more peaceable part of the country. They all emigrated together, and harmlessly passed within a few hundred paces of the Mission-house; leaving behind them a wellbeaten path, forty or fifty yards broad. On their way, however, a young calf, not many weeks old, was left in one of the ravines, near Mount-Coke, where it was discovered by a party of boys on the following morning. These came running to inform me, and promised that if I would present them with a few beads they would immediately return and fetch it. The bargain was instantly agreed upon, and the little juvenile adventurers forthwith started in high glee. But scarcely had they reached the precincts of the village, before they were met and questioned respecting the nature of their errand, by some of the older people: these sages very gravely advised the youngsters to decline the job, as it was one that might be productive of serious consequences. On inquiring into the matter, I was told that the scheme was one which would, undoubtedly, place both me and them in inevitable danger; that if we laid hands upon the young elephant, its dam would, most assuredly, know who it was that seized the little straggler, and would come by night and kill us in our houses while asleep. Such is the difference between the Kaffer and the Hindoo: whilst the one domesticates, and renders them the most the other has not the most distant idea of taming them at all; but even fears to have the very weakest on his place of habitation. Hence it was declared, that if we caught and kept the calf in question, the Chiefs would all be afraid of residing in the neighbourhood! docile of all animals, The astonishing agility and dexterity of the Kaffer generally enable him to avoid accidents on occasions like the above. I only recollect two that happened near us: one was a case in which an old Captain had his ribs dreadfully fractured; and the other was occasioned by a wild and infuriated buffalo, whose horn entered the abdomen of a middle-aged native but neither of these proved fatal, although little or no attention was paid to them. An awful circumstance, however, occurred soon afterwards to an English settler; a young man, of wild and dissipated habits, who was in pursuit of game, in the Fish River forest. This bravado was wont, fool-hardily, to boast of being able, at any time, to go within arm's length of the elephant, and write his name (Th-k-wr-y) upon its side. How vain indeed is the confidence which some men vauntingly put in an arm of flesh! Having one day fired upon and wounded one of these sagacious creatures, the latter unexpectedly turned round and pursued him and before he had time either to prepare for defence, or to effect his escape, it levelled him with the dust, and trampled him into the earth. His Hottentot companion only just escaped to tell the woful story, and to point out the spot on which were laid the mutilated remains of his presumptuous and unhappy master! Having remarked on the chief pursuits and engagements of the men, we shall now proceed to notice those of the other sex. As in most other barbarous and unenlightened nations, the lot of the abafazi (women) is hard indeed they are the slaves of passion, and perfect drudges. Major Laing's observations on the Soolima females of Western Africa are, in a great measure, applicable to those of the Amakosæ and other tribes in Caffraria. 'When young," says that traveller, “they are in many instances beautiful," (laying aside the prejudice of colour,)" but the hard labour which they commence as soon as they enter the married state, and which may be regarded as a kind of bondage, soon destroys the charms with which nature may have gifted them, and they become, at an early age, even disgustingly ugly." * Nevertheless, established custom and universal usage render them apparently content; and no class of people * Laing's Travels, p. 360. can be more cheerful and vivacious than the Kaffer women in general, until they begin to sink under a weight of infirmities. Scarcely do they attain the zenith of life, before their strength begins rapidly to fail, and symptoms of emaciation become strikingly apparent. In nothing is it more fully manifest that Paganism reverses the very order of nature, and the natural order of society, than in the fact that in all heathen countries the weaker vessel is uniformly made to bear the heaviest burdens; and that woman is regarded and treated as a being of an inferior character, more nearly allied to the brute than to the human species. In conversation, the Kaffer frequently classes his umfaz (wife), and ingegu, or packox, together; and circumstances of daily occurrence lamentably prove, that he looks upon the former as being scarcely more valuable than the latter. Indeed his conduct towards his cattle is generally of a much more feeling character than that which is oft-times evinced towards the partner of his bosom. Whilst he idly lounges about, reposing in the shade, or basking in the sun, or otherwise going from hamlet to hamlet in quest of news, she must be busily employed, not indeed like the women of ancient Greece, or the wives of the Bedouins, in weaving and grinding at the mill, &c., but in a manner still more laborious. Building, digging, sowing, planting, and reaping, &c., are occupations that devolve wholly upon the females: they are "hewers of wood, and drawers of water" beside. Like those of the earliest ages, the time of the evening, even the time when women go out to draw water,' "* numbers are frequently seen trudging with their sucking children tied on their backs and vessels upon their heads, towards the fountain of river, for water: a custom which appears also to have prevailed in the days of Homer. † "at About the month of September or October these + Homer Od. x. * Gen. xxiv. 11. female horticulturists begin to prepare for their garden avocations; collecting the imbeo (seed), and getting their implements put in order. The latter consist of a kind of wooden spades, which are usually made by the men, and so formed as to render both ends useful. The valleys and low lands are generally selected as corn-fields, on account of the soil being not only better, but possessed of much more moisture than is usually found in other places. The sloping and bushy sides of eminences, and the bases of hills, where we frequently meet with a rich alluvial deposit, are also regarded as choice spots. Having obtained a plot of ground adapted to their purpose, they then fall upon their knees, and in this position commence the tedious operation. The seed is first thrown about amongst the grass and herbage; after which they dig up both ground and grass together, and thus plough and harrow in the grain at the same time. Having in this manner turned up as much as is deemed sufficient for their purpose, they leave the loose weeds and herbage spread over the surface to wither and die; and seldom dress or rake the garden until the blade has begun to shoot above the clods. The rubbish is then gathered together in heaps and burnt; and the men called upon to perform their part, which, as I have already stated, is to erect the utango or hedge, in which also the poor women are oft-times compelled to assist. Within this enclosure a slight and temporary hut is now built, which has frequently reminded me of the figurative expressions of the Prophet, (Isaiah i. 8,) " A cottage in a vineyard, and as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers." It constitutes the miserable dwelling of one of the women, whose business it is to preserve the crop from birds by day, and from straying cattle at night. Here these watchers are obliged to remain as long as the season lasts, and until the harvest be got in. The chief of their grain being of a very small description, (holcus sorghum,) im mense flocks of the feathered tribe are thereby attracted, and would doubtless prove exceedingly destructive, were it not hourly watched when beginning to ripen. Several of the English settlers have at different times planted considerable quantities of Kaffer corn;" but their other occupations not allowing them to pay that attention to it which its preservation renders absolutely requisite, I am not aware of a single instance in which the experiment has proved sufficiently successful to warrant the continuance of its cultivation. With the excep tion of maize, which the Kaffer calls umbona, holcus sorghum appears to be the only kind of grain cultivated by the tribes of Southern Africa; and the mode of cultivation practised by those in the remoter parts of the interior is precisely the same as that adopted by the Amakosæ. Our custom of enriching the land by manure is one that seems never to have entered the mind of the African. Hence even the Dutch boors themselves, on whose premises there are generally immense masses of dung that have been accumulating for years, never think of throwing a single load of it upon their grounds. When they find that the soil is impoverished by the different crops that have been reaped from it, they then proceed in search of another plot, and thereon commence their work anew, leaving the old field to recover its strength by remaining fallow. An increase of population, however, will, no doubt, ultimately effect a change in this also; for, as the country becomes more thickly inhabited, the land will of course be rendered much more valuable, and the agriculturist obliged to adopt various improvements which are not absolutely necessary while such extensive tracts remain wholly destitute of inhabitants. The harvest being over, the corn is brought home in bundles each woman carries her sheaves upon her head. A small circular enclosure is then made, and the ground : |