prose version will serve, better perhaps than one in verse, to convey to the reader some idea of its imagery and tone of sentiment : 66 He who is our mantle in the storm, the Giver of Life, ancient, on high, is the Creator of the heavens and the ever-burning stars; even UHLANGA (the SUPREME), high in heaven, almighty, who whirls the stars around the sky. We call on him in his dwellingplace to be our chieftain-guide; for he maketh the blind to see. We adore him as the only Good, the only rock of defence, the only trusty shield, the only bush of refuge. We adore UrìKA (the BEAUTIFUL), the Holy Lamb, whose blood for man was shed, whose feet and hands were pierced; for He, even He, is the Giver of Life, on high, the Creator of the heavens." Since the time of Sicana (who died in 1819), Christian missions have made most gratifying progress among the Caffer tribes. More than one chief of influence have recently embraced the religion of the gospel; and the prospect of this mild-tempered, high-spirited, and most interesting people, being at no remote period brought entirely within the pale of the Christian Church, is highly encouraging; although, at the same time, it must be confessed, that the colonial policy in regard to the native tribes, though improved since 1819, is still in several respects extremely objectionable, and calculated rather to retard, than promote their progress in civilization, or to increase their respect for the justice and morality of Christian nations. The latest intelligence, however, from the Caffer frontier is well calculated to cheer the hearts of the friends of Africa. We learn from the "South African Advertiser," (a Journal distinguished for eminent ability and steady devotion to the cause of Christian humanity,) that on the 21st of March, 1832, a public meeting of a most interesting character was held in the country of the Amakosa Caffers, at the Missionary station called Wesleyville. The chiefs residing in that quarter assembled with their followers to meet by appointment the commandant of the frontier, who was attended by a number of officers and many of the most respectable colonists of the district of Albany. The principal object was to afford the natives an opportunity of expressing their opinions respecting the advantages of Christian missions, which during the last ten years have progressively extended themselves throughout the whole of Cafferland. The proceedings commenced by singing a hymn and offering up prayer in the Amakosa language; after which the natives were addressed by the commandant and by other English gentlemen. Addresses were then successively delivered by the principal chiefs present, viz., by Kai the son Llhambi, Fundis the son of Dusani, Pato, Enno, Cougo, Kama, Numpethla, and Habanna. Several of the speakers displayed considerable powers of eloquence; and all spoke with feeling and effect in favour of the Christian religion, and expressed their full conviction that the labours of the Missionaries tended greatly to the improvement and tranquillity of their country. Two or three of the chiefs made some striking remarks on the singular circumstances under which they were now met that it was not, as in former times, to consult about a warlike expedition against the colony, or to encounter the calamities of a threatened invasion ;-but that they were now assembled with the Christians in brotherly confidence ; - that the commandant, whose hostile attacks had often occasioned such alarm and distress throughout their country, had come with the English chiefs of Albany, unarmed and without soldiers, into the midst of them; and that they themselves had ventured to meet them without a single assagai in their hands. This pleasing state of affairs they ascribed chiefly to the influence of the Gospel, which had truly turned their spears into pruning hooks; for at the moment they were speaking, the women and children were busy in their fields over the face of the land, reaping the harvest with the assagai and battle axe. The chief Kama, amongst many other observations, remarked that he rejoiced in the opportunity this meeting afforded of testifying, in the presence of so large an assembly of his countrymen, that he had embraced the Gospel that he was baptized, and was resolved to live and die a Christian; and he conjured those who heard him, of whatever race or colour they might be, who might be disposed to think or talk lightly of such matters, to reflect that they were beings formed for immortality, and to prepare themselves to meet their Maker and their Judge. The assembly was also addressed in appropriate speeches by the chaplain of Graham's Town, and by four Wesleyan missionaries present; and the interest of the meeting was fully sustained to the end, notwithstanding the inconvenience of using interpreters. The whole was closed by an impressive prayer, offered up in the beautiful and flowing Amakosa language, by the Chief Kama. I shall close this paper by subjoining a few verses, expressive of the supposed feelings of an Amakosa exile, such as some of those above alluded to whom I found in servitude or in chains in 1825, and whose kindred had perished in some of our devastating expeditions. Camalu is the name of a Caffer kraal or hamlet, near the sources of the Kat river; and my youthful Captive is supposed not to have been altogether uninstructed in the religion of the gospel, or uninfluenced by its pure, elevating and forgiving spirit. THE CAPTIVE OF CAMALU. O CAMALU green Camalu! 'T was there I fed my father's flock, Beside the mount where cedars threw At dawn their shadows from the rock; There tended I my father's flock Along the grassy-margined rills, Or chaced the bounding bontébok * * Bontebok, Antilope Scripta. Green Camalu! methinks I view The lilies in thy meadows growing; Methinks I see the geelhout tree* I see my sire! I had forgot The old man rests in slumber deep. My brothers too?-Green Camalu, Repose they by thy quiet tide? Ay! there they sleep-where white men slew No pity had those men of pride, They fired the huts above the dying!. -White bones bestrew that valley wide -I wish that mine were with them lying! The yellow-wood tree, podocarpus elongata, in appearance resembling the cedar. |