Immediately the council broke up I was taken by the chief Inyati to a
kraal about ten miles distant from that in which Mrs Apton and her
daughter and Constance were stopping. I took a fancy to Inyati, and
tried by signs and a few words which were a mixture of English and
Hindostani, to ask him where I was being taken to. He seemed to
understand my meaning, for he smiled, gave me a pat on the head, and
gave me a knob-kerrie and an assagy to carry. Upon arriving at the
kraal Inyati called out "Inyoni," "Tembile," and two Caffre boys about
my own size came running towards him. Inyati spoke to them for some
time, evidently about me, as he pointed to me often; the boys listened
with great attention, and when he had finished, one of the boys
repeated, apparently word for word, what he had been told. The chief
nodded, and then walked away to one of the huts, whilst the boys put out
each a hand and shook hands with me and beckoned me to follow them.
They took me out about a mile from the kraal and towards a herd of
cattle that were grazing on a hillside; we then sat down under the shade
of a tree, and the boys commenced talking to me. I shook my head to
show them I could not understand, and said, "Caffre humko malum ney,"
which is the Hindostani for "I don't know Caffre." Somehow I thought
that, as the boys were black, they would understand Hindostani better
than they would English. They talked together for some time, and
appeared very earnest in some argument. They then sat down beside me,
and, pointing to the assagy that I still carried, said, "Umkonto." I at
once understood that they were going to teach me to speak Caffre, and
being anxious to learn, I was much pleased at their intention. I
repeated the word "umkonto," which I now knew meant an assagy, until I
said it just as they did. They then pointed to the cattle and said,
"Incomo," spreading out their hands so as to indicate all the herd.
They then pointed at a chestnut-looking cow and said, "Imazi-e-bomvu,"
then at a white cow and said, "Imazi-e-molope." I learnt these words
very quickly, and then, seeing a bird, I pointed at it, and looked
inquiringly at my companions. They at once said, "Inyoni," which I knew
meant a bird, and one of the boys, pointing to himself, said, "Igama's
am Inyoni," which I knew meant, "My name is Inyoni." The boy then said,
"Igama's arko," and pointed to me. I knew he was asking what my name
was, so I said "Julius." They both tried to repeat the word after me,
but it seemed more difficult for them to say "Julius" than it was for me
to repeat Caffre words after them. Being anxious to learn useful words,
I made signs of eating, and then of drinking. The boys were wonderfully
quick at understanding; and, pretending to eat, they said "ejla," and
then, pretending to drink, said "posa." The sun was shining, so I
pointed to it, and was at once told that it was "Ilanga." The boys then
patted their stomachs and drew them in as if they were empty, and said
"Lambili, funa ejla"; this I understood meant, "Hungry, I want to eat."
Note: A Caffre chief who rebelled against us some years ago was called
by the English, Langerbelali. The name really was Ilanga-liba-leli,
which means, "The Shining Sun."
During this first day I learnt about forty words in Caffre, and as I
afterwards found that about five hundred words enables me to speak in
most languages, I was able in a fortnight to understand nearly all that
was spoken, and also to make known what I wanted to say.
When the sun was near the horizon, the two Caffre boys collected the
cattle, and drove them home. I aided them in this work, and tried to
whistle as they did, but this I could not accomplish for some days; the
cattle, however, seemed to be more afraid of me than of the Caffres, so
I was a great help to them in driving the animals home.
On our reaching the kraal, the cattle were driven into the centre, where
there was a circular space fenced round with tall upright poles. The
men belonging to the kraal then milked the cows; for this I found was
the men's work, no woman being allowed to milk them. I was taken into a
hut where there were two little girls about my own size, who laughed at
me, but would not speak. These girls were the sisters of Inyoni and
Tembile, and one of them, although black, was very pretty. I was given
a bowl of milk and some boiled Indian corn; and being very tired I soon
fell asleep, and slept until disturbed shortly before sunrise by the two
boys, who made signs to me to go with them and drive the cattle out to
their grazing-ground.
During the next day I learned the Caffre for the numbers from one to
ten. One they called _munye_, two was _mabili_, and ten _ishumi_. I
also learned that some of the fruit in the bush was good and some bad.
One fruit that these boys were fond of and was very good, they called
Martingula; it grew on a tree something like the English holly and was
about the size of a plum. It was red in colour, and varied very much in
flavour: we found plenty of these trees, and ate a good deal of the
fruit. The boys explained to me that whatever a monkey ate a man might
eat, as monkeys knew quite well what was fit and what poisonous for
food. Each day I became more apt in speaking Caffre, and as I heard
nothing else spoken, I used to think in Caffre, and thought it a very
pretty language. My young companions were light-hearted, and very kind,
and quite unlike English boys, who too often chaff or bully a strange
boy, especially if this boy belongs to a strange nation. But the young
Caffres amused themselves for hours each day in throwing an assagy at a
mark. The mark was a large hard fruit, in shape and size like an
orange. It was placed on the top of a stick, and the boys threw at it
from a distance of forty paces. I was very awkward at first, but having
learned how to hold and throw the assagy, I became at the end of a week
as expert as they were, and being stouter and stronger, I could throw
the assagy to a greater distance. I also practised throwing the
knob-kerrie, which did not require so much skill, but which I soon found
was a very useful weapon, as quails in hundreds soon visited the
country, and I and my companions used to knock down twenty or thirty
quails a day with these sticks, and we used to make a fire and cook
them, and found them excellent eating.
My first great sporting achievement was in killing a duiker, a small
antelope that was found in bushy or stony country. This animal, which
the Caffres termed _Impenze_, was very cunning, and could conceal itself
in long grass in a wonderful way. I possessed very good sight, and
rarely missed seeing anything that was to be seen, though I had yet to
learn how to properly use this sight. We were sitting watching the
cattle one morning, when I obtained a glimpse of an object moving in
some long grass about a hundred yards from where we were. I did not say
anything to my companions, but got up, and making a circular course,
went quietly up to a rock which overlooked the grass in which I fancied
I had seen the moving object. As I peeped over the stone I saw the
impenze, standing broadside to, and about twenty yards from me. I had
my assagy all ready to throw, and sent it with all my strength at the
buck. The blade of the assagy went right through the buck's neck, and
though it did not kill him, it prevented him from moving quickly through
the grass and bushes, as it remained fast in his neck. I jumped down
quickly and struck him with my knob-kerrie, and killed him with two or
three blows on the head. The two Caffre boys had now joined me, as they
saw I was attacking some animal. They jumped about in a state of great
excitement when they saw the dead antelope; and then taking a good look
all round, they told me to keep quiet, and not to tell any one about
this buck having been killed. Inyoni at once skinned the buck and laid
out the skin on the ground, pegging it down with mimosa thorns. The two
boys then procured two sticks about a foot long, and of dry wood; these
sticks they selected with great care. Placing one of these on the
ground, Inyoni held down the ends with his feet, and then holding the
other stick upright, he worked it round and round between the palms of
his hands, and pressed it on to the second stick. Tembile relieved
Inyoni when the latter was tired, and so they went on, turn and turn
about, until the sawdust produced by this friction began to smoke and
then to catch fire. A wisp of dry grass was then gathered, the sparks
put into this, and the wisp swung round at arm's-length, when it very
soon began to blaze, and in a few minutes we had a capital wood fire.
With our assagies we now cut up the buck and fried it over the fire, and
had a great feast, eating about half the animal. The remainder we
concealed on the branches of a tree, for we knew that if we left it on
the ground, a jackal or leopard would find it, and we should get nothing
on the following day. I was told by my companions that if the men knew
we had killed this buck and had not carried it to the kraal, we should
all be beaten; so I must keep the secret, for my own sake as well as
theirs.
Our life was very simple and quiet; and I have often thought in later
years, that the life led by these Caffres was perfect freedom and
luxury, compared with the slavery endured by business men in cities. A
Caffre who possessed a hundred head of cattle might have acquired these
by his father giving him a cow and a calf when he was a boy. Cattle
increase in almost geometrical rates. Thus a cow and a calf would
probably become in ten years fifty head of cattle, and the young Caffre
would be a man of independent fortune. As soon as a Caffre possesses
cattle, he purchases a wife, and the limit to the number of his wives is
only drawn by the amount of cattle he possesses. A young good-looking
girl is purchased for from eight to ten cows. These are not always paid
at once, three or four being given at the time of marriage, and the
remainder paid in a year or two afterwards. A wife among these people
is not a matter of expense only, as it is with civilised nations; but is
a profitable investment, as the wives work in the mealie gardens, do the
digging and the sowing, and at the time of harvest gather in the crops.
If then a man possess three or four wives, he cultivates a large piece
of ground and has plenty of corn, pumpkins, and other grain, and also
has cows from which he obtains milk. The men never drank fresh milk,
which they call _ubisi_: this they consider only fit for women and boys.
They placed the fresh milk in large gourds made from dried pumpkins,
and which contained about two quarts of milk, which was kept for some
hours exposed to the sun; the gourd was then shaken, and again allowed
to rest; in about three days the milk turned and became lumpy, and had a
tart taste about it, and was really meat and drink. When in this state
it was called _amasi_. This amasi and boiled mealies were food enough
for the Caffres, meat being eaten only about once a month, when some
wedding took place, or a hunting expedition was successful. The Caffre
men did very little except milk the cows, which they never allowed the
women to do, go out hunting, and have dances, and long talks in their
kraals. I should like to know what more pleasant life could be passed
by any man in a civilised country than this. Had I been older or more
experienced when I was living among these people, I should have been
more surprised than I was at the absence of all those wishes, and
anxieties, which form the principal desires of men and women in
civilised countries. These Caffres had no desire for more than they
possessed, except as regards cattle, and thus afforded an excellent
example of the proverbs that "He who curtails his wants increases his
income," and "He whose requirements are less than his means of supply,
is the only rich man."
I was so fully occupied with the work that was drawn out for me by the
Caffres, that I had not thought with much anxiety about my late
fellow-passengers. I wished, however, to see Constance, and now that I
could speak a little in the Caffre language, I asked where she was, and
when I could see her. My inquiry and wish seemed to puzzle Inyoni, who
told me she was well, but that I must not see her yet, as the chief had
so ordered it. So, during six months I never saw a white person, and by
that time I was to all purposes a regular Caffre boy. I could speak the
language well, I could click out the proper clicks at right words, could
throw an assagy better than any Caffre boy of my size. I could run
faster than other Caffre boys, though I could not keep it up so well,
but for a quarter of a mile I was very fast. I knew nearly every cow's
name, and could whistle and drive a herd of cattle like a Caffre. The
one thing from which I suffered was the tenderness of my feet. My boots
had been worn out long since, and my feet, from having worn shoes all my
life, were very tender; but each day they became harder, though I often
had to stop and sit down when I had trodden on a sharp stone. My only
suit of clothes was worn out, but I had made a set of what the Caffres
considered clothes, but were merely strips of goat's-skin about a foot
long, fastened to a leather strap round my waist. This absence of dress
I found caused me to be too hot in the warm weather and too cold in the
early mornings and in the cold weather; but I hardened under the
conditions, and soon did not mind it.
There was an amusement that I and my two companions carried on which I
afterwards found very useful. This was to procure two or three straight
canes about five feet long: one end of these we used to cover with clay,
we then stood opposite each other, and danced and jumped about, and then
suddenly threw these at, each other, using them like an assagy. At
first the Caffres used to hit me at nearly every shot, and I never
touched them; but after considerable practice I became as expert as they
were, and could spring on one side so as just to avoid the blow, or
throw myself down, or turn the spear aside with my shield, which was an
oval-shaped piece of ox-hide. At about thirty paces from each other we
could never hit one another, and then we closed in till one of us was
hit. We used to keep a score on a stick of the number of hits against
each of us, a notch in the stick being the mark. In after years, when
it was a matter of life and death, the training and practice I had
gained in my boyhood was of vital importance to me in avoiding an
assagy, when one was thrown at me, and my dexterity in throwing one soon
became known among the tribe with which I lived. The things I could
accomplish with the assagy were the following. I could throw an assagy
sixty paces, which, for a boy, was very good, but two or three of the
men could throw the same assagy ninety paces. At forty paces I could
hit a mark as big as a man's head about every other shot. I could throw
the assagy either overhand or underhand, quivering it at the same time.
If thrown overhand, the hand was held above the shoulder, and the arm
from the hand to the elbow was vertical when the assagy left the hand.
When thrown underhand, the back of the hand was down, and the arm from
the hand to the elbow was horizontal when the spear left the hand. This
underhand throwing was very effective in taking your adversary by
surprise; for if you jumped about quickly and made feints, pretending to
throw overhand, then suddenly throwing underhand, he very often could
not dodge quickly enough to escape the weapon.
I never left my hut without one or two assagies and a knob-kerrie in my
hand; for close to our kraal there were leopards, hyaenas, and other
animals that were very dangerous.
There was one accomplishment that I had acquired from my companions that
I had thought about night and day, and which I found very fascinating.
This was "spooring," as the English and Dutch in South Africa call it;
that is, telling by the footprints what animals have passed over the
ground, when they passed, and at what pace. This study is quite an art,
and I occupied many months in arriving at even a superficial knowledge
of the subject. Although I of course had no opportunity of learning
arithmetic or any of those things that boys learn in English schools,
yet I had my brain exercised by such studies as spooring and the
observation necessary to enable me to practise the art. To spoor well
it is necessary to know many things that appear at first sight to have
nothing to do with the question. One of the things to learn was to
break off branches of various sizes from different trees, to place these
in the sunshine and in the shade, and then to notice how long it took
for these leaves and branches to look withered or otherwise. The
smaller the branch the sooner it withered, and in the sun it withered
sooner than in the shade. Then some trees, the wood of which was hard,
would look fresh for a long time, whereas soft wood would soon show
signs of withering. If the day was moist or wet, the branch that would
dry on a sunny day would look fresh after the same interval of time. I
used to take great pleasure in finding out these things, and Inyoni and
Tembile used to break branches in the bush one day, and then take me to
see them afterwards, and get me to guess how long a time had elapsed
since they broke them. Of course we knew nothing about hours, but we
used to point in the sky and say, "The sun was there yesterday, or
to-day, when you broke this off the tree."
In this part of Africa the dew falls very heavily, and I found that the
dew fell most just after the sun had set. This was a great aid in
telling the time that had elapsed since an animal had passed over the
ground, for we could tell whether it was after the dew, or before the
dew had fallen. The footprints of the various animals I learnt after
some time, for it was not very easy to tell the difference between a
large black bush-buck's footprint and that of a wild pig. Also it was
sometimes difficult to distinguish between a wild buffalo's footprint
and that of one of our cattle; that is, if the buffalo was a young one.
After a few months, however, I had gained much experience, and could
tell the footprints of the following animals, all of which were to be
seen near our kraal:--The hippopotamus, called _imvubu_ by the Caffres,
the buffalo, the large black bush-buck, the red bush-buck, and small
blue bush-buck, the reit-buck, duiker, leopard, hyaena, the ratal, and
many smaller animals. I acquired the habit of watching the ground as I
walked along, and noting what spoor there was on it, and could thus
discover what animals were in the neighbourhood; and I soon thought
myself very clever as a spoor-finder. But I had yet much to learn, and
soon found that, compared with my Caffre companions, I was blind and
unobservant.
The principal event that proved to me how dull I was, led to my rising
at once to a first place among the Caffres. It was during a warm day
that we had entered the bush near the ground where we watched the
cattle, and were sitting in the shade talking, when Inyoni, who was
looking anxiously at a tree near, got up and walked to the tree and
examined the trunk. He then called us and pointed to some marks on the
tree; and at length, stooping on the ground, picked up two or three
small hairs. Both the Caffre boys examined these and then said a
leopard had been here during the night and had climbed the tree. The
marks on the tree were from his claws, which he used just as does a cat
in climbing. We did not like to follow the spoor, as leopards are very
savage; but we went away from this place and sat down under the shade of
some rocks at a short distance, and the boys told me stories about the
leopard.
During that night I thought a great deal about leopards; and I
remembered, in a book that my father had given me soon after I learned
to read, that there was a picture of a trap that some one had made to
catch cats. Now, the leopard is only a large cat, and is very like one
in its habits, and the idea occurred to me that we might make a trap to
catch the leopard. I thought over this scheme, and the next day talked
to the boys about it. They were quite willing to try, so we set to work
at once. The method we adopted was this. We cut down a great number of
straight branches, about ten feet long and about two inches thick; these
we stuck firmly in the ground in a circle, just as we used to construct
a kraal. Peeling off the bark from some mimosa trees, we made a sort of
rope, and bending the tops of these branches together, we fastened them
firmly, so as to make a circular hut. After many days, we had so bound
these together that, with all our united force, we could not separate
them in the slightest degree. We then cut a small opening in this hut
as a doorway, and we had a part of our trap complete. The most
difficult part to make was the door itself. This we made by
constructing a door the same as you make a hurdle, and we made two of
these doors, and then fastened them together to make them strong. This
door we made inside the hut, because we wanted the door to be bigger
than the doorway. Having completed this door, we made out of buckskin a
longish string, and fastened this to a stick in the centre of the hut;
this string held the door up, but when the string was loosened the door
slid down between two stout posts, and it was necessary to lift the door
in order to get out of the doorway. All this being arranged in about a
week's time, we next had to procure some bait, and were lucky in getting
a guinea-fowl, which was a bird common in the bushes round our kraal.
This bird we knocked over with our knob-kerries, and dragged it along
the ground to the trap, and then fastened it to the string inside the
trap. The Caffres told me that the leopard was so strong that he would
force himself out of the hut if he had time to do so. We therefore
agreed to keep watch in a tree near on the first night, and if the
leopard came, to run to the kraal and give notice to the men. We did
not tell any one at the kraal what we had done; for, to speak the truth,
we had not much confidence in the success of our trap, and we did not
like to incur the risk of being laughed at. Our success therefore was
as unexpected as it was complete.
Having driven the cattle home to the kraal, we ate some corn and drank
some milk, and then ran back to where our trap had been constructed, and
climbed into a large tree, from which we could obtain a good view all
round. It had not even become dark when, as we sat silent and
motionless in the tree, we saw the leopard come through some long grass
and creep towards our trap. It crouched for some time near the trap and
seemed to be listening, and then slowly crept in. In half a minute the
door dropped, and the leopard was trapped. In an instant Inyoni
descended the tree and ran off to the kraal, whilst I and Tembile
remained up the tree. We could hear the leopard moving about inside the
hut, but whenever he did so we called out, and he was at once silent,
and appeared as if he were afraid of making any noise.
In what appeared to be a very short time Inyoni came back, and with him
about twenty men, among whom was the chief. They were all armed with
five assagies each, and one of the men carried a piece of wood that was
on fire. The Caffres came up very quietly, and then surrounded the hut,
remaining about ten yards from it. In a few minutes dry wood had been
collected, and seven or eight fires were made round the trap in which
the leopard was a prisoner. Sometimes the leopard would roar and tear
at the side of his cage, but on hearing the Caffres outside he would
become quiet again, and so the night passed. Soon after daybreak many
more Caffres came to us, for the news had spread to the villages round,
and when the sun rose there were more than a hundred Caffres round the
trap. The chief now gave his orders, and the men obeyed him just as
soldiers obey an officer. He directed one Caffre to go to the door of
the trap, and with a long pole push up the door; all the other Caffres
stood in a semicircle round the doorway and about fifty yards from it,
each with an assagy in his hand ready to throw. No sooner was the door
raised a few inches than the leopard rushed at the stick, scratching and
biting at it furiously. The Caffre then retreated, and the leopard
struggled at the small opening and succeeded in getting half out. The
chief then shouted "_Bulala_!" and about forty assagies were thrown at
the leopard, nearly a dozen of which entered its body. In spite of
these wounds the animal struggled out of the doorway and sprang at the
Caffres in front of him. A shower of assagies were again hurled at him,
but he succeeded in reaching one man, whom he seized by the leg with his
claws. In an instant, however, the other men closed in: there was a
struggling mass of men, and then a shout of "_Yena gofile_" ("he is
dead.") I rushed up to the crowd, and there was the leopard covered with
blood, his lips drawn back showing his teeth, and his limbs extended as
they had been in his last spring. I jumped about with delight and
excitement, for this was the first leopard I had ever seen killed, and
it was by the aid of my trap that he had been secured.
The legs of the leopard were tied together, and a long pole was then
inserted between them, and he was carried to the kraal, the men singing
songs as they accompanied his body. Two men immediately set to work to
skin him, they then extracted his teeth and claws. Of the use they were
going to make of these latter I at the time was ignorant, but in a few
days I learned their value. All the principal men from the neighbouring
kraals were invited to come to our village in the evening, for the
Caffres intended to eat the leopard, the flesh being supposed to give a
man courage and endurance. A very small piece of meat could be spared
for each man, as there were more than a hundred men assembled. They all
sat in a circle on a piece of level ground outside our village, a fire
being lighted in the centre, at which the leopard, cut up into pieces,
was being toasted. Many songs were sung by the men, the chorus being
shouted by all. This chorus was very little more than "_Ingwe gofile,
Tina shiele, Yena shingarner, Yena gofile_:" which meant, "The leopard
is dead, We have struck him, He is a rascal, He is dead."
We sat several hours singing songs that were extemporised by the best
singers, and occasionally drinking _Itchuala_, a sort of beer made out
of corn, and then we all retired to our huts and slept. Three days
after this the same men assembled at our kraal in the evening, and I was
told by the chief to come to the meeting. I did not know what it was
for, but I found all the Caffres looking at me, and the young girls
seemed to regard me most attentively. I thought perhaps they intended
to eat me, though I had seen nothing since my capture that frightened
me. When the men were seated in a circle, the chief stood up, and,
going into the centre of the circle, made a long speech, which was to
this effect: "This white boy I prevented from being assagied; some of
you wished to kill him, but I said, `No--he shall be as my son, let him
live.' You agreed, and he lives. Though his skin is white, his heart
is the heart of an Umzimvubu. He can throw an assagy well. He thinks,
and it is he who made the trap that caught the leopard. I ask you, men,
does he not deserve the necklace of leopard's claws? Shall he not be a
young chief? Say, men, what you think."
There was immediately a shout of consent, and the chief, calling me to
him, gave me a necklace made out of the claws of the leopard, which he
fastened round my neck, and immediately the men shouted, "_Inkosana_!"
"He is a young chief!"
I have, since those days, heard of men who by deeds of valour have
gained the Victoria Cross, or by good service have received honours from
their sovereign; but I doubt if any of these felt more pride and
gratification than I did when I received this necklace of leopard's
claws from the hands of the chief. I immediately felt a craving for
opportunities of distinguishing myself, and wished for another chance at
a leopard or at some other savage animal, in order that I might prove my
courage, as ably as I had shown my skill in designing and constructing
the leopard-trap.