vi PREFACE. 



extended than I have been able personally to 

 prove. 



Most men who have written on South Africa, 

 have been either sporting giants, scientific 

 men, or travellers who have gone over ground 

 never before trodden by the white man. I am 

 neither of these. 



The first I am not, for the blood spilled by me 

 was but a drop compared to the ocean that many 

 have caused to flow in this land. 



Unfortunately I am not scientific ; but, perhaps, 

 from this very defect, I may become the more 

 intelligible to the general reader of the following 

 pages, who may comprehend my simple names for 

 simple things, rather than those of a polysyllabic 

 character. 



I know that I have sunk miserably in the 

 opinion of savans, in consequence of my ina- 

 bility to tell whether or not the Terstrcemiacece 

 grew luxuriantly in Africa. I only knew that 

 the plains bore beautiful flowers, and I learnt 

 their Kaffir names ; that the bush had fine trees, 



