264 
SPORT AND WAR. 
CHAP. XXVII. 
Kiver, between Colesberg and Buffels Vley, as it was 
then called, and situated just beyond the border of the 
Colony, but since then annexed to it; and a good- 
sized town has sprung up there, named Aliwal North, 
after my old friend and commanding officer, Sir Harry 
Smith, 
The evening previous to the 6 day’s sport ’ I had 
reached the homestead of a South African pastoral 
farmer—one of those who in that day roamed about the 
unoccupied country with their flocks and herds, and 
almost lived upon the flesh of game. 6 Mine host ’ on 
this occasion was not a Dutchman, but an ex-missionary, 
who had taken to a pastoral life as more congenial to his 
habits. Yet, from having practised as a 4 curer of souls,’ 
he now undertook to cure bodily ailments in addition to 
his farming operations, finding the one, in a worldly 
sense, more profitable than the other. His flocks and 
herds were considerable, and his cures were said to be 
miraculous; his hospitality was certainly unbounded. 
He was also blessed with a large family. 
In those days these migratory farmers did not build 
houses, but lived in their wagons, or erected what is 
called a ‘hartebeast’ hut, made by a series of rafters 
sloping from the ground to where they meet above, 
with cross-lathing and covered with long reeds or 
bulrushes, and plastered on one or both sides. There is 
usually only one door, but the hut may be divided 
