MR. WILTON. "Exactly so, George. I did not then explain it, as I wish you to feel sufficient interest in the subject to inquire into the truth yourself."
DORA. "Delagoa Bay. This coast is a continued tract of land and sand-hills from fifty to five or six hundred feet high, with a few straggling black rocks."
MR. WILTON. "The inhabitants of this coast are a harmless race, but have their own little peculiarities; and one of the greatest luxuries in life in the opinion of a Delagoan is smoking the 'hubble-bubble.' A long hollow reed, or cane, ending in two branches the lower one immersed in a horn of water, and the upper one capped by a piece of earthenware, forming a bowl, is held in the hand; they cover its top, with the exception of a small aperture, through which by a peculiar action of the mouth, they draw the smoke through the water below; they fill the mouth, and after having kept it there some time, they eject it with violence from the ears and nostrils. It makes them giddy, half stifles them, and produces a violent coughing, accompanied by profuse perspiration, and yet these people consider it highly strengthening and beneficial."
CHARLES. "Is not Caffraria near here?"
MR. STANLEY. "Yes: but you must go a few miles inland to see them; for the Caffres have an extraordinary dislike to water, and will never trust themselves on it, but from extreme necessity."
MR. BARRAUD. "The Caffres (Kaffirs) are worth looking at, for they are a fine, handsome race of men, nearly black, with very good and pleasing features. Their dress, male and female, is composed principally of softened hides; but the women are so fond of ornaments as often to wear fifty necklaces at one time. Their huts are constructed in the form of a beehive, and are perfectly water-tight and warm. In times of peace the men tend the cattle, the women cultivate the land. The elephant, rhinoceros, buffalo, hippopotamus, lion, and various others are hunted in Caffraria with great spirit by the natives. Of a Divine Being whom they call 'Uhlanger,' or 'Supreme,' they have some idea; but as to a state of future rewards or punishments they are altogether in ignorance. Sorcery and witchcraft in various forms most extensively prevail, and are the causes of much cruelty."
GRANDY. "To hundreds of the Caffres, however, the preaching of the everlasting Gospel has been productive of much temporal and eternal benefit; and an interesting illustration of this occurs in some of the missionary records, which also exemplifies the character of the unconverted Caffre.
Story of the little Caffre.
"A little girl about eight years of age, was reclining on the ground, in the cool of the day, when four wolves rushed upon the place. One of them seized the child by the head, a second by the shoulder, and the other two by her legs. The people of the kraal with all possible speed flew to her help, and succeeded in releasing her, but apparently too late. They tried for a few days to help her with their medicines; but finding all hope fail, and as from the heat and flies she had now become loathsome, they gave her her choice, either to be put to death by the youths of the place, or go to the woods to die or be farther devoured as might happen. The little girl chose the woods. In this forlorn condition she determined to cast herself on the mercy of the missionaries; and although she had never been at the station, she believed from what she had heard, that could she reach the place, she should receive that protection and help which her unnatural relatives refused to give. With this resolution she set out; and although she had to travel several miles through deep glens, she succeeded in reaching the station, an awful picture of deformity and suffering, all but in a state of nudity, covered with large wounds to the number of fourteen, among the most ghastly of which was that of the head and face, where the wolf having endeavored to grasp the whole head, had torn the mouth open to the ear, stripping the head of the upper part of its covering and making a ghastly wound of eight inches. Through the mercy of God she recovered, and was scarcely at all deformed; but she refused ever to return to the cruel people who forced her into the woods to die. She became a Christian, and the Rev. Mr. Shaw, who relates the incident, says, that one day, as he was walking a little distance from his house, he heard some one engaged in fervent prayer; he listened, it was the voice of a child; and going towards the place, he beheld in a secluded spot among the weeds, the young Caffre girl who had been rescued from the jaws of death, earnestly pouring out her soul to the God of her mercies, when she thought no eye saw, and no ear heard her, but God."
MRS. WILTON. "How encouraging for the missionaries to find that the seed had been sown on good ground, and was brought to bear the fruit of righteousness through the blessing of the Almighty God!"