CAFFRE WAR. 103 



The war carried on by the English with the Hottentots and Caffres^ which has continued so 

 long, costing an immense amount of blood and treasure, is still prolonged by the obstinacy of 

 the blacks. The whole frontier has been already devastated^ and although there is some hope 

 of bringing about a peace, no one believes that any treaty that may be made will be respected 

 longer by the negroes than may suit their convenience. In the last battle^ at the date of the 

 visit of the Mississippi, in which the English force, headed by General Cathcart himself, was 

 victorious, it is said that the Caflfre chief brought into action six thousand foot and two thousand 

 horse. These numbers are jirobably exaggerated_, but it is well known that the blacks have 

 acquired a tolerable organization, and that they are well supplied with arms and ammunition. 

 They have hitherto had an abundance of provision, obtained from their own herds or from 

 those stolen from the whites, but report says that, owing to the carelessness and waste always 

 attendant upon the military movements of savages, the supply of food is running short with 

 them. The English declare that the Caffres have been instructed in the art of war by numerous 

 deserters from the British army and by a French missionary settled among them^ who passed 

 his early life in the army. Allusion has already been made to the disastrous effects of the war 

 upon the agricultural and other resources of the country. 



The principal white inhabitants of Cape Town are the government officials, army officers, and 

 merchants and tradesmen. The laboring class is composed of the mixed races, the Malays, 

 Coolies, and the negroes. The emancipated negroes and their descendants are very much in 

 character and condition like the free blacks in the United States, though by no means as intelli- 

 gent and good looking. They are perfectly independent of all restraint, so long as they do not 

 violate the laws. They work when it suits them, and at their own prices, and break off from 

 their labor if spoken to in a manner which they deem offensive. Their ordinary charge for 

 labor is §1 25 for a day often hours. 



The Mississippi having taken on board from the ship Faneuil Hall a suj^ply of coal, and 

 a good supply of bullocks and sheep, and having filled the water tanks^ left Table Bay at 

 eleven o'clock, a. m., on the 3d February. On getting fairly out of the harbor, the wind was 

 found to be blowing strong from the westward, with a heavy swell setting in from that quarter. 

 In seven hours after leaving Table Bay the steamer was off the pitch of the Cape, whence, 

 having Cape Hanglip full in sight, her course was directed southeast^ in order to reach the 

 parallel of thirty-seven degrees of latitude, to avoid the southeast gales which prevail near the 

 Cape, and cause a strong current to the northward and westward, and to meet the variables 

 which are found south of the border of the southeast trades. 



For the first three days after leaving the Cape the wind blew from the northAvest to the south- 

 west imtil the steamer reached the latitude of 36° 16' S., and the longitude of 23° 40' E., when 

 it changed to the northward and eastward, rather northwardly, and so remained to the latitude 

 of 35° 06', and longitude 44° 03'. At this latter point the wind gradually hauled to the south- 

 ward, allowing the course of the ship to be inclined more to the northward, until the southeast 

 trades were met. The Commodore, however, fearing that the wind might back again to the 

 eastward, was careful not to make too much northing, lest he might fall to the leeward of Mau- 

 ritius, thus losing the benefit of a fair wind, which not only increases the rate of going of a 

 steamer, as of a sailing vessel, but also saves the fuel of the former. From the 11th to the 14th 

 of February, inclusive, the wind continued from the southward and eastward, and at the latter 

 date the ship reached latitude 29° 34', and longitude 55° 22, from which period to her arrival 



