336 CONCLUSION. 



extremity is a kind of gorge through which the river passes. Here the 

 waters rose, from inability to escape as rapidly as they came, partly ap- 

 parently in consequence of some stoppage occasioned by the retention and 

 accumulation of detritus and debris carried thither by the waters ; and the 

 rise of the waters inundated all the land above to the same height though 

 not to the same depth. It was during the night that it reached and over- 

 whelmed the village. The house of the missionary and the chapel stand 

 on an elevated ground overlooking the plain, where dwelt the people. The 

 missionary, Mr Darant Philip, brother of the enterprising projector- and 

 executor of the tunnel, and a man of like energy, — both of them sons of Dr 

 Philip, who, aided and sustained by the co-operation of his wife, had spent 

 health and wealth in befriending the Hottentots in a time of need, — the 

 missionary, roused at dead of night by cries of alarm, was for a moment 

 paralysed, nonplussed, brought to a stand. Nothing could save but a boat, 

 but the mooring of the boat was by the river's bank, a mile away, now 

 covered fathoms deep by the rising flood, and all "was dark around. But he 

 was brought to a stand only for a moment. Something must be done, and 

 done at once. Was there nothing to be had 1 No, nothing but a soap box ! 

 The soap box was emptied in a trice. It would make at least the skeleton 

 of a boat. Deals were found or were wrenched from the floor. But nails ! 

 Nails there were none of the size required or none to be found ; but there 

 was a gross of screws. Well, these must suffice. But it is weary work and 

 slow to screw these home, and they must be driven home with blows. With 

 all that willing hands and heaving hearts, and learning and intelligence and 

 skill could do, it was nearly night again before the boat so built could be 

 launched, and all the while one and another and another were perishing. 



The editor of the South African Gommercial Advertiser, John Fairbairn, 

 a man still held in reputation amongst the benefactors of South Africa, in 

 writing of the sufferers who, not many months before — at that time rising 

 by industry and economy above their previous trials — had contributed £25 

 for the relief of the destitute Scotch and Irish suffering from the failure of 

 the potatoe crop through disease, a sum considered, with regard to their 

 numbers and wealth, or rather poverty, a grateful sacrifice equal to the 

 most liberal efforts of the rich, says, — " The descriptions of this great 

 calamity set in a most affecting light, not only the sufferings, but the 

 character of the people, many of the incidents being most honourable to 

 human nature, while they show the force and power of religion, which can 

 neither be extinguished by the tortures of life, nor overcome by the terrors 

 of death. Immersed in a raging flood that was rapidly thinning their 

 numbers, these poor people, for the space of nearly twenty hours, exhibited 

 the most touching proofs of filial piety, conjugal affection, and faithful 

 friendship, with hope triumphing in the very moment of dissolution ; nor 

 does there appear to have been a single instance of courage failing, or of 

 despair undermining virtue." 



All that is thus alleged is borne out by a touching narrative by one of 

 the Hottentots, which not only tells of what he and others suffered but 

 brings the whole scene vividly before one acquainted with the locality as 

 I am. The following is a translation of the narrative as given to Mr Philip : 

 " On Friday night William Landman and others came to warn me that I 

 should come away ; and I would have done so, but my mother being a heavy 

 woman I felt unable to carry her so far, and that too in a pouring rain. 

 The water had never been known to rise so high as the spot on whioh I 



