WHAT I SAW IN KAFFIR-LAND WHAT I SAW IN KAFFIR-LAND BY SIR STEPHEN LAKEMAN MAZHAR PACHA “MILITIA EST POTIOR. QUID ENIM?” WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS EDINBURGH AND LONDON MDCCCLXXX _All Rights reserved_ PREFACE. This book contains extracts from the daily record of impressions made on my mind, by men and events, as we performed together our allotted parts, in one short tragical episode at the Cape. Very little has been omitted; nothing has been added. It is a simple narrative, taken from the Book of my Life, of which, if it is not the opening chapter, it is at least one of the first. If by my observations I have hurt any one’s feelings, this may have been caused by these persons having ruffled mine. If I have said but little good of any one with whom I have been brought into contact, it is because I failed to perceive any more than I have mentioned. The reader will be able to some extent to judge whether or not this has arisen from my want of perspicacity, or from their incapacity. I can only add, that this narrative is true. I have thought, in having it published, that it might interest those who seek by reading some information about the realities of life in this artificial world of ours, wherein time-serving hypocrites present themselves so often as shams when Heaven and country call for men. CONTENTS CHAPTER I. PAGE Attached to the French military staff in Algeria--The Minie rifle--Interviews with the Duke of Wellington and others--War at the Cape--I offer my services--Red-tape difficulties--Start for the Cape, 1 CHAPTER II. Land at St Vincent--Shooting excursion on the island--Strange dream--Narrowly escape shipwreck--Arrive at Sierra Leone--Interview with the Governor--Official ceremonies--Visit the Bishop--Official insignia--St Helena--Neglected state of the house where Napoleon died, 6 CHAPTER III. Arrive at the Cape--Valuable assistance from local authorities--A corps of volunteers formed--General Sir Harry Smith’s difficulties--Damaged state of stores and ammunition--Obliged to invent a Minie ball--Happy Jack--The composition of the corps--Reflections--Colonel Neville Chamberlain--His present of a sword and its subsequent history in Turkey, 14 CHAPTER IV. First attempts at discipline in corps--Prepare to start for the front--Difficulty of getting men on board ship--Review and sham fight--First feats of arms--Embarkation--Arrive at Fort Elizabeth--Onward march towards Graham’s Town--First encampment in the Bush--Mutiny and punishment--Further advance--Panic and flight, 25 CHAPTER V.