oer
territories.

As we see, the Convention had declared that slavery would not be
practised in the Transvaal, but though the original declaration may
have been made in all good faith, the Boer by degrees, and after the
lapse of years, found it expedient to acquire native "apprentices,"
who could not change master nor task without permission. They began
to fear that these natives could not be dealt with, as they were in
the habit of dealing with them, without fear of comment from such
British visitors as came across them; and they therefore attempted
to block up the path of travellers, refusing them a passage through
the Republic, and in some instances ordering the expulsion of
visitors across the Vaal. About this time one of the most gruesome
of all the many massacres in which the Boers were concerned took
place. One Potgieter (not the Potgieter who was the rival of
Pretorius), in charge of a small party of thirty men, women, and
children, went forth to barter ivory unlawfully with Makapau, a
Kaffir chief. The Kaffirs, owing the Boers a grudge for many a day,
pounced on the whole party, leaving not one behind to give an
account of the awful tragedy. The chief Potgieter was flayed alive,
and his skin made into a kaross or cloak. The Boers were swift to
revenge. President Pretorius, with an army of some four hundred, set
himself to track down the assassins. The Kaffirs fled at the
approach of the enemy, enclosing themselves in a huge cave, where
they hoped to escape detection. This cave was blockaded by the
Boers. Here the unhappy blacks went through all the horrors of
famine and thirst, and when their agony became unbearable, and they
sallied forth in desperation in search of water, they were
remorselessly shot down one by one. Nine hundred in all were killed
outside the cave. Within was more than double that number who had
perished in the frightful agonies of starvation. President Kruger
himself was a witness of the terrible scene, and took an active
share in his countrymen's revenge. And this was not the first nor
the last time in which he figured conspicuously in the bloody
records of his country's history. It was only on the occasion of the
Jameson Raid that Oom Paul awakened to sentimental qualms regarding
the spilling of blood.

[Illustration: BLOEMFONTEIN FROM THE SOUTH.

Photo by Wilson, Aberdeen.]

THE GRONDWET

To thoroughly grasp the methods of the New South African Republic,
it may be interesting