In the history of colonisation there is probably no example on record so
extraordinary as that of the emigration from the colony of the Cape of
Good Hope, in 1835, of nearly six thousand souls, who, without guides or
any definite knowledge of where they were going or what obstacles they
would encounter, yet placed their all in the lottery and journeyed into
the wilderness.
The cause of this emigration was to avoid what the emigrants considered
the oppression of the ruling Government, and the object was to found an
independent nationality in the interior of Africa.
These emigrants, shortly after quitting the neighbourhood of the Cape
colony, were attacked by the chief of a powerful tribe called the
Matabili, into whose country they had trespassed. Severe battles, in
which overwhelming numbers were brought against them, were fought by the
emigrants, the general results being victory to the white man.
Not satisfied with the situation which these victories might have
enabled them to secure, a party of the emigrants journeyed on towards
the east, in order to obtain a better position near the present district
of Natal. This party were shortly afterwards either treacherously
massacred by a Zulu chief named Dingaan, or were compelled to fight for
their lives and property during many months.
It is mainly amidst these scenes that the hero of the following tale
passed--scenes which brought out many cases of individual courage,
daring, and perseverance rarely equalled in any part of the world.
Around the bivouac fire, or in the ride over the far-spreading plains,
or whilst resting after a successful hunting track in the tangled
forest, the principal events of this tale have been recorded. From Zulu
and Boer, English emigrant and Hottentot driver, we have had various
accounts, each varying according to the peculiar views of the relater,
but all agreeing as regards the main facts here blended and interwoven
into a tale.