122 SOUTH AFRICA. 



the place where the village of Weepen (Weeping) 

 now stands and rejoices in a quietude which 

 approaches the oppressive. A little further on, 

 and the spot where some five hundred Boers 

 achieved their final victory over Dingaan is passed. 

 Here, on my first visit to Natal, the bones of at 

 least three thousand Zulu warriors covered the 

 ground and attested the severity of the final 

 struggle. Only a few Boers fell (I think eleven) 

 on this occasion. The Zulus were unable to 

 penetrate the Boer entrenchment of waggons and 

 thorn bushes, although they renewed their assaults 

 without ceasing for hours, and were swept away 

 by the smooth-bore guns of the Boers, loaded with 

 buckshot, till their bodies formed an extra rampart 

 of defence. 



Thence to the village on the fine Tugela River 

 is not far, and crossing it, the traveller soon reaches 

 Ladysmith, having covered one hundred miles 

 since leaving Maritzburg, over a rugged upland 

 country mostly suitable to pastoral pursuits on a 

 limited scale. The parts of the country mentioned 

 were not long since very difficult to travel over 

 with waggons, and the fords over the rivers men- 

 tioned were often impassable for weeks at a time 



