CAPTAIN HARRIS ' S EXPEDITION INTO SOUTHERN

AFRICA.

Tins volume has reached us from Bombay through Mr. RICHARD- SON of Cornhill ; and though in its typography there is nothing to complain of, yet the whole style of getting-up has a colonial and out- of-the-way air, very opposite to the dapper mode in which the most trivial metropolitan affairs make their appearance. The contents, luckily, form as striking a, contrast : for the subjects are fresh, various, and entertaining ; the style is vigorous and racy ; the inci- dents are of sufficient interest, and enlivened by humour : and, if the route of Captain IIAnais is not on the whole so new as to entitle him to the fame of a discoverer, it has been so very rarely trodden, that the characters of man, animals, and nature, arc less hacknied than those in any other region, excepting Central Africa and Central Asia. Two further qualities distinguish the volume,—the author had a spirit-stirring pursuit, as a keen hunter and na- turalist ; and he has nothing of the bookmaker about him.

From his earliest years, Captain Ittitris displayed so strong a predilection for shooting, that his friends quickly determined on making him a soldier ; and being entered at the Military College, he received a commission in the Company's Engineers at the age of sixteen. Stationed in Western India, he became, like Nimrod, a "mighty hunter ;" and having been invalided to the Cape in 1836, for two years, with permission to travel, he determined, in conjunction with an Indian friend, to penetrate as far into the in- terior as circumstances would permit. After sundry adventures by flood and field, the expedition reached Graff Reinet, the boundary of the colony; and then started for the capital of MOSELEKATSX'S

country—a kraal situated about latitude 25° South and some 350 miles from Delagoa Bay. This potentate is a species of

African NADIR StrAII; having raised himself from small beginnings to an extensive dominion, by great talents, great crimes, great con-

quests, and great cruelty ; being at once abugbear to the surround- ing tribes and the border colonists. Having, contrary to all pre- diction, propitiated this monarch by presents, and convinced him

that they were not spies, the expedition received full permission to sport over his empire; and at last, with great difficulty, and only by the sacrifice of their tent, to return to the colony by another route, which had never yet been traversed by White man. The curiosity of our travellers having been satisfied with the court, and their despot-host having got out of' them all that he could, they departed with a corti•ge, and penetrated to the Tropic of Capricorn, (longitude 28. 29.;) traversing a country known only by report, and finding the deserts of the Cape and of Caf- frana gradually yielding to a better soil, a richer vegetation, and a more plentiful supply of water, as they approached the limits of the tropic. Having hunted the lion, the elephant, the rhinoceros, the hippopotamus, and lastly the lordly giraffe, besides numerous other animals which pass for nothing in such company,—having slain hecatombs, and seen myriads of /cm naturce,—and having been compelled, from lack of a longer leave of absence, to abandon an excursion to " a great inland lake," and other wonders vouched for by their guides,—our sportsmen returned by the permitted route : and, crossing the Vaal river, nothing occurred till within about a hundred miles of the colony, beyond the usual hardships of South African travelling,—as scarcity of water, want of roads, annoyance from Hottentot attendants, and the difficulty of get- ting the waggons through rivers and up and down precipices. Sonie Bushmen Eves then beguiled the Hottentots ; and the men of their tribe stole the oxen by night, leaving the travellers without the means of moving. An expedition of vengeance was foiled by the enemy making off; and, riding on towards the colony, Captain HARRIS fortunately fell in with a party of boors, who agreed to bring up the waggons for a consideration. Henceforward their route was an every-day colonial affair ; and they arrived at Graff Reinet in safety, after an excursion of five months, at a cost of' 8001. Captain HARRIS thinks, however, that had they been properly advised, they might have made the journey pay its expenses. In a strict sense, this volume cannot be said to add to our know- ledge of savage life, and not much to our existing stock of geogra- phy, to the science of which Captain Timms makes no preten- sions. Its attraction consists in the spirit of its narrative, and the life, vigour, and humour of its sketches. Here is a specimen, in the first interview with .MOSELEKATSE.

We felt quite certain that the King must he dying with impatience to ob- tain possession of the various presents we had brought for him, but he thought it dignified to affect indifference, and prosecuted his ideas of propriety so rigorously, that his non-appearance became at length alarming: We ther'efore despatched Baba to say that every thing was prepared for his reception, and that we were extremely anxious to pay our respects. In the course of at few

minutes, loud shouting rind yelling announced his approach. * * *

The expression of the despot's features, hough singularly conning, wily, and suspicious, is not altogether disagreeable. his figure is rather tall, well turned, and active, hot leaning to corpulency. Of dignified and reserved man- ners, the searching .quickness of his eye, the point of his questions, and the ex- treme caution of his replies, stamp him at once as a man capable of ruling the wild and sanguinary spirits by which he is surrounded. Ile appeared about forty years of age, but being totally beardless, it was difficult to torni a correct estimate of the years he had numbered. The elliptical ring on his closely shorn scalp, was decorated with three green feathers, from the tail of the paroquet, placed horizontally, two behind and one in front. A single string of small blue heads encircled his neck ; to bunch of twisted sinews encompassed his left ankle, and the usual girdle dangling before and behind with leopards' tails, completed his costume. The interpreters, three in number, were ranged in front. After a long inter- val of silence, during which the chieftain's eyes were far from inactive, he opened the conversation by saying, he rejoiced we had come to bring him news from his friends the -While people. Mobanycom pot this speech into Bechuana, Baba translated it into Dutch, and Andries endeavoured to render the meaning intelligible in English. To this we replied, that having heard of the King's Tame in a distant land, we had come three moons across the greet water to see him, and had brought for his acceptance a few trifles from our country, which we thought would prove agreeable. Ile sr»iled condescendingly, and the Parsee immediately placed at Ins august feet the Doffe/ great-coat which I have already described as being lined and trimmed with scarlet shal- loon ; a coil of brass wire weighing fifty pounds ; a mirror two feet square ; two pounds of Irish Idaeleyttard snuff; and fifty pounds weight of blood-red beads. hitherto the King. had considered it beneath his dignity to evince the slightest symptom of astonishment ; his manner had been particularly guarded and se- date ; but the sight of so many fine things at once threw his decorum off the balance, and caused him for the moment to forget what he owed to himself in the presence of so large an assembly. Putting his thumb between his teeth, and opening his eyes to their utmost limits, he grinned like a schoolboy at the sight of gingerbread, patting his breast, and exclaiming repeatedly, "Monfinti, mottanti, ; tonta,tanto, toota !"" Having.particularly brought to his notice that the device of an uplifted arm grasping a javelin, on the clasp of the great-coat, referred to his extensive conquests, of which all the world had heard, we placed before him a suit of tartan sent by Mrs. Moffat, with a note, which he requested one to rout ; and hearing his own name coupled with that of Ma Mary, as he termed that lady, and The word tumerishoScompliments), he grirmed again, clapped me familiarly on the hack, and exclaiming as before, " nnta, Bodo, toffs!" He now rose abruptly, big with some great concep- tion, and made signs to the Parsee to approach and assist him on with the coat ; Lobito(' in which, he strutted several times up and down, viewing his grotesque figure in the glass with evident self-applause. Ile then desired Mohanveom to put it on and turn about, that he might see if it fitted behind ; and this knotty point settled to his unqualified satisfaction, lie suddenly cast off his tails, and appearing in parts netturalibus, commanded aft hands to assist in the difficult undertaking of shaking him into the tartan trousers.

A DESERT LANDSCAPE.

From this point until we reached Kuraman, a distance of three hundred

• Good, good, good; bravo, bravo, bravo I miles, the number of our open became daily diminished by the effects of drought which had prevailed, and which had so completely removed every vestige of vegetation, that they were frequently compelled to pass two days without tasting food or water. Extensive, to the eye boundless, plains of mitt land with neither eminence nor hollow, were on all sides expanded to the view • of' these the prevailing colour was brownish yellow, variegated with a fee, black and sickly shrubs. Scarfely an object met the straining eye but an ostrich sometimes striding in the distance, or a solitary vulture soaring in the sky. Over the wide desolation of the stony waste not a 'tree could be dis- cerned, and the only'impression on the mind was that of utter and hopeless sterility. Occasionally, however, as we advanced, the sameness of the scene was varied by a wide-stretchiug undulation. Our caravan was then the only object in the landscape upon which the eye could repose. Waggon after waggon slowly rising to view, the van was to be seen advancing over the swell, whilst the cattle and sheep were yet hidden from the sight. The world before us was still nought but earth and sky, not a green herb enticed the vision, not a bird winged through the air : the loud cracking of a whip rolling in sup. pressed echo along the sun-baked ground alone disturbed the silence of the sultry atmosphere, whirl, gave to the azure vault of heaven the semblance of an unnatural elevation from the globe.

wis FIRST GIRAFFE.

Many days bad now elapsed since we had even seen the camelcopard, and then only in small numbers and under the most unfavourable circumstances. The blood coursed through my veins like quicksilver, therethre, as on the morning of the 191.11, from the back of Breslar, my most trusty steed, witha firm wooded phiin ',ethic me, I counted thirty-two of these animals industri. misty stretching their peacock necks to crop the tiny leaves which fluttered above their heads in a mimosa grove that beautified the scenery. They were within a hundred yards of me ; but having previously determined to try the boarding system, 1 reserved my fire. Although I had taken the field expressly to look for giraffes, and lite' put four of the Hottentots on horseback, all ex- cepting Piet had as usual slipped off unperceived in pursuit of a troop of koodoos. Our stealthy approach was soon opposed by an ill-tempered rhinoceros, which with her ugly calf stood directly in the path ; and the twinkling of her bright little eyes, accompanied by a restless rolling of the body, giving earliest of her intention to charge, I directed Piet to salute her with a broadside, at the sane moment putting spurs to my horse. At the report of the gun, and the sudden clattering, of hoofs, away bounded thegiraffes in grotesque conlbsion—clearing the ground by • a succession of frog-like hor, and soon leaving me fiur in the rear. Twice were their towering forms concealed from view by a park of trees, which we entered almost at the same instant; and twice 011 emerging from the labyrinth, did I perceive them tilting over an eminence immeasurably in advance. A white turban that I wore round my Bunting-cap being dragged off by to projecting bough, was instantly charged by three rhinocer,:es; and looking over my shoulder I could see them long afterwards, thgging themselves to overtake inc. In the course of five minutes the fugitives arrived at a small river, the treacherous sands of whielsreceivhig, their long legs, their flight was greatly retarded ; and after floundering to the opposite side, and scrambling to the top of the 'milk, I perceived that their race was rim. Patting the steaming neck of my good steed, I urged him again to his utmost, and instantly found myself by the side of the herd. The stately hull, being readily distinguishable from the rest by his dark Chesnut robe and superior stature, I applied the muzzle of any rifle behind his dappled shoulder with the right hand, and drew both triggers, but lie still continued to shuffle along; and being afraid of losing him, should I dismount, among the extensive 1111111053 groves, with which the landscape was now obscured, I. sat in my saddle, loading and firing, behind the elbow, and then placing myself across his path, until, the tears trickling from his full brilliant eye, his lofty frame began to totter, and at the seventeenth discharge from the deadly grooved bore, bowing his graceful hetul from the skies, his proud form was prostrate in the dust. Never shall I fintget the tingling excitement of that moment. Alone, in the wild wood, I hurried with bursting exultation, and, unsaddling my steed, sank exhausted beside the noble prize I had won.

TDB LAST or A LION.

Passing the scene of this introductory interview the following nming, Richardson (his Indian friend) and my,elf were suddenly made aware of the monster's presence by perceiving a pair of gooseberry eyes glaring upon us front beneath it shady bush ; and htstantly upon reining up our horses, the grim savage bolted out with a roar like thunder, and bounded across the plain with the agility of a greyhound. Thelltxtutiont beauty of his shaggy black mane, whielt shunt swept the ground, tempted 11,, contrary to established rule, to give him battle with the design of obtaining postqsssion of his spoils; and he no sooner final himself' hotly pursued than he fluted about, and stood at bay in a mimosa grove, measuring the strength of his assailants with a port the most noble and imposing. Disliking our appetuance, however, and not relishing the smell of gun- powder, lie soon abandoned the grove, and took up his position on the summit of an adjacent stony hill, the base of which being thickly ciothea with thorn trees, we could only obtain a view of him from the distance of three hundred yards. Crouched on this fbrtilied pinnacle, like the sculptured figure at the entrance oleo nobleman's park, the enemy disdainfully surveyed us for several minutes, daring us to approach with an air of conscious power and pride, which well be- seemed his grizzled frm. As the rifle balls struck the ground nearer and nearer at each dist'liarge, his wrath, as indicated by his glistening eyes, in- creased roar, and impatient switching of the tail, was clearly getting the mastery over his prudence. Presently a shot broke his leg. Down he came upon the other three, with reckless impetuosity, his tail straight out and whirling on its axis, his mane bristling on end, and his eye-balls flashing rage and vengeance. Unable, however, to Overtake our horses, he shortly retreated under a heavy fire, limping and diseroolited, to his strong hold. Again we bom- barded him, and again exasperated, he rushed into the plain with headlong fury—the blood now streaming !ling front his open jaws, and dying his mane with crimson. It was a galkint charge, but it was to he his last. A well-directed shot arresting him in lull cureer, he pitched with violence upon his skull, and throwing a complete summerset, subsided amid a cloud of dust.

smALLF.It GAME.

The reports of' for savages of the Bathipi tribe, who joined us yesterday,

determined it to bait a day for the purpose of hunting. Richardson and myself left the wagons nis at daybreak, attended by these men, and crossing the river, took a north-westerly direction through a park of maguiticent camel thorn trees, many of which were groaning, under the huge nests of the social grosbeak ; whilst others were decorated with green clusters of inisletoe, the bright scarlet berries of which were highly ormonental. We soon perceived large herds of qunggas and brindled gongs, which continued to join each other until the whole plain seemed alive. The clatter of the hoofs wan perfectly astounding, and I could compare it to nothing but to the din of a tremendous charge of cavalry, or the rustling of a mighty tempest. I could not estimate the accumulated numbers at less than fifteen thousand ; a great extent of country being actually chequered black and white with their congregated masses. As the panic caused by the report of our rifles extended, clouds of dust hovered over them ; and the long necks of troops of ostriches were also to be seen tower- ing above the heads of their less gigantic neighbours, and selling past with astonishing rapidity. Groups of purple sassaybys and brilliant red and yellow hartebeests likewise lent their aid Ito complete the picture, which must have been seen to be properly understood, and which beggars all attempt at dewlap-

Lion. The savages kept in our wake, dextrously despatching the wounded gnoos by a touch on the spine with the point of an assegai, and instantly covering up the carcase with bushes, to secure them from the voracity of the vultures, which hung about us like specks in the firmament, and descended with the velocity of lightning, as each discharge of our artillery gave token of prey.

Captain IL rtats is distinguished as a naturalist as well as a bunter; and invariably sported with drawing-materials in his cap, to sketch the game he brought down; the elite of the skins being preserved, both as trophies and scientific specimens. The portraits of twenty-eight of his victims, set of by landscapes and other ac- cessories, he proposes to publish by subscription, under the title of 14 African Views ;" and a goodly list of Indian subscribers is ap- pended to the volume. The verbal description of forty-one speci- mens is, however, published as an appendix to the present work ; the author having judiciously kept his scientific account apart from his narrative.

The volume also contains a brief sketch of the emigration front the colony of the frontier boors—the descendants of the Dutch colonists. It would appear from Captain 11..ams, that these men disliked and despised the English, and their rule. They com- plained of the abolition of slavery, which &Fired theta of the work of their labourers, and exposed them to their depredations ; they alleged they were left without protection against the Calfre cscur- sinns, and were crippled in defending thenyelves ; they also were troubled by saute oilier grievances; and to make short of it, nearly two thousand fighting men, with their families and property, emi- grated from the colony. The project, begun without a due esti- mate at their own strength and of the difficulties they should have to encounter, promises little success. Offending, INIosm.sK.vrst: by their self-will and imprudence, some of the earlier parties were cut oft, or their cattle captured; and though one command() against him succeeded, yet its chief' effect will be to make hint more cau- tious fir the future. The treachery of Dtx4:t AN, another potentate, is said to have destroyed their Governor-General, with many of his followers, and to have hemmed in the survivors ; whom the in- habitants of another settlement are too terrified to assist. And, from climate, want, and their savage enemies, Captain HARRIS pre- dicts the eventual destruction of the whole band ;'" whose flute, whether they have been foolish or not, is another example of the misgovernment of our Colonial Office.

* Since this was written, a report has re:melted :England that lod re2taIar soldiers, sent by the Cape Government against the boors, have been defeated ; as of course so small a number must.