for theaccommodation of travellers. At one end there were seats arranged oneither side, and from the roof hammocks might be suspended, in which thefemales of the party might sleep; the men usually making their bedseither under the waggons, or at the farther end. Two entire days wereconsumed in loading them. As George and Redgy were not to go the wholedistance, their boxes were put in last, and then one day more was passedin careful examination of the cattle, to make sure they were all insound condition. On the morning of the fourth day, however, they setout; the party consisting of the farmer, his wife and daughter and histhree sons, three native servants, a boy, and the two young Englishmen.The first thing was to harness, or, as it is termed in that country, toinspan the cattle. This is a curious process for a stranger to witness.The oxen, which in a well-trained team are fully as well experienced inthe operation as their masters, are driven close up to the wheel of thewaggon, with their heads towards it. Then the waggon driver calls eachox by its name, which it knows as well as any English dog knows his, andthe animal bends forward to allow the yoke to be put upon its neck.Then they are arranged in a double line--eight couple, one behind theother, a Kaffir lad, called the fore-louper, leading the way. Hebrandishes in his hand a huge whip of cameleopard's hide, which hedelivers with terrific effect on the shoulders or back of the unhappyanimals, generally towards the close of the journey, when the team arebecoming weary, or, at all events, lazy.
The farmer and one of his sons accompanied the waggon on horseback,while the rest of the party walked by the side, or took a few hours'siesta in the waggons. Farmer Baylen proposed to George to ride thefirst part of the journey in his and his son's company, and the lattergladly accepted the offer. He was greatly struck with the beauty of thescenery in the neighbourhood of Durban. The journey for the first twodays lay over Cowie's Hill, which rises to a considerable height,affording a wide prospect of the sea-coast, with its rich line of woods;while inland, the country for a considerable distance presents asuccession of elevated ridges, extending as far as the Umkomanzi river.The road itself was in the highest degree picturesque. It was November,the May of the Southern Hemisphere. Every now and then the waggonswould enter upon a thick undergrowth of shrubs, ploughing their way, asit were, through an inland sea; the fragrance and beauty of the shrubsfar exceeding anything that an English landscape presents. When a fewmiles had been accomplished, the oxen were outspanned, and allowed tograze, while the men took their mid-day meal, and afterwards smokedtheir pipes, under the shelter of some fragrant shrubs. Just as theyreached the first halting-place, George discerned in the distance somesingular-looking circular erections, which, the farmer informed him,were a native village; and finding that George was anxious to see it,offered to ride up and make an examination of it. The offer was gladlyaccepted, and after a short canter the kraal was reached. It wassituated on one of the slopes above a rapid stream, and was built afterthe design usual among the Kaffirs. There were two circular enclosures,one inside the other, the whole being protected by a strong palisade.The outer circle is for the Kaffirs themselves, the inner one for thecattle. As these latter constitute the wealth of the villagers, theyare careful to secure them against theft or violence, and by thisarrangement they could only be seized after all the resistance the mencould offer had been overcome. Each hut is circular in shape, andconsists of a framework, constructed of long poles, driven into theground, and bent towards the top, so as to meet at one point in thecentre. Similar poles are laid horizontally at intervals one aboveanother, and secured to the uprights by strips of fibre, so that thewhole structure resembles a huge circular crate. The portion whichforms the roof is covered with grass pegged down and secured to thepoles, something after the way in which ricks are thatched in England.The floor usually consists of clay, when it can be found in theneighbourhood, levelled and beaten hard. It is sometimes even polished,by being rubbed over with a flat stone. There is a circular elevationin the centre of the hut similarly formed, which serves as a fireplace,but there is nothing resembling a chimney, the smoke escaping, as usedto be the case in the dwellings of the ancient Britons, through theframework above. There is generally a door formed of wattle-work, whichcan be closed in inclement weather, and sometimes a kind of screen ofsimilar material can be placed to windward of the fire, when the weatheris unusually severe. George was struck with the fine proportions andintelligent faces of the men, many of them exhibiting muscular, stalwartframes and expressive features, which a Greek sculptor might not havedisdained to copy. The women, though some of them were not ungracefulin figure, were not nearly equal, either in personal beauty orintelligence, to their male companions. Their features were, indeed,altogether too flat to satisfy the European idea of beauty, a faultwhich was not observable among the men. On George's remarking thisdisparity of the sexes to the farmer, he answered it was no doubt causedby the severe and incessant labour imposed upon the women, for whichnature had not designed them.
"They are required," said he, "to perform the entire manual labour ofthe kraal--all the digging, planting, and reaping, which in other landsis performed by the men; while the men themselves sit at home, engagedin sewing their karosses, in which they display great dexterity, and bywhich they realise considerable sums. There is, however, no lack ofmanhood among them. Their bravery in the chase and in war is notinferior to that of civilised nations."
"If ever they should learn from us how to fight," said old Baylen toGeorge, "and possess themselves of the Gatling gun and Martini rifle, itwould be a bad day for the whites. They outnumber us ten to one, andare as fearless and resolute as any European race."
"But if they are converted to Christianity," said George, "they wouldhardly rise against their benefactors, would they?"
"Ay," said the old farmer, "so many think. But to my mind that is arotten reed to lean on. The nations of Europe have been Christianisedmany centuries ago, but that does not prevent their going to war withone another, when they think themselves wronged, or even when theyimagine some advantage is to be gained. How mistaken the idea is, wasto be seen in Sandilli's war, only a little time ago. Some of thechiefs, and some of their men too, who had been baptised in theirinfancy, and had lived as Christians all their lives, nevertheless tookpart with their heathen countrymen in the struggle with the English.Several of the chiefs--Dukwana among others, who had been a very zealousproselyte--hesitated for some time as to what course they should pursue,and did not renounce their Christianity. But they took part withSandilli, nevertheless; and if they could have succeeded inexterminating the whites, and regaining possession of Southern Africa,would not have hesitated to do so."
"That is a very serious consideration," said George. "You say they aregreatly more numerous than the whites, do you not?"
"There is no proportion between the two," said the farmer. "OurEuropean population in Natal--English, Dutch, German, and all others--isconsiderably under twenty thousand; the Kaffirs number not less thanthree hundred and fifty thousand; and, what is more serious still, theZulu kingdom, which immediately adjoins ours, is governed by a nativeking, the most powerful that has ever reigned in South Africa. His armyalone contains four times as many men as our whole white population, andevery man among them is a trained warrior, as fearless of wounds anddeath, as any man in your English regiments."
"How is it they do not attack you?" asked George.
"There are several reasons," answered Baylen. "In the first place, thenative races are not at unity among themselves. They hate one anothereven more bitterly than they hate the white man, and thus the Englishare enabled to array one tribe against another. The Basutos and theFingos will help you to put down the Gaikas and the Galekas; and these,when reduced to obedience, would very possibly aid you against theZulus, if you were indeed going to war with them. That is one reason.Another is, that so far, whenever your English troops have come intocollision with the natives, they have always had the better of them, andthere is a very general idea that the English cannot be conquered. Ifany one
race should ever succeed in any campaign against your troops,the consequences would be very grave indeed. Indeed, I believe that thegeneral opinion entertained respecting the Zulu king, and hisirresistible military power, has already done enormous mischief; and hewill have to be put down before English supremacy in South Africa can beeffectually secured. But here we are back again, and it is time toresume our journey."
About nightfall they reached their halting-place, a small village aboutten miles distant from Durban, where they obtained a supply of freshmilk and mealies, resuming their journey on the following day.
For several hours they proceeded without any unusual occurrence; butabout noon Matamo, as the principal driver was called, came up to MrBaylen and exchanged a few words with him, pointing in the direction ofa small