Girafftt and mart Lion* 6$ 



When I first went to the Transvaal many Boers had 

 nothing else. Once I was watching a lot of Massala- 

 rooms kaffirs fording the Olifant River near 

 Commando Drift, when the river was rather strong 

 and the water up to their waists. They were follow- 

 ing Indian file, holding each other's hands for fear 

 of crocodiles, when a big one came lashing down 

 stream, seized a kaffir in the middle of the string ; 

 carried him down stream before the poor creature 

 fully realised what had happened. The others 

 hurried out to the bank but could do nothing Kaffir 

 and " croc " had both disappeared. I never bathed in 

 those bush veld rivers, which also contain poisonous 

 fish. I caught one about nine inches long and in 

 taking him off the hook, a spike he had in his front 

 fin ran through my hand, which festered so badly 

 that I feared I would lose it. 



Kaffirs have a queer idea of justice. At the 

 lower drift of Elands River near " Israel's Nek " I 

 bad just shot a waterbuck when some of Sebidella's 

 kaffirs came up with a boy of about 18 tied up with 

 bark cords. They asked me for some meat, and I 

 made them skin the buck and then gave them some. 

 While grilling it, some of them got a large stone, 

 and were going to tie it to the boy's neck to throw 

 him into the river to drown. I told them I would 

 not allow it, but they said they must drown him so 

 that Sekukuni's people, to whom he belonged, should 

 not find him, that the Sekukunis had killed one of 

 their friends while hunting, so this boy was the first 

 instalment of their revenge. I gave them most of 

 the buck's meat but took the boy from them and 

 when they tried to get him, I threatened to shoot 

 the first who touched him. They were of a friendly 

 tribe and did not care to go to extremes with a 

 white man, so I mounted guard until the wagon 



