The rain fell in torrents throughout the Colony, but this did not deter
the patrols from advancing on the enemy's country. As the Kaffirs did
not think it wise to show themselves to such large bodies of troops,
nothing took place, at first, but a conflagration among the huts and
kraals of the contumacious Gaikas; it was, however, well-known, that
they had not left their hiding-places. Towards the Mancazana, some
houses were fired, probably in retaliation, and the usual system of
cattle-lifting, though to less extent, was carried on in the Colony by
gipsy parties of the enemy.
In the meantime, old Sutu, Sandilla's mother, sent word to Sir George
Berkeley that Sandilla was "the Governor's dog," etc, etc; that, "if the
Government would accept his submission, he would behave better," and so
on. These messages were like all the rest--hollow and designing. The
Kaffirs under Tyalie, a petty Chief, having captured twelve hundred head
of cattle from Sandilla, claimed a right, as British subjects, to retain
them, according to the Governor's notice; but, as this was suspected to
be a _ruse_ adopted by Sandilla himself, the troops under
Lieutenant-Colonel Campbell, Reserve Battalion, 91st Regiment, were sent
forward to secure the cattle.
Several Kaffirs, caught in the act of stealing were brought into King
William's Town; and, after receiving one hundred lashes, were dismissed.
Prison rations were thus dispensed with, and these Kaffirs became, for
a period a least, a warning and a mockery to their tribes. In
Kaffirland, as in China, disgrace is attached to a thief, not for
stealing, but for being found out.
The division under Major Sutton, Cape Mounted Rifles, and Captain Hogg,
7th Dragoon Guards, which had moved from Shiloh, captured two hundred
head of cattle in the Amatolas, and killed a few Kaffirs; with the loss,
on our side, of Serjeant Phillips, Cape Mounted Rifles, and formerly of
the 91st.
Although incessant rains deluged the country, the troops continued
healthy. In reply to Sandilla's messages, Jan T'Jatzoe was desired to
intimate to him that no terms would be listened to from him but those of
unconditional surrender.
This T'Jatzoe, to whom I have before alluded as a Kaffir who had been
exhibited in England [at Exeter Hall, at Sheffield, etc, in 1836] in the
false character of a Christian Chief, played a cunning part during the
war of 1846-7, and was actually engaged in the attack on the waggons at
Trumpeter's Drift. The British public were completely imposed upon by
this savage heathen, for such he is, and ever will be. On his return
from England, whither he had gone, or rather been taken, in direct
opposition to the orders and wishes of his father, a petty Chief [Note
1], he was asked many questions by his tribe, concerning the country he
had visited.
"Was it large?"
"Yes, it was large; but the people were so numerous they found it
small."
"Were they so very numerous?"
"Yes; England was like a huge piece of meat covered with flies crowding
upon each other."
"What surprised him most?"
"The waggons which travelled without oxen or horses." (Railway
carriages.)
"Ah," said Macomo, after a conversation of this kind with T'Jatzoe, "I
have always told our people, that there was no use in trying to conquer
the white man. It is like little boys attempting to shoot elephants
with small bows and arrows."
Macomo, with all his people were removed to the neighbourhood of Algoa
Bay. He was opposed to the war, from policy, from the beginning; but
when once the cry was raised in the mountains, he immediately assumed
the command, being the General of the Gaikas, and, when sober, an able
warrior and councillor. He was glad when an opportunity offered of
surrendering himself, the charms of the canteen superseding the desire
for glory among his tribe; but he used every means to remain on his old
location. His appeal was pathetic enough, but we have profited somewhat
by our experience in the "word of a Kaffir." "Here," said he,
stretching his hand over the beautiful territory, "my father, a great
Chief, dwelt; these pastures were crowded with cattle", stolen, of
course; "here I have lived to grow old; here my children have been born;
let me die in peace where I have so long lived." These entreaties,
however, could not be listened to for one moment; and, as a last trial,
his daughter, Amakeya, the beauty of Kaffirland, made her way to the
tent of Colonel Campbell, 91st Regiment, who, totally unprepared for her
appearance, was yet more astonished at the sacrifice she offered, if her
father's sentence of banishment might be rescinded.
I have elsewhere mentioned Amakeya as the belle of the camp at Fort
Hare, and no doubt she had been sufficiently reminded of her charms to
make her sensible of the value of them. She made her strange offer in
all the consciousness and pride of beauty; and, with her finely-moulded
arms folded before her, she spoke without hesitation, for she was guided
by motives worthy a lofty cause--motives, how desecrated! how degraded!
Poor Amakeya!
"If her father might remain on his own lands," she said, "she would be
the sacrifice and guarantee for his future good faith towards the white
man. She would leave her own people, and follow Colonel Campbell; his
home should be hers; she would forsake all, and dwell with him. This
was her last word, her final decision, and she would abide by it."
It may here be observed, that the young girls in Kaffirland are brought
up with strict notions of female propriety; to forfeit their reputation,
is to entail on themselves severe punishment, and on their families
perpetual disgrace.
Amakeya's motives were not unappreciated by her hearer, but the proposal
was, of course, rejected, with every consideration for her position, and
the circumstances by which she had been actuated; and she departed with
her father on his journey. We may fancy Amakeya taking a last look at
the green places wherein her childhood had been passed, and finally
sitting down among a strange people, in sight of the "great waters." A
new and wondrous spectacle to that mountain-girl must have been that
mighty and pathless sea.
On the 4th of October, an express arrived at King William's Town,
containing the information, that the division under Colonel Somerset had
captured one thousand head of cattle, and a number of horses and goats,
at a sweep, and had killed eight of the enemy. The division under
Colonel Campbell had also been successful in capturing cattle among the
Gaikas, as well as some horses, and in killing some twenty of the enemy,
and laying waste his country. The detachment of the 45th, under Major
Hind, did good service with Colonel Campbell's column; and afterwards
accompanied the head-quarter division to the Kei, together with two
companies of the Reserve Battalion of the 91st, under Captain Scott and
Colonel Campbell, with Lieutenants Dixon and Metcalfe.
The same work went on, from day to day. Now, our troops captured cattle
from the Gaikas, who, it was ascertained, were a good deal disorganised
[Macomo foretold this, saying "they could not fight when he was gone"];
and now Pato's I'Slambies slipped away with the oxen pastured near our
camps and bivouacs. The rains poured on, and the troops, though
healthy, suffered from the unusual cold. There was nothing to be done
with the enemy but to worry him; which was attended with dreadful harass
to us.
As was conjectured, by those who knew the character of the Gaikas,
Sandilla and his people had not entirely abandoned the Amatolas; the
Chief had secreted himself in one of the deep valleys of those
mountains, near a stream called by the Kaffirs, the "Wolf's River." The
nature of the ground secured him from the approach of cavalry, but it
was just the place for the operations of the Rifle Brigade. Sir George
Berkeley's plan of patrolling the country, and falling back on camps
well stored with provisions, in the very neighbourhood of Sandilla, soon
drove the rebel Chief from his haunts. Abandoned by many of his people,
his crops destroyed, his dwelling burned, his cattle scattered among
those he could not trust, and deprived of Macomo's support, he found
himself constantly exposed to the fire of our troops, and at one time,
it is said, he dared not venture to slake his thirst at the stream for
four-and-twenty hours. Thus worn out, without the slightest advantage
to himself or his nation, he resolved on surrendering; and, sending to
King William's Town a message to the effect that "he was driven to this
step by the prospect of starvation," some bread and meat were forwarded
to him by his envoys; and, on the 19th of October, the troops in the
camp, commanded by Colonel Buller, Rifle Brigade, looked anxiously,
through the mists of a stormy day, for the expected prisoner. He came
at last, followed by eighty of his people; and, after an interview with
Colonel Buller, "an escort of dragoons, which had been in readiness,"
was ordered to accompany Captain Bisset, Cape Mounted Rifles, and
Lieutenant Petre, 7th Dragoon Guards, with the captive Chief, and the
necessary dispatches from the Lieutenant-General commanding, to Sir
Henry Pottinger. Captain Bisset, on that day, the 20th of October, rode
120 miles.
Sandilla admitted that he had been nearly taken by a patrol of the Rifle
Brigade, acting with Colonel Somerset's division, on the 12th of
October. The party had lost their way while skirmishing; but for this,
he must have surrendered to them, or been shot. He afterwards told
Colonel Campbell, 91st, that on one occasion they had been within 1200
feet of each other, the Chief watching Colonel Campbell from the bush.
When passing, as a prisoner, near the camp of this officer, Sandilla
stopped his horse, and, calling to the former "My friend, my friend,
come hither!" begged to shake hands with him. Colonel Campbell's good
advice to the misguided Gaika had been unheeded, and the latter now
acknowledged the truth of what the Colonel had told him, that "it was
madness to fight with the white man, who would not be conquered, even
though the war were to last for ever."
In the announcement by Sir Henry Pottinger, that the surrender of
Sandilla had taken place, His Excellency the High Commissioner records
"the high sense he entertains of the zeal and energy with which the
operations against Sandilla had been carried on under the
Lieutenant-General's guidance, in which operations the troops and levies
have been subjected to great hardships, and exposed to unusually
inclement weather."
Immediately after the surrender of Sandilla, Colonel Somerset planned
his forward movement towards the Kei, with a force upwards of 1200
strong, including cavalry, infantry, and levies. The country beyond the
Kei was known to be swarming with cattle.
On the 30th of October the troops made a night march of thirty miles
towards the Kei, and, on the morning of the 31st, reached a stream
called Chechabe. On the heights above this little river, the Kaffirs
were seen gathering in great numbers, and at last took up a very strong
position, evidently determined to make a stand against the British
force. The latter was soon disposed in battle array in front of the
enemy, with flankers thrown out, supports in the rear, and the reserve
under Captain Bentinck, 7th Dragoon Guards. The Cape Mounted Rifles,
led by Captain O'Reilly, advanced up the face of the hill, the enemy, as
usual, screening himself, while the troops moved slowly but steadily
onwards, under the incessant fire of the Kaffirs, until within eighty
yards of them, when, the bugle sounding the gallop, the "Totties"
cheered, and entered the bush in gallant style. In twenty minutes, the
savages were dislodged, and driven over a hill into a ravine below,
leaving behind them arms, karosses, and several horses. Seventeen of
them were counted dead after the engagement; many had been borne off,
and the rocks over winch they had been dragged were streaming with
blood. In this affair, our troops sustained but two casualties.
Colonel Somerset considered that this gathering of the Kaffirs was
arranged to divert his attention from the cattle concealed not far from
the scene of action, the Kei being in too swollen a state to permit
their crossing into Kreli's country--the Amaponda. This was, no doubt,
correct; and as, from the nature of the country, it was impossible for
the troops to follow the enemy at once, they vanished, as usual, in the
deep recesses of the mountains.
Early in the morning of the 31st, Captain Somerset, Aide-de-Camp to
General Berkeley, had very nearly fallen a sacrifice to his imprudence
in venturing out, _en amateur_, with a single orderly, on the spoor of
cattle. A party of Kaffirs suddenly appearing, Captain Somerset turned
his horse's head; so did his orderly: the speed of Captain Somerset's
charger saved his rider's life; the poor orderly fell from his, and his
throat was instantly cut by the savages.
It was hoped that the success of Colonel Somerset, at the Chechabe,
would daunt Pato; but no offers of submission worth listening to were
received. A few Kaffirs, coming within hail of the troops, called out
that they "did not intend fighting any more; the cattle were across the
Kei, and the Umlunghi must go for them if they wanted them." Either
Pato or one of his councillors shouted aloud, "We will not meet you, but
will return into the Colony, and wander as wolves."
Although I had seen Sandilla at Fort Peddie in 1843, I went to pay him a
visit in captivity. The room in which he was imprisoned was half filled
with his followers and councillors. Seated on an iron bedstead, with
his blanket wound round him, he smoked his pipe in silence; some of his
followers reclined idly on the straw mattresses provided for them; and,
by the side of the young Chief's couch lay Anta, whom he roused from
sleep on our naming him, for he was as great an object of interest as
Sandilla. Putting aside the blanket from his face, he sat up and eyed
us keenly, looking from us to his brother, but what was passing within
their minds no one could divine; their countenances expressed neither
surprise, curiosity, resentment, nor dislike. Some sat round a fire in
the centre of the room, and one aged Kaffir, with a grey head, gazed
earnestly in our faces. This was one of Sandilla's chief advisers, and
one whom he managed to cage with himself, by sending for him amicably,
giving secret orders, however, to compel him to come in case he
hesitated. As the cunning Gaika has always professed to act "by the
advice of his councillors," he anticipated that the greater punishment
would devolve upon them, and by this means he trusted that his own would
be lightened.
The replies of Sandilla to various remarks and questions lately put to
him are shrewd enough. On his being told, by one of the authorities,
that if he attempted to escape from his confinement he would be shot,
Sandilla answered that "as he had voluntarily surrendered himself, it
was not likely he should run away." Soon after his imprisonment, he
requested a daily allowance of wine. On being asked if he had ever been
in the habit of drinking it, he said "No." Then why indulge in what he
had never been accustomed to? "I am now the white man's child," replied
Sandilla; "my father is wise, and I would do all things as he does."
When his warriors left his "Great Place," to join the gathering in the
Amatolas, he found one lingering long behind the rest. "What are you
doing here?" asked the Chief; "you are like a solitary locust when the
swarm has gone; so, the sooner you hop after it the better."
"December 17th.--The frontier to-night is delirious with joy. The town
is illuminated, and beacon lights telegraph from the hill-tops that Sir
Harry Smith has arrived."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note 1. As was proved before Sir Harry, then Colonel, Smith, and
published in a document signed by him, and by Captain Lacy, 72nd
Highlanders, Arthur Balfour, Aide-de-Camp, and Mr Shepstone, Kaffir
Interpreter. This document, dated King William's Town, February, 1836,
bears the marks also of Macomo and Ganga.