EXPEDITION ACROSS THE GREAT ORANGE RIVER AGAINST THE BASUTO CHIEF
MOSHESH.
Nov. 9th.--The surmises of some impending movement, which for several
days had formed the chief topic of conversation, were confirmed by the
arrival of an order from head-quarters for the assembling, on the 20th
inst., of a force of 2500 troops at Burghersdorp, a Dutch town, two
days' march beyond the Orange River.
The object of the expedition was to demand satisfaction from the Basuto
Chief, Moshesh, whose "Great Place" lay some hundred miles beyond the
Orange River, for the constant and increasing depredations and attacks
of his tribe, and of the neighbouring minor Chiefs, his vassals, on
the Boers of the Orange River Territory, and on the Barolong Chief,
Moroko. The latter was a staunch ally of our Government, but did not
dare alone attempt reprisals on a Chief so much more powerful, while
the former, as being under British rule and protection, were prohibited
from avenging themselves.
The cattle of both had been swept off by hundreds, and their herdsmen
killed, by this dreaded Chieftain. He openly derided the power of the
British, and after taunting Moroko for his blind adherence to friends
who were not able to assist him, whose long-talked-of coming was a
fable, "an old story they had heard ever since they were children,"
threatened him with immediate and total destruction unless he at
once gave up all further connexion with us, and joined him at Thaba
Bossiou. He also boasted of having already conquered three nations--the
Corannas, Maulatees, and the Griquas, and had only to take the trouble
of marching to Thaba 'Nchu to "eat up" the Barolongs, as themselves
knew; as for the English, whose power was an idle bugbear, he could
settle them any day. Many of the Boers living on the borders of his
country were fleeing from their farms, in apprehension of war, or from
the insecurity of their flocks and herds, while Moroko lived in daily
expectation of being swept from the face of the earth, with his whole
tribe.
The force with which it was intended to demonstrate to the Basuto Chief
that the coming of the English was no idle tale, was to be composed of
the 2nd Queen's, the 74th Highlanders, detachments of the 43rd Light
Infantry, the 73rd and Rifle Brigade, the 12th Lancers, a demi-battery
of Artillery, and the Cape Corps.
It was hoped by his Excellency that such a demonstration might bring
the contumacious Chief to his senses, without proceeding to extremities.
Our column, under Colonel MacDuff, consisting of two guns, 74th
Highlanders, and detachment of Cape Corps, was to march from Fort
Beaufort on the 11th. The intervening two days, during which our
detachments were relieved, my brother's among the rest, were fully
occupied in preparing the requisite outfit for an expedition of nearly
three months in the desert. In addition to the daily issue of rations,
which was not sufficient of itself to maintain an able-bodied man in
full exercise, both officers and men carried with them private supplies
in the waggons; the officers messing by companies, _i. e._, a Captain
and two Subalterns, had a box in common for their supplies, whence
they drew every three or four days, or when necessary. Mine contained,
in tin cases--
40 lbs. coffee,
30 " sugar,
20 " biscuit,
25 " meal,
20 " rice,
10 " pea-meal,
10 lbs. candles,
5 " salt,
Half-a-dozen bottles pickled red cabbage,
10 lbs. gunpowder,
12 doz. bullets,
with 1 case brandy.
The pickled cabbage was an excellent and most necessary substitute for
vegetables, which were not to be had for love or money, in consequence
of which scurvy had already appeared among the men. Besides the two
pairs of serviceable boots, and three pairs of socks, which each man
started with, we took barrels of both in the waggons, as also plenty of
leather for supply and repair on the march. As we went from store to
store in the town, purchasing the thousand and one lesser necessaries
required for such a journey, as much interest and excitement were
displayed by the townspeople as if we had been going to the Great
Lake, and as much was felt by ourselves at the prospect of visiting
new tribes and a new country, and whether engaged in active warfare or
not, at any rate of seeing for ourselves those vast and wonderful herds
of wild game, lions, zebras, ostriches, springbok, gemsbok, blesbok,
and wild beasts, which from school days we had pictured in imagination
roaming over those boundless plains.
On the 10th, all our preparations completed, the last waggon loaded,
and the last soldier hauled away from his "doch an dhurris" with
friends, both black and white, the column fell in, the Rifle Brigade
Band struck up, and we marched out of the town, accompanied for the
first mile by all the officers of the garrison, and a crowd of men,
women, and children, of all colours. We halted the first night at the
entrance of the Blinkwater Poort.
The third day, after seeing nothing but a few deserted farms, we
reached the ruins of Fort Armstrong, destroyed by General Somerset at
an early period of the war, when in possession of the Hottentot Rebels.
The place consisted of a strong square tower, surrounded by some score
of wattle and daub houses, standing on a singularly isolated, or rather
peninsulated hill. Of this the Hottentots of the Kat River Mission
had taken possession, turning out the European occupants, in a most
inclement night, to escape as best they might across the mountains to
Whittlesea; themselves living in the most disgraceful licentiousness
and depravity, offering indignities to the English women, plundering
the farmers, and revelling on the spoil.
General Somerset, in order to break up this nest of robbers and
traitors, appeared before it on the 23rd of February, 1851, with a
force of troops and Burghers, offering them, at the last moment, terms
of capitulation, which, however, they scorned, though they acted on his
humane counsel, and sent their women and children from the Fort out
of the way of danger. On their removal he at once attacked the place,
shelling the Fort, which he stormed and carried; in two hours reducing
it to ruins.
Between 30 and 40 of these misguided creatures were killed, 160 taken
prisoners, 100 stand of arms, besides several waggons, captured, and
about 400 women and children; the General's only casualties being three
killed and twenty wounded. The place presented at the time of our visit
a most desolate appearance; nothing remained but bare walls, shattered
and fire-scorched, the ground strewed with fragments of the dismantled
Fort, exploded shells, and broken furniture.
We encamped at sundown close to Elands Post, where we were joined by
a company of the 74th Highlanders quartered there, their place being
taken by a company of the Rifle Brigade that had accompanied us thus
far for the purpose.
At four o'clock the following morning, we commenced the ascent of the
steep mountain in front of us; the view becoming at every step more
and more beautiful, till at the summit of the Pass there opened upon
us a glorious panorama, stretching from the forest at our feet to the
blue hills beyond Graham's Town; Elands Post, nestling in its wooded
nook below, dwindled to a white speck, and the Kat River winding away
down a lovely valley till lost in a sea of bush covering the solitary
expanse. A little further on we came in sight of the rear-guard of the
Fort Hare column, the distance of a day's march being preserved between
each; soon after their red coats had disappeared over a still higher
ridge, we encamped, early in the afternoon, on the Sarropit's Hill to
rest and feed the oxen. Before us rose the Elandsberg Mountain, with
its grand towering cliffs of gray basaltic rock, from which sloped away
the greenest and smoothest grass, a relief so delightful after the
brown burnt up pastures of the valleys, that the eye rested on it with
untiring pleasure. Next morning we were again off at four o'clock.
To avoid a repetition that may be as tiresome as the reality, it may
suffice to mention, once for all, that during this expedition we were
on the march every morning at that hour, often earlier; accomplishing
from five to ten miles before breakfast, according to the distance
between the springs in our route.
So steep was the ascent of the next steppe, that even with double
teams and terrific jamboking, it took well nigh two hours to get some
thirty waggons up a single mile. At the top of this range the face
of the country completely changed; not a tree or bush was to be seen;
undulating green plains lay on every side.
After two days across this kind of country, having only seen six
rheebok in a wild rocky poort, we halted about a couple of miles from
Whittlesea, a miserable forsaken-looking collection of Fingo kraals and
small houses standing in the middle of a bare brown plain, enclosed by
hills still browner and more bare. On the same plain, and about a mile
distant, the white houses of Shiloh, a Moravian Missionary station,
peeping from clumps of orange trees, looked very pretty, heightened in
some measure from contrast with the surrounding sterility. Whittlesea
has been rendered famous by the series of attacks it sustained, and
gallantly withstood, under Captain Tylden, R.A., who no fewer than
thirteen times defeated and put to flight large attacking bodies of
Tambookies and Rebel Hottentots. This was our most remote Post; and
here we were joined by the Grenadier Company of the 74th, which for
some little time had been encamped at the Settlement.
We left the plain by another steep hill, having been gradually
ascending from the time of leaving Beaufort; through the whole
distance, and as far as we went up the country it was a series of
steppes rising higher the further we penetrated. At the top of this
hill we entered on a vast plain, stretching away to the foot of the
bare rugged mountains in the far distance. Colonel Eyre's column was
again seen about four miles ahead.
We encamped for the night at the Brak River, on the open plain; a
dreary lonely spot. Close to our camp were three kraals, in which as
many Tambookie herdsmen and their families were living. They were
quite naked and very wretched looking. The women brought us goats'
milk, in grass baskets, for sale. Their idea of the value of money,
which they were very anxious to get, lay in the number of pieces,
refusing a sixpence for a basket of sour milk, but accepting two silver
three-penny pieces with sparkling eyes.
After marching about four miles next morning we came to Kamastona,
the 'great place' of the friendly Chief, Kama. His dwelling, a high
substantial building, stood in the centre of the village, which was
a large collection of kraals, enclosed by earthen out-works. Its
situation and appearance were rather striking, standing totally
isolated on the plain, with a background of bare scarped mountains
rising in rugged grandeur to a great height. Two miles further,
and similarly situated, lay another circular village, a Tambookie
settlement, their cattle and goats spread over the plain under a guard
of armed natives, whose wild appearance was heightened by the surprise
and wonder with which they regarded us.
The grass herbage was now succeeded by karroo plains, covered with a
kind of dwarf heath which the cattle and horses had to put up with. We
crossed the Zwart Kei, at Stoffel Venter's, a Dutch Boer's farm, lonely
enough to satisfy any hermit; the sound of the bagpipes brought out a
family of lazy-looking Dutchmen, with pipes in their mouths and hands
in their breeches pockets, with one or two fat women, who waddled out
and bumped down on the bench outside the door, followed by a knot of
bare-legged dirty children, looking as phlegmatic as their seniors.
For miles along the vast plain, which was interspersed with isolated
mountains and rocky hills, we beheld in the distance the lofty and
singular mountain, called "Twa Taffel Berg," with its two table-topped
summits.
After seventeen miles we crossed the Honey Klip River, running
between high jungley banks, and halted for the night; but before the
waggon-train with our tents could get up, a thunder storm, which for
some time had been brewing in dark indigo clouds, burst over our heads,
and we were soaked to the skin by a tremendous down pour of rain, which
completely flooded the ground.
Since our departure from Elands Post, where we took leave of trees
and shrubs, we had been entirely dependent for fuel on the dry dung
of cattle and wild game, scattered over the plains; following in the
rear of the other Column, which left but small gleanings behind it, our
men had to go far a-field, often wandering, after a long day's march,
a mile or two from the camp to get sufficient to boil their coffee.
Indeed, so scarce and valuable was this commodity, that many used their
pockets and haversacs as receptacles for such portions as they were
lucky enough to pick up by the way.
It was a ten miles' march next morning before we came to water for
breakfast. The heat was very great, and increased to an overpowering
degree on entering a narrow rocky defile, called Klaas Smidt's Poort,
out of which, after a three miles march, we emerged on a measureless
level plain, bounded only by the outlines of blue mountains, which
danced hazy and indistinct in the heated air. In this cheerful
situation was a solitary Dutch farm-house; all around littering,
untidy, and neglected, with three or four huts to match for the
Fingo servants. Mrs. Grant's Glenburnie was a pattern of neatness in
comparison. Several of the inmates, for it was a Laager, afterwards
galloped over on rough little horses to our camp, which was pitched two
miles beyond. Their astonishment at the bagpipes, and not less at the
dress of the Pipers, was extreme, crowding round them with childish
wonder, as they goodnaturedly played reels, marches, strathspeys, and
pibrochs; unconsciously to themselves, they were little less objects of
curiosity in our eyes, differing so much from the Anglicised Boer of
the colony; stout heavy-built fellows, in short round jackets of purple
or sky-blue moleskin, with huge broad-brimmed white hats, wrapped round
with a band of black crape, which a Dutchman wears not as a sign of
grief but a sort of finish to his beaver; stockingless feet thrust
into rough home-made veldt-schoenen, with a heavy spur on the left
one; a small jambok hanging from his wrist; a clumsy roer; cow-horn
powder-flask at the side, and an untanned leather bullet-pouch--these,
with a green-stone pipe sticking in the mouth or out of the waistcoat
pocket, completed their equipment. The only subject on which they
became at all animated, was guns and shooting; they were as much
pleased as surprised at the practice of some of our best shots with the
Minié rifle at ant-heaps at 1000 yards range. Though the roer, from its
large bore and weight of metal, carries a great distance, it is not at
all an accurate weapon, as might be expected from its extraordinary
make and finish; an immense shapeless stock, a rough flint lock, and an
ivory 'sight' as large as a domino.
After trekking over miles the following morning we halted for breakfast
at the foot of the Stormberg mountains, another steppe, or range,
stretching east and west as far as the eye could see. The road up being
steep and winding, the effect was very peculiar, as at every turn
portions of the column were seen one above another, while the long
train of waggons and the distant rear-guard were still creeping along
the plain below. We had a broiling climb of it; on gaining the top,
a vast green plain was again before us, and after some miles further
we camped near a large vley of thick muddy water. The night, in this
elevated region, was as cold as the day had been hot in the sultry
plains, and though we piled every available article on our beds, we
could not keep warm. On striking a light next morning at the 'Rouse'
to dress and pack up by, the walls of the tent glistened and sparkled
with frozen moisture, and the water in the basin was covered with a
coating of ice as thick as a half-crown. The poor horses felt the cold
severely; their bodies drawn together quite benumbed, and the moisture
from their breath hanging in hoar frost about their nostrils. The
mountain tops all round were white with snow. It was, no doubt, the
sudden change of temperature, together with our light dress, that made
the cold so particularly severe, as I have felt far less inconvenience
in a Canadian winter, with the mercury frozen in the thermometer.
After an eight miles march the sun became exceedingly hot as we
descended slightly towards the Stormberg Spruit, a tributary of the
Orange River; by the time we got to our halt, in a wild bare spot,
called Sanna Spruits, close to a chaotic assemblage of singularly
fantastic rocks, we were very glad to get under the friendly shade
of their overhanging masses. They were completely overrun with the
'dossies,' supposed, by the way, to be the 'coney' of Scripture, and on
the highest point were a number of beautiful blue ibis. We shot several
at first, but afterwards they kept far out of range, circling round
and round in the air, at a great height. The Boers call them "wild
turkeys," from the curious red head, which is quite bare and hard, and
looks just like sealing wax. The bird is about the size of a large
game-cock, with a long curved red beak and legs of the same colour,
the general plumage of an iridescent green and purplish blue, with
brown wing coverts. Having got into camp much earlier than usual, we
were enabled to make soup and wash our shirts. About the middle of the
day following, we fell in with horns of hartebeest and springbok here
and there by the wayside, and a few hours later, saw a small herd of
each scudding across the plain a couple of miles off. The heat became
intense, we were choked and blinded by clouds of fine sand, and after
a long and weary march, came to a halt in a barren scorching karroo at
the foot of a rugged hill. The silence and absence of life were most
oppressive.
On the 22nd, after eleven days march we reached Burghersdorp, where we
could see, long before we came up, the tents of Lieut.-Colonel Eyre's
column, which was encamped about half a mile from the town. After
pitching the tents, our men were soon scattered far and wide over the
plain, gathering dung. The cavalry marched in next morning.
Though within ten minutes' walk of the town, no one would have guessed
its proximity, as it was built in a gorge between two hills, the
bare plain immediately around presenting no more signs of life than
the deserts we had just passed through. Built within the last three
years, the little town boasts of several large and capital stores,
two inns, and a large thatched Dutch church, with pea-green doors and
window frames. The stores, in which everything one could think of was
to be bought, saddlery, groceries, ironmongery; Gunter's preserves,
Dutch cheeses, Crosse and Blackwell's pickles; clocks, roers, ploughs,
rifles, crockery, stationery, wines, spirits, Bass's pale ale; fiddles,
mirrors, pots, pans, and kettles; ostrich feathers, cases of gin,
tobacco, and ten thousand things besides, were filled all day long
with a crowd of officers of all arms and corps with leather-patched
uniform, mahogany-coloured faces, and long beards, trying on boots,
buying preserved meats, and stuffing their pockets with bundles of
cheroots, boxes of lucifer matches, and pots of cold cream to anoint
their sun-blistered noses. Then there were Dutchmen, in purple
trowsers, saluting each other in the politest manner possible, lifting
the craped hat with the left hand and shaking the proffered fist with
the other, discussing politics and cattle, their vrouws and daughters
busy purchasing dresses or household supplies; while Bushmen and
Griquas elbowed their way in and out for bottles of Hollands.
As the only chance of getting fresh vegetables was to eat them at the
inns, they were filled with officers, devouring green food like so many
herbivora, making up for the past and laying in for the future.
The camp was besieged all day long by visitors; rough Boers, with
strings of colts for sale; townspeople on foot; and respectably
dressed, well-mounted Dutchmen, with very pretty girls in pink or
sky-blue riding habits, who rode up and down the lines, stared
unceremoniously into the tents, and when the 'warning,' 'dinner pipes'
or 'assembly' were played, flocked round the unfortunate "Piper of the
day" with as much astonishment as if he had just dropped from the moon,
drawling out the constant exclamation "Allamachtig! Allamachtig!" We
were all struck with the great respect shown by the young Dutchmen and
boys to their seniors, lifting off their hats whenever addressed by
them.
A party of officers went out shooting a few miles from the camp, and
fell in with some herds of game, my brother and Captain Knox, 73rd,
each bowling over a springbok; and Gawler, 73rd, bringing back a fine
blesbok behind his saddle. We were now in the height of summer; the
sun was most overpowering. The sandy plain danced in the hot air like
the top of a kiln; inside our tents, though covered with blankets,
the heat was insupportable; and without there was not a tree or a
rock to be seen that could shelter us from the scorching rays. To add
to our discomfort, the place was overrun with tarantulas, or, as the
men insisted on calling them, "triantelopes," and scorpions, which
we constantly found in the tents, and occasionally in our bedding or
boots. Two puff adders were killed, which the men had found under their
blankets in the morning.
On the 27th, his Excellency, the Governor-General, arrived with his
Staff and escort, all the Dutch in the place going out to meet him a
mile from the town, and firing a _feu-de-joie_. As nothing gives a Boer
greater pleasure than firing off his roer with as heavy a charge as it
will carry, it was kept up a long time, in a very independent manner,
and in all parts of the town at once. His Excellency afterwards rode
down our ranks.
The camp being pitched in _line_, was more than a mile long, and
it was quite a walk from our tents on the extreme left to those of
the Artillery on the right flank. In the close and sultry evenings,
when sauntering up and down the long street of illuminated canvas,
it was amusing to see the attitudes and employments of the different
inmates of the wide open tents; here a solitary individual, in shirt
sleeves, his candle stuck in an empty bottle, writing on the top of
a box; there a quiet party playing a rubber; in the next a couple of
Subalterns, joint occupants, stretched on their rough beds, reading
the last _Grahams Town Journal_, or the soiled and crumpled fragment
of an old English newspaper; in some, orderly-officers, cap and sword
on the table, snatching a few moments' broken slumber; dinner parties
in others, and loungers everywhere, from whose tents issued wreaths of
smoke and sounds of merry voices. Turning into another street, one saw
knots of Sergeants squatted cross-legged, writing "orders," from the
dictation of the Sergeant-Major, and Adjutants scribbling away among
busy clerks; while sentries paced in front of quiet, solemn looking
marquees, the abodes of Colonels, Quarter-Masters-General and other
"big wigs." Further on were tents full of tailors and shoemakers,
repairing the wear and tear of former marches and preparing against
others to come; commissariat contractors weighing and issuing forage
and rations; and farriers shoeing horses by candlelight. Outside the
lines, round a hundred smouldering fires, where the men collected, not
for warmth, but to light their pipes, were endless parties of soldiers
of all corps and uniforms; then long lines of horses, and neatly ranged
saddles; and beyond all, the guard tents and sentries, with a perfect
village of waggons.
At "tattoo" a sudden stir runs through the camp; picquets are inspected
and reports collected by orderly-officers, who have mysterious
interviews in the marquees; the trumpets and bugles ring out the "last
post;" and the Pipers play "Farewell to Lochaber," recalling many a
distant and very different scene; the fires are deserted; the different
parties break up and disperse; in ten minutes more the bugles sound
"lights out," and the men's tents shine white and cold in the pale
moonlight.
All the time we were at Burghersdorp we had constant sand-storms,
filling the air with a red cloud, and colouring everything inside our
carefully closed tents with the same rusty hue as outside. With the
westerly wind came a wonderful flight of locusts, passing over for
hours and literally darkening the air.
On the 28th, his Excellency inspected the whole of the troops; the
line, at "open order," in front of the camp, extending about a mile in
length, and we were formed into Brigades for the ensuing march. The
First Brigade, under Lieut.-Col. MacDuff, 74th Highlanders, consisted
of the 2nd Queen's, the 74th Highlanders, and a rocket battery.
The Second under Major Pinckney, 73rd regiment, of the 43rd Light
Infantry, the 73rd, the Rifle Brigade, and a rocket battery (Colonel
Eyre commanding the Division), and a Cavalry Brigade under Lieut.-Col.
Napier, composed of the 12th Lancers, Artillery, and Cape Corps. The
heat of the sun was so great that several of the men fainted as we
stood on parade, and one had a sun-stroke. Later in the day we were
visited by violent whirlwinds, that whisked some of the tents into the
air among clouds of sand and small gravel, levelling many others in
their course.
The Cavalry marched for the Orange River; and at daylight next morning
the Second Brigade followed, the First bringing up the rear the morning
following.
At 9 o'clock, when we halted for our morning meal, we were thankful to
get under the shadow of the waggons: a man of the Rifle Brigade had
a _coup-de-soleil_. A twenty miles' trying march through a burning
desert country brought us by sunset to our halting place, near a small
vley; but we had no sooner got our tents up than a whirlwind threw half
of them down again, enveloping us for a few minutes in such a cloud
of sand, that we could not see a yard before us. The water in these
stagnant pools, that simmer all day in the sun, and at night are used
as baths by herds of wild game, is the most villanous mixture of mud,
dung, and green scum that can be imagined; as thick as pea-soup, and
full of aquatic insects. Even where the water was clear, we often found
it so _brak_ as to be even worse than in its gruel form; and of the two
descriptions of _salt_ and _sweet_ brak, we hardly knew which was the
worst; the brandy used to neutralize its bad effects, dysentery and
diarrhoea, turning it as black as ink in a moment.
[Illustration:
CROSSING THE ORANGE RIVER.]
The march of next morning again lay through a burning sun-baked plain,
without a single object to vary the monotony of its barren desolation,
the only sign of life being an occasional paauw or koran. But at the
end of about seven miles a wonderful and glorious change met our
delighted eyes; from a low undulating ridge we suddenly looked down on
the broad silvery expanse of the Great Orange River, flowing between
richly wooded banks of warm red earth and rock, in front of us three or
four lovely green islets adorning its bosom. The transition from the
dreary sterility of the burning plains of the last twenty-one days,
shady trees in lieu of bare karroo, and miles of clear sparkling water
instead of muddy vleys, was most delightful, independently of the
natural beauties of the scene itself.
The tents of the Second Brigade and the Cavalry, which had already
crossed, were seen on the plain on the other side the river. Halting
at the top of the road leading down a high bank to the drift or
ford, the men were ordered to take off their boots and trews, and
pack their ammunition pouches in their blankets. The effect was most
absurd,--nearly 1000 men standing in the ranks in column of companies,
with bare legs, their unmentionables on their heads or round their
necks, and their boots and socks dangling from the muzzles of their
firelocks. The waggons, with the wheels rheimed, were let gradually
down the bank by drag-ropes. Thus we crossed the river, at this point
nearly a quarter of a mile in breadth; the water reaching to the men's
middles, and to our saddle-flaps. The current was strong and rapid,
rushing with great force between the legs of man and horse, endangering
their equilibrium, and carrying some score of dogs far down the
current. The sensation occasioned by the swiftly running stream was
most bewildering. I felt at first as though I were darting up the river
at railway speed, then so giddy that I clutched my horse's mane to
prevent myself falling off.
All having crossed, the first thing we did after pitching our tents by
those of the other Brigade, was to rush to the river and plunge into
its cooling flood, swimming and splashing about under the shade of the
weeping willows that dipped into it; every body in a perfect frenzy
of delight, many actually lying in the water smoking, and the whole
breadth of the river covered over with heads, as if by wild fowl; for
every man in the Division bathed twice or thrice over in the course of
the day.
The shade of the large olive trees and willows, was hardly less
grateful than the deliciously cooling stream. The sultry tents were
deserted, except by those on duty, and all flocked to the green shady
banks of the river, where we remained till sunset. The shrill ringing
of the cicada resounded in every branch all day long. Many of the men
turned out unsuspected fishing-tackle, and having cut rods from the
trees, very soon caught abundance of fine fish. They were of two kinds;
a sort of coarse mullet, and a long ugly fish, with a blue skin and a
number of fleshy filaments hanging from his under jaw. The Dutchmen
called them _barga_; they were excellent eating, and ran from one to
four pounds weight. Near the drift and on the opposite side of the
river, was a small house and garden, to which Bruce and I, with our
trews and boots round our necks, waded across, partly to explore, and
partly to see if there were any vegetables to be had; the stones were
so dreadfully sharp to our feet that before we were half way over
we repented; but as a hundred eyes were upon us, we kept manfully
on, though with many _ohs!_ and _ahs!_ The people were very kind and
obliging, but there was little to be got for our trouble. Along the
edge of the river are found numbers of agates, and cornelians, with
green serpentine, and we picked up a great many of them; mine were
subsequently cut and polished by Sanderson of Edinburgh, and turned out
very good specimens.
This magnificent river is more than eleven hundred miles in length,
rising in the Blue Mountains, and flowing right across the continent
into the South Atlantic. With great regret, we left this Elysium of the
desert next morning at daylight, and were again trekking across the
arid plain northwards. Our halt was at a place called Ranakin, though
why it should be called anything at all, more than the rest of the
desert, from which it in no way differed, we could not imagine.
The mail from the Colony came in soon after we had pitched our Camp,
bringing English letters and news, in which I found myself gazetted to
a Company. The heat had all day been excessive, and was succeeded at
nightfall by a storm of _dry_ thunder and lightning, as L---- called
it. The flashes, of a blue and rose-colour, were very vivid; the camp
one moment as light as day--showing the long line of white tents, the
distant sentries, and every moving figure--and the next as dark as
pitch.
We inspanned at the usual hour the day following, and trekked through a
dreary stony country; a solitary Dutch farm-house, about eleven miles
distant, was the only sign of life visible far or near.
Finding the first vley dried up, we had a twelve miles' march before
breakfast. Two or three Dutch Boers, probably belonging to the lonely
dwelling in the distance, made their appearance on horseback, with
their vrouws or daughters behind them, riding astride like the Kaffir
and Fingo women, and jogged along with us for some distance, ignorant
of the amusement they afforded the men. The conversation turned chiefly
on the disturbed and dangerous state of their country, and they told us
that all their native servants had gone off two nights before.
Another heavy thunder storm suddenly burst on us, accompanied with such
torrents of rain that we were soon wet through; the sluits running like
rivers, and the plain so flooded, in less than an hour, as to resemble
a lake; the men constantly plunging into the deep gullies. Though
disagreeable enough, with our clothing soaked through and clinging to
our bodies, it was much less so than the steaming condition we were
thrown into when the sun broke out again.
The Governor-General, with the Cavalry Division and Second Brigade, we
found already encamped on the opposite side of the Caledon River at
the Commissie Drift, which we reached in the afternoon, their tents
stretching for a great distance along the edge of the high steep bank.
We waded through the rapid stream, which is confined between high
wooded banks like the Orange River, and marching through the camp,
pitched our tents in Brigade on the extreme left.
For the next three days that we remained here in standing camp, we had
constant heavy showers that completely flooded the lower ground within
and round the camp, though the weather was warm and the heat of the sun
between the storms very great.
Our reduced commissariat was replenished from the neighbouring and very
appropriately named station of Smithfield, where a large magazine had
been previously formed, guarded till our arrival by the Burgher force
of the Field-Cornetcy.
The fishing here was better than at the Orange River, and the banks
were soon lined with anglers, many of whom were very successful. Some
of us caught from 40 lbs. to 50 lbs. weight of mullet and barga, with
worms or locusts, the latter lying in thousands along the banks.
Many agates and cornelians were picked up, and one or two pieces of
onyx; sardine, opal and chalcedony are often found; but we saw none.
The hippopotamus formerly abounded in this stream, but has entirely
disappeared.
Among the other luxuries of these rivers ought to be included that of
firewood, a valued boon to the men, and a great improvement to our beef
and meal scons, which had a rather peculiar flavour when done over a
cow-dung fire.
On Sunday morning the whole Division paraded at 6 A.M. for divine
service, forming in "contiguous column of brigades," on the left of
the camp; a missionary of the English Church from Smithfield read the
prayers.
Though two days before we had waded across the river only knee deep,
it had on the 6th risen nearly fifteen feet; the boiling eddying flood
bearing along in its resistless course masses of grass and broken
branches, with huge trees tumbling over and over in the whirling pools.
Many of the men amused themselves by swimming about in mid-current,
getting astride the floating trunks, and sailing rapidly down the
stream. The quantity of drift-wood greatly interfered with the
operations of the pontoon under the charge of Lieutenant Siborne, R.E.,
in getting over waggons with supplies. The cattle, after being forced
into the water with great trouble, were swept a long way down the
river, many of them sticking for a time in most ridiculous positions in
the trees growing on the bank.
On the morning of the 8th, the Head-Quarters and Second Brigade having
left the camp an hour before, we marched at 6 o'clock, arriving, after
some miles, at the first halting place just as they were quitting it.
We passed two solitary Dutch farms, for which, as usual when such
_raræ aves_ came in sight, five or six officers dashed off across
country at full gallop to forage for their respective messes, provided
with empty bottles for goat's milk, and plenty of small change;
overtaking the column again, with perhaps an enormous cabbage and a
couple of old fowls with bleeding necks hanging from the saddle, or a
bunch of onions, and a handkerchief full of eggs. Late in the day a
good many springbok were seen, which we 'jagged' for some distance,
getting plenty of long shots; but the sight of a large _wildebeest_,
or gnu, cantering leisurely along the plain, drew off all the hunters
in pursuit of the nobler game. Having already done up my horse and
expended all my ammunition, I could only follow him with a wistful
gaze. He was a splendid fellow, as large as an ox, and came so close
past me, as I led my horse back towards the column, that I could have
hit him with a stone. Mortified as I was at my ill luck in having at
such a moment an unloaded rifle and empty pouch, I stood fixed in
admiration as he came wildly bounding along, his massive bristling head
bent down, whisking his white tail, while his fierce eyes and recurved
horns gave him a most formidable appearance.
We had fairly entered the game district, and as our Brigade was in
front the following morning, some of us rode on about a mile ahead, so
as to come on the herds before they were alarmed by the approach of the
column. Very shortly after daylight we spied a large herd of springbok
at half a mile distant, and following a slight hollow gained five
hundred yards before they discovered us, when away they went, springing
twenty feet at a bound, and we after them in full chase, firing away
right and left. Two of them being wounded and appearing every moment
likely to fall into our hands, led us on for a considerable distance,
when finding further pursuit useless we pulled up. We were miles away
from the column, which was nowhere to be seen; there was nothing
whatever to guide us, and as in our windings and turnings, we had
lost all idea of our course, we could only guess what direction to
steer. The silence was awful, not a living creature was to be seen
besides ourselves, and we felt as small as we looked in the vast plain
stretching before and around us in endless undulating ridges of brown
grass. After a time we saw a large herd of black looking animals
grazing two or three miles distant, which our glasses showed us were
wildebeest. For several hours we rode steadily on in a north-westerly
course, and at last, to our great delight, beheld, a few miles off, a
point or two to the north, the white tops of the waggons outspanned.
When we rode in to bivouac, having bagged a fine rheebok by the way,
the Brigade was falling in after an hour's halt.
Having leave from the Colonel Commanding to rejoin the column at the
evening halting place, we exchanged our horses for the fresh ones led
by the servants; and replenishing our ammunition from the pack saddles,
set off with three or four companions in the direction of the herd
of wildebeest. We soon fell in with several large herds of springbok,
though they were too wild to allow of our coming within rifle range; a
few blesbok, the largest of the antelope tribe, were sighted, but were
equally wary. From a low ridge we now saw the most magnificent sight;
on an immense plain hundreds of wildebeest grazed in herds scattered
far and near, with springbok and blesbok. I shall never forget the
exciting interest with which, for the first time, we saw these noble
animals feeding in herds on their native plains, or the thrill of
pleasure it gave us as we watched them through the telescope cropping
the short brown herbage, switching the flies from their dark glossy
sides, and impatiently stamping their delicate taper legs. As we lay
concealed behind some large stones, we observed the rest of our party
stealing unperceived round the principal and nearest herd, so that
presently it was between us. Gazing at us as we rapidly approached,
they angrily tossed their heads, bounded into the air snorting and
making most extraordinary noises, and went off full gallop, the waving
mass of manes and tails flying before us with the thundering of a
thousand hoofs over the sun-baked earth, which was covered so thickly
with the skulls of gnu and antelope, as to make it dangerous riding.
A fine old bull, with long white tail and mane, being detached from
the rest, was followed by three of us for several miles, after which
I found myself quite alone in the pursuit. Every few hundred yards
he would turn round and stare at me, snorting and throwing up his
head; when I dismounted and fired, he kicked up his heels into the
air, wheeling about in the most fantastic and absurd style, and off
he cantered again, his tail whisking round and round without ceasing;
every now and then as if seized with some sudden whim, he would spring
into the air and go off harder than ever, flinging out his heels right
and left. In our course we passed through several astonished herds
with which he appeared to have no acquaintance. Suddenly I found
myself in a perfect nest of large holes, the burrows of wild-dogs,
when the undermined earth breaking through, my horse rolled over, the
old wildebeest, not 300 yards off, looking at us as much as to say, _I
knew how it would be_. Without rising, I fired at his forehead; the
ball struck one of his horns with a sharp crack, he butted savagely
at the ground and flew off full speed. My next bullet hit him in the
neck, when he rushed right at me, my horse running back in affright
and pulling the rein off my arm. I dropped behind an ant-heap as he
charged, and firing a pistol in his face which made him swerve a few
feet, his impetus carried him a hundred yards beyond me, so that before
he could wheel round, I was on horseback again and reloading. He darted
off in a new direction, but had not gone far before a shot in the leg
brought him rolling to the ground in a cloud of sand; but my triumph
was short, he was up and off again, though by this time only able to
trot quietly along; marking his track with drops of blood. Sure of my
game, I had just dismounted to give him a finishing shot, when, to
my astonishment, bang went a score of rifles at him from just over a
little ridge in front, and the balls came _pinging_ right over my head
most unpleasantly close. We had come suddenly on the Column, and not
many yards over the rise I found a crowd of officers collected round
the dead gnu. His tail was cut off and presented to me. The Colonel
having lent his private mule waggon to convey the carcase to camp, I
had it taken there and it was skinned and cut up; the meat, though
totally devoid of fat, proved of excellent flavour, and supplied the
soup kettles and frying pans for the next two days. We had often heard
that the brain of the wildebeest harbours gentles or grubs, to which
its wild extraordinary vagaries are attributed, and being anxious to
ascertain the truth of such a strange phenomenon, the head was opened
by Dr. Fasson, R.A., in the presence of a number of officers. In the
very centre of the brain, still quite warm, there was found a large
maggot, which when put on the table wriggled across it with great
activity. How such an animal comes there in the first instance, how it
exists, and propagates, and whether it really causes the mad antics of
the wildebeest, are questions worthy the attention of naturalists.
Our tents had not long been pitched when hundreds of wildebeest
appeared not a mile off. Our Commanding Officer, and all who had fresh
horses, were off in a few minutes, and right in the midst of the herds.
After some hours' excellent sport we brought in several calves and
one cow wildebeest; the veal was very good. A wounded bull charged at
Stapleton, of the 43rd, and striking his horse about the shoulder, sent
him and his rider flying and rolling over on the ground.
An officer of the 2nd, who had formed one of our hunting party of the
early morning, was still absent. At "tattoo," none of the others, who
had straggled in during the evening, having seen anything of him,
great fears were entertained for his safety. In the morning a party
of Cape Corps was sent back to look for him, and we marched off in
column of brigades. Though there was an hour's interval between each
brigade's starting, the tail of the waggon train of each reached nearly
to the head of the body in its rear, the whole being in sight at
once, winding slowly along the brown barren ocean-like expanse in a
continuous line of nearly five miles long.
In the evening, as the setting sun crimsoned the warmly tinted rocks
of the higher hills, whose base was already veiled in shade and blue
haze, we halted, after twenty miles' weary march, at Sanna Spruits,
in one large encampment, placing outlying picquets of Cavalry on the
rising ground; the lances and pennons seen against the glowing sky gave
the groups a most picturesque appearance. Two or three ostrich eggs
were found in the sand, and brought into camp; they made excellent
omelettes. Next day the face of the country slightly improved, the
grass approached nearer to green, and a fine range of blue mountains
was seen in the horizon, some like domes with pointed minarets, others
sharp serrated peaks, and one or two resembling chimneys.
The scanty vegetation of the plains was varied now and then by patches
of orange, purple, and pink mesembryanthemum; the beautiful hæmanthus,
and brilliant convolvulus; also by small yellow and scarlet poppies,
with sharp prickly leaves like the thistle.
We were greatly astonished at the frogs which haunted the dry sandy
desert, far from any springs or water. They were enormous fellows, as
big as a sheep's haggis, and of a bright green; when we stirred them up
with a ramrod, they snapped at it like a dog, following it round and
round, and showing fight in the fiercest manner.
Chameleons were common, and some of the scenes among the men who stood
amazed at their changes were very amusing. The variety and quantity of
lizards was something incredible.
Immense green grasshoppers kept rising from the ground on the line
of march, fluttering before us with brilliant scarlet wings, and as
in the colony, the lights in our tents at night constantly attracted
the strange looking 'mantis religiosa' or praying insect. It is an
old story that the Hottentots once worshipped them, and our men used
occasionally to chaff them on the point, offering them specimens for
the purpose, which invariably put the Totties into a furious rage.
In peculiar states of the atmosphere, the mirage once or twice made
our thirsty mouths water in the broiling afternoon, by its tantalizing
illusion of large lakes looming in the distance.
Late in the day two distant specks, like a couple of little boats out
at sea, were observed approaching the column, and soon proved to be
Tolcher, the missing officer, and a Boer, who had fallen in with him
near Smithfield, the place we had left three days ago! One night he had
passed on the open plain, and had been thirty hours without food or
water when he fortunately met the Dutchman, who took him to his farm
for the night, and brought him on after us the next day. As always
happens in such cases, now that he was safe back, everybody who had
before deeply deplored his fate, heartily abused him for his stupidity
in losing himself.
We had now fairly entered Moshesh's country, and no more firing was
allowed, lest he might construe it into an act of hostility. About
nine in the morning we halted at the deserted remains of an old Basuto
village, consisting of round huts thatched with dry grass, and stone
cattle kraals, similar to the sheep pens on our mountains at home.
The huts differ in several respects from those of the Kaffirs, being
smaller, slightly pointed on the top, and entered by a sort of porch,
the door so low as to compel one to enter on hands and knees. Nine
miles further, we came to the Lieuw Rivier (_Lion's River_), and
halted on the opposite bank, after wading waist deep through the narrow
rushing stream. We found the banks on both sides so steep and awkward
that before the waggons could be moved, the whole force of Sappers
and Miners, and a fatigue party beside, had to cut the banks away
with spades and picks, and even then, with double teams of oxen, and
a legion of whips stretched across the river, all going at once, five
hours did not bring over more than half the train, the rest remaining
for the night, with a strong guard, on the other side.
Now that we could not shoot, the game became tantalizingly plentiful.
The plain was scarcely ever without small herds or single animals. Our
track was seldom more than the half-obliterated marks of some trader's
waggon of the year before.
The supplies of dung for fuel were very materially interfered with by
millions of black beetles, called 'dung rollers,' a kind of scarabæus,
which swarmed day after day on every part of the plain. A fresh deposit
was instantaneously attacked by these untiring scavengers, who were
incessantly at work, rolling the dung into large balls, bustling about,
and running breech foremost, with their load between their hind legs,
as fast as they could go, apparently to nowhere in particular, and
fighting most fiercely with each other for pieces of "fuel" twice as
big as themselves, the vanquished one going off in a great hurry to get
another ball to roll, none seeming to know his own.
During the day we passed several small deserted villages; the evening
closed in with one of the thunderstorms of the country, as terrific as
any we had witnessed.
On the 13th, after some hours' marching, we descried a column of
smoke in the extreme distance, rising from the foot of an isolated
table-topped mountain on our right. It was said to be the celebrated
Thaba Bassou, or Bossigo, the stronghold of the Basuto Chief, Moshesh,
supposed by them to be impregnable. It is accessible only at one or
two points; very strong and defensible. The Chief's residence was
distinctly seen on its summit. Some miles further on we came to the
Wesleyan Missionary station of Platberg, a little cluster of three
traders' houses, a chapel, and eight roofless dwellings, formerly
occupied by the Bastaards, under Carolus Batjee, who, for having sided
with the Government, was driven hence, with his people, by Moshesh,
from whom they held the land. The Missionary and two English traders
had been suffered to remain. After having accomplished a march of
one hundred and one miles in six days, (from the Caledon River,) we
encamped on a fine green plain immediately in front of the little
station, which stood, with its orchards of peach trees, at the foot of
a long flat-topped hill.
In the afternoon Moshesh's two sons, David and Nehemiah, arrived at
the camp with a few followers, having swum the Caledon with their
horses; but his Excellency declined seeing them, as 'he only treated
with ruling chiefs.' From what we could learn, Moshesh was not likely
to make any opposition; his sons walked round the camp with the
Assistant-Commissioner, took great interest in everything, and in their
remarks and questions showed a degree of information and intelligence
that perfectly astonished us. They were young fellows of about one
or two and twenty, of ordinary stature, quite black, and very much
of a Fingo cast of countenance. Both spoke English most fluently
and correctly, having been educated at Cape Town, and talked of our
Peninsular War, of which they had read in Napier's History! They went
into many of the officers' tents; closely examined all the rifles and
pistols they saw, and were especially taken with some large conical
and Minié bullets, talking earnestly with each other in their own
language. Promising to return next day with their father, they took
their leave in the evening with great politeness. Their wild-looking
attendants, black as night, armed with battleaxes, and covered only
with a short skin kaross on the left shoulder, led up their horses like
regular grooms, following them, on their way home, at a respectful
distance. Mr. Owen, the Assistant-Commissioner, accompanied them to
Thaba Bossigo. At night there was another terrific storm of thunder and
lightning.
The day following we had the luxury of sitting under the shade of
the trees in the Missionary's garden, a transition most delightful
from the burning plains and stifling heat of the tents. The
Barolong Chief, Moroko, who had ridden over from his village, on
the neighbouring mountain of Thaba 'Nchu, accompanied by two of his
sons and three Councillors, rode into Camp to pay his respects to
the Governor-General. They were well-dressed in European clothes,
and attended by about a hundred mounted Barolongs in rags and old
karosses, armed with roers, battleaxes, and assegais. The strange
_cortège_ brought every one out of the tents to look at it, and as
the old Chief rode through the Camp to the large state marquee of His
Excellency, he appeared quite astonished at the number of troops, six
hundred having been the largest force that had ever before crossed
the Orange river. He was dressed in a blue surtout, with a double row
of very large brass buttons, and had on a large white hat with the
usual crape band. His hair was slightly grizzled, and his appearance
that of a quiet respectable old gentleman. His sons were two fine tall
young fellows. They all halted and dismounted about thirty paces from
the marquee; when, leaving their horses, the Chiefs and Councillors
advanced to His Excellency's Interpreter, who having received their
message, shortly returned with the Quarter-Master-General, and informed
them his Excellency would not see them till the morrow, whereupon
they bowed, and remounting rode to the ruins of the little village,
off-saddled and bivouacked for the night. Some of us visited them soon
afterwards, and found the old Chief, who had changed his dress of state
for a large tiger-skin kaross, sitting under the wall of an old house
cross-legged on a large grass mat, smoking within a circle of stones,
which no one was permitted to enter except the Councillors and his
sons, who assumed the title of _Princes_, and evidently thought a good
deal of themselves. Both spoke English very well, and one was reading
an English hymn-book; but presently the "Princes" condescended to ask
for some tobacco, and were much pleased with half a dozen pieces of
'cavendish;' and hinted, very unmistakably, that a little tea and sugar
would be agreeable! All wore round their necks a curious flat sort of
spoon of bright iron, with which they clean their nostrils and scrape
the perspiration from their faces; and also, in a little ornamented
sheath of buckskin, a steel bodkin, with which they make their grass
baskets and karosses. After some trouble, I concluded a bargain for
one of each of these articles, as curiosities, when one of the young
chiefs telling me to point out which I fancied, ordered the two men
who wore those I wanted, to take them off, each receiving the tobacco
and sixpences agreed for. It was more difficult to obtain one of their
battleaxes or "Chakas," whether so called from the bloody and cruel
Chief of that name, or he from them, I know not. The handle, from two
feet to two feet and a half long, and with a large knob or head, is of
solid rhinoceros horn, and has an iron blade, varying in form and size,
fixed in it. After a long consultation in the Serolong tongue with his
Councillors, the old Chief told his son to inform me that if I wanted
it to take to my country and show it to the Queen and my own people,
respecting whom they had asked many amusing questions, I might have one
(he had picked out one with a mended handle) for some tea and sugar,
and as many shillings as all his fingers, which he held up. We finally
agreed for six shillings and some tea, for which his Royal Highness the
heir apparent came over to my tent. Several officers tried afterwards
to obtain similar curiosities from the Barolongs, but they would not
part with more. It may be as well to observe here, that by a form of
prefix common to all the neighbouring tribes, the words Morolong,
Barolong and Serolong, stand respectively for an _individual_, the
_people_, and their _language_.
The following day the Paramount-Chief, Moshesh, arrived with his Sons,
Chief men and Councillors, and an armed escort of about 100 men, though
a larger number had been left just out of sight of the camp over the
rising ground, probably as a precautionary measure. Three tents had
been pitched for him and his Staff at some 300 yards from the camp,
whither they repaired; the chiefs and great men dismounting in front,
and the rest off-saddling in the rear of the tents.
After a long interval, the Chief came out of his tent, dressed with
great care, in a smart forage cap, blue coat, and gold-laced trowsers!
and, followed by his sons and retinue, walked slowly across to the
marquee of the Governor-General, who received him in uniform, with
all his Staff. The following is a translation from the Basuto, of the
substance of what passed:--
_Gov._--I am glad to see you, and make your acquaintance.
_Mosh._--I also am glad to see the Governor.
_G._--I hope we meet in peace?
_M._--I hope so too; for peace is like the rain, which makes the grass
grow; while war is like the hot wind, that dries it up.
_G._--I shall not talk much now. I wish to know if you have got my
letter, demanding the horses and cattle?
_M._--I have received the letter, but know not where I shall get the
cattle. Are the 10,000 head you demand, a fine for the thefts of my
people, in addition to the cattle stolen?
_G._--I demand only 10,000 head, though your people have stolen many
more. This is a just award, and must be paid in three days.
_M._--Do the three days count from yesterday, or to-day?
_G._--To-day is the first of the three.
_M._--The time is short, and the cattle many. Allow me six days to
collect them. I have not power over my people to make them do it.
_G._--If you are not able to collect them, I must go and do it; and,
if resistance is made, it will be war, and I shall not be content with
10,000, but shall take all I can.
_M._--Do not talk of war! for, however anxious I may be to avoid it,
you know that a dog, when beaten, will show his teeth.
_G._--It will therefore be better that you should give up the cattle,
than that I should go for them.
_M._--I wish for peace, but have the same difficulty with my people,
that you have in your country; your prisons are never empty, and I have
thieves among my people.
_G._--Then bring the thieves to me, that I may hang them.
_M._--I do not wish you to hang them, but to talk to them. If you hang
them, they cannot talk.
_G._--If I hang them they cannot steal. But I am not here to talk. I
have said, if you do not give up the cattle in three days, I must come
and take them.
_M._--I beseech you not to talk of war.
_G._--I have no more to say. Go, and collect the cattle as quickly as
possible, or I shall have to come to Thaba Bossigo.
_M._--Do not talk of coming to Thaba Bossigo. I will go at once, and
perhaps God will help me.
After leaving the Governor-General, but before quitting the camp,
Moshesh sent to beg that this day might not count in the three, to
which his Excellency assented.
16th.--At six o'clock, the whole Division was reviewed by the
Commander-in-chief, "marching past," and performing various evolutions
and movements. A party of Engineer officers being ordered to proceed
with a small escort to the drift on the Caledon River, some miles in
front, to survey its practicability, and the nature of the country,
in case of our further advance, I got leave to accompany them. After
riding about four miles, we came on three villages very near together,
all inhabited, and with numerous herds of cattle, and many horses
feeding around. As we approached both unexpectedly and rapidly, we
had, what would have been otherwise impossible, a full opportunity of
seeing the natives at their accustomed employments, as we passed within
pistol shot. The men were smoking, sitting and standing in groups, and
looked dumbfoundered at seeing us; the women, who were pounding corn,
or hoeing their millet and sweet cane, fled with their children, on our
sudden appearance, to their huts in the greatest consternation, never
having seen so many white men before. As we rode through the herds of
cattle, the terrified keepers, whose only covering was a narrow belt of
dressed hide round the groin, jumped up from the long grass, and with a
short assegai drove in the cattle as fast as they could go.
Having sent one of our escort into the river at the first drift, which
was running very strong, it was found too deep for waggons, infantry,
or artillery, and we proceeded seven miles further up along the bank.
Our guide, a trader, having come to the extent of his former travels,
was quite out of his reckoning. At the next drift, we surprised a party
of a dozen girls and women bathing, and filling their calabashes. They
gave a yell of alarm as we suddenly appeared on the top of the bank,
and rushing out of the water up the opposite path all dripping, made
off to a large village perched on the top of a rocky hill about a mile
off, constantly looking back to see if we were pursuing. Their dress
was of the same primeval description as that of the men, coverings of
skin, and they wore in addition large white necklaces.
We saw the small French Missionary station of Berea; and at some
distance Moshesh's _Great Place_ on the Thaba Bossigo. After the drift
had been carefully examined by Siborne, R.E., who swam his horse across
the swollen stream, and Tylden and Stanton had taken the necessary
points and bearings for their survey of the country, we returned along
the base of a fine hill, on which were two or three little villages
of stone kraals and round huts, from whence we saw several natives
peering down on us. Shortly we were caught in a terrific storm of hail,
thunder, and lightning, and had the greatest difficulty in keeping our
road, and making the horses face the hail, which pelted down with such
force as to hurt us very much, and render them frantic. No one can
have any just idea of an African thunderstorm without experiencing
it. The lightning ran along the ground, and the rain streamed down in
such torrents, that we were all drenched to the skin in a minute, and
sobbing with the sudden cold. As we rode across the flooded plain,
the water flew from our horses' feet in sheets of spray, yet in a
quarter of an hour the sun was out again as bright as ever. A party
of civilians riding out from the camp, as soon as they caught sight
of us with our Fingo escort, turned round, and went back at full
gallop, tearing away before us as hard as they could go, to our great
astonishment, and were very soon out of sight. On arriving at the camp,
we were congratulated on our safe return, and found everybody in a
state of excitement at the narrow escape of a party from the camp, that
had been nearly cut off by a large mounted force of Basutos, in fact
barely getting away with their lives! Our version of the matter changed
the aspect of affairs entirely, and the fugitives laughed as heartily
as any one.
One or two large snakes were killed among the ruins of the village, but
the camp was free from them, although we had other visitors, tarantulas
being very common; and after the second day, the whole of the tents
within were literally blackened with common flies, which covered
everything, hot or cold, the moment it appeared; in one or two, jerboas
made night visits, rather astonishing us when the daylight showed the
large holes and heaps of fresh mould left on the floor. B----n, who was
particularly nervous about all small animals, seemed specially selected
for annoyance; the holes filled up with stones and empty bottles
overnight were succeeded by fresh ones, and he declared that his
tormentors awoke him by dancing and cheering round his tent in the grey
light of early dawn, and so alarmed him, that he dared not put his arm
out of bed to throw a boot at them, but lay in a cold perspiration till
people began to move about, when they disappeared.
The water here was no better than the nauseating stuff we had so often
to drink in the field; and besides the usual thickening of aquatic
insects, still more objectionable animals found their way to table in
the muddy mixture. B---- one day very narrowly escaped tossing off a
fine young frog in his tumbler of brandy and water.
The waggon drivers, &c., of whom, with upwards of 150 waggons and 2000
trek oxen, we had a perfect army in camp, as usual took advantage of
the halt to lay in a stock of biltong; and every bush, waggon wheel,
and dissel-boom, was covered with strips of raw meat drying in the sun.
Close to camp, and high up on the hill, were some fine rocks, where,
under the shadow of their overhanging masses, we sat during the heat
of the day, looking down on the busy camp, and scanning the plain for
miles beyond. While thus occupied on the 19th, the last of the three
days granted Moshesh, we descried large herds of cattle approaching
from Thaba Bossigo. At three in the afternoon they were visible from
the camp; and soon afterwards a body of mounted Basutos appeared,
armed with assegais, stuck in a sort of quiver at the back, with
battleaxes at the saddle-bow, and guns, keeries, and large shields
of ox-hide, followed by a vast herd of cattle stretching across the
plain, and coming on at a trot, driven by upwards of 500 natives. They
were wild looking-fellows, with strange head-gear of jackals' tails,
ostrich feathers, tiger skin, and gnu manes; with karosses, chakas,
and clubs. Though differing in no respect from the Kaffir personally,
their language or dialect is widely dissimilar, and sounded to us
more musical. Our interpreters and Fingoes could not understand it in
the least, though many travellers have affirmed the two languages are
in reality the same. Their saddles were most primitive affairs, the
stirrups, ingeniously contrived out of a broad strip of hide, divided
towards the lower end for about six inches, and forming, with a piece
of hard wood as a base, a triangle for the foot. All wore the bodkins
and "lebakos," or iron strigils before mentioned, suspended from the
neck by a strip of finely dressed skin. After the greatest difficulty,
and with the assistance of Jary, 12th Lancers, I obtained one of each
for the small consideration of five shillings in silver three-penny
pieces, and eight sticks of Cavendish tobacco. They were all savage,
surly-looking fellows, which might perhaps be attributed to the
nature of their errand, though one could not expect any very pleasing
expression in a people who less than twenty years ago were cannibals,
and dressed their hair with human grease.
The cattle having been numbered, and found to amount only to 3500,
Prince Nehemiah, who had come with them, was desired to inform his
_Governor_, that unless the remainder arrived the following morning, we
should be obliged to come and fetch them.
As an earnest of this threat, which produced no effect, the Second
Brigade, with two companies of the 74th Highlanders, marched at
daylight for the upper drift on the Caledon leading to Moletsani's
country; and there formed a flying camp. But this demonstration not
having the desired effect, the Governor-General followed at dawn on
the 20th, with the Cavalry Brigade and two guns. Moving along the
western and southern base of the Berea mountain, on the flat summit of
which the enemy had collected their cattle, His Excellency advanced
to parley with a party of armed Basutos, who immediately fired on
him. Hostilities having thus commenced, the cavalry were advanced
in extended order, and with a couple of rounds of shrapnel from the
guns, drove them off. His Excellency, who, notwithstanding that his
conspicuous appearance drew fire on him from all directions, continued
the whole day coolly smoking his cheroot, and issuing his orders,
then crossed the Rietspruit, a deep mountain stream, and took up a
position on an eminence commanding the approaches of the other two
columns, which were to join him here,--viz., the Infantry Brigade,
after clearing the summit of the mountain, and the Cavalry by moving
round its north and east faces. Colonel Eyre, having sent up a storming
party of the Rifle Brigade, under Lieutenant Hon. L. Curzon, and the
Light Company of the 73rd, under Lieutenant Gawler (who led their men
up rocks almost inaccessible, under a heavy fire from the enemy, and
drove them from their position), ascended the mountain, and sweeping
the top, completely dispersed the enemy, capturing 1500 head of cattle.
Unfortunately, Captain Faunce, Deputy-Assistant Quarter-Master General,
and two or three of the 73rd, were surprised and cut down by a party of
Basutos, several of whom having the white forage caps and the lances of
the 12th (killed in Colonel Napier's column), were mistaken for our own
troops, an error not discovered till it was too late to be remedied.
Simultaneously with the above movements, Colonel Napier's Brigade
having proceeded along the valley on the north-east of the mountain,
ascended it at a point where large droves of cattle were observed; and
after some hard fighting--in which, more than once, they came to close
quarters, hand to hand, with lance and battleaxe, twenty-five Lancers
and two of the Cape Mounted Rifles being killed, with a great number of
the enemy--captured 4000 head of cattle, besides fifty-three horses,
and many goats, with the whole of which they returned to the flying
camp.
When the Infantry Brigade joined his Excellency, the enemy, numbering
between 6000 and 7000 horsemen, manoeuvring with the regularity and
precision of English troops, endeavoured to turn their right flank;
attacking both front and rear simultaneously, but were repulsed with
great loss in each attempt by the steady gallantry of the troops.
However, in spite of their repulse, they pertinaciously returned to
the assault of the bivouac on the hill-side, where the cattle had been
driven for the night into some old stone kraals, and though suffering
heavy loss, continued in thousands attacking the position on all sides
at once, till after dark, when they were finally dispersed by a round
of canister, and the weary troops, who since sunrise had never ceased
a single moment from their arduous toils, lay down to rest. When day
dawned next morning there was not a Basuto to be seen. The casualties
on our side, owing to the overpowering force of the enemy, and the
difficult nature of the ground, were very severe: Captain Faunce,
Dep.-Asst.-Quar.-Mr.-General, and thirty-seven men, being killed, and
Captain Wellesley, Asst.-Adjt.-General, Lieut. Hon. H. Annesley, 43rd,
and fourteen men wounded.
The captured cattle being a great incumbrance, the infantry were sent
back with them to the camp, his Excellency announcing his intention of
resuming operations the following day against the Chiefs residence; a
few cattle and horses abandoned on the plain were added on the route;
but soon after arriving at the Caledon camp, a warrior bearing a flag
of truce presented himself with a letter from Moshesh, written in
Council at midnight, after the engagement. The epistle ran thus:--
"_Thaba Bossigo_,
"_Midnight, December 20th, 1852_.
"Your Excellency,--This day you have fought against my people, and
taken much cattle. As the object for which you have come is to have
a compensation for Boers, I beg you will be satisfied with what you
have taken. I entreat peace from you. You have shown your power; you
have chastised; let it be enough, I pray you, and let me no longer
be considered an enemy of the Queen. I will try all I can to keep my
people in order for the future.
Your humble servant,
"MOSHESH."
His Excellency having seen fit to accept this submission, concluded
a peace with the humbled Chief, and returned with his Staff--Colonel
Cloete, Quarter-Master-General; Colonel Seymour, Military Secretary;
Captain Lord A. Russell, Dep.-Asst.-Quarter-Master-General; Captain
Hon. R. Curzon, Captain Hon G. Elliott, Captain Tylden, Lieut.
Greville, Lieut. Lord C. Hay, and Lieut. Earle, to the standing camp
at Platberg; and the troops afterwards arriving with the spoil, the
cattle were distributed. One thousand head were given to Moroko, two
hundred and fifty to Taibosch, and two hundred and fifty to Carolus
Batje for their firm adherence to the government, and as a compensation
for their losses in consequence; the remainder were granted as a boon
to the Boers, who had suffered to a great extent by the plundering and
robberies of the Basutos. The loud bellowing of the spoil, in which
our own 2000 draught oxen joined, was so insufferable, that we were
heartily glad to see them driven off by the Barolongs to Bloem Fontein,
going full canter across the plain. There were so many young calves,
which of course were obliged to be left behind, that one was allowed to
each officer, and also to every soldier's 'mess,' and the camp was full
of veal. There was a sale of captured horses, generally young colts,
which fetched prices varying from eight shillings to eight sovereigns.
One or two particularly 'choice lots' brought ten or twelve pounds.
On the 23rd, a Gazette was published in camp, printed at the
Mission-house press, containing all the Despatches, and Orders
connected with the affair. The force was ordered to return to the
colony.