Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Volume 17, No. 099, March, 1876Various
Science
Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Volume 17, No. 099, March, 1876
Various
Literature, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals; Science -- Periodicals
We can see lots of babies crawling about
the hole which serves as door to a Kafir hut, and they are all as fat
as little pigs; but what do they live on? Buttermilk, I am told--that
is to say, sour milk, for the true Kafir palate does not appreciate
fresh, sweet milk--and a sort of porridge made of _mealies_. I used
to think "mealies" was a coined word for potatoes, but it really
signifies maize or Indian corn, which is rudely crushed and ground,
and forms the staple food of man and beast.
In the mean time, we are speeding gayly over the bright waters, never
very calm along this shore. Presently we come to a spot clearly marked
by some odd-colored, tumbled-down cliffs and the remains of a great
iron butt, where, more than a hundred years ago, the Grosvenor, a
splendid clipper ship, was wrecked. The men nearly all perished or
were made away with, but a few women were got on shore and carried
off as prizes to the kraals of the Kafir "inkosis" or chieftains.
What sort of husbands these stalwart warriors made to their reluctant
brides tradition does not say, but it is a fact that almost all the
children were born mad, and their descendants are, many of them,
lunatics or idiots up to the present time. As the afternoon draws on a
chill mist creeps over the hills and provokingly blots out the coast,
which gets more beautiful every league we go. I wanted to remain up
and see the light on the bluff just outside Port d'Urban, but a heavy
shower drove me down to my wee cabin before ten o'clock. Soon after
midnight the rolling of the anchor-chains and the sudden change of
motion from pitching and jumping to the old monotonous roll told us
that we were once more outside a bar, with a heavy sea on, and that
there we must remain until the tug came to fetch us. But, alas! the
tug had to make short work of it next morning, on account of the
unaccommodating state of the tide, and all our hopes of breakfasting
on shore were dashed by a hasty announcement at 5 A.M. that the tug
was alongside, the mails were rapidly being put on board of her, and
that she could not wait for passengers or anything else, because ten
minutes later there would not be water enough to float her over the
bar.
"When shall _we_ be able to get over the bar?" I asked dolefully.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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