NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY
EVANSTON, ILLINOIS
AFAR IN THE DESERT:
and other
0
SOUTH AFRICAN POEMS.
by
THOMAS PRINGLE.
IVITff A MEMOIR AND NOTES.
Edited by JOHN NOBLE,
AUTHOR OF 'SOUTH AFRICA, PAST AND PRESENT,' ETC.
LONDON:
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
Cape Town: J. C. JUT A.
i88i.
LONDON :
PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED,
STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS.
CONTENTS.
INTRODUCTION— page
Memoir of Thomas Pringle .... vii—^xl
poems-
Introductory Stanzas i
The Emigrants—A Fragment . ^ . 3
Farewell to Bonny Teviot-Dale . . . .25
An Emigrant's Song 28
The Emigrant's Cabin at the Cape ... 30
Afar in the Desert : A Reverie .... 48
The Bechuana Boy 54
Evening Rambles *63
The Lion Hunt 72
The Lion and Giraffe . . . . . .76
The Desolate Valley 79
The Coranna 84
The Kosa .86
Song of the Wild Bushman 89
Makanna's Gathering 92
The Incantation 95
The Caffer Commando 99
A Noonday Dream loi
The Exile's Lament ... . . 108
10SSS58
iv
CONTENTS.
YomA?,—continued.
The Brown Hunter's Song . . . . .110
The Captive of Camalu 112
The Ghona Widow's Lullaby . . . .117
The Rock of Reconcilement . . . .122
The Forester of the Neutral Ground , . 125
The Slave Dealer 132
The Tornado 135
A Graceful Form, a Gentle Mien . . -139
On the Death of George Haitlie . . . .141
Paraphrase of Twenty-third Psalm . . . 143
A Hymn 146
Inscription on Tombstone 148
Memento 150
SONNETS—
The Hottentot ^53
The Gaffer 154
The Bushman 15S
Slavery .156
Franschehoek 157
Genadendal 158
Enon 159
The Good Missionary 160
The Rev. Dr. Philip 161
A Common Character 162
The Nameless Stream 163
My Country 164
The Cape of Storms 165
To Oppression 166
To Sir Walter Scott -167
To Robert Pringle 168
CONTENTS.
y
NOTES TO THE POEMS AND SONNETS—
British Emigrants of 1820 171
Settlement of the Scotch Party at Baviaan's
River . . . . / . . .176
The First Sabbath in Africa . . . .182
John Fairbairn 185
Vytj Vaal 187
Broad-tailed Mutton . . . . . .187
Paauw, Korhaan and Guinea Fowl . . .187
The Bezuidenhout Rebellion in 1815 . . . 188
Captain Harding 201
Graaff-Reinet—A Boer's Residence . . . 201
Hart, Devenish, Stretch, etc 206
Smith, Brownlee, Read 207
Dr. Philip 208
Rev. W. Wright ....... 209
The Great Karroo 209
Forests and Wild Vine * . . . . 212
Bitter Melon 213
Salt-pans . . . . ■ . . . . 213
Story of the Bechuana Boy 214
Bushman's Caves 215
Weaver Birds'-nests .215
Lion-Hunting 216
Lion and Giraffe 225
SicIna's Hymn 225
The Coranna 227
The Kosa 228
The Honey-Bird 228
The Honey-Bird's Song 230
Honey-mead 233
vi
CONTENTS.
Notes to the Poems and Sonnets—
Springboks . . . , . . . , 233
Makanna the Prophet 235
Sons of Kahabee 242
Uhlanga's Voice 242
The Ghonaqua Tribe 243
The GunjaMen 243
Mankazana Valley 243
Camalu . 245
Bushmen and Thunder 245
Luheri 246
Veld-Kost 246
Brownlee and Tshatshu 246
The Neutral Ground 247
Heemraad of Camdeboo 248
Bastard Hottentots 248
Sons of the Bond 254
The Slave-dealer 254
George Haitlie ....... 255
Christen Menschen 256
Franschehoek 256
✓ Nameless Stream—Fairbairn's Sonnets . . 256
' State of the Cape in 1824 . . ^ . 258
The Glen-Lynden Settlers . . . 283
INTRODUCTION-
The poetical productions of Thomas Pringle were first
given to the world upwards of half a century ago. They
obtained for him an honourable reputation among the
literary men of his time, who readily recognised in his
writings some sparks of true genius, and a singular grace
and delicacy of sentiment, as well as an almost constant
elegance of expression and truthfulness and beauty of
description. More than one of his lyrics still find a
place in the best collections of " Scottish Song," and not
a few of those written during his residence in South
Africa, and associated with the country, continue to live
in the hearts and minds of Cape and Natal colonists,
viii MEMOIR OF PRINGLE.
and are likely to endure as long as the English language
is spoken.
Several editions of his works, both Poetry and Prose,
were published between 1828 and 1840, and were
received with much public favour; but of late years they
have passed out of print, and almost out of sight, copies
of them being now comparatively rarely met with even
in second-hand book-shops. The present volume is
produced solely with the view of reviving an interest in
them, and of meeting the oft-expressed desire of South
African colonists for a collection of Pringle's ''South
African Poems;" to which are now added notes and
selections from the Author's prose writings, in illustra¬
tion chiefly of the allusions which, the poems contain
to the scenery and productions of the country, and
the character and condition of its native inhabitants.
Messrs. Ward, Lock, and Co., who represent the
I
copyright-holders, have generously given their consent
to this publication. We have undertaken the duty of
editing it, simply as a labour of love, endeavouring, as
MEMOIR OF PRINGLE. ix
far as in us lies, to keep fresh and green the honoured
memory of the Poet and the good service he has
done.
Thomas Pringle was one of those who well deserve
to be remembered, not less for their character and
conduct, than for their writings. Among his own
intimate friends he excited unqualified esteem and
admiration. John Fairbairn affectionately eulogises
him as one of the most amiable men of genius he ever
knew. Steady in his attachments, modest, frank,
forgiving, there was not," he says, a quality that
renders talent agreeable and wit safe in social and
domestic life which he did not exhibit in the degree
most to be desired, whether the stream of accidents ran
rough or smooth." By others who knew him chiefly
through his public labours and actions, he has been
equally highly extolled as a man of great worth, warm¬
hearted, generous and high of spirit, an enthusiastic
philanthropist, and an intrepid advocate of the natural
rights of the human kind.
X
MEMOIR OF PRINGLE.
The main incidents of his career may be briefly told.
Born in 1789, at Blaiklaw, near Kelso, his early years
were spent in Teviotdale, among the scenes of Border
song and story, which Sir Walter Scott has made famous.
His father was a small farmer, belonging to that
excellent class of high-principled, respectable husband¬
men, from whom the most notable and best type of
Scotchmen have sprung. Thomas was the third child of
a family of four sons and three daughters. While yet an
infant, he met with an accident in his nurse's arms
which dislocated his right limb at the hip-joint, and thus
rendered him a cripple for life. Owing probably to this
lameness, books became his great resource of amuse¬
ment and occupation; and his worthy father, with
laudable ambition, resolved to contrive and give him
such an education as might qualify him for holding a
place in some learned or settled profession. After
having received a sound elementary training in the
Grammar School of Kelso, he was sent to the Edinburgh
University in his seventeenth year. Throughout the
MEMOIR OF PRINGLE. xi
course of his collegiate training, although he did not
make a brilliant figure, he was of studious habits, and
attended diligently to the duties of his different classes.
His readings, during the hours he was not so engaged,
consisted chiefly in the belles-lettres of his mother tongue ;
and according to the testimony of his contemporaries,
he was much more conversant with English poetry
and criticism than students of his standing generally
were.
When the time arrived for his determining upon a
profession, he had great difficulty in deciding what to
follow. His lameness interposed obstacles to some; his
tastes and habits to others. In this state of indecision
he drifted into Literature, which had more hold upon
his affections than aught else, although its profitableness
was by no means assured. Immediately after leaving
the University he was engaged for some years as a clerk
in the office of the Commissioners of the Public Records
of Scotland ; and upon the conclusion of his daily work,
he generally occupied his evenings in literary pursuit and
xii
MEMOIR OF PRINGLE.
enjoyment, reading and writing in prose or verse, and
contributing to papers and periodicals. In 1817, he left
the Records Office and entered upon the duties of joint
Editor of the 'Edinburgh Monthly Magazine,' which
afterwards took the name of its proprietor, and eventually
became the now famous ' Blackwood's Magazine.'
Shortly afterwards, however, he transferred his services
as joint Editor to the ' Scots' Magazine,' published by
Constable of Edinburgh, and at the same time under¬
took the Editorship of a city newspaper, the Star^ then
almost the only Liberal newspaper in Scotland. In the
beginning of 1819, he first appeared before the public as
the author of a small volume of poetry, under the title of
the 'Autumnal Excursion, or Scenes in Teviotdale 3 and
other Poems.' Prior to this he had added to his
happiness by marrying Margaret, daughter of Mr.
William Brown, an East Lothian farmer, a step which,
amid all his harassing cares and toils, he declared he
never for a single moment had any reason to regret, but
rather to " thank God for a faithful friend and a devoted
MEMOIR OF PRINGLE.
xiii
wife." His new position, however, brought increased
responsibilities, and unfortunately his pecuniary resources
were inadequate to maintain these even in a moderate
way. Although the magazine work for a short time was
prosperous, it had to be abandoned, owing to the
political and mercenary rivalry he had to encounter; the
Editorship of the newspaper was unprofitable; his
poetical productions brought him more empty praise
than solid pudding; and some of his experiences of the
drudgery of a literary hfe completely changed his views,
and gave him even a decided aversion to periodical
literature as a profession.
A project of emigration entered his mind at
this period. The Imperial Parliament had just
voted 0,000 to send out some thousands of British
settlers to the Cape of Good Hope. Here was an
opportunity of transferring his energies to a new
country and to a different form of occupation. It
presented the further advantage of offering relief to
the other members of his father's house, who were
xiv MEMOIR OF PRINGLE.
likewise suffering from the vicissitudes of fortune.
They might, he thought, re-establish themselves in
rural independence in the " promised land " of South
Africa, and there obtain that prosperity which adverse
circumstances denied them in their mother-country.
He submitted the scheme to his father and relatives,
and offered to accompany them should they deter¬
mine to emigrate. After maturely weighing the matter,
they decided to go; and Pringle applied on their
behalf to the Colonial Department for the necessary
permission and free passages, which were at once
granted to them. In the poem, entitled " The
Emigrants"—evidently a mere fragment, but still a
very polished and beautiful production—he describes
the pastoral scenes and domestic associations of his
early life which were abandoned and broken up when
he and his exile-train went forth—
"To seek new homes on Afric's southern strand."
Appended to this poem is the well-known and popular
MEMOIR OF PRINGLE.
XV
song, " The Emigrant's Farewell," written by the poet
in his pilgrim character on the eve of his departure
from Scotland in 1819 :— '
"Our native Lg,nd—our native Vale—
A long and last adieu!
Farewell to bonny Teviotdale,
And Scotland's mountains blue !
Farewell, ye hills of glorious deeds.
And streams renowned in song;
Farewell, ye blithesome braes and meads.
Our hearts have loved so long.
Farewell, ye broomy elfin knowes,
"Where thyme and harebells grow ;
Farewell, ye hoary haunted howes,
O'erhung with birk and sloe.
The battle-mound, the Border-tower,
That Scotia's annals tell;
The martyr's grave, the lover's bower—
To each—to all—farewell!
Home of our hearts ! our father's home !
Land of the brave and free !
The sail is flapping on the foam
That bears us far from thee !
We seek a wild and distant shore
Beyond the Atlantic main ;
We leave thee to return no more.
Nor view thy cliff's again :
xvi
MEMOIR OF PRINGLE.
But may dishonour blight our fame,
And quench our household fires.
When we, or ours, forget thy name,
Green Island of our Sires !"
Pringle's abilities and attainments naturally gave
him the position of leader of the colonists' band, who
were known as- the " Scotch Party," and he assumed
the duties connected therewith as if he never had had
any other aim or object in life. In his 'African
Sketches,' he has given a lively and picturesque
narrative of all the adventures which befel them from
the time of their landing from the transport ships
at Algoa Bay, until they pitched their tents in the (at
that period) wild inland district allotted to them as a
dwelling-place, and which he named " Glen-Lynden."*
At the commencement of the settlement he found
himself performing the somewhat incongruous functions
of a sort of civil and military officer, of a medical
practitioner, religious instructor, engineer, architect,
gardener, plasterer, cabinet-maker, and even tinker.
* Vide " Notes to Poems," pp. 171-184.
MEMOIR OF PRJNGLE.
xvii
He was in fact the chief man of the place, continually
called upon and always ready to counsel or advise, or
to turn his hand to anything; and so far, most worthily
giving an example of the impulse which may be
communicated by a single individual, possessing in¬
telligence and energy, in grappling with the new and
•
novel circumstances of colonial life. At the same
time, his relatives and others forming his party, having
been trained from their earliest days to agricultural
and sheep-farming operations, were well qualified for
encountering the difficulties of their new position. At
first they were sorely annoyed by wild beasts, and
occasionally by the predatory forays of Bushmen and
Caffersy but with courageous hearts and strenuous
hands they struggled with and surmounted these and
other disadvantages of their situation. They soon
built their " wattle-and-daub" cabins, cleared their
lands for cultivation, trenched them for irrigation,
planted gardens and orchards, and stocked their
meadows with flocks and herds bought from their
b
xviii
MEMOIR OF PRINGLE.
South African Boer neighbours, and altogether pro¬
spered exceedingly well. The Colonial Government
favoured them, too, by granting them a liberal exten¬
sion of the boundaries of their location, so as to afford
them an -ample range of pasturage, and thus place
them on a footing with the older colonists around
them. In the epistle in rhyme, entitled the " Emigrant's
Cabin,"* the poet gives a graphic picture of the
settler's condition, and conveys the impression that
he was happily occupied and contented with the
pastoral life and primitive society around him. That
life was varied by hunting and exploratory excursions
throughout several parts of the frontier; and it was
during these peregrinations he obtained so familiar a
knowledge of the country, its scenery and its inhabitants,
as to enable him afterwards to reproduce, with re¬
markable power of word-painting, their various peculiar
features and characteristics, in his prose and poetical
sketches.
* Page 30.
MEMOIR OF PRINGLE.
xix
Pringle, however, had no intention of continuing to
follow farming pursuits. The chief object he had in
view in laying the foundations of the Glen-Lynden
settlement was to see his father's family established in
rural independence. By the end of two years, all that
he could do to accomplish this and to promote their
prosperity had been done, so far at least as depended
upon his residence on the location. When his elder
brother, William, with his family and some other
relatives, arrived from Scotland in July 1822, he
surrendered and transferred to them the possession
of the lands he had occupied, and prepared himself
to proceed to Cape Town, to fill a situation to which
he had been appointed by the Colonial Government.
The situation was that of sub-librarian of the South
African Public Library, offered to him by the Governor,
Lord Charles Somerset, mainly through the interest
exerted in his behalf at Downing Street by Sir Walter
Scott, Sir John Barrow, and other influential literary
friends.
b 2
XX
MEMO//? OF PRINGLE.
The path of life now appeared to open brightly
before him. Although the emoluments of his appoint¬
ment as sub-librarian were insignificant, the duties
were light; and he was encouraged to believe that
by establishing an academy for the instruction of
youth, and engaging in literary pursuits, he would be
able to supplement his income, and at the same time
benefit his fellow-colonists by the diffusion of useful
information. Entertaining sanguine hopes of his success,
and relying upon the support and patronage of the
Government, he invited his former college companion,
Mr. Fairbairn, an accomplished teacher, then at
Newcastle-on-Tyne, to emigrate and join him in
carrying out these projects. Mr. Fairbairn accepted
the overtures made, and arrived in the colony in
September 1823, when the permission of the Governor
was solicited and obtained for opening a school in
Cape Town. At the same time, after some importunity,
the professed approval of Government was given to a
proposal to publish a monthly magazine, alternately
MEMOIR OF PRINGLE. xxi
in the English and Dutch languages. Messrs. Pringle
and Fairbairn were the conductors of the English
periodical, the South African Journal^ and the Rev. A.
Faure, a clergyman of the Dutch Reformed Church,
editor of the Dutch one, entitled De Zuid Africkaausch
Tydschrift. For a little while, things went on smoothly
and prosperously. The academy was flourishing and
popular; and the first numbers of the magazine, whose
pages were enriched by some of Pringle's J)oems and
Fairbairn's essays and criticisms, met with much public
favour amongst the Cape community.
Prior to this period there had been no independent
press in the colony of the Cape of Good Hope. A
printing-office, maintained and controlled by the local
authorities, was in existence, but the annual round of its
work consisted in the issue of handbills, proclamations,
an almanac, and an official weekly paper, called the
Cafe Gazette, in which all subjects of public polity
or general literature were cautiously avoided. The
establishment of a Free Press was naturally regarded
xxii
MEMOIR OF PRINGLE.
with apprehension by a government which was of the most
absolute and arbitrary type. Lord Charles Somerset, in
whom that government was at this time vested, discoun¬
tenanced and discouraged every attempt in the direction of
opening such a field for political discussion; and even in
1823, when Mr. George Greig, a gentleman who had been
employed in the King's printing-office in England, memo¬
rialised for leave to issue a newspaper from which he
pledged himself rigidly to exclude " personal controversy
and all discussion of matters relating to the policy or
administration of the government," the request met with
what was tantamount to a distinct refusal Mr, Greig,
however, upon receiving this refusal, made inquiries
whether any law existed which entitled the Governor to
prevent his publishing a newspaper, and finding there
was no such law, he determined to proceed without the
Governor's assent. In January 1824, he issued the first
number of the South African Commercial Advertiser, and
shortly afterwards solicited and obtained the aid of
Fairbairn and Pringle in its editorial management. The
MEMOIR OF FRINGLE.
xxiii
new broad-sheet was hailed with delight as a medium of
communicating information of a generally interesting
and instructive character! It was continued from
January until May, 1824, when seventeen numbers were
printed. The last number contained some extracts from
De Lolme, on the Freedom ,of the Press, with some
editorial comments on the same subject. A report also
had appeared, of the proceedings in a trial heard before
the Court of Justice. This was an ex officio criminal
prosecution for libel brought by His Majesty's Fiscal *
against Messrs. Cooke, Edwards and Hoffman. The
first-named was charged with having written and signed
a memorial to the Lords of the Treasury, accusing the
Collector of Customs of having committed some mal-prac-
tices in the distribution of prize negroes; the second,
with having drawn up and forwarded this m.emorialto the
Governor for transmission to the Lords of the Treasury ;
and the third, with having copied the document and pre¬
pared it for intended publication. It is a striking illus-
* Law officer of the Crown.
xxiv
MEMOIR OF PRINGLE.
tration of the close despotism of the time that the parties
concerned in the framing of this memorial should have
been indicted for " an open violation of the law tending
to disturb the peace and tranquillity, and to set an
example to other malevolent persons, the imitation of which
would influence most perniciously the peaceable and moral
disposition and habits of the colony, and therefore not
to be tolerated in a land of justice, but on the contrary,
for an example to deter others from doing the same, should
be visited with public and corporal punishment." It is
satisfactory to know that the court rejected the application
of the Fiscal, and acquitted the accused of the charges
brought against them.
Shortly afterwards, another charge was brought against
Edwards, who was practising the profession of a notary.
His offence on this occasion consisted in having
addressed a letter to Lord Charles Somerset, in which he
introduced some imputations on the Governor's personal
character. The letters were given to the Fiscal, who
immediately commenced a criminal prosecution for libel.
MEMOIR OF PRINGLE. xxv
founded on their contents. The Court, without hearing
any witnesses, found Edwards guilty, and under the
provisions of the Dutch law sentenced him to seven
years' transportation.* During the trial, Edwards
energetically insisted on his right to be tried according
to the mode of procedure for libel in England; and in
the course of his address to the Court violently aspersed
the character of the Governor. Lord Charles Somerset
was apprehensive that the proceedings would be pub¬
lished; and under his instructions the Fiscal, a few
hours after the adjournment of the Court, made a
demand upon Mr. Greig for the proof-sheets of the
Commercial Advertiser which was to appear next day,
at the same time prohibiting the paper being struck off
till further directions were given. The official order for
the production of the proof-sheets was complied with,
and as it appeared that in the report of Edwards' trial
* Edwards was transported to New South Wales, and on arrival
there was identified as a runaway convict of the name of Lookay,
who had been convicted some years before at the Gloucester assizes
on a charge of stealing a gig and horses.
xxvi
MEMOIR OF PRINGLE.
all that was offensive and irrelevant in the proceedings had
been carefully excluded, the Fiscal returned them with a
qualified imprimatur^ not approving of the whole contents,
but allowing the paper to be printed. He required
of the publisher, however, to give substantial security that
nothing offensive should appear in any future number.
Greig, with his friends Fairbaim and Pringle, at once
determined upon the course to be pursued; and next
morning it was announced that they disdained as British
subjects to submit to the degradation of a censorship
of the press, and therefore discontinued the publication of
the paper pending an appeal to the British Government.
The action thus taken greatly incensed the Governor,
who issued an instrument under the name of a " warrant,"
directing the Fiscal to repair to Greig's printing-office,
and to seal up his presses until His Majesty's pleasure
should be known. The warrant further directed ' the
Fiscal to notify to Greig, that as " his conduct had proved
subversive of due submission to the lawful commands
of the constituted authorities," he was to quit the
MEMOIR OF PRINGLE.
xxvii
colony in one month, in default of which he was
to be arrested and sent out of it. This order of
banishment was issued after the opinion of the Chief
Justice had been [taken as to the legality of the
measure j * but Lord Charles Somerset on cooler reflec¬
tion withdrew it, and signified that Mr. Greig might
remain in the colony. The latter, however, resolved to
proceed to England without delay, in order to submit
* The Chief Justice (Sir J. Truter) and the Fiscal (Mr. Denyssen)
advised that the right of political removal from the colony was
sanctioned by the law of Holland, and had been exercised on several
previous occasions by the Colonial Government with the approval
of the mother-coimtry. But when the circumstances of the case
were afterwards submitted to the Crown lawyers in England, Sir
James Stephen gave his opinion very clearly that the exercise by the
Governor of the power of banishment was an illegal and an uncon¬
stitutional act. He held that while the Cape of Good Hope was in
the military occupation of His Majesty during the war with the
United Provinces, such power might, perhaps, have been given to
the officer in charge of His Majesty's forces ; but after the cession
of the settlement to the British Crown (in 1814) the laws of war
were at an end, and the inhabitants became entitled to the benefits
of the British Constitution, so far as they could be imparted to them
compatibly with the Dutch code. No authority less than that of
the King in Parliament would be competent to invest the Governor
of a colony with powers so unusual and so formidable.
xxviii MEMOIR OF PRINGLE.
his case to Lord Bathurst, then Secretary of State for the
Colonies. He was ultimately successful in his appeal.
He was fully exonerated from the charge of sedition
brought against him; the exercise of. any control or
censorship of the press was withdrawn, and a written
authority was given that his license to publish should be
liable to be cancelled by the Governor in Council only,
and not by the Governor.
Meanwhile the conduct of the Government in
interfering with the Press raised a clamour in Cape Town,
which Lord Charles Somerset, writing to Lord Bathurst,
said, " I can only describe by calling to your lordship's
recollection the clamour that existed in London relative
to the Queen (Caroline) in 1820." A memorial to the
King praying for the freedom of the press was drawn up
and numerously signed. The names of Pringle and
Fairbairn were foremost amongst the signatures; and the
vice-regal displeasure was soon visited upon them. The
Fiscal found in the second number of the South African
Journal what he considered to be improper observations
MEMOIR OF PRINGLE.
xxix
on the colonial administration, and he conveyed to Pringle
an official warning that if he persisted in the publication
of remarks reflecting upon the Government, or obnoxious
to it, he would expose himself to the consequences of a
prosecution. The passages chiefly objected to were con¬
tained in an article that describes the prospects of the
English emigrants in South Africa, in which, amongst the
causes of their distressed situation at that time, were
enumerated "an arbitrary system of government; the
abuse pf power by local functionaries, and a vacillating
and inefficient system pursued with regard to the Cafiers."
The observations which immediately followed qualified
the preceding strictures by attributing the evil con¬
sequences to a mistaken system, which having been
established had been conscientiously upheld by the
colonial authorities. In consequence of the Fiscal's
communication, Pringle and Fairbairn thought it " incon¬
sistent with their personal safety " to continue the pub¬
lication of the Journal; and at once notified their de¬
cision to the Government, as well as to the pubhc.
XXX
MEMOIR OF PRINGLE.
This determination took Lord Charles Somerset by
surprise. A few days after he sent for Pringle, and an
interview took place, the particulars of which will be found
in the narrative giving an account of the " State of the
Cape in 1824." * The Governor finding he had mis¬
apprehended Pringle's character, endeavoured to induce
him to continue'the Journal; Pringle, however, objected
to renew the publication until the colonial press should
be placed upon some more defined and permanent
footing; and he resigned his situation as sub-librarian, on
the ground that the Governor had accused him of insulting
the Government and of compromising his duty as a
public servant in sighing a memorial to His Majesty the
King. After this Pringle and Fairbaim found themselves
subject to the whole force of Government opposition in all
their pursuits. Their academy was proscribed, and pupils
gradually withdrew from it. Arrangements were made
for opening a new grammar school under official patron¬
age—Lord Charles himself, in a despatch to the Secretary
* Vide " Notes to the Poems," p. 258.
MEMOIR OF PRINGLE. xxxl
of State, lamenting that there was no other school but that
kept by Pringle and Fairbaim, and remarking, " It is
shocking to reflect on the system that I am told they
pursue to instil into the minds of the youth under their
charge the most disgusting principles of Republicanism—
forming debatiiig societies amongst the pupils, and learn¬
ing by heart and writing out extracts, tending to those
dangerous sentiments."
Finding it impossible to keep his ground against the
indirect but irresistible hostilities of the Governor, Pringle
resolved to arrange his affairs with a view to leaving the
colony. Prior to his departure, however, he once more
visited his friends at Glen-Lynden, and had the satis¬
faction of seeing the little settlement he had assisted in
*
planting in tolerable circumstances, its members all enjoy¬
ing a goodly share of " health, competence and peace." *
It was at this time he addressed a communication to the
Royal Commissioners of Inquiry, in which he candidly
acknowledged the good understanding that had unin-
* Vide " Notes to Poems," p. 283.
xxxii MEMOIR OF PRINGLE.
terruptedly prevailed between the Government and the
settlers of his party. " Having of late," he said, " found
myself imperatively called upon to convey to you very
severe strictures on particular points' in the recent ad¬
ministration of the Colonial Government, I now turn with
far more pleasant feelings to speak of its conduct towards
my party and myself, as settlers, with almost unqualified
approbation. Nor is this acknowledgment due from me to
one or two individuals only; but to the heads of the
Government and the Colonial Secretaries, not less than
the local functionaries. From the day of our first arrival
on the location down to the present time, our party has
experienced from the local authorities of the district, the
Landdrost, &c., every possible attention to their comfort,
safety and success; and it is also my duty to state (nor
shall any recent personal annoyances prevent me from
freely and fully stating it) that H.E. Lord Charles Somerset
has continued towards the Scotch party the same friendly
support and encouragement, which they constantly expe¬
rienced from the late Acting Governor (Sir R. Donkin),
MEMOIR OF PRINGLE.
xxxiii
and from the Colonial Secretaries, Mr. Ellis and Colonel
Bird."
While the Commissioners of Inquiry were engaged in
their labours, investigating the affairs of the colony,
Pringle was in frequent correspondence with them on
the subject of various abuses in the local administration,
the treatment and the amelioration of the condition of
the coloured race, and the protection of "the frontier; and
he received a handsome expression of their thanks for the
trouble he had taken. It was at this time that, profiting
by the experience the Scotch party at Glen-Lynden had
had, of the suitableness of the Hottentots as a border
guard, he suggested the plan for defending the eastern
frontier by a settlement of Hottentots, which was
afterwards carried out by Sir A. Stockenstrom. He
also took an active part in the movement for the relief
of the distressed settlers in Albany—who were suf¬
fering from unprecedented floods and failure of crops—
and he prepared a pamphlet giving an account of the
condition of- the settlers, which resulted in the col-
xxxiv
MEMOIR OF PRINGLE.
lection of very substantial aid from England and from
India.
In 1826, Pringle left the Cape of Good Hope and re¬
turned to England. When he arranged his affairs and
made up his accounts at Cape Town, he found they
showed a balance against him of ;^fooo, arising chiefly
from the suppression of his magazine and the failure of
his school; and on reaching London he submitted to the
Secretary of State a claim for compensation or indemnity
for these losses. This application, however, proved
fruitless. He was informed that the suppression of the
magazine and his resignation were voluntary acts of his
own, and not imposed upon him by the Government; and
Lord Bathurst intimated that as he had left the Cape,
he had placed it out of his lordship's power to assist
him. This settled the matter. Pringle had to look else¬
where for help and support for his family; and he
temporarily found some occupation in literary work,
contributing both to the newspapers and to the
Annuals. Soon afterwards he made a collection of his
MEMOIR OF PR INGLE,
XXXV
earlier compositions in verse, and added to them a series
of later ones, written during his residence in South Africa.
These were published in 1828 by Messrs. Smith, Elder
and Co., under the modest title of ' Ephemerides.' The
South African poems were dedicated to Sir Walter Scott,
in the lines :—
"From deserts wild and many a pathless wood
Of savage clime, where I have wandered long,
Whose hills and streams are yet ungraced by song,
I bring, illustrious friend, this garland rude.
Fresh from coy Nature's virgin solitude."
Among the collection there was one poem which im¬
mediately fascinated the public. This was the poetic
reverie, " Afar in the Desert." * Coleridge, when he first
met with it, was so completely taken possession of, that
he did little else but read and recite it, now to this group
and now to that, and in a letter to the author he wrote,
" I do not hesitate to declare it among the two or three
most perfect lyrics in our language." In it and other pro¬
ductions, Pringle represented, as no one else had hitherto
* Vide page 48.
xxxvi
MEMOIR OF FRINGLE.
done, the varying phases of South African scenery and
life. He brought home to the vivid conception of the
reader the wide-extending plains of the desert Karoo, and
the strange sense of solitude which is realised by who¬
soever travels over them. He pictured minutely the wild
grandeur of the mountains, and the pastoral beauty of the
grassy parks and glades of the eastern frontier districts
and of Cafferland, even preserving the appropriate atmo¬
sphere, as he described his " Evening Rambles," when—
"The sultry summer noon is past,
And mellow evening comes at last,
With a low and languid breeze
Fanning the mimosa trees
That cluster o'er the yellow vale.
And oft perfume the panting gale
With fragrance faint."
Equally graphic were his descriptions of the inhabitants
of the wilds of South Africa;—the roguish Bushmen, the
mild, listless Hottentot, and the hunting and warring
Caffer. There were no traditionary impulses or romantic
associations in these names to afford material for song;
MEMOIR OF PRINGLE. xxxvii
but by the exercise of the true poetic faculty he seems
to have thrown himself into the spirit of aboriginal life,
portraying their manners knd customs, and giving ex¬
pression to their thoughts and feelings, with a power
of genius which has ever since served to excite and call
into activity a large portion of sympathy for the natives
of Southern Africa.
By a remarkable dispensation of Providence, Pringle,
shortly after his arrival in England, was offered an office
for which his previous training and experience, as well as
his character, specially qualified him. This was the post
of Secretary to the Society for the Abolition of Slavery.
What he had witnessed at the Cape of Good Hope—
where the character of slavery was said to be com¬
paratively mild—had served to deepen his abhor¬
rence of the atrocious system, and to strengthen his
desire to assist in removing the evils arising from all
prejudices of race and colour, and to secure for the help¬
less and oppressed their natural rights. For a period of
seven years, during which the anti-slavery crusade was
xxxviii
MEMOIR OF PRINGLE. '
vigorously continued, he discharged the duties connected
with this new work with the utmost devotion; and the
importance of his services was acknowledged by Wilber-
force, Fowell Buxton, Clarkson, Zacharys, Macaulay, Lord
Brougham, and others, who were associated with him as
the leaders of the movement. When the Abolition Act
was finally passed, a document was published, signed
" Thomas Pringle," reciting the provisions of the law
which declared slavery abolished throughout the Domi¬
nions of Great Britain (at a cost to the Imperial treasury
of twenty millions sterling); ascribing the honour of the
triumph to the Almighty, and calling upon all persons in¬
terested in the cause to devote the appointed day of manu¬
mission—ist August, 1834—to His service and praise.
This was the conclusion of Pringle's public labours; for
on the following day he was seized with an illness which
soon afterwards terminated his life. There were grounds
for suspicion that organic disease in the lungs had com¬
menced ; and as the only chance of recovery rested upon
his removal to a warmer climate, a voyage to the
MEMOIR OF PRINGLE. xxxix
Cape was recommended. His friends had already
interested themselves to procure for him from Govern¬
ment an appointment in the colony \ and he himself had
conceived a hope that, after his recent work, which had
brought him specially into relationship with the African
population, he might fittingly receive some office as a re¬
sident civil functionary on the frontier of Cafferland, where
he would have opportunities of promoting the interests of
humanity and civilisation. The Colonial Department
declared its inability to give any assurance of an appoint¬
ment ; but Mr. Secretary Spring Rice gave him a letter
recommending him to the attention of the Governor, Sir
Benjamin Durban, who might have it in his power to
render him assistance and advance his interests in the
colony. Meanwhile the symptoms of Pringle's disease
became aggravated, and all idea of proceeding on a voyage
to South Africa was abandoned. " On the 5th December,
1834," says one of his biographers, "he gently passed
out of life; and the friend who held the hand that was
stretched out to bid him farewell in the approach of
xl MEMOIR OF PRINGLE.
death, felt nothing but the passive throb of the frame
from which the spirit had already disengaged itself, to
return to its Father and Redeemer."
Thomas Pringle died in his forty-sixth year. His re¬
mains were interred in Bunhill-Fields, where a simple
stone bears an inscription to his memory,—testifying
that " in the walks of British literature he was known as a
man of genius; in the domestic circle he was loved
as an affectionate relative and faithful friend; in the
wide sphere of Humanity he was revered as the advocate
and protector of the oppressed; he left among the chil¬
dren of the African desert a memorial of his Philanthropy;
he bequeathed to his fellow-countrymen an example of
enduring Virtue, having lived to witness the cause in
which he had ardently and energetically laboured, triumph
in the emancipation of the negro; and he was himself
called from the bondage of this world to the enjoyment
of Eternal Liberty."
J. N.
The Montrose Gardens,
Cape Tenvn, 1881.
POEMS.
INTRODUCTORY STANZAS.
Sweet Teviot, fare thee well! Less gentle themes
Far distant call me from thy pastoral dale,
To climes where Amakosa's woods and streams
Invite, in the fair South, my venturous sail.
There roaming sad the solitary vale,
From native haunts and early friends exiled,
I tune no more the string for Scottish tale;
For to my aching heart, in accents wild.
Appeals the bitter cry of Afric's race reviled.
From Keisi's meads, from Chumi's hoary woods.
Bleak Tarka's dens, and Stormberg's rugged fells,
B
2 INTRODUCTORY STANZAS.
To where Gareep pours down his sounding floods
Through regions where the hunted Bushman dwells,
That bitter cry wide o'er the desert swells,
And, like a spirit's voice, demands the song
That of these savage haunts the story tells—
A tale of foul oppression, fraud, and wrong.
By Afric's sons endured from Christian Europe long.
Adieu, ye lays to youthful fancy dear !
Let darker scenes a sterner verse inspire,'
While I attune to strains that tyrants fear
The deeper murmurs of the British lyre,—
And from a holier altar ask the fire
To 'point the indignant line with heavenly light,
(Though soon again in darkness to expire,)
That it oppression's cruel pride may blight.
By flashing Truth's full blaze on deeds long hid in
night!
( 3 )
THE EMIGRANTS.
Sweet Teviot! by adventurous Leyden sung,
And famed by mighty Scott in deathless lays,
I may not hope, with far less gifted tongue,
Aught higher to advance thy classic praise;
Yet, as a son'his pious tribute pays
To the loved mother he has left behind,
I fain some grateful monument would raise,
Which in far foreign lands may call to mind
The scenes that Scottish hearts to their dear country
bind.
And, though the last and lowliest of the train
By haunted Teviot smit with love of song,
b 2
4 THE EMIGRANTS.
(Sweet witchery that charms full many a pain!)
I join with venturous voice the minstrel throng:
For Nature is the nurse to whom belong
Alike the thrush that cheers the broomy dale,
And the proud swan that, on bold pinions strong,
Through the far tracts of ether dares to sail,
And pours 'mid scenes sublime his soul-subduing wail.
No perilous theme I meditate: To me
To soar 'mid clouds and storms hath not been
1
given j
Or through the gates of Dread and Mystery
To gaze—like those dark spirits who have striven
To rend the veil that severs Earth from Heaven:
For I have loved with simple hearts to dwell.
That ne'er to Doubt's forbidden springs were
driven.
But lived sequestered in life's lowly dell.
And drank the untroubled stream from Inspiration's
well.
THE EMIGRANTS. 5
Such were thy virtuous sons^ fair Teviotdale,
While old simplicity was yet in prime;
But now among thy glens the faithful fail,
Forgetful of our sires in olden time:
That grey-haired race is gone—of look sublime,
Calm in demeanour, courteous, and sincere;
Yet stem, when duty called them, as their clime
When it flings off the autumnal foliage sere,
And shakes the shuddering woods with solemn voice
severe.
And such were they whose tale I now rehearse—
But not to fashion's minions, who in vain
Would ask amusement from the artless verse
Of one who sings to soothe long hours of pain:
A nameless exile o'er the southern main,
I pour 'mid savage wilds my pensive song;
And if some gentle spirits love the strain.
Enough for me, though midst the louder throng
Few may be found to prize, or listen to it long.
6
THE EMIGRANTS.
A rustic home in Lynden's pastoral dell
With modest pride a verdant hillock crowned;
Where the bold stream, like dragon from the fell,
Came glittering forth, and, gently gliding round
The broom-clad skirts of that fair spot of ground,
Danced down the vale, in wanton mazes bending;
Till finding where it reached the meadow's bound,
Romantic Teviot on his bright course wending.
It joined the sounding streams—with his blue waters
blending.
Behind, a lofty wood along the steep
Fenced from the chill north-east this quiet glen;
And green hills, gaily sprinkled o'er with sheep.
Spread to the south; while by the bughting-pen
Rose the blithe sound of flocks and hounds and men,
At summer dawn and gloaming; or the voice
Of children nutting in the hazelly den.
Sweet mingling with the wind's and water's noise,
Attuned the softened heart with Nature to rejoice.
THE EMIGRANTS. 7
Upon the upland height a mouldering Tower,
By time and outrage marked with many a scar,
Told of past days of feudal pomp and power
When its proud chieftains ruled the dales afar.
But that was long gone by: and waste and war.
And civil strife more ruthless still than they,
Had quenched the lustre of Glen-Lynden's star—
Which glimmered now, with dim declining ray,
O'er this secluded spot,—sole remnant of their sway.
A grave mild husbandman was Lynden's lord.
Who, smiling o'er these wrecks of grandeur gone,
Had for the plough-share changed the warrior's sword
Which, like his sires, he erst had girded on.
And on his toils relenting Fortune shone,
And blessed his fruitful fields and fleecy store;
And she he loved in youth, and loved alone.
Was his : ah,' what could wealth have added more.
Save pride and peevish cares which haunt the rich
man's door ?
8 THE EMIGRANTS.
Vain wealth or rank could ne'er have won such love
As that devoted bosom's—lofty, warm,—
Which, while it blooms below, puts forth above
Celestial shoots secure from earthly harm.
And now his pleasant home and pastoral farm
Are all the world to him : he feels no sting
Of restless passions; but, with grateful arm,
Clasps the twin cherubs round his neck that cling,
Breathing their innocent thoughts like violets in
Spring.
Another prattler, too, lisps on his knee.
The orphan daughter of a hapless pair.
Who, voyaging upon the Indian sea,
INIet the fierce typhon-blast—and perished there :
But she was left the rustic home to share
Of those who her young mother's friends had been ;
And old affection thus enhanced this care
With which those faithful guardians loved to screen
This sweet forsaken flower, in their wild arbours green.
THE EMIGRANTS. 9
With their twin children dark-eyed Helen grew—
(Arthur and Anna were the kindred twain)—
And she, the engrafted germ, appeared to view
So like a younger sister, that 'twere pain
To think that group should ever part again:
They grew, like three fair roses on one stalk.
In budding beauty yet without a stain:
So the fond parents said in kindly talk.
Nor dreamt how frowning fate their blooming hopes
would balk.
But dark calamity comes aye too soon—
And why anticipate its evil day?
Ah, rather let us now in lovely June
O'erlook these happy children at their play:
Lo, where they gambol through the garden gay.
Or round the hoary hawthorn dance and sing.
Or, 'neath yon moss-grown cliff, grotesque and grey,
Sit plaiting flowery wreaths in social ring,
And telling wondrous tales of the green Elfin King.
lO
THE EMIGRANTS.
And Elfin lore and ancient Border song
The mother, smiling o'er the eager train,
Would often chant in winter evenings long—
And oft they pressed the pleasing task again :
But still she warned them that such tales were vain,
And but thh dotage of a darker time;
And urged them better knowledge to attain
While yet their pliant minds were in their prime.
And open for the seed of Scripture truth sublime.
Then would she tell—and in far other tone—
Of evil times gone by and evil men—
" When they who worshipped God must meet alone
At midnight, in the cleugh or quaking-fen.
In peril and alarm,—for round them then
Were ranging those who hunted for their blood:
Ay ! long shall we remember !—In this glen.
From yon grim cavern where the screech-owls
brood
Our ancestor was dragged, like outlaw from the wood!
THE EMIGRANTS. n
I " He died a victim ; and his ancient lands,
Held by Glen-Lynden's lords since Bruce's day,
Have passed for ever to the spoiler's hands !"—
—" Hush thee !" the father then would gently say;
" 'Twas Heaven's good pleasure we that debt
should pay—
Perchance for guilt of those fierce feudal lords,
Who, void of pity, when they shared the prey,
Full often in the balance flung their swords.
And wasted orphans' lands with their marauding hordes."
Such was their talk around the evening hearth :
And mildly thus, as the young playmates grew.
They taught them to join trembling with their mirth ;
For life is but a pilgrim's passage through
A waste, where springs of joy are faint and few :
Yet, lest this thought their hearts^ too much o'ercast.
They oft would turn to lightsome themes anew:
For youth's hilarity we must not blast,
But lead it kindly on to wisdom's paths at last.
12
THE EMIGRANTS.
Fain would I linger 'mong those fairy bowers,
Aloof from manhood's feverish hopes and fears,
Where Innocence among the vernal flowers
Leads young Delight, aye laughing through his tears;
But lo! the cruel spectre Time appears.
Half hid amidst the foliage bright with bloc^m.
Weaving his ceaseless web of hours and years.
Still onward dyed with deeper hues of gloom—
And Death behind stands darkly—pointing to the tomb !
Ay! Time's harsh hand for youth nor age will stay—
And I must hasten with my lagging strain.
Years steal on years: the locks are wearing grey
On either parent's brow: the youthful train
Have long outgrown their childish pastimes vain :
On Arthur's manly features we may trace
High thought and feeling, checked by anxious pain;
And, in each timid maiden's milder face,
Some shade of pensive care with woman's opening
grace.
THE EMIGRANTS. 13
So young—so innocent—can griefs dark cloud
Thus early o'er their hearts its shadow fling?
Affliction's angel, though he crush the proud,
Might pass the humble with relenting wing!
Yet death has not been here; nor hath the sting
Of baleful passion touched one gentle breast:
Whence then can venomed care and sorrow spring.
In this calm seat of love and pious rest ?
And the dear parent twain—why look they so
distressed ?
Ah! evil days have fallen upon the land :
A storm that brooded long has burst at last;
And friends, like forest trees that closely stand.
With roots and branches interwoven fast.
May aid awhile each other in the blast;
But as when giant pines at length give way
The groves below must share the ruin vast.
So men, who seemed aloof from Fortune's sway.
Fall crushed beneath the shock of loftier than they.
14 T^E EMIGRANTS.
Even so it fared. And dark round Lynden grew
Misfortune's troubles; and foreboding fears,
That rose like distant shadows, nearer drew,
O'ercasting the calm evening of his years:
Yet still amidst the gloom fair Hope appears,
A rainbow in the cloud. And, for a space.
Till, the horizon closes round, or clears,
^Returns our tale the enchanted paths to trace "
Where Youth's fond visions rise with fair but,fleeting
grace.
Far^ up the dale, where Lynden's ruined towers
O'erlooked the valley from the old oak wood,
A lake, blue-gleaming from deep forest bowers,
^Spread its fair mirror to the landscape rude :
Oft by the margin of that quiet flood,
And through the groves and hoary ruins round,
Young Arthur loved to roam in lonely mood;
Or, here, amid tradition's haunted ground.
Long ^ilent hours to lie in mystic musings drowned.
THE EMIGRANTS. 15
Bold feats of war, fierce feuds of elder times,
And wilder Elfin legends,—^half forgot.
And half preserved in uncouth ballad rh3nnes,—
Had peopled with romantic tales the spot:
And, here, save bleat of sheep, or simple note
Of shepherd's pipe far on the upland lone.
Or linnet in the bush and lark afloat
Blithe carolling, or stock-dove's plaintive moan.
No sound of living thing through the long day was
known.
No sound—save, aye, one small "brook's tinkling dash
Down the grey mossy clifis; and, midst the lake,
The quick trout springing oft with gamesome plash:
And wild ducks rustling in the sedgy brake;
And sighing winds that scarce the willows shake;
And hum of bees among the blossomed thyme;
And pittering song of grasshoppers—that make
Throughout the glowing meads their mirthful chime;
All rich and soothing sounds of summer's fragrant prime.
i6
THE EMIGRANTS.
Here, by the fairy brooklet's sylvan side,
Young Arthur, deep-entranced in poet's dream.
His bosom's bashful ecstasy to hide
Would fling him by the hazel-margined stream.
Giving free fancy rein,—^till twilight's gleam
Died in the rosy west; the summer-day
All, all too brief for the enthusiast theme.
Though voice nor verse gave utterance to the lay
That from the up-gushing fount of rapture welled
away.
%
Not sounding verse, but sweet and silent tears.
Poured forth unbidden far from mortal eye,
Formed the pure offering of the blissful years
When first he wooed the enchantress, Poesy,
And found for glowing thought expression high
In moaning forest and deep-murmuring flood.
In every gorgeous cloud that streaked the sky.
In every beauteous hue that tinged the wood.
In each expressive change of Nature's fitful mood.
THE EMIGRANTS. 17
Thus passed his lonely hours the dreaming boy,
Erewhile, romantic reveries to frame;
Or read adventurous tales with thrilling joy,
Till his young breast throbbed high with thirst of
fame j
But with fair manhood's dawn Love's tender flame
'Gan mingle with his minstrel musings high;
And trembling wishes,—^which he feared to name,
Yet oft betrayed in many a half-drawn sigh,—
Told that the hidden shaft deep in his heart did lie.
And there were eyes that from long silken lashes
With stolen glance could spy his secret pain,—
Soft hazel eyes, whose dewy light out-flashes
Like joyous day-spring after summer rain:
And she, sweet Helen, loved tlie youth again
With maiden's first affection, fond and true.
—Ah! youthful love is like the tranquil main,
Heaving 'neath smiling skies its bosom blue—
Beautiful as a spirit—calm but fearful too !
c
i8
THE EMIGRANTS.
And forth they wander, that fair girl and boy,
To roam in gladness through the summer bowers;
Of love they talk not, but love's tender joy
Breathes from their hearts like fragrance from the
Elysium opens round them; and the hours [flowers :
Glide on unheeded, till grey Twilight's shade
Wraps in its wizard shroud the ivied towers.
And fills with mystic shapes the forest glade—
And wakes "thick-coming fancies" in strange guise
arrayed.
And oft they linger those lone haunts among,
Though darker fall the shadows of the wood.
And the witch-owl invokes with fitful song
The phantom train of Superstition's brood,
A gentle Star lights up their solitude.
And lends fair hues to all created things;
And dreams alone of beings pure and good
Hover around their hearts with angel wings—
Hearts, like sweet fountains sealed, where silent
rapture springs.
THE EMIGRANTS. 19
I may not here their growing passion paint,
Or their day-dreams of cloudless bliss disclose:
I may not tell how hope deferred grew faint,
When griefs and troubles in far vista rose:
As the woods tremble ere the tempest blows,
How quaked their hearts (misled by treacherous fears)
When that fell nightmare of the soul's repose.
Green Jealousy his snaky crest uprears.
Whose breath of mildew blights the cherished faith
of years.
******
'Tis Autumn's pensive noon: no zephyr's breath
The withered foliage in the woods is shaking;
Their feeble song the mournful birds bequeath
To the sere coverts they are fast forsaking.
And now their last farewell that pair are taking;
For Arthur, bound to Indian climes, must leave
These early haunts. Each silent heart is breaking—
Yet both attempt to hide how much'they grieve—
And each, deceived in turn, the other doth deceive;
c 2
2Q
THE EMIGRANTS.
How can they part ?—The lake, the woods, the hills,
Speak to their pensive hearts of early days;
Remembrance wooes them from the haunted rills.
And hallows every spot their eye surveys:
Some sweet memorial of their infant plays.
Some tender token of their bashful loves.
Each rock, and tree, and sheltered nook displays:
How can they part?—Nature the crime reproves.
And .their commingling souls to milder purpose
moves 1
For what were life—ah, what were weary life.
Without each other, in this world of care?
A voyage through wild seas of storm and strife.
Without an aim for which to struggle there.
But, blessed in wedded hopes, how sweet to share
The gladness or the grief that life may bring!
Then join, relenting Love! this gentle pair;
Let worldly hearts to gold and grandeur cling;
Around the lowly cot thy turtles sweetest sing.
THE EMIGRANTS.
21
Yes! they shall part no more! Those downcast eyes,
And blushes mantling o'er the changeful cheek—
The plighted kiss—the tears—the trembling sighs—
The head upon his arm declining meek—
Tell, far more tenderly than words can speak,i
How that devoted heart is all his own!
Oh, Love is eloquent!—but language weak
To paint the feelings to chaste bosoms known.
When Transport's heavenly wings are sweetly round
them thrown !
And now the lake, the hills, the yellow woods.
Are bathed in beauty by the parting ray:
Through earth and air a hallowed rapture broods,
And starting tears confess its mystic sway:
As home they wend, amidst the year's decay.
Some magic spell the hues of Eden throws
O'er every scene that, on their outward way,
Told but of pleasures past and coming woes;
Such the enchanted radiance heartfelt bliss bestows.
22
THE EMIGRANTS.
Oh Nature! by, impassioned hearts alone
Thy genuine charms are felt. The vulgar mind
Sees but the shadow of a Power Uhiknown;
Thy loftier beauties beam not to the blind
And sensual throng, to grovelling hopes resigned:
But they whom high and holy thoughts inspire,
Adore thee, in celestial glory shrined
In that diviner fane where Love's pure fire
Burns bright, and Genius tunes his rapt immortal lyre 1
«• * ■ iK * * «
Change we once more the strain. The sire has
told
The heart-struck group of dark disaster nigh:
Their old paternal home must now be sold,
And that last relic of their ancestry
Resigned to strangers. Long and strenuously
He strove to stem the flood's o'erwhelming mass;
But still some fresh unseen calamity
Burst like a foaming billow—till, alas!
No hope remains that this their sorest grief may pass.
THE EMIGRANTS. 23
" Yet be not thus dismayed. Our altered lot
He that ordains will brace us to endure.
This changeful world affords no sheltered spot,
Where man may count his frail possessions sure:
Our better birthright, noble, precious, pure.
May well console for earthly treasures marred,—
Treasures, alas ! how vain and insecure,
Where none from rust and robbery can guard:
The wise man looks to heaven alone for his reward."
The Christian father thus. But whither now
Shall the bewildered band their course direct?
What home shall shield that matron's honoured brow.
And those dear pensive maids from wrong protect?
Or cheer them 'mid the world's unkind neglect ?
That world to the unfortunate ^o cold.
While lavish of its smiles and fair respect
Unto the proud, the prosperous, the bold;
Still shunning want and woe; still courting pomp
and gold.
24 THE EMIGRANTS.
Shall they adopt the poor retainer's trade,
And sue for pity from the great and proud ?
No! never shall ungenerous souls upbraid
Their conduct in adversity—which bowed
But not debased them. Or, amidst the crowd,
In noisome towns shall they themselves immure,
Their wants, their woes, theii; weary days to shroud
In Some mean melancholy nook obscure?
No ! worthier tasks await, and brighter scenes allure.
A land of climate fair and fertile soil.
Teeming with milk and wine and waving corn.
Invites from far the venturous Briton's - toil: ^
And thousands, long by fruitless cares foreworn,
Are now across the wide Atlantic borne.
To seek new homes on Afric's southern strand:
Better to launch with them than sink forlorn
To vile dependence in our native land ;
Better to fall in God's than man's unfeeling hand!
' Vide Notes to Poems. -
FAREWELL TO BONNY TEVLOTDALE. 25
With hearts resigned they tranquilly prepare
To share the fortunes of that exile train.
And soon with many a follower, forth they fare—
High hope and courage in their hearts again ;
And now, afloat upon the dark-blue main.
They gaze upon the fast-receding shore
With tearful eyes—while thus the ballad strain.
Half heard amidst the ocean's weltering roar.
Bids farewell to the scenes they ne'er shall visit
more :—
" Our native Land—our native Vale—
4
A long and last adieu !
Farewell to bonny Teviot-dale,
And Cheviot-mountains blue!
" Farewell, ye hills of glorious deeds.
And streams renowned in song;
Farewell, ye blithesome braes and meads
Our hearts have loved ^so long.
,26 FAREWELL TO BONNY TEVIOT-DALE.
" Farewell, ye broomy elfin knowes,
Where thyme and harebells grow!
Farewell, ye hoary haunted howes,
O'erhung with birk and sloe.
"The battle-mound, the Border-tower,
That Scotia's annals tell j
The martyr's grave, the lover's bower—
To each—to all—farewell 1
" Home of our hearts ! our fathers' home!
Land of the brave and free!
The sail is flapping on the foam
That bears us far from thee !
"We seek a wild and distant shore
Beyond the Atlantic main;
We leave thee to return no more.
Nor view thy cliffs again:
FAREWELL TO BONNY TEVIOT-DALE.
" But may dishonour blight our fame.
And quench our household fires,
When we, or ours, forget thy name.
Green Island of our Sires !
" Our native Land—our native Vale—
A long, a last adieu !
Farewell to bonny Teviot-dale,
And Scotland's mountains blue."
Huntschaw, Sept. 21, 1819.
( 38 )
AN EMIGRANT'S SONG.
Oh, Maid of the Tweed, wilt thou travel with me.
To the wilds of South Africa, far o'er the sea,®
Where the blue mountains tow'r in the beautiful clime.
Hung round with huge forests all hoary with time ?
I'll build thee a cabin beside the clear fount.
Where it leaps into light from the heart of the mount.
Ere yet its fresh footsteps have found the fair meads
Where among the tall lilies the antelope feeds.
Our home, like a beehive, shall stand by the wood
Where the lory and turtle-dove nurse their young
brood,
AJV EMIGRANTS SONG. ' 29
And the golden-plumed paroquet waves his bright
wings
From the bough where the green-monkey gambols
and swings :
With the high rocks behind us, the valley before,
The hills on each side with our flocks speckled o'er,
And the far-sweeping river oft glancing between.
With the heifers reclined on its margins of green.
There, rich in the wealth which a bountiful soil
Pours forth to repay the glad husbandman's toil;
Content with the Present, at peace with the Past,
No cloud on the Future our joys to o'ercast;
Like our brave Scottish sires in the blithe Olden
Day,
The heart will keep young though the temples wax
•grey;
While love's Olive Plants round our table shall rise—
Engrafted with Hopes that bear fruit in the Skies.
( 30 )
t
I
THE EMIGRANT'S CABIN AT THE CAPE.
AN EPISTLE IN RHYME.
Where the young river, from its wild ravine,
Winds pleasantly through Eildon's pastures green,—
With fair acacias waving on its banks.
And willows bending o'er in graceful ranks.
And the steep mountain rising close behind.
To shield us from the Snowberg's* wintry wind,—
Appears my rustic cabin, thatched with reeds.
Upon a knoll amid the grassy meads; '
And, close beside it, looking o'er the lea.
Our summer-seat beneath an umbra-tree.
* The Sneeuwberg mountain range, in district of Graaff Reinet.
THE EMIGRANTS CABIN AT THE CAPE. 31
This morning, musing in that favourite seat,
My hound, old Yarrow, dreaming at my feet,
I pictured you, sage Fairbairn® at my side,
By some good Genie wafted cross the tide;
And, after cordial greetings, thus went on
In Fancy's Dream our colloquy, dear John.
P.—Enter, my friend, our beehive-cottage door:
No carpet hides the humble earthen floor.
But it is hard as brick, clean-swept, and cool.
You must be wearied? Take that jointed stool;
Or on this couch of leopard-skin recline;
You'll find it soft—the workmanship is mine.
F.—Why, Pringle, yes—your cabin's snug enough.
Though oddly shaped. But as for household stuff,
I only see some rough-hewn sticks and spars;
A wicker cupboard, filled with flasks and jars;
A pile of books, on rustic frame-work placed;
Hides of ferocious beasts that roam the waste;
32 THE EMIGRANTS CABIN AT THE CAPE.
Whose kindred prowl, perchance, around this spot—
The only neighbours, I suspect, you've got!
Your furniture, rude from the forest cut.
However, is in keeping with the hut.
This couch feels pleasant: is't with grass you stuff it ?
So far I should not care with you to rough it.
But—pardon me for seeming somewhat rude^—
In this wild place how manage ye for food?
P.—You'll find, at least, my friend, we do not starve:
There's always mutton, if nought else, to carve;
And even of luxuries we have our share.
But here comes dinner (the best bill of fare),
Drest by that ' Nut-Brown Maiden,' Vytjh Vaal.'^
\To the Hottentot Girl.'\ Meid, roep de Juffrouwen
' naar 't middagmaal:
\To P.] Which means—* The ladies into dinner call.'
[Enter Mrs. P. and her Sister, who welcome their
Guest to Africa. The party take their seats
round the table, and conversation proceeds.
' THE EMIGRANTS CABIN AT THE CAPE. 33
P.—First, here's our broad-tailed mutton,® small and
fine.
The dish on which nine days in ten we dine;
Next, roasted springbok, spiced and larded well;
A haunch of hartbbeest from Hyndhope Fell;
A paauw, which beats your Norfolk turkey hollow;
Korhaan, and Guinea-fowl, and pheasant follow;®
Kid carbonadjes, h-la-Hottentot,
Broiled on a forked twig; and, peppered hot
With Chili pods, a dish called Catfer-stew;
Smoked ham of porcupine, and tongue of gnu'
This fine white household bread (of Margaret's baking)
Comes from an oven too of my own making,
Scooped from an ant-hill. Did I ask before
If you would taste this brawn of forest-boar?
Our fruits, I must confess, make no great show;
Trees, grafts, and layers must have time to grow.
But there's green roasted maize, and pumpkin pie,
And wild asparagus. Or will you try
D
34- THE EMIGRANTS CABIN AT THE CAPE.
A slice of water-melon ?—fine for drouth.
Like sugared ices melting in the mouth.
Here too are wild-grapes from our forest-vine,
Not void of flavour, though unfit for wine.
And here comes dried fruit I had quite forgot, -
(From fair Glen-Avon, Margaret, is it not ?)
Figs, almonds, raisins, peaches. Witbooy Swart
Brought this huge sackful from kind Mrs. Hart—
Enough to load a Covent-Garden cart.
But come, let's crown the banquet with some wine.
What will you drink? Champagne? Port? Claret?
Stein ?
Well—not to tease you with a thirsty jest,
Lo, there our onfy vintage stands confest.
In that half-aum upon the spigot-rack.
And, certes, though it keeps the old Kaap smaak,
The wine is light and racy; so we learn.
In laughing mood, to call it Cape Sauterne.
—Let's pledge this cup * to all our friends,' Fairbaim!
THE EMIGRANTS CABIN AT THE CAPE. 35
F.—Well, I admit, my friend, your dinner's good.
Springbok and porcupine are dainty food;
That lordly paauw was roasted to a turn;
And, in your country fruits and Cape Sauterne,
The wildish flavour's really—not unpleasant;
And I may say the same of gnu and pheasant.
:—But—Mrs. Pringle . . . shall I have the pleasure . . , ?
Miss Brown, . . . some wine? (These quaighs*
are quite a treasure.)
I
—What! leave us now ? I've much to ask of you. . .
But, since you will go—for an hour adieu.
\Exeunt Ladies.
But, Pringle—' k nos moutons revenons'—
Cui bono's still the burden of my song—
Cut off, with these good ladies, from society
Of savage life you soon must feel satiety:
* Quaigh {Scotch\, a small drinking cup, usually of wood or
horn.
D 2
36 THE EMIGRANTS CABIN AT THE CAPE,
The MIND requires fit exercise and food,
Not to be found 'mid Afric's deserts rude.
And what avail the spoils of wood and field,
The fruits or wines your fertile valleys yield.
Without that higher zest to crown the whole—
' The feast of Reason and the flow of Soul ?'
—Food, shelter, fire, suffice for savage men;
But can the comforts of your wattled den,
Your sylvan fare and rustic tasks suffice
For one who once seemed finer joys to prize?
—"When, erst, like Virgil's 'swains, we used to sing
Of streams and groves, and ' all that sort of thing,' *
The spot we meant for our ' Poetic Den'
Was always within reach of Books and Men;
By classic Esk, for instance, or Tweed-side,
With gifted friends within an easy ride;
Besides our college chum, the Parish Priest;
And the said den with six good rooms at least—
* Hie gelidi fontes • hie mollia prata, Lyeori.
Hie nemus : hie ipso tecum consumerer aevo.
THE EMIGRANTS CABIN AT THE CAPE. 37
Here 1—save for Her who shares and soothes your lot,
You might as well squat in a Gaffer's cot!
Come now, be candid: tell me, my dear friend.
Of your aspiring aims is this the end?
Was it for Nature's wants, fire, shelter, food.
You sought this dreary, soulless solitude?
Broke off your ties with men of cultured mind,
Your native land, your early friends resigned?
As if, believing with insane Rousseau
Refinement the chief cause of human woe,
You meant to realise that» raver's plan.
And be a philosophic Bosjesman!—
Be frank; confess the fact you cannot hide—
You sought this den from disappointed pride.
P.—^You've missed the mark, Fairbairn : my breast is
clear.
Nor wild Romance nor Pride allured me here :
Duty and Destiny with equal voice
Constrained my steps; I had no other choice.
38 THE EMIGRANTS CABIN AT THE CAPE.
The hermit 'lodge in some vast wilderness,'
Which sometimes poets sigh for, I confess,
«
Were but a sorry loL In real life
One needs a friend—the best of friends, a wife;
But with a home thus cheered, however rude,
There's nought so very dull in solitude,—
Even though that home should happen to be found,
Like mine, in Africa's remotest bound.
—I have my farm and garden, tools and pen;
My schemes for civilising savage men;
Our Sunday service, till the, sabbath-bell
Shall wake its welcome chime in Lynden dell •,
Some duty or amusement, grave or light,
To fill the active day from morn to night:
And thus two years so lightsomely have flown
That still we wonder when the week is gone.
—We have at times our troubles, it is true,
Passing vexations, and privations too;
But were it not for woman's tender frame.
These are annoyances I scarce would name;
THE EMIGRANTS CABIN AT THE CAPE. 39
For though perchance they plague us while they last,
They only serve for jests when they are past.
«
And then your notion that we're quite exiled
From social life amid these mountains wild,
Accords not with the fact—as you will see
On glancing o'er this district map with me.
—First, you observe, our own Glen-Lynden clan
(To whom I'm linked like a tnie Scottish man)
Are all around us. Past that dark ravine,—
Where on the left gigantic crags are seen,
And the steep Tarka mountains, stern and bare,
Close round the upland cleughs of lone Glen-Yair,—
Our Lothian Friends with their good Mother dwell,
Beside yon Kranz* whose pictured records tell
Of Bushmen's huntings in the days of old,
Ere here Bezuidenhout had fixed his fold.'^
* Kranz, in colonial usage, signifies a steep cliff or overhanging
rock, such as the Bushmen often select for depicting their rude
sketches on.
40 THE EMIGRANTS CABIN AT THE CAPE.
—Then up the widening vale extend your view,
Beyond the clump that skirts the Lion's Cleugh,
Past our old camp, the willow-trees among,
Where first these mountains heard our Sabbath song;
And mark the Settlers' homes, as they appear
With cultured fields and orchard-gardens near.
And cattle-kraals, associate or single.
From fair Craig-Rennie up to Clifton-Pringle.
Then there is Captain Harding at Three-Foun¬
tains ®
Near Cradock—forty miles across the mountains:
I like his shrewd remarks on things and men.
And canter o'er to dinner now and then.
—There's Landdrost Stockenstrom at Graaff-Reinet,^
A man, I'm sure, you would not soon forget;
Who, though in this wild country born and bred,
Is able in affairs, in books well read.
And—what's more meritorious in the case—
A zealous friend to Afric's swarthy race.
THE EMIGRANTS CABIN AT THE CAPE. 41
We visit there; but, travelling in ox-waggon,
(And not, like you., drawn by a fiery dragon)
We take a month—eight days to go and come—
And spend three weeks or so with Stockenstrom.
—At Somerset, again. Hart, Devenish, Stretch,^"
And ladies—whose kind acts 'twere long to sketch;
The officers at Kdha and Roodew^l,
Bird, Sanders, Morgan, Rogers, Pettingal;^^
All hold with us right friendly intercourse—
The nearest thirty miles—five hours with horse.
—Sometimes a pleasant guest, from parts remote.
Cheers for a passing night our rustic cot;
As, lately, the gay-humoured Captain Fox,^^
With whom I roamed 'mid Koonap's woods and rocks.
From Winterberg to Cola's savage grot.
Talking of Rogers, Campbell, Coleridge, Scott,
Of Fox and Mackintosh, Brougham, Canning, Grey;
And lighter themes and laughter cheered the way—
While the wild elephants in groups stood still.
And wondered at us on their woody hill.
42 THE EMIGRANTS CAB/NAT THE CAPE.
—Here too, sometimes, in more religious mood,
We welcome Smith or Brownlee, grave and good,
Or fervid Read, to Natives, kneeling round.
Proclaiming the great word of glorious sound :
Or, on some Christian mission bravely bent,
Comes Philip with his apostolic tent;
Ingenious Wright,^® or steadfast Rutherfoord;
With whose enlightened hopes our hearts accord.
And thus, you see, even in my desert-den,
I still hold intercourse with thinking men;
And find fit subjects to engage me too—
For in this widlerness there's work to do;
Some purpose to accomplish for the band
Who left with me their much-loved Father-Land;
Something for the sad Natives of the soil.
By stern oppression doomed to scorn and toil;
Something for Africa to do or say—
If but one mite of Europe's debt to pay—
If but one bitter tear to wipe away.
THE EMIGRANTS CABIN AT THE CAPE.
Yes ! here is work, my Friend, if I may ask
Of Heaven to share in such a hallowed task!
But these are topics for more serious talk.
So we'll reserve them for an. evening walk.
Fill now a parting glass of generous wine—
The doch-an-dorris cup—^for ^ Auld Lang Syne;*
For my good Margaret summons us to tea.
In her green drawing-room—beneath the tree;—
And lo! Miss Brown has a whole cairn of stones
To pose us with—plants, shells, and fossil bones.
\Oiitside the Hut?\
F.—'Tis almost sunset. What a splendid sky !
And hark—the homeward cow-boy's echoing cry
Descending from the mountains. This fair clime
And scene recall the patriarchal time.
When Hebrew herdsmen fed their teeming flocks
By Arnon's meads and Kirjath-Arba's rocks;
44 THE emigrants CABIN AT THE CAPE,
And bashful maidens, as the twilight fell,
Bore home their brimming pitchers from the well.—
—But who are these upon the river's brink?
I t
P.—Ha! armbd Caffers with the shepherd Flink
In earnest talk ? Ay, now I mark their mien;
It is Powilna from Zwart-Kei, I ween.
The Amatembu Chief. He comes to pay
A friendly visit, promised many a day;
To view our settlement in Lynden Glen,
And , smoke the Pipe of Peace with Scottish men.
And his gay consort, Moya, too attends,
To see ' the World' and ' Amangldzi friends',*
Her fond heart fluttering high with anxious schemes
To gain the enchanting beads that haunt her dreams!
F.—^Yet let us not these simple folk despise;
Just such our sires appeared in Caesar's eyes: •
• AmangUzi is the plural of Englhi, i.e. English, according to
Caffer pronunciation.
THE,EMIGRANTS CABIN A T THE CAPE. 45
And, in the course of Heaven's evolving plan,
By truth made free, the long-scorned African,
His Maker's image radiant in his face.
Among earth's noblest sons shall find his place.
P.-\To Flink, the old Hottentot Shepherd^ who comes
forwardl\
Well, Flink, what says the Chief?
Flink. Pow^na wagh'
Tot dat de Baas hem binnens-huis zal vraagh',
P.—\To F?[ In boorish Dutch which means,
' Powdna waits
Till Master bid him welcome to our gates.'
\To Flinkl\—^We haste to greet him. Let rush mats
be spread
On th' cabin-floor. Prepare the Stranger's bed
In the spare hut,—fresh-strewed with fragrant hay.
Let a fat sheep be slaughtered. And, I pray,
Gk>od Flink, for the attendants all provide;
These men dealt well with us at Zwart-Kei side;
46 THE EMIGRANTS CABIN AT THE CAPE.
Besides, you know, 'tis the Great Guide's command
Kindly to treat the Stranger in our Land.
\Exeunt.
l'envoi.
Fairbaim, adieij! I close my idle strain,
And doff wild Fancy's Wishing Cap again,
Whose witchery, o'er ocean's widO-expanse.
Triumphant over adverse Circumstance,
From Tyne's far banks has conjured you away,
*To spend with me this summer holiday;
Half-realising, as I weave these rhymes,
Our kind companionship in other times,
When, round by Arthur's Seat and Blackford Hill,
Fair Hawthomden and homely Hyvotmill,*
(With a dear Friend, too early from us torn!)
We roamed untired to eve from early mom.
* Hyvotmill is a farmhouse between Hawthomden and Edin¬
burgh, the residence of Mr. Fairbairn's family relatives at the time
of our first acquaintance.
THE EMIGRANTS CABIN AT THE CAPE. 47
Those vemaJ days are gone: and stormy gales
Since then on Life's rough Sea have tossed our sails
Far diverse,—^led by Fortune's changeful Star, .
From quietude and competence afar.
Yet, Comrade dear! while memory shall last,
Let our leal hearts, aye faithful to the Past,
In frequent interchange of written thought,
Which half the ills of .absence sets at nought.
Keep bright the links of Friendship's golden chain.
By living o'er departed days again;
Or meet in Fancy's bower, for ever green.
Though 'half the convex globe intrudes between.'
Glen-Lynden, 1822.
( 48 )
AFAR IN THE DESERT.^®
Afar in the Desert I love to ride,
With the silent Bush-boy alone by my side :
When the sorrows of life the soul o'ercast,
And, sick of the Present, I cling to the Past;
When the eye is suffused with regretful tears,
From the fond recollectioils of former years;
And shadows of things that have long since fled
Flit over the brain, like the ghosts of the dead:
Bright visions of glory—that vanished .too soon;
Day-dreams—that departed ere manhood's noon;
Attachments—^by fate or by falsehood reft;
Companions of early days—lost or left;
AFAJ! IN THE DESERT. 49
And my Native Land—whose magical name
Thrills to the heart like electric flame;
The home of my childhood; the haunts of my prime;
All the passions and scenes of that rapturous time
When the feelings were young and the world was new,
Like the fresh bowers of Eden unfolding to view;
All—all now forsaken—forgotten—forgone !
And I—a lone exile remembered of none—
My high aims abandoned,—^my good acts, undone,—
Aweary of all that is under the sun,—
With that, sadness of heart which no stranger may
scan,
I fly to the Desert, afar from man !
Afar in the Desert I love to ride.
With the silent Bush-boy alone by my side:
When the wild turmoil of this wearisome life,
With its scenes of oppression, corruption, and strife—
The proud man's frown, and the base man's fear,—
The scbrner's laugh, and the sufferer's tear,—
E
50 AFAI? IN THE DESERT.
And malice, and meanness, and falsehood, and folly.
Dispose me to musing and dark melancholy;
When my bosom is full, and my thoughts are high.
And my soul is sick with the bondman's sigh—
Oh! then there is freedom, and joy, and pride.
Afar in the Desert alone to ride!
There is rapture to vault on the champing steed,
And to bound away with the eagle's speed,
With the death-fraught firelock in my hand—
The only law of the Desert Land!
Afar in the Desert I love to ride.
With the silent Bush-boy alone by my side :
Away—away from the dwellings of men.
By the wild deer's haunt, by the buflfalo's glen;
By valleys remote where the oribi plays.
Where the gnu, the gazelle, and the hartbbeest graze.
And the khdh and eland unhunted recline
By the skirts of grey forests o'erhung with wild vine;
Where the elephant browses at peace in his wood,
AFAJi IN THE DESERT. 51
And the river-horse gambols unscared in the flood,
And the mighty rhinoceros wallows at will
In the fen where the wild-ass is drinking his fill.
Afar in the Desert I love to ride,
With the silent Bush-boy alone by my side :
O'er the brown Karroo, where the bleating cry
Of the springbok's fawn sounds plaintively;
And the timorous quagga's shrill whistling neigh
Is heard by the fountain at twilight grey;
Where the zebra wantonly tosses his mane,
With wild hoof scouring the desolate plain;
And the fleet-footed ostrich over the waste
Speeds like a horseman who travels in haste,
Hieing away to the home of her rest.
Where she and her mate have scooped their nest,
Far hid from the pitiless plunderer's view
In the pathless depths of the parched Karroo.
Afar in the Desert I love to ride.
With the silent Bush-boy alone by my side:
E 2
52 AFAI? IN THE DESERT
Away—away—in the Wilderness vast,
^Vhere the White Man's foot hath never passed,
And the quivered Cordnna or Bechu^n
Hath rarely crossed with his roving clan:
A region of emptiness, howling and drear,
Which Man hath abandoned from famine and fear;
Which the snake and the lizard inhabit alone,
With the twilight bat from the yawning stone;
Where grass, nor herb, nor shrub takes root,
Save poisonous thorns that pierce the foot;
And the bitter-melon, for food and drink,
Is the pilgrim's fare by the salt lake's brink
A region of drought, where no river glides.
Nor rippling brook with osiered sides;
Where sedgy pool, nor bubbling fount.
Nor tree, nor cloud, nor misty mount,
Appears, to refresh the aching eye:
But the barren earth, and the burning sky.
And the blank horizon, round and round.
Spread—void of living sight and sound.
AFAH IN THE DESERT. 53
And here, while the night-winds round me sigh,
And the stars bum bright in the midnight sky,
As I sit apart by the desert stone,
Like Elijah at Horeb's cave alone,
" A still small voice " comes through the wild
(Like a Father consoling his fretful child),
Wliich banishes bitterness, wrath, and fear,—
Saying—Man is distant, but God is near !
{ 54 )
THE BECHUANA BOY.
I SAT at noontide in my tent,
And looked across the Desert dun,
Beneath the cloudless firmament
Far gleaming in the sun,
When from the bosom of the waste
A swarthy Stripling came in haste,
With foot unshod and naked limb;
And a tame springbok followed him.
With open aspect, frank yet bland.
And with a modest mien he stood.
Caressing with a gentle hand
That beast of gentle brood;
THE BECHUANA BOY.
55
Then, meekly gazing in my face,
Said in the language of his race.
With smiling look yet pensive tone.
" Stranger—I'm in the world alone 1"
"Poor boy!" I said, "thy native home
Lies far beyond the Stormberg blue:
Why hast thou left it, boy! to roam
This desolate Karroo?"
His face grew sadder while I spoke;
The smile forsook it; and he broke
Short silence with a sob-like sigh,
And told his hapless history.
" I have no home!" replied the boy:
"The Bergenaars—^by night they came,
And raised their wolfish howl of joy,
While o'er our huts the flame
Resistless rushed; and aye their yell
Pealed louder as our warriors fell
THE BECHUANA BOY.
la helpless heaps beneath their shot;
—One living man they left us not!
•
" The slaughter o'er, they gave the slain
To feast the foul-beaked birds of prey;
And with our herds, across the plain
They hurried us away—
The widowed mothers and their brood.
Oft, in despair, for drink and food
We vainly cried: they heeded not.
But with sharp lash the captive smote.
" Three days we tracked that dreary wild.
Where thirst and anguish pressed us sore
And many a mother and her child
Lay down to rise no more.
Behind us, on the desert brown,
We saw the vultures swooping down;
And heard, as the grim night was falling,
The wolf to his gorged comrade calling.
THE BECHUANA BOY. ,57
" At length was heard a river sounding
'Midst that dry and dismal land,
And, like a troop o|| wild deer bounding.
We hurried to its strand—
Among the maddened cattle rushing;
The crowd behind still forward pushing.
Till in the flood our limbs were drenched.
And the fierce rage of thirst was quenched.
" Hoarse-roaring, dark, the broad Gareep *
In turbid streams was sweeping fast.
Huge sea-cows in its eddies deep
Loud snorting as we passed;
But that relentless robber clan
Right through those waters wild and wan
Drove on like sheep our wearied band:
—Some never reached the farther strand.
"All shivering from the foaming flood,
We stood upon the stranger's ground,
* Native name for the Orange River.
THE BECHUANA BOY.
When, with proud looks and gestures rude,
The White Men gathered round:
And there, like cattle from the fold.
By Christians we were bought and sold,
'Midst laughter loud and looks of scorn—
And roughly from each other torn.
" My Mother's scream, so long and shrill.
My little Sister's wailing cry,
(In dreams I often hear them still!)
Rose wildly to the sky.
A tiger's heart came to me then.
And fiercely on those ruthless men
/
I sprang.—^Alas! dashed on the sand.
Bleeding, they bound me foot and hand.
" Away—away on prancing steeds
The stout man-stealers blithely go.
Through long low valleys fringed with reeds,
O'er mountains capped with snow.
THE BECHUANA BOY.
Each with his captive, far and fast;
Until yon rock-bound ridge we passed,
And distant strips of cultured soil
Bespoke the land of tears and toil.
"And tears and toil have been my lot
Since I the White Man's thrall became,
And sorer griefs I wish forgot—
Harsh blows, and scorn, and shame!
Oh, Englishman 1 thou ne'er canst know
The injured bondman's bitter woe,
When round his breast, like scorpions, cling
Black thoughts that madden while they sting
"Yet this hard fate I might have borne,
And taught in time my soul to bend.
Had my sad yearning heart forlorn
But found a single friend :
My race extinct or far removed.
The Boor's rough brood T could have loved
6o THE BECHUANA BOY.
But each to whom my bosom turned
Even like a hound the black boy spurned.
"While, friendless thus, my master's flocks
I tended on the upland waste.
It chanced this fawn leapt from the rocks.
By wolfish wild-dogs chased:
I rescued it, though wounded sore
And dabbled in its mother's gore; ,
And nursed it in a cavern wild,
Until it loved me like a child.
"Gently I nursed it; for I thought
(Its hapless fate so like to mine)'
By good UtIko* it was brought
To bid me not repine,—
Since in this world of wrong and ill
One creature lived that loved me still.
Although its dark and dazzling eye
Beamed not with human S3rmpathy.
* Hottentot term for God.
THE BECHUANA BOY.
6i
"Thus lived I, a lone orphan lad,
My task the proud Boor's flocks to tend;
And this poor fawn was all I had
To love, or call my friend;
When suddenly, with haughty look
And taunting words, that tyrant took
My playmate for his pampered boy.
Who envied me my only joy.
" High swelled my heart!—But when the star
Of midnight gleamed, I softly led
My bounding favourite forth, and far
Into the Desert fled.
And here, from human kind exiled.
Three moons on roots and berries wild
I've fared; and braved the beasts of prey.
To 'scape from spoilers worse than they.
"But yester morn a Bushman brought
The tidings that thy tents were near;
62
THE BECHUANA BOY.
And now with hasty foot I've sought
Thy presence, void of fear;
Because they say, O English Chief,
Thou scomest not the Captive's grief:
Then let me serve thee, as thine own—
For I am in the world alone!"
Such was Marossi's touching tale.
Our breasts they were not made of stone :
His words, his winning looks prevail—
We took him for "our own."
And One, with woman's gentle art,
* Unlocked the fountains of his heart;
And loved gushed forth—till he became
Her Child in every thing but name.
( 63 )
y
EVENING RAMBLES.
The sultay sumrher-ndon is past;
And mellow Evening comes at last,
With a low and languid breeze
Fanning the mimosa trees,
That cluster o'er the yellow vale.
And oft perfume the panting gale
With fragrance faint; it seems to tell
Of primrose-tufts in Scottish dell.
Peeping forth in tender spring
When the blithe lark begins to sing.
But soon, amidst our Lybian vale.
Such soothing recollections fail;
EVENING EAMBLES.
Soon we raise the eye to range
0
O'er prospects wild, grotesque, and strange;
Sterile mountains, rough and steep,
That bound abrupt the valley deep.
Heaving to the clear blue sky
Their ribs of granite, bare and dry.
And ridges, by the torrents worn.
Thinly streaked with scraggy thorn.
Which fringes Nature's savage dress.
Yet scarce relieves her nakedness.
But where the Vale winds deep below.
The landscape hath a warmer glow:
There the spekboom spreads its bowers
Of light-green leaves and lilac flowers;
And the aloe rears her crimson crest.
Like stately queen for gala drest;
And the bright-blossomed bean-tree shakes
Its coral tufts above the brakes.
EVENING EAMBLES.
Brilliant as the glancing plumes
Of sugar-birds among its blooms,
With the deep-gree®- verdure blending
In the stream of light descending.
And now, along the grassy meads,
Where the skipping reebok feeds,
Let me through the mazes rove
Of the light acacia grove;
Now while yet the honey-bee
Hums around the blossomed tree;
And the turtles softly chide,
Wooingly, on every side;
And the clucking pheasant calls
To his mate at intervals;
And the duiker at my tread
Sudden lifts his startled head.
Then dives aflfrighted in the brake.
Like wild-duck in the reedy lake
66
EVENING RAMBLES.
My wonted seat receives me now—
This cliff with myrtle-tufted brow,
Towering high o'er grove and stream,
As if to greet the parting gleam.
With shattered rocks besprinkled o'er.
Behind ascends the mountain hoar.
Whose crest o'erhangs the Bushman's Cave
(His fortress once, and now his grave,)
Where the grim satyr-faced baboon
Sits gibbering to the rising moon.
Or chides with hoarse and angry cry
The herdsman as he wanders by.
Spread out below in sun and shade.
The shaggy Glen lies full displayed—
Its sheltered nooks, its sylvan bowers.
Its meadows flushed with purple flowers;
And through it like a dragon spread,
I trace the river's tortuous bed.
EVENING RAMBLES. 67
Lo! there the Chaldee-willow weeps,
Drooping o'er the l^eadlong steeps.
Where the torrent in his wrath
Hath rifted him a rugged path,
Like fissure cleft by earthquake's shock,
Through mead and jungle, mound and rock.
But the swoln water's wasteful sway.
Like tyrant's rage, hath passed away.
And left the ravage of its course
Memorial of its frantic force.
—Now o'er its shrunk and slimy bed
Rank weeds and withered wrack are spread.
With the faint rill just oozing through.
And vanishing again from view;
Save where the guana's glassy pool
Holds to some cliff its mirror cool.
Girt by the palmite's leafy screen.
Or graceful rock-ash, tall and green.
Whose slender sprays above the flood
Suspend the loxia's callow brood
F 2
68
EVENING EAMBLES.
In cradle-nests, with porch below,
Secure from winged or creeping foe—
Weasel or hawk or writhing snake;
Light swinging, as the breezes wake.
Like the ripe fruit we love to see
Upon the rich pomegranate-tree.
But lo! the sun's descending car
Sinks o'er Mount-Dunion's peaks afar;
And now along the dusky vale
The homeward herds and flocks I hail,
Returning from their pastures dry
. Amid the stony uplands high.
First, the brown Herder with his flock
Comes winding round my hermit-rock :
His mien and gait and vesture tell.
No shepherd he from Scottish fell;
For crook the guardian gun he bears.
For plaid the sheep-skin mantle wears ;
EVENING RAMBLES.
Sauntering languidly along;
Nor flute has he, i^or merry song,
Nor book, nor tale, nor rustic lay,
To cheer him through his listless day.
His look is dull, his soul is dark;
He feels not hope's electric spark;
But, bom the White Man's servile thrall.
Knows that he cannot lower fall.
Next the stout Neat-herd passes by.
With bolder step and blither eye;
Humming low his tuneless song,
Or whistling to the horned throng.
\
From the destroying foeman fled.
He serves the Colonist for bread:
Yet this poor heathen Bechuan
Bears on his brow the port of man;
A naked, homeless exile he—
But not debased by Slavery.
70 EVENING EAMBLES,
Now, wizard-like, slow Twilight sails
With soundless wing adown the vales.
Waving with his shadowy rod
The owl and bat to come abroad.
With things that hate the garish sun.
To frolic now when day is done.
Now along the meadows damp
The enamoured fire-fly lights his lamp.
Link-boy he of woodland green
To light fair Avon's Elfin Queen;
Here, I ween, more wont to shine
To light the thievish porcupine.
Plundering my melon-bed,—
Or villain lynx, whose stealthy tread
Rouses not the wakeful hound
As he creeps the folds around.
But lo! the night-bird's boding scream
Breaks abrupt my twilight dream;
EVENING EAMBLES.
71
And warns me it is time to haste
My homeward walk across the waste,
Lest my rash tread provoke the wrath
Of adder coiled upon the path,
Or tempt the lion from the wood,
That soon will prowl athirst for blood.
—Thus, murmuring my thoughtful strain,
I seek our wattled cot again.
Glen-Lynden, 1822.
( 72 )
THE LION HUNT.
Mount—mount for the hunting—^with musket and
spear!
Call our friends to the field—for the Lion is near!
Call Arend and Ekhard and Groepe to the spoor;
Call Muller and Coetzer and Lucas Van Vuur.
Ride up Eildon-Cleugh, and blow loudly the bugle:
Call Slinger and Allie and Dikkop and Dugal;^®
And George with the elephant-gun on his shoulder—
In a perilous pinch none is better or bolder.
In the gorge of the glen lie the bones of my steed,
And the hoofs of a heifer of fatherland's breed:
THE LION HUNT. 73
But mount, my brave boys ! if. our rifles prove true,
We'll soon make the spoiler his ravages rue.
A
Ho! the Hottentot lads have discovered the track—
To his den in the desert we'll follow him back;
But tighten your girths, and look well to your flints.
For heavy and fresh are the villain's foot-prints.
I
Through the rough rocky kloof into grey Huntly-Glen,
Past the wild-olive clump where the wolf has his den.
By the black-eagle's rock at the foot , of the fell.
We have tracked him at length to the buffalo's well.
Now mark yonder brake where the bloodhounds are
howling;
And hark that hoarse sound—like the deep thunder
growling;
'Tis his lair—^'tis his voice!—from your saddles alight;
He's at bay in the brushwood preparing for fight.
74 THE LION hunt.
Leave the horses behind—and be still every man:
Let the Mullers and Rennies advance in the van;
Keep fast in your ranks;—^by the yell of yon hound,
The savage, I guess, will be out—^with a bound.
He comes! the tall jungle before him loud crashing.
His mane bristled fiercely, his fiery eyes flashing ;
With a roar of disdain, he leaps forth in his.wrath.
To challenge the foe that dare leaguer his path.
He couches,—^ay, now well see mischief, I dread :
Quick—level your rifles—and aim at his head:
Thrust forward the spears, and unsheath every knife—
St. George! he's upon us !—Now, fire, lads, for life!
He's wounded—but yet he'll draw blood ere he falls—
Ha! under his paw see Bezuidenhout sprawls—
Now Diederik! Christian! right in the brain
Plant each man his bullet—Hurra ! he is slain !
THE LION HUNT. 75
Bezuidenhout—up man !—'tis only a scratch—
(You were always a scamp, and have met with your
match !)
What a glorious lion !—^what sinews—what claws—
And seven-feet-ten from the rump to the jaws!
His hide, with the paws and the bones of his skull,
With the spoils of the leopard and buffalo bull,
We'll send to Sir Walter.—Now, boys, let us dine.
And talk of our deeds o'er a flask of old wine.
{ 76 )
THE LION AND GIRAFFE.
WouLDST thou view the Lion's den?
Search afar from haunts of men—
Where the reed-encircled rill
Oozes from the rocky hill,
By its verdure far descried
'Mid the desert brown and wide.
Close beside the sedgy brim
Couchant lurks the Lion grim;
Watching till the close of day
Brings the death-devoted prey.
Heedless, at the ambushed brink
The tall Giraffe stoops down to drink
THE LION AND GIRAFFE. 77
Upon him straight the savage springs
With cruel joy. The desert rings
i
With clanging sound of desperate strife—
The prey is strong and he strives for life.
Plunging oft with frantic bound,
To shake the tyrant to the ground,
He shrieks—^he rushes through the waste,
With glaring eye and headlong haste:
In vainl-r-the spoiler on his prize
Rides proudly—^tearing as he flies.
For life—^the victim's utmost speed
Is mustered in this hour of need:
For life—for life—^his giant might
He strains, and pours his soul in flight:
And, mad with terror, thirst, and pain.
Spurns with wild hoof the thundering plain.
'Tis vain;' the thirsty sands are drinking
His streaming blood—^his strength is sinking;
THE LION AND GIRAFFE.
The victor's fangs are in his veins—
His flanks are streaked with sanguine stains-
His panting breast in foam and gore
Is bathed—^he reels—^his race is o'er :
He falls—and, with convulsive throe,
Resigns his throat to the ravening foe!
—And lo! ere quivering life has fled.
The vultures, wheeling overhead.
Swoop down, to watch, in gaunt array.
Till the gorged tyrant quits his prey.
( 79 )
Is
THE DESOLATE VALLEY.
Far up among the forest-belted mountains,
Where Winterberg, stem giant old and grey,
Looks down the subject dells, whose gleaming
fountains
To wizard Kat their virgin tribute pay,
A valley opens to the noontide ray,
With green savannahs shelving to the brim
Of the swift River, sweeping on his way
To where Umtdka* hies to meet with him.
Like a blue serpent gliding through the acacias dim.
♦ A branch of the Kat River.
8o
THE DESOLATE VALLEY.
Round this secluded region circling rise
A billowy waste of mountains, wild and wide;
Upon whose grassy slopes the pilgrim spies
The gnu and quagga, by the greenwood side,
Tossing their shaggy manes in tameless pride;
Or troop of elands near some sedgy fount;
Or khdh fawns, that from the thicket glide
To seek their dam upon the misty mount; [count.
With harts, gazelles, and roes, more than the eye may
And as we journeyed up the pathless glen.
Flanked by romantic hills on either hand,
The boschbok oft would bound away—^and then
Beside the willows, backward gazing, stand.
And where old forests darken all the land
From rocky Katberg to the river's brink,
The buffalo would start upon the strand,
Where, 'mid palmetto flags, he stooped to drink.
And, crashing through the brakes, to the deep jungle
shrink.
THE DESOLATE VALLEY. 8i
Then, couched at night in hunter's wattled shieling,
How wildly beautiful it was to hear
The elephant his shrill reveille pealing,,
Like some far signal-trumpet on the ear!
While the broad midnight moon was shining clear,
How fearful to look forth upon the woods.
And see those stately forest-kings appear.
Emerging from their shadowy solitudes—
As if that trump had woke Earth's old gigantic
broods!
Such the majestic, melancholy scene
Which 'midst that mountain-wilderness we found;
With scarce a trace to tell where man had been.
Save the old Caffer cabins crumbling round. '
Yet this lone glen (Sicdna's ancient ground),
To Nature's savage tribes abandoned long.
Had heard, erewhile, 1;he Gospel's joyful sound.
And low of herds mixed with the Sabbath song.
But all is silent now. The Oppressor's hand was
strong.
G
8a
THE DESOLATE VALLEY.
Now the blithe loxia hangs her pensile nest
From the wild-olive, bending o'er the rock,
Beneath whose shadow, in grave mantle drest.
The Christian Pastor taught his swarthy flock.
A roofless ruin, scathed by flame and smoke.
Tells where the decent Mission-chapel stood;
While the baboon with jabbering cry doth mock
The pilgrim, pausing in his pensive mood
To ask—" Why is it thus ? Shall Evil baffle Good ? "
Yes—for a season Satan may prevail.
And hold, as if secure, his dark domain;
The prayers of righteous men may seem to fail.
And Heaven's Glad Tidings be proclaimed in vain.
But wait in faith : ere long shall spring again
The seed that seemed to perish in the ground;
And, fertilised by Zion's latter rain.
The long-parched land shall laugh, with harvests
crowned,
And through those silent wastes Jehovah's praise
resound.
THE DESOLATE VALLEY. 83
Look round that Vale: behold the unburied bones
Of Ghona's children withering in the blast:
The sobbing wind, that through the forest moans,
Whispers—"The spirit hath for ever passed!"
Thus, in the Vale of Desolation vast.
In moral death dark Afric's myriads lie;
But the Appointed Day shall dawn at last,
When, breathed on by a Spirit from on high.
The dry bones shall awake, and shout—"Our God
is nigh!"
G 2
( 84 )
THE CORANNA.
Fast by his wild resounding River
The listless Cdran lingers ever;^®
Still drives his heifers forth to feed,
Soothed by the gorrah's humming reedj*
A rover still unchecked will range,
As humour calls, or seasons change;
His tent of mats and leathern gear
All packed upon the patient steer.
'Mid all his wanderings hating toil,
He never tills the stubborn soil;
But on the milky dams relies.
And what spontaneous earth supplies.
* A musical instrument peculiar to the Hottentot tribes.
THE CORANNA.
85
Or, should long-parching droughts prevail,
And milk and bulbs and locusts fail,
He lays him down to sleep away
In languid trance the weary day;
Oft as he feels gaunt hunger's stound,*
Still tightening famine's girdle round;
Lulled by the sound of the Gareep,
Beneath the willows murmuring deep:
Till thunder-clouds, surcharged with rain.
Pour verdure o'er the panting plain;
And call the famished Dreamer from his trance.
To feast on milk and game, and wake the moonlight
dance.
* Stound—z. sharp pang, a shooting pain.
Spenser,—Burns.
( 86 )
THE KOSA.
The free-born Kosa®® still doth hold
The fields his fathers held of old;
With club and spear, in jocund ranks,
Still hunts the elk by Chumi's banks:
By Keisi's meads his herds are lowing;
On Debb's slopes his gardens glowing,
Where laughing maids at sunset roam.
To bear the juicy melons home:
And striplings from Kalumna's wood
Bring wild grapes and the pigeon's brood.
With fragrant hoards of honey-bee
Rifled from the hollow tree:^®
And herdsmen shout from rock to rock:
And through the glen the hamlets smoke;
THE KOSA. 87
And children gambol round the kraal,*
To greet their sires at evening-fall:
And matrons sweep the cabin floor,
And spread the mat beside the door.
And with dry faggots wake the flame
To dress the wearied hunstman's game.
Bright gleams the fire: its ruddy blaze
On many a dusky visage plays.
■ On forked twigs the game is drest;
The neighbours share the simple feast:
The honey-mead, the millet-ale,
Flow round—and flow the jest and tale;
Wild legends of the ancient day,
Of hunting feat, of warlike fray;
And now come smiles, and now come sighs.
As mirth and grief alternate rise.
Or should a sterner strain awake.
Like sudden flame in summer-brake,
* Kraal or cattle-fold; also a native village or encampment.
THE KOSA.
Bursts fiercely forth in battle song
The tale of Amakdsa's wrong;
Throbs every warrior bosom high,
With lightning flashes every eye,
And, in wild cadence, rings the sound
Of barbbd javelins clashing round.
But lo ! like a broad shield on high.
The moon gleams in the midnight sky.
'Tis time to part: the watch-dog's bay ,
Beside the folds has died away,
'Tis time to rest: the mat is spread,
The hardy hunter's simple bed:
His wife her dreaming infant hushes
On the low cabin's couch of rushes:
Softly he draws its door of hide.
And, stretched by his Guldwi's side.
Sleeps soundly till the peep of dawn
Wakes on the hills the dappled fawn;
Then forth again he gaily bounds.
With club and spear and questing hounds.
f S9 )
SONG OF THE WILD BUSHMAN.
Let the proud White Man boast his flocks,
And fields of foodful grain;
My home is 'mid the mountain rocks,
The Desert my domain.
I plant no herbs nor pleasant fruits,
I toil not for my cheer ;
The Desert yields me juicy roots.
And herds of bounding deer.
The countless springboks are my flOck,
Spread o'er the unbounded plain;
The buffalo bendeth to my yoke.
The wild-horse to my rein;f
* The Zebra is commonly termed PVilde-Paard, or Wild-horse,
by the Dutch-African Colonists.
90 SOATG OF THE WILD BUSHMAN.
My yoke is the quivering assagai,
My rein the tough bow-string;
My bridle curb is a slender barb—
Ye.t it quells the forest king.
The crested adder honoureth me,
And yields at my command
His poison-bag, like the honey-bee.
When I seize him on the sand.
Yea, even the wasting locust-swarm,
Which mighty nations dread.
To me nor terror brings nor harm—
For I make of them? my bread.*
Thus I am Lord of the Desert Land,
And I will not leave my bounds.
To crouch beneath the Christian's hand.
And kennel with his hounds:
To be a hound, and watch the 6ocks,
For the cruel White Man's gain—
* The Bushmen consider the locusts a great luxury, consuming
great quantities fresh, and drying abundance for future emergencies.
SONG OF THE WILD BUSHMAN. 91
No I the brown Serpent of the Rocks
His den doth yet retain;
And none who there his sting provokes,
Shall find its poison vain!
( 92 )
MAKANNA'S GATHERING.^^
Wake ! Amakosa, wake !
And arm yourselves for war.
As coming winds the forest shake,
I hear a sound from far:
It is not thunder in the sky,
Nor lion's roar upon the hill.
But the voice of Him who sits on high,
And bids me speak His will!
He bids me call you forth.
Bold sons of Kdhabee,
To sweep the White Men from the earth,
And drive them to the sea:
MAJi^ANNA'S GATHERING.
93
The sea, which heaved them up at first,
For Amakdsa's curse and bane.
Howls for the progeny she nurst.
To swallow them again.
Hark ! 'tis Uhlanga's voice
From Debe's mountain caves !
He calls you now to make your choice—
To conquer or be slaves:
To meet proud Amanglezi's guns.
And fight like warrior's nobly born:
Or, like UmHo's feeble sons,*
Become the freeman's scorn.
Then come, ye Chieftains bold.
With war-plumes waving high;
Come every warrior, young and old.
With club and assagai.
* " Sons of Umlao " is the Caffer name for the Colonial Hot¬
tentots.
MAICANNA'S GATHEJilNG.
Remember how the spoiler's host
Did through our land like locusts range!
Your herds, your wives, your comrades lost-
Remember—and revenge!
Fling your broad shields away—
Bootless against such foes;
But hand to hand we'll fight to-day
And with their bayonets close.
Grasp each man short his stabbing spear—
And, when to battle's edge we come,
Rush on their ranks in full career.
And to their hearts strike home !
Wake ! Amakdsa, wake !
And muster for the war:
The wizard-wolves from Keisi's brake,
The vultures from afar,
Are gathering at Uhlanga's call,
And follow fast our westward way—
For well they know, ere evening-fall.
They shall have glorious prey!
{ 95 )
THE IKCANTATION.
Half-way up Ind6da* climbing,
Hangs the wizard-forest old,
From whose shade is heard the chiming
Of a streamlet clear and cold:
With a mournful sound it gushes
From its cavern in the steep;
Then at once its wailing hushes
In a lakelet dark and deep.
Standing by the dark blue water,
Robed in panther's speckled hide,
* Indodo or IndMa Intdba, i.e., the Man Mountain, is a conical
peaked hill, so called from some resemblance it is supposed to bear
to the human figure. It is also known as " Slambie's Kop." It is
in the King William's Town District.
THE INCANTATION.
Who is she? JaMhsa's daughter,
Bold Makanna's widowed bride.
Stern she stands, her left hand claspin
By the arm her wondering child: .
He, her shaggy mantle grasping.
Gazes up with aspect wild.
Thrice in the soft fount of nursing
With sharp steel she pierced a vein,
Thrice the White Oppressor cursing,
While the blood gushed forth amain
Wide upon the dark-blue water,
Sprinkling thrice the crimson tide,—
Spoke Jaldhsa's high-souled daughter,
Bold Makanna's widowed bride.
" Thus into the Demon's River
Blood instead of milk I fling:
Hear, Uhlanga—great Life-Giver!
Hear, Toguh—^Avenging King !
THE INCANTATION.
Thus the Mother's feelings tender
In my breast I stifle now;
Thus I summon you to render
Vengeance for the Widow's vow !
" Who shall be the Chiefs' Avenger ?
Who the Champion of the Land ?
, Boy! the pale Son of the Stranger
Is devoted to thy hand.
He who wields the bolt of thunder
Witnesses thy Mother's vow !
He who rends the rocks asunder
To the task shall train thee now!
"When thy arm grows strong for battle,
Thou shalt sound Makanna's cry,
Till ten thousand shields shall rattle
To war-club and assagai:
THE INCANTATIOH.
Then, when like hail-storm in harvest
On the foe sweeps thy career,
Shall Uhlanga whom thou servest,
Make them stubble to thy spear!"
( 99 )
THE CAFFER COMMANDO.
Hark !—heard ye the signals of triumph afar ?
'Tis our Calfer Commando returning from war:
The voice of their laughter comes loud on the wind,
<
Nor heed they the curses that follow behind.
For who cares for him, the poor Kosa, that wails
Where the smoke rises dim from yon desolate vales—
That wails for his little ones killed in the fray,
And his herds by the Colonist carried away ?
Or who cares for him that once pastured this spot.
Where his tribe is extinct and their story forgot?^®
As many another, ere twenty years pass.
Will only be known by their bones in the grass !
H 2
lOo THE CAFFER COMMANDO.
And the sons of the Keisi, the Kei, the Gareep,
With the Gunja and Ghona^^ in silence shall sleep:
For England hath spoke in her tyrannous mood,
And the edict is writing in African blood!
Dark Katta * is howling: the eager jackal,
As the lengthening shadows more drearily fall.
Shrieks forth his hymn to the horned moon;
And the lord of the desert will follow him soon:
And the tiger-wolf laughs in his bone-strewed brake.
As he calls on his mate and her cubs to awake;
And the panther and leopard come leaping along;
All hymning to Hecate a festival song:
For the tumult is over, the slaughter hath ceased—
And the vulture hath bidden them all to the feast!
* Katberg Mountain.
( lOI )
A NOON-DAY DREAM.
'Twas noontide; and breathless beneath the hot ray
The far-winding vales of the wilderness lay :
By the Koonap's lone brink, with the cool shadow
o'er me,
I slept—and a Dream spread its visions before me.
Methought, among scenes which I loved when a boy
I was walking again with fresh feelings of joy;
For my soul, like the landscape, seemed softened and
changed
To what it was once—when in childhood I ranged
Through Cheviot's valleys, to pluck the bright flowers.
Or chase with young rapture the birds through the
bowers.
I02 A NOON-DAY DREAM.
\
—On my dreaming ear waters were murmuring still,
But the wild foreign river had shrunk to a rill;
And Kdha's dark mountains had melted away;
And the brown thorny desert, where antelopes stray,
Had become a sweet Glen, where the young lambs
were racing.
And yellow-haired children the butterflies chasing;
And the meadows were gemmed with the primrose
and gowan.
And the ferny braes fringed with the hazel and rowan;
The foxglove looked out from the osiers dank,
And the wild-thyme and violet breathed from the
bank.
—And green fairy nooks 'mid the landscape were
seen.
Half hid by the grey rocks that high o'er them
■ lean.
Where the light birch, above, its loose tresses was
waving;
And the willow, below, in the blue stream was laving
A NOON-DA Y DREAM. 103
Its silvery, garlands of.soft downy buds;
And the throstle sang blithe to his mate in the
woods ;
And. the brood of the wild-duck plashed over the
pool,
New-fledged from their nest among well-cresses cool.
—And trouts from the limpid stream lightly were
springing,
And larks in the fleckered sky cheerily singing;
And down in the copsewood the cushat was cooing;
And o'er the brown moorland the huntsman Jiallooing;
The grey-plaided shepherd piped high on the fell;
And the milk-maiden sang as she sat by the well t
With the lowing of herds from the broom-blossomed
lea;
The cuckoo's soft note from the old beechen-tree;
The waving of woods in the health-breathing gale;
The dash of the mill-wheel afar down the dale.
—All these were around me-and with them there
came
I04 A NOON-DA Y DREAM.
Sweet voices that called me aloud by my name,—
And looks of affection from innocent eyes,—
And light-hearted laughter,—and shrill joyous cries:
And I saw the mild features of all that were there.
Unaltered by years, and unclouded by care!
Then it seemed as that Scene slowly melted away.
Like the bright cloud of morn in a midsummer's day;
And I lost the blithe sounds of the Pastoral Glen,
'Mid the rattle of wheels and loud murmurs of men.
—I stood on a mount, and saw, towering around,
A City with ramparts and palaces crowned;
Where poets and sages were passing along,'
And statesmen and heroes—a glorious throng!
I heard from on high the loud heralds proclaim
With silver-toned voice each illustrious name;
I marked from afar their mild dignified mien,
And their aspect, benevolent, simple, serene;
And lingered, in heart-greeting silence to gaze
On the faces of some I had loved in their lays.
A NOON-DAY DREAM. 105
—But suddenly out burst a boisterous crowd
Of maskers and rhapsodists, railing aloud,
And scattering brands in their frantic mirth,
As if lewd love of mischief~had called them forth:
And the burden and boast of their scurrilous song
Was to scoff at the Right and applaud the Wrong.
—I looked on the scene till my heart grew sad—
Then turned me away from the uproar mad!
The visionary Pageant again seemed to change.
And a land lay before me of aspect strange—
Where the tumult of voices disturbed me no more.
But I heard the hoarse surf dashing wild on the shore.
As bewildered I stood. Yet I was not alone;
For still amid crowds my dream passed on;
'Mid crowds—^but silent, and sad as death;
For it seemed as if each man held his breath.
And cowered with his body, in abject fear.
Like a caitiff beneath the proud conqueror's spear.
—Then I turned, and lifted my wondering eye.
io6 A NOON-DAY DREAM.
And beheld a grim Spectre enthroned on high,
And his ^ name it was written—Tyranny I
—I gazed, and beheld how his scourge-bearing hand
Was high outstretched o'er the shudderirig land;
And his eyes, that like those of the basilisk shone.
Blasted whatever they glared upon.
—^Yet crowds of votaries, kneeling around.
Were worshipping him with a whispering sound:
And, ever and anon, his priests on high
Hymned forth his praises to the sky.
—Full many a race lay mingled there:
Swart Afric's tribes with their woolly hair.
The enslaved Madagass, the dejected Malay,
And degenerate Belgian baser than they.
Prone and promiscuous round him lay.
As I drew more near 'mid the suppliant train.
My heart swelled high with grief and pain.
Proud England's children there to view.
Commingled with that crouching crew;
And I marvelled much that no manly hand
Was raised to redeem the desolate land;
A NOON-DAY DUEAM.
For I saw that the Monster's enchanted mould.
Though braced with iron and bound with gold,
Was formed but of vile and crumbling dust,
Unfit to withstand the Avenger's thrust.
—While thus I was musing, a crashing stroke.
As when the red lightning shivers the rock,
Fell! . . . And I started and awoke!
Awaking, I heard but the wild river sounding;
I gazed, but saw only the klip-springer bounding.
And the eagle of Winterberg, high o'er the woods,
Sailing supreme 'mid his solitudes.
River Koonap, 1825.
{ io8 )
THE EXILE'S LAMENT.
a song.
Air—" The Banks d'CayleT
By the lone Mankazdna's margin grey
A Scottish Maiden sung;
And mournfully poured her melting lay
In Teviot's Border tongue:
O, bonny grows the broom on Blaiklaw knowes,
And the birk in Clifton dale;
And green are the hills d the milk-white ewes,
By the briary banks d Cayle.
Here bright are the skies—and these valleys of bloom
May enchant the traveller's eye;
THE EXILE'S LAMENT. 109
But all seems drest in death-like gloom
To the exile—who comes to die!
O, bonny grows the broom, 6-^.
Far round and round spreads the howling waste,
Where the wild beast roams at will;
And yawning cleughs, by woods embraced,
Where the savage lurks to kill!
O, bonny grows the broom, &'c.
Full oft over Cheviot's uplands green
My dreaming fancy strays;
But I wake to weep 'mid the desolate scene
That scowls on my aching gaze!
O, bonny grows the broom,
Oh, light, light is poverty's lowliest state,
On Scotland's peaceful strand.
Compared with the heart-sick exile's fate
In this wild and weary land!
O, bonny grows the broom, &'c.
( "O )
THE BROWN HUNTER'S SONG.
Under the Dfdima* lies a green dell,
Where fresh from the forest the blue waters swell;
And fast by that brook stands a yellow-wood tree,
Which shelters the spot that is dearest to me.
Down by the streamlet my heifers are grazing;
In the pool of the guanas the herd-boy is gazing;
Under the shade my Amdna is singing—
The shade of the tree where her cradle is swinging.
When I come from the upland as daylight is fading.
Though spent with the chase, and the game for my
lading.
* Mountain between the sources of the Kat and Koonap Rivers,
THE BRO WN HUNTER'S SONG. 111
My nerves are" new-strung, and my fond heart is
swelling,
As I gaze from the cliff on our wood-circled dwelling.
J
Down the steep mountain, and through the brown
forest,
I haste like a hart when his thirst is the sorest;
I bound o'er the swift brook that skirts the savannah,
And clasp my first-bom in the arms of Am^na.
( 112 )
THE CAPTIVE OF CAMALU.
0 Camali^—green Camalii!^®
'Twas there I fed my father'^ flock,
Beside the mount where cedars threw
At dawn their shadows from the rock;
There tended I my father's flock
Along the grassy-margined rills,
Or chased the bounding bontebok
With hound and spear among the hills.
Green Camald! methinks I view
The lilies in thy meadows growing;
1 see thy waters bright and blue
Beneath the pale-leaved willows flowing;
THE CAPTIVE OF CAM ALU.
\
I hear, along the valleys lowing,
The heifers wending to the fold,
And jocund herd-boys loudly blowing
The horn—to mimic hunters bold.
Methinks I see the umkdba tree *
That shades the village-chieftain's cot;
The evening smoke curls lovingly
Above that calm and pleasant spot.
My father ?—Ha !—I had forgot—
The old man rests in slumber deep:
My mother ?—^Ay ! she answers not—
Her heart is hushed in dreamless sleep
My brothers too—green Camald,
Repose they by thy quiet tide ?
Ay! there they sleep—where White Men slew
And left them—flying side by side.
* Caffer name for the yellow-wood tree.
THE CAPTIVE OF CAM ALU.
No pity had those men of pride,
They fired the huts above the dying!—
—White bones. bestrew that valley wide—
I wish that mine were with them lying
I envy you by CamaW,
Ye wild harts on the woody hills;
Though tigers there their prey pursue,
And vultures slake in blood their bills.
The heart may strive with Nature's ills.
To Nature's common doom resigned:
Death the frail body only kills—
But Thraldom brutifies the mind.
Oh, wretched fate !—^heart-desolate,
A captive in the spoiler's hand.
To serve the tyrant whom I hate—
To crouch beneath his proud command
Upon my flesh to bear his brand—
His blows, his bitter scorn to bide!—
THE CAPTIVE OP CAM ALU.
Would God, I in my native land
Had with my slaughtered brothers died!
Ye mountains blue of CamaM,
Where once I fed my father's flock,
Though desolation dwells with you.
And Amakdsa's heart is broke,
Yet, spite of chains these limbs that mock.
My homeless heart to you doth fly,—
As flies the wild-dove to the rock,
To hide its wounded breast—and die !
Yet, ere my spirit wings its flight
Unto Death's silent shadowy clime,
Utiko ! Lord of life and light,
Who, high above the clouds of Time,
Calm sittest where yon hosts sublime
Of stars wheel round thy bright abode,
Oh, let my cry unto Thee climb,
Of every race the Father-God!
\
I ask not Judgments from Thy hand—
Destroying hail, or parching drought,
u6 THE CAPTIVE OF CAM ALU.
Or locust-swarms to waste the land,
Or pestilence, by famine brought;
I say the prayer Jankanna* taught,
Who wept for Amakdsa's wrongs—
"Thy Kingdom come—thy Will be wrought—
For unto Thee all Power belongs."
Thy Kingdom come ! Let Light and Grace
Throughout all lands in triumph go;
Till pride and strife to love give place.
And blood and tears forget to flow;
I
Till Europe mourn for Afric's woe,
And o'er the Deep her arms extend
To lift her where she lieth low—
And prove indeed her Christian Friend!
* The name given to the missionary, Van der Kemp, by the
Caffers.
( "7 )
THE GHONA WIDOW'S LULLABY.
Utiko umkula gozizuUna;
Yebfnza inquinquis Nosilimel^.
Umzi wakondna subiziele,
Umkokeli ua sikokeli tina;
Uenza infdma zenza ga bomi.
Sicana's Hymn, 27.
The storm hath ceased: yet still I hear
The distant thunder sounding,
And from the mountains, far and near.
The headlong torrents bounding.
The jackal shrieks upon the rocks;
The tiger-wolf is howling;
The panther round the folded flocks
With stifled gurr is prowling.
THE GHONA WIDOWS LULLABY.
But lay thee down in peace, my child;
God watcheth o'er us midst the wild.
I fear the Bushman is abroad—
He loves the midnight thunder;
The sheeted lightning shows the road,
That leads his feet to plunder:
Td rather meet the hooded-snake
Than hear his rattling quiver.
When, like an adder, through the brake.
He glides along the river.
But, darling, hush thy heart to sleep—
The Lord our Shepherd watch doth keep.
The Kosa from Luhdri^^ high.
Looks down upon our dwelling;
And shakes the vengeful assagai,—
Unto his clansman telling
How he, for by grievous wrong.
Hath lost these fertile valleys;
THE GHONA WIDOW'S LULLABY.
And boasts that now his hand is strong
To pay the debt of malice.^''
But sleep, my child j a Mightier Arm
Shall shield thee (helpless one!) from harm.
The moon is up; a fleecy cloud
O'er heaven's blue deeps is sailing;
The stream, that lately raved so loud,
Makes now a gentle wailing.
From yonder crags, lit by the moon,
I hear a wild voice crying:
—'Tis but the harmless bear-baboon.
Unto his mates replying.
Hush—hush thy dreams, my moaning dove.
And slumber in the arms of love 1
The wolf, scared by the watch-dog's bay,
Is to the woods returning:
By his rock-fortress, far away,
I
The Bushman's fire is burning.
120 THE GHQ^A WIDOW'S LULLABY.
And hark! Sienna's midnight hymn,
Along the valley swelling,
Calls us to stretch the wearied limb.
While kinsmen guard our dwelling:
Though vainly watchmen wake from sleep,
' " Unless the Lord the city keep."
At dawn, we'll seek, with songs of praise.
Our food on the savannah.
As Israel sought, in ancient days.
The heaven-descending manna;
With gladness from the fertile land
The veld-kost we will gather,
A harvest planted by the hand
Of the Almighty Father—
From thraldom who redeems our race,
«
To plant them in their ancient place. -
Then, let us calmly rest, my child;
Jehovah's arm is round us,
THE GHONA WIDOWS LULLABY. I2i
The God, the Father reconciled,
In heathen gloom who found us;
Who to this heart, by sorrow broke.
His wondrous word revealing,
Led me, a lost sheep, to the flock.
And to the Fount of Healing.
Oh may the Saviour-Shepherd lead
My darling where His lambs do feed!
( 122 )
THE ROCK OF RECONCILEMENT.
A RUGGED mountain, round whose summit proud
The eagle sailed, or heaved the thunder-cloud.
Poured from its cloven breast a gurgling brook,
Which down the grassy glades its journey took;
Oft bending round to lave, with rambling tide,
The groves of evergreens on either side.
Fast by this stream, where yet its course was young.
And, stooping from the heights, the forest flung
A grateful shadow o'er the narrow dell.
Appeared the Missionary's hermit cell.
Woven of wattled boughs, and thatched with leaves,
The sweet wild jasmine clustering to its eaves.
It stood, with its small casement gleaming through
Between two ancient cedars. Round it grew
THE ROCK'OF RECONCILEMENT. 123
Clumps of acacias and young orange bowers,
Pomegranate hedges, gay with scarlet flowers,
And pale-stemmed fig-trees with their fruit yet
green.
And apple blossoms waving light between.
All musical it seemed with humming bees;
And bright-plumed sugar-birds among the trees
Fluttered like living blossoms.
In the shade
Of a grey rock, that midst the leafy glade
Stood like a giant sentinel, we found
The habitant of this fair spot of ground—
A plain tall Scottish man, of thoughtful mien;
Grave, but not gloomy. By his side was seen
An ancient Chief of Amakosa's race.
With javelin armed for conflict or the chase.
And, seated at their feet upon the sod,
A Youth was reading from the Word of God,
Of him who came for sinful men to die.
Of every race and tongue beneath the sky.
124 THE ROCK OF RECONCILEMENT.
Unnoticed, towards them we softly stept.
Our Friend was rapt in prayer; the Warrior wept,
Leaning upon his hand; the Youth read on.
And then we hailed the group: the Chieftain's Son,
Training to be his country's Christian guide—
And Brownlee and old Tshdtshu side by side.^^
( 125 )
the
FORESTER OF THE NEUTRAL GROUND.
a south-african border-ballad.
We met in the midst of the Neutral Ground,^®
'Mong the hills where the buffalo's haunts are found;
And we joined in the chase of the noble game,
Nor asked each other of nation or name.
The buffalo bull wheeled suddenly round,
When first from my rifle he felt a wound;
And, before I could gain the Umtdka's bank,
His horns were tearing my courser's flank.
That instant a ball whizzed past my ear,
Which smote the beast in his fierce career;
126 THE FORESTER OF THE NEUTRAL GROUND.
And the turf was drenched with his purple gore,
As he fell at my feet with a bellowing roar.
The Stranger came galloping up to my side,
And greeted me with a bold huntsman's pride :
Full blithely we feasted beneath a tree;—
Then out spoke the Forester, Arend Plessie.
"Stranger! we now are true comrades sworn;
Come pledge me thy hand while we quaff the horn;
Thou'rt an Englishman good, and thy heart is free.
And 'tis therefore I'll tell my story to thee.
" A Heemraad of Camdebdo was my sire;
He had flocks and herds to his heart's desire.
And bondmen and maidens to run at his call.
And seven stout sons to be heirs of all.
" When we had grown up to man's estate.
Our Father bade each of us choose a mate,
THE FORESTER OF THE NEUTRAL GROUND.
Of Fatherland blood, from the black taint free,
As became a Dutch burgher's proud degree.
"My Brothers they rode to the Bovenland,^®
And each came with a fair bride back in his hand
But I brought the handsomest bride of them all—
Brown Dinah, the bondmaid who sat in our hall.
" My father's displeasure was stern and still;
My Brothers' flamed forth like a fire on the hill;
And they said that my spirit was mean and base,
To lower myself to the servile race.
" I bade them rejoice in their herds and flocks.
And their pale faced spouses with flaxen locks;
While I claimed for my share, as the youngest son
Brown Dinah alone with my horse and gun.
"My father looked black as a thunder-cloud.
My Brothers reviled me and railed aloud.
128 THE FORESTER OF THE NEUTRAL GROUND.
And their young wives laughed with disdainful pride,
While Dinah in terror clung close to my side.
"Her ebon eyelashes were moistened with tears,
As she shrank abashed from their venomous jeers:
But I bade her look up like a Burgher's wife—
Next day to be mine, if God granted life.
"At dawn brother Roelof came galloping home
From the pastures—his courser all covered with foam;
" 'Tis the Bushmen ! ' he shouted; ' haste, friends, to
the spoor!
Bold Arend! come help with your long-barrelled
roer.'
" Far o'er Bruintjes-hoogtb we followed—in vain :
At length surly Roelof cried, ' Slacken your rein;
We have quite lost the track.'—Hans replied with
a smile,
—^Then my dark-boding spirit suspected their guile.
THE FORESTER OF THE NEU7RAL GROUND, 129
" I flew to our Father's. Brown Dinah was sold!
And they laughed at my rage as they counted the
gold.
But I leaped on my horse, with my gun in my hand,
And sought my lost love in the far Bovenland.
" I found her; I bore her from Gauritz fair glen.
Through lone Zitzikamma, by forest and fen.
To these mountains at last like wild-pigeons we flew,
Far, far from the cold hearts of proud Camdebdo.
" I've reared our rude shieling by Gola's green wood.
Where the chase of the deer yields me pastime and
food:
With my Dinah and children I dwell here alone.
Without other comrades—and wishing for none.
"I fear not the Bushman from Winterberg's fell,
Nor dread I the Cafier from Kat-River's dell;
K
130 THE FORESTER OF THE NEUTRAL GROUND.
By justice and kindness I've conquered them both,
And the Sons of the Desert have pledged me their
troth.
"I fear not the leopard that lurks in the wood,
The lion I dread not, though raging for blood;
My hand it is steady—my aim it is sure—
And the boldest must bend to my long-barrelled roer.
' The elephant's buff-coat my bullet can pierce.
And the giant rhinoceros, headlong and fierce;
Gnu, eland and buffalo furnish my board.
When I feast my allies like an African lord.
"And thus from my kindred and colour exiled,
I live like old Ismael, Lord of the Wild—
And follow the chase with my hounds and my gun;
Nor ever repent the bold course I have run.
" But sometimes there sinks on my spirit a dread
Of what may befall when the turfs on my head;
THE FORESTER OF THE NEUTRAL GROUND. 131
I fear for poor Dinah—for brown Rodomond
And dimple-faced Karel, the sons of the bond.
" Then tell me, dear Stranger, from England the free.
What good tidings bring'st thou for Arend Plessie?
Shall the Edict of Mercy be sent forth at last.
To break the harsh fetters of Colour and Caste?"
K 2
( 132 )
THE SLAVE DEALER.
From ocean's wave a Wanderer came,
With visage tanned and dun:
His Mother, when he told his name.
Scarce knew her long-lost son;
So altered was his face and frame
By the ill course he had run.
There was hot fever in his blood.
And dark thoughts in his brain ;
And oh J to turn his heart to good
That Mother strove in vain.
For fierce and fearful was his mood.
Racked by remorse and pain.
THE SLAVE DEALER,
And if, at times, a gleam more mild •
Would o'er his features stray.
When knelt the Widow near her Child,
And he tried with her to pray,
It lasted not—^for visions wild
Still scared good thoughts away.
" There's blood upon my hands !" he said
"Which water cannot wash;
It was not shed where warriors bled—
It dropped from the gory lash,
As I whirled it o'er and o'er my head.
And with each stroke left a gash.
" With every stroke I left a gash.
While Negro blood sprang high;
And now all ocean cannot wash
My soul from murder's dye;
Nor e'en thy prayer, dear Mother, quash
That Woman's wild death-cry;
THE SLA VE DEALER.
"Her cry is ever in my ear,
And it will not let me pray;
Her look I see—^her voice I hear—
As when in death she lay,
And said, ' With me thou must appear
On God's great Judgment-day!"'
" Now, Christ from frenzy keep my son
The woeful Widow cried;
" Such murder foul thou ne'er hast done
Some fiend thy soul belied !"—
" —Nay, Mother I the Avenging One
Was witness when she died I
" The writhing wretch with furious heel
I crushed—no mortal nigh ;
But that same hour her dread appeal
I
Was registered on high;
And now with God I have to deal.
And dare not meet His eye !"
( 135 )
THE TORNADO.
Dost thou love to list the rushing
Of the Tempest in its might?
Dost thou joy to see the gushing
Of the Torrent at its height ?
Hasten forth while lurid gloaming
Waneth into wilder night,
O'er the troubled ocean, foaming
With a strange phosphoric light.
Lo! the sea-fowl, loudly screaming,
Seeks the shelter of the land;
And a signal light is gleaming
Where yon Vessel nears the strand;
THE TORNADO.
Just at sunset she was lying
All-becalmed upon the main;
Now, with sails in tatters flying,
She to seaward beats—in vain!
Hark! the long-unopened fountains
Of the clouda have burst at last
And the echoes of the mountains
Lift their wailing voices fast:
Now a thousand rills are pouring
Their far-sounding waterfalls;
And the wrathful stream is roaring
High above its rocky walls.
Now the forest-trees are shaking.
Like bulrushes in the gale;
And the folded flocks are quaking
'Neath the pelting of the hail.
From the jungle-cumbered river
Comes a growl along the ground
THE TORNADO.
And the cattle start and shiver,
For they know full well the sound.
'Tis the lion, gaunt with hunger.
Glaring down the darkening glen;
But a fiercer Power and stronger
Drives him back into his den:
For the fiend Tornado rideth
Forth with Fear, his maniac bride.
Who by shipwrecked shores abideth.
With the she-wolf by her side.
Heard ye not the Demon flapping
His exulting wings aloud ?
And his Mate her mad hands clapping
From yon scowling thunder-cloud ?
I
By the fire-flaucht's gleamy flashing
The doomed Vessel ye may spy,
AVith the billows o'er her dashing—
Hark (Oh God !) that fearful cry I
THE TORNADO.
Twice two hundred human voices
In that shriek came on the blast!
Ha! the Tempest-Fiend rejoices—
For all earthly aid is past!
White as smoke the surge is showering
O'er the cliffs that seaward frown,
While the greedy gulf, devouring
Like a dragon, sucks them down !
Zitzikamma, 1825.
( 139 )
A GRACEFUL FORM, A GENTLE MIEN.
A GRACEFUL form, a gentle mien,
Sweet eyes of witching blue;
Dimples where young Love nestles in,
Around a " cherry mou : "
The temper kind, the taste refined,
A heart nor vain nor proud;
A face, the mirror of her mind.
Like sky without a cloud
A fancy pure as virgin snows.
Yet playful as the wind;
A soul alive to other's woes,
But to her own resigned:
A GRACEFUL FORM, A GENTLE MIEN.
This gentle portraiture to frame
Required not Fancy's art:
But do not ask the lady's name—
'Tis hidden in my heart.
( HI )
LINES
on the death of mr. george haitlie, a cousin of the
author's, who died at the cape of good hope in
september 1813.
Ah, hapless youth ! why wouldst thou roam
From Friendship's care and kindred's home?
From scenes beloved in early years,
And all our Father's Land endears,
To seek a drear and distant grave !
—And though relenting fortune gave
At . last an only brother's breast
Where thou might'st calmly sink to rest,
Yet sleep'St thou not with kindred dust.
—^Why didst thou dark Ambition trust?
Who scatters wide her victim's bones
O'er blighting swamps and burning zones,
LINES.
Where none upon the stranger's bier
Will pause to drop a parting tear,
Nor sister come to watch and weep
And break with sobs the silence deep!
And yet o'er thy untimely urn
'Twere weak with vain regret to mourn-
Struck by the bolt that levels all
What recks it though unknown we fall?
All soundly sleep the silent dead
Wherever fate their pall may spread !
Far happier than with slow decay
To linger lonely by the way,
Without a wish to wake the soul—
Yet shuddering at the darksome goal
To which with viewless pace we steal,
Dragg'd on by Time's resistless wheel,—
And see each early comrade sink
Till we upon the desert brink
Stand desolate j * * * *
( 143 )
PARAPHRASE OF THE TWENTY-THIRD
PSALM.
The Lord Himself my steps doth guide;
I feel no want, I fear no foe:
Along the verdant valley's side,
Where cool the quiet waters flow,
Like as his flock a shepherd feedeth.
My soul in love Jehovah leadeth.
And when amid the stumbling mountains
Through frowardness I blindly stray.
Or wander near forbidden fountains
Where the Destroyer lurks for prey,
My wayward feet again He guideth
To paths where holy Peace resideth.
144 PARAPHRASE OF THE TWENTY-THIRD PSALM.
Though that dread Pass before me lies
(First opened up by Sin and Wrath),
Where Death's black shadow shrouds the skies,
And sheds its horrors o'er the path,
Yet even there I'll fear no ill,
For my Redeemer guards me still.
Even He who walked by Abraham's side
My steps doth tend through weal and woe ;
With rod and staff to guard and guide, ^
And comfort me where'er I go;
And He His ransomed flock that keepeth.
Our Shepherd, slumbereth not nor sleepeth.
For me a banquet He doth spread
Of high desires and hallowed joys;
With blessings He anoints my head,
And fills a cup that never cloys ;
And nothing more my soul doth lack.
Save gratitude to render back.
FARAFffRASE OF THE TWENTY-THIRD FSALM.
Oh! Still may Goodness, Mercy, Truth,
Attend my steps from stage to stage,
As they have followed me from youth
Through life's long weary pilgrimage;
Till He who Israel led of old.
Shall guide me to His heavenly fold.
( )
A HYMN.
When morn awakes our hearts,
To pour the matin prayer;
When toil-worn day departs.
And gives a pause to care;
When those our souls love best
Kneel with us, in Thy fear,
To ask Thy peace and rest—
Oh, God our Father, hear!
1
WTien worldly snares without.
And evil thoughts within,
Stir up some impious doubt.
Or lure us back to sin;
When human strength proves frail.
And will but half sincere;
A HYMN.
When faith begins to fail—
Oh, God our Father, hear!
When in our cup of mirth
The drop of trembling falls.
And the frail props of earth
Are crumbling round our walls
When back we gaze with grief,
And forward glance with fear;
When faileth man's relief—
Oh, God our Father, hear!
When on the verge we stand
Of the eternal clime.
And Death with solemn hand
Draws back the veil of Time;
When flesh and spirit quake
Before Thee to appear—
For the Redeemer's sake.
Oh, God our Father, hear!
( hS )
^ INSCRIPTION,
FOR A TOMB-STONE IN THE BURIAL-GROUND AT DRYBURGH
ABBEY.
A Scottish patriarch lies buried here
An upright man, a Christian sincere;
A frugal husbandman of th' olden style,
Who lived and died near this monastic pile.
A stone-cast from this spot his dwelling stood;
His farm lay down the margin of the flood;
Those moss-grown abbey orchards filled his store,
Though now scarce blooms a tree he trained of yore;
Amidst these ivied cloisters hived his bees;
Here his young children gambolled round his knees;
• And duly here, at morn and evening's close,
«
His solemn hymn of household worship rose,
INSCRIPTION. 149
His memory now hath perished from this place,
And over many lands his venturous race
Are scattered widely: some are in the grave;
Some still survive in Britain; ocean's wave
Hath wafted many to far Western woods
Laved by Ohio's and Ontario's floods:
Another band beneath the Southern skies
Have built their homes where Gaffer mountains rise,
And taught wild Mancazana's willowy vale
The simple strains of Scottish Teviot-dale.
A wanderer of the race, from distant climes
Revisiting this spot, hath penned these rhymes.
And raised this stone, to guard, in hallowed trust,
His kindred's memory and great-grandsire's dust ;
Resting in hope, that at the Saviour's feet
They yet may re-unite, when Zion's pilgrims meet.
1830.
{ ISO )
MEMENTO.
My Son, be this thy simple plan;
Serve God, and love thy brother man;
Forget not in temptation's hour.
That Sin lends Sorrow double power;
Count life a stage upon thy way.
And follow Conscience, come what may:
Alike with heaven and earth sincere.
With hand and brow and bosom clear,
"Fear God—and know no other fear."
SONNETS.
SONNETS.
»53
I.
THE HOTTENTOT.
Mild, melancholy, and sedate, he stands.
Tending another's flock upon the fields.
His fathers' once, where now the White Man builds
His home, and issues forth his proud commands.
His dark eye flashes not; his listless hands
Lean on the shepherd's staff; no more he wields
The Libyan bow—but to th' oppressor yields
Submissively his freedom and his lands.
Has he no courage ? Once he had—but, lo !
Harsh Servitude hath worn him to the bone.
No enterprise?. Alas! the brand, the blow.
Have humbled him to dust—even hope is gone!
" He's a base-hearted hound—not worth his food "—
His Master cries—"he has np gratitude
154
SONNETS.
TI.
THE CAFFER.
Lo! where he crouches by the cleugh's dark side,
Eyeing the farmer's lowing herds afar;
Impatient watching till the Evening Star
Lead forth the Twilight dim, that he may glide
Like panther to the prey. With freeborn pride
He scorns the herdsman, nor regards the scar
Of recent wound—but burnishes for war
His assagai and targe of buflfalo-hide.
He is a Robber?—True; it is a strife
Between the black-skinned bandit and the white.
A Savage?—Yes; though loth to aim at life.
Evil for evil fierce he doth requite^
A Heathen?—^Teach him, then, thy better creed,
Christian! if thou deserv'st that name indeed.
SONNETS.
155
III.
THE BUSHMAN.
The Bushman sleeps within his black-browed den,
In the lone wilderness. Around him lie
His wife and little ones unfearingly—
For they are far away from "Christian-Men."
No herds, loud lowing, call him down the glen:
He fears no foe but famine; and may try
To wear away the hot noon slumberingly;
Then rise to search for roots—and dance again.
But he shall dance no more! His secret' lair.
Surrounded, echoes to the thundering gun,
And the wild shriek of anguish and despair!
He dies—^yet, ere life's ebbing sands are run.
Leaves to his sons a curse, should they be friends
With the proud " Christian-Men"—for they are fiends !
SONNETS.
IV.
SLAVERY.
Oh Slavery j thou art a bitter draught!
And twice accurshd is thy poisoned bowl,
Which taints with leprosy the White Man's soul,
Not less than his by whom its dregs are quaffed.
The Slave sinks down, o'ercome by cruel craft.
Like beast of burden on the earth to roll.
The Master, though in luxury's lap he loll.
Feels the foul venom, like a rankling shaft.
Strike through his reins. As if a demon laughed.
He, laughing, treads his victim in the dust—
The victim of his avarice, rage, or lust.
But the poor Captive's moan the whirlwinds waft
To heaven—not unavenged : the Oppressor quakes
With secret dread, and shares the hell he makes !
1823.
SONNETS.
157
V.
FRANSCHEHOEK.58
To this far nook the Christian Exiles fled,
Each fettering tie of earthly texture breaking;
Wealth, country, kindred, cheerfully forsaking,
For that good cause in which their fathers bled.
By Faith supported and by Freedom led,
A fruitful field amidst the desert making.
They dwelt secure when kings and priests were
quaking.
And taught the waste to yield them wine and bread.
And is their worth forgot? their spirit gone
Now, in the breach of wickedness forthbreaking.
At the lone watchman's warning call awaking.
To lift the faithful standard is there none?
Yes—still 'mong the dry bones there is a shaking.
And a faint glimmering still where former lustre shone.
1824.
158
SONNETS.
VI.
GENADENDAL.
In distant Europe oft I've longed to see
This quiet Vale of Grace; to list the sound
Of lulling brooks and moaning turtles round
The apostle Schmidt's* old consecrated tree;
To hear the hymns of solemn melody
Rising from the sequestered burial-ground;
To see the heathen taught, the lost sheep found,
The blind restored, the long oppressed set free.
All this I've witnessed now—and pleasantly
Its memory shall in my heart remain;
But yet more close familiar ties there be
That bind me to this spot with grateful chain—
For it hath been a Sabbath Home to me.
Through lingering months of solitude and pain.
November, 1824.
* George Schmidt was the first to preach the Gospel to the
Hottentots in South Africa.
SONNETS.
VIL
E N O N *
By Heaven directed, by the World reviled,
Amidst the Wilderness they sought a home,
Where beasts of prey and men of murder roam,
And untamed Nature holds her revels wild.,
There, on their pious toils their Master smiled.
And prospered them, beyond the thoughts of men,
Till in the satyr'^ haunt and dragon's den
A garden bloomed, and savage hordes grew mild.
—So, in the guilty heart when Heavenly Grace
Enters, it ceaseth not till it uproot
All Evil Passions from each hidden cell j
Planting again an Eden in their place.
Which yields to men and angels pleasant fruit;
And God Himself delighteth there to dwell.
April, 1821.
* A Moravian Mission-station.
i6o
SONNETS.
VIII.
THE GOOD MISSIONARY.
He left his Christian friends and native strand,
By pity for benighted men constrained:
His heart was fraught with charity unfeigned;
His life was strict, his manners meek and bland.
• Long dwelt he lonely in a heathen land.
In want and weariness—^yet ne'er complained;
But laboured that the lost sheep might be gained.
Nor seeking recompense from human hand.
The credit of the arduous works he wrought
Was reaped by other men who came behind:
The world gave him no honour—none he sought,
But cherished Christ's example in his-mind.
To one great aim his heart and hopes were given ■
To serve his God and gather souls to Heaven.
Cafferland, 1825.
SONNETS.
ix.
TO THE REV. DR. PHILIR
Thy heavenly Master's voice with reverent awe
Thou heard'st, as thus to thy stirred heart it spoke:
" Go forth and gather yon poor scattered Flock
Within the free pale of the Gospel Law.
The trembling lamb pluck from the tiger's paw,
Nor fear his cruel fangs; for by the stroke
Of thy frail staff his cheek-bone shall be broke,
And many saved from the Devourer's jaw."
Such the high task: and manfully and well
Thou for that peeled and scattered Flock has striven
And henceforth they in quietude shall dwell,
(Their ruthless spoilers fettered, or forth-driven,)
With nought to scare them, save the baffled yell
Of hungry wolves from whom the prey was riven.
1828.
M
i62
SONNETS.
X.
A COMMON CHARACTER.
Not altogether wicked—but so weak,
That greater villains made of him their tool;
Not void of talent—^yet so much a fool
As honour by dishonest means to seek;
Proud to the humble, to the haughty meek;
In flattery servile, insolent in rule;
Keen for his own—for others' interest cool;
Hate in his heart, and smiles upon his cheek.
This man, with abject meanness joined to pride,
Was yet a pleasant fellow in his day;
For all unseemly traits he well could hide.
Whene'er he mingled with the great and gay.
—But he is buried now—and, when he died,
No one seemed sorry that he was away!
Cape Town, 1825.
SONNETS.
1O3
XL
THE NAMELESS STREAM.
1 FOUND a Nameless Stream among the hills,®®
And traced its course through many a changeful scene ;
Now gliding free through grassy uplands green,
And stately forests, fed by limpid rills ;
Now dashing through dark grottoes, where distils
The poison dew; then issuing all serene
'Mong flowery meads, where snow-white lilies screen
The wild swan's whiter breast. At length it fills
Its deepening channels; flowing calmly on
To join the Ocean on his billowy beach.
—But that bright bourne its current ne'er shall reach :
It meets the thirsty Desert and is gone
To waste oblivion ! Let its story teach
The fate of one—who sinks, like it, unknown.
Glen-Lynden, 1825.
M 2
164
SONNETS.
I
XII.
MY COUNTRY.
My Country ! when I think of all I've lost,
In leaving thee to seek a foreign home,
I find more cause the farther that I roam
To mourn the hour I left thy favoured coast;
For each high privilege which is the boast
And birthright of thy sons, by patriots gained.
Dishonoured dies where Right and Truth are chained
And caitiffs rule—by sordid lusts engrossed.
I may, perhaps (each generous purpose crossed).
Forget the higher aims for which I've strained.
Calmly resign the hopes I prized the most.
And learn cold cautions I have long disdained;
But my heart must be calmer—colder yet—
Ere thee, my Native Land ! I can forget.
1825.
SONNETS,
xiii.
THE CAPE OF STORMS.
O Cape of storms ! although thy front be dark,
And bleak thy naked cliffs and cheerless vales,
And perilous thy fierce and faithless gales
To staunchest mariner and stoutest bark;
And though along thy coasts with grief I mark
The servile and the slave, and him who wails
An exile's lot—^and blush to hear thy tales
Of sin and sorrow and oppression stark:—
Yet, spite of physical and moral ill,
And after all I've seen and suffered here,®"
There are strong links that bind me to thee still,
And render even thy rocks and deserts dear;
Here dwell kind hearts which time nor place can chill
Loved Kindred and congenial Friends sincere.
1825.
i66
SONNETS.
XIV.
TO OPPRESSION.
Oppression ! I have seen thee, face to face,
And met thy cruel eye and cloudy brow:
But thy soul-withering glance I fear not now;
For dread to prouder feelings doth give place
Of deep abhorrence. Scorning the disgrace
Of slavish knees that near thy footstool bow,
I also kneel—^but with far other Vow
Do hail thee and thy herd of hirelings base.
I swear, while life-blood warms my throbbing veins,
Still to oppose and thwart with heart and hand
Thy brutalising sway—till Afric's chains
Are burst, and Freedom rules the rescued land,—
Trampling Oppression and his iron rod.
—Such is the Vow I take—So help me God 1
1825.
( I67 )
TO SIR WALTER SCOTT *
From deserts wild and many a pathless wood
Of savage climes where I have wandered long,
Whose hills and streams are yet ungraced by song,
I bring, illustrious friend, this garland rude:
The offering, though uncouth, "in kindly mood
Thou wilt regard, if haply there should be, ,
'Mong- meaner things, the flower Simplicity,
Fresh from coy Nature's virgin solitude.
Accept this frail memorial, honoured Scott,
Of favoured intercourse in former day—
Of words of kindness I have ne'er forgot—
Of acts of friendship I can ne'er repay:
' For I have found (and wherefore say it not?
The minstrel's heart as noble as his lay.
January, 1828.
* Dedication to the author's "Poems Illustrative of South
Africa."
( i68 )
/
TO ROBERT PRINGLE, GLEN-LYNDEN,
SOUTH AFRICA*
My father ! I to thee inscribe this page!
And send it freighted, like a courier-dove,
With many a prayer of reverential love,
To greet thee in thy distant hermitage,
If such slight themes may for an hour engage
Thy thoughts, intent on better things above,
This Tale of Trials Past perchance may prove
A recreation to thine honoured age.
Sprung from a stalwart line of Scottish sires,
Be thou the patriarch, on Afric's strand.
Of a young race, who with their fathers' fires
Shall warm the heart of their adopted land;
Who, firm yet gentle, generous, sincere.
Shall fear their God, and know no other fear.
yanuary 5, 1834.
* Dedication to the author's "Narrative of a Residence in
South Africa."
NOTES TO THE POEMS.
( 171 )
NOTES TO THE POEMS.
I.—A land of climate fair and fertile soil,
Invites from far the venturous Briton's toil. Page 24.
On the 30th of April, 1820, I arrived at Simon's Bay,
Cape of Good Hope, in the brig Brilliant, accompanied by
a party of Scottish emigrants, of whom I was, fro tempore,
the head or leader. We formed part of a body of about five
thousand British settlers, who, in pursuance of a plan to
colonise the unoccupied territory near the frontier of Caffer-
land, had entered into engagements to proceed thither under
the patronage of Government; ^50,000 having been voted by
Parliament to defray the expense of our conveyance to the
new settlement. The first of the Government transports,
with its complement of emigrants, sailed from the Downs on
the loth of December, 1819; and the others, to the number
of about twenty sail, followed as fast as they could get the
people and stores embarked. Several of these vessels ha,d
reached the Cape before us, and had proceeded to Algoa Bay.
I had two special objects in view in emigrating to the Cape.
One of these was to collect again into one social circle, and
establish in rural independence, my father's family, which un¬
toward circumstances had broken up and begun to scatter
172
NOTES TO THE POEMS.
over the world. To accomplish this, emigration to a new
colony was indispensable. My father had been a Roxburgh¬
shire farmer of the most respectable class : and all his sons
(five in number) had been bred to the same profession, except
myself. The change of times, however, and the loss of
capital, had completely overclouded their prospects in oxir
native country; and, therefore, when the Government scheme
of colonising the unoccupied territory at the Cape was pro¬
mulgated, I called their attention to that colony, and offered
to accompany them, should they determine to* proceed thither
as settlers. After maturely weighing the advantages of the
Cape as compared with other British colonies, they made
their election, and empowered me to apply on their behalf to
the Colonial Department. As it was required by the Govern¬
ment plan that every party should comprise at least ten adult
males, one family related to my wife, and two or three other
respectable individuals, were associated with us. And thus
our little band of twenty-four souls was made up ; consisting
of twelve men (including three farm servants), six women and
six children.
I spent about a week in Cape Town on this occasion;
during which time I formed an acquaintance with two or
three persons of worth and talent. Among these were the
Rev. Dr. Philip, superintendent of the missions of the
London Missionary Society (to whom I carried letters of
introduction from Scotland), and Mr. H. E. Rutherfoord,
an English merchant of that order of character which is now
(unfortunately for us as a nation) becoming, I fear, far more
rare than it was in former days. I met also, almost by acci¬
dent, with my maternal relative, Mr. T. Haitlie, a native of
THE EMIGRANTS OF 1820. 173
\
Tweedside, who, after roaming over many lands, had at last
settled himself in the vicinity of Cape Town as an African
agriculturist. On finding that our family, and my brothers
his early playmates, were at Simon's Bay, he galloped off
instantly to visit them, leaving me a horse to follow at my
leisure; and, before we sailed, beside giving us much useful
information on the subject of locating ourselves in the
wilderness, the kind-hearted fellow had our cabin crammed
with a load of Cape refreshments and country stores.
We sailed out of Simon's Bay on the loth of May, with
a brisk gale from the N.W., which carried us round Cape
L'Aguilhas at the rate of nearly ten knots an hour. On
the 12th, at daybreak, however, we found ourselves almost
becalmed, nearly opposite the entrance to the Knysna, a
fine lagoon, or salt water lake, which forms a beautiful and
spacious haveif (though unfortunately rather of difficult ac¬
cess), winding up, as we were informed by our captain, who
had twice entered it with the Brilliant, into the very bosom
of the magnificent forests which cover this part of the coast.
During this and the two following days, having scarcely any
wind, and the little we had being adverse, we kept tacking
off and on within a few miles of the shore. This gave us
an excellent opportunity of surveying the coast scenery of
Autenfqualand and Zitzikamma, which is of a very striking
character. The land rises abruptly from the shore in massive
mountain ridges, clothed with forests of large timber, and
swelling in the background into lofty serrated peaks of
naked rock. As we passed headland after headland, the
sylvan recesses of the bays and mountains opened succes¬
sively to our gaze, like a magnificent panorama, continually
174
NOTES TO THE POEMS.
unfolding new features, or exhibiting new combinations of
scenery, in which the soft and the stupendous, the mono¬
tonous and the picturesque, were strangely blended. The
aspect of the whole was impressive, but sombre; beautiful,
but somewhat savage. There was the grandeur and the grace
of Nature, majestic and untamed; and there was likewise
that air of lonesomeness and dreary wildness which a
country unmarked by the traces of human industry or of
human residence seldom fails to exhibit to the view of
civilised man. Seated on the poop of the vessel, I gazed
alternately on that solitary shore, and on the bands of emi¬
grants who now crowded the deck, or leaned along the gang¬
way ; some silently musing, like myself, on the scene before
us ; others conversing in separate groups, and pointing with
eager gestures to the country they had come so far to inhabit.
Sick of the wearisome monotony of a long sea voyage (for
only a few had been permitted by the Cape authorities to land
at Simon's Bay), all were highly exhilarated by the prospect of
speedily disembarking; but the sublimely stern aspect of
the country, so different from the rich tameness of ordinary
English scenery, seemed to strike many of the Southron
with a degree of awe approaching to consternation. The
Scotch, on the contrary, as the stirring recollections of their
native land were vividly called up by the rugged peaks and
shaggy declivities of this wild coast, were strongly affected,
like all true mountaineers on such occasions. Some were
excited to extravagant spirits ; others silently shed tears.
Coasting on in this manner, we at length doubled Cape
Receif (renowned for its shipwrecks) on the isth, and late in
the afternoon came to an anchor in Algoa Bay, in the midst
ARRIVAL IN ALGOA BAY.
175
of a little fleet of vessels, which had just landed, or were
engaged in landing, their respective bands of settlers-
It was an animated and interesting scene. Around us in
the west comer of the spacious bay, were anchored ten or
twelve large vessels, which had recently arrived with emi¬
grants, of whom a great proportion were still on board.
Directly in front, on a rising ground a few hundred yards
from the beach, stood the little fortified barrack or block¬
house, called Fort Frederick, occupied by a division of the
72nd Regiment, with the tents and pavilions of the officers -
pitched on the heights around it. At the foot of those heights,
nearer the beach, stood three thatched cottages, and one or
two wooden houses brought out from England, which now
formed the offices of the commissaries and other civil function¬
aries appointed to transact the business of the emigration, and
to provide the settlers with provisions and other stores, and
with carriages for their conveyance up the country. Inter¬
spersed among these offices, and among the pavilions of the
Government functionaries and naval officers employed on
shore, were scattered large dep6ts of agricultural implements,
carpenters' and blacksmiths' tools, and iron ware of all de¬
scriptions, sent out by the home Government to be furnished
to the settlers at prime cost. About two furlongs to the east¬
ward, on a level spot between the sand hills on the beach
and the stony heights beyond, lay the camp of the emigrants.
Nearly a thousand souls on an average were at present
lodged there in military tents ; but parties were daily moving
off in long trains of bullock waggons, to proceed to their ap¬
pointed places of location in the interior, while their place was
immediately occupied by fresh bands, hourly disembarking
176
NOTES TO THE POEMS.
from the vessels in the bay. A suitable background to this
animated picture, as viewed by us from the anchorage, was
supplied by the heights over the Zwartkops River, covered
with a dense jungle and by the picturesque peaks of the
Winterhoek and the dark masses of the Zuureberg ridge far
to the northward, distinctly outlined in the clear blue sky.
The whole scene was such as could not fail to impress
deeply the most unconcerned spectator. To us—who had
embarked all our worldly property and earthly prospects, our
own future fortunes and the fate of our posterity, in this enter¬
prise—it was interesting and exciting to an intense degree.
On the 6th of June, we assisted at laying the foundation
of the first house of a new town at Algoa Bay, designated by
Sir Rufane Donkin, " Port Elizabeth," after the name of his
deceased lady, to whose memory also he afterwards erected an
obelisk on one of the adjoining heights. In the course of
years this place has grown up to be the second town in the
colony, both for population and for commerce; and it is
still rapidly increasing.—Author's '■^Narrative of a Residence
in South Africa."
2.—The wilds of South Africa, far o'er the sea. Page 28.
The Baviaans-Rivier, or River of Baboons (now the
Lynden, in the district of Bedford, Cape Colony), on the banks
of which we had arrived, is onfe of the smaller branches of the
Great Fish River, flowing from the north-east, and watering
a rugged mountain-glen of about thirty miles in extent. The
upper part of this glen can scarcely be said to have ever
been permanently settled, but had formerly been occupied as
grazing ground by a few Dutch-African Boers, among the
THE SETTLERS' LOCATION.
177
most rude and lawless of the whole colony. These men had
been dispossessed, and some of them executed for high treason,
about five years before, in consequence of their having taken
a prominent part in an insurrection against the English
Government; and a portion of the lands thus forfeited were
now to be assigned as the location of our party. The lower
part of the glen was still chiefly occupied by the relatives
and former accomplices of these insurgents.
Having waited a day at Opperman's for some part of our
escort, and a free black, formerly in the British army, who
had been sent for to act as an interpreter, we moved forward
on the 25 th. After travelling a few miles, we entered the
pwrt, or gorge of the mountains, through which the River
of Baboons issues to the more open and level country where
it joins the Great Fish River. In the very middle of this
poort., we passed the residence of a substantial African Boer ;
a gigantic fellow, six feet four inches in height, and corpulent
withal, who had been one of the leaders in the late insur¬
rection. His name was Prinslo ; but from his remarkable
size even among a race of very large men, he was usually
known by the name of Groot Willem—big William. This
African Goliath, however, in place of gnashing his teeth, like
old Pope and Pagan in the ' Pilgrim's Progress' (as would
have been but natural), came forth very good-humouredly to
shake hands with us, his new neighbours, as we passed;
and drank to our better acquaintance out of his flask of
home-made brandy. And " as we went on our way," like
old Bunyan's pilgrims, we received, on passing the corner
of the orchard, a present of excellent vegetables, and a basket
\
of lemons and pomegranates ; a testimony of goodwill, which
N
178 " NOTES TO THE POEMS.
we repaid by distributing among the family a few Dntch
tracts and hymn-books. Groot ■ Willem's house and farm-
offices were constructed in a nook of the glen, with tre¬
mendous precipices of naked rock rising above and around,
so as barely to leave on the bank of the river sufficient space
for the houses and cattle-folds, together with a well-stocked
garden and orchard, inclosed with quince and pomegranate
hedges, and a small plot of corn land below.
A couple of miles or so above this spot, we came to a
point where the Lynden is joined by a subsidiary rivulet,
called Bosch-Fontein—now the Flora. This little stream
waters a valley of seven or eight miles in length, containing
fine pasturage, and rich alluvial soil capable of being exten¬
sively cultivated by the aid. of irrigation ; without which,
in fact, little or nothing can be raised in the arid climate of
South Africa, at any considerable distance from the coast.
Looking up this valley, which extends eastward behind the
back of the Kahaberg, we observed the skirts of the magni¬
ficent timber forests, which cover the southern fronts of this
range, stretching over the summits of the green hills at the
head of the glen. In those hills are the sources of the Flora,
which, being fed by more frequent rains than most other
parts of the adjoining country, and protected from evaporation
by the dense woods, furnish a perpetual supply of pure
water ; an advantage which in this country is quite invaluable,
and for the want of which nothing else can compensate. To
this valley, and the wooded hills which bound it, we gave
the name of Ettrick Forest.
Leaving this subsidiary glen on our right, we proceeded
up the River of Baboons. To this point the waggon track.
THE SETTLERS' LOCAT/OH. ^ 179
wild and rugged as it was, might be considered compara¬
tively safe and in good repair; but it now became difficult
and dangerous to a degree, far exceeding anything we had
yet encountered or formed a conception of j insomuch that
we were literally obliged to hew out our path up the valley
through jungles and gullies, and beds of torrents, and rocky
acclivities, forming altogether a series of obstructions which
it required the utmost exertions of the whole party, and of
our experienced African allies, to overcome.
The scenery through which we passed was in many places
of the most picturesque and singular description. Some¬
times the valley widened out, leaving space along the river¬
side for fertile meadows, or haughs (as such spots are called
in the south of Scotland), prettily sprinkled over with mimosa
trees and evergreen shrubs, and clothed with luxuriant
pasturage up to the bellies of our oxen. Frequently the
mountains, again converging, left only a narrow defile, just
broad enough for the stream to find a passage; while
precipices of naked rock rose abruptly, like the walls of a
rampart, to the height of many hundred feet, and in some
places appeared absolutely to overhang the savage-looking
pass ox poort, through which we and our waggons struggled
below; our only path being occasionally the rocky bed of
the shallow river itself, encumbered with huge blocks of
stone which had fallen from the cliffs, or worn smooth as a
marble pavement by the sweep of the torrent floods. At
this period the River of Baboons was a mere rill, gurgling
gently along its rugged course, or gathered here and there
into natural tanks, called in the language of the country
zeekoe-gats (hippopotamus pools); but the remains of water-
N 2
i8o NOTES TO THE POEMS.
wrack, heaved high on the cliffs, or hanging upon the
tall willow-trees, which in many places fringed the banks,
afforded striking proof that at certain seasons this diminutive
rill becomes a mighty and resistless flood. The steep hills on
either side often assumed very remarkable shapes—embattled,
as it were, with natural ramparts of freestone or trap rock—
and seemingly garrisoned with troops of the large baboons,
from which the river had received its former Dutch appel¬
lation. The lower declivities were covered with good
pasturage, and sprinkled over with evergreens and acacias ;
while the cliffs that overhung the river had their wrinkled
fronts embellished with various species of succulent plants
and flowering aloes. In other spots the freestone and
basaltic rocks, partially worn away with the waste of years,
had assumed shapes the most singular and grotesque'; so
that, with a little aid from fancy, one might imagine them
the ruins of Hindoo or Egyptian temples, with their half-
decayed obelisks, columns, and statues of monster deities.
It were tedious to relate the difficulties, perils, and ad¬
ventures which we encountered in our toilsome march of
Jive days, up this African glen;—to tell of our pioneering
labours with the hatchet, the pickaxe, the crowbar, and the
sledge-hammer,—and the lashing of the poor oxen, to force
them on (sometimes 20 or 30 in one team) through such a
track as no English reader can form any adequate conception
of. In the upper part of the valley we were occupied two
entire days in thus hewing our way through a rugged defile,
now called Eildon-Cleugh, scarcely three miles in extent.
At length, after extraordinary exertions and hair-breadth
escapes—the breaking down two waggons, and the partial
THE SETTLERS' LOCATION, i8i
damage of others—we got through the last poort of the
glen, and found ourselves on the summit of an elevated ridge,
commanding a view of the extremity of the valley, " And
now, mynheer," said the Dutch-African field-cornet who
commanded our escort, "daar leg uwe veld—there lies
your country." Looking in the direction where he pointed,
we beheld, extending to the northward, a beautiful vale,
about six or seven miles in length, and varying from one to
two in breadth. It appeared like a verdant basin, or cul-de-sac,
surrounded on all sides by an amphitheatre of steep and sterile
mountains, rising in the background into sharp cuneiform
ridges of very considerable elevation; their summits being
at this season covered with snow, and estimated to be from
4000 to 5000 feet above the level of the sea. The lower de¬
clivities were sprinkled over, though somewhat scantily,
with grass and bushes. But the bottom of the valley,
through which the infant river meandered, presented a
warm, pleasant, and secluded aspect; spreading itself into
verdant meadows, sheltered and embellished, without being
encumbered, with gloves of mimosa-trees, among which we
observed in the distance herds of wild animals—antelopes
and quaggas—pasturing in undisturbed quietude.
" Sae that's the lot o' our inheritance, then ?" quoth one of
the party, a Scottish agriculturist. " Aweel, now that we've
really got till't, I maun say the place looks no sae mickle
amiss, and may suit our purpose no that ill, provided thae
haughs turn out to be gude deep land for the pleugh, and we
can but contrive to find a decent road out o'this queer hieland
glen into the lowlands—^like ony other Christian country."
Descending into the middle of the valley, we unyoked the
i82
JVOT£S TO THE TO EMS.
waggons, and pitched our tents in a grove of mimosa-trees on
the margin of the river; and the next day our armed escort
with the train of shattered vehicles set out on their return
homeward, leaving us in our wild domain to our own courage
and resources.
Our wearisome travels by sea and land were at length ter¬
minated ; and it was remarked that exactly six months to a
day, had elapsed from the departure of the party from Scot¬
land to their arrival at their destined home. With the ex¬
ception of myself and two or three other individuals, all the
party had embarked at Leith for London on the 29th De¬
cember, 1819 ; and we reached our African location on the
29th June, 1820.
. . . July 2nd was our first Sunday on our own grounds.
Feeling deeply the importance of maintaining the suitable
observance of this day of sacred rest, it was unanimously
resolved that we shjould strictly abstain from all secular
employment not sanctioned by absolute necessity; and at
the same time commence such a system of religious services
as might be with propriety maintained in the absence of a
clergyman or minister. The whole party were accordingly
assembled after breakfast, under a venerable acacia-tree, on
the margin of the little stream which murmured around our
camp. The river appeared shaded here and there by the
graceful willow of Babylon, which grows abundantly along
the banks of many of the African streams, and which, with
the other peculiar features of the scenery, vividly reminded us of
the pathetic lament of the Hebrew exiles :—" By the rivers of
Babylon, there we sat; yea we wept when we remembered Zion.
We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof."
THE FIRST SABBA TH IN AFRICA. 183
It was, indeed, an affecting sight to look round on our little
band of Scottish emigrants, thus congregated for the first
time to worship God in the wild glen allotted for their future
home and heritage of their offspring. There sat old ,
with his silvery locks, the patriarch of the party, with his
Bible on his knee,—a picture of the high-principled, grave
Scottish husbandman ; his respectable family seated round
him. There was the widow , with her meek, kind, and.
quiet look—(the look of one who had seen better days, but
who in adversity had found pious resignation), with her three
stalwart sons and her young maiden daughter placed beside
her on. the grass. There, too, were others, delicate females,
—one of them very nearly related to myself—of whom I need
not more particularly speak. There was , the younger
brother of a Scottish laird, rich in blood but poor in fortune,
who, with an estimable pride, had preferred a farm in South
Africa to dependence on aristocratic connections at home.
Looking round pn these collected groups, on this day of solemn
assemblage, such reflections as the following irresistibly
crowded on my mind : ' Have I led forth from their native
homes, to this remote corner of the globe, all these my friends'
and relatives for good or for evil ? —to perish miserably in the
wildeimess, or to become the honoured founders of a prosperous
settlement, destined to extend the benefits of civilisation and
the blessed light of the Gospel through this dark nook of
benighted Africa ? The issue of our enterprise is known
only to Him who ordereth all things well: " Man proposes,
but God disposes." But though the result of our scheme is in
the womb of futurity, and although it seems probable that
greater perils and privations await us than we had once
\
184 NOTES TO THE POEMS.
calculated upon, there yet appears no reason to repent of the
course we have taken, or to augur unfavourably of the ulti¬
mate issue. Thus far Providence has prospered and protected
us. We left not our native land from wanton restlessness or
mere love of change, or without very sufficient and reasonable
motives, Let us, therefore, go on calmly and courageously,
duly invoking the blessing of God on all our proceedings;
and thus, be the result what it may, we shall feel ourselves in
the path of active duty.'—With these, and similar reflections,
we encouraged ourselves, and proceeded to the religious
services of the day.
Having selected one of the hymns of our national Church,
all united in singing it to one of the old pathetic melodies
with which it is usually conjoined in the Sabbath worship of
our native land. The day was bright and still, and the voice
of psalms rose with a sweet and touching solemnity among
those wild mountains, where the praise of the true God had
never, in all human probability, been sung before. The
words of the hymn (composed by Logan) were appropriate
to our situation, and affected some of our congregation very
sensibly :—
"O God of Bethel! by whose hand Thy people still are fed;
Who through this weary pilgrimage hast all our fathers led;
Through each perplexing path of life our wandering footsteps guide;
Give us each day our daily bread, and raiment fit provide; . . .
O ! spread Thy covering wings around, till all our wanderings cease.
And at our Father's loved abode our souls arrive in peace."
We then read some of the most suitable portions of the
English Liturgy, which we considered preferable to any
extempore service that could be substituted on this occasion ;
JOHN FAIRBAIRN.
and concluded with an excellent discourse from a volume of
sermons presented to me on parting by a revered relative,
the Rev. Dr. Pringle of Perth. We had a similar service in
the afternoon; and agreed to maintain in this manner the
public worship of God in our infant settlement, until it should
please Him, in His good Providence, to privilege it with the
ecclesiastical dispensation of religious ordinances.
While we were singing our last psalhi in the afternoon, an
antelope {pribt), which appeared to have wandered down the
valley without observing us, stood for a little while on the
opposite side of the rivulet, gazing at us in innocent amaze¬
ment, as if yet unacquainted with man, the great destroyer.
On this day of peace it was, of course, permitted to depart
unmolested.—Author's Narrative.
3.—I pictured you, sage Fairbairn, at my side. Page 31.
At this time, John Fairbairn, an early and intimate friend,'
was resident at Newcastle. Mr. Pringle had written to him
to join him at Cape Town, and the following reply from Mr.
Fairbairn shows the career sanguinely sketched out for their
conjoint activity :—
" March 2nd, 1823.
" It gives me unspeakable pleasure to find you once more
among ' Books and Men.' Your late acquaintance, the lions
and the quaggas, having lost their ancient veneration for the
Muses, you had good authority for turning to the more docile
Batavi-Africani. I have no doubt, from what you tell me,
and from the accounts I read of the Cape, that your
views in Cape Town are well-founded, and cannot, without
some unforeseen mischief, fail to be realised to a very satis-
NOTES TO THE POEMS.
factory extent. I will join you (d.V.) about six weeks after
you receive this epistle. My resolution was finally taken
upon reading your last letter, and all my friends approve
of it. . . . Your hint about magazines and newspapers
pleases me exceedingly. What should hinder us from
becoming the Franklins of the Kaap ? The history of the
settlement requires to be brought down by rational men on
the spot for a good number of years. . Little or nothing has
been done in the natural history of South Africa since
Sparrnian and Vaillant; and it is a rich region in that
respect. There are still unknown kingdoms, or at least
provinces, for us to explore.
" I have a number of literary schemes in my head, some
of which may furnish us with matter for communion. I sup¬
pose you have no such thing as public lectures among you
on any subject. Yet, surely, popular lectures on chemistry,
geology, botany, and other departments of science, might be
rendered both acceptable and useful to your new country¬
men. Turn your thoughts to this topic till we meet.
"In Europe, and especially in Britain, so many great
poets are looking on the same objects that we see, and de¬
scribing them with so much force and beauty, that one feels
oneself fairly ' overcowed,' and dare not even aspire to be
heard. Who can think of aught but listening when Byron,
Wordsworth, Scott, Coleridge, and Campbell are sending
their strong sweet voices through every vale of this delight¬
ful land ? The character of African scenery is, I suppose,
different from ours. The manners of the singular tribes
surrounding you, your own destination at the extremity of the
' dry nurse of lions,' in every circumstance I can think of.
WILDE FAAUW.
187
there is much to excite, deepen, and fully employ the strongest
imagination. What should hinder us, my dear friend, from
' giving to song' the unknown streams and nameless moun¬
tains of the Kaap f "
See also Note 60.
4.— Vytje Vaal. Page 32.
Vytje is a Dutch diminutive for Sophia, and Vaal signifies
a pale reddish colour, the hue of a faded leaf—^which is
precisely the colour of the Hottentot. The girl's real
name, however, was Vytj^ Dragoener. She was a native of
Bethelsdorp, and was an extremely faithful, neat-handed,
and respectable servant; and most affectionately attached
to her mistress.
/
5.—Our broad-tailed mutton, small and fine. Page 33.
The broad-tailed sheep of Southern Africa is long-legged,
small in the body, and has little fat except on its tail; but the
flesh when young is very well flavoured, not unlike Welsh or
Highland mutton. Mr. Barrow has given a description and
engraving of the Cape sheep. See his ' Travels,' vol. i. p. 67.
6,—A fiaauw, which beats your Norfolk turkey hollowj
Korhaan, and Guinea-fowl, and pheasant follow.
Page 33.
The Wilde Paauw (wild peacock) is a large species of Otis,
about the size of the Norfolk bustard, and is esteemed the
richest flavoured of all the African feathered game. The
spread of its wings is about seven feet, and the whole length
i88
NOTES TO THE POEMS.
of the bird about three feet and a half. Two smaller species
of bustard are known by the name of Korhaans.
The Guinea-fowl is plentiful in the valleys at certain seasons
of the year. Partridges also, of several species, are abun¬
dant ; but the bird called Pheasant 2X the Cape is a sort of
grouse, or rather a species intermediate between the grouse
and the partridge.
All these and other sorts of game we had occasionally; but
the reader must not suppose they were always so very plenti¬
ful, or so easily procured, that we could on any day of the
year have thus feasted a chance visitor. But if I might
conjure my guest from England, I might also conjure my
game from the woods and hills.
7.—Beside yon Kranz, whose pictured records tell
Of Bushmen^s huntings in the days of old,
Ere here Bezuidenhout had fixed his fold. Page 39.
I have previously alluded to an insurrection of Dutch-
African Boers which broke out in 1815, and of which the
sub-district {Field-Cornetcy) of Bavian's River was the focus.
As our location consisted of lands which had been forfeited
by some of these insurgents, and as the facts of the case will
illustrate in a striking manner the character of the frontier
colonists, and the civil condition both of this class and of
their coloured dependents, only a few years before our
arrival, I shall here briefly relate the history of the affair. I
collected the authentic details partly from the printed report,
in Dutch, of a Special Commission appointed to try the
criminals, and partly from the accounts I received from the
BEZUIDENHOUTS REBELLION. 189
magistrates of the district, and from several of the Boers
themselves who had been implicated in the conspiracy.
Some time in 1814, a Hottentot, named Booy, appeared at
the magistrate's office at Cradock, and complained of the
oppressive conduct of Frederick Bezuidenhout, a Dutch-
African colonist, who resided at the place now called Cameron's
Cleugh, on Bavian's River. Booy, it appeared, had been for
several years in the service of this Boer ; but when the term
of his contract had expired, Bezuidenhout peremptorily re¬
fused to permit him either to depart, or to remove what little
property he had on the place. Captain Stockenstrom, who
at that time filled the office of deputy-landdrost of the
sub-district of Cradock, gave the complainant a letter to
Opperman, the field-cornet of Bavian's River, directing that
officer to inquire into the case; and in the event of the
Hottentot's statement proving correct, to take care that his
property was delivered to him, and that he was allowed to
remove unmolested. The field-cornet having gone to
Bezuidenhout's place with Booy, found the Hottentot's
statement to be perfectly correct. The Boer at once ad¬
mitted the facts ; but instead of yielding obedience to the
magistrate's order, he boldly declared that he considered this
interference between him (a free burgher) and ^^'s Hottentot,
to be a presumptuous innovation upon his rights, and an in¬
tolerable usurpation of tyrannicaT authority. He told the
field-cornet that he set at defiance both himself and the
magistrate who had sent him on this officious errand ; and to
give further emphasis to his words, he fell violently upon poor
Booy, gave him a severe beating, and then bade him go and
tell the civil authorities that he would treat them in the same
igo
NOTES TO THE POEMS.
manner if they should dare to come upon his grounds to
claim the property of a Hottentot.
In elucidation of Bezuidenhout's conduct on this occasion,
it is to be ^remarked that, up to a comparatively recent
period, the Hottentot population within the limits of the
colony had been universally subjected to a state of the most
degrading thraldom, under the African Boers. The laws of
Holland had, indeed, from the earliest occupation of the
country, prohibited the aborigines from being legally sold ;
and in public documents they were occasionally spoken of as a
" free people." But colonial laws, usages, and prejudices had
long combined to reduce this unfortunate race to a state
of actual bondage, in several respects even more wretched
than negro slavery itself. They were, in fact, left entirely in
the power of the white colonists; and in the remoter dis¬
tricts, their own limbs and lives, as well as the disposal of
their children, were practically altogether at their masters'
mercy. In 1809, the Earl of Caledon, who at that time ad¬
ministered the government of the Cape, had made a
benevolent attempt to rescue this class of men from their
abject and unprotected condition, by issuing a proclamation
which, by one of its provisions, deprived the colonists of the
power, so long exercised as a legal and unquestionable right,
of retaining the children of the Hottentots in bondage, under
the name of apprenticeship, until their twenty-fifth year,
and the adults, under other pretexts, often for life. This
proclamation contained several other clauses, framed un¬
questionably with an anxious' desire to improve the condition
and protect the persons and property of this people. Con¬
sidering the state of public feeling, and the progress of just
BEZUIDEMHOUTS REBELLION.
191
views on such subjects, perhaps Lord Caledon's proclamation
was, at that period, an effort in the cause of justice and
humanity, nearly as great as the noble ordinance issued by
General Bourke nineteen years afterwards. But, unhappily
for the Hottentots and for the colony, many of the best
provisions of Lord Caledon's enactment were neutralised by
coercive clauses, admitted at the suggestion of certain pro¬
vincial functionaries, to conciliate the feelings and serve the
selfish views of the privileged classes, and which had a
practical operation which his lordship most undoubtedly
never.intended to sanction. What was still more deplorable.
Sir John Cradock, who succeeded Lord Caledon in the
government, permitted himself to be so far influenced by the
representations of the colonists, that he'rescinded, by another'
proclamation in 1812, the most important clause of Lord
Caledon's enactment—^that, namely, which secured to the
oppressed natives a right to their own children ; and thus
re-established the iniquitous claim of the colonists to force
them into apprenticed servitude, and sealed for sixteen years
longer the degradation of the race.
In this state of things, and with provincial functionaries
in general deeply imbued with the feelings of the other colo¬
nists, the protection of the native race from oppression was
out of the question. When the local magistrate happened to
be, as in the present case, a man of enlightened views and
determined character, a vigorous attempt might occasionally
be made to interfere in defence of the natives, so far as the
colonial law extended its feeble and faltering arm. But the in¬
dignant resentment with which such interference was repelled,
clearly evinces how seldom it had hitherto been efficiently
192
NOTES TO THE POEMS.
exerted. In regard to Bezuidenhout it is, moreover, to be re¬
collected that, ever since the earlier days of colonial anarchy,
which Mr. Barrow has so forcibly depicted, when the Boers
used to murder and mutilate the Hottentots at discretion, he
and his comrades had resided on this wild and secluded part
of the frontier, where colonial legislation in regard to the
aborigines had reached them only by hearsay, and where such
terms as the " rights of the natives" were still treated with
unqualified contempt. The angry defiance, therefore, with
which this rude back-settler met the magistrate's intervention
in behalf of Booy, and the warmth with which his resent¬
ful feelings, as an insulted free burgher, were sympathised
with by a large portion of the neighbouring colonists,
exhibits, in a light equally striking and instructive, the frightful
perversion of moral sentiment in the dominant class by the
uncontrolled exercise of arbitrary power, and the deplorable
condition of the natives who lay prostrate under their feet.
Upon receiving the field-comet's report of Bezuidenhout's
outrageous conduct, the magistrate instituted legal proceedings
against him before the local court. But the Boer treated the
regular summonses that were delivered to him with the same
audacious contempt with which he had repelled the monitory
intervention of the field-cornet; even threatening with per¬
sonal violence the judicial messengers. The case was thus
brought regularly before the Judges of Circuit, at Graaff-
Reinet, in 1815 ; when the defendant, maintaining the same
contumacy, and refusing to appear, he was sentenced to im¬
prisonment for contempt of court.
It now became necessary to act with vigour, or else to
expose the laws and courts of justice to the utter contempt of
BEZUIDENHOUTS REBELLION. 193
the colonists. The under-sheriff was therefore despatched by
Captain Stockenstrom, who had recently been appointed chief
magistrate (landdrost) of the district, to take Bezuidenhout
into custody; and as this audacious burgher had sworn never
to surrender himself, the officer of justice was accompanied by
a military escort to protect him in the execution of his duty.
As soon as Bezuidenhout saw this party approaching his house,
he, with a coolness and determination worthy of a better
cause, betook himself to a cave in a huge rock overhanging
the river, into which he had previously conveyed a large
quantity of powder and ball, together with a supply of pro¬
visions, to stand a siege; and, compelling two young men,
who lived with him, to accompany him, with their arms, he
commenced a brisk fire upon the under-sheriff and the
military. The place was then surrounded ; and, as the des¬
perate Boer would listen to no parley, but continued to shoot
resolutely at every man who came within reach of his long-
barrelled elephant gun (roer), a fire of musketry was opened
against the garrison of the cavern ; the besiegers ensconscing
themselves as well as they could behind the large stones and
ledges of rock that lay around. At length, in Bezuidenhout's
eagerness to get a good aim at one of the assailants, his
person became so much exposed that a ball fired by one of
the Hottentot soldiers from the opposite side of the river, took
effect, and killed him on the spot. Upon this, his two com¬
panions (one of whom was a Bastaard or Mulatto) surrendered
themselves. They were carried to Graaff-Reinet, and com¬
mitted to gaol, but discharged after a short imprisonment.
This affair excited a very great sensation in the country.
A numerous assemblage of the Dutch-African colonists of
O
194
NOTES TO THE POEMS.
Bavian's River, Tarka, and the adjoining sub-districts, was
held at the funeral of the deceased burgher. Great excesses
of inebriety took place; inflammatory speeches were de¬
livered ; and several of the most violent of these colonial
" Patriots," as they termed themselves, took a solemn oath
over the corpse of Bezuidenhout to revenge his death. They
swore to hang Landdrost Stockenstrom, and the Field-
Cornet Opperman whom he had first sent to interfere on be¬
half of the Hottentot, Booy ; and to drive the English troops
and English laws over Bruintjes-hoogtd. Nor did these
feelings of animosity and these insane boastings evaporate
with the fumes of the brandy with which, in appropriate
libations, they had celebrated the obsequies of their hero.
Soon afterwards, a meeting of the disaffected took place on
the Tarka, under the direction of a man named Hendrik
Prinslo, at which their grievances under the laws enacted for
the protection of the native race, and the practicability of
throwing off the yoke, were more fully discussed. A con¬
spiracy was then entered into to bring about a general insurrec¬
tion, and to call in the aid of the Gaffers to assist them in ex¬
pelling the English from the eastern parts of the colony.
The recollection which many of these men retained of the
state of anarchy in which this part of the country had been
kept for several years at the commencement of the present
century, encouraged them in the hope that they should be
enabled, by means of the existing excitement, to restore at
least a similar state of affairs, if not to achieve their entire
independence of the English Government.
These points having been agreed upon, a letter was drawn
up at this meeting, and addressed to one Krugel, residing at
BEZUIDENHOUTS REBELLION.
195
Rhinosterberg in the northern part of the colony, on whom
great reliance was placed by them, calling upon him to excite
the inhabitants of that frontier to take up arms. This letter
was drawn up by one Bothma, who had formerly been
banished thecolony for forgery. It was then signed by Prinslo,
and confided to the charge of two brothers of the name of
MuUer, who had been admitted to the meeting. The
Mullers, however, instead of conveying the letter to Krugel,
proceeded with it to the Field-Commandant Van Wyk, a
man of decided loyalty, who, upon ascertaining the nature of
its contents, hastened to Cradock, and placed it in the hands
of the deputy-landdrost, Mr. Van de Graif. An express was
despatched by this magistrate to the nearest military officer.
Captain Andrews, at Van-Aard's Post, on the Great Fish
River, who immediately sent a party of dragoons to seize
Hendrik Prinslo. They succeeded in surprising and arrest¬
ing him in his father's house, near the site of the present
village of Somerset, before he or any of his party had the
least suspicion that their proceedings had become known to
the authorities.
The conspirators, though greatly disconcerted by the
arrest of their principal leader, did not, however, abandon
their enterprise. A deputation was sent to the Caffer chief
Gaika, with instructions to propose an alliance between him
and the insurgents, for the purpose of expelling the English
from the eastern districts. As a bait to tempt the cupidity
of the African magnate, they offered, in the event of success,
to leave in his possession the Zuureveld (Albany), and other
tracts of territory west of the Great Fish River, from which
the Caffers had been recently expelled by the British troops;
O 2
196
NOTES TO THE POEMS.
whilst they (the Boers) would occupy the country on the Kat
and Koonap streams to the eastward. Gaika, however,
showed himself too good a politician to be thus cajoled by
his old antagonists. He told the deputies that he could not
believe the colonists were serious in their proposal; that he
suspected their design was merely to decoy the Caffers into
the open plains, with the view of more effectually destroying
them ; but that, if they really meant what they said, he con¬
sidered them to be very foolish men, as there was no proba¬
bility of their succeeding in such an attempt; and that
finally, for his own part, he had no inclination to place him¬
self, like a silly deer, between a lion on the one side and a
wolf on the other (the English and the Dutch). He abso¬
lutely refused, therefore, to take any part in the quarrel.
This was not the only quarter in which the anticipations
of the insurgents were doomed to be disappointed. Their
design to raise the northern frontier through the means of
Krugel had miscarried. In their own vicinity they were
scarcely more successful. The Field-Commandant Van
Wyk, a man of talent and intrepidity, and of great influence
in the district, called out the burghers of his division (the
Tarka) on military duty, in order to have them under his
own eye. While thus assembled, Landdrost Stockenstrom,
who, on the first intelligence of the intended revolt, had
posted to the disturbed district, appeared in the midst of
them, and harangued them with so much effect on the mad¬
ness as well as the criminality of those who were treasonably
attempting to organise an armed resistance to the Govern¬
ment, that the evil-disposed (if any were present) were daunted
and the wavering confirmed in their loyalty.
BEZUIDENHOUrS REBELLION.
197
Such was the effect of these combined causes, the pre¬
mature discovery of their designs, the arrest of their prin¬
cipal leader, the refusal of Gaika to co-operate, and the
energy of the local authorities, that the insurgents, when
they drew together, could not muster more than sixty
burghers; and of these the greater proportion were inex¬
perienced hot-headed young men, too ignorant to be able
to form any adequate conception of the power of the
Government which they had thus dared to defy, but which
they were totally incompetent to resist.
This band rode down to Van-Aard's, the nearest military
post, and demanded the release of their captured leader,
Prinslo ; but as Captain Andrews did not think fit to comply,
they retired without venturing upon an assault, and took
possession of a pass which commands the valley of the
Great Fish River, at the eastern termination of the Boschberg
range, immediately below the influx of Bavian's River.
Here they were met, a few days afterwards, by a detachment
of British troops, hastily collected by Colonel Cuyler from
the frontier garrisons, accompanied by a body of their own
countrymen, the burgher militia, under their local officers.
As Colonel Cuyler's force advanced up the hill called
Slaghter's Nek, on the brow of which the insurgents were
posted, the latter were seen shaking hands together, as a
mutual pledge to fight to the last; and there were doubtless
men among them, and especially some of the near relatives
of the deceased Bezuidenhout, of a character sufficiently
resolute and desperate to dare any extremity. But while
they were levelling their long guns to take deadly aim at
the leaders of the advancing troops, and voices were heard
198
NOTES TO THE POEMS.
loudly calling out in Dutch to the loyalist burghers to separate
themselves from the military, in order to prevent bloodshed
between brethren, Captain (afterwards Colonel) Fraser,
ordering his men to halt, advanced alone to hold a parley
with the rebels. A gun was levelled, and a finger was on
the trigger, to seal the fate of this brave and generous officer;
but the weapon was struck down by William Prinslo—^my
future acquaintance, Oroot Willem. Fraser called to their
leaders and others whom he knew personally, and who loved
and respected him. They gathered round him. He ad¬
dressed, them with energy on the folly of their attempting to
resist the overwhelming force which, from more than one
quarter, was advancing towards them ; and on the insanity
of shutting themselves out from all hope of mercy by the
fruitless shedding of blood. They were touched and con¬
vinced by his address. They wavered in their resolution;
and, after a brief consultation, all agreed to surrender,—with
the exception of five of the more desperate delinquents, who
seeing that " the game was up," mounted their horses and
^ fled up Bavian's River. These men were, Hans Bezui-
denhout, brother to the deceased Frederick ; Cornelius Faber,
his brother-in-law; Theunis de Klerk; and Stephanus and
Abraham Bothnia; all deeply concerned in organising the
insurrection. The rest of the band delivered themselves
up to Colonel Cuyler, who disarmed them, and marched
them down to Uitenhage, to wait the orders of the Govern¬
ment.
Meanwhile, Captain Fraser was despatched with a party
of Hottentot dragoons, to arrest the rebels who had fled.
Bezuidenhout and Faber, who resided near the source of
BEZUJDENHOUTS REBELLION.
199
the Bavian's River,* yoked their waggons, and putting their
families and valuables into them, drove out of the valley and
across the upland country towards the frontier, accompanied
by the two Bothmas, and carrying with them their flocks and
herds. Captain Fraser overtook them on the northern side
of the Winterberg, upon one of the sources of the Tarka
River; and, before they were aware of his approach, had
placed his men in such a position as to intercept and sur¬
round them. Faber, who was riding in advance of his
friends, in search of a convenient path for the waggons, first
perceived the troops, and turned to give the alarm; but
another detachment appearing behind, the unhappy fugitives
saw that escape was impossible. Faber then alighted, and
coolly levelled his gun to fire on the party nearest him—but
received at that moment a ball through both shoulders, and
was taken prisoner. The Bothmas were also seized without
offering any serious resistance. But Hans Bezuidenhout^
with a desperate courage, similar to that of his brother
Frederick, deliberately placed himself by the side of his
waggons, and opposed, single-handed, the whole force that
surrounded him. He was repeatedly and urgently invited
to surrender, but obstinately rejected all parley; and the
soldier who approached him with a message was laid dead
on the spot. His wife, a sister of Faber's, was an Amazon
worthy of such a mate. Assisted by her son (a lad of fourteen
years of age), she loaded seven muskets as fast as her hus-
• They occupied lands afterwards included in the Scotch Location. Bezuiden-
hout resided at the spot now called Craig-Rennie ; and Faber had his kraal
alternately at Clifton and Eildon. They lived in rude reed huts, and, excepting
a small vineyard planted by Bezuidenhout, had scarcely made any attempt to
cultivate the soil.
200 NOTES TO THE POEMS.
f
band could fire them off against the enemy, exclaiming," Let
us never be taken alive ! let us die here together !" After
the soldier fell, a volley was poured in upon them, which
severely wounded both Bezuidenhout and his wife ; but they
still continued to fight with undiminished obstinacy, until at
last a mortal shot finished the career of the former, and the
wife, faint from fatigue and the loss of blood, was incapable
of further resistance. The conduct of this woman astonished
every one present. Though desperately wounded, such were
her fury and firmness that she pertinaciously rejected all
assistance from the military surgeon, who had come to dress
Captain Fraser's arm, which had been accidentally fractured
just before the skirmish. Her son, a bold-spirited iad, who
had most courageously assisted his father in the conflict, was
also severely wounded : but both he and the Amazonian
mother ultimately recovered.
The sequel of the affair may be told in a few words. A
Special Commission of the Court of Justice was sent up to
Uitenhage to try the prisoners. Thirty-nine were capitally
convicted ; six were condemned to death J and the rest to
minor punishments. Five were executed on the 9th of
March, 1816, at Van-Aard's Post (Slaghter's Nek), where they
first appeared in open rebellion; namely, Hendrik Prinslo,
Stephanus Bothnia, Faber, De Klerk, and Abraham Bothma.
The sixth prisoner, Krugel, was transported for life. The rest
were condemned towpitness the execution of their comrades ;
after which some of them were set at liberty ; and the others
were punished by fine, forfeiture, imprisonment, or banish¬
ment from the frontier districts, according to their less or
greater share of criminality in these transactions.
LANDDROST STOCKENSTROM.
201
The Dutch-African inhabitants of the Tarka and of the
lower part of Bavian's River, by whom our location was on
three sides environed, consisted in a great measure of the
persons who had been engaged in this wicked and foolish
rebellion, or their family connections, of the names of
Erasmus, Prinslo, Vandernest, Bezuidenhout, Labuscagne,
Engelbrecht, Bothma, Klopper, Malan, De Klerk, Van Dyk,
&c. They had, however, received a lesson not likely to be
soon forgotten ; and we found them very submissive subjects
to the Government, and inoffensive neighbours, so far as we
were concerned.—Author's Narrative.
8.—Captain Harding at Three-Fountains. Page 40.
Captain Harding, now deceased, a very intelligent officer,
who had seen much foreign service, was Deputy-Landdrost
of Cradock at the time of our location, and for several
years afterwards. We had frequent friendly intercourse
with him and his family.
9.—Therds Landdrost Stockenstrom at Graaff-Reinet.
Page 40.
Graaff-Reinet is a handsome country town situated at the
southern base of the Sneeuw Bergen, or Snowy Mountains,
and contains about two thousand inhabitants. Being well
watered by a canal from Sunday River, and the streets
planted with lemon trees, it looks like a green oasis in the
midst of a brown and arid desert. Its prosperity and beauty
are owing, in an eminent degree, to the exertions of the
Stockenstroms, father and son, who were for upwards of
202
NOTES TO THE POEMS.
twenty years resident here as chief magistrates of the district.
My friend, Mr. George Thompson, has given a good descrip¬
tion of the place in his Travels, to which I beg to refer the
reader. We stopped here three days, under the hospitable
roof of Mr. M'Cabe, formerly military surgeon at Roodewal;
during which period I obtained much information respecting
the northern districts of the colony and the wild tribes on
its borders, from the landdrost, Capt. Stockenstrom, the
district clergyman, Mr. Faure, and other intelligent local
functionaries.
We left Graaff-Reinet on the 23rd in company with Jacob
Mard, a respectable burgher of that place, who, with his wife
and two daughters, was also, bound for Cape Town with
waggons. Having placed myself under the experienced
guidance of old Jacob, we ascended the Sneeuwberg by a
long and steep acclivity, proposing to travel for a consider¬
able way along the summit of those mountains, on account of
the excessive drought, and consequent want of water and
pasturage, which prevailed in the Karroo plains below. The
temperature of the Sneeuwberg was at this season very cold,
and all the higher points were covered with snow. The
loftiest peak, called Compass-Berg, is considered, according
to the most accurate estimate yet made, to be 6500 feet above
the level of the sea. The aspect of this elevated region was
bleak, rugged, and bare of wood ; but well watered, and, for
Africa, rich in pasturage. It consists of a sort of plateau or
table-land, rising abruptly from the plains of Camdeboo and
the Karroo in immense buttresses of naked rock ; the ledges
or strata of which, as Mr. Barrow has accurately remarked,
are so perfectly horizontal, and so regularly squared at the
AJV AFRICAN BOER'S RESIDENCE. 203
angles, that but for their vast height and magnitude they
might be taken for gigantic lines of masonry. The upper¬
most stratum consists of sandstone, intermingled at intervals
with quartz : the bases are schists. There is no appear¬
ance of granite. The soil on the summit is a stiff clay,
thickly strewed with loose stones, but bearing, where it can
be irrigated, good crops of wheat and barley.^ There is no
timber, and scarcely a thicket of brushwood throughout the
whole of the Sneeuwberg; so that the inhabitants are mostly
obliged to use for fuel either a very small shrub {Stoebe
rhinocerotis), or the dung of their cattle, dried like turf, and
to bring timber for building either from the coast or from the
forests of Glen-Lynden and the Kaha.
The following day we reached the place of Schalk Burger,
an affluent grazier, where we spent the night. The house,
which was large, substantial, and well-furnished, we found
full of guests, there being not fewer than eight-and-twenty
besides ourselves, all respectable-looking African farmers or
travellers, mostly with their wives and children. How they
were all accommodated I could not easily guess ; but when
1 made some apology for increasing the number of their
visitors, in consequence of the piercing cold wind which pre¬
vented our sleeping in our waggons, the bustling hostess •
assured me, with a smile, that they had abundance of accom¬
modation, and bedding for many more guests. So far as
bedding went, this was certainly the case; for on retiring to
rest I was conducted to a slaap-kamer, containing three
good curtained bedsteads, furnished with two, three, or four
feather-beds each ; but in one of these were already deposited
my wife and her sister. Such, indeed, was not unusually the
204
NOTES TO THE POEMS.
arrangement made for us when we slept (as we sometimes
found it necessary to do) in the houses of the Dutch-African
colonists during our journey. Even in the best houses in the
remote districts, the sleeping apartments are few, and usually
contain two or three beds each. In a country where there are
no inns, and where universal hospitality prevails, the crowding
of one or more entire families into the same bedroom cannot,
perhaps, always be avoided, and, from having become cus¬
tomary, appears not even to be regarded as inconvenient.
It is a custom which indicates both lack of refinement and
great simplicity of manners. A century ago, a state of
things not very widely dissimilar prevailed in the most
respectable farmhouses of Scotland, and still prevails in the
cottages of the peasantry.
We spent the following forenoon with this family, which
furnished a pleasing specimen of the Sneeuwberg farmers,
a class of men of whom Mr. Barrow thirty years ago gave
so favourable a report. After breakfast, some more com¬
pany arrived, whom I found to be neighbours and relatives
come to spend the Sunday with our patriarchal host. We
were soon after invited to attend their religious service in
the hall, round which the whole company were silently
seated ; and 1 was glad to see, what I had never witnessed
on the frontier, that the slaves and Hottentots belonging to
the household were also freely admitted. After singing some
hymns and reading some portions of Scripture, our landlord
addressed the company in an exhortation, apparently ex¬
tempore, of about half an hour in length. It appeared to
me very sensible and appropriate, and was listened to with
every appearance of devout attention.
AN AFHICAN BOER'S RESIDENCE. 205
After this becoming service, all the company sat down
to a plentiful and cheerful repast, consisting chiefly of stewed
meats, according to the Dutch fashion, but very well cooked,
and varied with baked fruits, pastry, pickles, and salads in
abundance. The spoons and some of the other articles
were of silver; the capacious tureens of well burnished
pewter; the plates of China and English delf, with napkins,
&c. There was country wine j but glasses were only placed
for the men, who drank of it very moderately; the women
not at all.
I left them in the afternoon; much pleased with the
good humour and good sense that seemed to prevail among
these rustic inhabitants of the mountains. There was
nothing very Arcadian certainly about them; but their
appearance was decent and comfortable, and their manners
frank, hospitable, and courteous. Notwithstanding the heavy
damage occasioned throughout the district by mildew in the
crops, and recent violent rains, plenty was apparent every¬
where. I afterwards learned, indeed, that our host was one
of the wealthiest, and, at the same time, one of the worthiest
men and best masters in the Sneeuwberg. His " substance"
might almost have rivalled that of Job and Jacob in their
most prosperous days. He possessed eleven plaatzen, or
farm-properties, pastured by 13,000 sheep, and from 2000
to 3000 cattle, besides horses, corn, &c. He had only one
son; and, notwithstanding his unbounded hospitality, had
saved much money ; and this, I was told, he generally lent out
to his poorer neighbours without interest; it being a maxim
with this liberal man, that it is " more profitable to assist
one's friends than to hoard money by usury."
206
NOTES TO THE POEMS.
As an evidence of the simplicity of manners existing among
this class of people, I may mention that, notwithstanding the
wealth of the family and their numerous coloured servants,
S chalk Burger's only son drove himself our waggon with a
team of oxen, with which his father had furnished me for the
next stage, in order to keep my bullocks fresh for the arduous
journey before us.
The hospitality for which the Dutch-African colonists
have always been famed, I found still prevailing unimpaired
in the Sneeuwberg. Not only this family, to whom it
would have been an insult to have offered remuneration of
any sort, but every other I visited in that quarter, positively
refused any compensation for lodging or provisions; while
many of them made us presents of loaves of fine bread,
dried fruits, comfits, &c., although we were perfect strangers
to them, and all that they could know of us was such slight
information as might be furnished by our fellow-travellers,
the Mards.—Author's Narrative.
lo.—Hart, Devenish, Stretch. Page 41.
Half-pay officers, then employed in the superintendence of
Somerset Farm, with all of whom and their families we had
frequent intercourse.
II.—Bird, Sanders, Morgan, Rogers, Pettingal.—Page 41.
Officers stationed at the military posts of Roodewal and
Kaha, or engaged in the Government survey of the neigh¬
bouring country.
SMITH, BROWNLEE, READ.
207
I 2.—The gay-humoured Captain Fox. Page 41.
Captain (now Lieutenant-Colonel) C. R. Fox paid me a visit
in my beehive cabin in 1822 ; and I had the pleasure of in¬
troducing him to a couple of lion-hunters and a " covey of
elephants." Six years afterwards we chanced to meet again
in London, " among books and men," when he repaid me
(how amply I need not add) by seating me at his English
fireside with Sir James Mackintosh and the poet Rogers.
"The tale, brief though it be, as strange.
As full, methinks, of wild and wondrous change.
As any that the wandering tribes require.
Stretched in the desert round their evening fire."
"Hail sweet Society! in crowds unknown.
Though the vain world would claim thee for its own.
Still where thy small and cheerful converse flows.
Be mine to enter ere the circle close.
Where in retreat lays his thunder by.
And Wit and Taste their mingled charms supply;
******
Where genius sheds its evening sunshine round.
Be mine to listen; pleased yet not elate.
Ever too modest or too proud to rate
Myself by my companions, self-compelled
To earn the station that in life I held."
Rogers' Poems.
J 2.— We welcome Smith or Brownlee, grave and good.
Or fervid Read. Page 42.
I feel it to be truly an honour and a privilege to " enter on
my list of friends " these three excellent and meritorious men.
The Rev. Alexander Smith, district clergyman of Uiten-
hage, is a most exemplary Christian pastor : nor know I how
2o8 notes to the eoems.
to express a higher eulogy. Of the Rev. John Brownlee,
Missionary in Cafferland, I shall only say, that I have en¬
deavoured faithfully to portray his character in the sonnet
entitled "The Good Missionary." His valuable Notes on
the Gaffers have been constantly referred to in my chapter
upon that topic.
Mr. Read was the friend and feUow-labourer of Dr.
Vanderkemp; and his services as a missionary among the
Hottentot people have been inestimable. I have had occa¬
sion frequently to mention him in the Narrative. Mr. Read
married a woman of the Hottentot race, and his family are
consequently Mulattoes, a circumstance which in South
Africa still involves a social proscription (though the 50th
Ordinance has swept off all legal disabilities) only inferior to
that existing in the United States : but now that the dragon
Slavery is destroyed, its odious brood, the prejudices of caste
and colour, must ere long also expire. Having on various
occasions been a visitor for several days together in Mr. Read's
house, I am enabled to add, that nothing can be more truly
respectable and becoming than the whole demeanour of Mrs.
Read and her well-educated and intelligent family, all of whom
are now most diligently and successfully occupied in con¬
ducting Infant and Sunday-schools at the Kat River, among
the rescued remnant of their long oppressed brethren.
14.— Comes Philip with his apostolic tent. Page 42.
The Rev. Dr. Philip, Superintendent of the Missions of the
London Missionary Society, and author of " Researches in
South Africa." In his missionary journeys, Dr. Philip used
THE GREAT KARROO.
209
to travel with a tent attached to the tilt of his waggon, to
which the expression in the text refers, and in the shade of
which, seated with him and the missionaries Read and
Srownlee, in the wilds of Bruintjes-hoogt^ and Camdeb6o, I
learned much of the African race which it has been pleasant
and profitable to remember.
15.—Ingenious Wright. Page 42.
The Rev. William Wright (now Dr. Wright), a gentleman
of no ordinary acquirements in Biblical erudition, of which
he has just given a valuable proof in his translation of Seiler's
Hermeneutics or " Art of Biblical Interpretation," with notes.
He resided for ten years at the Cape, in the service of the
Society for the Propagation of the Gospel; and was the
only clergyman of the Church of England in the colony,
during my residence there, who was friendly to the freedom,
or active in promoting the improvement, of the coloured
classes. He founded a school at Wynberg in 1821, and
another at Cape Town in 1822, where free coloured and slave
children were instructed; and he maintained the latter school
entirely at his own expense tmtil it was taken out of his hands
by the colonial government in Oct. 1823.
16.—Afar in the desert I love to ride. Page 48.
The Great Karroo is an arid desert, about three hundred
miles in length, by from seventy to eighty in breadth;
bounded by the Sneeuwberg and Nieuwveld ridges of moun¬
tains on the north, and by the Zwartberg, or Black Mountain
p
2IO
J\rOT£S TO THE POEMS.
ridge, on the south. It is not a sandy plain, and bears
no resemblance to the Sahara, or the Arabian deserts. It
consists of a sort of table-land, or elevated basin, thinly
covered with an argillaceous soil, largely impregnated with
iron, upon a substratum of rock or gravel. Some large
portions of it are perfectly level, but in others the surface
is diversified by slaty hills and eminences, some of which
would appear considerable, save for the lofty mountains
which bound the Karroo on all sides, except towards the
east, where it extends into Camdebdo. Its medium height
above the level of the sea is estimated at about three thou¬
sand feet. It is crossed by many beds of rivers, or rather
torrents, most of which run from north to south, and find
an exit for their waters to the coast through a few breaks
in the southern chains of mountains. These rivers, how¬
ever, are for the greater part of the year either entirely dried
up, or furnish only a few scanty pools, barely sufficient for
the wild animals—zebras, quaggas, ostriches, &c.—which
frequent this inhospitable region. Not unfrequently even
those brackish pools and fountains also fail, as was the case
at the time of our journey; and then the Karroo becomes
almost impassable by man, and a large portion of it unin¬
habitable even by the wild beasts.
In such a region, where rain is rare, and dews almost
unknown, the vegetation must of necessity be a:t all times
extremely scanty ; and in summer, when the sun has dried
the soil to the hardness of brick, it ceases almost entirely.
Except along the courses of the temporary rivers, which
for the most part are marked by a fringe of mimosas, not a
tree, nor a bush, nor a blade of grass, decks the wide expanse
THE GREAT KARROO.
211
of the waste. Low stunted shrubs, resembling heath
numerous species of fig-marigolds and ice-plants {mesem-
bryanthemum), ghanna-bosch {salsold), gorteria^ asters^ &c.;
some sorts of prickly euphorbia, and other succulent plants
and bulbs, whose roots Nature has fortified with a tenfold
net of fibres under the upper rind, to protect them during
the long droughts, are alone able to subsist in the arid
Karroo. During the dry season even these appear to be fpr
the most part parched into a brown stubble, thinly scattered
over the indurated or slaty soil; but in the early spring,
when the ground becomes moistened with the fall of rain,
these plants rushed into vegetation with a rapidity that looks
like enchantment, and in a few days millions of flowers of
the most brilliant hues enamel the earth. It is chiefly at
this season, when the whole dreary waste may be said to be
transformed into a vast flower garden, that the colonists of
the Sneeuwberg, the Nieuwveld, the Bokkeveld, and the
Roggeveld, whose alpine farms are then chilled with keen
frosts and the piercing mountain winds, descend into the
Karroo to pasture their herds and flocks on the short-lived
vegetation.
At the time of our journey no rain had fallen on the
Karroo for upwards of twelve months, so that I saw it under
its most desolate aspect. Not a vestige of green pasturage
was to be descried over the surface of the immense mono¬
tonous landscape; and the low heath-like shrubbery, ap¬
parently as sapless as a worn-out broom, was the only thing
our cattle had to browse on. No wild game was to be seen ;
all had fled apparently to some more hospitable region,
—Author''s Narrative. s ,
P 2
212
JVOTES TO THE POEMS.
17.—By the skirts of grey forests o'er hung with wild vine.
Page 50.
%
On our return to Enon by the valley of the White River, I
visited the forest (properly so termed, as distinguished from
the bosch or jungle) whence the settlement is supplied with
large timber. It grew in a secluded glen or kloof running
up between the subsidiary ridges abutting from the Zureberg,
and was accessible only by a narrow path, cut through the
thickets. The forest itself, like all the woods I have seen in
Africa, was choked up by a rank exuberance of updergrowth
and creepers, to such a degree as to appear quite impene¬
trable until a path had been opened into its recesses by the
axe. Among other parasitical plants, the baviaan's-tow
(baboon's-rope) protruded itself in all directions, in a wild
web of tangled vegetation. Climbing, like ivy, the trunks of
the loftiest trees, it coiled its snake-like creepers along the
branches, stretched them from tree to tree like the cordage of
a ship, or flung them dangling in the air like ladders of
ropes—fitting ladders for the monkeys which inhabit these
woods, and from which adaptation the plant derives its
colonial name. One species of monkey's-rope is the native
vine of South Africa. It bears a fruit in size and appearance
not unlike the large black cherry, seldom more than two or
three in a cluster, and of a very delicate subacid taste. In
summer, when it is in bearing, these clusters have a very
tempting and beautiful appearance, hanging in festoons from
the very summits of the highest yellow-wood trees ; but,
though wholesome, this fruit is rather too acidulent to be
eaten in any quantity, unless when freed from the stone, and
SALT-FANS.
213
sweetened with sugar as a conserve, as one finds it occasionally
in the houses of the colonists. The leaves of this vine are
shaped like those of the ivy, dark green and smooth on the
upper, and rather woolly on the under surface; not deciduous,
but evergreen.
18.—Awaj/y away, in the Wilderness vast. Page 52.
The Desert of Kalihari, north- of the Orange River, and
lying between the countries of the Bechuanas and Damaras,
is said to be for the most part entirely destitute of water, so
that the Bechuanas and Coranas in crossing it are forced
to subsist on a species' of wild water-melon, which grows
abundantly on those arid plains.
19.—The bitter melon for food and drink. Page 52.
The wild water-melon of the Desert is a species of
Coloquintida, and is bitter and pungent to the taste. I have
seen on the skirts of the Karroo a species of prickly
cucumber which is considered edible; and Mr. Burchell
mentions having found in a similar situation the Stafielia
pilifera, a fleshy plant, with a cool and watery taste, which
is much used by the Hottentots for the purpose of quenching
thirst. These and other plants of the same character appear
to be designed, by a beneficent provision of Nature, to
mitigate the defects of climate, being only found in hot and
arid tracts of country.—See Burchell, vol. i. p. 243.
20.—The salt-lake's brink. Page 52.
In the midst of those desolate regions, large lakes or
reservoirs of native salt are frequently found; formed
214
NOTES TO THE TO EMS.
apparently by the heavy rains, which falling once in two or
three years, wash into hollow places the saline particles with
which the neighbouring soil is impregnated. During the
long droughts which ensue, the water is exhaled, and the
dry crystallised salt remains, white as a frozen lake, in the
bosom of the dry parched land.
21.—Stranger, Pm in the world alone ! Page 55-
" Ik ben alleenig in de waereld! " " I'm in the world
alone ! " was the touching expression of Marossi, the Bechuana
orphan boy, in his broken Dutch, when he first fell acci¬
dentally under my protection, at Milk River in Camdebdo, in
September, 1825. He was then apparently about nine or ten
years of age, and had been carried off from his native country
by the Bergenaars. He was sold to a Boer (for an old jacket!)
only a few months previously, when the kraal or hamlet of his
tribe had been sacked by those banditti in the manner de¬
scribed in the text. The other incidents of the poem are also
taken from his own simple narrative, with the exception of his
flying to the desert with a tame springbok—a poetical license
suggested to me by seeing, a few days afterwards, a slave
child playing with a springbok fawn at a Boer's residence.
This little African accompanied my wife and me to
England : and with the gradual development of his feelings
and faculties he became interesting to us in no ordinary
degree. He was indeed a remarkable child. With a great
flow of animal spirits and natural hilarity, he was at the
same time docile, observant, reflective, and always unselfishly
considerate of others. He was of a singularly ingenuous and
BUSHMAN'S CAVES.
215
affectionate disposition; and, in proportion as his reason
expanded, his heart became daily more thoroughly imbued
with the genuine spirit of the Gospel, insomuch that all who
knew him involuntarily and with one consent applied to this
African boy the benignant words of our Saviour—" Of such is
the kingdom of Heaven." He was baptised in 1827, and
took on himself (in conjunction with Mrs. P. and me) his
baptismal vows, in the most devout and sensible manner.
Shortly afterwards he died of a pulmonary complaint, under
which he had for many months suffered with exemplary
meekness.
22.—The Bushman's Cave. Page 66.
We discovered among the rocks of Glen-Lynden two or
three caves, or rather dens, which bore the obvious traces of
having formerly afforded shelter or concealment to the Bush¬
man race, by whom the whole of this district appears, at no
very remote period, to have been inhabited. On the sides
of those caverns or overhanging rocks many of the rude
paintings of the Bushmen are still visible. They are executed
chiefly with a sort of red ochre; and represent with con¬
siderable spirit herds of various wild animals, and the hunters
in pursuit of them. The paintings of the Bushmen are well
described in Mr. Barrow's Travels.
23.— Whose slender sprays above the flood
Suspend the loxia's callow brood. Page 67.
Passing over the other feathered tribes, from the magni¬
ficent eagles of the Winterberg to .the tiny but brilliant-
2I6
NOTES TO THE POEMS.
plumed family of sugar-birds {NectarinicE), which flutter like
insects round the blossoms, I shall mention only in passing
the singular contrivances of those species of the weaver-bird
which suspend their nests from the branches of trees. The
object of this precaution is obviously to secure their offspring
from the assaults of their numerous enemies, particularly the
serpent race. To increase the difficulty of access to these
" tree-rocked cradles," they usually impend over a river or
precipice, while the entrance is always from below,- and
frequently through a cylindrical passage of twelve or fifteen
inches in length, projecting from the spherical nest, exactly
like the tube of a chemist's retort. The whole fabric is most
ingeniously and elegantly woven of a species of very tough
grass; and the wonderful instinct or foresight (or whatever
else we may choose to call it) displayed by the little architect
in its construction is calculated to excite the highest admira¬
tion. I have often seen twenty or more of these beautiful
nests hanging from a single tree.
24.—Mount! mount 1 for the hunting with musket and spear j
Call our friends to thefield, for the lion is near. Page 7 2.
In these verses I have attempted simply to express tlie
genuine feelings of a rough African huntsman, and to describe
the lion and his pursuers precisely as I have myself seen
them. The individuals named are all of my own acquain¬
tance ; and the scenery is sketched from Nature. In illustra¬
tion of the subject I shall subjoin descriptions of two lion
hunts. The first is a passage from my own journal while a
settler on the eastern frontier of the colony, in April, 1822.
LION-HUNTING.
217
I was then residing on my farm or " location " at Bavian's
River, in the neighbourhood of which numerous herds of
large game, and consequently beasts of prey, are abundant.
One night a lion that had previously purloined a few sheep
out of my kraal, came down and killed my riding horse, about
100 yards from the door of my cabin. Knowing that the
lion, when he does not carry off his prey, usually conceals
himself in the vicinity, and is very apt to be dangerous by
prowling about the place in search of more game, I resolved
to have him destroyed or dislodged without delay. I there¬
fore sent a messenger round the location, to invite all who
were willing to assist in the enterprise, to repair to the place
of rendezvous as soon as possible. In an hour every man of
the party (with the exception of two pluckless fellows who
were kept at home by the women) appeared ready mounted
and armed. We were also reinforced by about a dozen of
the " Bastaard " or Mulatto Hottentots, who resided at that
time upon our territory as tenants or herdsmen—an active and
enterprising, though rather an unsteady, race of men. Our
friends the Tarka Boers, many of whom are excellent lion-
hunters, were all too far distant to assist us—our nearest
neighbours residing at least twenty miles from the location.
We were, therefore, on account of our own inexperience,
obliged to make our Hottentots the leaders of the chase.
The first point was to track the lion to his covert. This
was effected by a few of the Hottentots on foot. Commencing
from the spot where the horse was killed, they followed the
spoor through the grass and gravel and brushwood with
astonishing ease and dexterity, where an inexperienced eye
could discern neither footprint nor mark of any kind—until
2i8
NOTES TO THE POEMS.
at length, we fairly tracked him into a large bosch, or
straggling thicket of brushwood and evergreens about a mile
distant.
The next object was to drive him out of this retreat, in order
to attack him in a close phalanx, and with more safety and
effect. The approved mode in such cases is to torment him
with dogs till he abandons his covert, and stands at bay in
the open plain. The whole band of hunters then march
forward together, and fire deliberately, one by one. If he
does not speedily fall, but grows angry and turns upon his
enemies, they must then stand close in a circle, and turn their
horses rear outwards ; some holding them fast by the bridles,
while the others kneel to take a steady aim at the lion as he
approaches, sometimes up to the very horses' heels—crouch¬
ing every now and then, as if to measure the distance and
strength of his enemies. This is the moment to shoot him
fairly in the forehead, or some other mortal part. If they
continue to wound him ineffectually till he waxes furious and
desperate ; or if the horses, startled by his terrific roar, grow
frantic with terror, and burst loose, the business becomes
rather serious, and may end in mischief, especially if all the
party are not men of courage, coolness and experience. The
frontier Boers are, however, generally such excellent marks¬
men, and withal so cool and deliberate, that they seldom fail
to shoot him dead, as soon as they get within a fair distance.
In the present instance, we did not manage matters quite
so scientifically. The Bastaards, after recounting to us all
these and other sage laws of lion-hunting, were themselves the
first to depart from them. Finding that the few indifferent
hounds we had made little impression on the enemy, they
LION-HUNTING.
219
divided themselves into two or three parties, and rode round
the jungle, firing into the spot where the dogs were barking
round him—^but without effect. At length, after some hours
spent in thus beating about the bush, the Scottish blood of
some of my countrymen began to get impatient, and three of
them announced their determination to march in and beard
the lion in his den, provided three of the Bastaards (who
were superior marksmen) would support them, and follow up
their fire should the enemy venture to give battle. Accord¬
ingly in they went, in spite of the warnings of some more
prudent men among us, to within fifteen or twenty paces of
the spot where the animal lay concealed. He was couched
among the roots of a large evergreen bush, with a small space
of open ground on one side of it, and they fancied, on ap¬
proaching, that they saw him distinctly lying-glaring at them
from under the foliage. Charging the Bastaards to stand
firm and level fair should they miss, the Scottish champions
let fly together, and struck—not the lion, as it afterwards
proved, but a great block of red stone, beyond which he was
actually lying. Whether any of the shot grazed him is un¬
certain, but, with no other warning than a furious growl,
forth he bolted from the bush. The pusillanimous Bastaards,
instead of now pouring in their volley upon him, instantly
turned and fled helter-skelter, leaving him to do his pleasure
upon the defenceless Scots—^who, with empty guns, were
tumbling over each other in their hurry to escape the clutches
of the rampant savage. In a twinkling he was upon them
—and with one stroke of his paw dashed the nearest to the
ground. The scene was terrific. There stood the lion, with
his foot upon his prostrate foe, looking round in conscious
220
NOTES TO THE POEMS,
power and pride upon the bands of his assailants, and with
a port the most noble and imposing that can be conceived.
It was the most magnificent thing I ever witnessed. The
danger of our friends, however, rendered it at the moment too
terrible to enjoy fully either the grand or the ludicrous part
of the picture. We expected every instant to see one or
more of them torn in pieces; nor, though the rest of our
party were standing within fifty paces with their guns cocked
and levelled, durst we fire for their assistance. One was
lying under the lion's paw, and the others scrambling towards
us in such a way as to intercept our aim at him. All this
passed far more rapidly than I have described it. But
luckily the lion, after steadily surveying us for a few seconds,
seemed willing to be quits with us on fair terms ; and with a
fortunate forbearance (for which he met but an ungratpful
recompense) turned calmly away, and driving the snarling
dogs like rats from among his heels, bounded over the
adjoining thicket like a cat over a footstool, clearing brakes
and bushes twelve or fifteen feet high, as readily as if they
had been tufts of grass,—and abandoning the jungle, retreated
towards the mountains.
After ascertaining the state of our rescued comrade (who
fortunately had sustained no other injury than a slight scratch
on the back, and a severe bruise in the ribs, from the force with
which the animal had dashed him to the ground), we renewed
the chase with Hottentots and hounds in full cry. In a short
time we again came up with the enemy, and found him stand¬
ing at bay under an old mimosa tree by the side of a moun¬
tain stream, which we had distinguished by the name of
Douglas Water. The dogs were barking round, but afraid to
LION-HUNTING.
221
approach him, for he was now beginning to growl fiercely, and
to brandish his tail in a manner that showed he was medi¬
tating mischief. The Hottentots, by taking a circuit between
him and the mountain, crossed the stream and took a position
on the top of a precipice overlooking the spot where he stood.
Another party of us occupied a position on the other side of
the glen j and placing the poor fellow thus between two fires,
which confused his attention and prevented his retreat, we
kept battering away at him till he fell, unable again to
grapple,with us, pierced with many wounds.
He proved to be a full-grown lion of the yellow variety,
about five or six years of age. He measured nearly twelve
feet from the nose to the tip of the tail. His fore-leg below
the knee was so thick that I could not span it with both
hands; and his neck, breast and limbs appeared, when the
skin was taken off, a complete congeries of sinews. His head,
which seemed as large and heavy as that of an ordinary ox,
I caused to be boiled for the purpose of preserving the skull,*
and tasted the flesh from curiosity. It r esembled very white
coarse beef—rather insipid, but without any disagreeable
flavour.
Our neighbours, the Nimrods of the Tarka, disapproved
highly of our method of attacking this lion in the bush, and
said it was a wonder he did not destroy a few of us. They
were highly diverted with the discomfiture of our three
champions, and the story of "Jan Rennie en de Leeuw" still
continues to be one of their constant jokes against the
* The skin of this lion, after being rudely tanned by the Hottentots, was,
together with the skull, transmitted to Sir Walter Scott, as a testimony of
grateful regard from some of his countrymen in South Africa.
222
NOTES TO THE POEMS.
Scotchmen. This is all fair, and it forms a just counterpoise
in favour of our good-humoured neighbours, when the
Scottish farmers quiz them too unmercifully about their
uncouth agriculture and antediluvian ploughs and harrows.
Another hunting adventure, in which some of the Scottish
settlers, together with a small party of English gentlemen
and African Boers, were engaged in December 1825, is de¬
tailed in a pleasant little volume abstracted from the letters
and journals of my amiable and intelligent friend, Mr. Philipps
of Glendour, in Albany. It is entitled " Scenes and Occur¬
rences in Albany and Cafferland ;" and is a volume full of
adventure and anecdote, and of amusing information relative
to the wild animals and the native tribes of Southern
Africa. After describing the rousing of a lion by the party,
in a wild desert plain near the Zwart-Kei River, in the
country of the Amatymbae or Tambookie Gaffers, the author
continues :—
" The lion abandoned the grove of mimosas, and we followed
him in full cry across the open plain. The Tambookies,
who had just come up and mixed among us, could scarcely
clear themselves of our horses ; and their dogs, howling and
barking—^we hallooing—the lion in full view, making for a
small copse about a mile distant, and the great number and
variety of antelopes on our left, scouring off in different
directions, formed altogether one of the most animatirfg
spectacles that the annals of sporting could produce.
" Diederik Muller and Lieutenant Sheppard being on very
spirited horses, were the foremost. Christian gave the
signal to dismount when we were about 200 yards from the
copse. He desired us to be quick in tying the horses.
LION-HUNTING.
223
which was done as fast as each came up; and now there was
no retreating. We were on lower ground than the lion, with
not a bush around- us. The plan was to advance in a body,
leaving our horses with the Hottentots, who were to keep
their backs towards the lion, for fear they should become
unruly at the sight of him.
" These preparations occupied only a few seconds, and
they were not completed when we heard him growl, and
imagined he was making off again. But no!—as if to
retrieve his character from suspicion of cowardice for his
former flight, he had made up his mind to attack us in his
turn. To the growl succeeded a roar, and in the same
instant we beheld him bearing down upon us, his eyeballs
glistening with rage. We were unprepared—his motion
was so rapid, no one could take aim, and he furiously darted
at one of our horses, whilst we were at their heads, without
a possibility of preventing it. The poor horse sprang forward,
and with the force of the action wheeled all the other horses
round with him. The lion likewise wheeled, but immediately
couched at less than ten yards from us. Our left flank thus
became exposed; but on it fortunately stood Christian
Muller and Mr. G. Rennie. What an anxious moment !
For a few seconds we beheld the monster at this little
distance meditating, as it were, on whom he should first
spring. Never did I long so ardently to hear the report of a
gun. We looked at them aiming, and then at the lion. It
was absolutely necessary to give him a mortal shot, or the
consequences might be fatal to some of the party. A second
seemed a minute. At length Christian fired. The under
jaw of the lion dropped, blood gushed from his mouth, and
224
NOTES TO THE POEMS.
he turned round with a view to escape. Mr. Rennie then
shot him through the spine, and he fell.
"At this moment he looked grand beyond expression.
Turning towards us, he rose upon his fore-feet, his mouth
gushing blood, his eyes flashing vengeance. He attempted
to spring at us, but his hind-legs denied him aid. He
dragged them a little space, when Stephanus put a final
period to his existence, by shooting him through the brain.
He was a noble animal, measuring nearly twelve feet from
the nose to the tip of the tail."
The brothers Diederik and Christian Muller (Dutch
African Boers), and their' comrade in arms, Mr. George
Rennie (one of the Scottish settlers), are three of the most
adventurous and intrepid lion-hunters in South Africa. The
Scotchman and the Africans have become almost inseparable
associates, and often g© on hunting expeditions for weeks
together into the wilderness; sometimes subsisting for
several days, in lack of other prey, upon the wild honey of
the rocks and woods. Just before I finally left that part of
the colony on my return to England in 1826, Diederik
Muller, as a mark of his regard to me, went out and shot a
lion, and sent me the skin and skull as a farewell present.
✓ *
25.—Slinger, and Allie and Dikkop and Dugal. Page 72.
Slinger, Allie, and Dikkop were Hottentot servants on
the location. Dugal was a Bushman lad, placed under
my charge by Landdrost Stockenstrom in 1820. He was
but partially tamed^ poor fellow, and used to take himself
off to the wilds, occasionally, for two or three days at
SIC ANA'S SACRED HYMN.
225
a time ; but always returned when he tired of the veld-kost
(country food, i.e. wild roots). I named him Dugal after
Sir Walter Scott's " Son of the Mist" of that name.
26.—The tall giraffe stoops down to drink. Page 76.
On conversing with some of the Bechuana chiefs respecting
the characters and habits of the wild animals which inhabit
their country, they stated that the lion occasionally surprises
the camelopard or giraffe, when the latter comes to drink at
the pools or fountains ; and that owing to the amazing power
of that magnificent animal, he is sometimes carried away
fifteen or twenty miles before his victim sinks under him.
Anecdotes of this sort have, I believe, been formerly mentioned
by travellers, and have been considered incredible ; but the
evidence of my informant, old Teysho, one of the most
intelligent chiefs of the Bechuanas who visited me in the
colony, will probably be admitted as at least sufficient for
poetical authority.
27.—Sicdna's ancient ground. Page 81.
Sicdna, a secondary chief, or captain of a Caffer hamlet, at
the Kat River, was one of the converts of the missionary
"VVilliahis. This remarkable man composed the first
Christian hymn, or sacred song, ever expressed in his
native tongue ; and after the decease [of his teacher, he con¬
tinued to instruct his followers in the blessed truths he had
learned, until his own death.—(See Philip's Researches, vol.
ii. p. 186.)
Q
Z26
NOTES TO THE POEMS.
Sicina's Hymn, which I first heard sung to a plaintive
native air, by some Christian Gaffers who visited me at Glen-
Lynden in 1825, was printed the following year in the New
Monthly Magazine, from a copy, with which I was furnished
by Mr. Brownlee. It has been repeatedly reprinted since, as
a curious specimen of a language remarkable for its euphonic
rhythm, and for the peculiarities of its construction. Nor is
it without great interest also in other respects. I now give it,
with a literal translation, in which I have had the assistance
of my ingenious and learned friend the Rev. Dr. Wright,
who studied the language in the native hamlet of the Amakdsa.
Ulinguba Inkulu siambata Una,
Ulodali bomi uadali pezula,
Umdala, uadala, idala izula,
Yehinza inquinquis zixeliela;
Utiko Utnkulu gozizuline,
Yebinza inquinquis, Noziliniilb,
Utnzi uakonana subiziele,
Umkokeli ua sikokeli Una,
Uenze infama zenza ga bomi.
Itnali inkula, subiziele;
Wena wena q'aba inyaniza,
Wena wena kaka linyaniza,
Wena wena klati linyaniza.
Invena inh'inani sibiziele;
Ugaze laku ziman'heba wena,
Usanhla zaku ziman'heba wena;
Umkokeli ua, sikokeli Una,
Ulodali bomi uadali pezula,
Umdala, uadala, idala izula.
0 thou Great Mantle which envelopes
us.
Creator of the light which is formed in
the heavens.
Who framed and fashioned the heavens
themselves,
Who hurled forth the ev?r-twinkling stars :
O Thou Mighty God of Heaven.
Who whirlest round the stars—the Plei¬
ades,
In Thy dwelling place on Thee we call.
To be a leader and a guide to us.
O Thod who to the blind givest light.
Our great treasure, on Thee we call;
For Thou, O Thou art the true rock;
Thou, 0 Thou art the true shield;
Thou, O Thou art the true covert.
On Thee, O holy Lamb, we call.
Whose blood for us was sprinkled forth.
Whose hands for us were pierced;
0 be Thou a leader and a guide to us.
Creator of the light which is formed in
the heavens.
Who framed and fashioned the heavens
themselves.
THE CORANNAS.
227
It is singular that the word Nozilimile, or Izilim^le, the
Pleiades, in the above hymn, signifies literally the Culti¬
vators j because the Caffers begin to plant their millet at the
season when this constellation assumes a certain position in
the southern hemisphere. This reminds us of the expression
in Job, " Canst thou bind the sweet influences of PleiadesT
The tribes now known to speak, with but slight dialectic vari¬
ations, the language of which the above is a specimen, are
computed to amount to at least 650,000 souls, besides innumer¬
able hordes farther in the interior, who are supposed to speak
the same tongue, but with whom Europeans have not yet come
into contact. By the persevering labours of these mission¬
aries, exerted in brotherly competition in this good work,
nearly the whole of both the Old and New Testaments have '
now been translated into the Gaffer tongue, together with a
copious vocabulary, and some elementary school-books and
tracts.
28.—Fast by his wild resounding river.
The listless Goran lingers ever. Page 84-
The Corannas are a tribe of independent Hottentots
inhabiting the banks of the Gariep, or Great Orange River,
They are a mild, indolent, pastoral people, subsisting chiefly
on the milk of their goats and cows, and by occasional
hunting. Their arms are similar to those of the Bushmen,—
assegais and poisoiled arrows. In seasons of continued
drought, or when plundered of their cattle by the Bushmen,
or by the bands of banditti of Bastaard lineage, who at
times infest their country, they are occasionally reduced to
Q 2
228
NOTES TO THE POEMS.
extreme destitution, and are forced, like the Bushmen, to
subsist on wild roots, ants, and locusts. On such occasions
they are accustomed to wear a leathern band bound tightly
round their middle, which they term the " girdle of famine."
The "Arabs of the Desert" are said to employ a similar
contrivance to alleviate the pangs of hunger, and call it " the
girdle of emptiness."
29.—The free born Kosa. Page 86.
That tribe of Caffers whose territory is now divided from
the colony by the river Keisi, or Keiskamma, are, in their
own language, designated the Ama&bsa, and their country
Amakostna. These are collective terms, formed from the
word Kosa, which denotes an individual of the tribe, by
adding the prefix ama, according to the regular usage of
their language. The Chumi, Deb^, and Kalumna, are border
streams in the Amakosa territory.
30.— With fragrant hoards of honey-bee
Rifled from the hollow tree. Page 86.
In the country of the Amakosa wild honey is found
plentifully, and the natives very frequently avail themselves
of the assistance of the Honey-bird, or Bee-cuckoo {Cuculus
indicator^, in searching for it. This bird, which is of a
cinereous colour, and somewhat larger than the common
sparrow, is well known in South Africa for its extraordinary
faculty of discovering the hives or nests of the wild bees,
which in that country are constructed either in hollow trees.
THE HONEY-BIRD.
229
in crevices of the rocks, or in holes in the ground. Being
extremely fond of honey, and of the bees' eggs, or larvae,
and at the same time unable, without assistance, to obtain
access to the bee-hives. Nature has supplied the Indicator
with the singular instinct of calling to its aid certain other
animals, and especially man himself, to enable it to attain its
object. This is a fact long ago established on the authority
of Sparrman, Vaillant, and other scientific travellers in
Southern Africa.
With the habits of this curious bird I was myself acquainted
during my residence in the interior of the Cape colony, and
have often partaken of wild honey procured by its guidance.
It usually sits on a tree by the wayside, and when any
passenger approaches, greets him with its peculiar cry of
cJierr-a-cherr! cherr-a-cherr! If he shows any disposition
to attend to its call, it flies on before him, in short flights,
, from tree to tree, till it leads him to the spot where it knows
a bee-hive to be concealed. It then sits still and silent till
he has extracted the honeycomb, of which it expects a
portion as its share of the spoil; and this share the natives
who profit by its guidance never fail to leave it.
Sparrman states that the Ratel, or Honey-badger {Gulo
mellivorus) avails itself of the help of this bird to discover
the retreat of those bees that build their nests in the ground,
and shares with it in the plunder of them. Some of the
Hottentots assert, also, that to obtain access to the hives in
hollow trees, the Honey-bird sometimes calls to its aid the
Woodpecker, a bird which finds in the larvae, or young bees,
a treat as enticing to its taste as the honey is to that of its
ingenious associate. I cannot vouch, on my own knowledge.
230
NOTES TO THE POEMS.
for the truth of the latter statement; but as it seems quite in
conformity with the general habits of this singular bird, it
may, at all events, be admitted as sufficient poetical authority
for the following little fable, which, .though written only for
juvenile readers, has a moral serious enough to entitle it to
a place among these African notices :—
« The Honey-bird sat on the yellow-wood tree.
And aye he was singing—" Cherr-cherr-a, cu-coo-la ! "
A-watching the hive of the blithe Honey-bee,
" Cherr-a-cherr, cherr-a-cherr, cherr-a cu-coo-la!"
The bee-hive was built in the hollow-tree bole,
" Cherr-a-cherr, cherr-a-cherr, cherr-a cu-coo-la I "
Without any entrance but one little hole,
" Cherr-a-cherr, cherr-a-cherr, chert-a cu-coo-la I"
The Bees they flew in, and the bees they flew out,
"Boom-a-boo, /oom-a-boo, boom-a-buzz-zoola I"
And they seemed to buzz round with a jeer and a flout,
"Boom-a-boo, foom-a-boo, boom-bom-a-boo-la I"
But the Honey-bird swore by the Aasvogel's* bill,
" Cherr-a-cherr, Aasvogel, gobb-a gob-oo-la ! "
Of their honeycomb he would soon gobble his fill,
" Cherr-a-cherr, cherr-a-cherr, gobble-a-goola ! "
So he flew to the Woodpecker—" Cousin," quoth he,
" Cherr-a-cherr, cherr-a-cherr, cherr-a cu-coo-la!
Come help me to harry the sly Honey-bee,
Cherr-a-cherr, Wood-peck-er, cherr-a chop-hoola I"
Says the Woodpecker gravely, "To rob is a crime,
Tic-a-iac, tic-a-tac, chop-at-a-hoola—
Besides, I hate honey, and cannot spare time,
Tic-a-tac, tic-a-tac, snap-at-a-snoolal"
* Aasvogel, the Vulture. One of the most common species in South Africa is
the Percnopterus, the Sacred Vulture of the Egyptians.
THE HONEY-BIRD'S SONG.
231
Quoth the Honey-bird, " Cousin, reflect, if you please,
Cherr-a-cherr, cherr-a-cherr, cherr-a cu-coo-la!
The honey-comb's half full of juicy young bees,
Cherr-a-cherr, cherr-a-cherr, gobble-a-^oolal"
**Ha! ha!" cries the Woodpecker, "that's a strong plea—
Tic-a-tac, tic-a-tac, tac-at-a-foola I
I 'now see the justice of robbing the Bee—
Tic-a-tac, tic-a-tac, snap-at-a-snoola I
"They're a j^olypode race, and have poisonous stings—
Tic-a-tac, tic-a-tac, chcp-at-a-hoolal
And then they're but insects—and insects are things—
Tic-a-tac, tic-a-tac, sna^-at-a-snoola!"
So the bee-hive was harried ; and, after their toil,
"Cherr-a-cherr," "tic-a-tac," "snap-at-a-snoolai"
The jolly birds jested while parting the spoil,
" Cherr-a-cherr," " tic-a-tac," "gobble-a-goola ! "
"Poor Pigeons may prate about Natural Rights,"
Quoth the Honey-bird, " Coorr-a-moc, coor-a-mur-roo-ra I"—-
" But the merry Owl mocks such Poetical Flights,"
Quoth the Woodpecker,—" Hu-hu-hoo I tu-whit I tu-whoor-r-al"
While thus with pungent jibe and jest
The friends gave relish to their feast.
Suddenly burst on their ear
Sounds of tumult, fury, fear—
The rush of steeds, the musket's rattle.
The female shriek, the shout of battle.
The bellowing of captured cattle.
—Flew the startled birds on high,
Of this rout the cause to spy.
Perched upon the topmost bough.
Quoth Cuculus, " I see it now:
Those unfeathered bipeds. Men,
Are at their bloody work again;
Dutch and British in a band
Are come to rifle Cafferland.
Lo, like bees around their hive.
The dusky Amakosa strive ;
232
NOTES TO THE POEMS.
But they buzz and sting in vain.
The honey-nest—the kraal is ta'en :*
Young and old in death are lying.
And the harried swarm are flying;
While around the cattle pen'
Loudly laugh the ' Christian men !'
How can Dutch or English care
For Africans with woolly hair?
What care they who dies or lives?
They have got the bonny beeves.
And, to hallow this day's work.
They'll tithe the spoil to build a kirk ! +
—Faugh ! I hate that smell of blood.
Let us down into the wood—
Let us back imto our feast—
We'is no hypocrites at least !"
* The comparison of a Gaffer kraal to a "honey-nest" is borrowed from
colonial phraseology: and my friend John Tzatzoe, the Christian Caffer chief,
gives the following illustration of its application:—In the close of 1816 or
beginning of 1817, when the colonial government was in amity and alliance with
Gaika, a commando was sent into Cafferland to attack Islambi. A letter was
written to Mr. Williams the missionary, then settled under Gaika's protection at
the Kat River, desiring him to apprise Gaika that the commando was entering the
country, but that neither Gaika nor any of his adherents were the objects of ft,
but his enemy Islambi. The expedition accordingly marched in the direction of
Islambi; but they found that chief so well prepared to give them a warm
reception, that the Boers, who formed a principal part of the commando, became
frightened, and said to the commander. Major Fraser, "You should never
attack a honey-nest behind, but always in front. If we go farther into
Cafferland, Slhambi may cut us off; let us attack Gaika in front." Major
Fraser, says Tzatzoe, weakly allowed himself to be persuaded. The commando
suddenly turned, and fell upon Gaika's kraals, along the Kat and Koonap rivers;
killed one of Gaika's chiefs, and one chief and seven men of Enno's clan, and
swept off an immense number of cattle.—See South African Advertiser for
November 17, 1832, and March 10, 1833.
f Colonel Brereton's commando in 1818 plundered the Caffers of more than
23,000 head of cattle. A large number of these cattle were sold, and 3000 rix-
dollars of the proceeds were allotted to build a church at Uitenhage. This con¬
secrated fund was, however, afterwards devoted by the local authorities to a
different purpose.
DROVES OF SPRINGBOKS.
233
31.—The honey-mead^ the millet-ale. Page 87.
A sort of mead, called honey-beer by the Hottentots, and
boialloa by the Bechuanas, is used both by these tribes and
the Caffers. Of millet beer or ale the Gaffers have two kinds,
the common sort termed chaloa^ and the stronger inguya.
The millet {sorghum) is first carefully malted, afterwards
boiled in large earthen pots, and then regularly fermented
with the aid of a root, which appears greatly to increase the
inebriating effects of the liquor. This native beverage is
used on all festive occasions, when war-songs of the most
exciting character, and recited with much gesticulation, form
usually one of the chief entertainments.
32.—The countless springboks are my flock,
Spread o'er the boundless plain. Page 89.
The springbok {Antilope pygargd) has been frequently
mentioned with admiration by travellers and naturalists;
but the immense migratory swarms of these animals which
occasionally pour themselves like a deluge from the Bush¬
men territory upon the northern frontiers of the colony
have never been so vividly described as by my friend Capt.
Stockenstrom, the able and intelligent landdrost of Graaflf-
Reinet. In a letter addressed to me in February, 1824, and
which was then published in The South African Journal,
and afterwards appended as a note to Mr. Thompson's
Travels, Capt. S. (himself a native of the country) thus de¬
scribes scenes which he had often personally witnessed :—
" It is scarcely possible for a person passing over some of
234
I\rOT£S TO THE POEMS.
the extensive tracts of the interior, and admiring that elegant
antelope, the springbok, thinly scattered over the plains, and
bounding in playful innocence, to figure to himself that these
ornaments of the desert can often become as destructive as
the locusts themselves. The incredible numbers which
sometimes pour in from the north, during protracted
droughts, distress the farmer inconceivably. Any attempt at
numerical computation would be vain ; and by trying to
come near the truth, the writer would subject himself in the
eyes of those who have no knowledge of the country to a sus¬
picion that he was availing himself of a traveller's assumed
privilege. Yet it is well known in the interior that on the
approach of the Trek-bokken (as these migratory swarms
are called) the grazier makes up his mind to look for pasture
for his flocks elsewhere, and considers himself entirely dis¬
possessed of his lands until heavy rains fall. Every attempt
to save the cultivated fields, if they be not enclosed by high
and thick hedges, proves abortive. Heaps of dry manure
(the fuel of the Sneeuwbergen and other parts) are placed
close to each other round the fields, and set on fire in the
evening, so as to cause a dense smoke, by which it is hoped
the antelopes will be deterred from their inroads; but the
dawn of day exposes the inefficacy of the precaution, by
showing the lands, which appeared proud of their promising
verdure the evening before, covered with thousands, and
reaped level with the ground. Instances have been known
of some of those prodigious droves passing, through flocks of
sheep, and numbers of the latter, carried along with the tor¬
rent, being lost to their owners, and becoming a prey to the
wild beasts. As long as these droughts last their inroads
THE STORY OF MAKANNA.
23s
and depredations continue ; and the havoc committed upon
them is of course great, as they constitute the food of all
classes; but no sooner do the rains fall, than they disappear,
and in a few days become as scarce on the northern borders
as in the more protected districts of Bruintjes-hoogtd and
Camdebdo.
33,—MakanncCs Gathering. Page 92.
Makanna, commonly known in the Cape colony by the
name of Lynx, was a Gaffer of extraordinary talents and ad¬
dress. By means of his powerful eloquence, and his preten¬
sions to a prophetic mission from heaven, he acquired an
amazing influence among his countrymen ; insomuch that,
though originally of low rank, he at length obtained a com¬
plete control over the counsels of the Amakdsa chiefs,—with
the exception of Gaika (the chief acknowledged by the
colonial government), who hated and avoided him. He was
consulted by the elders and warriors of the nation in every
affair of importance ; received numerous presents ; collected
a large body of retainers; and was acknowledged as a
powerful chief as well as a gifted prophet.
At first, he appeared to be friendly towards the English,
and often visited their head-quarters at Graham's Town to
converse with the officers. He also received with kindness
the Christian missionaries, who visited him in Cafferland in
i8i6; listened to them with earnestness, and assured them
of his protection, if they would settle in the country to in¬
struct the people. But in 1818, an internal war having
broken out between Gaika and the other Caffer chiefs, the
236
NOTES TO THE POEMS.
colonial government thought fit to interfere in behalf of the
former ; and Lieutenant-Colonel Brereton was sent over the
Great Fish River with a powerful commando, or predatory
band, who ravaged the lands of Makanna and his con¬
federates Slhambi, Jaluhsa, Habanna, Congo, &c., burned
their villages, drove the inhabitants into the woods, and
carried off about 20,000 head of cattle.
This unprovoked and cruel incursion roused the indigna¬
tion of the injured clans to the highest pitch ; for many of
their women and old people had been slain by the colonial
troops in the thickets, or were "perishing of famine, by being
deprived of their only means of subsistence. Their fields
of millet had been destroyed and their ijiilch cows carried
away by the " Christians."
Makanna roused them to revenge, and taught them how
to obtain it. Directed by his counsels, the Caffers poured
themselves into the colony en masses and in a few weeks
drove the frontier colonists from their farms, carried back a
great number of cattle, and cut off several military outposts,
and small parties of European troops. At length, em¬
boldened by success, and excited to enthusiasm by the eloquent
appeals and favourable predictions of their prophet, the
Amakdsa chiefs united their forces to attack Graham's Town,
the head-quarters of the British troops.
On this occasion, Makanna is said to have addressed the
warriors in an animating speech, the leading topics of which
I have briefly hinted in the verses to which this note has re¬
ference. He told them that he was sent by Uhlanga, the
Great Spirit, to avenge their wrongs ; that he had power to
call the spirits of heaven and the ghosts of their fathers to
ATTACK ON GRAHAM'S TOWN.
237,
assist them in battle against the English, and to turn the
hailstorm of their firearms into water. "To battle! To
battle ! then," cried the prophet ; " let us drive these
accursed white men beyond the Zwartkops River, and into
the ocean ; and then we shall stay our hand, and sit down
and eat honey."
Makanna had nearly realised his prediction. Graham's
Town was assaulted by a Caffer army of 8000 or 9000 men,
and was saved almost by a miracle. The Gaffers were,
however, at length repulsed, and retired in great disorder,
leaving about 1400 slain behind them, chiefly mown down by
grape-shot.
This formidable attempt, altogether unprecedented in
Caffer warfare, alarmed the colonial government, and awak¬
ened all its vengeance. The burgher militia throughout the
whole extent of the colony were called out and marched to the
eastern frontier to assist in chastising the savages. Colonel
Willshire, collecting all the disposable British and Hottentot
troops, marched into the enemy's country in one direction,
while Landdrost Stockenstrom, with his burgher commando
of 1000 horsemen, swept it in another. The villages of the
hostile clans were burnt, their cattle carried off, their fields of
maize and millet trodden down, and the wretched inhabitants
driven into the thickets, and there bombarded with grape-
shot and congreve rockets. Dispirited by their late failure,
defeated in every attempt at resistance, their women and
helpless old people often massacred indiscriminately with the
armed men, their principal chiefs, Slhambi, Congo, Habbana,
above all, their prophet Makanna, denounced as " outlaws,"
and the inhabitants threatened with utter, extermination, if
238
NOTES TO THE POEMS.
they did not speedily deliver them up, " dead or alive "—the
Caffer people yet remained faithful to their chiefs. And
though the prophet had lost much of his influence since the dis¬
astrous failure of his great enterprise, yet among the multitudes
now driven to despair, and perishing for want around him,
not one was found willing- to earn the high reward offered
for his apprehension by his " civilized " conquerors.
The course adopted by Makanna under these circumstances
was remarkable. He voluntarily surrendered himself to
Captain Stockenstrom ; saying, with a magnanimity which
would have done honour to a Greek or Roman patriot,
" People say that I have occasioned the war; let me see
whether my delivering myself up to' the conquerors will re¬
store peace to my country." Makanna surrendered himself
as a hostage; but in expecting generous treatment from the
" Christians," he gave the colonial rulers credit for feelings
to which, unfortunately, they were utter strangers. Landdrost
Stockenstrom, indeed, a native of the colony, and whose
father had been a few years before slain by the Caffers in an
ambuscade, appears to have been deeply touched by the
conduct and heroic character of Makanna. But he was but
a subaltern, without voice or power as to the disposal of his
captive. Next day Colonel Willshire, the frontier com¬
mandant, claimed possession of the prisoner, and carried him
along with him.
' The following interesting passages are extracted from
some notes taken at the time by Captain Stockenstrom, and
subsequently placed in my hands by his kindness :—
" A few days afterwards, a small body of Caffers were seen
at the edge of a thicket near Colonel Willshire's camp, who
CAFFER ELOQUENCE.
239
made signs that they desired a parley. The Colonel, at¬
tended by another officer and myself, having moved towards
them unarmed, two Gaffers approached, and proved to be
the one Slhambi's, and the other Makanna's chief councillors.
They were, I think, as noble-looking men, and as dignified in
their demeanour, as any I have ever beheld. After a few
questions and answers relative to the disposal of Makanna
(who by this time had been sent into the colony), and as to
the prospects of an accommodation, the friend of the captive
chief delivered himself in the following terms, in so manly a
manner, with so graceful an attitude, and with so much feel¬
ing and animation, that the bald translation which I am able
to furnish can afford but a very faint and inadequate idea
of his eloquence.
"' The war,' said he,' is an unjust one, for you are deter¬
mined to extirpate a people whom you have forced to take up
arms. When our fathers and the fathers of the Boers first
established themselves in the Zuurveld, they then lived to¬
gether in peace. Their flocks grazed on the same hills 5
their herdsmen smoked together out of the same pipes ; they
were brothers—^until the herds of the Gaffers increased so as
to make the hearts of the Boers sore. What those covetous
men could not get from our fathers for old buttons, they took
by force. Our fathers were men; they loved their cattle; their
wives and children lived upon milk; they fought for their
property. They began to hate the colonists, who coveted
their all, and aimed at their destruction.
"' Now their kraals and our fathers' kraals were separate.
The Boers made commandoes on our fathers. Our fathers
drove them out of the Zuurveld, and lived there, because
240
NOTES TO THE POEMS.
they had conquered it. There we were circumcised; there
we got wives; and there our children were born. The
white men hated us, but could not drive us away. When
there was war, we plundered you. When there was peace,
some of our bad people stole; but our chiefs forbade it.
Your treacherous friend Gaika always had peace with you ;
always plundered you; and when his people stole, always
shared in the plunder. Have your patrols ever found
cattle taken in time of peace, runaway slaves or deserters in
the kraals of our chiefs ? Have they ever gone into Gaika's
country without finding such cattle, such slaves, such
deserters in Gaika's own kraals ? But he was your friend,
and you wanted the Zuurveld. You came at last like locusts.*
We stood, we could do no more. You said, " Go over the
Fish River—that is all we want." We yielded and came
here.
"' We lived in peace. Some bad people stole perhaps ; the
nation was quiet—the chiefs were quiet. Gaika stole; his
chiefs stole ; his people stole. You sent him copper, you
sent him beads, you sent him horses—on which he rode to
steal more. To you sent only commandoes.
"' We quarrelled with Gaika about grass : no business of
yours. You sent a commando ; f you took our last cow ; you
left only a few calves, which died for want, along with our
children. You gave half the spoil to Gaika, half you kept
yourselves. Without milk, our corn destroyed, we saw
our wives and children perish; we saw that we must our¬
selves perish; we followed therefore on the spoor of our
* Alluding to Colonel Graham's commandoes in 1811 and 1812.
f Brereton's commando in 1818.
MAKANNA'S SURRENDER.
241
cattle into the colony. We plundered and we fought for our
lives. We found you weak; we destroyed your soldiers.
We saw that we were strong; we attacked your head¬
quarters, * and if we had succeeded our right was good, for
you began the war. We failed, and you are here.
"' We wish for peace ; we wish to rest in our huts ; we wish
to get milk for our children. Our wives wish to till the
land. But your troops cover the plains, and swarm in the
thickets, where they cannot distinguish the man from the
woman, and shoot all.
"' You want us to submit to Gaika. That man's face is fair
to you, but his heart is insincere. Leave him to himself.
Make peace with us. Let him fight for himself, and we shall
not call on you for help. Let Makanna loose, and Slhambi,
Congo and the rest will come to you any time you fix. But
if you will still make war, you may indeed kill the last man
of us, but Gaika shall not rule over the followers of those
who think him a woman.'
"Thismanly and moving remonstrance, which affected some
of those who heard it even to tears, had no effect on Colonel
Willshire, and obtained no release for Makanna, nor reprieve
for the famished and hunted inhabitants. The commandant
and his superiors were made of sterner stuff than to be melted
by the misery of' Caffer savages.' All efforts, however, to get
possession of the persons of the other chiefs were unavailable;
even treachery was tried in vain. After plundering the
country, therefore, of all the cattle that could yet be found,
and leaving famine and devastation behind them, our
Christian commando retired into the colony, without
* Graham's Town.
R
242
NOTES TO THE TO EMS,
gaining the object for which the war was professedly com¬
menced, but with a spoil (including' Brereton's, &c.) of about
50,000 head of cattle, captured from the famishing and
despairing natives.
" Meanwhile, the unfortunate Makanna was carried captive
to Cape Town, and confined by order of government on
Robben Island, in the mouth of Table Bay, a spot appro¬
priated for securing convicted felons, condemned slaves,
and other malefactors, doomed to work in irons in the slate
quarries. After being here for some time, Makanna attempted
to effect his escape by seizing a fishing boat,—^but was upset
and drowned before he could gain the shore."—Author's
Narrative.
34.—Sons of Kdhabee. Page 92.
Kdhabee, or Kdhabi, the father of Slhambi, Jalusha, Seko,
&c., and grandfather of Gaika, is considered the patriarch
of all the frontier clans, except the Amandanka and
Gunuquebi, and his descendants and their vassals are to this
day always addressed as " Sons of Kdhabi." Hinza is the
direct descendant from Galeka, the elder brother of Kdhabi,
and is, consequently, the chief highest in rank of the Ama-
kdsa tribe or natiouc
35.—Hark ! 'tis Uhlanga's voice. Page 93.
The term Uhlanga, sometimes used by the frontier Gaffers
for the Supreme Being, is supposed by the missionaries to be
derived from hlanganisa^ to join together.
THE MANCAZANA.
243
36.—His tribe is extinct, and their story forgot. Page 99.
The Ghona or Ghonaqua tribe is here referred to. This
tribe, which formerly inhabited the country between the Keis
and Camtoos rivers, and of which so much has been written
by former travellers, is now extinct. Of those who have sur¬
vived the ravages of war and oppression, the greater part have
become incorporated with the Gunuguebi clan of Caffers ;
and another remnant, formerly residing at the Kat River,
under the ministry of the missionary Williams, have been
partly re-assembled in that district with the other Hottentot
settlers. Andrew Stoflfels, one of the most intelligent men
of that settlement, is a Ghona.—See Phillip's Researches,
vol. ii. p. 191.
37.— With the Gunja and Ghona, Ss^c. Page 100.
The Gunja or Gunjaman tribe of Hottentots was that
which lived nearest the spot where Cape Town now stands,
and who first ceded to the Dutch East India Company a
tract ,of their country. Thunberg, who travelled in 1773?
remarks that in his time this tribe was nearly extinct.
38.—The lone Mankazands margin grey. Page 108.
The Mancazana is one of the principal branches of the
river Koonap (which latter is itself a tributary of the Great
Fish River), flowing through the country recently ceded to
the colony by the Caffer chiefs. The chief sources of the
Koonap, issuing from the skirts of the cold and cloudy
R 2
244
NOTES TO THE POEMS.
Winterberg, never fail, even in the severest drought. The
numerous kloofs or glens of this mountainous region were,
in former times, thickly peopled by Ghonaqua and Caffer
clans ; but these "native inhabitants have been entirely ex¬
tirpated or expelled during the recent wars on the frontier.
A considerable portion of this conquered territory has been
lately distributed by the colonial government among the
Dutch Boers of the Somerset district. Previous to this dis¬
tribution the Scotch settlers of Bavian's Kloof obtained pos¬
session of the upper part of the Mancazana valley, as an
appendage to their original narrow location, and some
families have now fixed their residence in it.
At the time, however, when I last visited this sequestered
valley (November, 1825), it was still entirely uninhabited, as
well as the adjacent country, for an extent of 40 or 50 miles
' towards the new colonial boundary. The remains of Caffer
huts and hamlets were still thickly scattered through every
grassy nook and dell; but these having been long deserted
and now fast crumbling to decay, the reflections they excited
only served to increase the feeling of melancholy loneliness,
which a country void of human inhabitants uniformly
inspires. In other respects, the country appeared beautiful
and inviting, being well watered and pleasingly diversified
with glens and mountains, and picturesque rocks and forests ;
the open grounds were covered everywhere with verdant pas¬
tures, over which thousands of wild game, quaggas, elands,
haartebeests, gnoos, koodoos, and a variety of smaller an¬
telopes were feeding undisturbed ; and the forest kloofs and
- jungles were still held possession of by the gigantic elephant,
whose traces were everywhere visible, and whose strange
GREEN CAM ALU.
'245
wild voice was heard by us the whole night long, as we
bivouacked by the river, sounding like a trumpet among the
moonlight mountains. (See also page 79.)
" The Scottish Exile's Song" is intended to express rather
the supposed feelings of a desolate female emigrant, when
first placed in the midst of an African wilderness, than the
real sentiments of any of the Scottish settlers in that vicinity,
who, amidst many difficulties and discouragements, have
not failed to discover the actual advantages which the
country possesses, and to prosecute them with the enterprise
and perseverance characteristic of their nation.
39.—Green Carnal^. Page 112.
Camald, a glen at the source of the Kat .River. The
" Captive of Camalu" is supposed to express the feelings of
some of those Gaffers and Ghonaquas converted by the mis¬
sionary Williams, who, after the devagting war of 1818,
were forced to become bondmen among the Boers, or im¬
prisoned in Robben Island.
40.—He loves the midnight thunder. Page 118.
Stormy nights are often selected by the Bushmen for
making their predatory attacks. Sparrman states that they
often rail at the thunder, and defy the lightning, with the
exclamations fguzeri and fgaunatziy which appear to be
terms of sorcery or magical incantation. They make signals
to each other, by night, by means of fires on elevated
situations.
246
NOTES TO THE POEMS.
41.—Luhirihigh. Page 118.
Luhdri, sometimes called Gaika's hill, is an elevated peak of
the Amatola ridge which overlooks the Kat River valley on
the east.
42.— The debt of malice. Page 119.
Alluding to the resentment of Makomo's clan, who had
been driven out of the Kat River glen a few months before
the settlement of the Hottentots.
43.—The veld-kost. Page 120.
Veld-kost, literally country-food, is the term used for the
wild roots and bulbs eaten by the Bushmen, and also by the
colonial Hottentots, on occasions of emergency. The edible
bulbs, of which there are several kinds, are generally called
uyentjes (onions) by the colonists. Among these uyentjes
are the bulbs of the Iris edulis, and of several other
liliaceous plants, some of which, when roasted in the embers
have very much the flavour of a chestnut. The bulb of a
species of cyperus-grass, about the size of a hazel-nut, is a
good deal used. What are called Hottentot-figs, or the fruit of
many sorts of" mesembryanthemum, are also considered veld -
host.
44.—Brownlee and old Tshdtshu side by side. Page 124.
The Cafler chief Tzatzoe (pronounced Tshdtshu), who was
formerly associated with Congo in the Zureveld, resided for
some little time at Bethelsdorp with Dr. Vanderkemp, and left
THE NEUTRAL GROUND.
247
one of his sons to be educated by the missionaries. Young
Tzatzoe, with whom I am personally acquainted, is now a
well-informed and highly respectable man, and has become a
most valuable missionary to his countrymen, In 1826 he
accompanied Mr. Brownlee to the Buffalo River, in order to
assist in establishing a missionary institution in the territory,
and under the protection of his father, the aged chief.
45.—The Neutral Ground. Page 125.
During my residence at Eildon (Glen-Lynden), I made
various exploratory excursions into the waste country lying
between our ^ralley and the new Caffer frontier, which had
remained totally unoccupied since the native inhabitants were
driven out of it in 1819. This tract, on its first acquisition
by the colonial government, was termed the Neutral Ground ;
afterwards the Ceded Territory. It comprises an irregular
area of about 2800 square miles, or a million and a half of
acres, of which the upper part, immediately adjacent to our
location, is a mountainous region, intersected with deep glens
abounding with wood, water and pasturage. The streams
issuing from these glens and their numerous subsidiary
kloofs from the Kat and Koonap Rivers.
The aspect of the country, though wild, was rich and
beautiful. It was watered by numerous rivulets, and finely
diversified with lofty mountains and winding vales, with
picturesque rocks and shaggy jungles, open upland pastures,
and fertile meadows along the river margins, sprinkled as
usual with willows and acacias, and occasionally with groves
of stately geelhout. Many of the mountain sides and kloofs
248
NOTES TO THE POEMS.
were clothed with forests of large timber. At the time I
refer to, the whole of this tract had been for some years
abandoned to the undisputed occupation of the wild animals,
which had consequently flocked to it in great numbers from
the surrounding districts. In no other part of South Africa
have I ever seen so many of the larger sorts of antelopes ;
and the elephant, the rhinoceros, and the buffalo were also to
be found in the forests, though we saw none of these animals
on this occasion. But the remains of Caffer hamlets, scat¬
tered through every grassy nook and dell, and now fast
crumbling to decay, excited reflections of a very melancholy
character, and occasionally increased, even to a most painful
degree, the feeling of dreary lonesomeness which the wild
grandeur of the scenery tended to excite.—Author's Narra¬
tive.
46.—A Heemraad of Camdebdo. Page 126.
A Heemraad was a provincial functionary somewhat ana¬
logous to a justice of the peace, and was a member of the
landdrost's board.
Camdebdo., a Hottentot word signifying green elevations,
is a term applied to the projecting buttresses which support
the Snowy Mountains, and which are mostly covered with
verdure; and the adjacent district of country is called by
that name.
47.—From the black taint free. Page 127.
The prejudice of colour is so strong in the Cape colony,
or at least was so a few years ago, that any white man who
BASTARD HOTTENTOTS.
249
should marry a native or coloured female would be con¬
sidered to have greatly degraded himself, if not to have
altogether lost caste.
After the augmentation of our territory by the colonial
government, I willingly availed myself of a convenient
opportunity which offered for increasing the native popula¬
tion upon it, and thereby adding at once to our means of
security and our profitable occupation of the land. It
happened that several of the Mulatto Hottentots (Bastaards)
who had been stationed with us during the first six months,
belonged to a smaU body of that class who had for many
years resided at Zwagershoek, under the protection of an old
German settler of the name of Stollz. A favourable report,
it appears, had been carried to this man of the treatment
the coloured caste had experienced at Glen-Lynden ; for in
August, 1821, bid Stollz wrote me a letter, requesting me to
receive hospitably {kerbergzaamlyk) upon our grounds
certain families of his Hottentot vassals ; and some time
afterwards he sent over a messenger to entreat me urgently
to visit him without delay, as he was about to die, and was
anxious to confer with me respecting the future disposal and
protection of his coloured dependents. I rode over accord¬
ingly with Mr. G. Rennie to see the old man ; but when we
reached Zwagerhoek, we learned that Stollz had died two
days before, and that we were only in time to attend his
funeral. It took place next day, and was curious and charac¬
teristic enough. The scene of the funeral dinner reminded
me of some of Sir Walter Scott's graphic sketches. The
only real mourners were the coloured people, who were not
admitted to the feast, and only permitted to follow the funeral
250
NOTES TO THE POEMS.
at a humble distance. The landed property left by the
deceased fell into the hands of covetous strangers ; and the
Mulattoes, who had occupied a large part of it as tenants
and cottagers, were speedily dispossessed. The most of
these people flocked over to Glen-Lynden, where we en¬
gaged some of them as herdsmen and farm servants, and
placed those who had cattle as tenants upon our unoccupied
lands, upon condition, generally, of their rendering certain
services in the cultivation of the soil. By this means we
greatly strengthened our own hands, while we h^ at the
same time the satisfaction of protecting and benefiting those
oppressed and despised people. A dozen families or more
thus found a temporary settlement in our valley, some of
whom, under the sheltering patronage of old Stollz, had accu¬
mulated considerable property. One old man, Klaas
Eckhard (who had lost a hand and an eye, but to make
amends had two wives), possessed an ox-waggon, 60 head
of cattle, 25 horses, and about 1000 sheep and goats.
Nicholas Blok, who had been steward to Stollz, had a waggon,
a plough, 48 cattle, 18 horses, and about 500 sheep and goats.
Joseph Arendz had a waggon, 50 cattle, 10 horses, and about
300 sheep and goats. Some others had cattle in smaller
numbers. But two brothers. Christian and Karel Groepe,
who had previously become tenants to my father, had a
stock of sheep, cattle, and horses, more numerous than any
of the rest, and equal to many of the poorer Boers. These
'Groepes were the sons of an old German settler, who had
once been field-cornet of Zwagershoek, but who (now in
extreme old age) was considered to have lost caste, from his
associating with his own children by a Hottentot woman.
BASTARD HOTTENTOTS.
251
When these people came to reside at Glen-Lynden, our
immediate district magistrate, Captain Harding, had con¬
siderable doubts whether the colonial laws would sanction
our receiving them on our grounds as tenants merely, without
also indenturing them in every case as our servants. The
almost universal usage throughout the colony was to consider
all Hottentots, whether of pure or mixed blood, as under
a legal obligation of contract of servitude; and Captain
Harding, though a humane man and an able and upright
magistrate, had adopted the same prejudice. As I differed
from him about the application of a coercive clause in
Lord Caledon's proclamation of 1809 to such cases as the
present, the matter was referred to the chief magistrate of
the district. Captain Stockenstrom, who decided in favour of
the more liberal interpretation, and thus the Mulattoes of
Zwagershoek became our tenants.
As every adult male among them possessed at least a
musket and a horse, and they looked to me as their
immediate protector, I now found myself in the novel situation
of a petty " border chief;" being able to muster upwards of
thirty armed horsemen (including our own party and the six
Hottentot soldiers) at an hour's notice. We therefore
considered our location perfectly secure from any serious
attack of the wild natives in the vicinity.
These Mulattoes were an acute, active, and enterprising
race of men ; but their unhappy condition as a degraded
caste, and the irregular sort of life they had led, in some
respects, under old Stollz, were not favourable to the formation
of habits either of steady industry or strict morality. Stollz
himself had exhibited the evil example of living in habitual
252
NOTES TO THE POEMS.
concubinage; and what was still more prejudicial, the
sanctions of legal marriage were refused by the colonial
church to their unions, except upon both parties exhibiting
qualifications, which in nineteen cases out of twenty were
quite unattainable in their existing circumstances. For
instance, the clergyman of the district had refused to marry
Christian Groepe, one of the most respectable and well-
educated of these men, to the woman who had been his
faithful partner for nearly a dozen years, and had borne him
eight children, merely because the poor woman, after several
attempts, could not accurately repeat the Church Catechism !
The fact is, there existed a strong prejudice among the white
colonists against the full admission of the coloured class to
ecclesiastical privileges, and the majority of the colonial
clergy were so little alive to the apostolic duties of their
sacred office as to lend their sanction, directly or indirectly,
to these unchristian prejudices, which were also counte¬
nanced by the colonial laws.
Notwithstanding, however, these and other disadvanta¬
geous circumstances, our Mulatto auxiliaries were, as a body,
on the whole extremely well-behaved. Their marriage
unions, though acknowledged neither by the law nor the
church, were, with rare exceptions, permanently and strictly
adhered to. Though too much addicted to hunting and
other idle habits of semi-civilised men, they were not un¬
willing to labour, and to labour vigorously, when an
opportunity was afforded them of thereby improving their
circumstances. Occasional inebriety, when temptation
assailed them in the shape of a brandy hawker's waggon (one
of the worst nuisances of the colony), was perhaps their
GAURITZ' FAIR GLEN.
253
greatest vice. But not a few had virtue to resist even this
besetting sin, when duly admonished of its enormity; and
the worst of them did not surpass in the indulgence of this
vice many both of the Dutch and English colonists. With
few exceptions, they attended regularly and devoutly at our
Sabbath service ; and, what was still more gratifying, they
evinced great anxiety to learn to read, and to obtain copies
of the Scriptures for the instruction of their children.
—Author's Narrative.
48.—The Bovenland. Page 127.
The term Bovenland (Upper Country) is used to signify
those parts of the colony nearer to Cape Town, or Cape
Town itself.
49.—Long-barrelled roer. Page 128.
Roer signifies simply gunj but the term is more espe¬
cially applied to the heavy long-barrelled guns used by the
Boers for hunting elephants and other large game.
50.—Far o'er Bruintjes-hoogte. Page 128.
Bruintjes-hoogte (the Height of Bruintje) is the appel¬
lation of a long ridge or elevation running out from the
Boschberg, which bounds abruptly the arid plains of Camde-
b&o on the east.
51.—Gauritz' fair glen. Page 129.
f
The Gauritz River bounds the district of Swellendam on
the east, and falls into the sea near Mossel Bay.
NOTES TO THE TO EMS.
52.—Lone Zitzikamma. Page 129.
Zitzikamma is a wild tract of forest country, lying along the
coast west of Camtoos River.
53.—The sons of the bond. Page 131.
By the Cape colonial laws, as by those of most other-slave
colonies, the children of a free man by a slave woman
became legally the property of the owner of the female,
unless where they could be proved to be that owner's
own children. In this latter respect the Dutch colonial law
was somewhat better than either the French or the English.
But in the fictitious case given in the text, the children as well
as the mother might be claimed as the property of the legal
owner. The story of the poem is founded on facts, which
occurred some years ago in a different quarter of the colony.
54.—And dare not meet His eye. Page 134.
Long after the sketch entitled "The Slave-dealer" was
written, 1 found the following account of a case remarkably
similar to the supposed one, related by the Rev. T. R. England
at an anti-slavery meeting at Cork, in September, 1829 :—
" One day 1 was sent for to visit a sailor who was ap¬
proaching fast to his eternal account. On my speaking to
him of repentance, he looked sullen and turned from me in
the bed ; of a great God, he was silent—of the mercy of
that God, he burst into tears. ' Oh !' said he,' 1 can never
expect mercy from God. 1 was ten years on board a slave
ship, and then superintended the cruel death of many a slave.
THOMAS HAITLIE,
255
Many a time, amid the screams of kindred, has the sick
mother, father, and newborn babe, been wound up in canvas
and remorsely thrown overboard. Now their screams
haunt me night and day, and I have no peace and expect no
mercy!'"
55.—Ah, hapless youth, why wouldst thou roamf Page 139.
The author's mother was a daughter of Mr. Thomas
Haitlie, a Berwickshire farmer; and to the memory of this
revered parent, whom he lost at the early age of six years, he
seems to have clung with extraordinary fondness. In one of
his poems, the "Autumnal Excursion," he thus expresses
himself:—
"And when that gentlest human friend
No more her anxious eye could bend
On me, by young affliction prest
More close to her maternal breast,
I deem'd she still beheld afar
My sorrows from some peaceful star;
In slumber heard her faintly speak.
And felt her kiss upon my cheek."
His maternal relatives, who settled near Cape Town,
pronounce and spell the family name Heatlie. One of them,
the Hon. T. Heatlie, is a member of the Legislative Council
of the Cape colony.
56.—He has no gratitude. Page 153.
Such was the common allegation of the colonists respecting
the Hottentots, and frequently have I heard it repeated.
My own experience enables me totally to deny its truth. But
256
NOTES TO THE POEMS.
as a body, how could gratitude be then expected from them
by the white men ? .
57.—The proud Christian-Men.^' Page i55»
Christian men {Christen menschen) is the term always used
by the Boers to distinguish themselves from the coloured
races.
The Rev. Mr. A. Faure, formerly minister of Graaff-Reinet,
mentioned to me, that having occasion in his clerical capacity
to attend the execution of a Bushman malefactor, the savage
fiercely interrupted his religious exhortation with the following
exclamation :—" I knew you would kill me, you murderer !
for my father always told me to beware of the white men,
because they would kill me, and I see he has spoken the
truth."
58.—Franschehoek. Page 157.
The French Protestant refugees, who emigrated to the
Cape of Good Hope on the revocation of the Edict of Nantes,
were settled by the Dutch Government in the secluded valley
of Franschehoek (or French' Corner), so named from that
circumstance.
59.—Ifound a Nameless Stream among the hills. Page 163.
Having sent this sonnet, written in a fit of despondency,
to my friend Fairbairn, he kindly reproved the feeling I had
indulged in, by transmitting, by return of post, the follow-
FAIRSAIRN^S SONNETS.
ing, in which, though tinged perhaps with a little mysticism,
I " owned the strain was of a higher mood : "
I found a Stream among the hills by night;
Its Source was hidden and its End unknown;
But Heaven was in its bosom, and the throne
Which there the Sun fills beautifully bright
Here held the lesser and the lovelier light;
. Nor seemed the excelling beauty less alone
Because the Stars her handmaids round her shone.
And homelier Earth did with the throng unite.
I thought not of its Source nor of its Ending ;
'Twas but the mirror of enchanting things,
Where Heaven and Earth, their softest graces blending.
Owned the new world which from their union springs.
Thus be my soul Truth's purified abode;
Whence, or for what, I am, is thine, O God!
I shall conclude my volume with another specimen of Mr.
Fairbaim's poetry, which will probably cause the reader to
share in the regret of his friends, that one who can write so
well has written so little. It is entitled " The Heart's Con¬
fession :"—
Heart-wrung with grief and bitter care.
Thy wounds tinsalved and bleeding still.
Who pierced thee thus, poor heart, declare?
—Twas my own will."
Thy will! What tempter, full of guile.
Could turn thee from thy hopes aside.
And life's young well with wrath defile ?
—"'Twas ray own pride."
Bad counsellor! When all around.
Great, Fair, and Good, conspired to move.
From humble joys what had thee bound?
—"'Twas my self-love."
S
NOTES TO THE POEMS.
Alas! the Charities were near.
The Duties too, an armed troop.
To guide, to fortify, to cheer—
—" I could not stoop."
Faith stretched from Heaven her golden key.
And Purity, twice born, before
The narrow portal beckoned thee, ^
—" I could not soar."
Wretched! from earth and heaven returned
Empty, what findest thou within
To balance what thy madness spurned?
—"Error and sin!"
60.— Yet Spite of physical and moral ill.,
And after all Fve seen and suffered here
There are strong links that bind me to thee still.
Page 165.
My residence in Cape Town continued from September
1822 to February 1825, with the interval only of one short
excursion, to which I shall afterwards advert. This period
was, by far, the busiest, and, to me, the most eventful portion
of the six years which I spent in South Africa. But as it
would be impossible, even were it desirable, to comprise in
this volume a detailed account of all the transactions in
which I was then engaged, I shall confine myself chiefly to
such characteristic occurrences as may best serve to convey
to English readers some idea of the state of the colony at
that period.
For some time after my first arrival in Cape Town, things
appeared to wear a very favourable aspect. The Governor
had declared himself a friend to the mitigation of slavery, and
had just issued a proclamation containing some beneficial
CAPE TOWN m 1824.
259
and many plausible enactments; and for the first time in the
history of the colony, a white man was capitally punished
for the murder of a slave. Great anxiety was professed for
the establishment of English schools, and the encouragement
of the English language and literature in South Africa. The
public library, now under my personal charge, appeared to
be warmly patronised by the Governor, and by all the chief
functionaries. There was some talk also of offering me the
superintendence of the Government Gazette, and of rendering
that journal subservient to the diffusion of useful information
throughout the colony. This was an object quite to my
liking, and in which I only wanted the countenance of
Government to engage my most devoted services.
While matters exhibited this encouraging aspect, and
while I saw opening around me fields of public usefulness
far beyond my own humble powers adequately to occupy,
I wrote home to invite Mr. Fairbairn, an early and intimate
friend, to join me at Cape Town, in order to share with me
in the toils, and (as I then hoped) the honours, of the career
I had too sanguinely sketched out for our conjoint activity.
My friend, with an ardour equal to my own, and with talents
and acquirements far surpassing mine, came at my call—to
share my toils—and with me to suffer treatment to which I
shall leave the reader to apply the fitting epithet when he has
read this chapter.
Long before Mr. Fairbairn had joined me, however, I had
acquired a more intimate acquaintance with the character
of the colonial administration, and formed a truer estimate
of their views. I soon saw that their professed anxiety to
encourage education and the diffusion of knowledge, was
S 2,
26o
NOTES TO THE POEMS.
a piece of political hypocrisy assumed to cloak the real
character of the government from the prying eyes of his
Majesty's Commissioners of Inquiry, whose arrival in the
colony was then daily expected. Of Colonel Bird's incli¬
nation to promote my views, and to encourage a more liberal
use of the press than had formerly been permitted, I could
have no doubt; but that officer no longer possessed any influ¬
ence. An irreconcileable quarrel had taken place between
him and Lord Charles Somerset; and his Excellency's coun¬
sels were now chiefly directed by a man who once pretty
accurately described his own character by saying, that he
was "a Whig in principle and a Tory in practice." His
avowed principles were generally sound and liberal; but he
was not long in proving himself to be the unscrupulous pro¬
moter of measures utterly subversive of all enlightened policy
and good government. He might be termed the Metternich
of our petty political theatre'; and he seemed to suit the
times and the place, for the Governor, under the flimsy veil
of late-assumed liberality, was by education, habit and cha¬
racter, as determined a foe to free discussion, and as into¬
lerant of any the slightest opposition to his own arbitrary
will and narrow views, as if he had been bred up at the feet
of the Holy Alliance.
From such a Government I saw there was little to hope ;
but, as great reforms were anticipated from the investiga¬
tions of the Commissioners of Inquiry, I resolved to keep
myself as independent of government patronage as I could,
and look forward to better times. Meanwhile, it was neces¬
sary to secure a competent income for my family; for my
appointment in the library was not only inadequate in
CAPE TOWN IN 1824:. 261
emolument, but also (as I was speedily made to feel) most
precarious in tenure—^being, in fact, like almost evei^' other
appointment in the colony, entirely dependent on the plea¬
sure of the Governor. I therefore made arrangements for
receiving under my charge a few youths, for private tuition,
and had soon as many from the principal families of the
place as I could conveniently attend to.
In renouncing all idea of connection with the Govern¬
ment Gazette, however, I did not abandon my views of
rendering the press subservient to the grand object of
public instruction, but determined to establish, if possible,
an independent periodical in Cape Town. I was encouraged
to prosecute this purpose by the most enlightened inhabit¬
ants of the colony, both English and Dutch; and I soon
found a zealous coadjutor in the Rev. Mr. Faure, one of the
Dutch clergymen of Cape Town, who entertained similar
views for the instruction of his countrymen.
As we made no secret of our scheme, some rumour of it
soon reached the ears of the Governor; and while we were
engaged in preparing a prospectus for public circulation,
and a memorial to his Excellency, soliciting permission to
publish our projected journals (without which we knew we
could not proceed a single step), I received a visit from
a gentleman, previously unknown to me, a confidential
retainer, at that time, of our Colonial Court. He strove
earnestly to persuade me that the prosecution of the enter¬
prise I had in view, would be detrimental to my personal
interests in the colony; but finding me deaf to his repre¬
sentations on that score, he at length plainly told me tha^
Lord Charles Somerset had expressed to him his opinion in
262
NOTES TO THE POEMS.
regard to our projected undertaking—and that his Excel¬
lency's opinion was decidedly adverse to it.
Unmoved by this intimation, Mr. Faure and I sent in
our memorial to the Governor on the 3rd of February, 1823.
After waiting five weeks, we received a verbal reply through
the lips of the Colonial Secretary, in the following words
" His Excellency the Governor has not seen your application
in a favourable light."
This response was rather too much in the "Grand
Seignior " style to satisfy me; and I spoke of writing again,
to solicit either the honour of a personal interview, or the
satisfaction of a written reply. This course, the Colonial
Secretary (as a private friend) anxiously deprecated. The
Governor's jealousy of an independent press, he said, was
too deep-rooted to be influenced by any force of argu¬
ment ; and to demand a written reply would be regarded
as a most offensive proceeding. If insisted on, he sig¬
nificantly added, that a written reply would doubtless be
given, but probably in such terms as might prove most
prejudicial to my future prospects in the colony. Such
being the state of things, there was no alternative but either
to transmit our application to the Home Government, and
thus place ourselves in an attitude of opposition to the
Governor, or submit in silence, and wait patiently for
better times. Like prudent men we chose the latter course.
, The Commissioners, Mr. Bigge and Major Colebrooke,
arrived in July following. They received with attention
all my communications, and, so far as I could judge, ap¬
peared disposed to appreciate fully my views in regard to
the press. But their commission did not authorise them to
CAF£ TOWN IN 1824.
263
interfere, or even to express an opinion in the colony, on
this or any similar topic. They could only report to the
Home Government; and to us there was, therefore, still
no choice but to wait the result with renewed patience.
A few months afterwards, Mr. Fairbairn arrived ; and as
there now appeared only a remote probability of our being
enabled to avail ourselves of the important services of the
press in furtherance of our schemes, we resolved to direct our
exclusive attention, for the present, at the establishment of
a private academy for the instruction of the colonial youth.
There existed at that period no public institution for classi¬
cal education, and no private academy of any respectability,
with the exception of one recently opened for the Dutch-
African youth by my friend Mr. Faure. Our scheme was
therefore warmly encouraged by the most influential inha¬
bitants of Cape Town and its vicinity, and especially by such
of the civil functionaries and military officers as had families.
Thus supported, we furnished a large house in the outskirts
of the town, and opened our academy with the most favour¬
able prospects of success. Nor were those anticipations
erroneous. In a very short time, we numbered among
our pupils the sons of almost all the principal British resi¬
dents, and many of the Dutch ; a considerable number
being placed as boarders under my. roof. The regular
superintendence of the establishment devolved on Mr. Fair¬
bairn, who was eminently qualified to do it justice, being
an accomplished scholar, well versed both in ethical and
physical science, and experienced in classical tuition. My
own services in the establishment were comparatively of
slight importance; and my time, moreover, was still almost
264
NOTES TO THE POEMS.
entirely occupied by the attendance required at the govern¬
ment library.
While matters were in this position, I was surprised, on
the 2nd of December, by a summons from the Governor to
receive a communication on the subject of the press. His
Excellency informed me that Earl Bathurst had been pleased
to permit the publication of our proposed journal, provided
care was taken that nothing appeared in it " detrimental to
the peace and safety of the colony." After some admonitory
remarks of his own. Lord Charles gave, with obvious
reluctance and with a very iU grace, his sanction for us
to proceed with the publication.
The way being thus opened, Mr. Faure and I immedi¬
ately announced our intention of publishing our respective
journals in Dutch and English every two months alter¬
nately,—six numbers of either publication thus appearing
annually. Mr. Fairbairn then joined me as co-editor of
the South African yournal. Mr. Faure's work was en¬
titled " De Zuid-Afrikaansch Tydschrift," which has the
same signification in Dutch.
At the same time, Mr. Greig, a printer, who had recently
arrived from England, and established a printing press in
Cape Town, commenced the publication of a weekly news¬
paper, entitled the South African Commercial Advertiser.
Every such attempt had heretofore been at once arbitrarily
quashed by the colonial authorities ; but the presence of the
Commissioners of Inquiry, and the decision of Earl Bathurst
in our case, deterred the government from then directly
interfering with Mr. Greig's publication, although they
went as far as they decently could to discountenance and
CAPE TOWN IN 1824.
265
discourage it. The first number of this newspaper appeared
on the 7th and a second on the 14th of January, 1824.
Hitherto, neither Mr. Fairbairn nor I had any connection,
and scarcely any acquaintance, with Mr. Greig; but after
issuing his first two numbers, he found himself in want of
editorial aid, and solicited us to undertake the literary ma¬
nagement of the paper. As the control of an efficient press,
with a view to the diffusion of useful knowledge throughout
the colony, was the great object of our ambition, we agreed,
after coming to a clear understanding in regard to principles,
to undertake this charge also.
For a few months everything went on most prosperously.
The newspaper, which we published both in English and
Dutch, was popular beyond our most sanguine expectations ;
and our magazine, of which the first number was issued on
the 5th of March, was also warmly welcomed by a respect¬
able body of subscribers. We were anxious to merit public
support by indefatigable attention to our various duties.
Nor had we undertaken more than what with systematic
industry and division of labour we could easily execute. I
had ample leisure in the government library for literary
composition; and, with a coadjutor so able, the editorship
of a weekly paper and a two-monthly magazine was rather
a pastime than a task. Our academy also was in a very
flourishing state, and the number of pupils constantly
increasing. It was most efficiently conducted by Mr. Fair¬
bairn ; the classical languages, and other superior branches
of education, being taught, exclusively by himself; while
subordinate teachers were employed under his superintend¬
ence for the Dutch, French, and other modern languages.
266
NOTES TO THE POEMS.
and for drawing, mensuration, and similar departments.
Our most sanguine hopes of private prosperity and public
usefulness seemed about to be fully realised.
In order to lessen, if possible, the morbid jealousy of tlie
Governor, we printed our magazine at the Government press,
although the printing thus cost us more, and was far worse
executed, than if we had consented to have had it done by
Mr. Greig; and we ventured to Hatter ourselves that the
colonial authorities, in spite of their former habits, would,
for their own credit, under the eyes of his Majesty's Com¬
missioners, not venture rashly to interfere with us. But
we were soon roughly awakened from our dream of security.
No objection was openly made to any expression in the
first number of our magazine; though I afterwards learnt
that several articles had given umbrage to the Governor
and his confidential advisers.^ But it was the newspaper
which they regarded with the deepest dislike, and which
they watched with unsleeping vigilance for an opportunity to
pounce upon and crush it. It was not, however, till four
months after its establishment, and when the publication had
fairly secured the approbation and warm support of the
whole community, that they fully made up their minds to
throw off the mask of moderation, and attempt to smother
the new-fledged freedom of the press, and in fact to extinguish
all public discussion in any shape.
1 The articles reported to me as having been considered most " obnoxious " in
this number, were the "Introduction," by Mr. Fairbaim, which contained some
remarks on the influence of the general difiusion of knowledge in checking the
abuses of despotic power, and elevating the character of individuals and of
nations—a Review of Commissioner Bigge's valuable Report on New South
Wales—and some verses of mine upon the "Suppression of a Constitutional
Government in Spain, and the extinction of a Free Press in Germany."
CAFE TOWN IN 1824.
267
We had strictly excluded personality (the besetting vice of
small communities) from our colunms : not the shadow of a
complaint could be brought against us on that score. Mere
party politics we had shunned, as being altogether alien from
our objects as colonial journalists. Topics likely to excite
violent controversy in the colony, such as the Slavery ques¬
tion, the condition of the Aborigines, &c. (however decided
were our own opinions on ?uch points), we had also carefully
abstained from discussing. We had in fact rejected numerous
communications on all these subjects, considering it in¬
judicious to arouse premature debate, even on legitimate and
important public questions, in the then critical condition of
the press and of the colony. We had, therefore, flattered
ourselves that it would be scarcely possible for the most
jealous scrutiny to find a plausible pretext for interference.
But it was our singular fate to be sacrificed not for sins
actually committed, but from the apprehension of those that
we vcix^X possibly commit.
We had introduced the practice of reporting law cases,
and on this point the Governor and some of his advisers
happened to be peculiarly sensitive ; insomuch that although
they had nothing to allege against the paper as respects the
impartiality and discretion with which such reports had been
hitherto given, they could not tolerate the continuance of
such a privilege. The immediate cause of their interference
was this. There was a prosecution for libel then before the
Supreme Court, at the instance of the Governor. In the
course of the trial the defendant (one Edwards, a reckless
and desperate adventurer) had brought forward certain
scandalous and libellous charges against the character of
268
NOTES TO THE POEMS.
Lord Charles Somerset, both in his public and private
capacity; and to prevent the possibility of such charges
being reported in the newspaper, the Fiscal^ was instructed
to assume the censorship. This took place on the evening
of the 4th May, after we had corrected the leading article for
the paper of the following morning, which happened to be of
my composition. From the report of Edwards' trial also,
every offensive allusion had been carefully expunged ; as was
afterwards proved to the Commissioners of Inquiry, by the
production of the attested proof sheet, actually sent to press
when the Fiscal interfered.
The crisis having thus arrived, Mr. Fairbairn and I
explained to Mr. Greig the course we had determined to
pursue ; namely, never to compromise our birthright as
British subjects by editing any publication under a censor¬
ship. But we advised him to weigh maturely all the con¬
sequences, and either act upon our principles, or continue
the newspaper without us, as he might judge best. Mr.
Greig, however, declared himself resolved to follow the same
course, and announced next morning, in our last paper, that
in consequence of the Fiscal's assumption of the censorship,
the publication would be discontinued until the decision of
his Majesty's Government on the subject should be ascer¬
tained.
• The powers of a Cape Fiscal, an officer (now superseded) combining the
functions of Attorney-General and Superintendent of Police, are sketched with
his usual felicity by the author of the " State of the Cape of Good Hope in 1822."
—*' He is powerful to punish the slave and to accuse the free man. He may
bring forward charges tyrannically, or withhold them corruptly. He may tease
one part of the society by little vexatious police regulations, and indulge another
part in less venial acts," &c. &c.
CAFE TOWN IN 1824.
269
This course, which necessarily involved an immediate
appeal to the Government, and perhaps to the Parliament at
home, would seem to have been quite unexpected by Lord
Charles Somerset and his advisers, and to have exasperated
his lordship beyond all bounds of common prudence or
decorum. He instantly issued a warrant, upon his own
responsibility (a perilous power lodged with the Governor for
great State emergencies, only), directing Mr. Greig's press to
be sealed up, and ordering himself to leave the colony within
a month of the date of the warrant.^
The Cape " Reign of Terror" had now commenced ; and
events succeeded each other with a rapidity and violence
which the actors mistook for energy and decision. My turn
came next. The second number of our magazine had been
published on the 7th May. The warrant for Greig's banish¬
ment was issued on the 8th. On the 13th the Fiscal sent me
a summons to attend at his office, where he informed me
that several articles and paragraphs in our magazine had
given high offence to the Government: that had the obnoxious
passages been observed while the work was in the press,
he (the Fiscal) would have expunged them, or suppressed the
1 The details of Mr. Greig's case, together with some correspondence between
lx)rd C. Somerset and the Colonial department, which led to a second suppres¬
sion of the same newspaper by Earl Bathurst in 1826, may be seen in No. 470
of the Parliamentary Papers of 1827. That paper does not, however, contain a
most important correspondence which took place between Mr. Fairbaim and
Mr. Secretary Huskisson in 1827 and 1828, and which led first to the establish¬
ment of a licensed press, at the Cape, and finally, under Sir George Murray, to
its legalised freedom. The principal part of this latter correspondence was
published in the Oriental Herald for February, 1829. A pamphlet was also
published by Mr. Fairbairn in London, in 1827, entitled "Papers explaining the
Cause of Lord Bathurst's last Interference with the Press at the Cape of Good
Hope."
270
NOTES TO THE POEMS.
number ; and that he must now have a satisfactory " pledge "
that nothing " obnoxious or offensive to Government" should
appear in future. After a long conversation—during which
I pressed him in vain to show me by what law, colonial,
Dutch, or English, he assumed the right of restricting the
legal privileges of the press—I said that as it was quite im¬
possible for us even to conjecture what might be deemed
" obnoxious " by the colonial government, and as we could
not admit any such right of censorship as he claimed, our
only safe course, and the best course for all parties, would be
to discontinue the publication for the present. Accordingly
next morning Mr. Fairbairn and I sent the Fiscal a written
notice to that effect, and on the 15 th the discontinuance of
the work was announced by advertisement in the Gazette.
These occurrences produced a strong sensation in Cape
Town. No public meeting could be held without the
Governor's permission; but a petition to the King in Council,
praying for the extension to the colony of the privileges of a
free press, was drawn up, and signed by a very large propor¬
tion of the most respectable inhabitants, including almost
the whole of the English merchants. This petition was
couched in the most moderate and decorous language, and
only referred in very calm and measured terms to the recent
extraordinary transactions. Such was the panic, however,
that had been excited by the sentence of banishment issued
against Mr. Greig, that comparatively few of the Dutch
inhabitants dared to sign it. The Governor's power, they
said, " was absolute, and his resentment ruin." They durst
not venture, therefore, even to petition the King, contrary to
the pleasure of the Governor. Such abject dread of arbitrary
CAPE TOWN IN 1824.
271
power found little sympathy, of course, in our breasts. Mr;
Fairbairn and I signed the petition.
This expression of public sentiment alarmed while it
enraged the Government. They wished to smother the
press without provoking public discussion at home. Another
attempt was made to save appearances. Lord Charles sum¬
moned me to appear immediately before him at his audience-
room in the Colonial Office. I found him with the Chief
Justice, Sir John Truter, seated on his right hand, and the
second number of our South African Journal lying open
before him.^ There was a storm on his brow, and it burst
forth at once upon me like a long-gathered south-easter from
Table Mountain. "So, Sir!" he began—"You are one of
those who dare to insult me, and oppose my government!"—
and then he launched forth into a long tirade of abuse ;
scolding, upbraiding, and taunting me,—with all the domi¬
neering arrogance of mien and sneering insolence of ex¬
pression of which he was so great a master—reproaching
me above all for my ingratitude for his personal favours.
While he thus addressed me, in the most insulting style, I
felt my frame tremble with indignation ; but I saw that the
Chief Justice was placed there for a witness of my demeanour,
and that my destruction was sealed if I gave way to my
feelings, and was not wary in my words. I stood up, how¬
ever, and confronted this most arrogant man with a look
under which his haughty eye instantly sunk, and replied to
him with a calmness of which I had not, a few minutes
' The article which Was pointed out by the Fiscal, and again by the Governor
at this interview, as the most " obnoxious," was one on the State and Prospects
of the English Emigrants in South Africa.
272
NOTES TO THE POEMS.
before, thought myself capable. I told him that I was
quite sensible of the position in which I stood—a very
humble individual before the representative of my Sovereign ;
but I also knew what was due to myself as a British subject
and a gentleman, and that I would not submit to be rated
in the style he had assumed by any man, whatever were his
station or his rank. I repelled his charges of having acted
unworthily of my character as a Government servant and
a loyal subject;—I defended my conduct in regard to the
press, and the character of our magazine, which he said was
full of "calumny and falsehood —I asserted my right to
petition the King for the extension of the freedom of the
press to the colony \ and I denied altogether the " personal
obligations " with which he upbraided me, having never asked
nor received from him the slightest personal favour, unless
the lands allotted to my party, and my own appointment to
the government library, were considered such,—though the
latter was, in fact, a public duty assigned to me, in com¬
pliance with the recommendations of the Home Government.
This situation, however, I now begged to resign, since I
would not compromise my free agency for that or any ap¬
pointment his lordship could bestow.
Lord Charles then saw he had gone a step too far. He
had, in fact, misapprehended my character, and had made
a not uncommon mistake, in taking a certain bashfulness
of manner (mauvaise honte) for timidity of spirit. And as
his object then was not absolutely to quarrel with, but
merely to intimidate me, and thus render me subservient to
his views, he immediately lowered his tone, and had the
singular meanness, after the insulting terms he had used, to
CAPE TOWN IN 1824.
m
attempt to coax me by a little flattery, and by throwing out
hints of his disposition to promote my personal views, if I
would conduct myself " discreetly." He wished the magazine,
he said, still to go on ; and even alleged that the Fiscal had
in some points exceeded his instructions in regard to us.
But this attempt to cajole, when he found he could not bully
me, disgusted me even more than his insolence. I saw the
motive, and despised it: I saw the peril too, and feared it:
" timeo Danaos ! " I resolutely declined, therefore, his re¬
peated invitations (to which he called the Chief Justice
formally to bear witness) to recommence the magazine,
unless legal protection were granted to the press. And so
ended my last conference with Lord Charles Somerset. I
retired, and immediately sent in the resignation of- my
Government appointment.
We still hoped we might, at all events, be allowed to go
on quietly with our academy, and now resolved to devote our
exclusive attention to it, and to other objects remote from
politics, till better times should dawn on the colony. But
we speedily found that what some of our Dutch friends had
said was but too true—" the Governor's power was absolute,
and his resentment ruin." Lord Charles, after this conference,
appears to have determined to crush us totally. He could
not decently, without some misdemeanour on our part, shut
up our academy, but he openly denounced Mr. Fairbairn and
myself as " inveterate Radicals ;" and declared our academy
to be "a seminary of sedition." Such sentiments openly
avowed by a Governor armed with almost despotic authority,
however much disliked personally, had an amazing effect.
In the eyes of some persons opposition to the pleasure of
T
274
NOTES TO THE POEMS.
" the powers that be," right or wrong, is always a sufficient
proof of democratic or seditious principles; and in the
present case, many who had no respect whatever either for
the opinions or the character of Lord Charles Somerset, had
nevertheless great appi'ehension of offending him by appear¬
ing to patronise those whom he seemed determined to put
down. The personal influence of a Governor, in such a
community as the Cape, can indeed be but faintly conceived
by people in England. Under the old system, or what Lord
Charles used to caU " the decent order of things," that in¬
fluence was all but omnipotent.
The consequences may easily be conceived. From that
moment the prosperity of our academy was blasted. Week
after week pupils were taken away, some on one pretext, some
on another ; until, in the course of a few months, scarcely
half our former number remained. This result was pro¬
bably accelerated by certain occurrences which took place
shortly after the affair of the press, and of which the follow¬
ing is not the least memorable and characteristic.
The establishment of a Literary and Scientific Society at
the Cape had been one of the objects to which we had most
earnestly directed our attention, with a view to the intel¬
lectual improvement of the colony ; and in order to prepare
the public mind for the formation of such an association, two
able articles from the pen of Mr. Fairbairn had appeared in
successive numbers of our magazine. After the suppression
of the press, we still cherished the hope of succeeding in
this object, which had now become of more importance than
ever, since by that event, "light" was " by one entrance quite
shut out." Besides, as such societies have been generally
CAFE TOWN IN 1824.
m
tolerated, and even liberally patronised by some of the most
despotic Governments of ancient and modern times, we
flattered ourselves that even our South-African "divan"
would be disposed rather to encourage than obstruct the
direction of the public mind to such pursuits, both for the
sake of their own credit in the eyes of the Commissioners
and the Home Government, and in order to withdraw
attention from more unpleasant topics. The Governor's
personal hostility towards ourselves, we hoped, might be
perhaps abated, when he saw that our views were exclusively
directed to objects from which all political discussion was
strictly excluded. And we entertained, moreover, the not
unworthy expectation of extending our influence in society,
and even of benefiting our academy, by exhibiting proofs of
the moderation of our principles, and the practical utility of
our aims.
On the nth of July, accordingly, we met with a few of
our friends at the house of Messrs. Thomson and Pillans,^
merchants in Cape Town) to concert measures for carrying
this purpose into effect. Some fundamental resolutions were
adopted; a committee of three persons was appointed to
prepare specific regulations; and I was invited to act as
secretary tempore. We had, from time to time, similar
preliminary meetings, at each others' houses, at which the
regulations of the proposed society were maturely con-
1 The former of these gentlemen is the author of " Travels and Adventures in
Southern Africa," published in 1827. And besides him and his intelligent
partner, Mr. Fillans, our other associates at this meeting, were the Rev.
Dr. Philip, Superintendent of Missions; Messrs. W. T. Blair, of the E. I.
Company's Civil Service; H. E. Rutherfoord, merchant, B. Moodie, W. L.
Von Buchenroder, and C. T. Thornhill.
T 2
276
NOTES TO THE POEMS.
sidered, and several persons of scientific acquirements were
added to our number. Meanwhile, to guard against any
possible misapprehension of our views, copies of an address,
pointing out the precise objects of the proposed institution,
and a report of our sub-committee on the same topic, to¬
gether with the rules adopted by the founders, were
transmitted to the Colonial Office, the Fiscal, the Members
of the Court of Justice, and to the Commissioners of
Inquiry.
So perfectly unexceptionable did the principles of the
association appear even to persons most afraid of gjiving
umbrage to the Governor, and so praiseworthy its objects,
that at our third meeting, which was held on the nth of
August, applications for admission were presented from a
large number of respectable individuals, comprising some of
the principal Government functionaries.^ And on purpose
to conciliate the Governor, by affording him an opportunity
of appearing to advantage, as the promoter of science and
literature in the colony, a deputation was appointed to wait
upon his Excellency, to solicit him to become the Patron of
the Society. This deputation consisted of Sir John Truter,
the Chief Justice, Dr. Truter, a member of the Bench (and
brother-in-law of Mr. Barrow, of the Admiralty), Mr. Cloet^,
advocate, two Indian residents, two medical gentlemen, and
two English merchants of Cape Town. Mr. Fairbairn and
I, for obvious reasons, avoided assuming any unnecessary
prominence in the business.
1 The members at this time had increased to sixty-one, comprising among
others the Chief Justice, and two other members of the bench, the Deputy
Fiscal, Mr. Lind, four other civil servants, two advocates, four ministers of
religion, nine medical gentlemen, and twenty-one merchants.
CAP£ TOWN IN 1824.
277
The Governor, however, did not allow time for the depu*
tation to wait upon him. He had been watching our pro¬
ceedings all along, with a most feline vigilance, and now
sprung forth upon us like a tiger from his den. He called
the Chief Justice to his presence, and gave him such a rating
for joining the society, that Sir John, almost frightened out
of his wits, anxiously entreated me to withdraw his name
from the list of members; at the same time assuring me,
with a sort of rueful simplicity, that he conscientiously be¬
lieved the institution to be a most praiseworthy one, and
calculated to be of inestimable advantage to the community !
With Mr. Advocate Cloet^ his lordship came at once to
the point, and told him distinctly that he was resolved to
crush the institution ; adding, with vindictive emphasis, that
it was " quite sufficient" for him to know that this society
had originated with Mr. Pringle and Mr. Fairbairn—for he
was fully determined, so long as he held the reins of Govern¬
ment, to oppose and thwart everything, without exception,
which emanated from them, or in which they Were con¬
cerned.
To shew that he was in earnest, Mr. Fairbairn and Dr.
Philip, and afterwards Mr. Pillans, were officially summoned
before the Fiscal, and charged with holding " illegal meetings,"
and a proclamation, dated Feb. 19, 1800, which had been
issued by Sir George Yonge, during the first occupation of
the colony by the British, for the suppression of yacobin
Clubs, was read to them as the law which would be
enforced in the present case, should we venture to hold any
further meetings.
A correspondence then ensued between Mr. Blair (a mild,
278
NOTES TO THE POEMS.
accomplished and most courteous man), who had presided
as chairman of our last meeting, and the Colonial Govern¬
ment, in which every effort was used to soothe the Governor's
prejudices and to obviate, if possible, his objections. But it
was all in vain. Courtesy and conciliation only drew forth
further insult. " His Excellency considers" (so ran the
official missive) "that he should greatly deviate from his
duty in giving countenance to an establishment conducted
by persons who have wilfully paid so little regard to the
Authorities and established Regulations of the Colony."
Seeing that the Governor was thus inveterately resolved to
extinguish our embryo institution, we determined that he
should at least have credit of doing it formally and officially,
and not by mere menace and intimidation. We therefore
drew up a respectful memorial, and sent it round for the sig^
natures of the members. The hostility of the Governor to
the institution being now well known, many were intimidated
from signing ; but still it was sent in with thirty-six respect¬
able names. The petition was peremptorily refused; and
the association was, of course, immediately broken up.
A complete history of the affair, with copies of the papers
and correspondence, was then drawn up by us and laid
before the Commissioners of Inquiry.
I must hastily pass over, along with many other strange
occurrences of that period, an intimation which I received
from a person in the service of Government, and who was
certainly then on very confidential terms with the acting
Colonial Secretary, Mr. Peter Brink, that a warrant had
been signed for the inspection of my private papers by the
Fiscal, together with those of my friends Dr. Philip and Mr.
CAPjE TOWN IN 1824.
279
Fairbairn,on the pretext of searchingfor "illegaldocuments."
The Fiscal afterwards strenuously denied to the Commis¬
sioners of Inquiry that any such warrant against me had ever
existed; but it is certain that his whole conduct at the time,
and especially his summoning me before the Court of Justice
to answer his interrogations upon oath, were of a character
to confirm my belief of some such stigmatising measure
being in contemplation, as part of the system of terrorism
then pursued by the Colonial Government.
It was difficult, indeed, to conjecture to what lengths the
violence of arbitrary power would at that dismal period pro¬
ceed. Fear is the most cruel of all passions, and infuriated
by the fear of exposure, the Colonial Government seemed de¬
termined to strike down every man who should dare even to
look or think disapprobation of its deeds. A frightful system
of espionage pervaded every circle of society, and rendered
perilous even the confidence of the domestic hearth. Oliver,
the well-knoWn Government spy, who had been sent out from
England to be provided for at the Cape with a lucrative
situation under Lord Charles, was most actively engaged
during this crisis, as was universally believed, in his former
vocation. Informers and false witnesses abounded; and
rumours of " plots " and " disloyal combinations against the
Governor" were assiduously kept afloat for purposes as
obvious as they were mischievous.
The Government Gazette had been long systematically
employed for purposes of public deception, and sometimes of
personal calumny. It had denounced the most respectable
heads of the Albany settlers as seditious Radicals, merely be¬
cause they proposed to meet to petition the Government
28o
NOTES TO THE POEMS.
respecting their grievances. It had sent forth most
audacious misrepresentations, for the purpose of effect in
England, respecting the Tulbagh Drostdy, the Government
free-schools, the mitigation of slavery, the state of the
frontier, the treatment of the native tribes, and other topics
too multifarious to enumerate. Latterly, it had been most
assiduously employed in promulgating hints, and that too in
Government proclamations and advertisements, respecting
" an evil spirit" and " malignant views, evinced by some
of the community ;" and in recording the presentation of
numerous addresses to his Excellency, from the Court of.
Justice, the Government Departments, the Burgher Senate,
and other public bodies, "expressive of the strongest sen¬
timents of loyalty !" This sort of work might, perhaps, be
considered the legitimate province of such a journal under
such a government. But not contented even with the
services of the Gazette, a scurrilous pamphlet was surrep¬
titiously printed at the Government press in October, 1824,
for the sole purpose of defaming the character of the Rev.
Dr. Philip, who (for reasons to be afterwards noticed) was
more obnoxious to the Governor, if that were possible, than
even Mr. Fairbairn or myself. The fact, from its astound¬
ing folly, seems scarcely credible; it is, nevertheless,
most certain that Dr. Philip obtained a complete copy of
this pamphlet when only a very few had been distributed, and
laid it before the Commissioners of Inquiry on the 19th of
October, and that the facts of its being printed by the order
and under the immediate inspection of the acting Colonial
Secretary, and copies of it circulated by the Governor him¬
self, were fully substantiated ; and, what was not less
CAF£ TOWN IN 1824.
281
remarkable, that the printer's name was omitted by express
order from the Colonial Office, in the very teeth of a pro¬
clamation issued four months previously, imposing a heavy
penalty for every such omission! Five hundred copies
were stitched and ready for distribution, when the investi¬
gations of the Commissioners alarmed the Governor; the
copies which had been distributed were hastily recalled, and
the whole impression destroyed.
The state of society in Cape Town, and indeed through¬
out the colony, at this period was truly deplorable. Mutual
confidence was shaken; distrust, apprehension, and gloom
everywhere prevailed; and men, according to their several
characters and circumstances, were perturbed by angry
excitement or prostrated by slavish fear. The singular
audacity of the Government in some of the transactions I
have noticed, and in others of a still more startling descrip¬
tion which faU not within the scope of this narrative,
absolutely paralysed the mass of the community with terror;
and at length impressed them generally with the conviction
that the Governor, who could venture thus to act under the
very eyes of the King's Commissioners, must feel himself so
strongly backed at home as to defy alike official inquiry and
individual complaint. So strong had become this 9onviction,
that whoever was discovered to be a complainant to the
Commissioners, or supposed to have furnished them volun¬
tarily with any information respecting abuses, was imme-
dietely set down as a "marked and ruined man." And
even the Commissioners themselves (though unquestionably
as honourable men as England ever entrusted with a
difficult and delicate public duty), began to be very generally
202
NOTES TO THE POEMS.
suspected of being either the mere puppets of Earl Bathurst,
or the blind dupes of Lord Charles Somerset; an unworthy
surmise, arising from the extreme caution which their
instructions constrained them to observe in regard to all
complaints which related to the personal conduct of the
Governor. Those who, strong in a better faith, had dared to
vindicate their claims to the privileges of British subjects,
and who by doing so had become " obnoxious " (such was the
specific term) to the Colonial Government, were now looked
upon as persons under a sort of civil proscription, with whom
it was no longer safe to associate, or even to hold casual
intercourse. Many illustrations, at once ludicrous and
humiliating, of the pusillanimous prostration of the public
mind at this crisis, remain vividly in my recollection ^ but
I refrain from giving pain to individuals, otherwise respect¬
able, by recording them. Nor were people's apprehensions
apparently without' foundation. I shall notice only one in¬
stance. A meritorious clergyman of the Church of England,
a friend of mine, was informed by a functionary of high
rank, then the chief adviser of the Governor, that he was
regarded at Government House as one of the " disaffected "
because " it was observed that he still continued to associate
with Mr. Pringle and Mr. Fairbairn." It would, however, be
harsh, and probably unfair, to ascribe without qualification
the whole of this persecution to the Governor personally.
Tyrannical and vindictive as he was, I have little doubt that
much of what was then said and done, and of which Lord
Charles Somerset got the credit, was said and done with¬
out his knowledge or beyond his intention. But such will
ever be the case under a system of government such as he
THE GLEN-LYNDEN SETTLERS.
383
had organised, and to which he pertinaciously clung till it
crumbled beneath his grasp and crushed him in its ruins; a
system where integrity and independence found no soil to grow
in, where truth could not with safety be spoken, and where
the servile and the selfish, basely solicitous to recommend
themselves in the eyes of their patron, could scarcely fail to
carry insult and persecution towards the objects of his
dislike, in many cases beyond the bounds he himself may
have purposed.
Such is a faint picture of the state of things at the Cape in
the beginning of October, 1824. Before this period I had
become convinced that, whatever the final result might be
as regarded the system of Government, my personal pro¬
spects in the colony were for the present entirely blasted, and
that to continue the struggle longer would only sink us deeper
in ruin. I began therefore to prepare seriously for returning
to England, where, though my prospects were dark enough, I
should at least be once more under the protection of British
laws, and at liberty to follow whatever course Providence
might, open to me, regardless alike of the favour or the frown of
men " drest in a little brief authority."—Author's Narrative.
61.—Loved Kindred and congenial Friends sincere. P. 165.
A few words in conclusion about our settlement of Glen-
Lynden. Under the blessing of Providence, its prosperity
has been steadily progressive. The friends whom I left
there, though they have not escaped some occasional trials
and disappointments, such as all men are exposed to in the
uncertain world, have yet enjoyed a goodly share of " health,
284
NOTES TO THE POEMS.
competence, and peace." As regards the first of these
blessings, one fact may suffice. Out of twenty-three souls
who accompanied me to Glen-Lynden fourteen years ago,
there had not, up to the 24th of January last, 1834, occurred
(so far as I know) a single death—except one, namely, that
of Mr. Peter Rennie, who was unfortunately killed by the
bursting of a gun, in 1825. My father, at the patriarchal age
of eighty years, enjoys the mild sunset of life in the midst of
his children and grandchildren ; the latter, of whom there is
a large and rapidly increasing number, having been, with a
few exceptions, all born in South Africa. The party have
more than doubled their original numbers, by births alone,
during the last twelve years. Several additional families of
relatives and of old acquaintance, have also lately joined
them.
Without having any pretensions to wealth and with very
little money among them, the Glen-Lynden settlers (with
some few exceptions) may be said to be in a thriving, and on
the whole in a very enviable condition. They are no longer
molested by either predatory Bushmen or Gaffers; they
have abundance of all that life requires for competence and
for comfort; and they have few causes of anxiety about the
future. Some of them who have acquired considerable
flocks of merino sheep, have even a fair prospect of attaining
by degrees to moderate wealth. They have excellent means
of education for their children ; they have a well-selected
subscription library of about four hundred volumes ; and,
what is still more important, they have the public ordinances
of religion duly and purely maintained among them; they
have now a parish minister (the Rev. Alexander Welsh, a
PROSPERITY IN SOUTH AFRICA. 285
clergyman of the Scottish Church) established in the valley
of Glen-Lynden, with a decent stipend from the Government
augmented by their own voluntary contributions.
On the whole, I have great cause to bless God, both as
regards the prosperity of my father's house, and in many
respects also as regards my own career in life (whatever may
be my worldly fortunes), that His good Providence directed
our emigrant course fourteen years ago to the wilds of
Southern Africa.—AuthoPs Narrative of a Residence in
South Africa.
LONDON :
PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED,
STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS.