Boyhood Days in Natal 23 



killed 13 of our cattle; some died before they 

 reached the kraal. The Kaffirs declare that snakes 

 are fond of milk and suck the cows to get it. I 

 had two grand dogs, Gyp and Smut, crossbred Scotch 

 stag hounds, and many a wounded buck and ante- 

 lope they accounted for. I took them to the Trans- 

 vaal, where Gyp was killed, she was found with her 

 jugular vein torn open, with dead baboons which she 

 had killed before they mastered her around her. This 

 was on Louw Pretorius' farm, on the Pinaars River 

 below Bairaam's Poort. A fine pup of hers which 

 stood level with the dining table, I lent to Will 

 Skinner and Lewis Devereuxon their big game hunt. 

 A crocodile caught him in the Limpopo. 



When the grass fires started I used to get the 

 Kaffirs with throwing "kerries" and have a fine 

 game drive at night. There were reitbuck, vaal and 

 rooi reebok, oribe, duikers, steenbok, red hares and a 

 very large kind of dark hare with a spot on its fore- 

 head which gave fine sport. The Kaffirs named him 

 "Woguacha," the red hare " Intenetceha." We 

 used to keep the house in fish and game. 



Once my father and I called at Casper Labus- 

 cagne's on the Tugela near Spion Kop. We found 

 him in bed with bones broken and badly mauled by 

 a buffalo which had got among his herd of cattle and 

 charged him without warning. I afterwards bought 

 Spion Kop and put Ted on it with a herd of cattle, 

 but disposed of it again, as the Kaffirs on the 

 adjoining land -colonization farms make living there 

 impossible. This letting of farms by Natal companies 

 and large land owners to Kaffirs is ruining the 

 Colony, and the finishing touch is the coolie 

 invasion. Ladysmith is now a coolie town, the 

 white shopkeepers and tradesmen are gone, crowded 

 out by the Asiatic. Ladysmith once did a large trade 



