and succeeded his father, Gaika, who had been possessed of
much greater power and wider territories than the son, but had found
himself compelled to yield up a large portion of his lands to the
colonists. Macomo received no education; all the culture which his mind
ever obtained being derived from occasional intercourse with
missionaries, after he had grown to manhood. From 1819, the period of
Gaika's concessions, up to the year 1829, he with his tribe dwelt upon
the Kat river, following their pastoral life in peace, and cultivating
their corn-fields. Suddenly they were ejected from their lands by the
Kat river, on the plea that Gaika had ceded these lands to the colony.
Macomo retired, almost without a murmur, to a district farther inland,
leaving the very grain growing upon his fields. He took up a new
position on the banks of the river Chunice, and here he and his tribe
dwelt until 1833, when they were again driven out to seek a new home,
almost without pretence. On this occasion Macomo did make a
remonstrance, in a document addressed to an influential person of the
colony. "In the whole of this savage Kaffir's letter, there is," says
Dr. Philip, "a beautiful simplicity, a touching pathos, a confiding
magnanimity, a dignified remonstrance, which shows its author to be no
common man. It was dictated to an interpreter."

[Illustration]

"As I and my people," writes Macomo, "have been driven back over the
Chunice, without being informed why, I should be glad to know from the
Government what evil we have done. I was only told that we _must_ retire
over the Chunice, but for what reason I was not informed. It was agreed
that I and my people should live west of the Chunice, as well as east of
it. When shall I and my people be able to get rest?"

* * * * *

RAILWAY TUNNELS.

[Illustration: Letter O.]

Of the difficulties which occasionally baffle the man of science, in his
endeavours to contend with the hidden secrets of the crust of the earth
which we inhabit, the Kilsby Tunnel of the London and North-western
Railway presents a striking example. The proposed tunnel was to be
driven about 160 feet below the surface. It was to be, as indeed it is,
2399 yards in length, with two shafts of the extraordinary size of sixty
feet in diameter, not only to give air and ventilation, but to admit
light enough to enable the engine-driver, in passing through it with a
train, to see the rails