been out three months. There is now a law which makes it possible for a master or mistress to bind down a servant for three years, provided a contract is re-signed as soon as the servant disembarks; but in practice it does not put the masters in a much better position, for a man can so very easily get away from the consequences of breaking his agreement in a country where there is little telegraph and less railway. The woman is still better off, for if she marries, the husband is not liable for his wife's debts, and the woman cannot be imprisoned for her own breach of contract.

Coolies and Chinese form the staple element from which the domestic servants are drawn; and, indeed, as cooks they far surpass the ordinary white woman, who has probably never cooked anything but her husband's dinner till she advertises as "good plain cook" in the Cape Town Daily News.

C

CHAPTER III.

Plans for the Journey-The Air of the Transvaal-Our GuidesScares from the Front-Scarcity of Information-Cape Town Museum-From Cape Town to Durban-On board the "Melrose "— East London-Volunteers-The Bars-Landing at Durban.

DURING the voyage out we had passed away many an hour listening to narratives and anecdotes of sport, travel, and life in the interior, from old hunters and traders on board who were returning to the colony. At first I used to listen with feelings of intense interest and wonder; but gradually these feelings gave way to envy, and a wish to see for myself some of the strange sights, to lead the same free, wild, half-civilized life, and experience the excitements and vicissitudes of fortune which they spoke of with such enthusiasm, evidently themselves considering to be the only life worth living. My friend A. was smitten with the same indefinite sort of longing, and by degrees we began to talk it all over between ourselves, as more and more within the range of possibilities that we too might manage some sort of expedition into the interior, for time was not of great importance to either of Our rather wild ideas on the subject took a more practical form, when an ex-trader who was returning to the colony offered for a certain con

us.

sideration, to acilitate matters by procuring our waggons, oxen, horses, servants, provisions, and in fact all things necessary for such an expedition as we proposed, having sport for its chief aim and object.

As I myself had left England to recruit my health, I could not make agreement of any sort until I had, at the Cape itself, learnt fuller particulars, and had the statement of our proposed conductor and guide confirmed. I also desired professional advice as to the advisability of my attempting a journey which, under its most favourable aspects, could not be otherwise than accompanied with a very considerable amount of roughing it, hardships, and privations.

Accordingly, my first business after landing was to call on my friend Dr. Biccard, to whom I stated my circumstances. After a most searching examination, to my great delight, and I must say astonishment, he informed me that it was the very plan of all others calculated to restore my health, for the air of the Transvaal was almost a sovereign cure for any sufferer from lungs, not too far gone to be in danger of succumbing to the fatigue of such a journey as was contemplated.

Most thoroughly was his prediction borne out, for each day of the new life gave me renewed strength and vigour. When I left the Cape, I was with difficulty able to walk a mile, and looked a miserable invalid, utterly unfitted for exertion of any kind. Within six months of that time, after a stay of little over four months in the climate of the Trans

vaal, I was able to walk from sunrise to sunset, rifle on shoulder, under a blazing sun, without feeling unduly fatigued at the end of a long day's work, and often with no more strengthening food to work on than mealie-meal pap, or other vegetable diet.

Encouraged by Dr. Biccard's advice I lost no time in seeing A. and F., and settling with them the definite plans of our campaign, and making out lists of all such things as we either thought of for ourselves, or F., from his former experience, warned us we should require. We soon found, however, that we could procure everything we should want as well in Natal as at the Cape, so put off making any purchases until we arrived there. This arrangement gave us all the more time to gather information from many different sources which might be of use. By this means also we were saved from buying many articles which would have been utterly superfluous and useless, but which our imagination, or eager storekeepers, pointed out to us as absolute necessaries for our comfort or health.

F. himself started off by the very next boat to Pieter Maritzburg in Natal, for it was from thence that we determined to make our start, to buy a waggon, oxen, horses, provisions, and saddles; and also to collect together a sufficient supply of boys as servants against our arrival, which was to be three weeks later. I may here say that every coloured man, irrespective of age, be he six or sixty, is called a boy throughout the colony. Luckily, both A. and myself had brought out almost everything

necessary in the way of arms, ammunition, and clothing. Of the latter we soon found the less taken the better; so we had not much to trouble ourselves about, except rifles and ammunition for the big game, as we were only prepared for small. A. soon after started for Port Elizabeth, promising to rejoin me there on board the boat, which would take us both on to Durban.

As yet we had decided on no definite route, for the very unsettled state of the natives throughout the whole of South Africa left us in doubt as to which part would be free for us to hunt in, and travel through, by the time we reached there. But on whichever side we ultimately decided on making our hunting-ground, we could not be wrong in going to Pretoria, the capital of the Transvaal, as there we should be able to obtain the latest and most trustworthy advice both as to the locality of the game and the movements of the Kaffirs. Not a day passed without rumours and scares of fresh tribes having broken out, post-carts being fired on, and cattle being lifted; but all of them when investigated turned out to be either totally devoid of truth, or grossly exaggerated. The explanation of a scare, however, does not come till so long after the false report, that it still leaves an uneasy impression on people's minds that there is no knowing what the next mail may bring true tidings of.

I employed the time I had to wait at the Cape, before catching a steamer direct to Durban, in collecting information from the few men there who had any practical experience of big game hunting