CHAPTER TWO.
It was on the fifth night after we had landed from the wreck, that oneof the sailors who was out with his gun, trying to shoot some monkeysthat he had seen in the trees, reported that he had seen some black menin the distance, but did not think they had seen him. He did not liketo show himself to these men, for he did not know who, or what theymight be. None of the party knew much about the natives on this coast;there was some kind of belief that they were Caffres or Hottentots, butwhether these people were inoffensive and friendly, or the reverse, noone really knew. When I think of what happened, and now that I know thecharacter and habits of the tribes in South Africa, I am surprised atthe reckless indifference that was shown by the sailors and malepassengers of our party, in not taking such precautions as should alwaysbe taken in a strange country.
I had slept under the canvas each night near the ladies of the party,whilst the men had selected various places near, on which they had madea bed of grass; and by sticking a few branches of trees in the ground,they had made a covering so as to keep off the dew, which fell veryheavily each night. Thus the men were separated, whilst I and thefemales were all together.
It was towards the morning, although no signs of daylight appeared, thatI awoke suddenly, with the feeling of some danger being near. I couldnot tell what it was, but it seemed like a dream in which I had escapedsome danger. I could not get to sleep again, but lay listening andafraid to move. I must have remained in this watchful state about aquarter of an hour, when there was a noise as of men moving through thegrass and bushes, the sound of blows, two or three groans, and then allwas quiet again. I crawled along the ground to where Constance waslying, and found her awake and trembling. I whispered to her, "What isit?" She said, "I don't know, but keep quiet." We were afraid to move,but I could hear my heart beating, and it was as much as I could do toprevent crying out. We seemed to be hours in this state before thefirst signs of daylight appeared, and the objects round us could beseen. Day breaks quickly in those latitudes, and we were soon able tosee what to us was a most astonishing and alarming sight. Seated on theground and looking like stone figures, there were about forty black men.They had been sitting in a circle round the tent in which I and thefemales had been sleeping. They were each armed with some short spears,a large knobbed stick, and each had a black and white shield, which heheld in front of him. My surprise was great on first seeing these men,and I called to Constance, who was asleep, to look at them. I could seenone of the sailors or male passengers, and wondered how it was theywere not showing themselves anywhere. As soon as Constance and theother ladies sat up to look at the black men, they became alarmed, andasked each other what it all meant. But they were not left long indoubt as to what to do, for a very tall black man rose and made a speechin a language none of us could understand; and then, signing to thefemales to follow him, he strode off towards the north, and away fromthe sea. By this time we were all much frightened: we did not know whathad happened, but we supposed the men had been taken inland, as we couldsee no signs of them. We did not hesitate about following the man whohad spoken, for the other men closed round us and shook their sticks atus if we hesitated about moving.
It was not till I had been many months in this country and had learnedthe language that I heard all that had taken place on that eventfulnight; and it may aid the reader to better understand our position if Inow describe those details which were afterwards so graphicallydescribed to me.
Our ship had been wrecked on the coast of South Africa, about midwaybetween Natal and Algoa Bay, and not far from a river termed theUmzimvubu, Imvubu being the native name of the hippopotamus, several ofwhich animals are inhabitants of this river. The natives in this partwere a branch of the great Zulu nation, but independent of the Zulus.They were sometimes called the Amapondas, but they were more pleased tobe called Amazimvubu. This tribe was ruled over by a chief calledInyati, or the Buffalo, and was strong enough to be feared by theAmakosa tribes to the west, and respected by the Zulus to the east. Intheir habits they resemble the Zulus, and were given to use the shortstabbing assagy in preference to the light assagy used for throwing bythe Amakosa. They lived in huts similar to those of the other SouthAfrican Caffres, and were great cultivators of the soil, growing mealiesor Indian corn, a smaller grain called m'beli, pumpkins, and sugar-cane.They were lovers of cattle, and a man's riches consisted of herds ofcattle and of wives.
I learned that the second day after we had been wrecked we had beendiscovered by these people, who had then set a watch on us; and ithaving been discovered that the men possessed firearms, and that therewere women belonging to the party, it was decided that an attack shouldbe made on the men during the night, and by surprise. Every detail ofour camp was known to these people. By concealing themselves in thebush they had noted where each man lay down to sleep. Two Caffres hadthen been told off to assagy each individual, and to do it so quietlythat no alarm should be given. Every plan was so well arranged that, ata given signal, each man had been stabbed dead at once, and his bodycarried away and thrown in the water. The females, it was known, sleptunder the canvas, and they were not to be touched. I, being always withthem and having long curly hair, was supposed to be a little girl, andso was spared; and when it was known that I was not a girl, I wasallowed to live as I was so young. All these details were described tome by a young Caffre who had been present at the massacre, and whosefirst adventure had been at this affair.
We had walked for some hours along narrow paths that sometimes ledthrough bushes, at others over hills and down valleys, and at lengthreached a collection of huts, which I afterwards learned was named_must_, or, as the Dutch and English call it, a kraal. At this kraalseveral men, women, and children came out to look at us, all seemingmuch amused at our appearance, and especially astonished at the longhair of the ladies, for the Caffres have only short and woolly hair.
We were given some milk at this kraal, and I observed that the Caffrewho had spoken to us when I first awoke seemed to be giving orders toall the men, and when they replied to him they often said "_Inkose_." Itried to make these people understand me by saying a few words inHindostani, but they could not understand me and shook their heads. Onmy repeating to them the first word I learned, viz., _Inkose_, theynodded, and pointing to the large Caffre, said "_Yena Inkose_" This, Iafterwards learnt, meant "He is the chief."
We continued our journey during three days, resting at night in thekraals; and we saw thousands of Caffres, who were all alike, and who allseemed equally surprised at our appearance. At length we reached akraal that was far larger than any we had hitherto seen, and on nearingwhich the Caffres came out in crowds and shouted "_Inkose_" and shookhands with all the men whom we had first seen. I and the three ladieswere shown a hut, into which we had to crawl on our hands and knees: wethen laid down, for we were all very tired and footsore. We were givensome milk and some Indian corn boiled, but we saw no meat, these peopleapparently living entirely on corn and milk.
Mrs Apton and her daughter sat crying in the hut, and exclaiming thatwe should all be killed and probably eaten; but Constance seemed verybrave and said that, considering how we had escaped from the wreck, weought not to despair now. We all talked over our probable future, andtried to guess what had become of the men of the party. The Caffres hadmanaged their slaughter so quietly that it was not till I could speakthe language that we discovered what had happened to them. On the firstnight at this kraal the moon was full, and all the men belonging to thisvillage and also those from several near it assembled, and, lighting alarge fire, sat in a circle round it, and sang songs the whole night.We could not sleep in consequence of the noise, and we did not feelcertain that we were not going to be killed and roasted at the fire, forwe knew so little of the Caffres that we believed them to be cannibals.
It was just at daybreak when a Caffre came to the kraal and beckoned meto come out, saying "_E-zapa_" which meant "Come here." Thinking I wasto be taken out and roasted, I
clung to Constance and cried; but theCaffre dragged me away, and led me to where there were some dozen mensitting apart and talking. When I was dragged to where they weresitting, I was made to sit down, and a long conversation took place, twomen seeming to be arguing with each other: one was the Inkose who hadcaptured us, the other I had never seen before.
Had I then known the subject that was being discussed between them, Ishould have been more frightened than I was, but luckily all was settledwithout my knowledge. When the men of our party had been assagied, theorders were to spare the females; and I was supposed to be a littlegirl, as I was always with the ladies. The Caffres, however, soon foundout that I was a boy, and the question now was whether I should beassagied or allowed to live. The chief was in favour of my beingallowed to live, and determined to take me as his adopted son; whilstanother chief recommended that I should be put to death. It took somehours for the council to talk over the matter, but at length it wasdecided that I was to be allowed to live, and was at once to be broughtup as a Caffre.