Going back some years, evidence may be found, equally well attested with that already quoted.  On the 22nd August, 1876, Khama, the Christian King of the Bamangwato (Bechuanaland), one of the most worthy Chiefs which any country has had the good fortune to be ruled by, wrote to Sir Henry de Villiers the following message, to be sent to Queen Victoria:—­“I write to you, Sir Henry, in order that your Queen may preserve for me my country, it being in her hands.  The Boers are coming into it, and I do not like them.  Their actions are cruel among us black people.  We are like money; they sell us and our children.  I ask Her Majesty to pity me, and to hear that which I write quickly.  I wish to hear upon what conditions Her Majesty will receive me, and my country and my people, under her protection.  I am weary with fighting.  I do not like war, and I ask Her Majesty to give me peace.  I am very much distressed that my people are being destroyed by war, and I wish them to obtain peace.  I ask Her Majesty to defend me, as she defends all her people.  There are three things which distress me very much—­war, selling people, and drink.  All these things I find in the Boers, and it is these things which destroy people, to make an end of them in the country.  The custom of the Boers has always been to cause people to be sold, and to-day they are still selling people.  Last year I saw them pass with two waggons full of people whom they had bought at the river at Tanane (Lake Ngate).—­Khama.”

The visit of King Khama to England, a few years ago, his interview with the Queen, and his pathetic appeals on behalf of his people against the intrusion of any aggressors (drink being one of them), are fresh in our memory.

Coming down to a recent date, I reproduce here a letter from a Zulu Chief, which appeared in the London Press in November, 1899.  This letter is written to a gentleman, who accompanied it by the following remarks:—­“After I had read this very remarkable letter, I found myself half unconsciously wondering what place in the scheme of South African life will be found for Zulus such as this nephew of the last of the Zulu Kings.  One thing I am fully certain of, that there are few natives in the Cape Colony (where they are full-fledged voters) capable of inditing so sensible an epistle.  This communication throws a most welcome light upon the attitude of his people with respect to the momentous events that are in progress, and also it reveals to what a high standard of intellectual culture a pure Zulu may attain.”

“Duff’s Road, Durban,
               November 3rd, 1899.

Sir,—­I keenly appreciate your generous tribute to the loyalty of the Zulu nation during the fierce crisis of English rule in South Africa.  It is the first real test of the loyalty of the Zulus, and as a Zulu who was once a Chief, I rejoice to see that the loyalty and gratitude of my people is appreciated by the white people of Natal.