THE KAFFIR LANGUAGE. 49 



reins, or crossed the gun over the saddle, or rested my 

 hand on his neck, or even if a buck sprung up in front 

 of him. He would stand fire like a rock, and would not 

 shake his head or start on any account, nor did he care 

 for elephants or anything else. He was a most useful 

 auxiliary, and from his back I shot elands, hartebeest, 

 reitbok, ourebis, steinbok, duikers, &c. He would allow 

 small bucks to be put up behind the saddle, and would 

 carry them quietly. 



I passed a month in making myself acquainted with the 

 country around D' Urban, its rivers, paths, and kloofs, and 

 also in studying the Zulu language, which I found to 

 differ slightly from the frontier Kaffir. I always carried 

 a dictionary with me, and, upon meeting any natives, sat 

 down, and, pulling out my book, asked word for word 

 what I wanted. I rarely failed in making myself under- 

 stood, and then the Kaffir would repeat my words, giving 

 the correct pronunciation and grammar. If, for instance, 

 I was thirsty and wanted some milk, I would look in my 

 dictionary for " I want." Funa, I would find, expressed 

 to want; amasi or ubisi, milk (the first being sour milk, 

 a very refreshing drink, and the latter sweet milk) ; uku 

 posa, to drink. " Funa ubisi uku posa," I would say. 

 The Kaffir would give a kind of intelligent grunt, such as 

 er-er, and say, " Wena funa posa ubisi." I then repeated 

 the sentence after him, putting di, I, for wena, you, and 

 bore in mind that " Di funa posa amasi (or ubisi)," was 

 I want to drink some sour (or sweet) milk. By this means 

 I was soon able to ask for everything I wanted, and in six 

 months could talk the language with tolerable freedom. 



