SOUTHERN AFRICA. 327 



Majesty's Government and the emig'rants^ as to their pre- 

 tence of independence. 



Of that portion of the emig-rants which directed its un- 

 certain steps towards Dehig'oa, under the pilotag-e of Louis 

 Triechardj near!}- ever}^ soul has miserably perished. The 

 overg-rown flocks and herds of the adventurers holding- out 

 strong" temptations to their barbarian neig'hbourSj irruptions' 

 were repeatedly made among-st them^ and with various 

 success. Fever also, and the other deadly diseases incidental 

 to a malig'nant climate, made fearful havoc amongst the 

 little community ; and many, directing* their steps southward 

 in the hope of being* able to join their compatriots at Natal, 

 were cut off in the vain attempt, and no more seen. Trie- 

 chard, with the small remnant of his followers, at leng'th 

 soug-ht refug-e in the Portug'uese settlement at Delag-oa, 

 where in Ap'il last, they still awaited the arrival of a ship 

 chartered from Natal for their rescue. It were not unreason- 

 able to have surmised that the sad reverses which have thus 

 attended the brief career of nearly all those avIio first em- 

 barked in the wild scheme of emig-ration, would have served 

 as a beacon to deter others fi'om founderinof on so dano-erous 

 a shoal. Yet, notwithstanding- every exertion on the part 

 of the Colonial authorities to check the prog-ress of the 

 epidemic, its tide rolls on without the smallest interruption, 

 g-athering- fresh violence with each succeeding- wave. After 

 lamenting- this extensive abandonment of the Colony, His 

 Excellency Sir George Napier in addressing- the Legislative 

 Council at the Cape, ascribes the calamity to four principal 

 causes, viz. ; the desire of the agricultural population to gain 

 freer room for grazing their cattle ; — discontent at the in- 

 adequate remuneration provided upon the liberation of their 

 slaves; — the difficulties, which have been experienced in 

 procuring leg-al titles to, and accurate diagrams of, their 



