24 Recollections of Adventures 



with Mauritius and the Cape in butter, Messrs. Knight 

 & King at first sent thousands of casks away, but the 

 Boers made it so badly, that there was soon no sale 

 for it, and the trade died. Splendid Zulu boys' 

 wages were 7/6 a month and mealies ; and they 

 were cheerful, healthy and willing workers. Now 

 they get five times the pay, wear dirty clothes, 

 are often sickly, and don't like work. Some of our 

 old Zulus followed me to Pretoria, but gradually 

 gave it up as they did not like Makkatees. (i.e. 

 Transvaal Natives). 



In those days there was very little money in the 

 Colony; everything was bartered and cheap mealies 

 from 1/6 to 3/- a muid of 200 Ibs. Traders or 

 " smouses " (as they were called) brought herds of 

 cattle from the Transvaal and Zululand to add to a 

 plethora in the Colony, and they were almost value- 

 less. The Zulus gave from 10 to 30 cows for a wife, 

 now they take them on the credit system for about 

 a fifth of that, and often fail to pay the poor father- 

 in-law. I know of a case lately (before the East 

 Coast fever came into Natal) of an old Kaffir buying 

 a young wife for 10 cows. The brother handed them 

 to his father-in-law to pay for a wife he had taken 

 on credit some time before. According to native 

 custom the eldest brother of this damsel took the 

 cattle to pay for his wife and this was repeated once 

 more. The cattle having thus passed four hands in 

 the meantime. The first old "sportsman's" wife 

 took exception to his looks and general decay and 

 " bolted ", so, according to native law the cattle had 

 to be returned. This caused much oratory in the 

 four families, but Kaffirs love complications anent 

 their marriage laws, and shout and talk for days. 

 These cases are the despair of magistrates. In the 

 early days gangs of " Intombies " (girls from 15 to 



