a moment before wo appeared on the other. Another accident contributed to our safety. The men with the stretchers had laid their rifles and canteens on them, for convenience in carrying, and the sun, blazing and glittering on the weapons thus borne, had misled the Kafirs, who believed the troops were carrying some new kind of cannon, or dreadful instru- ments of warfare, to a convenient spot for recommencing the action, of which the smoke still hung round the trees and bushes. Our finally wheeling on to the right-hand path, where our movements were completely concealed by bush, confused 58 LYDEN.BERG VOLUNTEER CORPS. them still more. They could gain no clue to our intentions. This uncertainty of theirs undoubtedly prevented a renewal of the conflict, in which we must have suffered severely. After remaining in position long enough to ascertain that no attempt would be made to molest our return to the fort, we started, in Indian file, for home, — bearers and stretchers to the front, footmen next, officer and the two orderlies behind. In this order we again reached the Steelport River, to be met by the saddening intelligence that our brave commander was dead. The history of his disaster I shall briefly narrate. It is instructive, showing, as it does, that reckless courage and dauntless valour are useless amidst the rocks and stones of a Kafir nest. A Private's Story. "We left the fort at half-past two on the morning of Friday, 17th November 1876. At the sandy drift of the river the first mistake was made. The infantry lieutenant, who ought to have known better, hurried the men over the ford, without halting them to take off their shoes and stock- ings, which of course got wet and filled with sand. This made the subsequent march uncomfortable, and in some instances resulted in men being lamed for days. Kameel, who was acting as guide, led us round and round in the dark through all sorts of thick and thorny places, as it seemed to me, for endless hours ; and we were halted five or six times to recover the road, which he pretended he had lost. The sun was very high before we came to a position in sight of the mouth of the kloof, which, had we been properly guided, we might have easily attained in two hours' smart walking. We must have marched at least twenty miles that night. " The infantry were completely done up by this thirsty and toilsome march, succeeding so quickly as it did on the journey from the Diamond Fields, the effects of which they had not yet ceased to feel. The sun, shining with unclouded brilliancy on the unfortunate and weary men, added to their discomfort. VON SCHLIECKMANN S RAID. 59 " At this moment Von Schlieckmann believed that his advance was still undiscovered. He was determined to do something, and after a short rest, sent in a few spies to view the enemy's position, and ascertain if there were cattle before us. Half an hour afterwards — -two spies having come back — dismounting some of the cavalry, he advanced up the bottom of a gully running through the glen towards the enemy's position. The stillness was profound. Even the birds had left off twittering, in evident surprise at the strangeness of the intrusion of the filibusters and their horses on the scene. The infantry were directed to keep along the right-hand walls of the kloof, where, sheltered by overhanging bush, they might be in a position to be of use in the coming conflict. " Turning an angle of the gully, the captain came in sight of the first village. To reach this he must cross a couple of acres of open ground. As he sprang upon the bank a rifle was discharged by accident, and a shrill and terribly prolonged scream rang out at once from an elevated point of rock on the right-hand escarpment of the mountain. This was instantly followed by the horn-blowing and drum- beating of the enemy's vedettes. Schlieckmann rushed to the village, which he found deserted. He sent orders for the remainder of the men to follow him, and dashed across the next open space at another village. A hot fire now broke out on all sides, — from both flanks, and from the front — from every cave, and terrace, and rock that could shelter a marksman, — a fire which never ceased rolling, pealing, and eddying till the final catastrophe took place, and the wounded were borne out of its influence. " Halting for a moment at the second village, which was also untenanted, Schlieckmann sent six men and an officer to the left, up the rocks, to check the enemy's fire in that direction, and again sent orders for the infantry to be brought into action. The gentleman in command of them, however, who was now in a very wavering state of mind, fell back a few hundred yards, instead of going to the relief of his com- mander. Some of the men, indignant at this, broke from the ranks and rushed to the front. A few privates also detached themselves from the reserve of cavalry left with the horses, GO LYDENBERG VOLUNTEER CORPS. and pushed forward to join their leader, under a withering and rapidly increasing fire. "About a dozen and a half reached the captain, who dashed at the third kraal — a high edifice of stakes and rails defended by thorn-bushes and surrounded by a ditch. Here a couple of men fell. On reaching the gate it was discovered to be blocked with two trees, the branches pointed outwards, and the trunks lying inside the enclosure. Volunteers were called for to leap the hedge and pull away the obstruction. Shepherd and Gilbert — Englishmen — at once sprang over ; and as they pulled in the huge trees, giving passage to their comrades, both fell seriously wounded. With a rush, however, the village was mastered. The end of the defile had now to be won. Schlieckmann, closely followed by two Americans — Woodford and Martin — with Dr Ashton, Kuh- neisen, Wearne, Kibas, and Bayley, prepared for this last attempt. Behind some huge rocks in their front fought the best shots of all Kafirland. Schlieckmann lighted a cigar- ette, drew his sword, and sprang on a rock, calling, ' Ly- denberg Volunteers, follow me ! Come on ! don't let your bravest men fall here alone ! ' A rush was made from the rear, but the wave had only reached the gallant leader's post, when he fell back mortally wounded. Wearne had fallen a moment before. The enemy still shot on ; and it was with difficulty the bodies of the fallen were dragged by Ashton and others out of the fire to a bank by the stream- bed, where water could be obtained. By this time the whole kloof was black with smoke from the musket-fire and the burning villages. The enemy were heard yelling to each other to fly, when a stalwart Kafir — 'Tsikiki — appeared on a rocky eminence on the right attack, and loudly called upon his followers, as well as the demoralised warriors of Mahera, who were falling back in all directions, to charge with their assegais (javelins) and end the conflict. 'Tsikiki was followed by the tribes of the Ked Krantz. This added fresh and formidable numbers to the enemy's ranks at the turning-point of the fight. Mr George Eckersley, in the meantime, who had gone in command of the spies, had penetrated to the caves beyond the last village and made a dash for the cattle, which, all through the fight, were heard "FAITHFUL TO THE LAST." Gl lowing and bellowing as they were hurried towards other places of safety. Amidst the farthest rocks, by a waterfall, he found that some cattle and goats were actually tied by the legs to serve as a lure to bring the volunteers under the enemy's fire. A number of these were hastily cut loose by Eckersley and his followers, and driven down to where the main conflict was raging. " But Eckersley reached the scene only to find the captain and a number of men shot, and that nothing was to be gained by continuing the fight. Then the retreat com- menced. Some of the cavalry, on gaining their horses, hurried away with the more slightly wounded men. The men in rear — hastily reorganised by Woodford and others — made stretchers with their rifles and blankets, and com- menced to carry out the wounded. After half an hour, and fired at all the time, they reached once more the mouth of that fatal glen. " Here they were joined by Von Steitencron, who had been sent, as I have before mentioned, with a party of six to guard the left. One of this party — Davis, a Dublin Jew — had also been wounded. From this spot, at Von Schlieck- mann's earnest request, Von Steitencron and the orderlies were detached to the fort to call me. After Ashton, in a short halt, had attended to the more immediate wants of the wounded, as the enemy threatened to occupy the bush be- tween them and the fort, the line of march was resumed. The wounded suffered fearfully from thirst — the poor cap- tain's tortures being almost indescribable. At half- past three the sad procession reached a rising ground from whence the fort could be seen. Von Schlieckmann, whose life was now ebbing rapidly away, pulled Ashton's head down towards him, saying, ' Little doctor, tell the Presi- dent I was faithful to the last.' In another moment he was a corpse. It was wonderful how this hardy soul had struggled so long against death. The bullet with which he was hit must have weighed a quarter of a pound ; and discharged, as it was, from a distance of but three or four yards, had carried away the right lobe of the liver, and smashed through the back, tearing off projecting portions of the backbone." 62 LYDENBERG VOLUNTEER CORPS. Such was the fight at Mahera's Kloof, described in the ipsissima verba of an eyewitness, one of those who were with the captain from first to last. The volunteers had, except from nine to two on the previous night, been on foot and without sleep for twenty- four hours. They had suffered horribly from thirst, were footsore and weary, and might have lost terribly had they been attacked in the bush on the retreat ; their salvation from which I can only, as I have said before, attribute to what the Kafirs thought the mysterious movement of the relief-party which I had, almost accidentally, interposed in rear of the beaten column. Amongst the fallen men was William Wearne, also shot through the stomach, who died next day. The dead were buried with every honour on Sunday, the 19th. The wounded were lodged in the officers' quarters, which were converted into a temporary hospital. Half of the captured goats were given to Windvogel ; and when the dead were disposed of, and the wounded placed in comfort, I set to work to examine and reorganise my command, which shortly afterwards stood as follows : — Commandant — Alfred Aylward ; Lieutenants — T. L. White, P. Bayley, Geo. Eckersley, Otto von Steitencron ; Artillery Captain — Otto Reidel ; Medical Officer — Edward Ashton ; men, 108 ; horses, 66. I found matters in anything but a satisfactory condition. The main magazine was in a cellar under the officers' quar- ters, in the centre of the narrow redoubt I have previously d escribed. In each of the interior angles reed-houses had been built, behind which the fireplaces of their inhabitants had been most foolishly fixed. In fact, the fort was a slum- bering volcano. During the absence of Von Schlieckmann on the recruiting service great hardships had been suffered by Reidel's small garrison, thirty of whom had given their statutable month's notice as wishing to resign. The infantry lieutenant, really the senior officer of the fort, expected to succeed to the dead captain. Von Spandau, the Dutch artillerist, seemed also inclined to claim admission of his superior rank. Some Germans and Frenchmen were likely to mutiny ; they had come to serve Von Schlieckmann THE SITUATION AT FOET BURGERS. 63 and him only. I, however, considered myself to be the man for the situation, who alone possessed the confidence of the Transvaal Executive and of my dead commander. I there- fore removed the mutinous, gave leave of absence to the ambitious, and despatched as special messengers, anywhere and everywhere, those whose presence might lead to com- plications ; and having placed a guard of my own private followers on the cannon and magazines, proceeded to enforce obedience. With the precautions I had taken this was an easy matter. In order that the President might be properly informed as to the position of affairs, three messengers reached him, — one, the infantry lieutenant, who could give his own account of matters ; another, Schlieckmann's secretary, a German gentleman of repute named Wendlestadt, who had pre- viously held an important mercantile position in Port Eliz- abeth. To these was added Adolph Kuhneisen, the dead officer's orderly, with whom my acquaintance was but a few hours old, but who had ridden beside me with the relief into the fatal valley of Mahera. On this man's probity all our hopes rested. He was despatched with the simple instruc- tion to tell the truth, which he promised to do, and which I believe he did. When the fort was reduced to order, and the discontented got rid of, we had to prepare for the advent of the deadly and pestilential summer. By the 1st of December, of sixty horses that had reached us, twenty-two were already dead of horse-sickness ; a few had been stung by the fly in Oliphant's Poortnek — these had also died. Some recruits were coming, under Mr White, with thirty more horses, but they were as yet nearer to Pretoria than to Secocoeni. There was not a truthful or reliable guide to be had for love or money. We could not even guess who were our enemies or who were our allies from amongst the tribes that swarmed on all sides of us. Our communications with the rear lay through dangerous and dark defiles, liable to be cut at any moment by an enter- prising enemy ; in fact, at that very time there was lying unburied in the gloomiest part of Oliphant's Poort the body of an American, named Doane, who had been barbarously 64 LYDENBERG VOLUNTEER CORPS. murdered, and afterwards abominably mutilated, while car- rying the post with Corporal Kettner a few weeks before. But the corps was still hopeful and faithful, and buckled to its work — the occupation of an exposed and unhealthy posi- tion — with commendable alacrity. A week after Von Schlieckmann's death we started, nearly 100 strong, to avenge him. After a toilsome march we reached, unnoticed, the mountains on the right-hand side of the kloof. By daylight we had gained their summit, and established ourselves over the steep precipice from which the enemy had fired so well on the 17th. But to our aston- ishment nothing stirred in the gorge below. We waited like eagles on a rock till nearly noon, scanning and searching with field-glasses and with our naked eyes the gorge below ; but the place had been completely evacuated, and we had to retrace our toilsome way down the mountain after a fruitless and fatiguing journey. This, as we learned afterwards, is a usual thing with the Kafirs ; had we returned in a month's time, we should have found the place once more alive with the enemy. It was afterwards stated, and, I believe, on good authority, that, on the day of Schlieckmann's attack, the enemy were prepared for him, and had close on 800 men, fairly well armed, and thoroughly well posted, ready to receive him. Here it is necessary to remember that these men were not Basutos, but Knobnose and other hunter tribes, which, with renegade Swazis, were the only enemy the Lydenberg Volunteer Corps ever found opposed to them. The Basutos, as is stated, may be cowards. The Lydenberg Volunteers, for their part, have never met Basutos ; for they have inva- riably found their enemies brave enough. The men's time was now occupied building huts, digging magazines outside the fort, and excavating a chamber which could be used either as a store-room or as a prison. In this work a singular fact was revealed : the mound on which the fort rested had been the burial-place of some ancient race ; the spade everywhere encountered the remains of human bodies, while broken pots, and urns of ancient earthenware, were turned up continually. Who or what this ancient people was, of whose bones we built our fort, has not since A LOST RACE OF MINERS. 65 been ascertained. The remains of old furnaces, and indica- tions that copper-mining and other enterprises had been carried on, at some distant date, by a people more civilised than the Kafirs, were frequently met with. No doubt, in years to come, scientific research and regular exploration will bring to light interesting relics of the lost race on whose graves we were treading. Some of us were of opinion that the plain at the mouth of the Steelport pass had been at one time the site of a large and populous city. However, to return to my story. On the 15th December, the Landdrost of Lydenberg arrived, bringing with him the President's commission appointing me commandant — a fact that was speedily proclaimed on a general parade outside the fort, evidently to the great annoyance of the dwellers in the neighbouring mountains, who, thinking the unusual scene foreboded an immediate attack, lit up huge signal- fires, and alarmed the country in all directions. Arrange- ments were made by which I should meet Landdrost Koth monthly in Lydenberg to receive verbal instructions and settle accounts. This afterwards proved inconvenient, it being used as a handle by the enemies of the corps for mis- representing the purport of our visits. In fact, they once put in the papers a statement to the effect that we spent our time going to Lydenberg once a-month on the spree. On the occasion of Mr Roth's return, I delivered to him one " Andreas," an uncle of Secocoeni, who had been cap- tured in one of Robus's patrols, to the west of Mount Mo- rone. This man was extremely grateful to the volunteers fir the kindness he had been treated with whilst a prisoner. He was eventually sent to the capital, and his evidence com- pletely exonerated the corps from the ridiculous charges of cruelty and unnecessary blood-shedding that had been brought against them. We had another prisoner, a very black little boy, whose parents were slain at the Red Krantz in one of Schlieck- mann's raids. This fine little fellow, whose life had been saved by a Dutchman named Becker, was so terrified at the sound of the cannon, that, in mercy to himself, we found it necessary to send him out of the fort. We gave him to the kindly care of Mrs Glynn, an English lady, living at Kruger's E GG LYDENBERG VOLUNTEER CORrS. Post, pending legal steps being taken for liis disposal by the orphan master. Many months afterwards I saw him the favourite playfellow of Mrs Glynn's son. He had already learned to speak a little both in Dutch and English, and was as happy as boy could be. In fact, he was in a fair way to grow up a useful and tame member of society. But Government, with a justice that savours sadly of injustice, and a kindness that would be better described as cruelty, tore him, shrieking, away from good Mrs Glynn, and gave him back to some of his surviving savage relations, who, as I am told, finding him a nuisance on the road to their moun- tain home, dashed his brains out. Keinforcements reached us before the end of December, and an expedition went out against Umpok. This pene- trated through the rough defiles that open from the Orig- stadt valley, and is memorable, because in it occurred the first case of the fever which afterwards proved so fatal to the Lydenberg Volunteers. A man named Gardner took sick, apparently with a slight bilious attack, when riding near the old town of Origstadt : he was carried to Lydenberg, where he lay for months, narrowly escaping with his life. On this trip, a village with a vast store of corn was destroyed, in Seelas Hoek, but only one of the enemy, a rainmaker, was killed, although we enjoyed a running fight with a strong hunting- party of hostile Mapolanders, who discovered our vicinity through some nervous individual opening fire too soon. Another expedition was undertaken to destroy some kraals situated at the foot, as well as on terraces, of the mountain on the opposite side of the valley to that on which Schlieck- mann fell. These villages had been discovered by a patrol, which reported them full of men. The march on this oc- casion was accompanied by a cannon. The wheels of this gun were wrapt thickly with fresh green grass, and bound with raw hide. This was not only an important precaution against noise, but effectually protected the spokes and axles from being injured by bumping over sharp rocks, or plung- ing down stony places. We left the fort by moonlight, crossing the usual ford, and gaining the bush-path without having, by noise or alarm of SHELLING OUR OWN TROOPS. 67 any kind, exposed ourselves to notice. Kameel, against whom we had no proof, although he was strongly suspected of treachery in the affair of the 17th, accompanied the guides, who of course were selected from the patrol that had reported the enemy's presence. I think he did lead us astray a little : he was, however, suspected, and a rifle to his ear induced him to find the road, if not with graceful alacrity, at least with dogged submission. We reached a plain, from which we were divided by a broad and well-worn water-course, a few minutes before day- break. Here the gun rested in position, facing the mountain - — a long unbroken range, varying in height from 1000 to 1700 feet, which, as I have mentioned before, ran down the left of the valley leading to Secocoeni. Half the cavalry were sent away to the right, with instructions to ride into the mountain-chain, then dismount, scale the rocks, perch them- selves on the top, and await the result of our shell-practice against the villages. They were then to drive down the mountain, cutting the natives off from their caves, and forc- ing them out into the plain, where it was expected they would fall into the hands of Bailey's troop, which was placed in shelter to the left. When morning had fully broke, Eeidel got the range and commenced shelling a large village, which was dimly visible where the plains and the mountains met. The progress of the bombardment was, as you may suppose, watched with much interest ; the third shell, at a range of 3800 yards, burst right in the thatch of a gigantic hut, the very centre of the enclosure. It appeared to create a great commotion, and was immediately followed by smoke and flames, which were at once attributed to its effects. We could see, with the glass, figures rushing from the village ; but, to our astonish- ment, before the gun was again brought to bear, these assumed the formation of a body of Europeans. At the same moment our attention was attracted by the strange conduct of Bailey's troop, which a moment before had appeared charging down towards the fugitives. They had suddenly halted, and were repeating the private signal. A few minutes afterwards the matter was explained. It appeared that Mr White, arriving late, and finding the mountain too 68 LYDENBERG VOLUNTEER CORrS. high to scale in the time allowed him, had immediately, on hearing the first shot, rushed his men into the village, which he at once directed to be burned. During his execution of this, he discovered for the first time that Reidel was shelling the very kraal he was in. He had fortunately time to order his men on their faces before the next shell burst within a few feet of their ears. His only resource was to come out in front as quickly as possible, which he did. All the huts and stores along the base of the mountain had been destroyed without resistance, and the whole troop went to breakfast on the flat by the gun, making a rather pleasant picnic scene, and waiting to see what would turn up. We expected a cart laden with provisions from the fort, which had been directed to trek down to us in the morning for ambulance purposes, if required. At 7 a.m. all was still as quiet in our immediate vicinity as if there were no enemy within miles of it. Some thought the country was entirely deserted as far as the Lulus, while others suggested the possibility of Secocoeni's having withdrawn to the other side of the Oliphants Eiver, and retreated into the fastnesses ~of Matjaji. As we sat facing the burning villages, Schlieckmann's Kloof lay about three miles behind us. Our view to the right and down the valley towards Secocoeni was barred by some hilly and broken ridges, lifting up into the steeper hills of Dwarsberg. But high above and far beyond their western limits, glanced and glittered in the morning sun the red rocky bastions and grey crags of Tsepeke's Mountain. Here at length fires began to flame and smoke to rise, warning all Kafirland that the raiders were on the road. An hour or so later a Kafir horn blew on the rocky summit over the destroyed town. Then screams and yells rang out somewhere high up on the precipitous sides of the mountain; A'oices were heard calling, and, as our spies told us, challeng- ing us to go back to the place of our morning's work. This Von Steitencron wished to do with two men. As it was necessary to capture somebody who could tell us of the enemy's movements, I let him take twelve, with whom he immediately raced across the plain to the foot of the hills. As he did so a puff of wind cleared away the last remains FIGHTING ROCKS AND CAVES. 69 of the morning mists above his head, and with the glass we could make out a village, perched upon a terrace half-way up the berg, and from which the cries and screams seemed to proceed. Before his men had time to dismount, a volley was poured into them from the rocks above. Leaving their horses in charge of one mounted man on the plain, the little troop dashed into the rocks, where the cover would shelter them equally with the enemy. From this moment the ringing of shots was incessant, and it soon became evident that more work had fallen to our lot than twelve men, however brave, could do. Our Kafirs, twelve in number, were eager to join in the fray. Leaving instructions for the horses to be caught and saddled, so that, excepting the artillery guard, all might follow, I went across with them. When we reached the base of the hill, which at a distance had appeared level and almost unbroken, an amphitheatre 1200 feet high, crescent-shaped, and with a terrace fortified by low stone walls, springing from rock to rock, revealed itself. The width of this cres- cent was about 650 yards. Its face presented a wild and singular appearance. It would seem as if some vast eruptive force had flung, from the top of the hill on to its sides, mil- lions of tons of black and rugged rocks and stones, which, piled in wild confusion and irregularity on top of each other up the face of the position, presented innumerable caves and crannies, from which, as well as from the stone walls, taunts, jets of smoke, and bullets were continually issuing. The main body of the volunteers quickly began to swarm up the right and left hand ridges, everybody potting away, whilst a few of us moved up the centre, firing when neces- sary, and gliding from rock to rock, so as to be in a position to keep the whole action in view. Several incidents peculiar to Kafir warfare now occurred. The leg of a pot, fired from a gun of gigantic bore, smashed away a huge piece of rock between one Blackburn and myself. This was speedily succeeded by a crashing sound as the body of a Kafir, rifle in hand, rolled over and fell from a high rock in our front, killed by a shot by a young Boer named Blignaut. The enemy, between the pauses of the firing, began to talk and interchange chaff with our men. One speaking in Dutch, recognised a man for whom 'lie had worked in the Diamond 70 LYDENBERG VOLUNTEER CORPS. Fields, and calling out to liim by name, said, " Baas Tom, why do you Diamond Fields men shoot at us ? what do you want? Put out your head and let us have a chance." This was immediately followed by the discharge of two rifles, bringing the conversation to an end. Then they began to threaten our allies Kameel and Windvogel. This drew our attention to the first-named person. With com- mendable discretion he had taken the white band from his cap, so that the enemy might not recognise him. His figure, however, was conspicuous, slinking with his long gun from rock to rock, high up on the right attack. Being plainly visible to our lowermost men on the left, they miss- ing his badge, and unable to distinguish one Kafir from another at so great a distance, immediately directed their fire towards him. Of course, in the locality he occupied, his companions (our own men) were continually jerking out wreaths of smoke. The fight had now lasted twenty minutes, the enemy's fire was slackening, and the hill nearly gained — some of our men being already in the villages of the upper terrace — when three shots rang out from the position where the gun lay far off by the river. Seeing nothing was to be gained, and much might be lost, by continuing the fight, and knowing that immediate action must be taken to put a stop to the fire from flank to flank caused by Kameel's dispensing with his head-di*ess, I recalled the men. They were got out in safety, and a moment after, having gained their horses, the troop rode back to the gun, the shells from which now came screaming over their heads, to the utter discomfiture of a few of the enemy who were prematurely rejoicing at our retirement. As the troop was forming, Windvogel, with an enormous assegai (javelin), executed with his followers a war-dance, within easy range of, and under fire from, the astounded enemy. He yelled, leaped, threw himself bodily into the air, went through all the motions of savage conflict, gesti- culating, threatening, pursuing, stabbing the fallen, and generally celebrating his own exploits. As a final insult, he cut down some stalks of nearly ripe corn and held them up to the enemy ; while his little tribe, with measured A KAFIR WAR-SONG. 71 though not monotonous tramp and chant, sang something which translates as follows : — ■ Windvogel's War-song. (From the original Kafir.) We ride and fight, Basutos ! You hide in fright, Basutos ! "We slay and burn, And home return ; You weep and mourn, Basutos ! You pick and hoe, Basutos ! You plough and sow, Basutos ! We come and shoot, And eat your fruit, While you are mute, Basutos ! Your war-song sing, Basutos ! Why don't you sing, Basutos ? Go tell your king, And cattle bring, And everything, Basutos ! That we may eat, Basutos ! Your cattle eat, Basutos ! For we are braves, And you are slaves, And beaten dogs, Basutos ! His performance received hearty acclamation in the way of a clapping of muskets and a shower of bullets. When we returned to the gun the cart had just arrived. It had been attacked in the thorns, hence the recall. After completing arrangements for cooking and eating another breakfast, the whole moved homewards, unmolested save by a few shots, not replied to, from the direction of Schlieck- mann's Kloof. 72 LYDEXBERG VOLUNTEER CORPS. On the succeeding evening a discussion arose amongst us as to whether the Kafirs would now entirely abandon the scene of the day's operations ; or whether they would im- agine they had won a victory and try to still further secure themselves in the rocks and crannies we had left them. Mr White volunteered to go and burn the village on the terrace before the next sun set. After midnight he departed with twenty men for this purpose. He reached the place unob- served, hid away his horses under a guard, and followed by eighteen of the men, succeeded in reaching the top of the mountain. When the sun was a few hours high, seeing nobody to contend with — the mountain being apparently deserted — he descended the cliffs and entered the villages and huts for which we had been fighting the previous day. He found them full of corn, provisions, and utensils of all sorts, and with fires still warm, showing traces of recent habitation. As he had no carts or waggons with him, he applied the torch of civilisation to the whole, and then galloped back to breakfast. This proceeding may seem harsh to persons at a distance, but it was necessary, as it proved to the enemy that we were likely to return again and again to complete our work in places once attacked by us. With our other mysterious arid unaccountable dodgings about, such operations, though trivial in themselves, helped much to confuse and bother the unfor- tunate Secocoeniites. They henceforward made it a rule, as we were told after the peace, never to sleep in a hut, lest they might awake to find it in flames. They consequently suffered great hardships from sleeping behind rocks and in out-of-the-way places in a half-clothed and miserable manner within sight of their comfortable homes, to which they rarely ventured till broad noonday brought them some assurance of safety. All this may seem very unpleasant, but unpleasant- ness is inseparable from Kafir war. It is as well here to describe the life led by the volunteers generally. Patrols were continually moving with letters, and as escorts, between the fort and Kruger's Post. When- ever men wanted permission to hunt in the surrounding country it was given to them, and in this way small parties, on whose movements the Kafirs could not possibly calculate, LIFE AMONGST THE L. V. C. 73 were kept continually dodging about in the debateable land. Other fellows went fishing along the banks of the streams ; while large parties maintained horse and cattle guards, and protected the house-builders and timber and grass cutters in the more immediate vicinity of the little stronghold. The bush between us and the Steelport Eiver — and in fact every- where outside a range of a couple of hundred yards — was 2">reserved, and added to the secluded appearance and general picturesqueness of the place. Mere military men would feel inclined to condemn this allowance of cover so close to the walls. A moment's reflection, however, will show its neces- sity. While the bush stood around us we could always quit the fort and enter on an expedition in any direction without being seen ; and as sometimes our duties compelled us to be absent for days on patrols and missions, taking us a con- siderable distance from the fort, it was frequently left most inadequately manned by fourteen or eighteen men, whose safety on such occasions was due to the fact that the Kafirs were unaware of the absence of the main body. As early as the 3d December, to give confidence, I had pitched my own tent, and taken up my quarters with most of the officers outside the walls. No more molestation oc- curring from the enemy, this example was speedily followed by a majority of the corps. They built comfortable stake and reed houses outside, one of them large enough to serve as a ball-room, where, to the music of a good violinist, they frequently danced. Of course there were no ladies, but nearly half the garrison were compelled to shave the upper lip and enact the character. All cooking was carried on thirty yards outside the line of these houses. The angle of the river below the fort afforded a good bathing-place, which the men constantly availed themselves of. The rations wero liberal, and good of their kind ; and the men, generally speaking, enjoyed a healthy, innocent, and happy life. Of course they had a jollification occasionally. The arrival of a cart or waggon with luxuries or grog for sale or distribu- tion was an event to look forward to. I remember on one occasion the lads had been entirely without liquor for three weeks, the Commissary having gone to Pretoria. The heat was intense ; and although it was late in December 74 LYDENBEItG VOLUNTEER COIil'S. the country was fearfully dry, no rains having as yet fallen. In the thirsty and thorny desert — for beautiful though it was, it was still a desert — the men longed (and I do not blame them) for some drink more palatable than mess-coffee or hot river-water. About ten o'clock one morning, two troopers arrived to announce the coming of a waggon, with its escort. They added to their news the gratifying infor- mation that the waggon contained a cask of liquor. It was, however, twelve miles off. All day eyes were turning to- wards the point at which the longed-for waggon, with its more longed-for load of liquor, would first appear. The fellows looked miserable as hour after hour sped on and it came not. Towards five in the evening, however, the crack- ing of whips announced its instant approach. I don't think there were ever so many willing volunteers at the unloading of a waggon before or since. The cask was got into the canteen — an open tent — and the thirsty multitude clustered round, pannikin in hand, to receive their allowance from the proper authority. A brass tap was got, and with a few blows of a mallet popped into its place. But when the key was turned, a flood of ginger-beer rushed out, to the conster- nation and sorrow of the beholders. Words cannot describe the scene. It appears the Com- missary had loaded up a wrong cask. But the boys were not always doomed to be thus disappointed ; they had their sprees — and right jovial ones — at times. It is an old proverb that there is a special providence for fools and drunkards. This was admirably illustrated at Christmas. A couple of bright youths, having taken too much grog, wandered away from the fort, and scaled the neighbouring stronghold of 'Tsikiki. The Kafirs, afraid of their mad and frantic capers, fled before them. They actu- ally entered the chief's village, and bore back in triumph from it a Kafir drum, with some other trophies. We could not have penetrated under other circumstances, without much hard fighting and the loss of many lives, to the point that these reckless lads escaladed in mere drunken bravado. There was nothinc* the Kafirs seemed so much to dread A DEVIL-INSPIRED SOLDIER. 75 as the erratic and seemingly devil-inspired movements of a drunken filibuster. One instance of this will suffice. Late in January, an incorrigible named Miller, having got drunk at Kruger's Post, was not to be found when the patrol he belonged to marched from thence to Fort Burgers. An hour after they had gone, Miller, still dreadfully in liquor, saddled up, took another glass of Cape smoke, and resolved to overtake them. He lost his road, and galloped madly about in one of the ugliest corners of the hostile ground, waving his rifle, shout- ing, and otherwise conducting himself like a lunatic. At length his horse stopped, and he Avas flung violently to the ground. No doubt, imagining he was attacked, he went through various awkward manoeuvres, pointing his gun in every direction where he thought an enemy might be hid, and, as the dirty state of his arms proved, firing several rounds at uncomfortable-looking objects. Either satisfied with himself, or thoroughly exhausted, he at length sank to sleep — his good and patient horse alone watching over his safety. He awoke long after midnight, mounted again, and seeing that the horse was a wiser brute than himself, allowed the poor beast to act as guide for both. Towards morning he arrived at a station. For this offence he was of course tried and punished. The sequel of the story did not reach my ears till long afterwards. He had been observed during the whole of his mad career by twenty warriors, Knobnoses. These, flitting from hill- top to hill-top, at length traced him into the valley where the horse threw him ; but utterly unable to explain his movements on any rational hypothesis, and bewildered by his astounding, and, to them, inexplicable capers, they arrived at the conclusion that he was a decoy, and most religiously avoided meddling with him. But to return to the fort. Towards the end of December the enemy had been frightened out of an immense reach of country ; and as, no rain having fallen, drought threatened them with famine, and rendered any attempts at agriculture by them impossible, we began to have an easy life of it. During the week after Christmas a party of us visited the Gold Fields for the purpose of conciliating the inhabitants, 76 LYDENBERG VOLUNTEER CORPS. who had been led by a rabid party press to suspect us of hostility to their interests. Nothing could have been more disgraceful than the means adopted to blacken the character and reputation of the corps with this community. It will hardly be believed to what extremities of vicious intolerance party spite had led the partisans of annexation. For the truth of the following disgraceful incident I can vouch. On the day when the news of the gallant Von Schlieck- mann's death reached the field, one of its leading men — a member of its protection association — sent from the com- mittee booths a bottle of champagne and a glass to the venerable magistrate, with " his compliments, and that he must drink to their happy release from the captain, and to the speedy destruction of his corps." The ruffian who per- petrated this outrage was spared from the fate he so justly merited only because of our desire to avoid any act which might involve the President's Government still further with the English party. As I have here drawn the distinction, I think it as well now to state what was the composition of the corps as regards nationalities at this period. Of its officers, one was an Irishman, one an Englishman (White), one (Von Steitencron) an Austrian lieutenant of fifteen years' honourable service. The other lieutenant was a Natal-born colonist. The sergeant-major — the finest-looking man in the corps — was the son of a distinguished English general, and well worthy of his parentage, being an honour- able and fearless man. The sergeants comprised a Dane, a German, and a Swede, with five English or British-born sub- jects. The quartermaster and chief of police — Ryan and Beeton — were the one an Irishman and the other an Eng- lish Africander. The medical officer was also an English- man ; and of the rank and file, six were Germans, two Americans — or rather Irish Americans — and three Belgians. There was a Frenchman from Mauritius, and six Dutch Boers ; while the remainder were Scotch, English, or Afri- canders. Taking the whole corps throughout, a more re- spectable body of men could hardly be brought together. They were called merceuaries whilst in the Transvaal service. Most of them have since proved themselves good soldiers, at a much higher rate of pay, under the English. CHALLENGED TO FIGHT. 77 Von Steitencron, who served under Captain Carrington in the late colonial war with Kreli, lias received the highest com- mendation from his superiors. Sergeant Degenkolw, and nine others, have since fallen with honour while serving under Captain Clarke. If these men were mercenaries and cut-throats under the Republic, our own flag is open to any reproach attaching to the employment of such troops. In the beginning of January it became currently reported in the town of Lydenberg that Umsoet had expressed his contempt for the volunteers, and wished to see them at his stronghold. We were weakened at this time by having to furnish a garrison of thirty men for Johannes' Stadt, which had fallen. A party of Boers, under field-cornets Scutte and Erasmus, proposed to co-operate with us in an expedition against the challenger. We had no native allies or guides except Windvogel and his brothers. We were therefore glad to accept of the assistance offered us ; because the Dutchmen could bring a hundred tame, armed Kafirs, with their Com- mando. In consequence of this, an agreement was made by which, in the event of co-operation, all plunder should be divided, share and share alike, between every man present at the fight in which it would be taken. On the 9th, twenty-three Boers, under Scutte, with a body of Kafirs, arrived at the fort, where they were hospitably re- ceived, being provided with baked bread, meal, sugar, coffee, ammunition, and eight rifles. The field-cornets asked for five days' time to send spies through the country in front. This was granted, and preparations went on pending their return. During the interval a patrol was made to Schlieckmann's Kloof, where a few shots were exchanged. Several plans were proposed and discussed, but the reports of the spies proved very contradictory and unfavourable. A patrol of six men, however, went through the Steelport Pass into the valley at the foot of Umsoet's mountain. They saw some cattle on the sides of the hills, and returned, reporting that they had been discovered. Another party got into a safe nest among some rocks near the same spot, where, lying still on their faces the whole 78 LYDENBERG VOLUNTEER CORPS. length of a summer's day, they watched the movements of the enemy coming and going all round them. Here they had nearly been found out, but their coolness and presence of mind averted the danger. Two large imambas — the most poisonous of all African snakes — were discovered amongst them at a moment when several Kafir men and women with two dogs were within a couple of yards of the rock on which they lay. It took undoubted nerve and courage to remain perfectly quiet and silent, with the poison- ous reptiles gliding about between their legs, and in some cases over their bare necks. However, not a word was spoken. The Kafirs passed on, and the snakes coiled themselves up most lovingly together and basked calmly in the sunshine. On the return of the patrol, it was resolved to proceed at night, with as many men as could be spared, through the Steelport Pass, so as to secure, during the hours of darkness, a position a-top of the mountains for our Kafirs ; whilst the cavalry should hide below in some of the water-courses, run- ning into the Steelport Eiver. But as this way was imprac- ticable for wheels, a gun and accompanying cart were sent by a long detour round the south and west of Mount Morone to the nearest drift to the scene of intended operations. All this part of the plan was successfully accomplished. With 46 volunteers, 23 Boers, and 120 Kafirs, we reached one morning, by half-past three o'clock, the middle of some extensive corn - fields, on a plain between the Steelport Biver and the foot of the high mountains that sheltered the enemy's villages. Here the Kafirs brought by the Boers shrank at the last moment from the task of scaling the gloomy and sombre peaks that towered above them. As silence was imperative I simply ordei*ed them into ambush. Then dismounting twenty-three of our own forty- six men, I put them in charge of Thomas L. White, who, with them and Mr Eckersley and Windvogel's people, were at once despatched to escalade the heights under the follow- ing orders : They should remain in a secure position till any hour, no matter how late, at which the Kafir cattle might be driven out of the kraals, and spread well over the grazing- ground between the mountains and the stream ; then they must initiate matters and make an attack. We, with the LYING IN AMBUSH. 79 Boers and their Kafirs, should remain below until the fire of the mountain -party would call us out from our ambush ; then the rest of the volunteers would make their way to White with the horses ; when the whole, mounted, could act as circumstances might require. Accordingly the dis- mounted vanished into the hills, while we struck away in the ravines. I was well aware that we would have to lie still a long time, as the Kafirs never let their cattle out till near noon. I was by this time acquainted with their habits, and knew that before daylight every warrior would come out of his hut and listen with most intent patience for every sound that might betoken the approach of a foe in that chilly hour which is generally selected for morning attacks. I also knew that when daylight had fully dawned they would sleep again, and that it would be very late in the morning before the men and cattle-herds would commence the ordi- nary operations of the day. Before the sun had risen I was asleep, with most of the men, notwithstanding the discomfort created by our bodies being literally covered with ticks and creeping things, which swarmed on us in endless variety from the grass and the bushes that sheltered us from unwelcome eyes. About eight I was awakened by the neighing of a colt which some foolish young farmer had pex-mitted to follow its mother, which he was riding. This sound was most alarm- ing, as if heard by the Kafirs it would completely ruin our plans. The field-cornets began now to be annoyed by their men, who insisted that nothing was to be gained by lying- still so long, and some of whom were no doubt of opinion that our foot-marks in the open corn-fields must long since have discovered our presence. In vain I reminded them of our agreement with Mr White, and of the danger to which a premature movement on our part would expose him. After much talk I succeeded in obtaining an hour's delay, but a restless spirit was upon them, and being all volunteers under no discipline, and subject to no punishment in case of disobedience, it soon became impossible to restrain them any longer. At ten o'clock they rode out, turning up the valley along the course of the river. 80 LYDENBERG VOLUNTEER CORPS. Their horses' heads had hardly cleared the bushes when ear-splitting shrieks arose along the mountain ; and we were barely mounted, and had only commenced leading our com- rades' horses into the plain, when a sharp firing began crackling along the ridges of the Berg. In order to observe the action, and to put ourselves in a position to relieve White as soon as possible, we rode out to within 400 yards of the base of the hills. As the firing increased, the scene along the mountains, which terminated about eleven miles to the west in a stupendous cliff, became extremely varied and interesting. As signal-fire after signal-fire was lighted, broad columns of smoke rolling into the air, and repeated from summit to summit, quickly told the warriors of Umsoet and Mapethle that an enemy was upon them. A party of ours, under Mr England, which I detached to penetrate a valley on the left front, was driven in on us by a furious fire 5 while all along the woods that fringed the sides of the steep hills in front of us, jets of smoke marked the downward progress of the volunteers. As the crackling and flashing approached the bush where the hills met the plain, individual forms of combatants could be made out ; and then, coming swiftly towards us, there broke out from the dust and smoke a small mob of cattle, quickly followed by the skirmishing-line running rapidly in. Three villages were left behind them in flames. The cattle with the Kafirs being permitted first to pass through us, the storming - party mounted their horses. White and Eckersley told me that we had missed a magnificent prize. They had seen from their elevated position two mobs, numbering thousands of beasts, before the alarm, coming- down towards the feeding-grounds, but which, on the too early disclosure of our presence, had been and were now being hurried into distant and inaccessible places. At this moment occurred a revolting incident, which, as it illustrates the character of the warfare waged not only by the enemy, but by all Kafirs, I shall describe as it occurred. At the war-dance, before the expedition was undertaken, an aged Swazi, when his turn for display came off, had told us that he was an old man, that he had killed nineteen persons in his lifetime, and had joined us because he could MUZZLE TO MUZZLE. 81 not sleep in the earth till he had completed his number to twenty. As the troop was wheeling off to follow our re- treating cattle and Kafirs, this man danced, with reeking assegai in hand, covered by his shield, decked with monkey- skins in all the glory of native full-dress, up to where we were consulting. He was literally mad with fury : at each stamp he drove the sand into the air as a buffalo would ; he writhed, wriggled, plunged forward, fought with and slew imaginary foes without number, defying, threatening, and boasting over the slain by turns. At length he straightened himself up, and made his oration. He wanted to tell mo that he had slain "= his twentieth victim, and a little one over : " he was perfectly happy ; he had killed a woman and a child. I vainly endeavoured to point out to him that such useless barbarity could add nothing to his reputation as a warrior. The enemy diverted my attention effectually from his pro- ceedings. They began to appear at many points along the sides of the hills; in some places they appeared to be dropping like monkeys from crag to crag ; and it was easy to see that if the Lydenberg Volunteer Corps was to be preserved, it must seek a better position for fighting than a valley sur- rounded by mountains, and from which egress, in case of a struggle setting in, would be difficult. We therefore rode back towards the point where we had crossed the river dur- ing the previous night. As we did so, the rear sections, with all the officers, had twice to turn to drive off the enemy, who began to torment us from behind. Facing about, Von Steitencron charged at them and silenced their fire to the right. A few more of us galloped to the left rear, where the shooting began within thirty yards, and where a duel, muzzle to muzzle, between Lieutenant White and a powerful native added to the inter- est of the affair. On this occasion we all had some narrow escapes. However, in twenty minutes we rejoined the main body, with which we soon reached the cannon, just where we expected to find it, Eeidel having accomplished his march most successfully. The bullocks that drew the gun were running loose, and the men were making coffee ; while a Kafir on a neighboui- F S2 LYDENBERG VOLUNTEER CORPS. ing rock was conversing and expressing his desire to be in- formed as to the nature of their business in that direction. This thing could not last. The whole country was alarmed, and the enemy's skirmishers Avithin 300 yards began to pop. The ground all around us was of a loose calcareous nature, and occupying as it did the space between mountain and river, was torn and cut up in every direction by deep white gullies, by which Umsoet's people were now approaching us from many sides at once, and with perfect safety to them- selves. The ridges between these gullies afforded our enemy additional shelter, being grown over with scrubby bush. Half the cavalry were sent on to cover the passage of the gun through the river. In a quarter of an hour, protected by the remainder of our men in rear, it got through in safety. At this time the Boers rejoined us, having found nothing. They had, however, seen the cattle that had been reported, and now saw and acknowledged the error into which their impatience had hurried them. A smart fire breaking out near the bank of the river, three of them very gallantly rode over close to the enemy, engag- ing them at short range. Erasmus and Vandemerwe parti- cularly distinguished themselves on this occasion ; and a few dead bodies which floated down the river amply proved the accuracy of their aim. We had now a tedious and dangerous little march to accomplish. The utmost speed of the cannon and the cart was two miles and a half an hour ; and they had to pass through a place where the road led under a large hill, occu- pied by the remains of Johannes's people, and towards which Umsoet's boldest men were making their way to cut us off. Desirous to secure a position, a small party of us trotted on. Here a bit of prudent calculation marked the conduct of some of our Dutch countrymen who were making their way home. Just within range of the hill, where they could see the road leading out under it, they got off their horses and sat down comfortably to smoke by the roadside, chaffing and joking with us as we passed, asking what was our hurry. It was all soon explained. It was well we reached the hill in time. One sudden volley rang out from RAPIDITY OF THE BOER LIGHT HORSE. 83 its cover ; but the enemy, surprised at the speed of our motions, vanished at once. In fact, they were not yet in sufficient numbers to obstruct the march. Hardly had the sound died away when clattering and racing along the path came our friends that had been smoking. They had secured their object — we had drawn the enemy's fire, and the coast was clear. The cart, after one upset, was got safely through the pass, and in an hour we were all upon high and open ground, where, if the enemy pursued us, we could meet them with advantage. The extraordinary rapidity of the movements of the Boer light horse was here peculiarly noticeable. They went twelve miles to the fort, packed up their traps, and had ridden in to Kruger's Post, thirty-five miles off, before our advanced files were home. There are undoubtedly brave and excellent men amongst them, but the youngest boy, the greatest coward, or the most ignorant recruit, can claim a hearing for his opinions, and demand that his judgment must be accepted on the line of march or in the field, as if he were the hoariest and bravest veteran of them all. This leads to their continually, in deference to each other's opinions, stopping to take coun- sel on points which can properly be settled only by some authoritative decision. This, with their principles of equality which accompany them into the field, is the cause of their failures. If, how- ever, from a multitude brought together, only such were taken as would volunteer to obey implicitly, the troops so picked would be almost invincible as dragoons. Their patient endurance of hunger, thirst, long journeys, watching and privations, makes them resemble, in some respects, the Indians of North Mexico. They are not soldiers, and perhaps they never will be ; but, as a rule, they offer materials for the construction of the most intelligent and active cavalry force in the world. On the occasion of this attack on Umsoet I gave them no share of the plunder. This was partly because their Kafirs had not all accompanied our detachment to the ambush a-top of the mountain, and partly because of their own impatience and breach of agreement. 84- LYDENBERG VOLUNTEER CORPS. While they had lain at the fort some of their prejudices were strongly displayed. The night before the march a few of the elders, attracted by the sound of the music, looked into the filibusters' ball-room, where various couples, shaved and unshaved, disported themselves on the floor. " My goodness ! " said one old gentleman, " Captain Aylward, those Englishmen are soul-less devils, to dance like that when they may be all killed to-morrow ! " Just to amuse him I looked in, when I found, as usual, that the dancers, most of whom were Africanders, could all speak Dutch. I called them, one after another, for his inspection, when he was still more astounded to discover that some jof them belonged to eminent Boer families, whilst the majority claimed Africa as their parent country. Peace be with him ! the old man was astonished, and, I fear, disgusted. But to return to the expedition. The next day all were again safely within the fort. There had been a great many narrow escapes, but no loss of life on our side. I have been particular in describing this affair, because its effects upon the Kafirs were outrageously out of proportion to its real importance. They believed us omnipresent, and christened us "wild dogs "because of our ubiquity and speed. They never knew from this when to expect us, or to what lofty height they must look to see us rushing — apparently from the clouds. There is a great difference between fighting against brave and disciplined forces who, worked on fixed principles, hold positions only for definite and intelligible reasons, and fight not only with a will but with a purpose ; and the sort of warfare we were engaged in. We speedily learned that to lose men for a position of no value to either party when gained, and whose possession could have no possible influence on the result of the war, was simply folly. The Kafirs' system, if they ventured to attack, was simply to make a snap and get away as quickly as possible. If we attacked them, unless specially ready for our reception, their unprepared outlying people ran in at once towards the first rocks that offered shelter. There they would begin to resist, falling back as they were forced from one rocky grotto to another, and detaining us as much as possible in our ap- proach to the centre of the stronghold. This was almost KAFIR WARFARE. 85 invariably like a rabbit-burrow, with this difference, that instead of grains of sand and roots of trees, nothing but rocks, stone walls, caves, and crevices in the cliffs presented themselves. It was simply wonderful into what a little hole a Kafir could insinuate himself. Sometimes, however, three or four of them would get together in one spot — generally a small cave almost inaccessible from either above or below, and which could be only approached by working along the sides under the fire of dozens of other caves and loopholes, every one of which seemed scooped out for the especial purpose of creating a cross fire. To force home the attack on such positions is the greatest folly an officer can be guilty of, especially if he is working with only small numbers. Let us suppose that only two or three of his men are hit in gain- ing the principal platforms : they will have to be carried out of fire slowly, and with great inconvenience and trouble. If the troops should be repulsed, unless they have immediate access to a very open country, great disasters may occur ; in fact, if the enemy find the retreat hampered with wounded, they may worry one sorely. New officers occasionally make the great mistake of considering that they have driven the Kafirs from every wall and kraal they and their men may have succeeded in gaining in the beginning of a fight. The retreat from wall to wall and kraal to kraal, especially in broken and mountainous country, is as much the Kafir's method and manner of fighting as the bayonet-charge used to be the peculiarity of the English. The great secret of Kafir warfare is to terrify your enemy ; to make him un- happy ; to leave no path or road, no glen however deep and dark, and no mountain-top however high, where he can hope to avoid you. Patrols even of small numbers must be organised every day. These, selecting the best and highest ground, and moving with every reasonable precaution, continually meet- ing, changing their course, appearing and disappearing at distant and unexpected places, — will, by their moral effect, reduce to terrified submission any Kafir tribe in the world. It breaks their hearts, sitting behind their rocks in chosen positions, to find that you have learned their own game, and know better than to throw away men fighting for fifty or a 86 LYDENBERG VOLUNTEER CORPS. hundred yards of cliff, which, when captured, would not be worth the heel of an old boot. A good plan, however, is to make reconnaissances occasionally against the chiefs' strong- holds, commencing the fight, exploring the position, and drawing your men off before the affair becomes too serious. This wastes the Kafirs' ammunition, and as they always attribute the worst possible motives to your every action, causes them many a sleepless night. Asa rule, a repetition of the reconnaissance, if stealthily made at any time within a week, will find the place deserted. The middle of January found us extending the fort and improving the houses, as the lateness of the arrival of the rainy season, with the intense heat, threatened a possible outbreak of sickness. The war was languishing, and I wrote to the President, consenting that the corps should be reduced to 100 men, on condition that horses should be re-supplied more promptly than they had been. Unfortunately a fresh band of recruits were announced as on their way to us from Pretoria. These were under the command of a person calling himself "Gunn of Gunn," and sometimes " The Gunn of Gunn." He was a handsome, soldierly-looking though rather foppish man, with a most engaging, and apparently candid, manner. He, however, overdid his part a little, having the unblushing impudence to sport, not only the Iron Cross of Prussia, but the Victoria Cross, won, as he asserted, in some hairbreadth Indian ad- venture. His conversation was suited to the character he assumed. He knew Scotland better than any one I had ever seen or heard of; and he interlarded his accounts of the places he had visited, and the castles he had been wel- comed at, with so much physical fact and correct description, that many took him at his own valuation, and believed him to be the chosen companion of men of the highest rank and repute, whilst he was merely a clever and plausible humbug. Is there a " Gunn of Gunn " ? If there is, and I were he, I would send my gillies, if necessary, ten thousand miles over sea and land, till they had scourged the impudence of this claimant to his dignity. How he got into the Transvaal service at all is easily told. A Mr Perrott had been instructed by Schlieckmann to beat A SCOTCH "CON CREGAX." 87 up for more men on the Diamond Fields. Perrott was sick, and gave over the work to his boon companion and brother convivialist, " The Gunn of Gunn," who, with five decent men and twenty ruffians — the sweepings of Kimberley jail — entered the Transvaal, and introduced himself to Mr Burgers as an officer in search of employment. He actually stuffed the President with the tale that he had been distinguished on the special staff of his Imperial Highness the Crown Prince of Prussia ; so that his Honour, not knowing what to make of him, told him to hurry on to Fort Burgers, shrewdly calculating that there, at least, he would meet with people able to estimate correctly the exact value of his pretensions. " The Gunn of Gunn " had an amusing side to his char- acter. He was, in fact — although forty-five, and a Scotch- man — the very counterpart of some of Lever's reckless heroes. He was nothing if not extravagant and bombastic ; and he ran his pretensions and their successes to the utmost while they lasted. In Pretoria he added nine other sans culottes to his band, for whom he had supplied the following extraordinary costume : Caps and havelocks, blue hussar jackets, with yellow braid, colourless cord knee - breeches, with stockings, boots, spurs, shoes, veld-schoons, and every conceivable form of disguise for the foot. But his most magnificent idea was when he established two gallow- glasses and a piper, whom he compelled to attend on him, as if he were indeed a " Lord of the Isles." His pretensions met with a ready acceptance among a certain set in Pretoria. He put no bounds to his extravagant insolence, and night after night entertained his friends in the Edinburgh Hotel ; while his piper (a real Scotchman in real Highland togs, and armed with real Highland bagpipes) strutted fiercely up and down in front of the great man's mess, proclaiming in hide- ous, ear-splitting music the fame and the triumphs of his chief and his clan. Having christened his gang the " Gunn Highlanders," this modern Con Cregan was at length induced to start for the front. The excesses committed by his men along the road attracted considerable attention. He added to his numbers a deserter, who was even then a prisoner, having 88 LYDENBERG VOLUNTEER CORPS. been placed in his custody for conveyance to Middleburg, to take his trial for a crime of abominable obscenity. He also picked up a man we had just expelled from Fort Burgers, and banished from the war district. u The Gunn of Gunn," knowing that when he reached the fort he would have to confront German and Austrian officers, as well as others who had known him and watched his career, with amused interest, from 1871 — did his utmost to avoid com- pleting his march. He delayed so long on the road, and in Lydenberg — all the time demanding immense supplies of goods and provisions — that the Landdrost was compelled to suspect him of harbouring ulterior designs. What these were we afterwards discovered. They are of no public in- terest, as he was never permitted to initiate them. When his presence in Lydenberg was reported at the fort, an order was at once transmitted to him to move up at once. The adjutant, White, subsequently called on him, and Vainly endeavoured to induce him to obey the district commandant. " The Gunn of Gunn " was fertile in resources and fruitful in excuses ; and it at length became necessary to ask him by what commission or authority he was marching about the country, with an armed band, yclept the " Gunn High- landers " — a body unknown to the law, and who could not be permitted to carry on their intrigues and drunken capers unchecked. He refused to give any authority, alleging that he was promised the command-in-chief by the President, and was independent of any lower functionary. However, he moved his main body as far as Kruger's Post, whence, with his staff and his piper, he again returned to Lydenberg, and continued his course of delay and intimidation. This became unbearable, and summary measures were resolved upon. It was impossible to allow the " Gunn Highlanders " to remain at Kruger's Post, whence they might easily march to the Gold Fields, where the malcontents would have been only too glad of their assistance to drive out the constituted authorities, and commence a sedition which would have im- mediately placed the Europeans and Boers of the district in a position of hostility to each other. Taking the cavalry from the fort to Kruger's Post during QUELLING A MUTINY. 89 the night of the 24th January, we succeeded in cutting the mutineers off from all chance of escape, and arresting " The Gunn's " lieutenant — a well-meaning though deluded man, a native of Lancashire, named Styles. On the same day war- rants were taken out for the arrest of " The Gunn," and Cooper the prisoner whom he was harbouring. An inter- view extracted from him a promise that he would proceed without further delay ; but on the same night, it being ascer- tained that thirteen of his men were forelaying the drift on the main waggon-road, with evidently desperate intentions, " The Gunn of Gunn" received notice that he and his men would be treated as rebels in arms if the fellows were not moved from their threatening position and marched at once to the Steelport. This seems at length to have aroused him to a sense of his danger. The next day he actually commenced his march, and entered the defiles leading to the low country. He was followed by a large force, who carefully watched that none should escape, or conceal any arms, or make away with the valuable property " The Gunn of Gunn " had ac- cumulated, and which accompanied him, loaded on three waggons. When he reached the vicinity of the fort he took up an independent position. His hours of liberty were, however, numbered. On the second day a peremptory order that he should parade his force for inspection reached him through the adjutant ; while, at the same time, a band of mounted men galloped off with his cattle and horses, leaving him without any means of transport whatever. At the moment his squad commenced their march for the parade-ground, another com- pany left the fort and secured his camp. When the now uneasy mutineers formed on the place of inspection, a cannon loaded with grape was run out on their flank, and they found themselves at length face to face with the law. As I could hardly blame the men for having up to this moment strictly obeyed the orders of one who till this moment was undoubt- edly their commander, having been placed over them by the President himself, with instructions to hand them over to me on his arrival, I now stepped forward to try their temper and obedience myself. When within eight paces of the 90 LYDENBERG VOLUNTEER CORPS. centre of their little line, I told them my rank, the extent of my authority, and my fixed determination to be obeyed. I then gave the word " Attention ! Rear rank take open order ! March ! " instantly followed by " Down with your arms ! " {ground arms !) The majority obeyed at once ; a few only, with murderous glances, hesitated. With pre- sented rifle I repeated the order, when the last mutineer quailed. " To the left-about turn ! Quick march ! " brought them a hundred yards from their weapons. I followed them, and was about to have said something harsh, when I felt myself tipped on the shoulder by our quartermaster, who, seeing the trouble over, now lounged up. He whispered in my ear, " Don't be cross, old man ! remember we have been all rebels ourselves ! " A laugh ended the affair. " The Gunn" and Cooper, with two others who had committed crimes, were imprisoned in different directions ; the remain- der had their choice to join our corps or go under sufficient escort back to the next settlement. The majority accepted the former proposition. Even this utter downfall did not suffice to suppress " The Gunn." He attempted to open communications outside the fort, and although offered peace with honour if he would only apologise for his misconduct, began to put on airs, talked of complaining to the British Government, and made himself out a much ill-used person. He was consequently a nuis- ance, and was removed on horseback to Lydenberg, whence in due course of law he was sent to Pretoria, under the hon- ourable escort of Lieutenant von Steitencron. It is to be regretted that in the capital a great many deluded persons patronised and treated him as a martyr. He was even, after his liberation from jail, appointed captain of a volunteer corps by Colonel Weatherly, a man of amiable disposition, but whose weakness of mind and easily flattered vanity left him open to imposition. " The Gunn " was also taken up for a time by society and the military. He has, however, succeeded in exposing his real self; his alleged want of scrupulosity in matters financial have led to inquiry ; he is now, if telegrams are to be believed, a prisoner for sedition, having proved as false and troublesome to the new Govern- ment as he was to the old one. Of the band he had slathered ROASTED ALIVE. 91 together little need be said. The jail-birds went back to their old avocations ; the others had their individuality stamped out, and after a while became assimilated to the other men of the Lydenberg Volunteer Corps. The piper abandoned his martial dress, and relapsed into the condition of an ordinary Lowland Scotchman. By the beginning of February one-half of the horses sup- plied to us had died ; we had but forty left at the fort. These were barely sufficient to keep open the road, protect waggons, and furnish a mounted guard for tbe cattle. We intended to wait, before making any attempt on a large scale, till the sickness would abate at the end of the summer, when an expedition in force — of Boers and Swazis — with an advance from the two forts, would bring the war entirely to an end, by the ruin of Secocoeni's tribe, then already starving. The arrival of Sir Theophilus Shepstone at Pretoria, with the dis- tracted state of the country consequent on the intrigues of the Annexationists, unfortunately induced the President to accept the submission of the chief. On the 12th February peace was proclaimed along the border. The neighbouring Kafirs immediately (and this shows how little truth there was iii the charges against us of having u embittered the war by atrocities ") flocked eagerly to the fort, only taking the pre- caution of sending as avant-courriers two utterly miserable and starved boys, whom they no doubt imagined would not be likely to tempt our appetites if we were cannibals. We now learned the details of many matters which had been hitherto obscure or doubtful. Amongst others we heard of the fate of a poor fellow named O'Reilly who had been lost from the great Commando in the August of the previous year. This man, finding his horse absent at morning muster, putting his saddle on his head, went heedlessly into the bush in search of the missing animal. This duty should have been only undertaken by a mounted patrol. The poor fellow lost his way, was captured, stripped naked, and roasted alive. The volunteers and their late enemies met everywhere on very amicable terms ; many recognised each other as having been acquainted in the relation of master and servant long before on the Diamond Fields. It was not a little remark- 92 LYDENBEUG VOLUNTEER CORPS. able that the dressed natives who had experienced the in- fluences of civilised labour, and learned, as Mr Trollope puts it, new wants and the value of wages, had been invariably our worst enemies, and were still advocates of a war of ex- termination against the whites. This was saddening and disappointing. Some of Secocoeni's most astute advisers were well acquainted with European habits, many of which they had adopted, especially a fondness for breeches and breech-loaders, in the use of which they were fairly pro- ficient. In no case did we meet amongst them any who had escaped from domestic servitude under the Dutch. In another chapter attention will be more fully drawn to the Dutch, in their capacity of masters and civilisers, where, after ten years' experience, I am now prepared to assert they have succeeded better than the English. Our visitors were lavish in their compliments and praises of the conduct of the volunteers, and especially of Mr Eck- ersley, whom they christened the Bush Buck {Umbabala), because of his speed and pugnacity. It will not be out of place here to record a singular in- stance of conscientiousness on the part of a savage, accom- panied by a truthfulness and sacrifice of personal feeling- worthy of a white man. Our Kafir Kameel's conduct on many occasions had been open to suspicion. It was asserted that he had twice delayed small forces on the march, and on one occasion with terribly fatal results. There was also evi- dence that often before delayed expeditions, on the occurrence of which, by the questions asked him as a spy, he might cal- culate, he had been noted lighting fires in unusual places and absenting himself without leave. It was also said that, knowing how much he had to fear from Schlieckmann's ven- geance, he had himself fired the fatal shot that slew our commander. The bore of his gun, which was enormous, helped out this theory. A court was held, and Windvogel, our most faithful ally and Kameel's most deadly enemy, was called in evidence. He hated Kameel, and had killed the prisoner's brother but a short time previously. He knew that the court was strongly biassed against the suspected guide, but he spoke as follows : — " Captain, you may kill Kameel if you wish ; that is but THE EAST COAST FEVER. 93 right — lie is your dog ; but he has not betrayed you. He should not have been brought to guide us to Mahera's Kloof, where Schlieckmann was killed. His own people lived in that kraal. He had got his wife from there, and knew the way well. It may be that he delayed, thinking the cap- tain would not attack after daylight, but he did not bring the men into a trap. I hate him ! I want to kill him my- self; but I must tell the truth. He is a great doctor, and his absences were in search of roots and plants, which he would never find elsewhere. The fires he lit, like every Kafir, who, if he can, will make fire, and sit in it on the warmest night. If you like I will take him away and kill him, but it is wrong ! " It is needless to say that this generous defence saved the man's life. He was sent in safety to Kruger's Post, in the neighbourhood of which he is now living, and doing, I fear, notwithstanding the want of evidence against him on the former occasion, considerable mischief to the English settlers. Having now but few guards to keep, we determined to devote our leisure to a thorough exploration of Secocoeni's country. There were miners and others amongst us who had only joined that they might be in the first flight over this very land, which was currently believed to afford every- where indications that gold would be found in payable quan- tities. Leaving the prospectors to prepare the necessary material, accompanied by Ashton I now went to Lydenberg, where we established a hospital in view of coming calamity. By the 27th of February the fever was upon us. Its ap- proach had long been expected. An easterly wind, blowing steadily from the sea, carried deadly vapours through the great poorts (gates, passes, openings) that led up from the lower bushveld into our valleys. Every morning a dull, bluish-grey haze lay along the ground, which rose slowly into the air, and became dissipated as the sun got higher. This haze, first noticed in September — and then only in the lower valleys — week after week rose higher, until, by the middle of February, it flooded all the low grounds, finally beginning to climb even above the level of the fort. The disease seized a man in various ways, — sometimes beginning 94 LYDENBERG VOLUNTEER CORPS. with drowsiness, succeeded by racking pains, followed by high fever, complete dilatation of the eyeballs, and death. In other cases it resembled jaundice, beginning with vomit- ing, but ending in muttered delirium and a low typhoid state, from which the patients but seldom recovered. In two or three cases the men died suddenly, after a few days' restlessness, want of energy, and appetite. Seventy miles to our rear, in the Crocodile River valley, whole families were swept away by this fatal scourge, which continued increasing in severity till the 18th May, after which there were no more new cases. Arsenic, in heroic doses, with cinchona bark, was found to be the only reliable remedy in the low stages of the disease. At one time, of sixty-four duty-men thirty-two were ill. Of course the loss of life was considerable. The death-rate seemed to be utterly unaf- fected by the previous habits of the patients ; and drinkers and weakly worn-out men went off no quicker than did fine fellows in good condition, who had never drank spirits, or committed reprehensible excesses, in their lives. New-comers who had arrived during the summer were much more liable to an attack than those even partially inured to the climate. The strongest, and those who did not suffer directly from the fever, yet felt the weakening and lowering effects of the pestilential miasma that filled the bush-country. Both men and horses got weak, sluggish, and disinclined for continued exertion. Even keen sports- men gave up the gun and the rod for the pipe and the novel. Such was the fever of 1877. In my account of the present war I shall endeavour to point out the differences between it and the fever of 1878, which, in the same district, also cost the country many valuable lives. In February also, towards the end of the month, we were suddenly called on to take part in the active life of a more civilised part of the country. Poor Captain Van Deventer was summoned from the other fort, with twenty-five of his men, to watch over the peace in Pretoria ; whilst we were called upon to maintain the authority of the law on the New Caledonia Gold Fields. 95 CHAPTEE V. THE LYDENBEEG VOLUNTEER CORPS AT THE GOLD FIELDS. Surface diggings — The shop-hoy aristocracy — An outrage— Peace-making — A gay and festive scene — "Sic transit." The " Caledonian Gold Fields " were from the beginning most improperly named. They were not in Caledonia, and they were not Gold Fields — in fact, they had no pretence whatever to so broad and so significant a title. It had been known for years that " color " was to be got pretty well any- where in the higher grounds of the Transvaal. " Color " means a few specks, perhaps hardly even perceptible, in the bottom of the prospecting basin after the washing of a pro- perly selected shovelful of dirt (I don't mean dirt in the filthy acceptation of the word, but in the sense of gravel, mud, and pay-dirt generally). In some streams — noticeably Jokeskey River, Elands Spruit, and the Blyde — coarser gold had been met with. In 1872 and 1873, rushes broke out in a corner amongst the lofty mountains that hem in the Transvaal ter- ritory east of Lydenberg. The principal discovery, made by Barrington and Osborne, resulted in little mining settlements being started about Pilgrim's Creek — a gully which contributes some water to the Blyde. The place is only accessible by going up and then down a steep mountain, the dangers of the road across which must for ever dwell in the memory of those who have journeyed to the so-called Gold Fields. The descent into the valley of the Blyde is sufficient to ruin any animal, and strain to pieces even the strongest of Africander waggons. 96 THE L. V. C. AT THE GOLD FIELDS. The hill consists of soapy shale, and the fall is something like a foot in twelve. This difficulty overcome, however, the visitor finds himself on a comparatively level spot, towards which numerous gorges and rocky valleys open. The view from the bottom is not ugly. A few pretty falls of water are to be seen tumbling from the surrounding mountains, which are in many places clothed with bush, marking, by their variety, the different degrees of temperature and elevation. The Blyde itself is, except during flood-time, an insignificant' stream, flowing between recent alluvial banks. The " Pil- grim's Creek," which joins it from the valley, or rather long glen, in which the principal diggings are situate, with a fall of about a foot in fifty, has scooped for itself a deep distorted channel, that is now loaded with mud and tailings. The ground to the right, looking upwards — that is, on to the left bank of the creek where the mining village was built — is so narrowed between mountain and stream that it only affords room for one street, and that a very indifferent one. Embryo mountains, in fact, rise up abruptly from the backs of the houses on the one hand, while the shanties on the other side of the miserable thoroughfare appear to be constantly in dan- ger of slipping over a steep bank. There is a " diggings," and nothing more. Attracted, however, by the puffs, and, I am afraid, the untruthful and exaggerated statements of persons interested in the prosperity of the place, during the years 1873, 1874, and 1875, large numbers of gold-seekers flocked to the new El Dorado. The place was no richer at its best than many parts of Wicklow ; and I think I have heard of places, even in Sutherlandshire, where more gold was found and better wages earned within the last few years than ever rewarded the poor people that flocked to Pilgrim's Rest. However, there was a rush which, no doubt, gratified its promoters. Natal shopkeepers made little ventures in that direction ; and Lydenberg, through which all transport for the Fields had to pass, assumed quite a busy aspect. Stores were piled up with goods ; a few new houses were hastily constructed, arid waggons thronged the streets of the little quiet Dutch village. Bankers, lawyers, parsons, and a news- paper, appeared suddenly at Pilgrim's Rest, and, favoured DIGGERS A.M.) DIGGINGS. 97 by heavy rains, the first season of the rush proved lucky for at least a few. But the gold was not there — at least not in sufficient quantities or sufficiently payable to justify all the fuss and expense gone to about the place. When the claims most easily accessible to water were worked out, the diggers had to go higher and higher on the terraces. This necessitated the expensive leading of water, by flumes and artificial con- structions, to the workings. Australians came and cursed the place. Men failed there as they do everywhere else. The ground was what is called " patchy." One man might perhaps find a lump, or succeed in washing up well for weeks at a time, whilst his neighbours could never hit the lead, — and this for the very good reason that there was no regular lead to hit. Science and experience were utterly inapplic- able ; so that not unfrequently the best men had the worst luck. Geologists and mining engineers found themselves more at fault than the merest tyros in the art could possibly be. In fact, by 1875 the mining concern began to present a most unsatisfactory look-out. Then came bad seasons. The South African digger somehow falls into a habit of wanting all or most of the ruder portion of his labour done for him by blacks. Now the Kafirs did not take comfortably to gold-digging, most of them preferring the far- easier and better-paid labour of the distant diamond-mines. The dig- gings had the dry-rot. Povertv began to set in, and became more and more sharply felt as the bulk of the population came to the end of their little means, which they had to spend on tools and necessaries, whilst waiting for the fruition of their golden hopes. This was especially saddening to the hucksters, petty chandlers, and shopkeepers, who had already, in fond anticipation of wealth to come, elevated themselves into an aristocracy. They became discontented, and ceaselessly pressed on Government the necessity of what they called "opening up the country." Everybody's rights should be set aside in (theirs) the digging interest. They were " the people," and the whole country should be taxed for their support. By-and-by to the evils of dear provisions and expensive transport were added those of neighbouring war. 98 THE L. V. C. AT THE GOLD FIELDS. The miners, though reduced in numbers by the most natu- ral of all causes — the poverty of their diggings — were, be- fore and at the beginning of the Secocoeni war, a compact and influential little community of about 470 souls. Their discontent assumed the unpleasant form of hostility to the institutions they lived under. They wanted protection, and yet would not submit, in their own proper persons, to tax- ation. They desired that the whole country should be taxed in their interest ; but they declined to live under its laws, and expected to be treated as a separate community, having distinct interests, which, in their opinion, were paramount and far superior to those of the State. They had a news- paper which soon fanned the flame. If the President was authoritative, the ' Gold Fields Mercury' called him r an em- peror ; if he was too easy, the paper screamed for strong government. Some of these people, I have no doubt, really believed that if a change of government could be brought about, the rains would become more plentiful ; farms, land, and houses would rise in value ; while claims and chandlers' little shops would become priceless ; — in fact, that nothing was wanting to their prosperity but the removal of one Government and the substitution of another. Accordingly they wrote letters to Natal — and even to Sir Henry Barkly — representing them- selves to be poor abandoned British subjects, in danger of being swallowed up at every moment by countless Kafir enemies. I am sorry to say that they went even a little farther than the truth in their representations. They filled the English press of neighbouring colonies with most ab- surd and exaggerated stories of Boer cowardice, volunteer atrocities, mis - government, and continual acts of petty tyranny and weakness, which had no foundation save in their own fears, their own turbulence, and their own reck- less strivings after wealth where its materials did not exist. At the very moment when they were loudest in calling for protection against Secocoeni, they did their utmost to pre- vent a garrison being secured for Fort Burgers. In fact, they always did their best to embarrass the President and cripple his government. The after-history of these miserable people will point out, by the logic of incontrovertible fact, ROWDYISM. 90 how mistaken and unpatriotic was the course they permitted themselves to be led into by their dominant faction — " the huckster's party." The gold-miners had been granted exceptional privileges, and returned two members to the Volksraad or Parliament of the country, whose views were ever listened to with respect. If they made a bad choice, and sent men who did not represent them properly to Parliament, the Re- public is not to blame. It showed itself to be catholic enough and liberal enough to welcome new blood, and to seek the counsels of progressive men. Even this did not please the Gold Fields community. They went on from bad to worse ; one of their idols was committed for con- tempt of court by their magistrate — John Scoble — an Englishman ; and this event serving as an excuse for a display of most unwarrantable passion, they released the prisoner. It is painful to have to state the discreditable fact that they added to this outrage personal insult to the highly respectable gentleman filling the office of Gold Com- missioner. They knocked him down, insulted his white hairs, pulled his beard, and subjected him to vilifications and indignities. Such conduct could not be permitted to con- tinue. It had not been participated in by all the inhab- itants of the Fields ; in fact, considerable numbers viewed the proceedings with displeasure. The rowdy element was but a small part of the little mining community ; but as it had been encouraged and let loose by the workings <>f a political party which loudly proclaimed itself to be " the people," there was, for a moment, some danger that order might be seriously disturbed. It was impossible to expect impartiality from the insulted officials. The chief of my district — Landdrost Both — a man of great tact, experience, and ability, was absent on a tax- collecting tour. Captain von Brandis, formerly an officer in the English service, requested me to intervene, and at all events restore the rule of law and order. From the fort was concentrated on Kruger's Post all our available horse- men ; and a guard of infantry accompanied Captain Reidel and a cannon to a spot convenient for the assumption of the offensive should hostilities ensue. If the whole of the popu- 100 THE L. V. C. AT THE GOLD FIELDS. lation of the Fields had chosen to revolt they could have been starved out, and brought to their senses in ten days. Below their mountains, to the east, stretched (cutting them off from Delagoa Bay) the fever and the fly ; to the north and south lay the pathless mountains of Secocoeni and the Amaswazi. Only through Lydenberg could they receive help ; and the presence of the volunteers on the main road effectually prevented this. I was, however, satisfied that the diggers were anything but unanimous against the Republic, and that the disorderly party must speedily be abandoned by its more intelligent members if the quarrel were not allowed to go too far. Leaving the troop at Kruger's Post, I went in alone to the Fields. On my arrival I found that, with tact, the matter admitted of settlement. Eighteen of the principals, at my solicitation, surrendered themselves, and were put on their trial for riot. I then bailed out all the prisoners, and succeeded in patching up matters between the editor and the magistrate. There had undoubtedly been faults on both sides ; but rather than have permitted a breach of the peace, I would have removed the officials and installed myself as Gold Commissioner. Suavity and determination carried the day, and I was more pleased with the pacific settlement of the Gold Fields question, by which I put down the rising enmity between English and Dutch, than I would have been had I won ten victories over the Kafirs. 1 The matter came up again in a month, but all ill-feeling had then died away, and eA^erybody has ever since lived on the best possible terms with everybody else. It was March 1st when I returned to my camp, which I speedily broke up, sending the men again to the frontier. The after-history of the Gold Fields I may as well insert here. British government, as everybody knows, was proclaimed f>ver the Transvaal on April 12, 1877. Just forty-two days after the rising above mentioned, Captain Clarke, R.A., went down the Pilgrim's Hill, and entered the village, escorted by the tag-rag and bob-tail, who look on free drinks as the wisest and most natural result of revolutions. He was preceded 1 See Appendix B. THE GOLD FIELDS A FAILURE. 101 by Gunn's celebrated piper, playing a triumphant march, and was closely attended by the Glynns of Kruger's Post (two in number), who had always hitherto described them- selves as " her Majesty's British subjects in the Transvaal. - ' Champagne - corks flew in every direction, rags looked sprightly for one sunny day, tumble-down shanties put on a festive appearance, and Pilgrim's Rest was very gay as it hailed the representative of the new order of things. The rejoicings have been short-lived. Even Captain Clarke could not turn a poor patchy diggings into a gold-field ; he had no influence with the clerk of the weather. A season of drought, difficulty, poverty, and even hunger, followed swiftly upon the hour of triumph, and the population began dwindling away, — vanishing from hour to hour, as their misery and their necessities compelled them to abandon the luckless place. Their weekly post-cart — their solitary con- necting-link with civilisation — was soon taken from them ; and when, in February last, a fresh war broke out with Seco- coeni, the Dutchmen, whom they hated, had the pleasure of seeing that no special protection was afforded to them by the new Government, while their best men volunteered and were drafted off to the fort beyond Middleburg. Their condition as a community was, in fact, rendered worse than ever through the abandonment of Fort Burgers — the advanced post on their side of the Lulus. Between drought, war, and want of luck, Providence has dealt hardly with the diggers and the hucksters. The Kafirs have thrice since the British government was established invaded their valleys and carried off their cattle ; and their numbers are reduced to less than 124 adults, who eke out a miserable existence on the scene of their former boastfulness and folly. They never had a " gold-field ; " and I emphatically wain every person who may read this book, to avoid Pilgrim's Rest, Peach-tree Rush, Plum-tree Creek, Macmac, and Spitz- kop as they would the workhouse. I have known respect- able men, hard-working, honest creatures, sober and indus- trious, who have slaved and starved for many weary months