ADVANCE INTO KAFFIRLAND--ATTACK ON THE AMATOLAS--FORT BEAUFORT--CAMP ON
THE KOONAP RIVER.
Early on the morning of the 24th June, tents were once more struck,
baggage packed, and the long train of waggons stood ready inspanned.
The General, with his Staff, appeared on the ground, where the whole
division, amounting to 2000 men, artillery, cavalry, infantry and
irregulars, stood drawn up in column; the advance and rear guards were
formed; and we moved off to the inspiriting air of "Hieland Laddie,"
from the 74th band, which accompanied us, at the head of the column,
for about a mile; when, halting by the road side (as it had to remain
at Fort Hare,) the quickstep changed into the farewell melody of "Auld
lang syne," as the long waving line of hardy sun-burnt troops marched
steadily past in column of sections; not ceasing till all were hidden
from sight in the cloud of dust that floated along the side of the hill
called "Sandilli's Kop." The pipers then struck up "Over the Border,"
and played us across the frontier, into Kaffirland, through the whole
of which the "pipes" afterwards accompanied us, inspiriting the men on
many a long and weary march, and enlivening our camps with the familiar
strains of the "auld country."
Our way lay through level grassy plains along the base of the Little
Amatolas, whose sloping verdant sides were beautifully relieved by fine
bold crags and perpendicular krantzes, or cliffs, of grey basaltic
rock, and varied by deep belts of wood, marking the course of some
invisible mountain stream. On these plains, the advance cavalry patrol,
about a quarter of a mile ahead, fell in with some Kaffirs, with whom
we saw them exchanging shots among the scattered bushes; and being
ignorant of their numbers, began to feel excited, as a troop of horse,
detached from the main body, gallopped forward to reconnoitre, or
render assistance if needed. It proved to be a marauding party who had
been surprised returning with stolen cattle, to one of their villages
which we saw a little way up the side of the mountain, and on coming
up we found they had recaptured forty head of cattle, and killed three
Kaffirs. The corpse of one lay close to the track, his hand still
clutching a bundle of assegais. A mounted party was sent to set fire
to the village, where they found only a Gaika woman; the rest of the
inhabitants having fled to the fastnesses above on the first alarm of
our approach. Hundreds of Kaffirs were moving along the summit of the
lofty heights on the right, watching our movements below; their figures
appearing like specks against the clear blue sky.
A few miles more brought us at last to a halt on the Amatola Flats;
where, after a continued march of above 250 miles, we pitched tents by
the banks of the Quesana River, at the foot of the Great Amatolas. The
sun sank behind the purple mountains in a flood of crimson; and as the
darkness gathered around, and troops of wolves and jackals commenced
their nightly howling, the flames of the burning village grew brighter
and more distinct on the dark hill side. The heat of the day was
succeeded, as usual, by a cold sharp air, and the cheerful camp-fires
were quickly surrounded by men and officers; some in blanket-coats and
pea-jackets, squatting cross-legged around a steaming camp-kettle;
others in the midst of culinary cares, chopping wood, replenishing the
fire, or lifting the pot lid to taste the soup; while those who had
already dined, were enjoying their pipes. Our evenings in camp were
occasionally varied, either by a round of large parties, when each
guest invited brought with him his own "tin-tot," knife, spoon, and
biscuit; or by musical soirées in our tents; where, with a guttering
tallow candle fixed in the socket of a bayonet stuck in the ground, we
sipped thick coffee and sang duets and solos with very loud choruses
till a late hour, and generally with more satisfaction to ourselves
than our neighbours.
The following forenoon several Kaffirs were killed in a skirmish with
the Cape Corps, and their huts burnt and destroyed. The expected order
was issued for the attack next day, and the division directed to be
under arms at five o'clock in the morning, "to turn out without bugle
sound, or any noise whatever." A camp-guard of 300 men was to be left
behind under a captain; and, lastly, all lights and fires in the camp
were ordered to be extinguished at seven o'clock. Till then we sat
discussing the anticipated attack, when the curfew put an end to our
councils, we groped our way to the dark tents, and lay down to rest in
our clothes.
It was still quite dark when my servant shook me by the shoulder, and
with some difficulty succeeded in making me comprehend that the troops
were already "falling in," and that he wanted to pack up the blanket
and plaid on which I lay. Accordingly I jumped up, and after loading
the pack-horse with three days' rations, patrol-tent, kettles, and
other requisites for the bivouac, we made our way, stumbling along in
the dark, over tent-ropes and picketing pegs, to the parade-ground,
where the first brigade was rapidly assembling. The motionless ranks
were inspected as far as the imperfect light allowed, and all in
silence; and at five o'clock precisely, the General having arrived on
the ground, the word of command was passed on _sotto voce_, and we
moved noiselessly away to the foot of the mountains, commencing the
ascent of the Western Amatolas by the pass in front of our encampment,
reaching the summit just at day-break.
Here we were halted in line along the ridge, while General Somerset
proceeded with a detachment of the Cape Corps to reconnoitre the
position of the enemy on the Victoria heights on our right flank.
On reaching the southern point of the range his party was sharply
attacked, and a brisk skirmish maintained for a time on both sides.
Moving forward a column of two companies of the 91st, and three of
European and native Levies, under command of Lieut.-Col. Sutton, the
General returned to our brigade to direct the movements of the main
attack.
We saw the smoke of the enemy's fires curling slowly up from the dark
bush, on a steppe or lower ridge of the elevated range in front, and
on the opposite side of a lovely valley which lay at our very feet,
carpeted with the smoothest and greenest grass, and dotted with mimosa,
protéa, and clumps of tangled bush. On our left towered the lofty peak
of the Hogsback, the highest point of the whole chain; and below it
lay a finely wooded deep ravine, down the centre of which foamed a
milk-white cataract, the dark forest stretching away on either side,
and filling the kloof.
In a few moments an aid-de-camp rode up with instructions for our
brigade to move forward and descend into the valley below; the cavalry
and pack-horses making a detour of about a mile to our left, to a point
where the descent was somewhat less precipitous. After scrambling down
to the bottom, we formed "column of sub-divisions," and moved across
the valley, perceiving as we neared the lofty bridge opposite several
hundreds of the enemy gathering on its summit, their arms flashing
and glittering along the edge of the cliff in the morning sun. There
was only one point at which this apparently impregnable position
was accessible, and that was by a long steep exposed grassy ridge,
destitute of all cover, and completely commanded from the top by a
perfect fortification of huge detached rocks, behind which we could
perceive the enemy strongly posted and quietly waiting our attack,
confident in the security of their position. Up this formidable ascent,
bare and slippery as the roof of a house, the 74th were ordered to
advance and storm the natural citadel at its summit. In the meantime
heavy firing, about a mile distant on our right, announced that Col.
Sutton's column was engaged with the enemy in that direction; while
the different corps of native Levies were moved round to our right and
left flanks, those on the left skirmishing through the bush and setting
fire to a number of Kaffir huts. Pushing rapidly on to the point of
attack, we waded the river, and commenced the arduous ascent, up which,
in spite of a burning sun, the men mounted like true Highlanders. To
our surprise the enemy allowed us to come considerably within range,
and we were beginning to imagine the position was abandoned, when
suddenly they opened fire upon us from the shelter of the crags,
sweeping every inch of the smooth approach, themselves invisible, the
tops only of their black heads peeping over the rocks as they took aim,
and disappearing again as instantaneously as the flash of their guns.
Showers of balls whistled past us, with the peculiar _ping, whit_,
so well known to those who have been under fire; as we mounted, we
returned their fire with steady well-directed volleys every time their
heads were seen above the parapet of rocks, and deployed into line
under a rattling fire, and the fight begun in earnest. A private fell
shot in the foot. For a quarter of an hour there was an incessant roar
of musketry and whistling of bullets. As we neared the top, scrambling
with hands and knees up the crags, which were now discovered to be of
enormous size, and in places insurmountable; the fire became hotter,
the balls striking the ground and sending the earth and gravel flying
in our faces. One man fell shot through the arm and side; I passed
another sitting on the ground wounded in several places, and two more
awaiting the surgeon's aid; one with a shattered hand and the other
a wound in the head, his face deluged with blood. Lieutenant Bruce
received a shot in the arm, and a sixth man fell badly wounded in the
leg.
[Illustration: 74^{TH} HIGHLANDERS STORMING THE AMATOLAS.]
The men's mess-tins and folded coats were grazed and torn on every
side, and their firelocks shattered in their hands; in one or two
instances the barrels were perforated as though they had been soft lead.
Under this fire we sent out two companies in skirmishing order, and
climbing from rock to rock, exchanging shots with the enemy at close
quarters, crowned the ridge with a cheer, and carried the position,
driving off the defenders, who took refuge in a dense forest a few
hundred yards in the rear. We now stood in their fortress, which was
scattered with remains of roasted marrow bones and torn cartridge
covers, the rocks stained with fresh blood. We were astonished at the
strength of the position, which might have been held by a hundred
regular troops against such a force as ours, with great loss to the
assailants. Towards this forest (of fine timber, the first we had seen
in the country), we quickly advanced across the intervening belt of
turf-covered table-land. Here again they had the advantage of position;
for unseen themselves, they opened a severe fire on us, killing one of
our non-commissioned officers at the first volley, the ball passing
right through his heart. Our Colonel and the Major very narrowly
escaped, a bullet cutting through the clothes of the former by the
waist; while the Major's haversac was shot through. Two more men fell
wounded, and another, shot through the brain, dropped dead without
a groan. The word _forward_ was given by our gallant Colonel, who
himself set the example, and we dashed into the wood under a rattling
fire, and gave them another volley, which must have told severely; for
though they always carry off their dead and wounded to prevent their
casualties being known, we found as we advanced the bodies of five
lying dead in one place, and twelve in another; and as we plunged after
them into the tangled forest, the _blood-spoor_ showed where others
had fallen. The change was so great from the glare of the sunshine
to the gloom of the forest, its thick foliage overhead interwoven
with _baboon-ropes_ and creepers, that we could hardly distinguish
our enemies as they darted swiftly from cover to cover. Five rebel
Hottentots were killed in a hole or pit half-hidden by bush. Another
of our men was shot dead by a Kaffir perched in the thick branches
of a lofty tree, from which he was brought down, riddled with balls,
the body tumbling with a crash into the thicket beneath. A cluster of
Kaffir and "hartebeest" or Hottentot huts (the former shaped like a
huge bee-hive, the latter like a patrol-tent) was set fire to, without
its being known, till half consumed, that they contained a number of
wounded Kaffirs.
We continued skirmishing as they retired before us, dodging from tree
to rock, and from rock to bush, taking advantage of every cover to give
us a shot, while we kept up an incessant "independent-file-firing,"
as they retreated, step by step, till lost in thickets, impervious to
anything but wild beasts or Kaffirs. Having driven them into their
inaccessible retreats among the extensive forests clothing the higher
steppes of the mountain, and inflicted a considerable loss upon them,
we skirmished through a belt of wood on our right, and after completely
scouring it debouched on an _open_, where we halted in column, and for
the first time for nine hours sat down to rest our weary limbs. Here we
assisted the surgeon in performing different operations on the wounded,
whose cries for water were so constant, that our canteens were soon
left without a drop to moisten our own lips, parched and blistered by
the sun.
It was now two o'clock, and as not one of us had yet broken his fast,
it may easily be imagined with what appetite we gnawed at our black
biscuit. While thus engaged the enemy was observed stealing out, one by
one, from the forest, and collecting on the open table-land, where our
gallant fellows lay dead; and to our indignation we saw them, through
the telescope, stripping the bodies, without our being able to prevent
it, a deep gorge separating us; a few well-directed conical balls, from
heavy metalled rifles by Egg and Purday, dispersed them at a distance
of three-quarters of a mile; one was seen to fall. The party were rebel
Hottentots (Cape Corps deserters), and Kaffirs, the latter perfectly
naked, and armed with guns and assegais; two or three we could
distinguish wearing the kaross, with head-dresses of feathers, from
which fact, and their being the centre of divers knots, we concluded
they were chiefs and _headmen_, holding councils of war.
We were joined here by the General and the rest of the forces,
including Colonel Sutton's column, which had successfully attacked the
enemy on the Victoria Heights, driving them from their position, and
killing twenty, but with a loss of three men killed and five wounded
(two of them mortally), and had burnt and destroyed two of their
villages, which we saw blazing away fiercely, and sending up volumes of
smoke on the Little Amatola across the valley. During our brief rest
the rebels sent a messenger of truce to say they wished to surrender.
Lieut.-Col. Sutton, riding out by desire of the General, held a parley
with about fifty or sixty of them at the edge of the wood. They stated
that they wished to leave their Kaffir allies, and requested a week to
collect their own people, when they would give themselves up. But, as
the General, of course, insisted on immediate surrender, and granted
only half an hour instead of a week, they quickly disappeared into the
forest, their object having evidently been only to gain time.
Observing the enemy again assembling on their former ground, the
General ordered the 74th to return through the forest once more. As
we worked our difficult way through the underwood, taking care not to
lose sight of our right and left files, we kept a sharp look out every
step of our way; for each thicket, hollow trunk, or jackal's hole, tuft
of grass, or lofty tree, may conceal the stealthy Kaffir when least
expected; in an instant the silent forest is suddenly peopled with a
legion of naked savages, springing, as it were, out of the earth, with
a deadly volley from their unsuspected ambuscade.
We passed the dead body of one of our men stripped naked, lying in
the jungle with a ghastly wound in his chest; but having orders to
advance through the belt, and join the column on the other side, it
was impossible to stop to bury or remove it. When the column came up,
a grave was dug for the other men; and the Colonel, on my reporting
having seen the body, sent me back with half a dozen men to bring it
in. We had, therefore, to retrace our steps about a quarter of a mile
through the forest, at the edge of which a guard was placed to render
us assistance if attacked. The magnificent trees, and the fallen trunks
in various stages of decay, overgrown with creepers, or green with
moss, forcibly reminded one of the backwoods of Canada. We proceeded in
perfect silence, with arms ready at a moment's warning, and again came
up to the body. The stems of two or three young trees, picked up by the
way, and tied together by wild vine, served as a stretcher, on which
we bore the body back, and without interruption, nearly to the edge of
the wood. As we stopped at this point to change bearers, a sound like
the sharp crack of a dry stick was heard; but as we could see no one,
and a dead silence reigned around, we resumed our burden, from whose
reopened wound a pool of blood had flowed where it had rested. We had
just gained the open ground, when suddenly along the face of the wood
there blazed a sharp fire of musketry, and the enemy sprang from every
bush; our comrades of the extended company at the same moment briskly
returning their fire. The balls again whistled past us, lodging in the
trees with a sharp _thud_, or ploughing up the ground. One of our men
was severely wounded in the knee, and died afterwards while undergoing
amputation; the rest plunged into the forest in pursuit of the enemy,
who left seven dead on the ground, carrying off many more dead and
wounded. This interruption passed, we proceeded with the corpse to
the grave, which the men had dug in the soft soil with their hands,
billhooks, and bayonets, where we buried it with the two other bodies
of the poor fellows who had fallen; and, having filled up the grave,
carefully sprinkled it with dead leaves and sticks, a precaution which,
as we afterwards learned from a Kaffir prisoner, was of no avail, for
the crafty wretches soon found the spot, and dragging the bodies out,
exposed them, as they said white men ought to be, "to the sun and the
vulture."
We learned that whilst we were returning with the dead body an armed
party of Hottentots came up, and sat down with Lieut. Gordon, who was
posted with the company extended along the edge of the forest, and
asked for bread and tobacco, stating themselves to belong to one of
our native Levies, at that time at no great distance, and whom they
strongly resembled in dress. Among them was a man in the Cape Corps
uniform, who, when questioned as to his being on foot and in the bush,
said he belonged to "troop A, Captain C----'s" and had, with several
others, been ordered to dismount, and skirmish with the Levies, their
horses being done up. Strongly suspecting they were rebels, but not
liking to act on mere suspicion, Gordon went to request the Colonel
to see them; but the moment the rascals saw them approaching the spot
where they sat talking to our men, they jumped to their feet, and just
as the Colonel shouted, "Shoot them down," fired a random volley,
followed so instantaneously by the fire of the company that the two
appeared as one report, three of the rebels falling on the spot, beside
those killed and wounded at the moment we emerged from the wood.
Simultaneously with the above attack, a combined movement was effected
by the 2nd division, under Colonel Mackinnon, which was separated
into two columns; the first, under his own immediate command, moving
from the Quilliquilli along the left bank of the Keiskamma; and the
second, under Lieut.-Col. Michell, proceeding to the Keiskamma Hoek. In
conjunction with the operations of the two main divisions, the troops
from the garrison of Fort Cox, under the command of Lieut.-Col. Cooper,
harassed the enemy in the valleys of the Keiskamma, thus "penetrating
the mountains in four columns, converging to a common centre upon
the principal strongholds of the enemy." A large native force, under
Captain Tylden, R.E., was also placed in position on the Windogelberg,
in order to prevent them making for the country beyond the Kei.
It was now near dusk, and having been out since five in the morning we
were not sorry to hear the order to return to camp. As we descended
the steep pass, stormed in the morning, the lines of camp-fires were
seen blazing cheerfully on the darkening plain below, where the rest
of the division was already bivouacked. Having again forded the river,
on approaching the lines, the officers and men of the 91st came out to
meet us. They had got fires lighted, and wood and water ready for our
wearied men, and helping to carry in our wounded, shared their coffee
with us. Whilst sitting round the fires we talked over the stirring
events of the day, lamenting the fate of the brave fellows who had
marched out with us that morning in as high health and spirits as
ourselves, and now lay in their lonely graves on the heights above.
Shortly after nightfall it was discovered that there was no water left
in camp, and, being the orderly officer, I was sent with an armed party
to bring a supply from the river, about a quarter of a mile from the
sentries, and (being thickly skirted with bush) a very likely ambuscade
for Kaffirs, who have a taste for lurking round camps at night. We
left the lines quietly, made our way across the dark plain, and soon
reached the river, which we heard, rather than saw, rushing along
between its shady banks. The water-party filled their load of canteens
without interruption, but the return to camp, which on this side was
occupied by the Levies, was rather a hazardous affair, for the Fingoes
have a stupid way of firing first and challenging afterwards. As a
precautionary measure, therefore, before he could see our approach,
we commenced shouting "Friend!" to the sentry who had passed us out,
and also been specially warned of our return; a bright flash was the
immediate answer, and a ball whizzed close over our heads: down we all
went flat on our faces, shouting "_Friend!_" more lustily than before,
as a second shot was fired at us; the stir and jabber among the rest of
the Fingoes, which also prevented our being heard, promised a general
sortie, in which case we should be shot or assegaied to a moral, so we
took advantage of the sentry's reloading to jump to our feet, and make
a dash for it; to their great astonishment, rushing almost into their
arms, shouting "Friend, friend, you scoundrels, friend!"
The wounded, who lay groaning all night by a fire on the open field,
suffered acutely from the cold; their distressing cries, together with
the unusual hardness of the ground, kept us awake a great part of the
night.
We afterwards learned that the enemy's loss was considerably greater
than we had imagined, several Chiefs were amongst the slain; Beta, and
Pitoi Son-of-Vongya, two of great note. Sandilli, who was present, and
directing the movements of his men, was very nearly taken prisoner,
escaping only by creeping on his hands and knees through the thickest
part of the bush.
The morning after the fight rose dull and misty, and the top of the
mountain range was hidden by white fleecy clouds that rolled half-way
down. Not long after daylight a Gaika woman, with a child tied on her
back, approached the camp, and coolly walked about among the tents and
fires, looking for anything she could appropriate.
The Kaffirs were heard on the heights, every word distinctly audible,
shouting to us, "_Nina Ez'innqulo! yinina ukuba niyalusa pzu kwentaba
enje izinqulala?_" (Halloa, you Tortoises! why do you keep us up here
in the cold?) They distinguished the 74th by this soubriquet, on
account of a fancied resemblance between the regimental tartan, and the
chequered tortoises that abound on their plains; it afterwards became
general among all the other tribes, and was not unfrequently used by
our own people.
After sending off our wounded in waggons, under a cavalry escort, to
the standing camp at Quesana, we again ascended the same range, though
at another point, and by three different routes; the 91st and native
Levies by a pass about a mile to our right; the cavalry by another,
at some distance on our left; ours, in the centre, though a somewhat
shorter course, was by far the steepest and most trying. The men,
loaded with their rations, blankets, great coats, firelocks, and sixty
rounds of ball cartridge, were so fatigued under the overpowering heat
of the noonday sun, that the whole column constantly halted, literally
unable to move for the moment. During our ascent, the enemy showed
in small bodies on several points, but did not attempt in any way to
oppose us; and all three columns met on the table land above, without
having fired a shot. After marching about seven miles further, without
seeing anything of the enemy, we descended into the Zanooka valley, a
beautiful green basin completely surrounded by a splendid amphitheatre
of high wooded mountains. The Fingoes plundered a Kaffir village of
considerable quantities of maize, discovered buried in large circular
holes, neatly plastered over, in the floors of the huts, to which they
afterwards set fire. Here we bivouacked, while General Somerset, taking
with him the Cape Corps, and Hottentot and Fingoe Levies, proceeded
along the head of the Liguey Stream; where, observing a party of the
enemy posted in the forest intersecting the ridge of Mount Macdonald,
he moved forward to attack them with the cavalry, and after a brisk
skirmish and heavy firing on both sides, drove them back, and on the
Levies coming up completely routed them. Descending into the valley of
the Keiskamma, he returned, by a long circuit, to the bivouac, about
dusk, when the enemy began to creep in nearer, and fire long shots at
the groups gathered round the blazing fires. A few bullets dropped
amongst us now and then; by one of which a Levy officer was shot in the
leg, as he was drinking his coffee. At length, becoming bolder and more
troublesome, a party of skirmishers was sent out to disperse them; and
we sat watching the singular conflict, of which nothing was visible but
the two long straggling broken lines of flashing musketry; one retiring
as the other advanced up the dark mountain side. The beauty of the
effect was heightened by the prolonged rolling of the reports echoing
among the crags.
The whole column moved out of the basin shortly after sunrise, and
ascended Mount Macdonald, reaching the summit at ten o'clock, where
we halted; while the corps of Levies were detached into the valley
of the Zanooka to intercept the enemy's cattle, the spoor of which
was traced in that direction. Small parties of Kaffirs were observed
at some distance descending by different paths, into the valley of
the Keiskamma, and the bivouac we had just left was soon covered with
their dusky figures. The view from this elevation was most beautiful,
comprising the whole of the Zanooka valley with its dark and extensive
forests, sheltered glens, and smooth grassy slopes, through which wound
the Tsimuka, now roaring along, foaming among masses of red rock, then
lost among the overhanging trees to appear again between smooth and
verdant banks, dancing and glittering in the dazzling sunshine.
The standing camp of the 2nd Division was clearly visible on a large
plain about ten miles off: the troops were patrolling in the wooded
valleys between us, and in communication with the General.
After completely scouring the bush at our feet, the Levies passed
down the valley, skirmishing with scattered parties of rebels, and
setting fire to their huts; finally returning under cover of the Cape
Corps, which occupied the heights above under the immediate command
of the General, with three hundred and fifty head of cattle, which we
escorted along the ridges to our former bivouac of the 26th in the
Amatola valley; leaving two companies of the 91st regiment to cover
the return of the Levies. This they effected leisurely and without
molestation, till the top of the pass was gained, leading down to the
plain on which we were already bivouacked; when, just as it was growing
dusk, they were attacked in the rear by a few straggling Kaffirs,
who, taking advantage of the bush which commanded the pass, opened a
dropping fire upon them, severely wounding the Captain of the Levies in
the arm, which was afterwards amputated. The 91st fired a volley into
their cover, which silenced them for a few minutes; but the Levies,
exasperated by the wounding of their officer, kept up an incessant
roll of musketry in spite of our bugles; which, in front of the
General's patrol-tent, sounded the "cease firing" for full ten minutes.
As the darkness increased the combatants were gradually lost to sight,
and the flashing of their muskets grew brighter, but less frequent,
till they ceased altogether. The wounded man, Captain Melville, was
shortly after borne into the camp on a stretcher by the Fingoes, and
the weary 91st found their fires lighted by our men, who shared their
supper, scanty as it was, with their exhausted companions.
At eight o'clock on Sunday morning, unwashed and unshaven, with
tattered clothes and rusty arms, we marched for our standing camp
on the Quesana; climbed the face of the intervening mountain, and
crossing its ridge, saw the white tents spread on the plain below,
which we gained in a couple of hours, and lost no time in realizing the
longed-for luxuries of a bathe and a clean shirt.
The officers left behind, had got ready a large camp-kettle of coffee,
round which, _tin-tot_ in hand, we all squatted, from the Colonel
downwards, and read the General's Despatch, and the honourable mention
made of our exertions.
For three days the camp remained stationary, the General being absent
at Fort Hare, and the troops awaiting commissariat supplies from
thence. On the 2nd July, however, we were again in motion, ascending
at day-break another part of the same range as before, for the purpose
of clearing the eastern range of the Victoria Heights, and of again
attacking the enemy's fastnesses in the forests at the southern point
of the Hogsback.
After a tedious climb, we gained the top of the path, and looked down
on the plain we had just left, where the pack-horses and mules, like
pigmies, wound along towards the foot of the ascent. We halted for a
couple of hours on the top of a lower ridge, extended in skirmishing
order, lying down among the rocks and shrubs along the edge, looking
down into the dense bush below, in which were numerous scattered
kraals. From these, as the Fingoes crashing through the underwood
were heard advancing through the cover, firing, yelling, and setting
everything combustible in flames, the naked Kaffirs stealthily crept,
unaware of the sharpshooters above.
In the meantime, a party of the 91st and European Levies attacked the
forest stronghold at the southern point of the Hogsback, and thoroughly
cleared it of the enemy, burnt their huts, and obliged the inhabitants
to take refuge in the highest fastnesses of the lofty Chumie. Two large
villages, which, from being of the same colour as the rocks among
which they stood, had hitherto escaped our notice, now broke out in
flames, sending up into the still air clouds of heavy white smoke,
which were seen twenty miles off. The Fingoe and Hottentot Levies,
who had been despatched down the valley of the Amatola, burning every
kraal on their way, came on a lair, or hiding-place, from which we on
the heights could now see the Kaffirs hastily escaping in an opposite
direction, their chief, Oba, "son-of-Tyali," plainly discernible riding
off amongst them, just as the patrol reached the place; so sudden
and unexpected was the discovery and attack of this retreat, that
everything was abandoned, and Tyali's wives and children, and those of
Oba and other Kaffir grandees, were taken prisoners. A large quantity
of karosses, arms, ornaments, and skins, were taken, also the chiefs
head-dress of cranes' wings (the insignia of rank), with the full-dress
jacket and cap presented to him by Sir H. Smith. The whole of the
kraals were burnt to the ground. The captured women were marched
through our ranks shortly afterwards, on their way to the General:
their stately carriage and dignified step were most striking, as they
moved haughtily along with the indescribable ease and grace of manner
peculiar to both Kaffir and Fingo women. Having been examined and
interrogated to little purpose by the General's interpreter, they were
set at liberty, and wending their way back towards their kraal, now a
heap of smoking ruins, descended the hill, and were soon lost to sight
in the bush below.
The pasturage round our standing camp having become particularly
scanty, we moved, the following morning, to the N'caga, or
Yellow-Woods, three miles distant.
Just as we had pitched tents, the English mail arrived; and as the
welcome news spread like wildfire, hurrying from all sides, we flocked
towards the panting post-horses, and as the dusty leather bags were
emptied on the grass, crowded eagerly round for the anxiously-expected
letters, considerably bewildering the Camp-Sergeant-Major by our
zealous assistance in sorting them. Those lucky enough to get letters
from home retired to their tents, or to the shade of some tree beyond
the bustling camp, to enjoy them--the disappointed vowing never to
write home again. The escort with the mail had been attacked in the
Ecca valley; the officer in charge (Ensign Gill, C.M.R.), having had
his horse shot under him, one of his men killed, and two wounded.
We were permitted to rest in camp next day, though parties of Fingoes
were out in all directions, burning and destroying the deserted
Kaffir kraals. The whole afternoon they kept pouring into camp laden
with their spoils; large quantities of _amazimba_, Kaffir corn,[8]
ornaments, head-dresses, and every kind of Kaffir traps and toggery.
Several women were also brought in prisoners, but sent about their
business after an interview with the General's interpreter, much to
the disappointment of their Fingoe captors, who, finding they were not
to have the pleasure of putting them to death as they had anticipated,
and highly incensed at their being allowed to return unharmed to their
own people after the trouble they had been at in taking them, followed
the liberated captives out of the camp, heaping on them every curse and
abuse in the Kaffir vocabulary, and thrashing them with their _keeries_
(long heavy sticks), which, however, was summarily put a stop to by us,
as soon as noticed.
The part of the camp allotted to these most zealous allies presented a
variety of novel and striking scenes. On all sides the eye encountered
black fellows of stalwart frame, arraying themselves in the ornaments
and insignia of despoiled _Inkosi_ and _Amapakati_,[9] singing to
themselves in a deep guttural chant, and dancing in a slow jerking
step to some monotonous measure. In a wide clear space a ring of some
three score of these athletic forms, blankets and karosses thrown
aside, began a war-dance to the strange chorus of their deep voices,
accompanied by regular tapping on a shield of ox-hide. The performers
shook their gleaming assegais in the air, and jerked their supple
frames to and fro, lifting their feet alternately, or jumping with
both, as they sung, in perfect harmony, a wild air, swelling from a
low organ-like hum to the full power of their lungs; hissing like
serpents, and creeping with bent bodies round and round, and in and
out, as if on the spoor of the enemy; then breaking out into cries and
yells, stabbing furiously at the imaginary victim in their centre, and
shaking their bodies backward and forward, from the knees upward, till
the perspiration streamed from every pore. Each verse of the war-song,
which was an improvised commemoration of their late achievements, was
given by a single voice in a loud recitative, and then caught up by the
whole in an astounding chorus,
Ezani, ezani nina Amaxosa,
Sobula noko,--sobula noko,--
Sobula-lá, no-kó![10]
In another quarter, round a large iron pot of boiled Kaffir corn, a
knot of gormandizers were collected, throwing handful after handful
of the swelled and steaming grain down their throats with a steady
perseverance perfectly astonishing; while stretched around lay others,
watching them with looks of mingled helplessness and envy, their own
stomachs already gorged to the utmost limit.
A party of _headmen_ and older warriors, seated cross-legged in their
tents, ceremoniously smoked the _dagha-pipe_, a kind of hookah, made of
a bullock's horn, its downward point filled with water, and a reed stem
let into the side, surmounted by a rough bowl of stone, which is filled
with the _dahga_, a species of hemp, very nearly, if not the same, as
the Indian _bang_. Each individual in the circle receives it in turn,
opens his jaws to their full extent, and placing his lips to the wide
open mouth of the horn, takes a few pulls and passes it on. Retaining
the last draught of smoke in his mouth, which he fills with a decoction
of bark and water from a calabash, he squirts it on the ground by
his side through a long ornamented tube in his left hand, performing
thereon, by the aid of a reserved portion of the liquid, a sort of
boatswain's whistle, complacently regarding the soap-like bubbles, the
joint production of himself and neighbour. It appeared to be a sign of
special friendliness and kindly feeling to squirt into the same hole.
For a few shillings and a little tobacco, we obtained a number of
handsome ornaments taken from the huts of some of the members of the
Gaika Royal Family, such as bracelets, karosses, &c., with the singular
head-dresses, _umnqwazi_, made of otter skin and beautiful bead work,
which are the insignia peculiar to female royalty in Kaffirland.
Next day we returned to Fort Hare, and encamped on the plain at some
distance from the walls. Here we expected to have had a short rest
after the incessant marching and countermarching of the last few days,
as the morrow would be Sunday, but were doomed to be disappointed, for
soon after sunrise tents were again struck, and as the early chapel
bell tolled for first service, we marched through the straggling
village of Alice, the clean Sunday dressed settlers wishing us
"God-speed," and the young Fingoes, as usual, dancing round our Pipers
in ecstasies of delight. The 91st were left behind to garrison the Fort.
After a hot and dusty march we halted at noon to rest the oxen,
near the ruined and deserted settlement of Ely, one of the military
villages destroyed by the enemy at the commencement of the war; the
houses of _wattle and daub_ still standing, though without doors or
windows, appeared, from the numerous articles left in them, such as
spades, axes, bayonets, assegais, bridles, and kettles, to have been
most precipitately abandoned. A march of some miles further, and we
encamped towards evening, about a mile from Fort Beaufort, within
sight of the foreign-looking little town with its surrounding clusters
of neatly built Fingoe kraals. Next morning we passed through the
town, where there are large excellent stone-built barracks, and some
snug-looking staff-quarters, with cool verandahs, and high hedges of
prickly-pear, enclosing green compounds, adorned with shady trees and
large American aloes. It was broiling hot, and we were followed, as
usual, by hundreds of Fingoes and Hottentots, while others huddled
round their kraals in motley groups, and in every stage of undress--old
shrivelled patriarchs, with blear eyes and grizzly heads; haggard
witches, with long withered breasts hanging down to their waists;
mothers suckling the children tied on their backs; men, as an apology
for dress, covering one shoulder with a short kaross; and women, with
the most incredible posterior development, whose sole attire was a skin
or kilt tied round the waist, reaching barely to the knee; while scores
of naked little imps, with enormous stomachs, scuttled about in every
direction.
Crossing the Kat river, by a stone bridge, a curiosity in this part
of the world, we marched through an uninteresting bushy country,
to Clu-clu, where we halted and pitched our camp, half the tents
being hidden from one another by the mimosa bushes. Though one of
the commonest, this is certainly one of the prettiest trees of the
country; its light and graceful form, bright green feathery foliage,
golden clusters of globular blossom, filling the air with the most
delicious perfume, and bristling array of gigantic white thorns, from
three to six inches long, thickly studding every twig, make it at all
times a striking object. Fortunately there was plenty of shade, and we
lay till sundown under a fine tree, enjoying the unusual repose. The
greater part of the native Levy attached to our brigade joined here,
having marched from Fort Beaufort, after many parting cups, in a very
independent and jovial manner, and contrived to shoot their officer on
the road.
7th.--At daylight, we were awakened by a pouring rain pattering
heavily on our patrol-tents, and congratulated ourselves that we were
not likely to march; but in less than five minutes the bugle sounded
"strike tents," and the operation of pulling up pegs immediately
commencing, we had to bundle out and arrange our toilet in the storm.
The rain having put out every fire, and the unexpected march upset the
calculations of servants as well as masters, there was no coffee to be
had, and we marched without it.
A party of Cape Corps, which had been out during the night, returned
with two hundred sheep, and seventy head of cattle, having killed
several Kaffirs. Four miles marching across a plain, bounded on
the left by fog, and on the right by the dark range of the Kromme,
covered by a canopy of heavy white clouds, brought us to our halt
for breakfast, by the so-called Yellow Wood River, a large gully,
containing here and there small pools of water, its course marked
across the otherwise bare plain by a belt of the large willow-like
trees,[11] from which it derives its name. We discovered here the
corpse of one of the enemy killed by the Cape Corps party, and not far
off a wounded Kaffir, brought to this point by his comrades, whom, it
seemed, we had nearly surprised at their fires, on which the meat was
still cooking, or rather, burning. The wounded man wore round his neck
a fine string of tiger's teeth, which one of the Levy officers cut off
and gave me. On seeing the knife approach his throat, the poor fellow
thought it was all over with him, and clasping his hands, with a deep
groan, closed his eyes. He appeared as much relieved as surprised to
find he had only lost his necklace. The Fingoes, as usual, wanted
to kill him, but were prevented by the officers, who left the dying
warrior some bread and water, and placed him under the shade in an
easier posture.
The sun now shone bright and hot. Our way lay across the steaming
plain, on which clumps of mimosa again began to appear; here and there
the blackened ruins of some unfortunate settler's house showed traces
of the destroying enemy. Towards sunset we came to another green belt
of trees that for some time had formed the only break in the parched
and level plain, and crossed the deep Koonap River in separate bodies,
simultaneously, at four or five different points, by narrow slippery
ledges of rock running across it, and forming small waterfalls, over
which several of the men slipped into the intervening pools, and, of
course, got a thorough ducking.
Soon after the camp was pitched, a party of our cavalry, whose firing
we had seen on the hills, came in with three hundred sheep and a few
oxen and horses, (belonging to the owner of one of the ruined farms,)
which they had retaken from the enemy, seven of whom they had killed,
losing one man.
8th.--Parade at six, A.M.; bitterly cold, the ground white with hoar
frost, and the water in our tents incrusted with ice; by nine o'clock
it was warm to inconvenience, and, in the sun, scorching hot. We
wandered, gun in hand, along the wooded banks of the river, where we
put up several large monkeys and green and crimson parrots. An iguana
was shot by Gordon, about three feet and a half long, just as it was
wriggling down the bank to reach the water. Our patrols again returned
from a successful pursuit after marauders, recapturing one hundred
sheep and seventy head of cattle, with a loss of three on the side of
the enemy.
In two or three days the scanty pasturage, what with the scorching
sun and the hungry cattle, had become so miserable as to compel us to
change our camp. Accordingly, on the 11th, we struck tents and moved
further up the river, halting near a deserted station, or _Post_.
Four empty roofless houses, and a chapel without doors, were all
that remained of it. The former still contained some common broken
furniture, which the men borrowed; and benches, tables, and arm chairs,
were placed round the camp fires, forming the oddest scene imaginable.
The Fingoes, in their ignorance, made a like use of the fittings of the
chapel; the pulpit was found at one of their fires, converted, with the
aid of a blanket or two, into a snug sort of kennel; it was, of course,
immediately ordered back by the Commanding-officer, in double-quick
time, together with the font, in which they were grinding coffee with a
round stone.
For two or three days we remained in camp, and our time was occupied in
parade and drills, the "extension motions" greatly amusing the Fingoes,
who seemed to imagine that the squads of men, swinging their arms, and
balancing themselves on one foot, were performing a solemn war dance.
Macomo was at this time reported to be in the neighbourhood with a
large hostile force, and a party was sent out against him, before
daylight on the 14th, consisting of five companies of the 74th
Highlanders, a six-pounder howitzer, two hundred Cape Corps, and
the Levies. The patrol was absent two days, and went through some
hard work, having to drag the gun, by hand, up the steep and narrow
Water-Kloof-Pass, and lift it bodily over large felled trees, placed
across the path by the enemy. A number of Kaffirs were seen, and the
artillery was brought to bear upon them; owing to the nature of the
cover in which they took refuge, the effect could not be ascertained,
though from the precision with which the shells were dropped, their
loss must have been considerable. On our side the casualties were two
men killed and one wounded, a couple of horses also being killed.
On the morning of their return I was sent with an escort of one hundred
men to convey to Fort Beaufort a train of waggons, containing a
quantity of spare arms and accoutrements to go into the ordnance store,
with some slaughter oxen for the use of that garrison, and to bring
back commissariat supplies for the camp. We were joined on the way,
for the sake of protection, by a burgher fleeing from his farm, with
his wife and family, and three thousand sheep. We soon neared the spot
where, about a week ago, the wounded Kaffir had been left; two or three
_asvogels_, or vultures, skimmed heavily along the ground from a black
object, which proved to be his body, already half devoured.
On the approach of evening we halted on the _open_, drawing up the
waggons in a circle, with their dissel-booms outwards. The fires were
lighted in the inner space, and the sentries posted about fifty yards
outside, with an outlying picquet of Fingoes, for the night was pitch
dark, and the neighbourhood infested with Kaffirs, to whom our flocks
and herds were a great temptation. Wrapped in a plaid, I sat by the
fire contemplating the scene within our little encampment; on one
side the soldiers chatted merrily and carelessly over their supper;
on the other were the Fingoes, jabbering in their strange dialect;
some cutting up lumps of meat with their sharp assegais, and others
lying round the fires in wild groups; while the Hottentot drivers, and
fore-loupers, sat under their own waggons smoking apart; the whole
brightly illuminated by the blazing fires reflected from the circular
wall of white covered waggons. One by one, the men dropped off to
sleep, and I was soon left to my own thoughts, surrounded by motionless
forms rolled in blankets.
On going the rounds at ten o'clock, I found the Fingoe Levies had very
coolly left their posts, and were sleeping comfortably by the picquet
fire among their comrades. Calling their sergeant, an immensely big
fellow, he rushed to the fire, and kicked up the slumbering figures
one after another, overhauling them without ceremony by arms and legs,
sorting and turning them over like a creel of fish, shouting all the
time at the top of his voice. Having found the delinquents, and awarded
them "extra guards" as a punishment, with a threat of the _jambok_, or
still more dreaded stoppage of rations, in case of further offence, we
marched them back to their posts giving them to understand, that as
they would be visited every half hour, it would be advisable to keep a
good look out.
What with the angry and incessant barking of the dogs, the
uninterrupted bleating of sheep, and the loud snoring of the oxen, all
attempts to sleep were in vain. So I sat up, and squatting by the fire,
amused myself with piling on fresh wood, wishing by the way, as the
picture of old Horace occurred to me--
"Ligna super foco large reponens," &c.,
that I could lay my hand on some of the "quadrimum merum," to render
the comparison a little more happy.
At three o'clock the moon rose, and I awoke the bivouac by
shouting--"Inspan." Instantly all were alive; the Hottentots tumbled
out of their waggons, the men jumped to their feet and folded their
blankets, the sentries were called in, and in ten minutes we were
"trekking" across the plain. As we descended the little hollow of the
Clu-clu, enveloped in a thick fog, the change was most extraordinary,
the chilly raw air striking through us instantaneously, and as suddenly
ceasing on our emerging from it on the opposite side. In many places
the bush by the wayside glowed with bright scarlet clusters of the
bignonia,[12] which wreathed among the trees. Suddenly Fort Beaufort
opened on us, in the centre of a green plain below, the fine mountains
of the Elandsberg and Tyumie forming a noble background.
We found the town looking wretchedly dull and deserted, the garrison
being reduced to a small detachment only of the Cape Mounted Rifles,
besides the Levies.
The Commandant ordered the Commissariat to have the waggons loaded by
dark, as the General had directed their return by moonlight.
We accordingly started at nine o'clock the same evening, but with only
half the original escort, the Fingoes not making their appearance
at the appointed time, their invariable custom on such occasions,
remaining behind, making merry in the kraals of their friends, with a
glorious disregard of time, and orders. An attack was fully expected,
as well on account of our reduced numbers and heavily-laden waggons
as from the fact that our errand and return were as well known to the
enemy as ourselves. At midnight we halted to let the oxen graze for
a couple of hours, while the men threw themselves down on the grass
to snatch a little sleep. At two we were off again. Dark glens, hill,
dale, and bush, were passed without interruption, and we were once more
on open ground. The encampment having been moved during our absence, I
rode forward with the _Conductor_ (a most valuable assistant, attached
to each train of government waggons), for about two miles, cantering
from one rise to another, looking out for the fires, which we at last
discovered at a considerable distance, and turning back, put the
waggons on the right track, and reached the camp at daylight.
For a week we remained stationary, patrols going out almost daily to
different parts of the neighbourhood to check the enemy, who would
suddenly appear in the most opposite directions; one day, for instance,
attacking a train of waggons in the Mancazana, and killing seven of
the escort; and two days after, firing on the post riders between Fort
Beaufort and Graham's Town, killing six on the spot, and wounding three
others.
Those of us who remained in camp amused themselves with quail shooting,
or with reading under the shade of the yellow-wood trees. Hundreds of
turtle-doves swarmed in every direction; and though at first there
were some scruples about killing them, they were soon remorselessly
shot and converted into pigeon pies. Monkeys and brilliantly-plumaged
_touracos_, or crested parrots, of a dark green, with purple and
crimson tails and wings, filled the belt of the wood along the river
with their discordant chattering.
One morning, in beating for quail along a reedy _sluit_, or
watercourse, we came on the corpses of some of the Kaffirs killed
during the late patrols, which, half devoured by vultures and jackals,
lay festering in the jungle.
For three days we endured the misery of a sand storm. The hot air
was filled with clouds of fine red sand, driven by a burning wind,
and shutting out every object at a few yards' distance, blinding the
eyes and stifling the breath, while it not only penetrated the tents,
covering everything with a thick red coating, but even found its way
into every box and valise. Nothing can be more wretchedly uncomfortable
than one of these inflictions, unluckily but too common. The skin
becomes dry and hot; an irresistible lassitude is felt, accompanied
with headache; the face and hair are red with sand, which, to complete
the discomfort, finds its way even under one's clothing. No one
ventures out who can possibly avoid it, though even a house is but a
partial protection, the closest-fitting doors and windows failing to
exclude the finer particles, as the red hue of the furniture quickly
shows. Those who, like ourselves, had no choice, braved the storm, with
heads bent down and eyes half shut, or shielded by wire goggles with
dark blue glasses, giving a most comical aspect to the wearer.
The sand storm at last blown over, we saw in the evening a dense smoke
rising about two miles off. A reconnoitring party discovered that the
enemy had set fire to the grass, a common expedient with them to oblige
us to abandon a position inconvenient to themselves, by destroying the
pasturage, and a mode of ejectment so effective, as generally to have
no remedy but to trek.
As night advanced, the spectacle was really grand, and all turned out
of their tents to look at it; the whole plain, for miles in extent,
being one sheet of flame, tinging the sky with a lurid red.
FOOTNOTES:
[8] Holcus Caffrorum.
[9] Chiefs and councillors.
[10]
Come on--come on, you Kaffirs!--
We will kill you--we will kill you!
[11] Taxus elongatus.
[12] Tecoma Capensis.