We
are told, in Mr. Shepstone's Report, that they "got very excited," and
"asked whether it was thought that they had no feelings or hearts, that
they were thus treated as a stick or piece of tobacco, which could be
passed from hand to hand without question." Umgombarie, a Zoutpansberg
Chief, said, "I am Umgombarie. I have fought with the Boers, and have
many wounds, and they know that what I say is true. . . . I will never
consent to place myself under their rule. I belong to the English
Government. I am not a man who eats with both sides of his jaw at once;
I only use one side. I am English, I have said." Silamba said, "I belong
to the English. I will never return under the Boers. You see me, a man
of my rank and position, is it right that such as I should be seized
and laid on the ground and flogged, as has been done to me and other
chiefs?"
Sinkanhla said: "We hear and yet do not hear, we cannot understand. We
are troubling you, Chief, by talking in this way; we hear the Chiefs say
that the Queen took the country because the people of the country wished
it, and again that the majority of the owners of the country did not
wish their rule, and that therefore the country was given back.
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