REVIEW.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 5467, 27 August 1879, Page 1 (Supplement)

REVIEW.

"In Tbnts in thb Tkansvaal." By Mra Hutchinson, ftiohaid Boutleyond Son. Works on the leas known of our Coicnies in South Africa are particularly welcome just now, when the Zulu War id attracting bo muoh earnest attention; and theae chatty letters of Mrs Hulohiuson's giye just those general details of the country and its inhabitants which are all tho ordinary reader wants to kuow. Those who deiiro to be informed of the resource, statistics, and proßpects of one of our latest annexations must consult a book with some graver purpose than this volume, in which the authoress oimply tells us the story of camp-life and travelling in the Transvaal. And if any officer's wife, after reading those letters, wilfully aooompanies her husband to the Cape, she must have more affliction than prudence ; for Mrs Hutchinson and her friends, the wives of olhor officers, endured hardships and troubles moro than enough to prostrate any lady. They began iv the hotel at Port Niital, where they had to partake of an abominable dinner, and of a still worce breakfast, and to repose on bods whereon to lie awake was to be poisoned with evil smells, and to sleep suffocation; and they continued in camp, where the food was of the plainest description, and had to ba cooked with very primitive appliances, and whore they were roasted by tha sun, numb:d by tha frost, and_ halfdrowned by the thunderstorms, according to the vagaries of tho climate, and frightened to prostration by the swarms of horrible inseoti that came booming in at tho windows whenever the lamps were iit. . Ths progress of the rcg:ment to whioh the authors husband bdon&ed.up the country was necessarily slow, ond she had opportunities of seeing mtnjj of those places the names of which have become familiar to na sinoe the outbreak of the Zulu War. Durban she deaoribea as a cheerful, bright-look-ing town, with clean and wide streets, and good and cheap shops j but the situation is low, and the -climate bo unhealthy that all who cau, live in the beautiful suburb called "The Berea," about nine miles distant, and the scenery around which is lovely, with multitudes of beautiful flowering shrubs and plants. Maritzbnrg, whioh the colonists call "tho oity," Mre HntoMnson rat hor irreverently calls "a olean, pretty little town, with an air of smartness abont it," and if her description of its situation is correct, the inhabitants would have bad a very bad time of it had the Zulus orosaed the Tugela aad attacked the capital after Isandula, as everyone expected they would. Between Maritzbnrg and Newcastle the perils of African travailing confronted the column. The roads are simply exeorable, and aro in faot not a whit better than the early bullook cart roads toa "rash "in New Zealand, being made in the same* way. That is, a waggon goes wheie it best can, and another follows it, until a defiued track up hill and down dale is marked out. In Natal it does not seem to be anybody's business in partioular to repair these roads; occasionally a few Kaffirs attempt it, but if the amusing description of their mode of prooedure given by Mrs Hutchinson apply gene wily, they are more economically paid, by the aiqount of their day's work than its duration. Tne roadside hotels are fairly comfortable, but terrible expensive, and the prices of come ordinary household articles fairly startling. Everywhere Mrs Hutchinson found the troops received with a sullon kind of •pathy. Considering that wa did not come here for cur own pleasure, it is a little trying to be asked, in every place we come to, wbat we came for and who wanted us. But I daresay we shall quite enjoy it .in time, as well as the unmistakably sour looks which accompany the query., We have already become insensible to the bints generally Expressed as to how the New Z-islandars were unable to settle their differences with the natives until the Imperial troops had been withdrawn and the farmers themselves called out. In fact the, "young people" out here are evidently dying to show how cleverly tbey can run alone, and ready to resent any attempt on the part of the old folks at Home to come to their assistance. Bhould the moment ever arrive when they may not only, be glad of, biitrsady to cry for help, I cannot but think it will teach them a vary wholesome lessen, even though some proud stomachs should have to digest a few lumps of humble pie in learning it. Beoent events have given these "young, people" more than a few lumps to digest. At Newcastle the rough life of the tents waa agreeably broken Into for • iiight by the offioers of the 80th Regiment, wbo entertained their oomrades and the ladles at their mess, and Mrs Hutohineon fully appreciated the luxuries of a tableoloth, and silver forks, wine-glasses, and dressing-rooms. The Newcastle people play orioket in a novel way :— This morning we went into Newcastle to see G—— witb a scratch eleven getting a beating from the Newcastle Cricket Club. This olnb ii quite the best in these parts, and is always on tbe look out for fresh viotims. Of course, there were but few tb play on our side, and they all felt rather strange at having to run upon eocoanutmattin&whichislaiddownbetweenthe wickets, as tbe grass is so coarse, and the ground so uneven and' full of holes. Myhusbaadtold me afterwards that, though of course not equal to turf, tbis matting made a very fair pitoh. The ball oame oS It very fast and true, and it was infinitely preferable, so he said, to many grounds at Home which coat muoh time and money. While at Newcastle, a Kaffir wedding took plapa:-—

The bride, surrounded by a whole bevy of friends, knelt on a mat facing tha dancers, and held a shield and a knife in ber hand. Her dress consisted of bead* arranged with great taste, and her bair was elaborately got up with the brass wire and palm oil ef the period. But what entertained ub the most Waa the Mate, contemptuous expression of her countenance, whioh was evidently the highest mode for Kaffir brides to assume, . . Every now and then some man or woman left the ranks of the dancers, rushed up to the bride, jumping and ?estulating violently, and shrieked out somebing at her, whioh, perhaps, it was just as wall we did not understand; bnt I believe it was some kind of badinage mora pointed than polite, which it is the fashion for Kaffir ladies to sit to hear on their wedding day. The bride sever took the least notice of these witticisms, except titat she often threw back hor hsad, and shut her. eyes with a most disdainful expression.

From Newoastle the maroh ls to Utrecht, and Mrs Hutchinson gives a capital account ot the races there, and, their pioturejque and Outlandish accomplishments. Looking down the course—with the surging crowd of heads and hum of voices, now suppresaad in a breathless pause, now bursting Into quite a roar of excitement, as the borsss and thoir jockeys, all of them well known ts most of the spectators, come with a burst over the plough round the final cornsr—it is difficult to persuade onesdf that we are indeed so many • thousand milea away' from home. The gay dresses, wonderfully improved by distance, dotting the grass with spots of brilliant colour (the Dutch ladles affect the brightest possible attire); the familiar shouts about the odds ; the dog—positively the dog itself—requiring to be exorcised from the course at tho laet minute, with the usual shouts and hostile demonstrations, and conclusively proving, by iti presence here, that its inevitable appearance on such occasions is in accordance with some rigid but unexplained natural lawwould easily lead vi to forget that we ars not taking part in some little couuty meeting, as would seem from tbo strong muster of red jackets, in some annual sporti at Aldershot or '-' some large garrison town. Tke intense hi at of the sun as midday approaches would gradually waken one out of suohdreamo, and tbe grandraoe for Kaffirs tbat terminated the proceedings could not fail to dispel the last vestiges of the dear illusion. .... -,* . '~ Thia eveot had been looked forward to by all of us during the first and second day's raoes with the greatest interest, and for an hour or two before it came off little knots of Kaffirs were assembling in front of the stand, their black good-humoured faces expresslog every degree of excitement and caiioßity. The competitors, numbering some 40 or 50, were all drawn up in the paddook, and favoured us with a war-dance, whioh, I sbould think, oould hardly have been the best preparation in the world for men about to contend in a race. For at least a quarter of an hour they kept up » steady succession ot stampings, gruntings, and yelis, while every now and then a champion roahed forth from the ranks, in the usual manner, to display his agility by a pas stul of iharvellouJ adroitness. Having relieved their feelings in a manner which could hardly have failed, one would think, to bave taken a good deal out of them, tbe whole troop waa marshalled to the starting-point by the landroot or magistrate, who, speaking Kaffir like a native, was well able to explain to tbem what they had to do, aa well as to restrain the ardour of the more impetuous. . After several breaks away, the whole band was despatched to a very fair start, and rushed down tbe course a compressed mass of blaok bodies, legs, and arms} little parties of Kaffir ladles—with their short frizzy hair, dyed aud plastered up with red clay, in honour of the (jooasiori-standing with their arms oh each other's necks, showing their dazzling rows of teeth, dslighted spectators of the scene. 'TW distance being only two hundred yards, the whole mob was pretty well together all the wav and it could have been no ea«y matter to „jdeoW« who breasted the tope first.--However, : 4-olslon of the judge when he awarded*:two ■: * teottww tot and moU prfw i mit grinning

from ear ti ear, tbe atblotes retirtd with 10 aud five thillitigs respectively, receiving the eongratulationii of their fallows as th<-y went. Truly these Kiffirs are very easily amused; and we are told, by thoie wbo have spent years in the study cf their character, tbat, if broken in the right way, tbey are not othorwlae than docile, and easy to rule, j

Mra Hutchinson has many good words to say for the Kaffir, in whom she sees much more than the mere "nigger"; and her rxperience of travelling in the Transvaal led her to prophesy that the light and active Zulus would easily surprise the heavilyweighted British soldier, ln faot we must credit her with considerab'e power of foresight, so many events having actually oomo to pass, ss sha expected even before tbo war broke ont. Of the Zulus we are told:—

They are a fine, well-made race of men. They are by no means bad-Jookirg, and many of them have pleaiaut, mill faoes, and obliging manners. They are comp-slled to wear clothes in tha towns, but tbe articles of dress aud the manner of wearing tbem fcom to be left mainly to thur own taste and discretion. Something to swear by is evidently the point insisted on; and a Kaffir may think himself well dreaasd if he can be accommodated, for instance, with a tall hat and a shirt, or an old mess jacket, or perhaps a dress-coat, with the fringe which they wear round their bodies very long and knotted, appearing: in continuation. Sometimes it is their legs that are covered, sometimes their chests—all different, and all enough to make you die cf laughiug. As tbeee worthies retire from the centra of civilisation, the garments with which their persons are adornud are to be Been disappearing by degress. Thu», within half a mile cf tbe town, you pass a man carrying hia coat; another quarter of a mile, and be has disencumbered himself of hia shirt and waistcoat (supposing him to be proud possessor of suoh valuables) ; the remaining artichs of his apparel follow in rapid succession, and a mile or to from town you fall in with parties of gentlemen clad in the severe simplicity of nativo dress, and carrying their 'wardrobes at the ends of their knobkerries.

There is not the least attempt at anything more than a chatty aoconnt of camp life and roughing it at the Capo in this volume, and the writer's free and graphio style and powers of description enable her to tell her story in a way that both arouses and instructs; and one puts down tha book oonsoioas of having acquired a fair idea of the country, the Kaffirs, and the Boers, without any mental exertion or conoentrated attention. It is interesting, novel, vivaoiooe, and deoidedly readable.