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RAMBLES BEYOND RAILWAYS; Rambles Beyond ...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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The Cape And The Kafirs. The Cape And Th...
apprehend from that side ; the danger lies on the side of flippancy and showiness . On the misgovernment of the colony , Mr . Cole speaks plainly , strongly , and what he says on this topic is sound and sensible ; but we are sick of colonial Government abuses , and prefer turning to the other subjects ' of this volume . Here , for example , is a peep at the
KELIGIOtrS FESTIVALS OF THE MALAYS . «' Their religious festivals are very extraordinary , and , I suppose , very grand ; but the comic parts of them always struck me so forcibly ( from some defect , perhaps , of my own organization ) , that their grandeur was quite lost to my mind . I went to one first in Cape Town . It was evening , and I was conducted into a large room , with a small space railed off for spectators . Candles were stuck in silver sconces , fastened to the walls in profusion , amid garlands of flowers innumerable . Round the room were several old Malays , squatting on mats , and dressed in gala costume . In the centre of the
room a quantity of perfume was burning . Three or four younger Malays kept marching round the room , and they and the old gentlemen aforesaid kept up a sort of grunting , whining chorus , which at first I took to be indications of severe pain in the abdominal regions , but was afterwards informed that they were chanting sentences from the Koran . Suddenly the young gentlemen began to throw themselves about in the most gladiatorial attitudes , singing faster than ever . Thereupon the old gentlemen shouted much louder , as though the internal agonies has vastly increased . Then the young men stripped off their shirts , and I thought they were going to have a regular set-to . ' My friend Jones irreverently cried 'Go itV and offered to back the little
one with the flat nose against the lot . But they were not going to box at all ; they only danced , and jumped * and shouted , till they left little pools of sudorific exhalations on the floor . Then a boy came , shouting awfully . Jones cried Turn him out ! ' and at the same moment two of the young men seized the boy , and plunged a sharp instrument like a meat skewer through his "tongue—at least , so it appearedand they led him round to the admiring spectators with the skewer projecting through his tongue . Jones pronounced it' too bad , ' and hinted that he should like to ' punch the head' of thcrfellow that did it ; but the boy looked quite happy and contented with his tongue on a tkewer , so that no doubt there was some deception , which , however , defied our
de-. " As soon as this interesting youth had departed , one of the young men took a dagger and plunged it into the fleshy part of his side , just above the hip , and then -walked round and showed himself . There were a few drops of blood , apparently flowing from the wound , in which the dagger was left sticking . Jones informed him , gravely , that he would have a terrible ' pain in the side , ' and offered to prescribe for him from a valuable recipe of his grandmamma's . Another man thrust a skewer through his cheek , and came and showed himself also . Then some red-hot
chains were brought in , and thrown over an iron beam , when another of the Malays seized them with his bare hands , and kept drawing them fast over the beam . All the while that these exhibitions were taking place , the Malays kept up their hideous shrieking of the Koran sentences , all of them shouting together , and louder and louder the more horrible the experiment was being tried . The noise , the sight , the weapons , and the red-hot chains together , formed a scene bordering on the diabolical ; except that there was such evident jugglery in the whole affair , and the p late was so constantly handed round for money , while the comments of my cockney friend were bo absurd , that the ludicrous predominated greatly over the horrible . What the meaning of it all was I have not the remotest idea , nor did I ever meet any one who could explain it . "
Mr . Cole speaks highly of the Boers : — " The Dutch boers are in person the finest men in the colony . I have seen them constantly from six feet two to six feet six inches in height ; broad and muscular in proportion . Occasionally they rench a height and size bordering on the gigantic . Their strength is immense ; and though n peaceablydisposcd set of men , they at all times entertain a considerable feeling of contempt for uny diminutive Euglander , ' The Hottentots look up to them with great reverence ,, as such upuny race ofsavages might
be expecti ' d to do . At the time of the rebellion of the boera ( as it hiiH boon unjustly termed ) the Government thought of employing the Capo Corps , which is composed principally of Hottentots , against them ; but they were warned by those who knew the character of the latter people well , that thoy would never show fight against men for whom they naturally felt such dread ns for tho boers , men whose prowess they well know , and whoso unerring aim with their long guns thoy h : ul witnessed too oluui to wish to become their tnn / eta .
" The bocra-nro groat udnurcrs of fonts of during , strongth , and activity . A ' mighty hunter , ' such as Gordon , Gumming , would be welcomed with open
arms by every Dutch boer in South Africa , Poor Moultrie , of the Seventy-fifth , the « lion hunter par excellence , was one of their idols . So is Bain , the long-haired , ' who has made some half dozen excursions into the far wilderness in search of the lord of the forest and all his subjects . They hunt far more than the English farmers , and are , as I have said , ? crack' shots , though they use a great , Jong , awkward , heavy , flint-locked gun , that would make Purdey or Westley Richards shudder With disgust . , descend to
« The characteristics of a race certainly the fifth and sixth , perhaps the fiftieth generation . The Cape Dutchmen are the same frugal , industrious , sober people , as those of the parent stock in Holland . Their persons are far more altered than their mental peculiarities , though the * Dutch build' is still apparent . They are , however , terrible non-progressionists . ' They use the same plough as their ancestors used eighty years ago , though it is the most lumbering machine ever beheld , and requires twelve strong oxen to draw it . They often shear their sheep their backsthh their
with the wool all dirty on , oug English fellow-colonists wash theirs most carefully , and thereby get far higher prices for their wool . ^ They reject steam-mills , and adhere to some indescribable antediluvian contrivance for pounding , instead of grinding their corn . A flail is unknown to them , and the coin is trodden out to this day by horses or oxen , as described , or alluded to , in the laws ^ of Moses , whereby the straw is entirely spoilt . Their churns I have before alluded to . When first I saw one , with a dark damsel at work at it , I took it for a blacksmith ' s bellows , and wondered where the fire was .
" Not the least pleasing characteristic of the Cape Dutch is their family affection . To the second and third generations they live at the same homestead , building an additional hut for each newly-wedded couple . They marry young , and have generally very large families ; and , as many of them live to a great age , it 13 no uncommon thing to see a grandfather and grandmother of ninety surrounded by half a dozen sons , having in their turn each one half a dozen grown-up children . They appear to be truly ? happy families . '"
The following we particularly recommend to those pious and perspiring frequenters of Exeter-hall , whose eloquence and sympathy escape from the want and misery at their doors to launch forth into gigantic efforts to " reclaim the heathen "—a black heathen being a more pitiable object than a white—? ' The Hottentot is evidently of the same family ( the Bushmen ) , but he is rather a finer animal , and slightly superior in mental capacity . Unfortunately , civilization has not done much for him . Wore we to believe all that missionary meeting * tell us in England , we should imagine that the benefits conferred bv the missionaries on society in South Africa were
beyond all price . I am sorry to be obliged to protest against any such supposition . I am well aware that these well-meaning gentlemen could bring a wonderful array of figures against me ; but perhaps no two things differ more widely than 'figures' and ' facts . ' Out of every hundred Hottentot Christians ( so-called ) I will venture to declare that ninety-nine are utterly ignorant of any correct notion of a future state . I speak from experience . I have frequently been by the bed-side of the sick and dying Hottentot , who has bc-en a constant attendant at some missionary chapel , and I have asked him whether he has any fear of dying .. He has smiled , and said , ' None . ' I
have asked him whether he expects to go to heaven ? and he has answered , * No . ' ' Where then ? ' ' Nowhere . ' I have endeavoured to explain to him that his minister must have taught him the doctrine of a future state of rewards and punishments . Ho has laughed , and Raid , that , perhaps , it might be so for 4 the master , but not for him ; he lies down and dies , that is all—that is enough . ' This I have heard over and over again from the lips of some of the ' ' Christians of missionaries—model men , whom they talk of and point out to every griffin' in the colony , and write long communications about to their societies in Eiigltmd .
" The reader , then , will naturally inquire why these men pretend to be Christiana at all ? I will answer him . There arc two ^ rand inducementsin the first place , the Hottentot Christian feels himself a more important person , from tho notice taken of him b y tho missionaries and their friends ; in tho second place , it in of very great pecuniary advantage to him . Each missionary station has a tract if land belonging to it , on which are built tho ghupnl , tho Ht'hool-houao , the minister's residence , & t : ' . K . Hottentot has only to go and attend the school undcluinel
regularly , and to play the devout well , when he will bo allowed to wqvX a hut on the land , and u small pieco of ground will bo given him as a garden . Ho will bo supplied with implements and seeds , and by doing a little work about onco a week he can thus live all tho rest of tho time ; in idleness . In a country where labour in so dour , ho can at nny timo cam a few shillings on the nearest farm , if ho wants any little luxury , and will condescend to do a day ' s work . But it is notorious that those people , living at tho missionary stations , uro the idlest and most useless sot of people in the colony , I ongo knew a mim who .
at a sale , purchased sixty or seventy head of cattle He wanted a herd or two to drive them home to his farm—a couple of days' journey off . He rode to a missionary station hard by , and offered ; first , fair wages to any two men who would come with himhe then increased his Offers ( seeing an unwillingness on the part of the people ) till they became absurdly large . No one would stir , though there were dozens living there in Titter idleness , and with no ties but those of sheer laziness to detain them . He then called d t
on the missionary , and beggehim o intercede and persuade two men to accompany him . That gentleman , however , declined to interfere ; and when my friend asked him whether he thought he was con . ferring a benefit on the Hottentots by encourag ing them in idle habits , he replied , that he never interfered save for their ' spiritual' advantage * which he thought would be more secured by their remaining in that peaceful spot—where , by the way , promiscuous intercourse between the sexes was winked at , if not absolutely sanctioned . "
Mr . Cole had an interview with Macomo , the Kafir chief , whose character he does not set up for our admiration ; nor , indeed , does he invest the Kafirs with any of the sentiment so fashionable when speaking of savages ; he thinks them fit for the gallows , and for little better .
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Rambles Beyond Railways; Rambles Beyond ...
RAMBLES BEYOND RAILWAYS ; Rambles Beyond Railways ; or , Notes * in Cornwall taken A-foot By W . Wilkie Collins , Author of Antonina . Second Edition , with illustrations by Henry C . Brandling-. Bentley . We never . saw the first edition of Rambles Beyond Railways , and , therefore , could not make you acquainted with its claims ; an omission we are now delighted to repair , for we have positively luxuriated in its charming pages ! Before giving free expression , however , to all the admiration this book has raised in us , we have a suggestion to make . A third edition must be called for ; and let us beg of Mr . Collins " that , in obeying the call , he cut out the foppery of that chapter , "A Glance at H istorjf through Dissolving Views . " It is _ the only blot on his page ? the only chapter that severe criticism can single out for blame ; but it is a chapter unworthy of one who has such genuine humour , and such imaginative power . The " machinery" has the twofold fault of being worn-out and unpleasant . It was always a jarring and discordant note in Thackeray when he spoke of hiny self as a " showman , " and made literature , as it
were , the feeble substitute for a theatre , while he lowered himself into a sort of Alfred Bunn . If a professed humourist could not be allowed such machinery , Mr . Wilkie Collins has less claim . Moreover , the machinery is a mistake ; instead of making history " light reading , " it gives it an air of solemn farce . To make grave subjects and dry details readable is not , perhaps , an easy task ; but it is very easy to make them unreadable , and no way more certain than to treat them with misplaced levity .
Having cleared our critical conscience of the one solitary objection we have noted against this book , we have now " our elbows free , " as the French say , to praise it , and to praise it heartily . Mr . Wilkie Collins , in company with Mr . Henry Brandling--whose illustrations , by the way , form an additional attraction to this volume—shouldered his knapsack and made a pedestrian tour through the , as yet , unbeaten track of Cornwall . Very many Englishmen have seen the pyramids—very few have visited Cornwall . It is untravelled ground , possessing all the romance of novelty and remoteness , coupled with the advantage of proximity and national identity .
Mr . Wilkie Collins has very rare qualities as a writer of travels—his style is eloquent , p icturesque , clear , and engaging ; his humour is quiet , genuine , unaffected , unobtrusive ; his eye is open to moat things without dwelling upon trivialities ; he has no pretension , no verbosity , no terrible ambition ot "fine writing" or " profound thinking "; and , except in the instance we have already commented
on , his taste is admirable . You are carried throng these pages , as through a succession of delig ht ! iu scenes ; thero is no sense of effort on the part oi your guide , consequently no weariness on y « ur own . Without having or pretending to have anything of importance to communicate , without ; a single " adventure , " without a " purpose , " witn nothing but the charm of style conveying the actual observations of a cultivated inun in an unfrequented
part of our dominions , there is , nevertheless , move genuine pleasure to bo derived from these p » f ? than from almost any " Tour " we can recalto n » n «« It is a book to read and reread : a book to buy . Besides the legends interspersed , there is sor " pleasant information unpretendingly offered ; tn chapter on the Cornish people , and that on tno
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 7, 1852, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_07021852/page/18/
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