[11] He gives as reasons for his objections: first, that such treaties “involve an admission of equality between the contracting parties,” and therefore “encourage presumption” on the part of the inferior, etc.; secondly, that “men who cannot read are apt to forget or distort the words of a treaty.” A third reason, which does not seem to have occurred to Mr. Shepstone, lies in the ease with which a savage may be deceived as to the contents of a written document, which facility we shall soon largely illustrate in the matter of Boer treaties with the natives. [12] See Lecky’s “Rationalism in Europe”:—7000 at Trèves; 600 by a single Bishop of Bamberg; 800 in _one_ year, in the bishopric of Wurtzburg; 1000 in the province of Como; 400 at _once_, at Toulouse; 500 in three months, at Geneva; 48 at Constance; 80 at the little town of Valary in Saxony; 70 in Sweden; and one _Christian_ judge boasted that he himself had been the means of putting to death, in sixteen years, 800 witches! In Scotland, two centuries ago, but after many centuries of Christianity and civilisation, John Brown, the Ayrshire carrier, was shot, and, within a fortnight, an aged widow and a young maid were tied to stakes in the Solway and drowned by the rising tide, for the crime of neglecting episcopal worship, and going aside into the moor to spend the Sabbath day in prayer and praise. [13] P. P. [C. 1401] p. 30. [14] Natives of Basutoland, resident for many years in Natal. [15] See Field Force Order, 1873. [16] In the Zulu language the word _abantwana_ (children) is a general one, including both women and children. [17] It is only fair to Major Durnford to state that during the whole of these proceedings he was away over the mountains, in vain pursuit of an enemy to be fought. [18] 1. The following account of the above transaction was given by one of those concerned, in a letter to _The Natal Times_ of that date: “Twenty of us volunteered yesterday to go up and into a cave about eight miles from here. We found only one native, whom we shot, took a lot of goats (eighty-seven), and any amount of assegais and other weapons. We also searched about the country and killed a few niggers, taking fourteen prisoners. One fellow in a cave loaded his rifle with stones, and slightly wounded Wheelwright and Lieutenant Clarke, R.A. We, however, got him out, and Moodie shot him through the brains. Fifteen of ours have just volunteered to go to a cave supposed to contain niggers. We are gradually wiping out the three poor fellows who were shot, and all our men are determined to have some more.”