Part 13 (2/2)

I noted that there were several houses near the entrance of the harbour and up the bay which did not exist when I left Natal. These, I afterwards found, were the houses of some Dutchmen who had settled there.

The wind having changed the day after our arrival, we entered the bay, having crossed the bar in safety.

It seemed strange, after my experiences of civilised life, to come to a place where there was not an hotel, or any house where one could put up.

I had, however, made my plans from my knowledge of the country, and had provided myself with waterproof sheeting that I could turn into a small tent, and so was independent of a house. The Dutch Boer, when he travels, makes his waggon his house, and is thus as independent as an English gipsy. I took the first opportunity of landing, and making the acquaintance of the few Dutchmen who resided at Natal. My knowledge of the Dutch language, which I had acquired at Cape Town, was now of great use. I thought it prudent not to let the Dutchmen know of my experiences in the country, but to be quite independent of them in my future proceedings. I made arrangements for the hire of a pony during my stay in the country, and also two oxen, which had been trained to carry packages and were termed pack-oxen by the Boers. I believed that I had so altered that none of my old Caffre comrades would recognise me, and I intended to travel among them--at least at first--without letting them know who I was.

One of the Boers asked me to stay at his house, but I preferred remaining on the s.h.i.+p until I made my start up the country.

The first visit I paid was to the kraal of Umnini, near the Umla.s.s river. I took one of the Caffre servants of the Boer with me; this Caffre could speak Dutch, and I wanted to conceal my knowledge of Caffre for some time, so I spoke to him in Dutch, and asked him to speak in Caffre to the Caffres.

On arriving at the kraal of Umnini, I was interested as to whether I should be recognised by these men. During the interval that had elapsed since I was last at the kraal of Umnini, I had increased in height, and had developed whiskers; the change in my appearance, therefore, was considerable, and I considered it unlikely that I should be remembered.

The Caffre with me told the people of the kraal that I was one of the Boers, he knowing no better, and that I had come to trade, and wished for leopards' skins and elephants' tusks.

Several of the men who were present I remembered: these men had been with me often, but although they looked at me very hard they none of them seemed to remember me. Having ascertained from my Caffre that I could not speak their language, they made their remarks on me very freely. These remarks were complimentary. They said I did not look like a Boer, but must be a young chief. ”He has the head of a chief,”

said one man, and the others agreed with him. They also decided that I must be strong and a good runner. These and other similar remarks I listened to with much amus.e.m.e.nt, but without giving the slightest sign that I understood what they were saying. After a time Umnini came to me, and, after looking at me for some time, said, ”It is the young White Chief of the Umzimvubu.” The men who had been speaking about me smiled at this remark, and said to Umnini, ”No, chief, it is not him, it is a young Boer.” Umnini looked at me very attentively, but I gave no sign either of recognising him, or understanding what he said.

Speaking in Dutch to my Caffre, I told him to ask the chief if he had any ostrich-feathers, or elephants' tusks, as I wished to buy them.

He replied that he had a few tusks, and wanted to know what I would give for them.

Having brought with me some beads as specimens and a few blades of a.s.sagies, I showed him these, but he said that what he wanted was guns.

The talking continued for some time, and I at length asked that I might see the tusks. Umnini said I could go with him into his kraal where the tusks were kept. We alone entered his hut, and he then pointed to six fine tusks, but believing that I could not understand what he said, he made signs that they belonged to three elephants.

Having carried my joke far enough, I looked at Umnini and said in Caffre:--

”Chief, you alone were correct and you alone knew me. I _am_ the White Chief of the Umzimvubus, and I have come back to see you again, and to bring you some things you will like. I am going also to see my own tribe to the west.”

Umnini scarcely seemed surprised, as I told him who I was, but said he had been certain about it when he saw me.

Our conversation, which had not been heard outside of the hut, had been carried on in a low tone; so no one besides Umnini knew who I was. I told him I did not wish to be known at present, and asked him to keep my secret. He agreed to this, and when we crept out of the hut he did his acting splendidly, and spoke to my Caffre, asking him to enquire of me what I thought of the tusks.

I replied in Dutch, saying I would buy them. Then bidding good-bye to the people, I returned to the s.h.i.+p.

Two days afterwards I started with two Caffres and a Hottentot for my old residence near the Umzimvubu. The pony I rode was a good shooting pony, and on the first day I shot two coran and a red bush-buck, which supplied the party with plenty of food. On the second day I reached my old kraal, and was again anxious to see if I should be recognised. I was not long in doubt. Inyoni, my old boy-companion, had now grown into a fine young man, and was standing near the entrance to the kraal, watching me and my companions as we advanced. When close to him he looked at me for an instant, and then shouted, ”Inkosi” (chief), and seized my hand. His shout had brought out all the people who were in the kraal, each of whom recognised me. Those whom I had left as boys, and little girls, were now young men and women, and all were delighted to see me. The Hottentot and Caffres, who had accompanied me from Natal, looked on with astonishment, and when they heard me speaking Caffre as well as they themselves spoke, they seemed to think it was witchcraft.

I had a busy time of it answering all the questions that were put to me by my old friends, who were anxious to know what I had been doing, where I had been, and whether I intended to again live with them. When I told them how I had pa.s.sed day after day in a room, in the midst of a large city (London), and had rarely seen the sun, and had shot no buck, had not even seen a wild elephant, and had enjoyed no sport, they were astonished how it was I had gone through all this, when I could have come back at any time, and enjoyed the free, happy, exciting life of a chief with them.

The arguments used by my old friends have often been considered since that time by me, and the problem is a curious one, whether civilisation, with all its advantages, has not so many drawbacks as to render the wild, free, healthy life of so-called savages preferable.

At the date about which I write, there was no sport in the world finer than could be obtained in that part of Africa. Such sport as fox-hunting in England, deer-stalking in Scotland, pheasant, partridge, or grouse shooting, was as inferior to the sport in Africa as catching minnows is to salmon-fis.h.i.+ng in a fine Canadian river. When a man has once followed the track of the giant elephant, through the mazes of an African bush, has come close to his formidable game, has fired at him, and heard the terrific sound of his angry trumpet, as he charges through the bush, he feels that he has enjoyed a cla.s.s of sport superior to all other. Even stealthily approaching and slaying the formidable buffalo, in his forest stronghold, is a sport to be remembered all one's life.

To attempt to compare such sport as standing at the corner of a cover, and knocking over pheasants as they fly over you, with the sport formerly obtainable in the forests or on the plains of Africa is ridiculous.

”Why do you not come back to us, and enjoy life?” said Tembile;--”you, who could follow the tracks of a buck without a mistake, who could a.s.sagy a running buck, and hit with your k.n.o.b-kerrie a bird on the wing.

Here you could have plenty of cows, plenty of corn, several wives, and, as you are a chief, you could do all you wanted. What can there be in your country to compare with what we have here?”

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