up with much to get them, even with my
father's fiery indignation.

I think it was on the fourth day that at length we pitched and rolled
ourselves over the shallow bar of Port Natal and found ourselves at
peace for a while under shelter of the Point in the beautiful bay upon
the shores of which the town of Durban now stands. Then it was but a
miserable place, consisting of a few shanties which were afterwards
burnt by the Zulus, and a number of Kaffir huts. For such white men as
dwelt there had for the most part native followings, and, I may add,
native wives.

We spent two days at this settlement of Durban, where Captain Richardson
had some cargo to land for the English settlers, one or two of whom had
started a trade with the natives and with parties of the emigrant Boers
who were beginning to enter the territory by the overland route. Those
days I passed on shore, though I would not allow Hans to accompany
me lest he should desert, employing my time in picking up all the
information I could about the state of affairs, especially with
reference to the Zulus, a people with whom I was destined ere long to
make an intimate acquaintance. Needless to say, I inquired both from
natives and from white men whether anything was known of the fate of
Marais's party, but no one seemed even to have heard of them. One thing
I did learn, however, that my old friend, Pieter Retief, with a large
following, had crossed the Quathlamba Mountains, which we now know as
the Drakensberg, and entered the territory of Natal. Here they proposed
to settle if they could get the leave of the Zulu king, Dingaan, a
savage potentate of whom and of whose armies everyone seemed to live in
terror.

On the third morning, to my great relief, for I was terrified lest we
should be delayed, the Seven Stars sailed with a favouring wind. Three
days later we entered the harbour of Delagoa, a sheet of water many
miles long and broad. Notwithstanding its shallow entrance, it is the
best natural port in Southeastern Africa, but now, alas! lost to the
English.

Six hours later we anchored opposite a sandbank on which stood a
dilapidated fort and a dirty settlement known as Lorenzo Marquez, where
the Portuguese kept a few soldiers, most of them coloured. I pass over
my troubles with the Customs, if such they could be called. Suffice it
to say that ultimately I succeeded in landing my goods, on which the
duty chargeable was apparently enormous. This I did by dis