The White Chief of the Caffres

I complied with his request, and he then questioned me – as to where the nearest Caffres lived how numerous they were, how they were armed and whether they were friendly or otherwise to white men.

I gave him all the information I possessed on these points, but I found it difficult to make him understand how it was that the Zulus were enemies of the white man, but the Caffres about Natal were friendly. He seemed to look upon all Caffres as “niggers,” and not to distinguish the one tribe from the other.

He then asked me if I could show him where the captain of the merchantman had been killed, and upon my pointing to the place he ordered his men to pull up the bay, to the spot. Upon reaching this, I explained the whole affair to him, and pointed out where the Zulus had attempted to stop me. As I continued my account, I found by the looks of these sailors that I rose very much in their estimation.

“Why did you not come away in the ship?” inquired the officer.

I told him of the behaviour of the sailors, and their suspicions of me, and that they had put me on shore; that, if I had not been well acquainted with the habits of the Zulus, I should have been assagied or made prisoner by these people.

As we pulled down the bay towards the bar, the officer told me he intended taking me on board the ship to see the captain, and to tell him what I had seen and known about the slaughter at Natal.

Before we had gone halfway to the ship, I became very sick. There was a heavy sea on for a boat, and I was unaccustomed to the motion, so that I was soon suffering from the effects of the waves on the boat.

I, however, scrambled up on to the deck of the ship, and found myself in the presence of several officers, who looked at me with astonishment. The officer who had brought me in the boat told a tall officer, who, I afterwards learned, was the captain, what my previous history had been. The captain at once was deeply interested, and inquired all particulars about the shipwreck, and what had become of those who had escaped drowning. I told him that I was the only male survivor, that the others had by a mistake been assagied, as it was supposed they were slave-catchers. The females, I said, were the wives of Caffres, and would not wish to leave their adopted country. The captain having listened to all I had to tell him, asked me if I should like some clothes, for I was dressed like a Caffre. Upon my intimating that, if I remained in the country clothes would be useless, but if I were to be taken away I must have some raiment, the captain took me to his cabin, and having sent for some of the midshipmen, I was soon rigged out in a suit of clothes that fitted me tolerably well. From the captain I learned that he had come up to Natal to make inquiries relative to the murders that had been committed on the white people, and to punish the murderers. I explained to him that the Caffres who lived near the Umlass and in the neighbourhood, had nothing to do with the slaughter of these people; that it was a war-party of the Zulus which had come down the country for the purpose of killing all white men. He seemed, however, disinclined to believe that the people in the country were not a party to the massacre, till I told him of the fight we had with the Zulus, and our battle near the Umlass river.

On that night I slept on board ship, and by the following morning had quite recovered from my sea-sickness. The captain sent for me very early, and asked if I could guide a party to the nearest Caffre kraal, as he wanted to see the people in their natural state. I told him it might be dangerous, as the Caffres would suppose we had come to attack them or to make slaves of them. He laughed at the idea of being attacked; for, as he would take a large party with him, who would be armed, he considered he would be more than a match for all the Caffres in the country. I told him he did not know what these people were in war, and how by a surprise they would to a certain extent do away with the advantages which his firearms gave him. About fifty sailors were armed, and being led by the captain we landed at the upper part of the bay, and marched on towards the Umlass. The chief in that neighbourhood was named Umnini, and was a very fine fellow. I was anxious to let him know we were a friendly party come to see him, but I could not meet or see any Caffres by whom to send a message. I felt quite sure that we had been observed, for Caffres are very watchful. We had passed over some open ground just beyond the Umslatazane river, and had entered a bush-path beyond, when I heard a shrill whistle which I knew meant a signal for attack. I at once shouted in Caffre, “We are friends, come to see Umnini.” The captain looked at me in astonishment and said, “What are you shouting about?” I told him he must halt his men and keep them quiet, or we might have a thousand men on us in half a minute. As he could not see a Caffre, or even hear one, he said, “A thousand men! why there is not one to be seen.” I again called out in Caffre and said, “I have brought the chief of the big ship to talk to Umnini. He is friendly and wants to see him.” There was silence for a short time, and then a voice from the bush was heard, and inquiry was made as to why a messenger was not sent first to say we were friends.

I replied that the chief of the ship did not know what the law was in this country.

The captain, who was much surprised at hearing the voice come from the bush when he could see no one, asked me what they were saying. I told him that the Caffres suspected that he had come to attack them or to capture some slaves, and if I had not spoken he would have been attacked in this bush. I inquired of him if I should ask the Caffre chief to advance and to talk to us, for it would not be prudent for us to go on any farther unless the Caffres allowed us. The captain seemed rather suspicious of treachery, but having cautioned his men to keep together, said that I had better ask the chief to come to us. I called out again, asking the chief to come; when, from behind every tree and bush, and apparently out of the ground, a Caffre appeared, each armed with his six assagies and a knob-kerrie, and carrying his shield before him. Our party was completely surrounded, and had war been intended we should soon have been assagied. The chief who commanded this party was Umnini’s young brother, whom I knew well. As he quietly advanced to us, he showed no surprise or any sign of fear. His appearance, I saw, impressed the captain, who touched his cap as the chief advanced. This young chief was called Ingwe, and I told him who the captain was, and that he had come to pay a visit to Umnini. Ingwe shook hands with the captain, and then, speaking a few words to the Caffres informing them that we were friends, told them to go on to Umnini’s kraal and announce our arrival.

Ingwe led the way, and we walked through the bush-paths. The sailors seemed surprised at the order and discipline of these Caffres, and the dignified manner in which they behaved; but their surprise was greater when we approached the chiefs kraal, and found the men drawn up in two lines, between which we marched till we came near the huts, where Umnini met us. Umnini addressed all his conversation to me, and I translated it to the captain, and when the captain spoke I had to turn his words into Caffre.

Umnini said he was glad to see the chief of the large ship, and was sorry there had nearly been a mistake made, as the captain came armed and like a war-party; but he was welcome to the kraal, and a young bull would shortly be killed for a feast for the sailors.

The captain replied that he did not think his coming armed would have been mistaken for war, as he had no cause of complaint against Umnini, but wished to see the chief in his kraal; that he did not wish an ox killed, as his men would not be allowed to eat at that hour.

Umnini then asked the captain and me to come into his kraal, where we saw several of Umnini’s wives and children. The captain sat down in the hut, and we had a long conversation about the Zulus, and their attack on the white people at the bay; also about the life the Caffres lived, their habits, etc. The captain kept on making notes in a pocket-book as he received his answers, and seemed much interested in what he heard. He then asked about the white women who had been wrecked with me, and inquired whether it were possible to see them and persuade them to return to civilisation in his ship.

I told him I believed they would avoid being seen, and certainly would not leave the country, as they were the mothers of several children, and were regularly accustomed to the life they now led. We stopped about as long as it took the sun to go ten times its diameter; and then, bidding the chief good-bye, we returned to our boats and pulled off to the ship. Umnini had made a present of a gourd snuff-box to the captain, and had received in return a watch-chain, which Umnini hung round his neck.

Several of the officers of the ship were anxious to go on shore to have some shooting, and asked me where was the best place to go. I told them that in the bush there were elephants and antelope; that it was dangerous sport going after elephants, but if they were careful, they might kill one. Four officers arranged to go with me, in search of them, and to start at daybreak. On the open ground near the head of the bay, there were some pools of water just outside the bush, where the elephants were fond of drinking during the night. Upon landing from our boats, we walked to these ponds, and I told the officers that we must not speak above a whisper when we entered the bush, and must walk so quietly that no man could hear the footsteps of the man in front of him. The officers smiled at my cautious instructions, and seemed amused at the idea of being taught by a mere boy. The elephants had visited the pool early in the morning, and had then entered the bush by one of their well-worn paths. The traces of the animals were very plain, the print of their large feet being distinctly marked in many places. We had not entered the bush more than the distance of four or five throws of an assagy, when I heard the slight crack of a stick in front of us. I stopped, and stooping down, saw the outline of an elephant looming amidst some dense underwood. I pointed to this spot and whispered to the officers, “Elephant.”

They stooped and peeped, but could see nothing. I then signalled to them to go slowly forward, when they would, I hoped, obtain a view of the animal. The officers crept on, but not being accustomed to the bush, each man made more noise than would fifty Caffres. They had only gone on a few steps, when they turned to me and said, “That is not an elephant, it is only some old tree.” At the same instant, the elephant, hearing their voices, turned in the bush; and, crashing through the underwood, was soon far out of sight and beyond a shot. The astonishment of the officers was very great when they saw their “old tree” become a nearly full-grown elephant, and heard it crashing through the bush, the breaking branches which it carried away in its rush sounding like the report of musketry.

“The youngster was right after all,” they exclaimed. “Only fancy, an elephant standing as quietly as that.”

They wanted to follow the animal; but I explained to them that they might as well follow a bird on the wing, as the elephant would probably not stop until it had gone some four or five miles through the bush, and would then be on the alert and difficult to approach.

Finding there was no chance of again seeing the elephant, the officers decided to come out of the bush, and try to get a shot at some buck on the more open ground.

We had gone some distance from the bush, when, on looking towards the Umganie river, I saw in the distance a large party of Caffres. I instantly lay down, and called eagerly to the officers to do the same; for from the glance I had obtained I thought this must be a war-party of the Zulus, probably sent down to see what the ship was doing here. The officers laughed at my caution, but they concealed themselves, though not as quickly as they ought to have done. I wished now that I had my glasses with me, for the body of Caffres was a long way off. I soon saw, however, that the party were Zulus; and informed the officers of the fact, and that we must run for our lives.

Had I been alone I should not have feared for the result of a race, because we were some considerable distance in advance of the Zulus, and I could run as fast and as far as the best man amongst them; but I had already found that the officers were not fit to run far, the long time they had been on board ship having prevented them from getting into racing condition. Our boat was fully a mile and a half, as I should now term the distance, from where we were concealed, and I knew that a Zulu would run this distance about as fast again as the officers. I told them that their lives now depended on their doing exactly what I directed them to do; and I added that they ought now to know that I was better acquainted with things in this country than they were, as I could distinguish an elephant from a dead tree. They said —

“All right, give your orders.”

We crawled along the ground for some distance, till we were concealed by a portion of the bush; we then rose and ran along the edge of the bush, but we did not run very fast, for I was afraid that my companions would get out of breath before the real race began. When we had gone some distance near the bush, I found that, to go in the direction of our boats, we must now move in the open country. I told my companions of my plan, and said that we could move no faster than the slowest runner among them. I saw that one of the officers, who was rather stout, was already out of breath, and I feared that we should find it hard work reaching our boat before the Zulus were upon us. When we struck off into the open plain I looked round, and then knew that the Zulus must have seen us from the first, as they were coming on at a run, which, although not very fast, had yet enabled them to decrease the distance between them and us.

“Now do your best,” I said, and we commenced our run.

The Zulus uttered a shout, as they now saw us plainly, and several of their fastest runners advanced in front of the main body. I now carried two guns of the officers that they might get on the more easily, but found that our pursuers were gaining rapidly on us.

When we were within a short distance of the boat, about twenty Zulus were nearly within an assagy’s-throw of us. I said to the officers, “Run to the boat: I will stop the Zulus.” The officers ran on whilst I stopped, and, dropping one of the guns, aimed with the other at the leading Zulu. The man dodged about as I aimed, but my bullet struck him, and he fell to the ground; with the second barrel I hit another Zulu, and then the other men dropped on the ground to conceal themselves. Picking up the gun I had dropped, I darted off to the boat, into which the officers had embarked, and jumped into it, telling them to push off at once. The water for some distance was shallow, and before we could get into deep water, about a hundred Zulus dashed in, and were hurling their assagies at us. We fired at these men, whilst the four sailors in the boat rowed as fast as they could; and as the water became deeper, we could move faster than the Zulus, and so were soon beyond the range of their assagies.

The Zulus, on finding they could not reach us, instantly left the water and concealed themselves in the bush, in order to avoid our bullets.

“Smart work,” said one of the officers, who seemed rather to enjoy the excitement; “I don’t think I ever ran so far before.” Another officer said, “I tell you what it is, youngster, you are well up in this kind of work.”

As we rowed down the bay I heard a voice shouting from one of the islands in the bay, and asking what number of Zulus there were. I told the Caffre about five hundred.

I now asked the officers to stop the boat, because near the head of the bay I saw some dust rising, and I suspected that this was caused by some of Umnini’s warriors who had been assembled to resist any attack the Zulus might make. The rapidity with which these people could arm and assemble was very great. From a distant kraal men would arm and run towards the point of danger. As they passed the various kraals on the way they would be joined by the warriors from these kraals, and as every full-grown man was a warrior, the army soon swelled to a considerable size. I should have liked to join Umnini’s people in what I expected would be an attack on the Zulus, but I did not like to take the officers with me, and they said they would not allow me to leave them; so we kept the boat in deep water, and beyond where an assagy could be cast on to the boat. The Zulus, who had followed us down to the water, had concealed themselves in the bush as soon as we had secured our retreat; but they now evidently had some knowledge of the approach of Umnini’s men, as they were moving rapidly through the bush, and calling to one another. The distance from the head of the bay to where the Zulus had followed us was not very far, and I knew that the rapidity with which the Caffres moved would soon enable them to attack the Zulus. The latter, however, either thought the numbers of their enemies too great, or else they did not wish to fight, as there was nothing to fight for, no cattle being near enough for the Zulus to carry off, even if they gained the victory; so they retreated rapidly towards the Umganie river, followed by Umninis people.

I knew that, from the summit of some tall trees on the shore of the bay near the bluff, a view could be obtained of the coast even beyond the Umganie; so I suggested to the officers that we pulled down the bay, and ascended the high land, so as to obtain a view of what was taking place. We soon reached the shore beneath the bluff, and ascending it found that we could see both the Zulus and Umnini’s Caffres. The Zulus, finding that they would be overtaken before they could cross the river, had faced about, and, standing shoulder to shoulder, were awaiting the attack of their pursuers. The battle soon commenced, by a shower of assagies being thrown by the Natal Caffres; then a charge was made, and for a time we could see nothing but a struggling mass of black warriors. Then the tide of battle evidently turned in favour of Umnini’s men; for the Zulus were flying in the direction of the river, followed by the Natal Caffres. In savage warfare, it is in the retreat that the greater number of men are killed: the pursuer has the advantage of casting his assagy at an enemy who can neither dodge nor protect himself by his shield. The number of Zulus who were slain during this retreat was very great – we could see man after man struck down and assagied; and the officers became quite excited, and exclaimed that these niggers fought like tigers. I told them of some of the battles I had been in, against the Zulus, and of some of the dodges we had practised. They said they wished they had some two hundred blue-jackets with them, and they would have given a good account of these Zulus. I told them that the cutlasses used by the sailors would be of no use against an assagy; that a Zulu would send his assagy through a man at twenty or thirty yards’ distance, and that a man armed with a sword would be unable to do anything with it at that distance. Then, again, when the Zulus rushed in on an enemy, it was possible to shoot down several of them, but those not shot would stab with their assagies, before the men armed with guns could reload.

Having seen the defeat and the slaughter of a large number of the Zulus, the officers decided to pull off to the ship, and report to the captain what had occurred. There was luckily very little surf on the bar, and we pulled over what there was without shipping much water in our boat. On reaching the ship, the officers gave an account to the captain of what had occurred, and were very full of praise for my skill and coolness in having saved them from the Zulus; for they agreed that, had they been left to themselves, they never could have reached the boats, as the Zulus would have surrounded them, and though they might have shot several, yet they could not have loaded quickly enough to prevent their enemy from closing in on them. The officers gave a very good account of the fight they had seen between Umnini’s Caffres and the Zulus; and if any doubt had remained in the mind of the captain about these two tribes being at enmity with each other, this fight would have placed the matter on the side of certainty.

On the morning following the day on which we had escaped from the Zulus, the captain sent for me to his cabin. On my entrance I found him sitting near a writing-table on which were various papers; he told me to sit down, as he wanted to ask me several questions. He then produced a map of the coast of South Africa, and pointed to Natal Bay, the Umlass river, and other places; and then asked if I could tell him exactly where the ship in which I had been wrecked had gone on shore. I estimated the distance from the Umzimvubu river, and with a pencil marked the spot.

I then described to him the country inland, as far as I had been, and pointed out that several small streams were not put down in the map.

After we had talked about these matters, the captain said, “Now tell me more about yourself, who you are, and all that.”

I gave the captain a history of my early days in India, and then explained to him that I was on my way home to England to be educated by my uncle, who was reported to be very rich, when our ship was wrecked. When I told him the name of my father, he looked in a large book, and then asked me my fathers Christian name. At first I could not recall it, but after a little thought I said it was William Mark.

“Your father is alive and is now a colonel,” said the captain, “but is no doubt under the impression that you were drowned, as nothing was heard of the ship you were in after she was seen at the Mauritius.”

I was delighted to hear this news, and a great longing now came over me to see my father and to again join civilisation. I told the captain what my wishes were, but that I had no money and did not know how I was to get to India, or to England; nor did I know whether my uncle was alive, and whether I ought now to go to England. I was quite able to take care of myself if alone in the African bush, or on the plains, though enemies of various kinds might be around me; but I felt I should be powerless among white men, whom, from my experience of the sailors in the former ship, I had found very stupid and suspicious.

The captain told me he would take me to Simon’s Town at the Cape, and see what could be done about communicating with my friends.

It took, in those days, upwards of four months for an answer to a Cape letter to England to be received, and about the same time for a letter sent to India to be answered and received at the Cape. I did not remember my uncle’s address in England, so that it would be impossible to communicate with him; nor did I know in what part of India my father was, but as he was well-known at Delhi, I believed that a letter sent there would be forwarded to him.

On the following day the captain decided to leave Natal and start for the Cape. The wind was in our favour, and we sailed westward, our course carrying us about twenty miles from the coast. I remained on deck watching the old familiar localities and pointing out to the captain the various rivers and headlands. Just before dark we were opposite the rocks where I was wrecked, and the captain took some observations and marked on his map the exact spot.

During the next two or three days I passed an hour or so each day, giving the captain an account of the wreck, and of what occurred afterwards; he wrote down what I told him, and, having made a sort of history of this, he then read it over to me, asking me if it were all correct.

He said, the loss of the ship had caused great excitement in England, he remembered, at the time; but when no news came, and a ship sent from the Cape to search could gain no intelligence, it was concluded that she had gone down in the storm, between the Mauritius and the Cape, and of course it was expected every one had been drowned.

We had a fair wind all the way down to Simon’s Bay, and accomplished the voyage in six days. As soon as we had anchored, the captain went on shore to visit the admiral, and I was left on the ship. In about an hour one of the officers came to me and said a signal had been sent from the admiral to say that I was to go on shore to the admiral’s house. A boat was provided, and I was soon pulled on shore.

Although I had led the life of a savage since my shipwreck, and had gained no experience of what is called polite society, yet the dangers through which I had passed had given me self-dependence; and the calm, dignified behaviour of the chiefs, both among the Zulus and the Umzimvubus, had given me an insight into the proper way of conducting myself. When, then, I was taken by the captain before the admiral I was not flurried as some youngsters might have been, but very cool and calm. The admiral examined me critically, and then said —

“You have had some strange adventures up the country.”

“Yes, sir,” I replied, “I have been some years living entirely among the Caffres.”

“Is the account you have given of the shipwreck quite correct?”