rded floor, in consideration of Mrs. Robertson's exceeding
delicacy of health; but such boards! loose, and so springy that the
furniture leapt and danced when the floor was crossed. It was all on the
ground-floor, partitioned by screens; and the thatched roof continued a
good way out, supported on posts, so as to form a wide verandah; and
scattered all around were the beehive dwellings of the Kaffir following,
and huts raised for the nonce for European guests.

At six o'clock in the morning a large bell was rung. At eight, Kaffir
prayers were read by Mr. Robertson, for his own servants, in the
verandah, and for some who would come in from the neighbouring kraals;
then followed breakfast; then English matins; and, by that time, Kaffir
children were creeping up to the verandah to be taught. They were first
washed, and then taught their letters, with some hymns translated into
their language, and a little religious instruction. The children were
generally particularly pleasant to deal with, bright and intelligent, and
with a natural amiability of disposition that rendered quarrels and
jealousies rare. Good temper seems, indeed, to be quite a Zulu
characteristic; the large mixed families of the numerous wives live
together harmoniously, and the gift of a kraal to one member is
acknowledged by all the rest. Revenge, violence, and passion are to be
found among them, but not fretfulness and quarrelsomeness.

After the work of instruction, there was generally a ride into the
neighbouring kraals, to converse with the people, and invite the children
to school. They had to be propitiated with packets of sugar, and shown
the happy faces of the home flock. There was, at first, a good deal of
inclination to distrust; and the endeavour to bring the women and girls
to wear clothes had to be most cautiously managed, as a little over-haste
would make them take fright and desert altogether.

The Kaffir customs of marriage proved one of the most serious impediments
in the way of the missionaries. The female sex had its value as
furnishing servants and cultivators of the ground, and every man wished
to own as many wives as possible. Not only did the question what was to
be done in the case of many-wived converts come under consideration, but
the fathers objected to their daughters acquiring the rudiments of
civilization, lest it should lessen their capabilities to act as beasts
of burden, and thus spoil their price in cattle, (th