The White Chief of the Caffres

Chapter Seventeen

It was about two hours past mid-day, that a boat came from the shore, and a gentleman in plain clothes stepped from the boat on to the ship, and inquired if Mr Peterson was on board. I was sitting in the cabin, reading, and the gentleman was shown down into the cabin, and I was told he came to visit me. The gentleman, who was old, but tall and erect, looked at me very critically, and then said, “Is your name Julius Peterson?”

“Yes,” I replied, “that is my proper name, but I have been renamed by the Caffres.”

“You of course remember your father,” said the gentleman; “can you describe him to me?”

I gave a very accurate description of my father, and then of our compound and bungalow at Delhi. In reply to the gentleman’s inquiry, I gave the details of our journey to Calcutta, and of our voyage, shipwreck, etc.

“You have no papers, or anything about you, which could prove you are the person you represent yourself to be?” said the gentleman.

I laughed as he made this remark, for I could not see how I could be any one else but myself; when, however, I saw how serious the gentleman was in making this inquiry, I began to reflect that there was really no one who could know me, and that my own statement was the only evidence of my identity. After several other questions the gentleman informed me that his name was Rossmar; that he lived at Wynberg, near Cape Town; that he was well acquainted with my uncle, who had written to him some time after I had left India, to meet me at the Cape if the ship touched there on her voyage home. He then told me of the anxiety my friends had suffered when nothing was heard of our ship, and at last they had concluded that we had all gone down with the ship. Mr Rossmar apologised for having asked me so many questions, but he said that cases had happened where a shipwrecked boy, or man, had after some years represented himself as some other person, who really had been drowned, so that he had merely used common caution. He then congratulated me on my escape, and said that he hoped I would come to his house and make it my home until I received instructions from my father or uncle, both of whom he said, by last accounts, were well.

I explained to Mr Rossmar that I had neither clothes nor money, and was scarcely in a condition to accept an invitation to a house. He said that all could be arranged very easily; that clothes for temporary purposes could be procured, ready made; and that he would see to everything in that way, I thanked Mr Rossmar for his kindness, and having bid good-bye to the captain and officers of the ship, I stepped into the boat and soon landed at Simon’s Town.

Having been provided with a stock of clothes at a warehouse, Mr Rossmar drove me in his carriage to the admiral’s, where I stopped for a short time, and then started for Wynberg.

There are few more beautiful places in the world than Wynberg. Situated in the lower slopes on the east of Table Mountain it is protected from the south-east and north-west gales. The vegetation is luxuriant, tropical trees and fruits growing in abundance, as also those common in England. The houses are excellent and roomy, and the gardens gay with flowers. The merchants at Cape Town, when well to do, usually have a house at or near Wynberg, and Mr Rossmar, as I afterwards learnt, was one of the richest men in this colony.

On arriving at Mr Rossmar’s house I saw several ladies at the window, and was introduced by Mr Rossmar to his wife and four daughters. Although I felt quite at my ease when talking to the admiral, yet I was awkward when the young ladies talked to me. Mr Rossmar told them that all which had been printed in the paper about the shipwreck and my adventures was true, and that I was quite a hero of adventure.

It was not long before I overcame my diffidence, and was soon talking to Mrs Rossmar and her daughters as if I had known them all my life. They were much interested in the account I gave them of my life among the Caffres, and when I told them the details of my fight with the Bushmen and Zulus, they became most excited. To me the change from the wild rough life I had led was like coming to fairyland. The house was beautifully furnished; there were several horses in the stable, and having learned to ride in India, I soon was able to manage the most spirited horse, and used to ride every evening with the ladies. They were all excellent musicians, and this to me was a new experience, for in India we had very little music in olden times, and as a boy I heard nothing of even that little.

The story of my escape from shipwreck and my life among the tribes up the country was known and talked about all over the Cape. Many people there, although long resident at the Cape, knew little or nothing of the Caffres, their habits, or their country. Cape Town and its neighbourhood was civilised, whilst where I had been was wild as the wildest country. I was asked out to many houses in the neighbourhood, and had over and over again to relate some of my adventures. As is usually the case with ignorant and jealous people, there were some who thought I was inventing stories to astonish them: they did not believe that I had gone through so many strange and exciting scenes, and did not understand how such a boy, as I comparatively was, could have been made a chief by these people.

I passed nearly four months at Mr Rossmar’s house, the happiest that I can remember in all my life. Although there was no pretence even of study or of learning anything, yet I gained knowledge from hearing the questions of the day discussed; and from the habits of observation I had acquired in consequence of my life in the bush, I found that I noticed and remembered things which had entirely escaped the observation of all the others. This habit of noticing once saved the life of one of the Miss Rossmars. I was walking in their garden one morning, near a small flower-bed, from which one of the ladies intended to pick some flowers. The path on which we were walking was close to this bed. On the path I noticed a broadish smooth mark leading into the flower-bed. Instantly I knew this to be the spoor of a snake. I stopped Miss Rossmar from picking the flower she was just stooping to gather, and made her stand back. I with my stick moved the flowers so as to examine what was underneath. Just under the flower that the young lady intended gathering, a large puff-adder was coiled, and the reptile was evidently on the watch, as it struck my stick the instant I moved the flower. Had this reptile bitten a human being, death would have been a certainty. I killed the adder, and it was afterwards stuffed by a naturalist at Cape Town, and a small wax-work flower-bed was made to represent the scene as it occurred. If Miss Rossmar had been bitten by the adder, it would have been considered an accident, and probably an unavoidable one; but this case was an instance of how observation may avoid an accident. A Caffre does not believe in what we call an accident: he says it is due to want of care, or to want of observation. In the majority of cases this is true. Men in London get knocked down by cabs and waggons because they do not look carefully to the right and left before they attempt crossing a street. Every year numbers of people are drowned in consequence of bathing in dangerous places, or entering the water alone when they do not know how to swim. When we read of the accidents that annually occur in England we can see that a very large number are due to want of caution or insufficient observation. Living as I had done in a country where one’s life may depend on the caution with which even your foot is placed on the ground (for a snake may be there, and treading on this would be death) makes one old in caution and thoughtfulness though young in years.

The four months that I lived with Mr Rossmar taught me much. I was quite at home in society, both with the ladies and gentlemen. I had learned to speak Dutch fairly – for nearly all the servants were Dutch – but was ignorant of accounts, and of Latin and Greek, and consequently would have been considered a dunce in most English schools. Yet I knew more than most youngsters in matters of practical utility.

Cape Town in those days was the high road to India. Nearly all the large East Indian merchant ships used to stop at Cape Town, and the English letters used to be brought by these. It was a few days beyond four months after my arrival at the Cape, that a ship arrived and brought letters from my uncle in England, both to me, and to Mr Rossmar. The letter to me was very kind. My uncle said that I had been given up for lost, as nothing had been heard of our ship for so many years; but that if I decided, and my father wished, that I should go to England to him, he would be very glad to see me, and he thought it would be the best thing I could do. He said I should be quite a hero in England, as the English papers had copied from the Cape papers the account of my escape from shipwreck, and life in the wilderness; but that he thought I should have to work hard for a year or two at various studies, in order to be equal with other young men in my position in life. I found that my uncle had written to Mr Rossmar, thanking him for his kindness to me, and sending bills for five hundred pounds, for my use in providing an outfit, paying for my passage home, and any other things that I might require. It was thought advisable that I should not leave the Cape until letters reached me from my father in India; and I must acknowledge that I did not like the idea of leaving my present comfortable quarters. I had become very fond of the Miss Rossmars, and felt just as if I were one of the family. I had everything I could require – a comfortable house, excellent companions, a horse to ride, and nothing to do except what I fancied. The novelty of the life charmed me, and this perhaps was one reason why I did not have any longing for the sports and excitement that had formerly fallen to my share.

A few weeks passed, and then a ship was signalled as entering Table Bay from the East. This ship was an Indiaman, so I expected a letter from my father. Scarcely, however, had the ship cast anchor than a boat left her, and pulled rapidly to the shore. In this boat was my father, who on hearing of my safety had obtained leave, and had at once started for the Cape.

Our meeting was a joyful one; my father was astonished to see the change that a few years had made in me. When I left India I was comparatively a child. The open-air life I had led, the continued exercise and the healthy food had caused me to grow rapidly, and also to be stout and strong. The various dangerous adventures through which I had passed had made me a man in manner, and I had gained that important quality self-dependence, without which a man is sure to be a failure. My father listened with the greatest interest to my accounts of the various dangers through which I had passed. When I explained to him the life led by some of these Caffre Chiefs, he agreed with me that, except for the uncertainty of being attacked by some other tribe, no life could be more pleasant than that of a chief in that country. To possess a large herd of cattle giving a plentiful supply of milk; several wives who cultivated the ground, and thus supplied corn, pumpkins and other vegetables required for food; game in abundance in the forests and on the plains, and no king or prince in Europe could lead a more happy life than did a Caffre Chief. When I compared the life of even a rich merchant in Cape Town with that of a Caffre Chief, I could not but come to the conclusion that the latter had the best of it. A merchant would go to his office by ten o’clock in the morning, would be shut up there going over accounts till about four o’clock; he had not time for any sport or pleasure during the day, and on his return home, often seemed pre-occupied with the business, to which he had devoted his time in the morning. Then, again, losses of money would sometimes occur, and the unhappiness caused by such a loss, seemed far greater than when a successful speculation, caused temporary happiness. A Caffre’s wants were few, but all these he could supply, and his only anxiety was that relative to wild beasts, poisonous snakes, and invasion by an enemy.

I went with my father to dine with the admiral at Simon’s Town, and also accompanied him to several other houses, to dinners, and entertainments of various kinds. Soon after his arrival he wrote to my uncle, saying that he still wished me to proceed to England to have my education attended to, that he could stay at Cape Town about a month, and would like me to remain with him during that period, after which I should embark for England.

The month passed very rapidly. My father was also a guest of Mr Rossmar’s, for Cape people were famous for their kindness and hospitality, and seemed as though we conferred a favour on them by staying at their house. At length the ship arrived in which my father was to return to India, and I bid him a long farewell, for it would be five years before he could retire and come to England, where he eventually intended to settle.

I now daily expected the arrival of the Indiaman in which passage had been taken for my voyage to England, and five days after my father had sailed, the ship was signalled, and a few hours afterwards anchored in Table Bay. I had many friends to bid good-bye besides those with whom I had been staying. The parting was very sad, but I promised that if possible I would come again to the Cape, and stay a long time with my various friends.

A voyage in the sailing-vessels of those days had much more romance and interest in it than is now possible in a modern steamer. Formerly a ship was dependent on the amount and direction of the wind; there was always the excitement of watching the barometer, the clouds, etc, to discover if possible any change of wind; a storm was a greater battle than it now is; and the uncertainty of the duration of the voyage had its charms. Some sailing ships were nearly eighty days in reaching England from the Cape, others accomplished the voyage in a little over fifty.

We had a fair wind on leaving Table Bay. I remained on deck watching the Table Mountain gradually sink, as it were, on the horizon, and when darkness came on I went to my cabin below, and felt dull and miserable. There were about fifty passengers on board, mostly old Indians. My story was known to them all, and several were acquainted with my father; so I soon made acquaintances with my fellow-voyagers, and found the time pass pleasantly enough. We cast anchor for a day at Saint Helena, and I had an opportunity of visiting the most beautiful parts of that island. Our voyage continued favourable until we were within a few degrees of the equator, when the favourable wind died away, and we were left becalmed. This was not an unusual condition. The captain informed us that he had remained on one occasion ten days in these latitudes without moving a mile. The heat was very great, but as most of us had been long in India we stood this better than did those passengers who had merely joined us at Cape Town. I soon took great interest in catching shark. These sea monsters seemed attracted to the ship, and there was usually a dorsal fin seen above the water within a hundred yards of our ship. I constructed an arrangement for shark-fishing which was very successful. At the end of a stout copper wire I lashed a strong hook, and then, with a long line fastened to the wire, I could play the shark just as salmon-fishers play a salmon. By this means I used to catch a shark nearly every day. One of these was a monster ten feet long. We used to haul these fish on deck by slipping a bowling-knot in a rope down our line and over the shark’s fins; and we had great excitement when the creatures were hauled on deck, as they were dangerous to approach until they were killed by blows on the head, and their tail partly amputated with a hatchet. There were on board three gentlemen, who were good chess-players. I used to watch these play their games, and soon learned the moves and the manner in which the game was played, and before the voyage was half over I could play chess very fairly. I also learned from one of the mates how to measure altitudes of the sun, and how to find the latitude each day. This gave me a taste for astronomy, and I learned also the names of the principal stars. The voyage was thus to me a period of interest, and did not hang heavily on my hands; whereas those people who took no interest in anything during the voyage, were always wearied and cross.

As we approached England we met or overtook several ships: our vessel was a very fast sailer, and never failed to overtake any ship that we saw ahead of us. It was on the fifty-fourth day from leaving the Cape that we saw some land, which the captain told us was Ushant. Two days afterwards we were off Plymouth, and in another week were beating up the Downs. There were few steamers in those days, and nearly all the ships sailed up the Thames. When we reached Gravesend a gentleman came on board, who told me he had been sent from London by my uncle, who wished me to land at Gravesend, and travel by coach to London. I was really sorry to leave the ship, where I had passed two months very pleasantly, and had been treated most kindly by the captain and officers, as also by my fellow-passengers.

However, I was delighted with what I saw from the outside of a four-horse coach, as we travelled up to London. But London bewildered me: the noise, the number of people and vehicles, made me quite giddy; and though I could find my way for miles in an African forest, yet I doubted whether I should ever be able to walk alone in London without losing myself. My uncle lived in an old-fashioned, but very comfortable house near Highgate, and we reached that locality about six o’clock in the evening. The time of year was autumn when I arrived, and it was a lovely evening, the sun about setting. My uncle’s house stood in a garden, with fine trees round it, and at that time Highgate was quite in the country. A very dignified oldish man met me at the door, who I was informed was the butler, and who, having taken charge of my luggage, said that Mr Peterson was in the drawing-room, and would be glad to see me there. I was preceded by the butler, who opened the door with great solemnity, and announced “Mr Peterson.” My uncle was standing with his back to the fire, and at the first glance I came to the conclusion that I had rarely seen a more striking-looking man. He was quite six feet high, neither thin nor stout; his hair was quite white, and worn rather long. He must have been nearly seventy years of age, but was as erect and straight as a life-guardsman. His eyes were deep-set, and partly concealed by heavy black eyebrows, which produced a curious contrast with his snow-white hair. His glance at me as I walked across the room seemed to read me at once, and I mentally exclaimed, “He is a chief.”