with British civilisation,
they moved on from Natal, whence they were chased by the Union Jack,
and settled themselves first in land captured from King Umziligatze,
secondly in Lydenburg and Dekaap, and thirdly in the Zulu country.
The history of this Zululand expansion remains to be told. At
present it is interesting to follow the geographical growth of the
state which has become so troublesome, and whose self-assertion has
increased according to its size.

Originally each Boer was entitled to a farm with a minimum of 6000
acres of the "Transvaal," and this custom of apportioning 6000-acre
farms lasted as long as the Kaffir lands lasted. The Boers, always
working on the principle that "God helps those who help themselves,"
helped themselves freely, sometimes with bloodshed and sometimes
without, until they became owners of vast tracts of country, whose
boundaries had never been discussed, far less fixed.

Land was apparently cheap at that time, for trustworthy authorities
declare that it was purchasable at from a farthing to a penny per
acre.

The area of the Transvaal before the Boers began to migrate there
has been eloquently described as the hunter's Arcadia. Mr. Gordon
Cumming gives a graphic account of the scene:--

"It was truly a fair and boundless prospect. Beautifully wooded
plains and mountains stretched away on every side to an amazing
distance, until the vision was lost among the faint blue outlines of
the distant mountain ranges. Throughout all this country, and vast
tracts beyond, I had the satisfaction to reflect that a never-ending
succession of herds of every species of noble game which the hunter
need desire pastured there in undisturbed security; and as I gazed I
felt that it was all my own, and that I at length possessed the
undisputed sway over a forest, in comparison with which the tame and
herded narrow bounds of the wealthiest European sportsman sink into
utter insignificance."

The number of elephants and lesser game bagged by Mr. Gordon Cumming
after this touching meditation fully bore out his hopes.

But the most interesting account of the Transvaal, before the
invasion of white men, is to be found in Captain William Cornwallis
Harris's account of his expedition into the interior of South Africa
in the years 1836 and 1837. He paints the new country in colours
lively and alluring:--

"Instead of the dreary waste over which we had lately passed, we
might now imagine ourselves in an e