SKETCHES FROM THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.

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BY THE AUTHOR OF SCENES AND SPORTS IN FOREIGN LANDS.'

The reader need scarcely be informed that the seasons in Southern Africa are in direct contradistinction to those of our northern hemisphere; but, although our winter be the period of summer with the colony of the Cape of Good Hope, its widely-extended territory is subject, even at that genial season of the year, to great variations in climate and temperature-variations more affected by local position than by a difference of latitude, which latter circumstance has often an undue weight in hasty conclusions as to the state of the thermometer in different parts of the globe.

Thus the climate of Southern Africa, from its peninsular situation, is greatly influenced by the periodical winds which, sweeping across the great southern ocean, blow regularly at stated seasons, but from opposite directions, over a varied, broken, and mountainous surface, producing the most contrary effects on its western and eastern coasts; for, whilst the north-west monsoon, prevailing during winter, carries with it rain and storm to the former, the borders of Kaffirland are always in the summer months subjected to the same effects by a constant south-easter, which, by the time it reaches Cape Town, having expended every particle of moisture, acts there as a dry and parching wind.

Owing to the above causes, the British troops engaged in our late protracted struggle with the Kaffirs were, during a portion of the summer of 1846, alternately exposed to the greatest and most sudden changes of climate, the more severely felt as they were then, for reasons alone known to the higher powers, allowed for a lengthened period to remain in a complete state of inactivity. Our large force (inclusive of irregulars) consisting of nearly ten thousand efficient men, were thus for weeks together stationary, and in a state of anything but dolce far niente-one day smothered in dust, and broiling in little gipsy tents, with the thermometer at 120 or 130 degrees; whilst the next, one of those terrific storms, so common during the summer season in this part of Africa, and followed by a deluge of rain, would sweep their frail canvas habitations to the ground, and leave the drenched and now-shivering inmates exposed to a most sudden transition of piercing cold.

Such were the pleasing varieties of comfortable existence enjoyed by the inhabitants of the permanent camps-established, no doubt, for some wise purpose on the eastern frontier during the active

operations of concluding truces, for the purpose of treating with a set of treacherous and cruel savages, of whom it has been truly said

This state of things continued until the latter end of November, when, it being probably discovered that the negotiations of our wily enemy were only so many subterfuges for the purpose of gaining time, it was resolved that Colonel Somerset (the working-man of the force) should give them a stirring up; with which intention a reinforcement, consisting of a few hundred of the native levies, and of a small party of the regular force, was sent to him from the 1st Division of the army, still encamped at Block Drift, a few miles from Fort Beaufort.

Heartily sick of heat and dust, of truces and "palavers," of meddling priests and intriguing missionaries, and rejoiced at the prospect of any change, I gladly accompanied the above expedition, which rendezvous'd at an advanced post, situated between the first and second division, the latter having for some time past been encamped at the " Beka," a former missionary station, a few miles from Fort Peddie, and which had been burnt down by the Kaffirs during the earlier part of the war.

The

The post or small encampment above alluded to, where we were to assemble, offered a good specimen of the delights attendant on a subaltern's detached command during the late Kaffir war. small bell-tents (affording but little protection from either sun or rain) were dotted on the bare slope of a hill, without the shelter of a single tree or bush, and exposed to every vicissitude of heat, wind, and dust. Broiling in one of these patent furnaces by day-often thoroughly drenched, and shivering with cold at night-alone, and without society or associates of any kind, probably even without the resource of books-generally debarred by the vicinity of a savage and wily foe from the possibility of moving a hundred yards from his post-is it to be wondered at if more than one unfortunate youth, thus as it were abandoned, like Ishmael in the wilderness, cut off from the civilized world, and left for weeks and months solitarily to brood on the discomforts of his forlorn situation, should have sought consolation from the bottle, and drowned in its contents all recollection of so unenviable a lot?

Many a young officer, it is true, as in the present instance, bravely went through, and came out unscathed from, so trying an ordeal; but whilst others succumbed, they certainly deserved pity as well as censure or condemnation.

Right gladly was our party welcomed, on its arrival, by the young Lieutenant commanding the "Laager," or camp here alluded to; and, thanks to his hospitable reception, merrily did we spend the day in his small tent; from his commissariat we obtained rations for the men with a feed of corn for our horses; and the whole party intended for the expedition, being now assembled and well refreshed, " fell in" towards sunset to move off to its destination.

The reader, uninitiated into the mysteries of South African warfare, must not for a moment imagine that a force paraded for a distant expedition into the "bush" bears the least resemblance to a guard mounting at St. James's, or a well-ordered field day in the Phoenix Park.

The "Rode Bashees" of the party, as the Kaffirs denominated our gallant red-jackets, to distinguish them from the "Amabula" (the Boers) and the "Umlaou," or Hottentots of the force, had long since as much as possible divested themselves of those old-fashioned "pipe-clay" trammels, only calculated when on service to impede the movements and check the brilliant gallantry of the British soldier; tight tape-laced coattees (scarlet in leprosy) had been cast aside, and shell jackets well patched with leather become, generally speaking, the order of the day; blue dungaree trousers were substituted for white prolongations; the heavy knapsack had been left at head-quarters, and was replaced by a small canvas bag, slung across the right shoulder; few stiff leather dog-collars, most appropriately called "stocks," now answered the roll; and the crown of that very essence of discomfort and uselessness, yclept the "chako," had long since been kicked out, and made way for the rather more sensible headdress of the "forage cap;" whilst, horrible to relate! many a sunburnt, weather-beaten English phiz, long a stranger to razor or soapsuds, and in spite of "whisker" regulations, wildly peered through a bushy jungle of untrimmed beard and luxuriant moustache, which, though rather, it must be admitted, brigand-like appendages, were undoubtedly found more comfortable by the respective wearers than an equal proportion of sores or blisters, with which the "pale-faces" were sure to be covered, if deprived in this fiery clime of that protection so kindly afforded by Nature.

The above is, generally speaking, a correct representation of the British soldier when on actual service, and only shows how completely unfitted are his every-day dress and appointments (though perhaps well enough adapted to the household troops) for the roughing of a campaign, particularly such campaigns as he is most likely to be engaged in against uncivilized barbarians, under a burning sun, and amidst the abrading effects of dense and thorny jungles.

No; if the pipe-clay martinets, the gold and tape-lacing tailors of the army, cannot bring themselves to study utility and comfort a little more in the every-day dress of the working part of the army, let them, at least, when our brave fellows are called upon for such roughing as that required in the last Kaffir campaign-let them, I say, safely deposit all these gingerbread trappings in store, rig out our soldiers in a fashion that will afford some protection against climate-not impede the free use of their limbs-and give them a chance of marching under a broiling sun without a coup de soleil, or of coming out of a thorny jungle with some small remnants of clothing on their backs.

With his every-day dress and accoutrements, what was often the result to the British soldier of a Kaffir skirmish in the bush? Seeing his Hottentot compagnons d'armes dash into the dense thorny covert, and not wishing to be outdone by these little "black fellows," he sets its abrading properties at defiance, and boldly rushes in on their wake.

D

His progress is, however, soon arrested: an opposing branch knocks off the tall conical machine curiously balanced, like a milkmaid's pail, on the top of his head; he stoops down to recover the lost treasure in so doing his "pouch box" goes over his head, his "cross belts" become entangled. Hearing a brisk firing all around, and wishing to have a part in the fun, he makes an effort to get on to the front, but finds himself most unaccountably held in the tenacious grasp of an unexpected native foe. The thick-spreading and verdant bush, under which the "chako" had rolled, is the "wacht-eenbeetje, "and to his cost he feels in his woollen garments the tenacious hold of its hooked claws; for the more he struggles to get free, the more he becomes entangled in the thorny web. Meanwhile the "retire" shrilly echoes through the adjoining rocks: his friends the "Totties," as they briskly run past in their retreat, warn him that the enemy (who knows right well our bugle calls) is at their heels. Exhausted by his protracted struggle, breathless, torn and bleeding from hands and face, the poor fellow makes a desperate effort at escape; in so doing, the ill-omened "chako" is left to its fate; the "wacht-een-beetje" retains in triumph part of his dress; as he "breaks covert" the Kaffirs, with insulting yells, blaze away at him from the bush, and, scudding across the plain towards his company, with the ill-adjusted "pouch" banging against his hinder parts, the poor devil, in addition to the balls whistling around him, is also exposed to the jeers and laughter of his more fortunate comrades!

Far be it from me to attempt here to detract from the efficiency and merits of our gallant soldiers, whose services, spite of every obstacle raised in their way, have been so conspicuous in every region of the globe; I merely wish to point out how much that efficiency might be increased by a little attention to the dictates of reason and

common sense.

Though some of the native levies- such as the Fingoes and "friendly" Kaffirs, enrolled as part of the force-were composed of a sad, half-naked, disorderly rabble, Captain Hogg's corps, which formed the greater part of the present expedition, was a marked exception to this rule. This last consisted entirely of Hottentots, who, under the auspices of their indefatigable partizan leader, had attained a degree of efficiency that could scarcely have been believed, and would have done credit to any light infantry corps.

Whenever any rough work had to be done, Hogg's corps was sure to be in request; and the hardy little fellows of which it was composed were admirably adapted to the cattle-lifting, bush-fighting warfare, in which they played so conspicuous a part. Unlike the regular portion of the force, they were wholly unencumbered by superfluous baggage or useless equipments. A low, broad-brimmed "Jim Crow" hat protected their woolly heads from the sun, a loose fustian shooting-jacket, leather "crackers," and easy "feldt-schoen," with a cartridge-belt fastened round the waist-whilst leaving the free use

* A Dutch appellation, literally meaning "wait a little," which is always the case when its crooked thorns happen to lay hold of the skirt of one's garment. † Trousers made of dressed sheep-skin. The "feldt-shoen" is a shoe made of soft, untanned leather.

of their limbs-enabled them, with no other arms save an old musket, to follow up the foe, and successfully engage him in his very strongholds; for, amidst the densest part of the most thorny bush, thus armed and accoutred, the little "Totty," whether belonging to the Cape corps or to the burgher levies, proved ever more than a match for the gigantic and ferocious Kaffir.

*

As usual on these expeditions, light marching trim was now the order of the day-that is to say, every man carried a blanket and a small supply of biscuit, whilst a few head of cattle were driven along for slaughter. Unencumbered, therefore, with commissariat or camp equipage, we got rapidly over the ground, the Europeans of the party with difficulty keeping pace with the active little Totties, who, following the example of their untiring leader, footed it along at the rate of four miles an hour.

Our course lay along the high open ridge running midway between the Keiskamma and Great Fish River, overlooking in many places the dense bush, enshrouding a deep valley, now darkly immersed in shadow, through which tortuously meanders the latter stream. This "Fish River Bush" is an immense tract of thorny jungle, extending from the Winterberg mountains to the sea coast. It is still the constant resort of the predatory Kaffir, as it was some years past that of all the nobler animals of the chase. The elephant, the rhinoceros, the buffalo, and hippopotamus, with innumerable other sylvan denizens, were, some fifty or sixty years back, the sole and undisputed occupants of this vast verdant wilderness: they were the original pioneers who frayed the paths amidst its otherwise impenetrable recesses, through which intricate tracks the hunter first followed them up to their lairs.

This was in the good old times of the occupation of the Zuureveldt by the Dutch Boers, and ere Kaffir intrusion had disturbed both man and beast, amidst its undulating grassy plains and dense boundless thickets. Since those patriarchal times, mighty changes have flitted o'er the scene, and the brand of the savage having scared alike the thrifty occupants of the prairie and the wild population of the jungle, the Zuureveldt was next tenanted by the encroaching Kaffir, and continued for years the favourite hunting ground of the ferocious tribes of Congo and T'Slambie.

After a long period of unauthorized and forcible occupation, the gallant Graham drove these barbarians from their usurped possessions, and shortly afterwards this part of the country became peopled by a new race; for in 1820 several thousands of English settlers, sent out by government, landed at Algoa Bay, and soon wrought great changes in the land of their adoption. A few fortunes were rapidly realized by some; but many, and by far the greater part of the emigrants, were entirely ruined by the successive failures of their crops. However, British energy was not to be daunted numbers embarked in a channel of fresh enterprise, and became now deeply engaged in all the venturous vicissitudes and dangers of a contraband trade with the Kaffirs, then, under the severest penalties, prohibited by law; whilst others, converting their ploughshares into rifles, turned "mighty hunters" amidst the dense jungles of the Kowie and Fish