12 Recollections ot Adventures 



schimmels ") which the chief had paraded in front of 

 us as a mark of respect. One night in Dobenkulu's 

 location the Kaffirs were, within a short distance of 

 our camp, fighting among themselves, so I did not 

 sleep as well as usual there is nothing so conduc- 

 ive to wakefulness as " blue funk." 



The country along the middle Tugela is very 

 rugged, full of deep kloofs into which the Kaffirs 

 used to throw their broken huts before the Magis- 

 trate came tax collecting ; we found this out and 

 fined delinquents double. After the tax collecting 

 was over they rebuilt the grass huts ; all that waste 

 of energy for 7/6 ! This locality is wild and beautiful, 

 lower down Bambata made his stronghold in 1906. 

 These locations are fertile and the Kaffirs live a 

 careless easy life, working very little. 



My father established a system whereby each 

 Kaffir chief supplied a percentage of his tribe for 

 making and keeping in order the public roads in his 

 district. The Kaffirs were well paid, well fed and 

 were as happy as " mudlarks," but again the trouble- 

 some newspaper and the missionaries raised a cry of 

 " slavery," wrote to England, and my father received 

 orders to dismiss them, as a Liberal or Whig Govern- 

 ment would not tolerate " forced labour." The roads 

 have never been so well kept since. These road 

 parties were under Mr. Duncan MacKenzie, the 

 father of the present Sir Duncan MacKenzie who 

 has done yeoman service for Natal during the 

 wars. 



The Bushmen used to come down the Drakens- 

 berg passes and steal droves of cattle, stabbing with 



Note by Editor. This system of road-making is very success- 

 fully followed by the British in Uganda. The Native Chiefs 

 under the administration are responsible for the roads which are 

 beautifully kept and remarkable in such out-of-the-way places 

 where in thes days of a no longer "Dark Continent" motor 

 traffic is frequent. 



