Part 3 (2/2)
inquired Alexander; ”a hen, or any land bird, if it falls into the water, is drowned as soon as its feathers are saturated with the water”
”There is, I believe, no difference in the feathers of the birds,”
replied Mr Swinton; ”but all aquatic birds are provided with a s oil, hich they anoint their feathers, which renders the itself, you will find it continually turns its bill round to the end of its back, just above the insertion of the tail; it is to procure this oil, which, as it dresses its feathers that they may carefully overlap each other, it smears upon them so as to render them impenetrable to the water; but this requires frequent renewal, or the duck would be drowned as well as the hen”
”How long can a sea-bird reh it has been supposed otherwise; but we do not know so much of the habits of these birds as of others”
”Can they rereater portion of them can not; ducks and that class, for instance Divers can reest under water are the semi-aquatic, whose feet are only half-webbed I have watched the co at the bottom of a stream, apparently asas it walked”
”You say that aquatic birds can not reo to?”
”They resort to the uninhabited islands over the globe, rocks that always remain above water, and the unfrequented shores of Africa and elsewhere; there they congregate to breed and bring up their young I have seen twenty or thirty acres of land coether as close as they could sit Every year they resort to the same spot, which has probably been their doht say since the creation They make no nests, but merely scrape so as to fors The consequence of their always resorting to the sas of the birds and the re, a deposit is made over the whole surface, a fraction of an inch every year, which by degrees increases until it is sometimes twenty or thirty feet deep, if not more, and the lower portion becouano, and has, from time immemorial, been used by the Peruvians and Chilians as manure for the land; it is very powerful, as it contains most of the essential salts, such as ariculture
Within these last few years saland, and as the quantities ht for and found, no doubt ittrade Here comes Mr Fairburn; I hope he intends to continue his notices of the Cape settlement”
”They have interested me very much, I must confess; he appears well acquainted with the colony”
”He has had the advantage of a long residence, and during that tiht into all the public documents: this you may be certain of, that he knows more than he will tell”
As soon as Mr Fairburn joined them, Alexander requested him to continue his narrative, which he did as follows
”You lish had now possession of the colony, every thing went right; governors who are appointed to the control of a colony require to be there some time before they can see with their own eyes; they must, from their want of information, fall into the hands of some interested party or another, ill sway their councils Thus it was at the Cape
”It is true that ood had already been done by the abolition of slavery and the emancipation of the Hottentot; but this was effected, not by the colonial government, but by the representations of the missionaries and an influential and benevolent party at hoainst the Hottentots, and particularly the Caffres, still existed, and were imbibed by the colonial authorities Com parties, were still sent out, and the Caffre was continually oppressed, and, in defiance of the government orders, little justice could be obtained for the Hottentot, although his situation was soive one instance to sho the rights of the Hottentots were respected by the Cape authorities in 1810,--previous to the emancipation, it is true, but still at a tis had been strenuously pressed upon the colonial authorities by the government at home
”When the conduct of the Dutch boors had roused the Caffres and Hottentots to war, there were three brothers by the name of Stuurth restored, which was chiefly effected by the exertions of these oa Bay; and the govern then Dutch, appointed Stuurman as captain of the kraal This independent horde of Hottentots gave great offense to the Dutch boors,--the more so as the three brothers had been the leaders of the Hottentots in the former insurrection For seven years they could find no coainst theed to serve a boor for a certain tiainst the wish of the boor, ould have detained them; the boor went and deive theh justice was clearly on the side of the Hottentots, an armed force was dispatched to the kraal
Stuurman still refused to surrender the e of the Hottentots, and were afraid to attack theained possession of Stuur been killed hunting the buffalo), and sent theainst all justice, they were sent as prisoners to Robin Island, where malefactors are confined They made their escape, and returned to Caffreland Three years afterward, Stuurman, anxious to see his family, returned to the colony without permission He was discovered and apprehended, and sent as a convict to New South Wales; for the governlish
”Such was the fate of the first Hottentot who stood up for the rights of his countryovernh the strides of cruelty and oppression are most rapid, the return to even-handed justice is equally slow Eventually the gross injustice to this overnment was procured for his liberation and return; but it was too late,--Stuurman had died a convict
”I have mentioned this circumstance, as it will prepare you for a similar act of injustice to the Caffres When the colony was in possession of the Dutch there was a space of about thirty thousand square miles between the colonial boundary (that is, the land formerly possessed by the Hottentots) and the Great Fish River This extent of thirty thousand square ed to the Caffres, and was the site of continual skir between the Dutch boors and the Caffres
”In 1811 it was resolved by the colonial government that the Caffres should be driven from this territory, and confined to the other side of the Great Fish River This was an act of injustice and great hardshi+p, and was proceeded in with extreed to leave all their crops, and turned out with great and unnecessary slaughter
”It may be proper, however, to state the causes which led to this Caffre ith the English At this tiotiations with a Caffre chief of the name of Gaika He was a chief of a portion of the Caffres, but not the principal chief, and although the English treated with hie his authority This is a very frequent error coe nations, who are as pertinacious of their rights as the monarchs of Europe The error on our part was soon discovered, but the governe it
”It so happened that the other Caffre chiefs for to the support of the English, had treated theht and conquered hi off, as usual, his cattle As this was a war between the Caffres, and confined to their own land, we certainly had no business to interfere; but the colonial governht otherwise, and an expedition was prepared
”The Caffres sent forwardtheir wish to re to submit to Gaika, as only a secondary chief, and whoard was paid to this relish troops were sent forward, the Caffres attacked in their hahtered or driven into the woods, 23,000 head of cattle taken froiven to Gaika, and the rest distributed to the Dutch boors, or sold to defray part of the expenses of the expedition
”Deprived of their means of subsistence by the capture of their cattle, the Caffres were rendered furious reckless, and no sooner had the expedition returned, than they commenced hostilities They poured into the frontier districts, captured several detached military forts, drove the Dutch boors froreat many of our soldiers and of the Dutch boors All the country was overrun as far as the vicinity of Algoa Bay, and nothing could at first check their progress”