The White Chief of the Caffres by Alfred W. Drayson

  CHAPTER NINE.

  Shortly after my trip in search of the ostrich-feathers, an eventoccurred which obliged our people to call a meeting of the whole tribe.There came to our country some Caffres belonging to the tribes whichlived west of us, and on the banks of the Kei river. These tribes werethe Amakosa, the Amaponda, and others. Beyond them were the white men,consisting of the English, called the Umlungos, and the Amabores, as theDutch farmers were called by the Caffres.

  Between these white people and the Amakosa, there had been a sort of wargoing on for some months. The Caffres had been unable to resist thetemptation of seeing fine fat cattle grazing near them, and butcarelessly watched. The young Caffres especially were excited by suchsights, because many of these wished to purchase a wife, and as theprice demanded for a wife was ten cows, they were unable to buy the girlthey were fond of. If, however, they could manage to drive off ten cowsfrom the white men they might purchase a wife at once. Now in India, Iremembered, it was just the reverse: there a father had to give a largesum of money to get his daughter married, so that a man who had severaldaughters was simply ruined in consequence of the money he had to givefor his daughters to get husbands. Consequently, in India it became ageneral practice to kill female children as soon as they were born, as amatter of economy; whereas here, in South Africa, female children were asource of wealth to their fathers.

  When the white men found their cattle had been stolen, they formed aparty and started on the spoor, and if they caught the Caffres who hadstolen them they shot them as if they were hyaenas. Fights consequentlytook place between the Amakosa and the white men, and several had beenkilled on both sides. These events led to war being declared againstthe Amakosa by the English, and this war had just commenced when thevisitors came to our country.

  All the principal men of our tribe having been assembled, we formed alarge circle about four deep on some open ground near my hut. We satdown close together and remained silent whilst the two Amakosa stood inthe middle of the ring to address us, which they did in the followingmanner:--

  "Chiefs of the Umzimvubu!--We come as speakers from the Amakosa, to askyou to help us against the white man. We have lived for manygenerations on the banks of the Kei and in the Amatola Mountains. Weonce owned the land down to the Great Fish River; the Fingoes were ourslaves, the Hottentots were afraid of us. The white man has now come,and on small pretences has taken our land, and made us give themhundreds of cattle. Our young men have been shot down like dogs; but atlast we have quivered the assagy in our defence, and in our bush and inour mountains we are strong. We want your aid in two ways: first, tolet your young men join us; and, secondly, that you will let us driveour cattle into your country, so that the white man cannot capture them.For this we will pay you cattle, giving you one in every ten. Your menare brave, and can fight as we heard they did against the Amazulu. Ifwe are eaten up, the white man will soon come to your country; so we area strong fence against them, and you should help to strengthen thatfence. I have spoken as our chiefs have told me."

  The two Amakosa then moved from the centre of the circle and sat downamong our chiefs. There was a silence of several minutes, during whicheach of the intending speakers was reflecting on what had been said.That we should receive one in ten of the cattle that we took care of wasa tempting offer to many, whilst several of the young men were pleasedat the idea of encountering the white man, and showing their bravery. Icrept round the circle to where Ebomvu the Rain-maker was sitting, andwhispered to him, "What do you think of this?" He replied, "I have notyet obtained the right thought!" I said, "The white men have all guns;they are in thousands; and if we join the Amakosa, they may come andattack us, and then, would the Amakosa help us?" Ebomvu nodded, andtook a large pinch of snuff; and then, seeing that no chief cameforward, he walked into the centre of the ring, and stretching out hisarm addressed the chiefs.

  Since that time I have heard among civilised nations many so-calledorators, but I can fairly state that I never heard greater eloquencethan I did from Ebomvu.

  He said: "Men of the Umzimvubu!--Our visitors from the Amakosa haveasked us to help them against the white man, who is encroaching on them.They also ask us to take care of their cattle, so that the white man,if he enters the Kloofs of the Amatola, may not carry off their cattle.They tell us that it is to our advantage to join them against the whiteman; for otherwise the white man will soon push against us. And if wetake care of their cattle they will give us one out of ten. Now whenanything is done between two tribes it is done because of friendship andbrotherhood, or because of trading one with the other. Although we arefriendly with the Amakosa, yet they have not treated us like brothers.They have been hard with us in trade: the knives, spearheads, and otherthings they obtained from the white man, they would not part with to usexcept for high prices. So we must look at this matter as trade, and Icannot see that we gain much advantage by sending our young men to beshot down by the whites. We should be fighting for the Amakosa; and weare asked to do this because, perhaps, by-and-by, the white man may wantto fight with us. So we are asked to do now what would be very bad forus if we had to do it by-and-by. Then we are to protect the Amakosacattle, and to receive as reward just one in ten. This is not enough:the Amakosa are hard at a bargain, and I think we are required to givemuch and receive but little."

  Ebomvu then sat down again among the principal men, a murmur of "_Di'avuma nawe_" ("I agree with you") being uttered by the older chiefs,whilst loud cries of "_Hi, Hi, musa_" were uttered by the younger men.

  After a little delay a young chief, who had fought well against theAmazulu, stepped into the centre of the circle, and raising his shieldand assagies, said, "Listen to me, men of the Umzimvubu. I am for war.I think we ought not to sit down like boys or women, and let ourfriends, the Amakosa, fight alone. We are strong and we know how tofight. If we join the Amakosa we shall share in the spoil; we must haveour share of the cattle, of the guns captured, and we may also procuresome of those animals on which men ride. Shall our tribe be termed atribe of cowards? I say, let us join the Amakosa, and dip our assagiesin the blood of the white man."

  A tremendous shout was given at the termination of this address; and itwas evident that, as far as numbers went, there were more in favour ofwar than there were against it. This was an example of what took placeamong civilised nations. If the majority of an assembly are emotionalrather than intellectual, a man who appeals to the emotions gains moreadherents than the speaker who talks sound sense. Consequently, whenanother young chief spoke in favour of war, it was decided that weshould join the Amakosa and fight the white man.

  What I was to do I did not know. I felt that, although I had become aregular Caffre in habits and thoughts, yet I was an Englishman; and if Ifired and killed a white man, I should be guilty of murder. I thought agreat deal about this matter; for though I had nothing to complain of inmy present life, yet I longed to see my father again, and to let himknow I was not dead. I knew that, lost as was the ship in which I hadleft Calcutta, there would be no records of her ever found. I alonecould tell the tale, for the ladies who had been saved had become thewives of Caffres, and they told me that now they must live and die asthey were, and could never again return to civilisation.

  I had great doubts whether the life I now led was not _the_ one whichmost men in cities toiled for all their lives. Boy as I was, yet I hadrank, I was a chief; I had cattle, the great wealth in this land; I hada gun and ammunition; I had always plenty to eat; I wanted no clothes, Icould wrap myself in an _ingubu_ (blanket or kaross) made of jackals'skins, which kept me warm in the cold nights; I had no work to do that Ididn't like. There was plenty of game to shoot or trap; and, exceptduring a short rainy season, the climate was as fine as any in theworld. What more pleasant life than this could I lead anywhere? InEngland I should be at a school, having to learn a lot of things inwhich I took no interest; perhaps, if I did not work properly, I mightbe caned, I, who was now a chief, and if any m
an struck me shouldprobably use my assagy against him. There were two sides to thequestion of returning to civilisation. I had read also that my unclepassed seven or eight hours a day in a dark office in London, in a placecrowded round by other houses, so that you could scarcely see the sun,and where there were so many men that you scarcely ever breathedanything but second-hand air. Still, there was the longing alwayscoming over me to see my father, and to tell him that I was happy, andif he did not mind I should prefer remaining where I was. But thewar-spirit had broken out, and every one, even to the smallest _intombi_(girl) was dancing about, singing war-songs. As was the custom withthese tribes, a great war-dance was arranged; all the fighting men, infull war-dress, assembled from miles round. We mustered more than fivethousand fighting men, besides about three thousand boys able to throwan assagy, and assist at critical moments, when the enemy were broken ortoo powerful at any particular point.

  I shall always remember the war-dance which now took place; it was asight only to be seen in the wilderness, and where civilisation has madeno progress. The men assembled formed a ring three and four deep, andsat quietly on the ground for more than an hour, each with his shield infront of him. At a given signal we all started to our feet, with ashout; then, imitating the movements of an old chief who entered thecentre of the ring, we beat the ground, first with one foot, then withthe other; then, jumping in the air, came to the ground with both feetat once, making the earth shake as we did so. After we had continuedthese proceedings for some time, a young bull was brought into the ringand turned loose, three young chiefs entering at the same time. Theyshouted and beat their shields, so as to alarm the bull, and then closedon him, hurling their assagies at him. The animal soon became savageand charged at the young chiefs, and a regular bullfight occurred; butso active were the Caffres, and so well did they back one another up,that in a few minutes the bull was so terribly wounded by assagies thatit sank to the ground and died.

  Four bulls were killed in the same manner and by different sets of youngchiefs, the circle of warriors all the time singing their war-songs anddancing and beating their shields. During two days these festivitieswere kept up, and then the leading chiefs met in council to decide uponthe plan of operations. I soon began to observe that several of thechiefs regarded me in a manner different from that in which they hadformerly done. They were not unfriendly, but they were silent; and Ifeared that some enemy had been at work who was jealous of my rise andprogress. I was rich for so young a chief, as I now possessed fourteencows and several calves; but I did not think I was rich enough to beaccused of witchcraft, and my cows taken from me. I had but to wait afew days before I learned why this change in manners had taken place.One evening an old chief sent for me to his kraal for a _kaluma_ (talk),and on my entering his hut I found two other chiefs there. They offeredme snuff, and _Itchuala_, and then the old chief said:--

  "Umkunkinglovu! we know you are brave and can fight well, and we shouldhave liked you to lead a division of our men; but we have thought that,as you, although a Caffre at heart, are still white, you might not liketo fight against white men. We don't know about white men; we don'tknow who are friends, and who enemies. We, the Umzimvubu, fight againstthe Amazulu, though we are both black. Do you white men ever fight oneagainst the other?"

  "Yes," I replied, "when nations like your great tribes disagree theyfight."

  "Then are the people at war with the Amakosa of your tribe?"

  "Yes, they are."

  "Then you would not like to fight against them?"

  "No; I should be a rascal to do so."

  "We thought it might be so," said the old chief, "so we are going toleave you in charge of the tribe, to take care of the cows and the youngpeople, until we return."

  "I should like to speak about this war," I said; "may I?"

  A nod was the only answer.

  "This war," I said, "will probably bring great trouble to the tribe.You have been misled by the Amakosa; for the white men against whom youare fighting are powerful, and if they require them can bring ten men toyour one. You with assagies only cannot defeat them, for they are allarmed with guns, and are good shots. They can wear you out; for theycan destroy your crops of corn, and capture your cattle, or worry themso that they cannot feed. You have little to gain, and all to lose.Why do you go on this expedition?"

  The three chiefs sat silent for a few minutes, and then the elder said,"We believe the Amakosa. Their chiefs say the white men are notnumerous, and are very slow--that in spite of their guns, which are notmuch use in the bush, the assagy has gained the victory; unless we fightthe white man, he will march on and will soon want our country, and weshall be wiped out. We are now bound by promise to fight, so it is nouse now thinking any more about it. Besides, the Amakosa tell us thatthe white men employed to fight are not allowed to fight as they like orcould, but are bound up with straps and tight clothes, and are made towear red blankets round their bodies, so as to be easily seen andtherefore easily shot. They have to carry a number of things also,which prevent them from running fast, and tires them when they walk. Soan Amakosa warrior feels he is better able to fight than a whitesoldier, who cannot move through the bush, as the thorns hold him by hisclothes; so that he cannot shoot, and is easily assagied."

  I endeavoured to convince these chiefs that it was no use fightingagainst the English; but they listened patiently, and then said that,when I left my friends the whites, I was too young to be able to judgecorrectly of numbers and strength, and that I should see them returnwith many guns and plenty of cattle.