PREFACE.
This book contains extracts from the daily record of impressions made on my mind, by men and events, as we performed together our allotted parts, in one short tragical episode at the Cape. Very little has been omitted; nothing has been added. It is a simple narrative, taken from the Book of my Life, of which, if it is not the opening chapter, it is at least one of the first.
If by my observations I have hurt any one’s feelings, this may have been caused by these persons having ruffled mine. If I have said but little good of any one with whom I have been brought into contact, it is because I failed to perceive any more than I have mentioned. The reader will be able to some extent to judge whether or not this has arisen from my want of perspicacity, or from their incapacity.
I can only add, that this narrative is true. I have thought, in having it published, that it might interest those who seek by reading some information about the realities of life in this artificial world of ours, wherein time-serving hypocrites present themselves so often as shams when Heaven and country call for men.
CONTENTS | |
|---|---|
| [CHAPTER I.] | |
| PAGE | |
| Attached to the French military staff in Algeria—The Minie rifle—Interviews with the Duke of Wellington and others—War at the Cape—I offer my services—Red-tape difficulties—Start for the Cape, | 1 |
| [CHAPTER II.] | |
| Land at St Vincent—Shooting excursion on the island—Strange dream—Narrowly escape shipwreck—Arrive at Sierra Leone—Interview with the Governor—Official ceremonies—Visit the Bishop—Official insignia—St Helena—Neglected state of the house where Napoleon died, | 6 |
| [CHAPTER III.] | |
| Arrive at the Cape—Valuable assistance from local authorities—A corps of volunteers formed—General Sir Harry Smith’s difficulties—Damaged state of stores and ammunition—Obliged to invent a Minie ball—Happy Jack—The composition of the corps—Reflections—Colonel Neville Chamberlain—His present of a sword and its subsequent history in Turkey, | 14 |
| [CHAPTER IV.] | |
| First attempts at discipline in corps—Prepare to start for the front—Difficulty of getting men on board ship—Review and sham fight—First feats of arms—Embarkation—Arrive at Fort Elizabeth—Onward march towards Graham’s Town—First encampment in the Bush—Mutiny and punishment—Further advance—Panic and flight, | 25 |
| [CHAPTER V.] | |
| The Dutch and English settlers—First trial of the Minie at the Cape—I part with Happy Jack—March into Graham’s Town—The officers of the corps—Colonel Cloëte—Shortcomings of the service—The commissariat—Ordered to Fort Beaufort—Arrive at headquarters, | 43 |
| [CHAPTER VI.] | |
| My report to General commanding on state of the road—Offend the staff, but receive present of charger from General—Surprised at close proximity of Kaffirs—Offer to take nearer view—Am snubbed in consequence—Assigned post of advanced-guard in general attack under General Napier—Ascent of the Water-kloof—Ordered to dislodge Kaffirs from Horse-shoe line of Bush—In action—Hesitation—Success—Second attack under artillery-fire—The Minie rifle again—Kaffir devotion—Their nature, and how to fight them—Am thanked in general orders, | 51 |
| [CHAPTER VII.] | |
| Another combined attack—Small results—Capture of Mundell’s Peak—Thanked a second time in general orders—Example of tenacity of life—Building forts—The descent into the Water-kloof—Reproaches—Disregarded advice—An attack and the consequences—In danger and unable to procure assistance—Relieved from all interference by other commanding officers—Receive written thanks of General commanding—Receive additional command of new company of Fingoes—I assert my right over prisoners—Johnny Fingo—A skirmish—Savage indifference to physical pain—Night fighting—Treachery, | 63 |
| [CHAPTER VIII.] | |
| Formidable attack on Water-kloof—The “Blacksmith’s Shop”—Slightly wounded over the eyebrow—Dictate report to Colonel Cloëte in presence of General—I am omitted in general orders—Proceed to Graham’s Town to request revision of the order—Interview with General Cathcart—Receive general order to myself—Offers of grants of land for the men who wished to settle—Remove to Blakeway’s Farm, | 79 |
| [CHAPTER IX.] | |
| Kaffir characteristics—The cruelties of war—No real sympathy between black and white—Kaffir cruelties—Night attack on a Kaffir village—Wounded prisoner—“Doctor” Dix—Kaffirs become rare—Capture of Noziah, Sandilli’s sister—Suspicious death of her attendant—Sergeant Herridge, | 91 |
| [CHAPTER X.] | |
| Noziah at Blakeway’s Farm—Becomes a favourite with the men—Wishes to reconcile me to her brother Sandilli—Expedition sent out to find Sandilli and arrange for an interview—Return after twenty-three days’ absence go with Noziah to meet her brother—Sandilli’s war-council—Angry reception—I obtain a hearing—Sandilli’s reply—Offers to meet General Cathcart and make an explanation to him—Demoralising effect of exposing life in fighting, | 107 |
| [CHAPTER XI.] | |
| Return of General Cathcart from Basutoland—End of the war—Sporting adventures—Loving tortoises—Evening reveries—A sudden attack from an unknown enemy—Plans for his capture—Unsuccessful—Another attempt—Night vigils—Close quarters—Death of the leopard—Wild-boar hunting—Baboons—My pack of hounds—They are attacked by baboons—Poor Dash’s fate—Snakes, | 118 |
| [CHAPTER XII.] | |
| Kaffir knowledge of surgery—Manners more artificial than natural—Peace concluded with Sandilli and Macomo—Indifferent character of the treaty of peace—The corps disbanded—Thanks of Commander-in-chief—Return towards the Cape—Addresses from the inhabitants of Fort Beaufort and Graham’s Town—Engineering tastes—Sam Rowe—The Mary Jane—I embark for Cape Town, | 140 |
| [CHAPTER XIII.] | |
| Arrival at the Cape—Opinions on the war there—The conversion of the heathen—Baptism of a recent convert—Converted Jews in Bucharest—The Metropolitan of the Greek Church and an English bishop—The voyage home—The Arethusa—Noziah visits Cape Town to bid me good-bye—African trophies—Reflections on the actual state of the Cape, | 155 |
| [CHAPTER XIV.] | |
| St Helena—Ascension—Monkeyish pranks in the “horse” latitudes—Young Ben’s fate—An Irish wake on the line—Narrow escape—The Mauritius steamship—Ocean visitors—A westerly gale—Sight the white cliffs of Brighton—Salute the native soil—A greedy mouthful—A dark impression—Direct attention of Government to neglected state of Napoleon’s late residence in St Helena—Obtain reply in 1855—Desire to obtain active military employment—Delays of the Horse Guards authorities—My reception there, | 171 |
| [CHAPTER XV.] | |
| Start on a mission to the East—Visit Gallipoli, and report upon it to Lord Stratford de Redcliffe—Report on the entire seaboard of the Dardanelles—Visit the Turkish army on the Danube, and report on its condition—Winter travelling in ball-room dress—Return to Constantinople—The Embassy there—The War Ministry at home—Their incapacity—Am offered a knighthood, but decline the honour—The Eastern question—The difficulty of regenerating the Turks by foreign interference—Their moral degradation—My knighthood is decided upon—Journey to Windsor—Lords Palmerston and Aberdeen—Monologues with predecessors in armour—The ceremony—Conclusion, | 192 |
WHAT I SAW IN KAFFIR-LAND.