together and marched against the treacherous
Dingaan, only to be beaten. But again they gathered their forces under
the leadership of Andries Pretorius, and on December 16th, 1838, gave
the Zulus a tremendous thrashing, killing three thousand of them.

"Then, having settled the natives, they built their farms and appointed
from their number certain men who were to form the Volksraad or
parliament of their new possessions. But again the British stepped in
and intimated that they would not allow an independent state to be
formed in the colony. The Boers resisted, and hoisted their flag, but
reinforcements were sent up-country, and in May, 1842, the whole of
Natal was taken over as a British colony.

"Now, had these hardy pioneers cared to live under British rule, they
were free to stay on their farms in Natal. But hatred of all things
English was as prominent in their hearts as their enmity for the
natives. Britons should not rule them, they swore; nothing but absolute
independence would suit them, and so once more they trekked away and
joined their brothers on the Zand River.

"One really admires the persistence and pluck of those brave fellows.
To an Englishman freedom and independence is a birthright for which he
is ever ready to give his life, and to these uneducated Boers
interference of any sort was detestable. Brought up in a strictly
religious way, the Bible was the only book they ever cared to read.
They had no ambition, no wish to rise in the world, and no desire for
riches. Give each one a wife and children and a farm right away on the
lonely veldt, where he could ride for miles on miles with his gun across
his shoulder and never see a house or man, then he was happy. He was
independent, could go and come as he liked, and had no cares and worries
to destroy his happiness. It was not much to ask for, and had he but
acted as our countrymen have always done, his simple, pastoral existence
would never have been disturbed. But again ill-treatment of the natives
roused the ire of the British Government, and the Queen's authority was
asserted over the whole of the Orange Free State.

"It always strikes me as remarkable that men so devoutly inclined, whose
honour and integrity were in those days characteristic of them, and
whose private lives were almost always so upright and correct, should
still forget that after all a native is but one of God's creatures,
placed in this world to live in happiness. But