of. If, however, they could manage to drive off ten cows
from the white men they might purchase a wife at once. Now in India, I
remembered, it was just the reverse: there a father had to give a large
sum of money to get his daughter married, so that a man who had several
daughters was simply ruined in consequence of the money he had to give
for his daughters to get husbands. Consequently, in India it became a
general practice to kill female children as soon as they were born, as a
matter of economy; whereas here, in South Africa, female children were a
source of wealth to their fathers.

When the white men found their cattle had been stolen, they formed a
party and started on the spoor, and if they caught the Caffres who had
stolen them they shot them as if they were hyaenas. Fights consequently
took place between the Amakosa and the white men, and several had been
killed on both sides. These events led to war being declared against
the Amakosa by the English, and this war had just commenced when the
visitors came to our country.

All the principal men of our tribe having been assembled, we formed a
large circle about four deep on some open ground near my hut. We sat
down close together and remained silent whilst the two Amakosa stood in
the middle of the ring to address us, which they did in the following
manner:--

"Chiefs of the Umzimvubu!--We come as speakers from the Amakosa, to ask
you to help us against the white man. We have lived for many
generations on the banks of the Kei and in the Amatola Mountains. We
once owned the land down to the Great Fish River; the Fingoes were our
slaves, the Hottentots were afraid of us. The white man has now come,
and on small pretences has taken our land, and made us give them
hundreds of cattle. Our young men have been shot down like dogs; but at
last we have quivered the assagy in our defence, and in our bush and in
our mountains we are strong. We want your aid in two ways: first, to
let your young men join us; and, secondly, that you will let us drive
our cattle into your country, so that the white man cannot capture them.
For this we will pay you cattle, giving you one in every ten. Your men
are brave, and can fight as we heard they did against the Amazulu. If
we are eaten up, the white man will soon come to your country; so we are
a strong fence against them, and you should help to strengthen that
fence. I have spoken as our chiefs have told me."

The two A