winding round and over a green lower range of hills, indicating the road the coach must traverse ere it reaches its destination. On the top of one of these hills stood the kraal of Mashuti, a minor Kaffir chief. You approached his town through a picturesque gorge, climbing as you proceeded; the road on each side shaded by large trees with here and there a wild banana spreading its broad leaves, giving a semi-tropical appearance to the scene. Embowered as it was, a traveller could form no idea of the extent of this kraal from the rapid glimpse obtainable of the roofs of the huts, but it was always a cheerful feature of the journey to see the small nude black children, who, having no fear of the Englishman, would show themselves and cheer the occupants of the vehicle as it passed swiftly along. Mashuti's people were peaceful and industrious; they cultivated mealies over a large area which he and his folk had occupied for generations, and they possessed a considerable number of cattle, sheep, and goats. They menaced no one, and never interfered with the few Boer farmers in their vicinity. But in 1894, they had to reckon with Boer cupidity and greed. Longing eyes had been cast on their herds and lands by unscrupulous Field-cornets and others; the usual game began, unjust demands for hut taxes which were resented; then followed lying representations to Pretoria, only too eagerly listened to, as to the dangerous character of the tribe. A commando was sent against them. Naturally they attempted to defend their hearths and homes, but in the end were almost wiped out, their lands confiscated and their cattle, under the name of loot, apportioned amongst their murderers. The attack was made just before the rainy season commenced and the survivors of this poor tribe were driven to seek what shelter they could with other Kaffirs, or to die of starvation and exposure, as numbers did, on the Veldt. When last I passed Mashuti's kraal, though some time had elapsed since the slaughter, I could still see vestiges of calcined clay huts, and innumerable bullet marks on the stones. Successful in this raid on Mashute, the same gang adopted similar measures towards neighbouring tribes in the Woodbush, whose chiefs were Magoeba and Madjadjie. Here, owing to the nature of the country, and the thick bush or forests into which the Kaffirs retired, their task was not so easy. But a large commando was raised, and so-called forts were built at great expense a long distance from the Kaffir stronghold. No one ever dreamed for an instant that these forts were necessary, or that the few wretched Kaffirs being hunted, at most 800 men, armed only with assegais and a few obsolete muskets, would ever attack them, but the pretence served its purpose to obtain for each man on commando £15 per month and a share of loot. I shall never forget as long as I live the appearance of these cowardly loafers, who would have taken a lease in perpetuity of their position, when on two occasions whilst their supposed operations were in progress I passed by these so-called forts. Ultimately, however, the scandal became too grave even for the Boer Government, and a strong contingent of Swazis, thanks to Great Britain, who for years past K had been hereditary enemies of the Woodbush tribes was organised and sent against them. Within a fortnight they accomplished what for months the valiant Boers had failed to do. No check was imposed on the indiscriminate slaughter which ensued, Magoeba was slain and decapitated, and the poor wretches who escaped wounded, maimed, or dying, scattered themselves over the Low Country. It was publicly stated by the Zoutpansberg press at the time, that numbers of children were taken by the Boers, under the guise of making them apprentices, and though I have no personal knowledge on that head, still I have sufficient reliable hearsay evidence to convince me of its accuracy. However, I myself caused shelter and food to be given to more than one batch of these miserable creatures, amongst them being women and children, some of them wounded. A pathetic incident connected with these massacres remains to be told. Not once during the fighting did the Kaffirs cut the telegraph wires or stop the coach, though they could have done either at any time. Their reason was that they regarded coach and telegraph as being "Englishman's property" and not as belonging to the Boers. Had the terms imposed by the Convention of 1881 been adhered to, and the functions of the British Resident at Pretoria been maintained, these murders and robberies would never have occurred, but as we know, Mr. Gladstone, in 1884, agreed with President Kruger that to safeguard the lives, persons, and property of natives, was not obligatory on Her Majesty. But then Kaffirs are not Christian Armenians, Bulgarians, or Levantine scum, whose practical Christianity bears as much affinity to the teachings of Christ as does that of a Chinaman, so that this powerful reason may, perchance, have influenced Mr. Gladstone and his colleagues. At any rate, the righteous restraint put on the Boers, mainly by Sir Evelyn Wood, who knew his men, was removed, and the Article of the Convention establishing the duties of a British Resident towards natives obliterated, as one of the "certain provisions which are inconvenient and imposes burdens and obligations from which the said State desires to be relieved." This, too, in the face of the clause inserted in the Sand River Convention, their own conditions imposed in 1881, and again reiterated in the Convention of 1884, which they were about to sign. And still some men are to be found who squirm at the phrase "unctuous rectitude"!! CHAPTER VII THE HOLLANDER PRESIDENT BURGERS had paid a visit to Europe prior to 1877, with the joint object of obtaining money, and of arousing different nationalities to take an interest in the Transvaal State. He naturally spent some time in Holland, the land whence his ancestors originally sprang, and whose language was the official tongue of himself and his fellow countrymen. Stimulated by his descriptions, and by hopes held out of future wealth to be gained in the Transvaal, several Hollanders emigrated to South Africa, and some were inducted into official posts at Pretoria. That they soon took an active part in Boer politics we have learnt from Sir T. Shepstone's narrative. Nor did they cease their zealous propaganda against British rule, nor fail to aid President Kruger in his secret agitation after his return from England in 1879, for though they took no part in fighting us, Hollanders were ever present in council to direct and suggest the tactics to be pursued, in order to enable the Boers to accomplish their purpose. With all his shrewdness and natural ability, Paul Kruger is incapable of presenting his views in a manner intelligible to educated men without assistance, and thus, perhaps |