assured him on commencing their march, that if he attempted to escape he should certainly shoot him. We shall soon see how well he kept his word. They found the people had driven the cattle to the mountains, and Hintza sent one of his counsellors to command them to stop. On the same day they came to a place where the cattle-track divided, and they followed that path, at the advice of Hintza, which led up an abrupt and wooded hill to the right, over the precipitous banks of the Kebaka river. What followed we give in the language of Col. Smith:

"It had been observed that this day Hintza rode a remarkably fine horse, and that he led him up every ascent; the path up this abrupt and wooded hill above described is by a narrow cattle-track, occasionally passing through a cleft of the rock. I was riding alone at the head of the column, and having directed the cavalry to lead their horses, I was some three or four horses' length in front of every one, having previously observed Hintza and his remaining two followers leading their horses behind me, the corps of Guides close to them; when nearing the top, I heard a cry of Hintza,' and in a moment he dashed past me through the bushes, but was obliged, from the trees, to descend again into the path. I cried out, 'Hintza, stop!' I drew a pistol, and presenting it at him, cried out, Hintza,' and I also reprimanded his guard, who instantly came up; he stopped and smiled, and I was ashamed of my suspicion. Upon nearing the top of this steep ascent, the country was perfectly open, and a considerable tongue of land running parallel with the rugged bed of the Kebaka, upon a gradual descent of about two miles, to a turn of the river,

where were several Caffre huts. I was looking back to observe the march of the troops, when I heard a cry of Look, Colonel!' I saw Hintza had set off at full speed, and was 30 yards a-head of every one; I spurred my horse with violence, and coming close up with him, called to him; he urged his horse the more, which could beat mine; I drew a pistol, it snapped; I drew another, it also snapped; I then was sometime galloping after him, when I spurred my horse alongside of him, and struck him on the head with the butt-end of a pistol; he redoubled his efforts to escape, and his horse was three lengths a-head of mine. I had dropped one pistol, I threw the other after him, and struck him again on the head. Having thus raced about a mile, we were within half a mile of the Caffre huts; I found my horse was closing with him; I had no means whatever of assailing him, while he was provided with his assagais; I therefore resolved to attempt to pull him off his horse, and I seized the athletic chief by the throat, and twisting my hand in his karop, I dragged him from his seat, and hurled him to the earth; he instantly sprang on his legs, and sent an assagai at me, running off towards the rugged bed of the Kebaka. unruly, and I could not pull him up till I reached the Caffre huts. This unhorsing the chief, and his waiting to throw an assagai at me, brought Mr. George Southey of the corps of Guides up; and, at about 200 yards' distance, he twice called to Hintza, in Caffre, to stop, or he would shoot him. He ran on; Mr. Southey fired, and only slightly struck him in the leg, again calling to him to stop, without effect; he fired, and shot him through the back; he fell headlong

My horse was most

forwards, but springing up and running forwards, closely pursued by my aide-de-camp, Lieutenant Balfour, he precipitated himself down a kloof into the Kebaka, and posting himself in a narrow niche of the rock, defied any attempt to secure him; when, still refusing to surrender, and raising an assagai, Mr. George Southey fired, and shot him through the head. Thus terminated the career of the chief Hintza, whose treachery, perfidy, and want of faith, made him worthy of the nation of atrocious and indomitable savages over whom he was the acknowledged chieftain. One of his followers escaped, the other was shot from an eminence. About half a mile off I observed the villain Mutini and Hintza's servant looking on."

Such is the relation of the destroyer of Hintza, and surely a more brutal and disgusting detail never came from the chief actor of such a scene. England has already testified its opinion both of this act and of this war; and "this nation of atrocious and indomitable savages," both before and since this transaction, have given such evidences of sensibility to the law of kindness as leave no doubt where the "treachery, perfidy, and want of faith," really lay. At the very time this affair was perpetrated, two British officers had gone with proposals from the governor to the Caffre camp. While they remained there they were treated most respectfully and honourably by these "irreclaimable savages," and dismissed unhurt when the intelligence arrived of Hintza's having been made prisoner. What a contrast does this form to our own conduct!

The war was continued after the event of the death of Hintza, until the Caffres had received what the governor considered to be "sufficient" punishment;

this consisted in the slaughter of 4,000 of their warriors, including many principal men. “There have

been taken from them also," says a despatch, “besides the conquest and alienation of their country, about 60,000 head of cattle, almost all their goats; their habitations everywhere destroyed, and their gardens and corn-fields laid waste.'

The cost of this war to the British nation, is estimated at 241,8847. besides putting a stop to the trade with the colony amounting to 30,000l. per annum, though yet in its infancy. If any one wishes to know how absurd it is to talk of the Caffres as " atrocious and indomitable savages," he has only to look into the Parliamentary Report, so often referred to in this chapter, in order to blush for our own barbarism, and to execrate the wickedness which could, by these reckless commandoes and exterminating wars, crush or impede that rising civilization, and that growing Christianity, which shew themselves so beautifully in this much abused country. It is the wickedness of Englishmen that has alone stood in the way of the rapid refinement of the Caffre, as it has stood in the way of knowledge and prosperity in all our colonies.

"Whenever," says John Tzatzoe, a Caffre chief, who had, before the war at his own place, a missionary and a church attended by 300 people, "the missionaries attempt to preach to the Caffres, or whenever I myself preach or speak to my countrymen, they say, Why do not the missionaries first go and preach to the people on the other side; why do not they preach to their own countrymen, and convert them first?” ” But the very atrocity of this last war roused the * Report on the Aboriginal Tribes, 1837. Ball's edit. p. 115.

spirit of the British nation, awakened parliamentary investigation; the Caffre territory is restored by order of government; a new and more rational system of policy is adopted, and it is to be hoped will be steadily persevered in.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

THE ENGLISH IN NEW HOLLAND AND THE
ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

In this chapter we shall take a concluding view of our countrymen amongst the aborigines of the countries they have visited or settled in; and in doing this it will not be requisite to go back at all into the past. To trace the manner in which they possessed themselves of these regions, or in which they have from that period to the present extended their power, and driven back the natives, would be only treading over for the tenth time the scenes of arbitrary assumption and recklessness of right, which must be, now, but too familiar to my readers. We will, therefore, merely look at the present state of English conduct in those remote regions; and, for this purpose, the materials lie but too plentifully before us. With the exception of the missionary labours, the presence of the Europeans in these far regions is a fearful curse. The two