SOUTHERN AFRICA. Ill 



We very justty took credit to ourselves for the way in 

 wliicli we had brong'ht this affair to so amicable a con- 

 elusion. It was now evident that Moselekatse^ as we sus- 

 pected, had been privy to the whole transaction, and had 

 availed himself of this pitiful strata g^em to gratify his in- 

 satiate appetite for beads, and, if possible, to ascertain 

 the extent of our resources. The villain Andries was clearly 

 in the king-'s confidence, and had doubtless given him all the 

 information in his power ; and it is more than probable that 

 the realization of half a dozen bunches of beads, by this 

 paltry contemptible scheme, had aiforded his Majesty in- 

 finitely greater gratification than he had been capable 

 of deriving from the receipt of our liberal, and in his 

 judgment, no doubt, princely presents. 



But we had soon an opportunity of turning this gree- 

 diness to account, and dealing with the king in his own 

 fashion. In order to avoid creating* suspicion as to the 

 object of our desired return b}' the Vaal River, we lost 

 no opportunit}^ of impressing upon him that our leave 

 was limited, that we were not colonial subjects, but that 

 we had come in a ship from a far countr}^ of which the 

 Parsee was a native. His Majesty frequently expressed 

 amusement at his dress, remarking that he was a fine fellow 

 to come so great a distance, and must not forget to make 

 his fvmcri'iho to the Parsee king-, inquiring if that potentate 

 too had a black beard, and Avore a high turban — how 

 many wives he had, &c. He even paid Nesserwanjee the 

 compliment of desiring to inspect his pocket-knife, with 

 six blades, nippers, picker, and corkscrew complete, which 

 however, he forgot to return. We ever carefully abstained 

 from making any allusion to the capture of Erasmus's 

 wag'gons, or to the military proceedings against the emi- 

 grant farmers. 



This morning', messengers were seen running breathless 



