a traveler_presents a very grand appear- || often so much depends. Dingaan was ance. The place is in shape an oval, sitting just outside of his cattle-kraal, in and the outward fence, made of straight a large old fashioned arm-chair, just bushes crossing one another in the shape brought him by Mr. N. He wore of an X, must surround quite a number cloak of red plush, with two rows of butof acres. The houses are large and ad- tons extending from head to foot in mirably constructed, in some places six front. A strip of the same was tied or eight deep, on the inside of this fence round his forehead. This is the place and around the inclosed oval space. where he sits every morning for the purAccording to another's account there are pose of attending to business. Some 1,000 huts in the whole village. Inside fifty or eighty men were sitting in a of the huts a certain place is devoted to semicircle on either side of him on the cattle-kraals; these are also oval in ground. During some minutes after we shape, and occupy much ground; but had approached near him, all was sistill a large green is left in the centre, lence. At length the chief sent his comfor the parading of troops, dances, etc. pliments to us, and wished to converse. In the circle of houses, at different dis- He examined minutely the articles tances, stand houses erected on a base- brought; the razor, the umbrella, the picment level with the tops of the others, tures, and the lock of a tin trunk given for the sake of preserving the shields him. A few beads also, a knife, a teafron ants and other insects. These canister, and some handkerchiefs were shields are all the king's property, and among them. He appeared much pleasare delivered to each soldier on going ed, and said he should like to see our out to war. The king's houses, larger wagon. This he inspected narrowly. and more perfect than any of the others, He found a piece of green baize, which stand on the eminence, and overlook the he fancied, and we gave it him. We whole town. These are separate from mentioned to him that it was the Sabthe rest and form quite a village. We bath, and that we rested from all secular were struck with the beauty and regu- business. He seemed satisfied, and exlarity of this, the chief's residence, as cused us till tomorrow. In the afternoon we came in full view of it from a neigh-he sent a goat for slaughter; and through boring hill, and were glad to have reached the abode of him to whom our wishes and prayers, for at least twentyfour months, had had regard. We could not qut feel that in the pride of his greatness and desire for gain, he might easily despise the servants of him who was meek and lowly, and who came with but a despicable present in their hands, compared with the gifts he had just received. But we came encouraged by the fact that the king's heart is in the hands of the Lord, and that we were conscious of none but good designs towards him and his people. Reception by the King-His Palace- his means probably the people were kept away from our wagon, so that our day of rest has not been so much interrupted as we feared. A shower of rain also gave us a season of quiet, in which we lifted up our hearts to the God of heaven, that he would have mercy on us; and we trust that in accordance with the promise, "Lo I am with you," he was with us to bless and prosper us. We had brought with us a small turning-lathe, supposing that it would give the chief a better idea of some things than any explanation of ours. Some rosewood upon the wagon attracted his notice yesterday, and an inquiry of his brought the lathe on the carpet. He must have it with us to-day in his palace, and see its operation in the turning of a The Sabbath passed much more pleas- snuff-box. He sent for us early to what antly than we had anticipated. We may be called his hall of audience. This wished to devote it to holy rest and is an apartment somewhat in the shape prayer, but supposed that duty would call of a triangle, with curved sides, surus before the king. He sent for us early. || rounded by a fence of wattled sticks Of course our present must go with us very ingeniously woven together, and as an introduction. Providence had high- seven or eight feet high. It has three or ly favored us, in that we had been able four gates, each one being surmounted to secure the services of the only white by the sticks passing over the gate-way man in the country who can speak Din- parallel to each other in the shape of a gaan's language well, and with whom semicircle, and continued down its side the chief is well acquainted. Of course to the ground. The king's house stands we were informed of all the minutiae of in the centre, well-constructed, and very introduction and formality, on which large, perhaps twenty feet high, but after all, only a Kaffer hut. The king's great chair or throne stands in this room. Beside it there is nothing but a mound of clay on which the king often stands to survey his town and land, no doubt with some of the pride of the Babylonian monarch. The king took us to different parts of his abode. It consists of apartments resembling the first, but usually containing three houses. He led us from one place to another till we were absolutely tired, and thought that if left to ourselves, we should find it difficult to escape out of the labyrinth. In one apartment sixty or seventy of his girls were dancing and singing, and that not without some harmony and precision. And it must be stated that we saw in his palace some 300 girls, of whom a few were apparently in the situation of servants, but the others evidently filled a different sphere. Corpulent beyond all description, their hips and neck loaded with beads of various sorts, and with no clothing on most, except a short coat round the loins, they present, in toto, as they drag their load over the ground, and in this warm weather, an appearance which excites in a stranger both ridicule and disgust. We crept into one of the houses at the king's request. The dark earthen floor bore a fine polish, and was as smooth as marble. It is smeared every morning, I am informed, with fat. The fire-place in the centre was constructed with much neat taste, and the roof was so wattled on the inside, as to appear like some well-braided basket. subjects, "Yes, father, O father, mighty chief," being appended to every sentence. He received a present of a file or two from Mr. Grout, whereat his eyes almost started out of his head for joy. At dark we came to our wagon, wondering at the good hand of our God toward us. 19. This afternoon the king sent again for the lathe. Another box was made, and again he tried his skill. But he was dressed out in royal style, i. e. beads of various colors and sizes depending from all his limbs, and various parts of his body; the colors arranged in good taste, and the monkeys' tails dangling about his loins. His dress shaking about the machine was some impediment to his success. This evening, in the rain and darkness, he sent for our interpreter. The lantern which he took we saw no more. The king sent us word that he wished to keep it, as he found it so much superior to the rush lights which they use. He sent us word also that he could not give us an answer till he had consulted his two chief amnadunas, or counsellors, who were now absent. This message gave us some trouble, but the event was good. 20. This morning early the king sent for us. He was sitting in the presence of his people. The doctor's skill was for some time the topic. He asked him if he could heal all diseases, whether he went by any spirit in his art, and whether he could cure a man who was affected with paralysis in an arm and leg. When told that the man might be cured, he told us his own complaint, but said he would wait and see if the paralytic were cured. He wished to see some his dress yesterday; informed us now and then that the people were praising him; and as we left him, he asked if we could perform feats at leaping, as some white men had once done. He asked us if we could get a bead-maker to live with him. When God's name happened to be mentioned, he asked us how we knew of him, and then childishly turned to something else. Returning to the lathe, we found it surrounded by a whole host of the royal family, greatly admiring every part and parcel of the instrument. At length the box was finished, greatly to the satisfac-money; asked us what we thought of tion of the owner. But he must try his hand, and to his credit it should be said, he succeeded very well for a beginner. He has an inquisitive mind, and often starts questions which shew him to be superior to the generality of his people. Every part of the lathe underwent the strictest scrutiny, and nothing was left unexplained. But he is very proud and excessively fond of flattery. His subjects approach him in a bending posture, or on the ground. No man comes into his palace without an express permit. His smith, however, was admitted to-day, to view the curious machine. This man is of great service in fastening the rings and bangles upon his captains, and appears to be on very familiar terms with his chief. His language to the king is nothing but adulation, as that of all his Took a walk around the town. It would occupy half an hour's constant walking. On the upper side we found the smith's shop. His work is wholly in brass. A very hot fire is made from the dried leaves of the aloe. Here the small brass wire is melted down into plates, which again are fluted by sharp hammers on rude anvils of stone, and bent so as to form the broad covering for the fore arm, given by Dingaan to none but the greatest of his captains. The principal work now going forward here is the making of shields. These are made of large ox-hides, oval in shape, and are given, the black to the boys, the red to the men. In fact, Gungunthlovu seems to be little else than a camp of soldiers. The chief is always talking about some warlike expedition, and inspiring them with a desire for plunder and blood. They live, as it were, at the king's table, and not on the fruits of their own labor. No ground is cultivated in the vicinity. The Tyalwa, or common beer of the country, made from Indian corn, or Kaffer corn, fermented in water, is brought to the king daily by twenty or thirty, perhaps more, beerwagons, as the servants are called, who always pass our wagon with their large calabashes on their heads, singing ever one song. This is both food and drink,|| and is divided among the people. Sometimes we also have a share in this bounty. The king's beer is too near the strong-beer of other countries for any man to drink much of it. The king has three or four very large dogs, to which he has a great partiality. Some snakes also are favorites, who live unmolested within the fence of the palace. Two very large dead ones, boa constrictors, ten or fifteen feet long, hang on the fence outside, proving that those in the field share a different fate. 21. Again at the king's this morning. He improves in his skill at the lathe, and his fondness for it led him to ask it of us. This we had to refuse. The girls were at work. Some were receiving their calabash of morning's milk-some engaged in fastening the brass about another's neck. The person to be operated upon was lying down with her neck across a block, while the rings were made to meet by pounding with a hammer. Ever afterwards the victim finds it difficult to bend his neck any way. The king sat in a chair very much like a European one, but carved with an assagay out of a single block of wood. He wished us to write an order to Mr. N. for some brass dancing-rods. The subject of our visit was mentioned, and he said that this afternoon he would see about it. Conference on the Object of the Mission. 22. Hitherto hath the Lord helped us. Well may we raise a stone of remembrance at this stage of our missionary work. The Lord has disposed the heart of a haughty king to grant us all that in present circumstances we could expec Thus have the fears of friends and hopes of foes been disappointed. Is not God answering the prayers of his church, and about to give these wide realms to his Son?-The king had appointed yesterday for our conference. But a true African shower prevented. The thunder was very loud, with lightning exceedingly vivid, and the hailstones as large as bullets, and in such profusion as to whiten the ground, pelted our cloth habitation roundly. Early this morning, the king's messenger came for us. He was sitting in his usual inorning seat, with his amabuto, or young soldiers in a half-moon, in front of him, at thirty or forty yards distance. He invited us near him, and aiso the three captains left in the place of the two indunas during their absence. Our business came at once on the carpet, without form or ceremony. Some short account of God's word was given, and our object briefly stated. A Testament was shewn as a part of God's word. He wished to know how many leaves it contained, and was surprised to hear us tell without counting them. He asked to hear some of it read. He then inquired about the creation. A short account of the Savior was given. They all seemed interested. One asked if God was not displeased with their treatment of his Son, and what he did to the people. We were asked if men knew any thing of God before Christ came. One query was, if God was so powerful, why not pray to him to take away all disease and misery? Dingaan wished to know our relation to the government of our country, and then said, "Here now are my three counsellors in place of the two great men. They must decide for you. I am favorable." The result was, for the counsellors echoed but the voice of their chief, that they fear evils from the introduction of white men into the country, and wish the line of the whites to be beyond the Um Zogelah; that they can hardly believe we can teach the people what we profess, to read and write, but that they wish the experiment to be tried in their country, when we return with our wives. For this purpose we may begin in the district of Thlominthleni, containing several thousands, “And then," said the king, "if you succeed, I will bring the school right into the heart of my dominions; I will learn myself, and set an example to my people." We were mutually pleased. In pre- || found him outside near some tallow, sent circumstances we can ask no more. which probably his royal skill would Such is the gross darkness that reigns soon manufacture into some sort of canhere, even in the mind of Dingaan, that dles. Here he gave orders for five catthe work must be gradual. When speak- tle, in addition to the two we had already ing of God to any of these people, they || received to be brought to us for meat on have usually stared about the heavens in our journey, and charging the doctor not wonder, or listened to our words as an to forget his medicine, he wished us a unmeaning story, and perhaps have in- good journey, saying that he regarded us terrupted us by begging for something as his friends, and wished soon to see us. that caught their eye. We left him, feeling that unless we were greatly deceived, the Lord had given us to win the heart of the heathen king. We left the king, feeling that the Lord was here prospering us so that we might return by the Dove. The three captains called to bid us good-bye, saying that we knew what that meant. We gave them a little checked cloth, and they left full of thanks. Soon we called upon the king for the last time. He was eating, and it was given us in very strict charge not to cough, or hem, or spit in his presence. He was in his hut. We were obliged absolutely to crawl in on our hands and knees. The chief was reclining on a mat, his head on a wooden bolster. Strung around his hut, behind⠀⠀ his wives, were their bead dresses. The hut was not high within, but very wide, and supported by nine posts. In the centre the dogs were sleeping. We now saw the monarch reclining at his ease in our presence. Very little ceremony was required. He appeared our friend more than at any time previous. While in the house we heard the loud song of his subjects previous to partaking of the king's meat. Several oxen are slaughtered daily by the chief. After a loud song, they all shout "God save the king!" or its equivalent, and enter on the work of mastication. Dingaan was as inquisitive as usual. He took much notice of a letter written for him to Mr. N. He asked us how we learned to read. He said it ran in his head that he should learn, and should ere long have one of us to teach him. Our interpreter received quite a rebuke for being a white man and not able to read and write. He then wished the names of all his girls who were sitting around the side of his house, and of the dogs which were sleeping in the centre, to be written and to be read by one who had been absent during the writing. He asked when we should return, and gave us beads as specimens of those he wished us to bring. We then must make for him some candle-wicks, that he might supply his lantern and candle-stick during our absence, and then he went out, leaving us the sport of his childish girls till the heat and confinement of the house obliged us also to leave it. We Departure from Gungunthlovu and Return to Port Natal. 23. Yesterday we set our faces towards Port Natal, but the rain soon obliged us to halt for the night. We find every where the ascents of the mountains not so difficult as when we came; a proof that the country ascends towards the interior. A slight alteration in our course across a river took us three or four miles out of our direct path, and we have not to-day made more than fifteen or sixteen miles. The gullies of the streamlets, washed out by the rain, are often deep and impassable till followed up to their source high among the hills. This was the case this afternoon. We are now at rest for the Sabbath at the kraal of the old man previously mentioned, and the women around us in their skin carosses, supplying us with wood which must come from far, for we see. not a bush near. It has been mutually decided that I should remain at Port Natal, while my brethren return to the colony for our wives and effects, a station of great responsibility, and calling for much grace and wisdom from above. May my Father in heaven bestow it. 24. We spent on the whole a pleasant Sabbath. Our thoughts full oft reverted to the interesting scenes transacting in our beloved country, where the saints, in union sweet, are praising the Redeemer in a land where his name is fully known. But here all is darkness. I have questioned the people about the Author of the universe. But they never raise their thoughts so high. They see that many useful things we have with us must have had a maker, but say that the earth, so adapted to man's use, came into existence alone. The sun climbs to his place, the rain falls of itself, and the thunder resounds in the heavens, they know not how. They were a little interested to hear me answer my own questions, but the merest trifle would call both eye and ear away from the great theme of man's redemption. No man feels himself lost or in need of a Savior. None has aught to do with a state after death, for they say, "When we die, we go to the ground, and are no more." In speaking of warlike exploits the Zoolah is all on fire. He imagines himself at once in the battle, his eyes sparkle, his voice is loud, he strikes his || spear on the ground, stands or sits as description may require, and exhibits many of the qualities of a good orator. 26. We have succeeded in a very toilsome part of our journey-that of crossing the second or central range of mountains between the Um-Zogelah and Gungunthlovu. On arriving at the top of the highest peak, the descent was very steep, and withal along the hill's side. I had preceded the company, and at the foot of the Alpine eminence, though clad with green, saw the singular spectacle of the wagon and twelve bullocks hanging on its summit against the clouds. I watched them anxiously in their descent. The leader was obliged to hasten and turn the bullocks now to the right and now to left, that the wagon might not push them all pell-mell down into the valley, some hundreds of feet beneath. They came to a spot where a considerable turn must be made to the right to save such a ruin, and the place being very sideling, the wagon instantly overturned, not once but twice, breaking our boxes and spilling their contents, splitting the connecting wood of the two axles, and twisting off the neap, besides breaking other less important parts of the vehicle. We were in trouble to which the rainy and cold weather added not a little. The cow brought with us from the king was instantly killed, by a bullet, the usual mode, and her hide cut into reins, or strings, which were used to tie together the broken pieces. With some of the animal's flesh the natives were made glad, and rendered very willing to assist. We slept in this place of mishaps, (for in this vicinity we encountered our difficulties in going up,) amid the rain and confusion. This morning our vehicle was repaired, and we left the Hisia for a more level road. My brethren, fearing that they should not reach the vessel at our slow rate, procured seven or eight men to carry their baggage, and left us, to proceed themselves on foot. We knelt together around the wagon, and attempted to pray, but emotions of a peculiar kind prevented, and we shook each other by the hand, commending us to the watchful care of Him who never slumbers nor sleeps in his keeping of his servants among the heathen. 27. This evening our interpreter met us with a recruit of bullocks, having returned from the Um-Zogelah, which he found too full to cross. 28. With our fresh oxen we have hastened over the last range of mountains, and in three hours accomplished almost the work of a whole day in our previous journey. Dogs are quite abundant in this country, and easily purchased with a few beads. Our men have been very busy to-day in selecting and buying. Calabashes, though but little work is bestowed on them, are considered valuable; four being equal to a cow. As we started this afternoon a young bullock was broken in. He was more restless than they usually are. He was tied head and foot, and thrown on the ground, and then fastened to the yoke. The phrase, "bullock unaccustomed to the yoke," was for once well illustrated. But he soon learned to perform his duty well. 29. At length, through the good providence of God, we arrived safe at the Um-Zogelah. The river is full, and months may pass before it is low. Feb. 1. On the day of our arrival, I took a walk of three or four miles up the river. It is the same muddy stream, but runs in a very narrow channel, and over quite a descent among the rocks. On the next day I walked down to the mouth of the river-a distance, going and returning, of thirteen or fourteen miles. We passed six kraals. We saw large troops of Hippopotami near the river's mouth. Twenty or thirty were in one company. The head of the animal, when he first raises himself out of the water, is like that of a horse. His body has very much the appearance of a very large hog. The people of Natal are in the habit of frequenting the Um-Zogelah in winter, to shoot the animal. This they do for the sake of the ivory and meat. They lay wait by night in his paths when he comes out to feed, and shoot him by lodging a ball in the brain. We observed some of the thick skins of the animal drying on the trees for the purpose of making sjamboks, a whip very useful for scourging dull horses and oxen. The river, like all those on this coast, has a sand-bank at its mouth, and is perhaps a quarter of a mile in width. We noticed the ordinary waves breaking over the bar of sand, so that the water must be very shallow. The paths of the |