that I should be disappointed in my wish to carry away with me some of their live birds and animals, and subsequently assisted me in procuring a nice collection, amongst them some weaver-birds, which, however, did not live long.
During one of my rambles about the farm, I caught sight of a cobra, five feet long, in a weaver-bird’s nest. I was fortunate in killing it at my first shot, and found that it had destroyed several old birds and devoured a number of eggs.
The time of this last visit of mine to the diamond-fields was a period of vast importance to South Africa. Events were then taking place which, as far as my judgment goes, could not have otherwise than a wide influence upon the country generally, especially with regard to the solution of the native question; I allude to the conflicts between the colony and the tribes on the east, and those between Griqualand West and the tribes farther still in that direction, all which minor conflicts were the forerunners of a great Zulu war. Another disturbing element was the annexation of the Transvaal by the British Government. My views upon this subject generally were stated in a pamphlet which I put into circulation at the time; and as a great deal of what I then said has actually come to pass, I hope I may be excused if I here refer to that little publication, which was issued not simply at my own option, but by the desire of several influential men in South Africa, to weigh the comparative merits of the several aspects of this subject. “Recent events,” I wrote, “clearly show that in South Africa, as in North America, England has taken greater hold upon the continent than any
