SOUTHERN AFRICA. 309 



the breasts of the AA^omen^ and crowning- the massacre by 

 dashing- out the brains of their helpless babes^ ag-ainst the 

 wheels of the wag-o-ons ! 



Immediately before this traged}^ was enacted, a rabble 

 force consisting- of nearly one thousand Eng-lish and native 

 settlers, had most unadvisedly marched from Port Natal 

 with the desiofu of assistino- the emio-rants ; but arrivino* in 

 the desolated camp too late, and finding- that the enemy, to 

 a man, had repaired by the king*'s orders to Unkunking-love, 

 in anticipation of a g'eneral attack upon the capital, — they 

 returned whence tliey came with four thousand head of 

 cattle, and five hundred female captives. To realize this 

 booty not a blow had been struck, but it was afterwards 

 retaken with most ruinous retaliation. The American mis- 

 sionaries, who, it will be remembered, were compelled to 

 abandon Moseg-a after the affair of the 17th of January 

 last year, had joined their colleagues at Natal ; and being- 

 ag-ain frustrated in their pious object, some of them now 

 finally withdrew fi*om the scene of slaughter, and set sail 

 for the Colony in a small barque which was on the point of 

 leaving- the Port. It would not appear that the autocrat 

 of the Zooloos had encourag*ed the presence of missionaries 

 amongst his people with a much better g-race than his rival 

 to the northward ; nor indeed had he an}^ g-reat reason to 

 be vain of their presence, if an opinion may be formed from 

 his reply to one of those who tarried behind, and subse- 

 quently soug'ht permission to discontinue his labours. " Get 

 you g'one," said the despotic monarch, '^and with all speed. 

 — Had this application not come from j^ourselves, I must 

 have turned you out of the land, learning- as I do from the 

 g-irls of my family that you never speak of me but as a liar 

 and a murderer, and are continually praying- to Heaven for 

 deliverance from so foul a villain." The ladies of the 

 serag'lio on being- summoned into the royal presence, did not 



