the nature of the Boers, and that we will not be treated like dogs and
beasts of burden as formerly; but we have no hope of such a change, and
we leave you with heavy hearts and great apprehension as to the
future."[3] In his Report, Mr. Shepstone (Secretary for Native Affairs)
says, "One chief, Jan Sibilo, who had been personally threatened with
death by the Boers after the English should leave, could not restrain
his feelings, but cried like a child."

In 1881, the year of the retrocession of the Transvaal, a Royal
Commission was appointed from England to enquire into the internal state
of affairs in the South African Republic. On the 9th May of that year,
an affidavit was sworn to before that Commission by the Rev. John
Thorne, of St. John the Evangelist, Lydenburg, Transvaal. He stated: "I
was appointed to the charge of a congregation in Potchefstroom when the
Republic was under the Presidency of Mr. Pretorius. I noticed one
morning, as I walked through the streets, a number of young natives whom
I knew to be strangers. I enquired where they came from. I was told that
they had just been brought from Zoutpansberg. This was the locality from
which slaves were chiefly brought at that time, and were traded for
under the name of 'Black Ivory.' One of these slaves belonged to Mr.
Munich, the State Attorney." In the fourth paragraph of the same
affidavit, Mr. Thorne says that "the Rev. Dr. Nachtigal, of the Berlin
Missionary Society, was the interpreter for Shatane's people, in the
private office of Mr. Roth, and, at the close of the interview, told me
what had occurred. On my expressing surprise, he went on to relate that
he had information on native matters which would surprise me more. He
then produced the copy of a register, kept in the Landdrost's office, of
men, women, and children, to the number of four hundred and eighty
(480), who had been disposed of by one Boer to another for a
consideration. In one case an ox was given in exchange, in another