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 her rule, and that therefore the country was given back. We should
like to have the man pointed out from among us black people who objects
to the rule of the Queen. We are the real owners of the country; we were
here when the Boers came, and without asking leave, settled down and
treated us in every way badly. The English Government then came and took
the country; we have now had four years of rest, and peaceful and just
rule. We have been called here to-day, and are told that the country,
our country, has been given to the Boers by the Queen. This is a thing
which surprises, us. Did the country, then, belong to the Boers? Did it
not belong to our fathers and forefathers before us, long before the
Boers came here? We have heard that the Boers' country is at the Cape.
If the Queen wishes to give them their land, why does she not give them
back the Cape?"

Umyethile said: "We have no heart for talking. I have returned to the
country from Sechelis, where I had to fly from Boer oppression. Our
hearts are black and heavy with grief to-day at the news told us. We are
in agony; our intestines are twisting and writhing inside of us, just as
you see a snake do when it is struck on the head. We do not know what
has become of us, but we feel dead. It may be that the Lord may change