arms of
death, or torn to pieces by the wolves and hyenas as they lagged behind
the others. How much more fortunate those who never gained the shore."

"Yes, indeed," replied Swinton; "except the eight who reached the Cape,
and the five that Daaka asserts were saved, all the rest must have
perished in that dreadful manner."

Alexander remained for some time in painful thought; at last he turned
to Daaka and said, as he pointed to the remains of the wreck, "And this
then is your mother?"

Daaka looked at him and shook his head. "No, not my mother this,"
replied he; "my mother down there," replied he, pointing out in a
northerly direction.

"What does he mean, Swinton? he says this is not his mother."

"I will speak to him, Wilmot; you are too much agitated," replied
Swinton.

"Is not that the vessel which your mother was lost in?" said Swinton,
through the interpreter.

"No," replied Daaka; "my mother came on shore in a vessel up the little
river out there; I was a boy when this large ship was wrecked; and got
some iron from her to make assaguays."

"Merciful heaven! what joy I feel; I trust it is true what he says."

"I have no doubt of it, Wilmot; I told you he was too old a man,"
replied Swinton; "but let me question him further."

Our readers may imagine the impatience of Alexander while the questions
of Swinton were being answered, and by which it appears that Daaka's
mother was lost at the mouth of the Lauwanbaz, a small river some miles
to the eastward of the Zemsooboo. An old Caffre, who had come down with
Daaka, now gave a particular account of the wreck of the _Grosvenor_,
corroborating all Daaka's assertions.

"Were there none of the _Grosvenor's_ people left in the country?"
inquired Swinton.

"None," replied the old man; "they all went to the southward."

"Did you hear what became of them?"

"Some lay down and died, some fought the natives and were killed; the
wolves ate the rest; not one left alive; they all perished."

"Were none of the women and children saved and kept as slaves?"

"No, not one; they had no meat, no milk, and they all died."

After some other inquiries, the old man, who at first did not reply
willingly, stated that he had, with other Caffres, followed the last
party; had seen them all dead, and had taken off their clothes, and that
as they died they were buried by those who still survived.

"A better fate, cruel as it was, than living as they must have lived,"
sa