THE DIAMOND FIELDS. 141 



destroying the pasturage, annihilate the live stock 

 belonging to the proprietors. This plan suc- 

 ceeded. Great numbers of cattle died of starva- 

 tion, but the stubborn Britons, although much 

 distressed, held on tenaciously till they were 

 relieved, four years afterwards, by the results of 

 the enquiry by the Royal Commission appointed 

 by Mr. Disraeli, very shortly after his accession, 

 and all the titles granted by Cornelius Kok were 

 confirmed. 



Meanwhile these men had lost four years mere 

 profits, most of their live stock, and had to begin 

 life again. One of them I know computed his 

 losses incident on the Arnott swindle at 12,000. 



As for the poor devils of Kaffirs employed as I 

 have mentioned, their losses were even more 

 severe than those of the white settlers they were 

 compelled to ruin. Their standing crops were 

 destroyed during their enforced absence from home 

 by straying cattle, springbucks, and other causes ; 

 a great number of their live stock died ; and such 

 was the scarcity of food among them, that about 

 three hundred of their number perished from ex- 

 posure and starvation during the ensuing year. 



All these enormities, with many others with 



