MR FORBES ON NATAL.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 5529, 4 November 1879, Page 3

MR FORBES ON NATAL.

, j -Writing in the Dnily News. Mr, A. .Forbes ' says' :— Ttie J Vbluritec f rs '• axe r ' iili '■' . generis ,; the.y..haye little, in .common witli x the British; regulars. •'AWour 1 Volunteers arc mounted men, ''arid; 1 they- "are the sjtrangest mixture b .imaginable — among them is a considerable-infusion of Dutchmen, 1 perhaps, more Germans;^ sprinkling.' of Frenchmen, -a ;' large •■ proportion of Africanders,, as. the7colonial-born European" is and' V'good^ many\'e'mi-v. , grants from Homa x>f singularly diversified antecedonts.:i.'.Thi3 : colony.^.contains an t fextraordinary numberjof waifs and strays ivho have seen, better days at "Home, ' • |md who lmvb' w drifte'd'- i - down the world's gulf stream until,sftranded in Natal. 1 lij' seenis tlf « re^itge par' 'ex<jjlldhp'& of ; men " wjio, liave^ b'.eeii in 1 ' tfe servicei ! arid. • withwhom, from whatever ca'udes, times have '• pot gonefwell. I remember'the.ipridef q^ u 4 ,'crack light infantry regi- , pient, and -who was-.proud _of thei_rep_uta,ti.oa.pAteeyjg/pno r in London, 13 now lyiDgiait iii"the open'oii V ia Bection qfx^hjf^lrp.ntiep; •. living with a h&niful.orKafiirj^whQ^ea^^it^-hirn^and calthimfWißoss;" .jiMe; «ftft.'fll!a, i y.r)m£§i4 i gßrierfa^isJajitrarisßorfc'f qonduo.tftr l\p..r : t%i], jV^ty^'oSffip^'wherdin jlifamlvwri.fcingi.rr lln ; phe broken gentlemenj-c^exj] 's6rdiG^s *o^ r own : .and' islf-avdozgn lOSriilh'eiital 1 J armiesV, ( f armers^ wKdße-f apins i WK!#?W^«# ata* de^edy^soh-p careipgignyjg^Jp ' i y^()vjk )) loafers, wno"naver land some re«pje.Qtab)e^ypung fetjo^s: whpm^ inghUngaenJe^prjsefiha^ferQugbJv^uf^frQm jhomejißia^iiogetheifhinaitbieirgajngi^t^Qqp^ iThey*aife/ca&'nghting!imen^ j^f^tty.aimucJV; il fancy, what their officersbdnadaji.th.em4 {Some of them have— done good work. }Here? c tmder>> #»>iinaStei*MG aaoTdn/olUke Oolonel Buller, wtto'^B the faculty of holding and leading men, and makes him-

self pared without Jjjeuig^ ;heitea, tn'e I volunteer cavalry is a ingsV vamablo ele- , meni EteewJWe; ;Ivhave c^h^a£d ; j v( of detachments ihii are «seles&.from msiibordina'tfetf/rnnd pyer, tfhoti^^iheir^officerai hat'ej no control.- is fl_pj"ljrre lost between the rfrmy and the colonists*. The leading attribiiftei/^of-^A'tal^^ardnista, a'ceording to my;exnerienctej-«re\iin,tr,i\thfu.l ? nessj inaobrief Ji&VSgfer. f -f%'W "Tlji" ffia^ffdeirertoience^iofeith'eorrAtrxe^ric^nj CTfizen, wi'th^Wa p^rUcle of ihiif sblicitcvUS^, geniality. Theyif^ltt«!3kv-T*(n?neircif ! oflly. Iftpd1 ftpd cyniially-tJth^ : .^trangerj«Wjl!tfiiaji)MoJc'Ma^ broi/ght %ithin «their' gafesi*;.-. $key; base,; s'attifed-in ;tfeeircßrindjß,that r this, l Z,ulu Kusinesa jis' aiilnipiertfinf q(u,^tion, and 1 they ! set themselves with. & «fo^iii fby \'(f make the very I mbst' possible -> out ofi.arben©ficient( , Imperial Government. 1 ! -^Tha :price.-iof lias been raised— upon our militaryjonl:6ials: jef6l«e fivefold; ? Every colonist's lirifM'-is a'galn»fc ; th T e' r alriny!and'its be-, longjflgify tegufdipg it and-tJiem as fair game tQ"'f>{fla#e;iWt.ir'a! rwtnless -indolence' that! addsjgaliiip ekaotJowi^ Punctuality AS? an iui|:hqwn > ,quality. il in^Btiali ! . ,sb' far W-my experience 1 erpes. • to'liel* iratti 6'lioiee or sheer wantonness'. J The 1 '

proprietress of a wayside innj out of sheer, " cussedness," told" thet officers of the 17th" Lancers that she. wotf let prefer a visitffroni the Zulds" toafffordliiig them a repetition of the accommadatiotiof her house. ■ I have ; no acquaintance with fine Zulus, but, bar their effluvium and their assegais, I cannot ,'but think them preferable to the colonist** of Natal. I have never had any intercourse with a sfcnwmunity which, with more equanimity, I' weald serenely abandon to its fate, no matter whatsover lliab; might be—no, not even the Bulgarian 1^ whom I; consistently regard as jtrliat bv\Mß hazily termed "the ridcTlings of creation."^