[African sketches.] Narrative of a residence in South Africa ... A new edition. To which is prefixed a biographical sketch of the author by J. Conder

Front matter

London, E.MOXON. Dover Str.'JS34. NARRATIVE OF A RESIDENCE IN SOUTH AFRICA. BY THOMAS PRINGLK LATE SECRETARY TO THE ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. A NEW EDITION. TO WHICH IS PREFIXED, A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE AUTHOR, BY JOSIAH CONDEE. LONDON: EDWARD MOXON, DOVER STREET. MDCCCXXXV. LONDON : BRADBURY AND SWAN'S, PRINTERS, WHITEFRTARS, TO ROBERT PRINGLE, GLEN-LYNDEN, SOUTH AFRICA. MY FATHER ! I TO THEE INSCRIBE THIS PAGE ; AND SEND IT FREIGHTED, LIKE A COURIER-DOVE, WITH MANY A PRAYER OF REVERENTIAL LOVE, TO GREET THEE IN THY DISTANT HERMITAGE. IF SUCH SLIGHT THEMES MAY FOR AN HOUR ENGAGE THY THOUGHTS, INTENT CN BETTER THINGS ABOVE, THIS TALE OF TRIALS PAST PERCHANCE MAY PROVE A RECREATION TO THINE HONOURED AGE. SPRUNG FROM A STALWART LINE OF SCOTTISH SIRES, BE THOU THE PATRIARCH ON AFRIc's STRAND OF A YOUNG RACE, WHO WITH THEIR FATHERS1 FIRES SHALL ..ARM THE HEART OF THEIR ADOPTED LAND; WHO, FIRM YET GENTLE, GENEROUS, SINCERE," SHALL FEAR THEIR GOD, AND KNOW NO OTHER FEAR.

Chapter I

Government Scheme of Emigration to South Africa in 1819 — Arrival of the Author with a Party of Settlers in Simon's Bay — Visit to Cape Town — Author's Views ii- Emigrating — Voyage round the Coast to Algoa Bay — Disembarkation of Emigrants — Settlers' Camp — Excursion to Bethelsdorp — Caffer Captive — Hottentot Congregation — Sanguine Expectations of the Emigrants — Remarkable fate of two religious Polemics — Interview with the Acting Governor — Destination of the Scotch Party — Foundation of the Town of Port Elizabeth .... 1—21

Chapter II

Journey into the Interior — Mode of Travelling — Remarkable Salt Lake — Nocturnal Encampment in a Forest of Jungle — Route to Roodewal, a Military Post on the Great Fish River — Hospitable Attentions of the Officers — Visit from Mr. Hart — Journey up the River of Baboons — Groot Willem — Terrible Roads — Picturesque Scenery — Arrival at the Location allotted to the Party . . 22 — CONTENTS.

Chapter III

Survey of the Location — Name of Glen-Lynden given to it — Visit from the Deputy Landdrost of the District — A Sabbath in the Wilderness — Nocturnal Alarms from Lions — Extract from the Author's Diary — Guard of Hottentots — Clearing of Ground — Planting of Gardens and Orchards — Temporary Huts and Furniture — Purchase of Live Stock — Author's Various Occupations — Medical Practice — Instruction of the Natives — Intercourse with the Dutch-African Colonists ....'.. 34—4.

Chapter IV

The Location not adapted for extensive Cultivation — Application to Government for an enlargement of Territory — Excursion through the adjacent Country — The Tarka — Residence and Domestic Economy of a frontier Stock-farmer — Village of Cradock — Deputy Landdrost — Zwagershoek — Ravages of Hyænas — Rural Hospitality — Somerset— Mr. Hart — Extracts from Diary — Crops destroyed by Rust or Mildew ..... 50—66

Chapter V

Insurrection of Frontier Boors in 1815 — Case of the Hottentot, Booy — Oppression of the Native Race — Conduct and Fate of Frederick Bezuidenhout — Views of the Insurgents — Failure of their Schemes — Their Surrender — Pursuit of the Fugitives Desperate Resistance of the Bezuidenhouts — Trial and Punishment of the Prisoners ...... 67 — CONTENTS. V

Chapter VI

Disheartening Occurrences at the beginning of 1821 — Excursion with Mr. Hunt — Flocks of Springboks — Desolate Plains — Zureberg Mountains — Magnificent Scenery — Haunts of the Elephant — Valley of the White River — Moravian Settlement of Enon — Anecdotes of the Caffer Wars — African Forests — Elephant Sagacity — Return across the Mountains — Account of the Slaughter of the Elder Stockenstrom on the Zureberg by the Caffers 78 — 105

Chapter VII

Interview with the Acting Governor at Somerset — Further Enlargement of the Location — Excursion to Albany —Appearance of the Country near the Coast — Situation of the Albany Settlers in July, 1831 — Predatory Bushmen — Mulatto Hottentots settled at Glen-Lynden — Their Character — Sub-division of the Location — Author's Residence at Eildon — Description of an Emigrant's Cabin — Privations The Ceded Territory — The Winterberg — Scenery of the Koonap River and its Branches — Excursion with a Party of Officers — A Herd of Elephants — Remarkable Escape of Lieutenant Moodie 106—131

Chapter VIII

Wars with the Wild Beasts ; Lion-hunting — Notices and Anecdotes of other Animals ; Leopards ; Hyænas ; the Hippopotamus and Rhinoceros ; the Buffalo ; the Gnu ; the Quagga ; the Ursine Baboon, &c. — The Secretary Bird — Hanging Nests of the Loxia and Weaver-bird — Serpents ; Antidotes against the Effects of their Poison — The Guana, and other Reptiles — Insects — Locusts — Exuberance of Animal Life . . . 131 — VI CONTENTS.

Chapter IX

State of Glen-Lynden Settlement in July 1822 — Road-making — Military Guard withdrawn — Arrival of Relatives from Scotland — Departure of the Author for Cape Town ; his Views there — Graaff-Reinet — The Sneeuwberg — Household of an affluent Grazier — Hospitality of the Inhabitants — The Great Karroo — Habits of the Ostrich — Gaol at Beaufort, and its Inmates — Journey along the Ghanka River — Transition from Sterility to exuberant Vegetation — Hex River — Arrival at Cape Town . . 167 — 187

Chapter X

Residence in Cape Town — Favourable Prospects — Professions and Character of the Government — Permission to publish a Journal refused — Commissioners of Inquiry — Mr. Fairbairn — Establishment of a private Academy — A Magazine and Newspaper commenced — Jealousy of the Government — The Cape ' Reign of Terror' — Suppression of the Newspaper — Discontinuance of the South African Journal — Persecution of the Editors — Suppression of the Literary Society — Conduct of the Government Press— Deplorable state of Society — Ruin of the Author's Prospects ...... 188—213

Chapter XI

Excursion to the Interior — Accident near Genadendal — Return to Cape Town — State of Affairs — Second Journey to the Eastern Frontier — State of the Settlers in Albany ; their Calamities and Privations ; their Treatment by the Government ; Subscription for their Relief; their Progressive Advance, and present Prosperous Condition ...... 214 — CONTENTS. VII

Chapter XII

Return to Glen-Lynden — Swarms of Locusts — Excursion to Graaff- Reinet, and Conference there — Colonial Slavery — Bechuana Refugees — The Ficani Marauders — Banditti of the Neutral Ground Notices of the Bushmen, and of the barbarous Policy pursued towards them in past and present Times . . 227 — 244

Chapter XIII

The Hottentots — Progress of Colonial Encroachments — Reduction of the Aboriginal Race to Servitude — Their Condition at the Close of last Century — Their Wars with the Boors — Oppressions and Cruelties — Colonial Redress — Case of Stuurman — Condition of the Hottentots during the Author's Residence in the Colony — Exertions of Mr. Buxton and of Dr. Philip for their Relief — Emancipating Ordinance of 1828 — Colonial Clamours — Account of the Settlement at Kat River . . . 245—280

Chapter XIV

The Caffers ; Their Name, Appearance, Mode of Life, &c. — Their First Intercourse with the Colonists — Conflicts with them in Bruintjes-hoogte and the Zureveld — Settlement of the Eastern Boundary in 1798 — Caffer War of 1811 — Invasion of Cafferland in 1818 — The Prophet Makanna — Attack on Graham's Town — Speech of Makanna's Pagati, and Fate of that Chief — Lord Charles Somerset's Frontier Policy, and Distribution of the Ceded Territory — The Commando System — Slaughter of Caffer Envoys in 1824, and of the Chief Seko and his followers in 1830— Recent State of Affairs both on the Northern and Eastern Frontiers — Treatment of the Chief Makomo — Change of System proposed 281 — CONTENTS. VIII

Chapter XV

Topics omitted — Progress of Christian Missions in South Africa — The Rev. Dr. Philip — Deplorable State of the Country beyond the Northern Frontier — Character and Influence of the Periodical Press — Mr. Fairbairn's Services in the Colony — Caffer Commando in December, 1825 — Anecdote of a Caffer Warrior — Conclusion of the Author's Personal Narrative, and his Return to England — Progress and present State of the Glen-Lynden Settlement ....... 343—356 A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE AUTHOR. BY JOSIAH CONDER. The name of Thomas Pringle deserves to be held in affectionate remembrance as that of a benefactor, in more than one region of the globe. Without power, without wealth, his abilities were so well directed, and the providential circumstances of his life, harmonising with the purity of his views, afforded such wide scope for his modest, but efficient labours, that posterity will be largely his debtor.

How few among the number of those who have devoted themselves to literary employ ments, have lived for so good a purpose, and left behind so unsullied a name ! There was in Mr. Pringle's whole course, a sort of dramatic propriety, which eminently marked its close : he died in the field of usefulness, at the moment that his specific work seemed to be done. The life of this estimable man was divided, by his successive residence in Scotland, South Africa, and VI LIFE OF THE AUTHOR. England, into three distinctly marked portions, all bearing upon each other, and tending to the same results. He was a native of Scotland, and his early years were spent amid the pastoral and secluded scenery which he has described with so much true poetic feel ing in his " Ephemerides." An unfinished letter, found among his papers, dated February, 1832, supplies some biographical details relating to his early days, which can not be better given than in his own pleasing language : — " I was born on the 5th of January, 1789, at Blaiklaw, (or Easterstead, as it was then usually called,) a farm house about four miles south from Kelso, in the parish of Linton, Roxburghshire.

The farm, consisting of about five hundred acres, of which one-half, or more, was wild moorland, belonged to the family of Wauchope, of Niddry. My grandfather had first be come tenant of it in 1759, and my father succeeded to a renewed lease of it, after his decease, in 1782. " Our family was originally from Selkirkshire, and, according to the tradition handed down by my grandfather, derived their lineage from the ancient house of Whytbank. All that I could make out from our family papers, however, when I took up ' the antiquarian trade,' was, that my great-great grandfather was one William Pringle, who occupied the farm of Yair (now the residence of the Whytbank family,) as a ' tenant ' under the laird, whose ' cousin' or kinsman he is reported to have been ; and that he lived in an old tower, or peel, at the foot of the Craig-hill of Yair, on Tweed side.

Some slight sort of intercourse appears also to have existed between my grandfather and great-grandfather and the lairds of Whytbank; but whether upon the footing of ancient consanguinity, I know not ; nor have I been able to trace out the relationship, in trying to ' count kin,' ' more majorum,' with the present amiable family of Yair, with whom I became acquainted during my last visit to Scot land. " Be that as it may, (and the matter is of very little importance in our times,) my ancestors, for four generations at least, had belonged to the class of plain, respectable Scottish husbandmen, and all their near connections were of the same class, or of a corresponding rank in society. My mother was the daughter of Thomas Haitlie, a farmer in Berwickshire ; and of my grandfather's seven sons, three were bred to farming, two were cabinet makers, one became a clothier (Scotice merchant), and one (the Rev. Dr. Pringle, still alive) was educated for the Secession Church, of which my grandfather was an Elder.

" I was the third child of a family of four sons and three daughters, which my father had by his first mar riage. It is said that I was a remarkably healthy infant ; but when I was only a few months old, I met with an accident in the nurse's arms, by which my right limb was dislocated at the hip-joint. The nurse, unfortunately, concealed the incident at the time ; and, though it was speedily discovered that something was wrong with the limb, and I was carried to Kelso for medical advice, the nature of the injury was not ascertained until a very considerable period had elapsed, and it was no longer LIFE OF THE AUTHORpracticable to reduce the dislocation. I was thus rendered lame for life. " My early reminiscences reach back to a period when I must have been about three years old, or little more.

I remember of being carried to Kelso when about that age, and being tormented by doctors examining my limb, and making me wear a red morocco boot, with steel bandages to keep it in some prescribed position. These appliances were of no advantage, and were, ere long, superseded by a pair of crutches. The latter I soon learned to use with such ease and adroitness, that, during my boyhood and youth, (when I generally enjoyed robust health,) I felt but little incommoded by my lameness. Nanny Potts, the old nurse in whose hands the accident had happened to me, never forgave herself for being the unintentional cause of my misfortune, and, to make amends, indulged me, so far as she could, in every caprice. I consequently ruled her with despotic sway, and soon became sufficiently wayward and headstrong to require strict discipline on the part of my parents to prevent me from being quite spoiled.

" When I was about five years of age, I accompanied my two eldest brothers, William and John, daily to school. We rode, all three, on one stout galloway, the foremost guiding our steed, and the other two holding fast each by the jacket of the one before him. We carried our noon-tide meal, consisting usually of a barley bannock and a bottle of milk, in a wallet; and my crutches were slung, one on each side, to the pommel of the long padded saddle (called sodds) on which we sat. The road ." Here the MS. breaks off. Had it been carried a little further, Mr. Pringle would have had to mention the loss of his mother, who died when he was about six years of age, and of whom he retained a most vivid remembrance. " His filial veneration seemed, indeed," says an intimate and early friend, " to increase with his distance from the time of his bereavement."

So late as 1812, he thus expresses himself in one of his letters : — " I recollect her distinctly, and particularly all the circumstances connected with the last days of her life. How could I ever forget the last kind and solemn words, the farewell smile, the parting embrace of my mother — of such a mother !" He often spoke of her, and of the great kindness also of one of his aunts, who seems to have attempted to supply, in some degree, by her maternal care, the loss he had sustained. Notwithstanding his unfortunate lameness, the natural buoyancy of his spirit, rising superior to the depressing impediment, gave him, in early life, the character of a lively, active boy. He was fond of gardening, and showed much taste in the arrangement and cultivation of the flower-plots of which he took the charge in his father's garden, where, in an arbour constructed by his own hands, he passed many of his youthful hours.

A small set of tools also furnished him with amusement ; and his mechanical skill afterwards proved of essential benefit to himself and his friends in the solitary glens of Southern Africa. Books were, however, his favourite companions, and, amid the scenes of his youth, his rural seclusion afforded him a favourable opportunity for acquiring that 6tock of knowledge and reflection which a3 X became the foundation of his future success in the varied walks of literature, and of his social usefulness. A village school, belonging to the parish of Moor battle, was the one referred to in his own MS. fragment, to which he daily repaired with his brothers. He was initiated into the rudiments of Latin in Kelso Grammar- School, under the care of Mr. John Dymock, afterwards one of the masters of the High School at Glasgow.

He entered this school in the autumn of 1802, when he was in his fourteenth year. In November, 1805, he was sent to Edinburgh to complete his studies, where he passed through the usual course of collegiate education. An honourable testimony is borne to his amiable and exemplary character at this period, by a class-mate, with whom he formed a close and lasting intimacy, their parents having arranged that they should lodge together in the same house. " Among the remem brances of the first evening we spent together,11 says this friend, now a respected clergyman of the Church of Scotland *, " it may deserve notice, that, on comparing our attainments in literature, he mentioned with peculiar delight, Park's ' Travels1 and Campbell's ' Pleasures of Hope;' quoting that fine passage in the latter which ends with the line, " And Freedom shrieked when Kosciuzko fell."

It must have seemed very unlikely, at that time, that a young man suffering from incurable lameness, should * The Rev. Robert Story, minister of Roseneath, Argyleshire. become a traveller ; but the congenial enthusiasm which the adventures of the African Traveller awakened in his mind, peculiarly fitted him for assisting in laying the foundations of a new colony in the wilds of Southern Africa; while, in his admiration of Campbell's verse, may be traced the germinating love of freedom and abhorrence of oppression, which became the ruling passion and determining motive of his future life. " My first impressions of his mind and heart,11 con tinues this same friend, " were deepened by every opportunity I had during a long friendship and confi dential intercourse with him. His warmth of affection, his ingenuousness, and his integrity were, at the very commencement of our fellowship, as truly revealed to me in his sayings and doings, as if I had known him for years.

There was such a reality in the beautiful morale of his nature, that conveyed to you at once the impres sion of his being worthy of confidence and love. When at college, he was of studious habits, and attended dili gently to the duties of his different classes ; and although he did not make a brilliant figure, his appearance was already respectable, when examined by the Professor. He did not, however, although studious, extend, as he might have done, his classical knowledge. His readings during the hours not engaged in the preparation of the lessons of the day, consisted chiefly in the belles lettres of his mother tongue. He was much more conversant with English poetry and criticism at the time, than students of his standing generally were; and he had not been many months in town (Edinburgh), before he assisted in organising a small weekly club, where his LIFE OF THE AUTHOR. general attainments were available, either in himself producing, or in criticising, an essay in prose or in verse, written by the members in turn.

His habits were exceedingly correct, as his thoughts and feelings were most pure; while, amid the trials of an academic life, his devotional bias lost little of its power. During the whole session, alternately with his companion, he con ducted worship in his apartment, after the fashion of devout Scottish families; thus reverently observing the practice of his fathers. On Sundays, he generally attended public worship in the meeting-house of Dr. M ' Crie, the well - known biographer of Knox and Melville. The session closed, he returned, with an increased admiration and love, to the scene of his nativity. I never knew any one who had a more intense delight in looking at nature. He seemed to find a life and loveliness in every thing, — to have a capacity of sympathy with all the varieties of beauty and grandeur.

Although lame, he had a passion for ascending hills. The top of Hounam-law was to him especially consecrated ground, from which he could command such prospects of the traditionary country, of the legends of which he was now acquiring rapidly the knowledge. He reluctantly left the country for the succeeding term, during which his habits were but little changed. To the country again returning, he made many a pilgrimage to classical spots in Teviot Dale. One of these, to St. Mary's Loch, in which I accompanied him, formed the subject of a poem after wards published in the Poetic Mirror, under the title of ' The Autumnal Excursion.' " As he advanced in his studies, he had great difficulty in fixing on any profession. His lameness interposed obstacles to some ; his tastes and habits to others. In this state of indecision, it may be easily supposed, his studies, having no definite object in view, became rather desultory ; and there can be no question that, at this period, occurred the great practical error of his life, the rejection of the claims of each profession, and a too great confidence in the profitableness of literary employment of some kind or other."

In February, 1808, Mr. Pringle was engaged by Mr. Thompson, deputy registrar, as a clerk in the service of His Majesty^ Commissioners on the Public Records of Scotland. His employment was to assist, for so many hours a day, in transcribing the old records. " Such an employment," continues his friend, the Rev. Mr. Story, " unless when it occasionally gratified his anti quarian taste, was most repugnant to the natural bias of his mind, and altogether alien from those studies and mental exercises in which he especially delighted. He had, however, an ardent and enthusiastic temperament ; and although often bodily exhaustion, after the daily labour of transcription, seemed to incapacitate him for every literary pursuit and enjoyment, he would, after a little interval of repose, with all the freshness of early morn, commence his reading or writing in prose or verse ; and it was astonishing how the fruit would, from time to time, appear, in the various knowledge and information he would cast into the circulation of every literary party.

" The character of his daily occupation for several years, — his passionate love of nature and rural scenery, which he could but seldom gratify, — the dreamy tendency of his fancy, — the wanderings of his soul amid happier combinations of things, — may account for those feelings of a sombre description, to which, during this period, he was occasionally subject. The entire uncer tainty of his future prospects, — the difficulty of fixing on any plan of life, from his unprofessional status, — the perils of a merely literary life, — the difficulties under which others were labouring, in whom he took a deep interest, — all conspired to render more frequent the attacks of depression alluded to. Notwithstanding all this, his private letters at this period are never without tokens of great buoyancy of spirit; and, after melan choly details, some lively stroke of wit or playful humour would at once originate an entirely different train of emotions."

To how many a young man, of cultivated mind and ardent feelings, the practical mistake of embarking in life as a literary adventurer, without the insurance of a profession, has proved fatal ! Every year, the metro polis is receiving and engulfing a redundant supply of literary talent, for which there is no demand, except in the available shape of professional skill, or some definite employment. Every profession, indeed, is now crowded with competitors for the slow fruits of intellectual labour and application ; but, if the high-way to competence and distinction presents such obstacles to advancement, there is all the less chance of succeeding by the indirect paths of desultory and unprofessional employment. The profits of a trade or profession, however small, are cheaply earned and certain, in com parison with the precarious wages of literary labour.

In the beginning of 1817, Mr. Pringle undertook, in conjunction with Mr. James Cleghorn, the editorship of a new periodical publication, the Edinburgh Monthly Magazine ; which, subsequently, falling into other hands, assumed the title of Blackwood1s Magazine*. It will not be thought to detract any thing from Mr. Pringle's merit or virtue, that he was deemed an unfit instrument for converting a literary periodical into a vehicle of political satire and party animosity f. In October of the same year, he transferred his services, as joint-editor, to Constable's Edinburgh Magazine ; and he thus became involved in a literary warfare, very uncongenial to his disposition. It was during this to him eventful year, that Mr. Pringle ventured upon a step which, while it increased his responsibilities and difficulties at the time, was a source of permanent happiness.

On the 19th of July, 1817, he married Margaret Brown, daughter of the late William Brown, farmer in Papple, East Lothian. * For some time before and after his engagement with Blackwood, Mr. Pringle edited the Star Newspaper, then almost the only liberal paper in Scotland. f " The causes which led to the dispute with Blackwood," says a friend, well acquainted with all the circumstances, " are now of little consequence; though I may mention, that if Mr. Pringle would have consented to shake off his friend, Mr. Cleghorn, he might have ob tained the sole editorship of the magazine, on much more favourable terms as to pecuniary remuneration. A proposal to this effect was indignantly rejected ; and hence the torrent of abuse by which he was assailed by his less scrupulous successors in the management of the work."

" Amid all my difficulties and harassing toil since my marriage," he says to an intimate friend, in the last letter he wrote before sailing for the Cape, after having experienced, amid various trials, the devoted love of her on whom he had fixed his affections, " I have never, for a single moment, had reason to repent of my decision." In addition to the anxiety which the uncertainty of his own prospects might have awakened, the circumstances of his father's family, to which he alludes in his African Sketches, weighed upon his mind, and led him to form, at length, the resolution to embark his own fortunes, with those of his relatives, in the Government scheme of South African Colonization. He had been a most affectionate son and brother, as he now proved a most tender husband ; and he had long strained every nerve to be of some benefit to his relatives.

No means, however, of re-establishing them in rural independence presented itself, but emigration ; and the Government scheme held out advantages, of which Mr. Pringle thought it so advisable for them to avail themselves, that he offered to accompany them, should they determine to proceed to the Cape. In the letter above mentioned, in which he refers to his marriage, after enumerating several reasons that had influenced his determination to go out to South Africa, he adds : " It affords me, moreover, the consolatory prospect of re-uniting my father's family, which fortune has so widely dispersed, into one circle and society, in my own immediate neighbourhood." As to his personal views and prospects, he tells us himself, that his literary drudgery was little to his taste. " My connexion with the journals," (Blackwood and Constable's,) he says, " had been prejudicial, rather than otherwise, to my views in life, and had given me, moreover, a decided aversion to literature, or, at least, to periodical literature, as a profession."

His heart, to use the words of a friend, was constantly wandering away from the " din and smithery" of the literary workshop, to ' The scented heath, the sheafy vale, The hills and streams of Teviot dale." His love of the country was not a sentiment of the fancy, but a craving of the heart after the native element of his tastes and affections ; and, though one of the most social of human beings, the free desert, where " Man is distant, but God is near, seems to have been more congenial to his spirit, than the sickening warfare of envious competition and mercenary rivalry connected with a literary life. In the beginning of 1819, Mr. Pringle first ap peared before the public by name, as the author of a small volume of poetry, under the title of " The Au tumnal Excursion, and other Poems." The scene of the excursion is laid in the pastoral dale which was the home of the author's heart and fancy, and which has become celebrated as the very cradle of Scottish song.

Of the Miscellaneous Pieces, the greater part were early productions, composed amid the scenes they describe, to amuse the summer solitude of college vacations. Warmth and delicacy of feeling, a correct taste, and the genuine enthusiasm of a lover of nature, characterise this pleasing, unpretending volume; but, had not its author been spared to establish his reputation by the riper fruits of his genius and the more important labours of his after-life, his name would not long have been preserved by the fugitive document which contained his claim to a poet's immortality. After maturely weighing the advantages which the Cape seemed to offer, as compared with other British colonies, Mr. Pringle's friends made their election, and empowered him to apply on their behalf to the Colonial department.

The little band of emigrants, of which he thus found himself constituted pro tempore the head and leader, was composed of twelve men (including three farm servants), six women, and six children. As he was not fitted to become an agricultural settler, what he proposed to himself was, to obtain some moderate appointment in the civil service of the colony, and probably in the newly-settled district ; and through the kind intervention of his respected friend, Sir Walter Scott, he was furnished with a letter of recommendation from Mr. Goulburn, then Colonial Secretary, to the Governor of the colony, which seemed to warrant the modest expectations he cherished. Little did Mr. Pringle anticipate that he was about to commit himself to an unequal contest with a Governor in whose eyes the establishment of a free press was a crime, and a sus pected leaning to liberal sentiments an offence inexpiable, sufficient to entail ruin upon the unconscious offender.