SIXTH ATTACK ON THE WATERKLOOF--UITHAALDER--RETURN OF EXPEDITION
AGAINST KRELI.
The change of Governors did not long suspend the active operations of
warfare; General Cathcart sparing no pains in thoroughly informing
himself of whatever was necessary to be known, and having personally
reconnoitred the Waterkloof and the Amatolas, was fully prepared by the
beginning of July to carry war once more into the heart of the former
stronghold, in the interminable fastnesses of which, after twelve
months operations, Macomo (or, as one of our orderly Serjeants once
spelt his name, "Mc,Como") was still lurking, and now gathering a daily
increasing body of his tribe around him.
A "Confidential Order" appeared on the 6th of July, commanding the
assembly, and arranging the disposition of three main Columns,
under Colonel Buller, Lieut.-Col. Napier, and Lieut.-Col. Nesbitt,
respectively.
Bruce, with fifty mounted men, had orders to lie in ambush at Mundell's
Krantz, on the northern heights, above the entrance of the valley, to
cut off cattle and fugitives.
As it was necessary to gain our position unseen, we started full two
hours before daybreak, and after a ride of twelve miles in the dark
across the mountains, in a heavy storm of sleet, which a bitter cold
wind drove right in our teeth, we dismounted, just as the friendly
shades of night were beginning to fail us, at the edge of the little
wood where we were to lie concealed; after some fumbling with our
benumbed fingers, we removed the saddles and bridles, and picketted
our horses to the trees. The rain cleared off, and as the sun rose,
numbers of beautiful green and crimson touracos began chattering and
screaming among the trees, flitting from branch to branch, quite close
to us, as if aware that we dared not fire at them. Only one small
fire was allowed for all our coffee kettles, and to prevent even that
discovering our presence, a Boer stood over it dispersing the smoke
with his hat.
We were not more than a mile distant from a large Kaffir village,
and from the edge of our cover could distinctly see the inhabitants
moving rapidly about at the first boom of artillery, the men arming
themselves, and running at the top of their speed for the points of
attack. Two came to within 500 yards of us to catch a couple of horses,
which we had not seen before; but wishing to lie _perdu_, so as to have
the chance of a prize, we did not fire, but watched them mount and race
back to the village to prepare for the fight.
As the fire of Napier's artillery became more continuous, and the
troops appeared on the heights on the opposite side of the valley, the
women of the village collected in a knot watching them. As we looked
through our glasses, they sat down in a large ring, under the shade
of a spreading tree, and we could distinctly see them smoking and
gesticulating; some perfectly naked, their sleek ebony skins shining
in the sun, but the most part in black karosses, giving to the group
a very Satanic appearance. Several came down to a spring, so near that
we could hear them talking. It was a novel and amusing sight to look in
upon a village of savages, and watch their habits unobserved.
Colonel Buller's column, easily recognised by the dark body of
Rifles contrasting with the red coats, was seen moving along the
southern heights of the Waterkloof and Kromme, and joining that of
his Excellency the Commander-in-Chief, who had ascended the mountain
from the other side, with Colonel Nesbitt's column. The two then
proceeded to the neck of the forest separating the Waterkloof from
Fullers Hoek, and after throwing rockets into it, the First and Third
Columns bivouacked for the night at the head of the Pass, having been
fourteen successive hours on the march. Hardly anything could be more
picturesque than our party in the little wood, the sun streaming down
through trees completely covered with long drooping bunches of lichen,
horses picketted round their hoary trunks; bridles and accoutrements
hanging on the lower branches, and groups of men lying in the open
glade, or crouched among the outer thickets, peering at the savages, or
eagerly watching for cattle, which, however, never came.
In the evening Colonel Napier's Division passed close to our hiding
place: the advance guard of mounted Fingoes, with their usual zeal,
firing a volley into us, as we somewhat incautiously advanced to the
edge of the thicket to look at our friends. We all fell flat on our
faces, or jumped behind the trees; the fat Boers, in their short round
jackets, lying screaming on the ground in an agony of apprehension.
"_Yij musst niet skiet! Yij musst niet skiet! Allamachtig! Verdamte
skellums, warrum skiet yij?_" Several had very narrow escapes, being
spattered with mud by the balls; which struck the ground close to them.
The Column halting not more than a quarter of a mile from us, and
concealment being no longer necessary, B---- and I rode over to their
camp, which was on the old ground of October, nine months before. The
picketting pins and old kraals were still there, as also the blackened
circles of the fires round which many a comrade had sat, now dead
and gone. The graves of poor Norris and of our gallant fellows were
undisturbed, and the grass waved luxuriantly over them.
We joined our hospitable friends of the 91st at their soup and grog;
and at tattoo rode back to our bivouac, in considerable fear of being
shot by our own sentries as we approached. Pushing our way through the
dark shadowy thickets towards the illuminated centre, we stood in a
sylvan Robin Hood scene, bright fires blazed in every direction in the
warm-looking wood, lighting up the grey branches that met overhead, and
contrasting beautifully with the cold clear moonlight that silvered
the tree tops, through which appeared glimpses of the starry sky. The
horses, with drooping heads, stood sleeping in the ruddy light; the
swarthy bearded Boers, in their red woolen nightcaps, and our men in
their blankets, sat smoking together by the fires.
Soon after we had lain down to sleep by the fire, rolled in our plaids,
a moaning wind rushed through the trees; the moonlight vanished; a
few heavy drops came pattering on the leaves; and presently the rain
poured steadily down upon us. We slept however, for some hours, till
thoroughly awakened by the cold, and by the wet which trickled down our
necks, we got up one after another, from the soaked ground. Drawing
my drenched plaid over my shoulders, for my horse had the benefit of
the blanket, I sat, for the rest of the night, by the fire, in the
steaming circle of soldiers, smoking my pipe and watching the big drops
that fell hissing on the glowing logs as the fitful gusts sent them
rattling down from the trees. At daylight I mounted my shivering horse,
and with a well soaked saddle under me, and as stiff as a poker from
the wet and cold, rode over to Colonel Napier for orders. The Column
was just falling in for the march, and I was to remain with fifteen
men, in ambuscade for the Kaffirs who might come, as was their constant
practice, to search the deserted encampment. We entered the little belt
of wood, within pistol shot of the fires, and the Division moved off.
Soon after its last section had disappeared over the furthest ridge,
the ground was covered with enormous vultures, boom-vogels, black and
white crows, and secretary birds, which stalked about within a very few
yards of us. The boom-vogel is a very dark-plumaged vulture, like a
turkey cock, with red wattles and a bare brown neck; they go in pairs
only, and generally accompany a flock of the common vulture.
After two or three hours useless watching in a wet ditch, in wetter
clothes, and on a bitter cold day, our zeal began to evaporate; and
as the Kaffirs did not appear, and a look-out, whom I had sent to the
top of the highest tree, reported nothing moving on the plain as far
as he could see, we came out of our hiding-place; the birds, very much
astonished at our appearance, took themselves off, and we marched back
by a little hollow to our comrades in the wood.
Two hours afterwards, Colonel Napier's column appeared on the plain
before us, the 91st in advance, skirmishing with a few straggling
Kaffirs, and the artillery firing shell into the valley below. From
our position we could see numbers of Kaffirs along a rising ground
above the troops, out of their sight, firing on them and running from
rock to rock, playing at hide and seek. It was altogether a very pretty
sight, and we could not but admire the wonderful quickness and cunning
of these savage sharpshooters. Observing some of them making for the
krantz, as they were driven before the advancing troops, we galloped
off to intercept them. The column having turned off and encamped on the
ground of the former evening, B---- went down to see Colonel Napier,
leaving me with the men on the hill. In a few minutes afterwards a
small body of Kaffirs appeared below us driving a herd of cattle, at
which we commenced firing at long rifle-range, causing such commotion
among them that they broke away in all directions, several evidently
hit, making directly for us, followed by about a dozen Kaffirs. A few
of the Burghers, thinking to secure them, descended the steep face of
the hill, but had not gone far on the flat below, when hundreds of
Kaffirs came rushing in from all sides, and taking a little hollow
unseen by the Burghers, tried to surround and cut them off. Calling
all my men together, we opened such a steady and well directed fire on
them, that they were temporarily checked, and two of them being shot
dead by "the Minié Riflemen," and several wounded, they turned back
again, and our too venturesome allies, made fully aware of their peril,
quickly reascended the hill.
Another night of rain succeeded, with sleet and snow, and a cold
searching wind, doubly severe by contrast with the intense heat of the
day. When we woke in the morning, the mountain ranges, as far as the
eye could reach, were white with snow. The sleet turned to rain, and
the wind, piercing through our wet clothes, was so intensely chilling,
that the men who had, in fact, been lying in puddles all night, were
nearly helpless. At eight o'clock a welcome reprieve arrived, a party
of Cape Corps from the General's column, bringing us orders to return
to our quarters, which we did right willingly, and after a cold dreary
ride of eighteen miles, reached Post Retief. The only casualties during
the three days' operations were one man killed and one mortally
wounded.
The operations on the Waterkloof, the object of which was, by continued
annoyance, to drive the skulking Kaffirs out of their hiding places,
were only suspended for a day or two. On the 14th we were once more
patrolling our mountain ridges; the troops had again assembled at
the head of the kloof, and his Excellency the Governor-General
arriving with his Staff, a site was selected by the Officers of the
Engineers for a permanent defensible camp and two stone redoubts at
the Horseshoe, completely commanding Hermanus' Kloof, the head of the
Waterkloof, and the communication between it and Fullers Hoek, as also
the Kromme, and the approach from the west, and, by a mule path in
direct communication with the Blinkwater camp below. Being situated
on Mount Misery, and within a few hundred yards of the spot where our
gallant Colonel fell, the name of Fort Fordyce was given to it.
His Excellency had already built several stone towers in different
parts of the Amatola and Keiskamma districts, for the double purpose
of serving as present garrisons, and becoming nuclei and defences for
future villages; and their utility and value every succeeding day
proved more strongly. This part of the Waterkloof being thus occupied
permanently, our operations would have to be directed against the lower
and less intricate parts of the valley, into which the enemy were now
driven, and as a commencement, Colonel Buller with the Rifle Brigade
and 60th Rifles attacked, and completely destroyed, on the 24th, the
village at Mundell's Krantz purposely left for this surprise; killing
many of the enemy, and taking some of their arms and ammunition, with a
few cattle and horses. His only casualties were three men wounded, who
were brought the following day, by a detachment of the Rifle Brigade,
under Curzon, to Post Retief, which now wore the appearance of a large
military hospital; the barrack square, on a fine summer evening,
presenting men with bandaged heads, arms in slings, or hobbling on
crutches, and two poor fellows each minus a leg.
The old routine, to which we had again returned, of patrols and
escorts between the Blinkwater camp, or Mount Misery, where the new
redoubts were now building, was broken in upon, by the arrival of
200 mounted Fingo Levies on a roving patrol, under Captain Campbell,
who, a few miles off, had fallen in with, and killed a party of seven
rebel Totties. From some women who were with them, he had learned that
another party in advance, had gone on to the village at Mundell's
Krantz, not being aware of its destruction, and that they would
probably remain there all night. An attack was therefore determined on
with our united forces, as soon as it was dark. But just after sunset,
as we were getting our dinner, the Kaffirs came down on us instead,
and swept off eighty head of commissariat cattle, which the herdsmen,
with their usual incorrigible carelessness, had suffered to be out too
late, and too far from the Post. Every one disappeared in a moment to
order his horse, and get his arms. The bugle sounded the "alarm" and
"assembly;" and in five minutes, some 300 men had left the gates,
which were shut and barred behind us. The infantry took a short cut up
the mountain, in rear of the Post, over which the enemy had gone; while
two of the mounted men rode round by Mantatees Hoek, to intercept their
retreat. It was a fine moonlight night, and we went at a slapping pace
the whole way, up hill and down, clattering along the echoing road.
At each cross path there was a temporary check while the Fingoes in
advance narrowly examined the ground for spoor, and then on we went
again. At the end of six miles, the greater part of the field having
tailed off far behind, we saw a fire in a hollow of the plain, and
pushed rapidly on towards it, several getting tremendous falls over the
large ant hills which, from their peculiar hue, are not distinguishable
at night. I rode right into a sawpit, near an old shieling, fortunately
without injury; but it was no easy task to get out again, though I
managed to do so just in time to see the Burghers in front, blazing
away at some dark objects round the fire, which however, being only
stumps and logs, did not return the volley. While hunting about for
spoor, with a burning brand, we heard voices just over the rise.
Thinking the Kaffirs were now in our hands, we crept cautiously round
the eminence to surprise them, but discovered, just in time to prevent
a mutual volley, that they were some of our own people. In a few
minutes after these blunders, bright flashes of musketry showed where
the infantry were, high up on the dark ridge of the Little Winterberg,
in rear of which we had now got. The enemy was between us; and in a
very short time, the whole of the cattle were recaptured, but whether
with any loss to the marauders, the darkness of the night prevented our
ascertaining. The fort was regained at midnight.
The veteran and gallant Commander of our Division, General Somerset,
being appointed to a command in India, during this month took leave
of us, and of a country which for thirty years had had the benefit of
his services, and where he had commanded in three wars. He was greatly
beloved and respected by his Division, and the esteem and regard in
which he was held by the inhabitants were manifested by their inviting
him to a public dinner at Beaufort.
About a week after this, having been left for some days in almost
solitary occupancy of the Post, Bruce returned with his escort of
mounted men and Burghers from Beaufort, bringing an order from the
General for my appointment to head-quarters. Three days afterwards,
I was quartered in Fort Beaufort. The change of temperature from the
mountains to the dusty town, shimmering and dancing in the burning sun,
was most disagreeable. Hot north winds from the deserts constantly
prevailed, almost stifling the breath, and scorching the face like the
blast from a furnace; doors, windows, and furniture cracked with the
heat, and the thermometer often rose twenty or thirty degrees in a few
hours.
Each morning, the streets were filled with endless droves of cattle
and goats going to pasture; and strings of Fingo women with children
tied on their backs, and large hoes over their shoulders, trudging
to their "meelie gardens." All day long, crowds of dirty, drunken
Totties of both sexes, hung round the doors of the canteens; fought,
shrieked, and swore in the square; or sat in the sun smoking, picking
each other's heads, and eating snuff. Naked Fingoes trotted about on
oxen, and little black urchins charged through the streets on calves;
while dusty post-riders and mounted patrols galloped in with reeking
horses; and native escorts straggled out guarding long trains of
wagons. Towards evening, the cattle returned in hundreds; and the Fingo
women re-entered the town, carrying on their heads enormous pumpkins,
huge bundles of firewood, or grass. At sundown, the bugles and trumpets
of the different barracks sounded "the retreat;" at dark, the cicada
began his night-long ringing chirp, and, softened by the distance,
the Fingoe's wild chant and monotonous drumming continued without
intermission till long past midnight.
The Governor-General, whose residence and head-quarters were at Fort
Beaufort, had just left with a strong escort for the Umvani, about five
and thirty miles from Kreli's "Great Place," where he had summoned an
assembly of troops and burghers to meet him on the 6th instant, to
proceed against that Chief, who had not only refused to send in the
fine of cattle imposed on him by Sir H. Smith, on the faith of his
promise to pay which the troops had been withdrawn, but had insolently
sent back the letter in which his Excellency General Cathcart demanded
payment, and remonstrated with him on his want of good faith.
One morning not long after arriving at Beaufort, the Colonel commanding
the Division sent to desire me to see him immediately. A body of
Kaffirs had entered the colony at a point about fifteen miles off;
and in half an hour, I was marching out of the town with about 200
men, a company of the Rifle Brigade, another of the 74th, and some
Fingo Levies, to cut off the enemy's return. A march of seventeen
miles, brought us an hour after dark to the ruins of Post Victoria, an
isolated fort, abandoned in 1845, and afterwards burnt by the Kaffirs.
We had but just lighted our bivouac fires within the square formed
by the broken walls, when, to our great surprise, for we were in an
uninhabited district, miles from house or camp, we heard a bugle at
a short distance sound the "cease firing." We could only imagine it a
ruse of the Rebels, who in skirmishing had latterly adopted our bugle
sounds, retiring, advancing, firing, and changing direction, by the
bugle-calls used in our service. But it turned out to be a patrol of
the 2nd Queen's, from Fort Hare, on the same spoor as ourselves. We
were now a party of five officers, and 350 men.
As the two main "Kaffir-paths" entered the colony about half a mile
distant on each side the Post, I placed "forelaying parties" on them
for the night, but they came in at daylight, without having seen
anything, and the detachment of the Queen's marched for Fort Willshire,
another deserted post. Having despatched all the mounted Fingoes to
Foonah's Kloof to reconnoitre, I went with a party of infantry in an
opposite direction, to see if we could strike on any spoor to guide us
in our movements.
For miles the country stretched away in bush-sprinkled wavy downs,
dancing in the heat, and still as death. The only living thing we
saw, though the country was said to abound in game, was a solitary
honey-bird,[22] that flew before us from bush to bush, returning at
intervals, and calling us on in the most unmistakable manner, till
it stopped at an old tree, where the Fingoes found a bee's nest in
a hollow branch. Leaving the bird as much as he could manage, they
brought away the rest, which they ate, comb and all.
In a little belt of wood, clothing a deep dell, the dry course of the
Shishago, we came on the spoor of koodoo, boschbok, and guinea-fowl,
and presently on that of a few Kaffirs and cattle, quite recent, which
had a most refreshing effect on us; everybody brightened up, and the
Fingoes were like new men, intently following up the faintest marks
with their wonderful instinctive quickness. A few head of cattle were
captured, but nothing was seen of the Kaffirs.
At night we again waylaid "the paths" without success, and next day
marched through a bushy country to a ruined farm, ten miles off,
commanding another favourite Kaffir path. Nothing could be more
beautiful than this spot. In the centre of an open grassy glade,
surrounded by wooded hills, lay a fine clear lake, formed by ledges
of rock running across the Kat River, which poured over in a hundred
cooling cascades, where the men revelled in the luxury of a bath
after their hot march. The overhanging trees, and tall reedy fringe
of the graceful papyrus, were filled with _suiker vogels_, or "sugar
birds,"[23] of gorgeous colouring, crimson, green, yellow, and blue,
glancing brilliantly in the sun, and throwing the plumage of the
numerous lories quite into the shade. It was useless to fire at them
with two ounce conical balls; but so anxious was B----n to possess
a specimen, that he left the water, and, without dressing, followed
a pair of them with a handful of stones, from tree to tree with a
perseverance which, in his state of nudity, was most ludicrous. The
fine krantzes of perpendicular basaltic rock along the river were
inhabited by a colony of large blue-faced baboons, with pink behinds,
which added considerably to the effect of their comical gestures.
Numbers of empty tortoise-shells, of immense size, lay about among the
scattered bush, which was in great part cactus, euphorbia, geranium,
and thorn. Returning from a stroll after our bathe, we found our three
patrol-tents pitched; pewter platters, sixpenny knives and forks,
and tin-tots laid out on a tarpaulin on the greensward; and a large
frying-pan full of ration beef frizzling over a fire inclosed by a
semicircular kraal of thick bushes. The Kaffir path, far enough out
of sight of our bivouac, was again _forelaid_ for the night; and at
12 o'clock we went, under the guidance of a Fingo, with a handful of
men to reconnoitre, and if possible surprise a favourite hiding-place
of the Kaffirs among the cliffs; but, after stealthily climbing step
by step up the rocks, with fingers on the trigger, found the retreat
tenantless! The forelaying-party was relieved at daylight, without
"anything extra," as the sergeants said, having occurred.
We afterwards learned that the Kaffirs had left the colony by a
different track, but only to fall in with another ambuscade, which
retook the spoil, and shot one or two of the plunderers. A long and hot
march, passing through Barooka, a deserted Fingo village, brought us
at mid-day to Birt's station, a deserted missionary settlement, where,
from the excessive heat of the sun, we halted for a couple of hours,
spreading plaids and blankets over the orange trees and large American
aloes, for shelter from its rays. From thence our way lay through a
solitary bushy country to Fort Beaufort, which we reached late in the
afternoon.
Next day I was sent with a strong party to escort a waggon load of
Minié rifles and ammunition to Fort Hare, twelve miles off. While
there, a patrol of the 2nd Queen's, which had been sent to the Chumie
Mountain, to cover the descent of the returning Kei expedition,
unexpectedly came in, having been surrounded by the enemy and compelled
to retreat. A stronger force was immediately ordered out, and my party
pressed into the service. We sat down at midnight in high spirits to
a hasty supper, having a march of fifteen miles to accomplish before
daylight. The night was fine and starlight, and we trudged cheerily
along the hard road, through a thick bush, the air scented with mimosa
and jessamine.
At daybreak we were on an open green plain at the foot of the beautiful
Chumie Mountain, whose grey timber-sprinkled crags and extensive
forests excited the most lively expressions of admiration, as the
rising sun beamed out upon them. We encamped at nine o'clock on the
smooth green flats at the head of the Chumie Hoek, a lovely valley,
surrounded on three sides by mountains clothed with verdure to the
tops, and partially wooded.
Close to our bivouac were the burnt ruins of Auckland, one of the
military villages destroyed by the enemy at the outbreak of the war.
The silent, deserted street, down which a jackal skulked at our
approach, was strewed with the bones of the massacred inhabitants.
We had scarcely formed our bivouac, when parties of Kaffirs and Rebels
began to show themselves on all sides of our position; some crowning
the heights above us, and others emerging from the lower edge of the
bush at the foot of the mountains. A sharp skirmish took place with a
few of the latter, who were driven back to their holds.
Shortly afterwards, parties of mounted Kaffirs were observed moving
in our direction along the higher ridges of the Amatola chain; and
a strong body of Rebels, marching in file, with "sloped arms" came
in sight, following a well-mounted commander, who was attended by a
mounted staff and a bugler! Taking up a strong position, high above
us, looking right down into our camp, they halted and piled arms with
the regularity of troops. Presently a white flag was sent to us half
way down the mountain, with four or five unarmed Totties, to whom
Lieut.-Col. Burns sent the garrison Adjutant and an interpreter, to see
what they wanted. We watched the two approaching parties till they met.
After a few minutes conversation, the interpreter was seen galloping
back to the camp. He was the bearer of a request that the commanding
officer would call in one or two mounted men of our party, who were
too near the flag of truce, as "General Uithaalder wished to come down
himself to speak to the officer, but was afraid of treachery." They
were called in by the bugle, and we soon saw "_the General_" descending
from the heights, followed by his Staff unarmed. We could distinctly
see through our glasses each part of their dress and accoutrements.
Uithaalder wore the braided surtout of a British staff-officer, with
the red stripe down the trowsers, a red morocco and gold sword belt, a
cavalry sword, and a straw hat, with black crape round it. His horse
was held by an attendant a little in rear, and his Secretary was
seen busy writing in a little note book. They were presently joined
by several Totties, wearing the red coats of the unfortunate Sappers
killed on the Koonap Hill; all in camp were burning to attack them,
but our commander refused to do so, his orders being simply to encamp
at the foot of the mountain to cover the descent of the expedition
returning from the Kei. The conference broke up. Uithaalder and his
attendants slowly ascended the mountain side, and his force moved off
in a northerly direction along the ridge. The officer and interpreter
returned to the bivouac. The Rebel Leader's object was to express his
anxiety to come to terms, his weariness of the war, and his wish to
know again on what conditions the Governor-General would make peace.
He further announced his intention of sending a letter the following
morning for his Excellency.
Having come out from Beaufort totally unprovided for the bivouac, my
men had to sleep on the bare ground without a blanket to cover them. I
was fortunate enough to get the loan of a horse-rug for the night, and
hitting on a comfortable hollow for my hip (an indispensable requisite
for a good night's rest on the ground), was soon sound asleep on the
open plain.
It was not yet quite daylight, when all were suddenly roused by the
hoarse cry of "Guard, turn out!" followed by "Fall in," "Stand to your
arms." We were up and armed in an instant, and stood in companies on
our respective faces of the encampment, and a large moving body of
black figures in blankets, and armed with assegais, was indistinctly
seen approaching; just as the sentry, who had thrice challenged them
without any reply, was about to fire a shot across their bows to
bring them to, they yelled out, "Amafingo! Amafingo!" They were the
Fingo Levies of the returning Kei expedition; the wildest looking
host that can be imagined, their woolly heads covered with ostrich
feathers gathered on their route, and their scanty dress fluttering in
rags. They poured into our camp with their usual boisterous hilarity,
greeting officers and men alike, with a friendly "Morrow, Johnnie!"
The Governor-General and the regular troops had taken a route down the
other side of the mountain, and we turned our faces towards Fort Hare,
where he was supposed already to have arrived. We had not gone more
than a quarter of a mile, when a bugle sounded the "halt" far up on the
hills, and we perceived the white flag and two or three figures rapidly
descending the mountain; bringing the promised letter. As two of our
party went to receive it, the enemy's bugle above, sounded the "right
incline," and keeping away in that direction, they avoided thereby, as
we afterwards learned, a deep sluit, of which they were thus politely
made aware. No force was to be seen to day. The purport of the letter,
which was very well written in English, was to propose terms of peace
without surrendering their leaders. His Excellency took no notice
whatever of the proposal, and not only expressed his displeasure at
the conference having taken place at all, but offered a reward of five
hundred pounds for Uithaalder, dead or alive.
On approaching Fort Hare we were met by Lieutenant Lord Charles
Hay, 2nd Queen's, one of the officers just returned with the
Governor-General, and from him we learned that Kreli's "Great Place"
had been burned to the ground; nearly 10,000 head of cattle, upwards
of 100 horses, and 1000 goats, captured, and a great number of Kaffirs
killed; a punishment the Chief would not soon forget, as the fine he
had refused to pay was only 1500 head of cattle.
The following day, on our return to Fort Beaufort, by a lower road,
through bush white over with the twining jessamine, we passed through
acres of young locusts, a sight as extraordinary as that of their
flight; the whole ground being hidden by a moving black mass of little
insects about the size of a common house-fly, giving it the appearance
of a burnt plain; as we moved onward, the bulk of them cleared away
before us with a rustling sound, yet still so thick did they lie
underfoot, that we crushed them in thousands.
At sunset we approached Beaufort by the smooth green down, over
which innumerable herds of cattle were winding, whistled on by wild
kaross-clad herdsmen, gun and assegais in hand, and entered the town
through the Fingo Kraals, where swarthy maidens were milking their
goats, saturæ capellæ; men kraaling their cattle for the night, and
women of all ages--young and graceful, old and haggard, skeletons
or shaking masses of fat, constantly arriving, with huge bundles of
firewood balanced on their heads.
Several of the soldiers who had been wounded in the late operations,
died during the hot weather, in hospital; as often as we accompanied
their remains to the beautiful burying ground on the green flats
outside the town, with the impressive accompaniments of a military
funeral, the alternating strains of the "Dead March," and the wailing
lament of the Pipes, it was impossible not to feel something unusually
touching in the death of a brave man laid to his last rest so far from
home and friends.
On these occasions, we invariably observed, while the crowd of Fingoes
behaved with decorum and feeling, that the Totties, as we passed,
displayed a malicious and gratified expression; indeed, we had it on
good authority, that more than once, men and women had indulged in
dancing and open rejoicing because another of the "roed batjes" (red
jackets) had gone to his grave.
The head-quarter Division of the Kei expedition entered the town. The
large square was filled with a host of ragged soldiers, and the streets
were blocked up by bellowing thousands of cattle, while officers, out
at the elbows, mounted on half starved horses; Fingoes driving oxen
laden with dagha; and camp followers leading pack-horses covered with
blankets, raw meat, and jingling kettles, worked their way through the
moving mass. All was din and confusion, for the Fingoes would not go to
their kraals, and the cattle had none to go to. They were afterwards
sold by public auction in the centre of the town, and the proceeds
divided among those who had formed the expedition.
FOOTNOTES:
[22] Cuculus Indicator.
[23] Nectarina.