t:\IVOTI MISSION STATION, NAT AI. 
49 
The point where the vessels lie is seen just below the bluff, and several flags indicate the stores of the principal 
merchants of this infant settlement. The present population of Port Natal is upwards of eight hundred; that ol 
Pietermaritzburg probably amounts to more than double that number. The productions of the colony consist of cattle, 
hides, ivory, butter, cheese, indigo, and cotton; this latter article is already extensively cultivated by many of the 
settlers, and the samples of cotton grown at Natal have been declared of a v ery fine quality in the English markets. 
To the left of the view, on the flat, grassy plain stretching from the water, at a short distance from the 
settlement, are seen the barracks surrounded by a wooden stockade; a detachment of the regiment stationed at 
Pietermaritzburg is usually quartered here for the protection of the settlers. Most of the residents employ Kafir servants, 
who are mild and tractable, and are very useful in the cotton plantations; the lads make good house servants, and 
will work for a year for a cow worth about 2/. The women and girls come less frequently to the settlement, 
preferring to reside on the native locations. 
There is scarcely a doubt but that Port Natal must eventually flourish, and form another amongst the many 
asylums for our surplus population, for it is a rich field, and one well worthy the attention of the Government. 
1 Siu-li the maii-sitc, metanelioly xoetu-. 
Which ‘midst tlint mountain wilderue-* u a tbmiil ; 
V' ifh scarce n trace to toll where ninn bail lieen, 
Save the old Kafir cabins crumbling round. 
N et this lone glen (the Zulus' ancient ground'). 
To Nature's savage tribe* ubnmhmoil tong, 
ITa* heard, erewhile, the Gospel's joyful sound. 
And low of herd* mixed with the Sabbath song. 
* « 4 * • 
The tong-pa re-bed land shall laugh, with harvests erotvneil. 
And through those silent wastes Jehovah's praise resound." 
Within the colony of Natal, the American missionaries have for several years past been labouring amongst the Kafir 
population, and have established stations at the various native locations under the protection of the British Government 
at Umvoti, Rev. A. Grout; at Umlazi, Rev. Dr. Adams; and at 1 muida, Rev. Mr. Lindley. These arc very interesting 
missionary establishments, aud several others arc in the course of formation in various parts of Natal. It is of Umvoti 
that we must speak more particularly, as furnishing the subject of the preceding woodcut,—a spot to me especially 
interesting, as it was there that I met with the kindest possible attention and hospitality whilst lying sick with a 
violent fever caught by exposure to the wet and sleeping in the night air near the coast. During my stay at Umvoti, 
with the Rev. Aldine Grout and his family, 1 had opportunity to witness the arrangements and working of the 
missionary system amongst, the Zulu Kafirs, which I doubt not will, ere long, be crowned with success. In the 
reign of Dingaun, some ten or twelve years ago, tin* Rev. Mr. Grout obtained permission from the king to establish 
himself in the Zulu country, to instruct the people in the Christian religion. Me did so, and at length erected a 
cottage with his own hands, after living long in a waggon with his lady and two infant children. The people 
listened attentively to the instructions of the missionary, and Mrs. Grout bad already succeeded in forming a school 
amongst the children, when a blow was struck which cast a dark cloud over the hopes of these good missionaries, 
and an edict was passed by the king,—which his successor, Umpundi, still adheres to,—to banish for ever the Christian 
religion from the Zulu nation. It appears that some mischievous Indunas had reported to the king that these new 
doctrines were likely to subvert his power and open the eyes of the people to the blind adoration they were 
accustomed to pay to their despotic monarch. On hearing ibis, the king sent a party of armed soldiers in the 
night, who put to death all those who had embraced Christianity, slaughtering men, women, and children, the missionary 
and his family narrowly escaping with their lives, being ordered to depart instantly from the Zulu territory. It must 
have been an awful night that, — the kilted and savage warriors, with their streaming plumes and bristling assagais, 
rushing like a host of devouring wolves upon the peaceful and sleeping inmates! One mangled and bleeding woman 
appeared at the window of the mission-house crying out for her friends to make their escape; and the screams of 
the victims, mingled with the horrid yells of the soldiers, were echoed far and wide amongst the mountains, contrasting 
with the calm magnificence of the dusky landscape around, slumbering beneath the mellow light of an African moon I 
passed a night upon that very spot as I journeyed to the king’s kraal. By the margin of the clear, gurgling 
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