of his ability between the disputants.  They are generally satisfied with his award, but if the case is an intricate one, or they consider that the question is not really solved, then they have the right of appeal, and it is this court of appeal which I have been attending lately.  It is held in the newly-built office of the minister for native affairs—­the prettiest and most respectable-looking public office which I have seen in Maritzburg, by the way.  Before the erection of this modest but comfortable building the court used to be held out in the open air under the shade of some large trees—­a more picturesque method of doing business, certainly, but subject to inconveniences on account of the weather.  It is altogether the most primitive and patriarchal style of business one ever saw, but all the more delightful on that account.

It is inexpressibly touching to see with one’s own eyes the wonderfully deep personal devotion and affection of the Kafirs for the kindly English gentleman who for thirty years and more has been their real ruler and their wise and judicious friend.  Not a friend to pamper their vices and give way to their great fault of idleness, but a true friend to protect their interests, and yet to labor incessantly for their social advancement and for their admission into the great field of civilized workers.  The Kafirs know little and care less for all the imposing and elaborate machinery of British rule; the queen on her throne is but a fair and distant dream-woman to them; Sir Garnet himself, that great inkosi, was as nobody in their eyes compared to their own chieftain, their king of hearts, the one white man to whom of their own free will and accord they give the royal salute whenever they see him.  I have stood in magnificent halls and seen king and kaiser pass through crowds of bowing courtiers, but I never saw anything which impressed me so strongly as the simultaneous springing to the feet, the loud shout of Bayete! given with the right hand upraised (a higher form of salutation than Inkosi! and only accorded to Kafir royalty), the look, of love and rapture and satisfied expectation in all those keen black faces, as the minister, quite unattended, without pomp or circumstance of any sort or kind, quietly walked into the large room and sat himself down at his desk with some papers before him.  There was no clerk, no official of any sort:  no one stood between the people and the fountain of justice.  The extraordinary simplicity of the trial which commenced was only to be equaled by the decorum and dignity with which it was conducted.  First of all, everybody sat down upon the floor, the plaintiff and defendant amicably side by side opposite to the minister’s desk, and the other natives, about a hundred in number, squatted in various groups.  Then, as there was evidently a slight feeling of surprise at my sitting myself down in the only other chair—­they probably considered me a new—­fashioned clerk—­the minister explained that I was