Agnes immediately took her boy under her tuition, and was soon given to
understand that her will was to be the sole law of the community; and
all the while that they detained her, they never refused her aught, save
to take her home again. Our little daughter she had named Beatrice,
after her maternal grandmother. She was born six months and six days
after Agnes's abstraction. She spoke highly of the pongos, of their
docility, generosity, warmth of affection to their mates and young ones,
and of their irresistible strength. At my wife's injunctions, or from
her example, they all wore aprons: and the females had let the hair of
their heads grow long. It was glossy black, and neither curled nor
woolly, and on the whole, I cannot help having a lingering affection for
the creatures. They would make the most docile, powerful, and
affectionate of all slaves; but they come very soon to their growth, and
are but shortlived, in that way approximating to the rest of the brute
creation. They live entirely on fruits, roots, and vegetables, and taste
no animal food whatever.

I asked Agnes much of the civility of their manner to her, and she
always describes it as respectful and uniform. For awhile she never
thought herself quite safe when near the Queen, but the dislike of the
latter to her arose entirely out of the boundless affection for the boy.
No mother could possibly be fonder of her offspring than this
affectionate creature was of William, and she was jealous of his mother
for taking him from her, and causing him to be weaned. But then the
chief never once left the two Queens by themselves; they had always a
guard day and night. Win. MITCHELL.

Vander Creek,
Near Cape Town.