BLACK LAWYERS. 233 



was exhibited by a great chief near Natal ; he was met, 

 however, with equal skill by the officer who went to him as 

 ambassador. There is no greater crime amongst savages 

 than for a simple man to accumulate cattle in large quan- 

 tities, as it is thought an attempt to rival his chief. When 

 this is the case, a cause for slaughter and appropriation 

 is soon discovered ; the other parties are equally on the 

 alert to watch for suspicious demonstrations against them. 

 If they suppose that anything is intended, they leave their 

 cattle, and make a rush into the district under English con- 

 trol : they are there safe, and cannot be pursued by the army 

 of the indignant chief, as it would be a breach of frontier 

 rules. The chief to whom I refer had upon one occasion 

 crossed the boundary after a renegade ; so we sent an am- 

 bassador to him to remind him of his conduct, and demand 

 an apology. On the matter being discussed, the Kaffir 

 remarked that it was very hard that we did not allow 

 him to punish his traitors by following and slaying them. 

 " If," said he, " your own men mutinied, murdered your 

 officers, and ran into my country, you, I know, would 

 want to follow and punish them, while I am not allowed 

 to do so." It was true enough that, should this have 

 happened, we certainly should have followed and captured 

 the mutineers. So the ambassador had but one answer, 

 which was, " The Englishman's laws are so just and good 

 that all men, black or white, run to them instead of away 

 from them." A Kaffir is very grasping in bargains ; he will 

 always ask much more than he purposes taking, and will 

 argue and talk for a considerable time before he can be 

 beaten down. If some easy person once pays a high price 



