238 NOBODY WRONG. 



that he was quite wrong altogether, and was mistaken 

 with regard to the affair ? 



Might it not have been Umnini's own wish that 

 caused him to quit the land on which he had dwelt for 

 half a century ? Could it not have been that he at last 

 came to consider the soil that had drunk the blood of his 

 warriors who died in defending it from the attacks of 

 the savage Tshaka, as desecrated by the act instead of 

 hallowed ? Or did he not consider that though hundreds 

 of moons had shone upon him and his fathers in this 

 place, future moons ought hereafter to shine upon him in 

 a less fertile soil j and therefore, agreeing to the white 

 man's wishes, he willingly quitted his home for the price 

 of a few head of cattle and went forth a wanderer ? 



As to our strength and the Kaffirs' weakness 

 oh, no ! those things never happen here ; if they did, 

 some might ask, with the innocence of the child in the 

 show, which was the uncultivated savage famous for 

 " a compound of treachery aud cunning/' and which the 

 Christian. The same ambiguous answer might naturally 

 be returned, " that we had paid our money and might 

 take our choice." 



These proceedings are all very well, if we look merely 

 to this world as all and everything; but when we think 

 of the next, the reflection is hardly so satisfactory. 



But who is wrong ? Surely it is not the soldier, who 

 merely goes to see that the orders given to him are carried 

 out. The Colonial Government will say it is not they 

 that are to blame, as land must be had. And it certainly 

 is not the English Government that should bear the onus. 



