Mother! if thy affections be Affections pure thy child will fail, But if thy love unto thy child Let thy child, Mother! ever feel Ne'er purpose for your child a chart But o'er Love's ocean, still let Love Thou, Mother! who for God thy child Mother! within thy young child's heart Of that Omnific word whereby Creation was decreed. In all the child hath love and faith: From Inexperience this Proceeds not, but of primal Love The child sees life and motion Confucius taught, by holy writ, To those who feared to die, PORT NATAL. SECTION I. ON Friday the 29th day of August, 1827, Lieutenant King, accompanied by Mr. Nathaniel Isaacs, and the Rev. Mr. M'Celland and his lady, set sail in the brig Mary for the eastern coast of Africa. The principal object of their voyage was to relieve Mr. Farewell, who had been absent for more than sixteen months, on a very hazardous speculation to the eastward, among tribes, who, it ap peared, had never before seen a white man. The last accounts that had been heard of him, were by a vessel called the York, fitted expressly by the government, to ascertain whether the party were yet in existence. After great difficulties, this vessel reached the port of Natal, and returned with the following account: namely, that Mr. Farewell and his party had been very much distressed, and would willingly have returned, but from a part of them being absent in the interior, they remained, in the hope that they might be relieved by some vessel from Delagoa, Madagascar, or other neighbouring ports; for unless one be bound direct, an individual might remain for years before he would be enabled to escape. Under these circumstances, Lieutenant King, having visited the quarter before, and being, moreover, a warm friend of Mr. Farewell, considered it his duty to render the enterprising adventurers every assistance in his power, and therefore undertook this voyage, with strong anticipations that he should effect the recovery of his long absent friend. Their voyage proceeded prosperously, until they arrived off Port Natal (the locality in which they expected to find Mr. Farewell), when the Mary was wrecked in an unsuccessful attempt to pass the bar which runs across the mouth of the harbour. By the skilful conduct of her commander, the whole of the crew were saved; but the prospect before them was sufficiently dreary. Every thing on the coast indicated a wild and uncivilised country, where nature had been lavish of her bounties, but where the art and industry of man had been little applied in improving her works. The scenery had an appearance of grandeur-there was verdure and spontaneous vegetation, but cultivation was applied only to occasional patches, and did not spread over regular spaces, or extensive plots. Upon landing, they were met by a party of eight people, who appeared to have come from the eastern side of the bay, and to have walked to Point Fynn. Their appearance, however, was such as to give rise to no very pleasant forebodings. Six of the group appeared to be in a state of nudity; one was clad in tattered European garments, and the other wore a female garb, with her head tied up in a handkerchief. All our travellers' apprehensions however, proved to be groundless. The man clad in European garments, turned out to be none other than Thomas Holstead, a youth belonging to Mr. Farewell's party. His companions consisted of one Hottentot woman in a dungaree petticoat, with a blue handkerchief tied round her head; five tives entirely naked; and a female with a piece of bullock's hide fastened round her waist, hanging to the knees, and made black with charcoal, and softened by frequent rubbing. na Lieutenant King enquired of Holstead, if Mr. Farewell and the whole of his party were alive, and if living, where the former resided? They found from Holstead's replies, that Mr. Farewell had gone, accompanied by Cane an attendant, on a visit to Challa, chief of the country; and that Mr. Fynn and another had proceeded to the district of the Amumponds, a tribe dwelling about two hundred miles to the westward, for the purpose of obtaining ivory. The wreck lying on the rocks, Lieutenant King returned to her with her crew, to endeavour to get her into deep water. Mr. Isaacs, not being a seaman, and utterly inexperienced in such matters, found that he could render no very material assistance, and therefore accompanied Holstead to Mr. Farewell's residence. The place selected by Mr. Farewell for his residence, had a singular appearance, from the peculiar construction of the several edifices. His house was not unlike an ordinary barn, made of wattle and plaistered with clay, and with only one door composed of reeds. It had a thatched roof, but was otherwise not at all remarkable for the elegance of its structure, or the capacity of its interior. The house of Cane was contiguous to that of Mr. Farewell, being about twenty yards from it, while that of Ogle was at a similar distance, and had the appearance of a roof of a house placed designedly on the ground, the gable end of which being left open, served as the door. Opposite Mr. Farewell's house, was a native hut in the shape of a bee hive, about twenty-one feet in circumference, and six feet high, built of small sticks, and supported by a pole in the centre. It was thatched with grass, and had an aperture about eighteen inches square, through which the owner crept into his mansion, when he was disposed to enjoy the sweets of repose. The house, or rather hut, of Mr. Farewell above described, was N. S.-VOL. I. 4 0 merely a temporary building, and not intended for any protracted residence. Even at the time of which we are writing, he had commenced building a fortress, which he proposed to call Fort Farewell. He meant it to cover a surface of about two hundred square yards, and it was to be constructed in the form of a triangle. The travellers now began to consider for the future, and to devise means for extricating themselves from their present position. One only plan suggested itself as at all affording any hope, although the undertaking appeared laborious, if not nearly impracticable, namely, to build a small vessel of the materials saved from the wreck, with the aid of such native timbers as they might be enabled to procure suitable for such a purpose. This plan was accordingly determined upon, Mr. Hatton the chief mate, agreeing, as he was a practical shipwright, to superintend the work. In some few days, Mr. Fynn arrived from the country of the Amampoatoes, a tribe inhabiting the banks of the St. John's river, a distance of about 200 miles from Natal. This gentleman, as we before stated, had been trading with the natives for ivory. For eight months he had separated himself from his solitary companion, Mr. Farewell, and had associated solely with the people with whom he sojourned. Mr. Isaacs and his comrades sat attentively to hear him detail his various adventures, the many vicissitudes endured by him, and the obstacles with which he had contended, not only in being often without food, and ignorant where to seek it; but in daily terror of being devoured by wild animals, or murdered by the savage natives. From necessity, he assumed the costume of the latter while with them, but resumed the European upon his return to his own habitation. It is almost impossible to convey a correct idea of the singular appearance of this individual when he first presented himself. Mr. Fynn. is in stature rather tall, with a prepos sessing countenance. From necessity, his face was covered with hair, he not having had an opportunity of shaving himself for a considerable time. His head was partly covered with a crownless straw hat, and a tattered blanket, fastened round his neck by means of strips of hide, sewed to cover his body, while his hands performed the office of keeping it round his "nether man." His shoes he had discarded for some months, whilst every other habiliment had imperceptibly worn away, until " there was nothing of a piece about him.' A few days after the return of Mr. Fynn, the English were visited by a Zoolu chief, named Enslopee, who resided in the vicinity of their abode, and had been commanded by Charka to offer protection to the white people, against the remains of a conquered tribe of bushrangers, who still lurked in the vicinity of their habitations. This was, however, a mere pretext for watching the "Silguaners (beasts of the sea) as the natives called the white people, with motives of a not very friendly kind. Enslopee appeared to be a good-humoured sort of a fellow, and was something of a mimic; he amused the whites, by making many ludicrous distortions, for which his countenance, not unlike that of a baboon, was peculiarly adapted. He did not appear to want any portion of native address, but was very ready in extolling his sovereign, and with endeavouring to impress Mr. Fynn and the rest with a sense of his master's friendly designs. With no little adroitness at flattery, he evinced a desire to imitate Lieutenant King, whom he described as having a bold and commanding appearance, declaring that he only wanted an "Umptcher,"* instead of clothes, and a black face, to qualify him for a Zoolu warrior. The " Silguaners" well knew by this, that he wanted them to give him clothes similar to those which Lieutenant King had on; with these he was soon furnished, upon which he became so enamoured with the present, that he quite forgot the object of his visit, and absolutely left " the beasts of the sea" in admiration, exclaiming that his wives would love him in his new attire, and that he could now show them what a "Maloonga" (white man) was like. Mr. Isaacs accompanied him across the plat, when he entreated Mr. Isaacs to visit his Kraal, which was complied with. His kraal and hut were similar to those of the other natives. Mr. Isaacs crept into it in a horizontal position when Enslopee assembled his wives, who, by their gestures seemed to have some difficulty in determining which of the twain pleased them best. The females were far from being ill-shaped or forbidding; their dress to be sure was not well adapted to exhibit their persons gracefully, being nothing more than a piece of prepared hide round their waists and hanging to their knees. Enslopee, made signs indicating his desire that his visitor should pronounce which was the prettiest, which he did, when the sable damsel in an exceedingly modest manner, bent her head to the ground, while her husband and the other wives put their hands over their mouths as if surprised at the choice, although it afterwards appeared that it was congenial to their own. The eldest of the females now disappeared, but soon returned with an earthen vessel containing milk, which was thick and sour; she set it before Mr. Isaacs, and by taking a spoon and eating a little, made him understand that it was intended for a refreshment for him. The chief perceiving his disinclination to partake of the mess, grasped the vessel, and gave his wives a small share, and with gestures that would have made a stoic smile, in a trice disposed of the remainder to the no small astonishment of his more civilized visitors. On the night of the 20th October (four or five days after their visit to Enslopee) Mr. Farewell arrived from his interior journey. The meeting of these two friends (Mr. Farewell and Lieut. King) under circumstances of so peculiar a nature, could not but be interesting to those who were witnesses of the scene; and the joy beaming on their countenances was too evident to admit of a moment's doubt, that the principals participated in the gratification which their dependants manifested. " A piece of hide, so fastened as completely to cover the hips. S. C. + Maloonga" is the regular native word for white man, and implies no disrespect Silguaner," on the contrary, is a word of reproach, and is never used but as such. S. C. |