33 1 



. UFHES. 





it this dust, are converted into an excellent pickle. 

 If the *i>nthtt is not cut young for this purpose, 

 when ripe it bursts, and the filaments become lig- 

 neous with a bushy growth, consisting of many 

 small leaves, which produce a considerable number 

 of small oval thin-shelled nuts, about the size of 

 unhusked coffee berries. The .-oft part of the 

 leaves of this tree being removed, the inside tex- 

 ture is spun in the same manner as hemp or flax, 

 and is used for cordage, fishing-net*, and thiii.cs 

 where strength is desirable. From the hard out- 

 side of the stem, laths for houses are cut, which 

 are of great durability. 



CAFFRES (a.) The Caffres, near the Cape of 

 Good Hope, have for many years been suffering 

 from- their contact with civilized men. In the par- 

 liamentary reports upon this subject, we find by the 

 evidence of several respectable and important wit- 

 nesses, that, in some instances, the Caffres are to 

 be considered as having had hard measure dealt out 

 to them by the colonial authorities. This was 

 more especially the case, according to the testimony 

 given, as regarded one chief of the Caffres, named 

 Macomo, a man of most remarkable character and 

 talents. The Caffre people, it must be observed, 

 though they acknowledge one nominal head or king, 

 are in reality ruled by various independent chiefs, 

 and of these Macomo was one of the most power- 

 ful. His father and predecessor Gaika had been 

 possessed of much greater power and wider terri- 

 tories than the son, but had found himself necessi- 

 tated to yield up a large portion of his lands to the 

 colonists. Macomo received no education, all the 

 culture which his mind ever obtained being derived 

 from occasional intercourse with missionaries, after 

 he had grown up to manhood. From the period 

 of Gaika's concessions in 1819, up to the year 1829, 

 Macomo and his tribe dwelt upon the Kat river, 

 following their pastoral life in peace, and cultivat- 

 ing their corn-fields. Suddenly, in 1829, Macomo 

 and his people were ejected from the lands on the 

 Kat river, on the plea, that, by an old treaty of 

 Gaika, these lands had been ceded to the colony. 

 Macomo retired, almost without a murmur, to a 

 district farther inland, leaving the very grain grow- 

 ing upon his fields. He took up a new position on 

 the banks of the river Chumie, and here he and 

 his tribe dwelt till 1833, when they were again 

 driven out to seek a new home, almost without a 

 pretence, if we may judge from the reports, to 

 justify the expulsion. On this occasion, Macomo 

 did make a remonstrance in a document addressed 

 to an influential person of the colony, Dr Philip, 

 who vouches for its authenticity. In the whole of 



this letter this savage Caffre's letter there is 



(says Dr Philip) " a beautiful simplicity, a touch- 

 ing pathos, a confiding magnanimity, a dignified 

 remonstrance, which shows its author to be no 

 common man." 



He mentions in his appeal, that he had not only 

 restored, on application, the cattle taken by the 

 unruly among his own dependents, but had paid 

 back to the colonists the property stolen by those 

 with whom he had nought to do all for the sake 

 of peace. One would think that after the colo 

 nists, whether by fair or by foul play, had twice un 

 seated Macomo, and driven him to seek a new home, 

 they would scarcely expect him to hold the same 

 power as he had done, or make him answerable for 

 the thefts of his Caffre brethren. Another appeal to 

 Dr Philip, made some time after the chiefs second 

 expulsion, will show whether this was the case or 



not. " You have bud pm; It . ' said Macomo, " in 

 Grahams-town, (a colonial village.) Last time the 

 governor was there, some of them stole the chain 

 of his waggon ; did he punish the town for the 

 theft? When any thing is stolen and carried froir 

 one district to another, and the thieves cannot b& 

 found, is one of the magistrates \i>iu<l with the 

 punishment due to the thieves? I have guarded 

 the frontiers of the colony to prevent the CafFres 

 from stealing from the colonists, for many yeai> ; 

 what has been my reward ? Driven from my 

 country, I am now without a home for myself and 

 my people, and the few cattle left to me are made 

 answerable for every theft alleged to have been 

 committed, though it may have been done by peo- 

 ple who acknowledge no chief, and who live by 

 thieving, and have no other abode than the 

 bushes." 



The next incident worthy of notice, in Macomo's 

 history, occurred about a year after his second ex- 

 pulsion. To understand this, it must be premiM'd 

 that the grounds on the Kat river, from which he- 

 had been first expelled, in 1829, bad been given up 

 by the colony to a body of Hottentots, who had 

 there formed a flourishing settlement. The Hot- 

 tentots, being the aborigines of a district nearer 

 the Cape than the Caffres, bad long enjoyed the 

 advantage of missionaries, &c.; and though their 

 race had, as usual, dwindled away greatly in num- 

 bers, those who remained had advanced consider- 

 ably in civilization. On the Kat riverj then, in 

 1834, the Hottentots had a thriving settlement. 

 Macomo, at that time a wanderer for the second 

 time, had the magnanimity to visit the Kat river, 

 and congratulate on their prosperity the new occu- 

 pants of those lands, which were indubitably his 

 own by right ? He appeared at a missionary meet- 

 ing, and addressed the assembled settlers. 



Though the chief came by express invitation 

 from the Kat river settlers, he had acted contrary 

 to a colonial statute in entering colonial grounds ; 

 and, accordingly, scarcely was the assembly over, 

 when a serjeant and several soldiers came to take 

 Macomo into custody. The Caffre yielded with- 

 out resistance, but this did not save him, accord- 

 ing to the statement of the only credible witness 

 present, from threats and insult. After carrying 

 Macomo to the next post, the officials before whom 

 he was taken set him free, finding nothing against 

 him. 



Macomo bore all that befell him patiently till 

 the occurrence of a new evil in 1835. One of the 

 patrol parties which were continually scouring his 

 country, and of which he had again and again fruit- 

 lessly complained, at length committed an injury, 

 which stung the Caffre chief beyond endurance. 

 Xo-Xo, Macomo's brother, was wantonly shot in 

 the head with slugs by a patrolling party, as he was 

 peacefully remonstrating against the seizure of some 

 Caffre cattle, which were under his charge. On 

 application being made for redress of this cruel in- 

 jury, Macomo and his friends were told that the 

 colonial powers could not discover the officer who 

 commanded the patrol. The Caffre chiefs lost all 

 patience, and war, marked by many atrocities, fol- 

 lowed the shooting of Xo-Xo. 



In the year 1824, an English naturalist, in the 

 course of a tour in Cafferland, had an opportunity 

 of witnessing the justice and impartiality of Ma- 

 como in his capacity of judge. Being dissatisfied 

 with the conduct of his slave, whom he had brought 

 with him from the Cape colony, after some alter- 



