The Mission

by Frederick Marryat

  CHAPTER III.

  A melancholy feeling clouded the features of Alexander Wilmot as, on thefollowing morning, the vessel, under a heavy press of sail, was fastleaving the shores of his native country. He remained on the poop of thevessel with his eyes fixed upon the land, which every moment became moreindistinct. His thoughts may easily be imagined. Shall I ever see thatland again? Shall I ever return, or shall my bones remain in Africa,perhaps not even buried, but bleaching in the desert? And if I doreturn, shall I find my old relation still alive, or called away, loadedas he is with years, to the silent tomb? We are in the hands of agracious God. His will be done.

  Alexander turned away, as the land had at last become no longer visible,and found a young man of about his own age standing close to him, andapparently as much lost in reverie as he had been. As in turning roundAlexander brushed against him, he thought it right to apologize for theunintentional act, and this occasioned a conversation.

  "I believe, sir," said the other party, who was a tall, spare,slight-built man, with a dark complexion, "that we were both indulgingin similar thoughts as we took leave of our native shores. EveryEnglishman does the same, and indeed every true lover of his country,let the country be what it will. We find the feeling as strong in thesavage as in the enlightened; it is universal. Indeed, we may fairly saythat it extends lower--down to the brute species, from their love oflocalities."

  "Very true, sir," replied Alexander; "but with brutes, as you say, it ismerely the love of locality; with men, I trust, the feeling is moregenerous and noble."

  "So it ought to be, or else why are we so much more nobly endowed? Thisis not your first voyage, I presume?" continued the stranger.

  "Indeed, it is," said Alexander; "I never was out of England, or onboard of a vessel, before yesterday."

  "I should have imagined otherwise," remarked his companion: "the otherpassengers are all suffering from sea-sickness, while you and I only areon the deck. I presumed, therefore, that you had been afloat before."

  "I did feel very giddy yesterday evening," observed Alexander, "but thismorning I have no unpleasant sensation whatever. I believe that somepeople do not suffer at sea."

  "A very few; but it appears that you are one of those most fortunate,for by experience I know how painful and distressing the sickness is forsome time. Breakfast will soon be ready; do you think that you can eatany?"

  "Yes, a little--not much; a cup of tea or coffee," replied Alexander;"but I can not say that I have my usual appetite. What bird is thatwhich skims along the water?"

  "It is the _procellarius_, as we naturalists call it, but in English,the stormy petrel; its presence denotes rough weather coming on."

  "Then I wish it had not made its appearance," said Alexander, laughing;"for with rough weather, there will of course be more motion in thevessel, and I feel the motion too much already."

  "I think if you eat your breakfast (although without appetite), and keepon deck, you may get over any further indisposition," replied thestranger.

  "Have we many passengers on board?"

  "No; nine or ten, which is considered a small number, at least by thecaptain, who was complaining of his ill-luck. They are mostly femalesand children. There is a Cape gentleman who has long resided in thecolony, and is now returning there. I have had some conversation withhim, and he appears a very intelligent person. But here is the stewardcoming aft, to let us know that breakfast is ready."

  The person who had thus conversed with Alexander Wilmot was a Mr.Swinton, who, as he had accidentally observed, was a naturalist; he wasa person of some independent property, whose ardor for science hadinduced him to engage in no profession, being perfectly satisfied withhis income, which was sufficient for his wants and to enable him tofollow up his favorite study. He was now on his passage to the Cape ofGood Hope, with no other object than to examine the natural productionsof that country, and to prosecute his researches in science there, to agreater extent than had hitherto been practicable.

  Before they had arrived at Madeira, at which island the ship remainedthree days to take in wine and fresh provisions, a great intimacy hadbeen established between Alexander and Mr. Swinton, although as yetneither knew the cause of the other's voyage to the Cape; they were bothtoo delicate to make the inquiry, and waited till the other should ofhis own accord impart his reasons.

  We have mentioned that there were other passengers, one of whom was agentleman who resided in Cape Town, and who held a lucrative situationunder the government. He was an elderly gentleman, of about sixty yearsof age, of a very benign and prepossessing appearance; and it sohappened that Alexander found out, on looking over his letters ofintroduction when at anchor at Madeira, that he possessed one to thisgentleman. This of course he presented at once, although they werealready on intimate terms; and this introduction made Mr. Fairburn (forsuch was his name) take an immediate interest in his welfare, and alsowarranted his putting the question, as to what were Alexander's viewsand intentions in visiting the Cape: for Mr. Fairburn knew from theletter that he was heir to Sir Charles Wilmot, and therefore that he wasnot likely to be going out as a speculator or emigrant.

  It hardly need be said that Alexander made no hesitation in confiding toone who could so materially assist him in the object of his voyage.

  The other passengers were three young ladies bound to their friends inIndia, and a lady returning with her two marriageable daughters torejoin her husband, who was a colonel in the Bengal army. They were allpleasant people, the young ladies very lively, and on the whole thecabin of the _Surprise_ contained a very agreeable party; and soon afterthey left Madeira, they had fine weather, smooth water, and every thingthat could make a voyage endurable.

  The awnings were spread, chairs brought up, and the major portion of theday was spent upon the quarter-deck and poop of the vessel, which formany days had been running down before the trade-winds, intending tomake Rio, and there lay in a supply of fresh provisions for theremainder of her voyage.

  One morning, as Alexander and Mr. Fairburn were sitting together,Alexander observed--

  "You have passed many years at the Cape, Mr. Fairburn, have you not?"

  "Yes; I was taken prisoner when returning from India, and remained ayear in Cape Town during the time that it was in the hands of the Dutch;I was about to be sent home as a prisoner to Holland, and was embarkedon board one of the vessels in Saldanha Bay, when they were attacked bythe English. Afterward, when the English captured the Cape, from my longresidence in, and knowledge of, the country, I was offered a situation,which I accepted: the colony was restored to the Dutch, and I came home.On its second capture I was again appointed, and have been there almostever since."

  "Then you are well acquainted with the history of the colony?"

  "I am, certainly, and if you wish it, shall be happy to give you a shortaccount of it."

  "It will give me the greatest pleasure, for I must acknowledge that Iknow but little, and _that_ I have gleaned from the travels which I haverun through very hastily."

  "I think it was in the year 1652 that the Dutch decided upon making asettlement at the Cape. The aborigines, or natives, who inhabited thatpart of the country about Cape Town, were the Hottentots, a mild,inoffensive people, living wholly upon the produce of their cattle; theywere not agriculturists, but possessed large herds of cattle, sheep andgoats, which ranged the extensive pastures of the country. The historyof the founding of one colony is, I fear, the history of most, if notall--commencing in doing all that is possible to obtain the goodwill ofthe people until a firm footing has been obtained in the land, and thentreating them with barbarity and injustice.

  "The Hottentots, won over by kindness and presents, thought it of littleconsequence that strangers should possess a small portion of theirextensive territory, and willingly consented that the settlement shouldbe made. They, for the first time in their lives, tasted what proved thecause of their ruin and subsequent slavery--tobacco and strong liquors.These two poisons, offered gratuitously,
till the poor Hottentots hadacquired a passion for them, then became an object of barter--a pipe oftobacco or a glass of brandy was the price of an ox; and thus daily werethe colonists becoming enriched, and the Hottentots poor.

  "The colony rapidly increased, until it was so strong, that the governormade no ceremony of seizing upon such land as the government wished toretain or to give away; and the Hottentots soon discovered that not onlytheir cattle, but the means of feeding them, were taken from them.Eventually, they were stripped of every thing except their passion fortobacco and spirits, which they could not get rid of. Unwilling to leavethe land of their forefathers, and seeing no other way of procuring themeans of intoxication which they coveted, they sold themselves and theirservices to the white colonists, content to take care of those herdswhich had once been their own, and to lead them out to pasture on thevery lands which had once been their birthright."

  "Did they then become slaves?" inquired Alexander.

  "No; although much worse treated, they never were slaves, and I wish topoint that out; but they became a sort of feudal property of the Dutch,compelled to hire themselves out, and to work for them upon nominalwages, which they seldom or never received, and liable to every speciesof harsh treatment and cruelty, for which they could obtain no redress.Yet still they were not bought and sold as were the slaves which weresubsequently introduced into the colony from the east coast of Africaand Madagascar. The position of the slave was, in my opinion, infinitelysuperior, merely from the self-interest of the owner, who would not killor risk the life of a creature for whom he had paid two or three hundredrix-dollars; whereas, the Dutch boors, or planters, thought little ofthe life of a Hottentot. If the cattle were to be watched where lionswere plentiful, it was not a slave who had charge of them, but aHottentot, as he had cost nothing, and the planter could procureanother. In short, the life of a Hottentot was considered as of novalue, and there is no denying that they were shot by their masters oremployers upon the most trifling offense."

  "How dreadful! but did the Dutch government suffer this?"

  "They could not well help it, and therefore were compelled to wink atit; the criminals were beyond its reach. But now I will proceed to giveyou some further insight, by describing the Dutch boors, or planters,who usurped and stood in the shoes of the poor Hottentots.

  "The Dutch government seized upon all the land belonging to theHottentots, and gave it away in grants to their own countrymen, who nowbecame herdsmen, and possessed of a large quantity of cattle; they alsocultivated the ground to a certain extent round about theirhabitations. As the colony increased, so did the demand for land, untilthe whole of the country that was worth having was disposed of as far asto the country of the Caffres, a fine, warlike race, of whom we willspeak hereafter. It must not, however, be supposed that the whole of theHottentot tribes became serfs to the soil. Some few drove away theircattle to the northward, out of reach of the Dutch, to the borders ofthe Caffre land; others, deprived of their property, left the plains,and took to the mountains, living by the chase and by plunder. Thisportion were termed boshmen, or bushmen, and have still retained thatappellation: living in extreme destitution, sleeping in caves,constantly in a state of starvation, they soon dwindled down to a verydiminutive race, and have continued so ever since.

  "The Dutch boors, or planters, who lived in the interior, and far awayfrom Cape Town, had many enemies to contend with: they had the variousbeasts of the forest, from the lion to the jackal, which devastatedtheir flocks and herds, and also these bushmen, who lived upon plunder.Continually in danger, they were never without their muskets in theirhands, and they and their descendants became an athletic, powerful, andbulky race, courageous, and skilled in the use of fire-arms, but at thesame time cruel and avaricious to the highest degree. The absolute powerthey possessed over the slaves and Hottentots demoralized them, and madethem tyrannical and blood-thirsty. At too great a distance from the seatof government for its power to reach them, they defied it and knew nolaw but their own imperious wills, acknowledging no authority,--guiltyof every crime openly, and careless of detection."

  "I certainly have read of great cruelty on the part of these Dutchboors, but I had no idea of the extent to which it was carried."

  "The origin was in that greatest of all curses, slavery; nothingdemoralizes so much. These boors had been brought up with the idea thata Hottentot, a bushman, or a Caffre were but as the mere brutes of thefield, and they have treated them as such. They would be startled atthe idea of murdering a white man, but they will execute wholesaleslaughter among these poor natives, and think they have committed nocrime. But the ladies are coming up, and we shall be interrupted, so Iwill not task your patience any more to-day. I shall therefore concludewhat I may term part the first of my little history of the Cape colony."