The White Chief of the Caffres

by Alfred W. Drayson

A few weeks passed, and then a ship was signalled as entering Table Bay from the East. This ship was an Indiaman, so I expected a letter from my father. Scarcely, however, had the ship cast anchor than a boat left her, and pulled rapidly to the shore. In this boat was my father, who on hearing of my safety had obtained leave, and had at once started for the Cape.

Our meeting was a joyful one; my father was astonished to see the change that a few years had made in me. When I left India I was comparatively a child. The open-air life I had led, the continued exercise and the healthy food had caused me to grow rapidly, and also to be stout and strong. The various dangerous adventures through which I had passed had made me a man in manner, and I had gained that important quality self-dependence, without which a man is sure to be a failure. My father listened with the greatest interest to my accounts of the various dangers through which I had passed. When I explained to him the life led by some of these Caffre Chiefs, he agreed with me that, except for the uncertainty of being attacked by some other tribe, no life could be more pleasant than that of a chief in that country. To possess a large herd of cattle giving a plentiful supply of milk; several wives who cultivated the ground, and thus supplied corn, pumpkins and other vegetables required for food; game in abundance in the forests and on the plains, and no king or prince in Europe could lead a more happy life than did a Caffre Chief. When I compared the life of even a rich merchant in Cape Town with that of a Caffre Chief, I could not but come to the conclusion that the latter had the best of it. A merchant would go to his office by ten o’clock in the morning, would be shut up there going over accounts till about four o’clock; he had not time for any sport or pleasure during the day, and on his return home, often seemed pre-occupied with the business, to which he had devoted his time in the morning. Then, again, losses of money would sometimes occur, and the unhappiness caused by such a loss, seemed far greater than when a successful speculation, caused temporary happiness. A Caffre’s wants were few, but all these he could supply, and his only anxiety was that relative to wild beasts, poisonous snakes, and invasion by an enemy.

I went with my father to dine with the admiral at Simon’s Town, and also accompanied him to several other houses, to dinners, and entertainments of various kinds. Soon after his arrival he wrote to my uncle, saying that he still wished me to proceed to England to have my education attended to, that he could stay at Cape Town about a month, and would like me to remain with him during that period, after which I should embark for England.

The month passed very rapidly. My father was also a guest of Mr Rossmar’s, for Cape people were famous for their kindness and hospitality, and seemed as though we conferred a favour on them by staying at their house. At length the ship arrived in which my father was to return to India, and I bid him a long farewell, for it would be five years before he could retire and come to England, where he eventually intended to settle.

I now daily expected the arrival of the Indiaman in which passage had been taken for my voyage to England, and five days after my father had sailed, the ship was signalled, and a few hours afterwards anchored in Table Bay. I had many friends to bid good-bye besides those with whom I had been staying. The parting was very sad, but I promised that if possible I would come again to the Cape, and stay a long time with my various friends.

A voyage in the sailing-vessels of those days had much more romance and interest in it than is now possible in a modern steamer. Formerly a ship was dependent on the amount and direction of the wind; there was always the excitement of watching the barometer, the clouds, etc, to discover if possible any change of wind; a storm was a greater battle than it now is; and the uncertainty of the duration of the voyage had its charms. Some sailing ships were nearly eighty days in reaching England from the Cape, others accomplished the voyage in a little over fifty.

We had a fair wind on leaving Table Bay. I remained on deck watching the Table Mountain gradually sink, as it were, on the horizon, and when darkness came on I went to my cabin below, and felt dull and miserable. There were about fifty passengers on board, mostly old Indians. My story was known to them all, and several were acquainted with my father; so I soon made acquaintances with my fellow-voyagers, and found the time pass pleasantly enough. We cast anchor for a day at Saint Helena, and I had an opportunity of visiting the most beautiful parts of that island. Our voyage continued favourable until we were within a few degrees of the equator, when the favourable wind died away, and we were left becalmed. This was not an unusual condition. The captain informed us that he had remained on one occasion ten days in these latitudes without moving a mile. The heat was very great, but as most of us had been long in India we stood this better than did those passengers who had merely joined us at Cape Town. I soon took great interest in catching shark. These sea monsters seemed attracted to the ship, and there was usually a dorsal fin seen above the water within a hundred yards of our ship. I constructed an arrangement for shark-fishing which was very successful. At the end of a stout copper wire I lashed a strong hook, and then, with a long line fastened to the wire, I could play the shark just as salmon-fishers play a salmon. By this means I used to catch a shark nearly every day. One of these was a monster ten feet long. We used to haul these fish on deck by slipping a bowling-knot in a rope down our line and over the shark’s fins; and we had great excitement when the creatures were hauled on deck, as they were dangerous to approach until they were killed by blows on the head, and their tail partly amputated with a hatchet. There were on board three gentlemen, who were good chess-players. I used to watch these play their games, and soon learned the moves and the manner in which the game was played, and before the voyage was half over I could play chess very fairly. I also learned from one of the mates how to measure altitudes of the sun, and how to find the latitude each day. This gave me a taste for astronomy, and I learned also the names of the principal stars. The voyage was thus to me a period of interest, and did not hang heavily on my hands; whereas those people who took no interest in anything during the voyage, were always wearied and cross.

As we approached England we met or overtook several ships: our vessel was a very fast sailer, and never failed to overtake any ship that we saw ahead of us. It was on the fifty-fourth day from leaving the Cape that we saw some land, which the captain told us was Ushant. Two days afterwards we were off Plymouth, and in another week were beating up the Downs. There were few steamers in those days, and nearly all the ships sailed up the Thames. When we reached Gravesend a gentleman came on board, who told me he had been sent from London by my uncle, who wished me to land at Gravesend, and travel by coach to London. I was really sorry to leave the ship, where I had passed two months very pleasantly, and had been treated most kindly by the captain and officers, as also by my fellow-passengers.

However, I was delighted with what I saw from the outside of a four-horse coach, as we travelled up to London. But London bewildered me: the noise, the number of people and vehicles, made me quite giddy; and though I could find my way for miles in an African forest, yet I doubted whether I should ever be able to walk alone in London without losing myself. My uncle lived in an old-fashioned, but very comfortable house near Highgate, and we reached that locality about six o’clock in the evening. The time of year was autumn when I arrived, and it was a lovely evening, the sun about setting. My uncle’s house stood in a garden, with fine trees round it, and at that time Highgate was quite in the country. A very dignified oldish man met me at the door, who I was informed was the butler, and who, having taken charge of my luggage, said that Mr Peterson was in the drawing-room, and would be glad to see me there. I was preceded by the butler, who opened the door with great solemnity, and announced “Mr Peterson.” My uncle was standing with his back to the fire, and at the first glance I came to the conclusion that I had rarely seen a more striking-looking man. He was quite six feet high, neither thin nor stout; his hair was quite white, and worn rather long. He must have been nearly seventy years of age, but was as erect and straight as a life-guardsman. His eyes were deep-set, and partly concealed by heavy black eyebrows, which produced a curious contrast with his snow-white hair. His glance at me as I walked across the room seemed to read me at once, and I mentally exclaimed, “He is a chief.”