e governed by their laws, they struck out a line for
themselves and trekked away north into the unexplored wilds. Taking
their wives and children with them, and driving their flocks, they set
out for the unknown, seeking isolation from the British, and a country
they could call their own.

"Thousands joined in what is known as the `Great Trek of 1837'. Some of
the more daring of them pushed on as far as the Vaal River, which, of
course you know, is the southern boundary of the Transvaal, or South
African Republic, as it is called nowadays. They paid dearly for their
temerity, for the Zulus came down in swarms against them and massacred
every one of them. But the staunch Boer, with his dogged pluck, in
which he much resembles our countrymen, was not the man to be deterred
by first failures. He pressed on, but in greater numbers and with more
caution, and when the Zulus attacked again, beat them off and drove them
out of the neighbouring country.

"Others of the Trekkers settled on the Zand River, in what is now the
Orange Free State, while others pushed across the veldt, and finally
crossed the passes of the Drakenberg Mountains and came to a halt in
Natal.

"But these last were also to meet with trouble from the Zulus, for
whilst their leaders were bargaining with Dingaan, the chief of that
fierce native tribe, they were fallen upon with barbarous ferocity and
slaughtered to a man.

"Well, you have often heard it said that when the black man sees blood,
no power on earth can keep him in check. That was what happened now.
The fierce Zulu warriors had dipped their assagais in the blood of their
white foes, and they were not to be held back. Like a wave they burst
over the smiling landscape of Natal, and when the tide had ebbed
hundreds of hapless men and women had been sent to their last account.

"That was the commencement of all the bitter hate which the Boer of the
present day has for the native race.

"I think you have seen, my lads," proceeded Mr Hunter, "that dogged
stubbornness of purpose and undoubted pluck were characteristics of that
old Boer people. They never knew when they were beaten, and no amount
of danger and hardship would prevent them from pushing on for that
promised land which was to be theirs alone, and where they might live in
freedom and solitude, with no thought for to-morrow, and with no cares
to upset the calm and peace of the life for which they longed.

"They banded themselves