260 MR. PLANT'S EXCURSION 
passed on and left us nothing. We however procured mealies, milk, 
and a goat from the Zulu kraal, with which we pushed on, the country 
hereabouts offering but little inducement to stop. Proceeding over a 
comparatively level country, in the forenoon of the second day again 
we were somewhat startled by the sound of a gong, apparently two or 
three miles off, and on observation noticed the Zulus collecting on all 
sides towards the sound ; a winding track brought us suddenly in sight 
of an erection which in that position caused no little surprise—it was 
evidently of corrugated iron ; to determine the matter we advanced, and 
found it a Mission Station, and to our still greater surprise found it was 
Sunday morning (we had lost a whole day in our reckoning) and that 
service was just commencing. We unloaded and took our seats on the 
ground in the midst of some two hundred Zulus, who were here col- 
lected by M. Schroeder, a zealous missionary, who alone in the midst 
of this fickle people, and far from the support of civilization, maintains 
a position in the good-will of those by whom he is surrounded. We 
were hospitably entertained by him in the afternoon, and after forcing 
upon us some acceptable presents and giving us much valuable infor- 
mation as to our proposed route, we left him in the evening, wending 
our way again towards the sea. As our wagon was now far ahead of 
us it was thought inadvisable to continue the pursuit of it for the 
present, but rather to set to work at once and trust to such supplies as 
“could be drawn from the kraals around us. Moreover our oxen re- 
quired rest, and I longed to be getting my collection together. A day 
and a half brought us into a thickly wooded district nearly mid-way 
between the Umsatense and the Umgoa, and here two oxen were soon 
loaded and despatched homewards. 
Strange as it may seem, I could not tempt natives to assist me in 
any way towards gathering insects, shells, ete.; they would not or could 
not conceive any man so foolish as to give away such valuable articles 
as beads, etc., for the mere trash that I wanted. In natural disposition 
there seems little difference between these people and the Kaffirs; they 
are equally well made, light, active and vigorous when roused, but na- 
turally prone to indolence; they set no value on time, and having 
nothing to care for except their cattle, do not wish to sell their lazy in- 
dependence for the wages of a white man's servitude. A sense of past 
favours I am persuaded hardly exists among them, and either fear oF 
the prospect of an advantage is the only motive to exertion. Like the 
