Mrs. Ward

“ How often had we paced the verandah, anxiously watching the lurid sky, red with the fires of devastation, and listening to the continued and heavy volleys of musketry between the herds and savages on the hills above us! We never permitted ourselves to think of an attack on the town; and, as the Kaffirs seldom risk their lives or spend their powder without a chance of plunder in return, we considered our lives safe, since the cattle could be swept away from the outskirts without venturing into the town. ”

“ From my long residence there I know the place well; a solitary tree is the only thing of the land on which the eye rests in looking from the green plain forming the parade-ground of the garrison. All around are open, undulating plains, studded with ant-heaps, and cultivated here and there by the poor Fingoes, with Indian and Kaffir corn and pumpkin vines. These vast and almost desolate plains are bounded by steep ascents, and here and there a dark shadow in the landscape indicates the entrance of a kloof. ”

“ It was in a picturesque spot near Colonel Somerset’s residence at Post Victoria, in the centre of a large bower, which had been constructed round some splendid trees. What had once been a fair pasture land for Tola’s herds, was now worn with the tread of soldiers’ feet; the stir of the camp filled the air which once breathed over a comparatively silent space, and not far from us a band played Irish tunes, to which Tola’s Kaffir councillors and attendants listened with a grave silence, unmoved at the grotesque attitudes of Hottentot children. ”

“ I have elsewhere mentioned Amakeya as the belle of the camp at Fort Hare, and no doubt she had been sufficiently reminded of her charms to make her sensible of the value of them. She made her strange offer in all the consciousness and pride of beauty; and, with her finely-moulded arms folded before her, she spoke without hesitation, for she was guided by motives worthy a lofty cause—motives, how desecrated! how degraded! Poor Amakeya!
“If her father might remain on his own lands,” she said, “she would be the sacrifice and guarantee for his future good faith towards the white man. ”

“ As the sun advanced, lighting up the valley, a solitary figure stepped out from the supposed herd, and springing on an ant-heap, waved an assegai, and probably spoke, though nothing could be heard. Each shield of bullock’s hide then gave up its armed warrior, who had been sleeping beneath its shelter; the wild chant of the Fingoes filled the valley with strange harmony; and, in a few minutes a phalanx was formed, in readiness for the approach of the troops, to whom these Fingoes were attached as allies. They have well repaid the white man’s good will. ”

“ The wise doctor can prove where he has hidden the charm which works the mischief. He goes to the nook where he himself has concealed it. The people follow. Wonderful;—he discovers it—brings it to the chief, who orders the victim to pay so many head of cattle, the tax imposed being always so heavy as to injure the unfortunate creature beyond redemption. Frequently, he is condemned to death, and frightful cruelties are to this day practised on men and women accused of witchcraft, who, with their heads smeared with honey, are bound down on an ant-hill, and at their feet a blazing fire. ”

“ The sound of the trumpet among the wild mountains in Africa, the “upsaddling” from a state of calm repose—the “assembling”—the steady forward movement—the gradual hum of voices on the look-out—the first sight of cattle quietly grazing in some wooded kloof—the dusky forms that are seen creeping away, bewitching the cattle on—the extending the cavalry, who spread themselves out in all directions, and dash at full speed, in parties of two and three, towards the thieves and their prey, must make a picture of no ordinary interest. ”

“ Umhala spoke slowly and deliberately, having listened patiently (with an occasional ejaculation of “Soh,” “Soh,” at each period) to Mr Shepstone’s address. Now and then he smiled scornfully, and with an air of mock civility, towards Gasella, and the whole import of his speech appeared to me to mean this—“I hate you—you are the ally of the English; we dare not touch you now, as you are surrounded by them, but this is only temporary, we will annihilate you whenever a good opportunity offers.” ”

“ The echoes round that vast space give back the bugle call, the fife’s shrill notes, the drum’s dull rolling sound, where once was heard the hunter’s shout, the jackal’s cry, the peevish whine of the wolf, the mocking laugh of the hyena, and but lately the wild whoop of the Gaika warriors. Silently sits that young Chief upon the mountain edge, but not alone—to him, at least, his people are true. A chieftain’s power is absolute, but, alas! ”

“ Great doubts were entertained as to whether this long train of waggons, with its slender guard, would be permitted to pass unmolested through the Ecca Valley, twelve miles from Graham’s Town, the road winding along the edge of a precipice, and being commanded by a steep krantz. From this narrow road, where only one waggon at a time can pass with safety, you look down on a bush so dense that hundreds of savages might be concealed there; and, on the opposite side, tremendous mountains, fit haunts for the savage, or the wild beast, slope down, overshadowing the valley with awful gloom ”

“ Sir Peregrine Maitland is the last man to allow ‘a people thirsting for blood’ to torment him into ‘deeds of violence;’ and, had not the colonists an implicit reliance on his justice, they might fear, from the present aspect of affairs, that his humanity might cause him to relax in his demands on the Kaffirs for compensation for cattle. They are at present, indeed, subdued by terror at the sight of our reinforcements, but are far from being humbled, or convinced: their humility is feigned, their apparent conviction and submission are exhibited in the sulkiest moods. ”

“ Nothing can be more efficient than the appearance of the Hottentot soldier, though I confess to laughing heartily at one or two immediately in advance of us.
There he is, in his bush-coloured jacket, clay-coloured leather trousers, seated on his sturdy little steed, as though nothing had ever parted, or could ever part, the horse and his rider. Before him, on his light dragoon saddle, is rolled his cloak; behind him, his blanket, corn-sack, and nose-bag; a slight change of shoes, trousers, etc, is carried, in the haversack in light marching order, and in a valise on other occasions. ”

“ On its green banks reclined a crowd of Fingo warriors, in their war attire of plumes, assegais, shields of bullock-hide, and their karosses draped gracefully round them. The chiefs wore tiger-skins. Indolent they looked, basking in the sunshine, smoking dagha, the seed of a kind of wild hemp, having much the same effect as opium on the senses. In the field these people are useful assistants, and most formidable opponents to their former severe taskmasters, the Kaffirs. ”

“ The cavalcade of guns guarded by sailors, presented a singular appearance, marching down the hill into Graham’s Town. No steady tread of soldiers’ measured paces, no shapely column, no waving plumes, though the marines, in their plain dress, more adapted for work than show, enlivened the group of brave tars as they entered the Drostdy Square. The sailors tramped onwards with their usual merry, unconcerned air, in their coarse blue clothing and straw hats, but they looked well fitted for their work, as they moved forwards concentrated round the guns. ”

“ The idea of upwards of seven hundred men making stealthy way into the midst of a savage tribe, in spite of spies and watch-dogs, is wonderful, when we consider the difficulties attending a march at any time in such a country; and the capture of cattle for starving troops was a matter of more importance than a more glittering conquest. Goethe, in describing a disastrous march in 1792, consoles himself and his friends by affirming that they had been vanquished ‘not by the enemy but by the elements.’ Since the war began, the British cause in South Africa has had to contend with every element. ”

“ With what breathless eagerness will the first boat be watched careering through the foam, which at times separates, as a veil, the stream from the ocean! Intent as we, poor exiles, are upon every movement that affects the progress of operations, languishing for home, as well as interested in the welfare of the colony, we gaze earnestly on each convoy of waggons wending its slow, uncertain way up the hill “hard by,” on its way to the front. On the 22nd of March, we paused in our evening walk to observe the train of twenty-six waggons, en route for the Buffalo mouth. ”

“ Frequently, a mere handful of white men followed the enemy into the most frightful kloofs and passes, rescuing the cattle and cutting off the retreat of the savages across the drifts, or through the tangled bush, while their homes, containing their terrified families, were left to the protection of two or three individuals, the women assisting them in loading muskets, some bearing a brace of pistols at their sides, ready to use them if necessary, and mere boys playing their part right well, through the loop-holes, on any stray Kaffirs approaching the cattle-kraals. ”

“ The tempest, however, subsides as suddenly as it arose, the voices of the storm-spirits die away in the distance over the mountain-tops, the dark pall of clouds is rent by a Mighty Hand, the swollen rivers rush on, bearing evidences of devastation, but subsiding at last into a more measured course; the sun lights up the valleys and the hill-sides, the air is clearer, the sky brighter than ever ”

“ How the windows rattle!—how the roof shivers! We are all up and astir—the children laugh, and cry, and look bewildered—and the monkey hides whatever is most wanted—and the doors fly open, and there are—not Kaffirs—only terrified women and children seeking refuge.
I was in some alarm, from the dread of muskets going off in the hands of the people unaccustomed to the use of them; but had less fear of Kaffirs than on the previous night, as we had no cattle in the Drostdy Square, and it is for that booty alone that they will risk life recklessly ”

“ There, in our own happy land, no lions prowled in our neighbourhood, no panthers could we fancy glaring on us from the bush, no venomous reptiles awaited our feet as we stepped upon the green sod from the boat. A South African climate is beautiful all the year round, except when visited by terrific thunderstorms, with their usual accompaniments of hail, rain, and lightning. ”

“ The troops were soon afterwards dispersed; some went back to Graham’s Town, some to lonely outposts, and some to Beaufort; all very tired of the business, and some seriously ill, from sleeping in the bush at the end of the “campaign,” when the rain fell in torrents, and the ground was saturated. Great part of the cattle was rescued by the Fingoes, who came into Peddie in phalanx, singing their song of triumph, a low, deep, solemn chant, each voice modulated to the others, in perfect unison. Their appearance was indeed warlike. ”

“ Far from the habitations of the white man are their simple graves; no monument marks the burial-ground in the mighty wilderness, but the memory of these gallant spirits is embalmed the breasts of their fellow soldiers, and their lonely abiding places in the far desert will be henceforth hallowed spots in an enemy’s country.
“The act by which they fell a sacrifice to savage treachery was an imprudent one, but they were ‘strangers in the land,’ and knew not that it is a common trick of the Kaffirs to show cattle at the edge of the bush, and lie in wait.” ”

“ I have lately ridden within the space of a fortnight—and resting half that fortnight—two hundred and fifty miles, through the country lately infested, and still haunted, by the savage enemy. It presents a glorious contrast to last year; the hand of Providence has put aside the hand of man. The majestic Winterberg mountain, nearly nine thousand feet high, rose before us in our ride, green almost to its summit. The valleys beneath us, as we passed from one mountain-top to the other, were “smiling with corn;” the grass on the plains waved as in our English meadow-lands ”

“ I should say, with Fingoes, Kaffirs and Hottentots, persuasion and quiet reasoning would work the will of God before all the threats relative to that dreadful world where sinners are described as in everlasting torment. This is hardly the place for such discussion, but I cannot help saying, that I think the creed of many who profess to explain the Word of God, a fearful one: instead of holding up our beneficent Creator as a Being worthy to be served for love, they dwell too much on the punishment of sin, rather than on the reward of virtue. ”

“ The Fingo huts scattered all round favour the delusion, especially at night, when dark figures stalk to and fro, dimly seen in the light of their fires, and the chant I have endeavoured to describe rises and falls on the air. It was worthy of English philanthropy to rescue the Fingoes from their captivity, under their hard taskmasters, the Kaffirs; but their idleness is almost incredible. It is true that on occasion they are able assistants to the Government agents in rescuing stolen cattle ”

“ The last fortnight on shipboard had been passed in great discomfort: heavy sickness at all times is a severe tax on our patience, but at sea, in a narrow cabin, where one’s weak voice is often drowned by the creaking of masts, the dashing of the waves, and the hoarse calls of the seamen, it is beyond all conception to those who have not similarly suffered. My little tour in my tiny palanquin at Madeira was, therefore, most delicious. First I lingered in the square, under the trees, looking at the 11th regiment of Portuguese troops on parade. ”

“ Everything in Africa is in extremes. The air is at one moment perfectly calm, the next wild with terrific storms. The sky so sweetly serene at noon, before half an hour passes is often darkened by clouds which shroud the land as with a pall. For months, the long droughts parch the earth, the rivers may be forded on foot, the flocks and herds pant for refreshing waters and green herbage. ”

“ They bore off their wounded and dying to the kloofs, where they had established hospitals in the clefts of rocks, or under bush, screened by karosses and sheepskins, and mourned the death of many a chieftain’s son, captain, or councillor. The superior chiefs themselves seldom fall, and no paramount chief is expected to lead his men to action. In the attack on the Mancazana, Macomo, Sandilla’s uncle, beat his warriors to the advance with his knob-kiurries; and then, seating himself on a hill, waited the result of the attack and the capture of the cattle. ”