The Cape and the Kaffirs Part 12

"Thus they hara.s.sed the troops during the whole march; hanging on their rear in the day-time, and, at night, obliging them to keep up a constant peppering. At the drifts there was always troublesome work.

"August 2nd, Sunday.--I am always more impressed with the strange appearance of the town on Sunday than on any other day; every one who can, making his way to church, and business suspended; shots, too, above the town along the hills, and the rattle of arms and accoutrements in the streets, are more audible on Sunday than in the bustling week-days, Another thing I have frequently remarked; the news of whatever occurs in the field generally reaches us on the Sabbath, and we often say, 'To-day is Sunday: I wonder what intelligence we shall have.'

"August 3rd.--A beautiful day. It is quite grievous--yes, melancholy, to see the sun scorching the earth, and know that the cattle must die for want of food, and that there will be no vegetation this year. We have had no rain for months, except slight showers for a day or two.

To-day, some young girls have a.s.sembled in my cottage-garden to celebrate a birthday. What a relief it is to have left the confinement of the dreadful barrack for this small cottage on the hill! We are scarcely considered in a safe position, but we grew weary of the gaol-like Drostdy, and succeeded in getting shelter at Fort England-- misnamed a fort--where a few of the 91st are in quarters.

"But the birthday. None of our little female community had been merry since April; but this bright day I resolved to be cheerful, and to put aside my child's books and my own employments; and, since the sun would s.h.i.+ne, and not oppressively, to enjoy it. First, there were flowers to gather and arrange. I wanted some arums, the beautiful lilies of the yam plant, so the girls went down below the parched, uncultivated garden, to a stream now almost dry and desecrated by Hottentot washerwomen: they there witnessed melancholy 'signs of the times,'--nine dead animals lay beside the dull and shallow stream. The poor starved creatures had crawled into the hollow to die. These things make but slight impressions on the young; they do not trace results, however sad, to their primary causes; so when they had replenished my flower-vase, away they went to their garden amus.e.m.e.nts. I mention these trivial things by way of contrast. She whose birthday we celebrated came down the path, with a gay wreath of flowers and foliage wound round her fair hair--happy, healthy, blooming, joyous sixteen! Thus I mused, as she stood laughing under a fine oak, just coming into leaf--like her, in its spring. Suddenly, in the distance we heard the boom of cannon echoing sullenly along the mountain-ridges, and through the kloofs and pa.s.ses far away. The day was so still that we heard distinctly the rapid discharges of shot and sh.e.l.l! The servants told us they had heard these sounds of death and doom all the morning. We only knew they came from that part of the country where the regular troops were co-operating with Sir Andries Stockenstrom and his Burgher force. Gazing in that direction, my eye fell on a signal-tower on a hill-top. That tower, with many others, is now deserted, for three reasons. The first, and most cogent one is that, like the rest of its fellows, it is useless.

The atmosphere of this climate scarcely ever permits communication by telegraph. Secondly, the men cannot be provisioned there in war-time.

Of meat and biscuit they might lay in a stock, as if for sea; but water cannot be procured without risking life. Thirdly, in war-time, when the telegraphs would be of the utmost use, and would save time, labour, life, and horses, by making swift communications of the stealthy movements of the Kaffirs, the force on the frontier is so small that no men can be spared to work the signals.

"All the morning of that birthday we heard the cannon booming as we sat in the garden, and we afterwards learned that Macomo had been hemmed in and attacked in the Tyumie fastnesses, but with little success and some loss on our side. The enemy, as usual, hara.s.sed the troops, and then gave them the slip.

"5th. Kaffirs known to be in the immediate neighbourhood of Graham's Town, an attack fully antic.i.p.ated by some; fortunately, we never entered into these 'alarms.' The soldiers' wives on the hill in extreme terror.

Shots firing all day rapidly. I wonder more accidents do not occur among those who have lately learned the use of fire-arms. I stood at the gate in the evening and watched a fire very near the town: it blazed up for about ten minutes, and was extinguished as suddenly as it had been lit. Fires seen in other directions, supposed to be signals for a general a.s.sembly of the warriors in the mountains. More cattle stolen within three miles of us to-day. Walked down in the evening to the end of the green, to look at our defences. Sorry things! A square of thatched barracks, more like huts than houses, contains sometimes no more than fifteen soldiers, some of them left here as ineffective. Our s.p.a.ce near the guardhouse is defended by a wooden stockade, breast-high, and two other pa.s.sages are banked up about three feet high. No picquets at this end of the town, for want of men. We have a kloof just above the mess-house, and it was a few miles from there that Mr Norden, of the Yeomanry, was shot.

"6th. Our garrison is reinforced by a corps of liberated Africans, a happy, lazy-looking set, who are chiefly employed in escorting waggons.

The Malays have also been brought in a body from Cape Town. They take the war coolly enough, and when off duty, lie about the green in the warm and moonlight nights, whistling and singing the most harmonious choruses. They will not enter the bush, and have never been of use in rescuing cattle.

"7th. Kaffir Jack, Cosani, arrived. He has rather a suspicious character, but has never proved unfaithful. His adventures would help to dress up a volume in Cooper's style, for he lives much among the English, but can wander at will from one end of Kaffirland to the other.

Some days ago, it was suspected that Umki's son, Sio, had gone off to Kaffirland, on some treacherous mission from his wily father. Sir Harry Smith's opinion of Umki was so bad, that he used to tell him plainly in reply to his fair promises, 'Umki, you are a liar!' Umki, however, never took offence at this. Falsehood is no disgrace among the Kaffirs; on the contrary, the greatest rogue is the best man. Jack came to say Sio had never been away. Just now Jack is under Umki's stern guidance.

At any time the word of a Kaffir is worth nothing. He asked about Sandilla. I told him there was no longer a chief of that name, that there had been one, who had been to his people as a string by which beads are held together. Sandilla had been the string, but it was broken, his people had been the beads, but they were scattered, unlinked for ever, and dispersed for and wide, and neither beads nor string could now be re-united. Jack bent down his head and mused with his hands clasped for some minutes, and said, 'It is good.' Umki and his followers came up in the afternoon; two wives, servants, and children.

He and his ragged retinue amused themselves by inspecting our defences, our open gardens, and our thatched houses. If Umki can communicate the true condition of Graham's Town to his friends in Kaffirland, they may take advantage of it. I am sure the Governor, if he were in Graham's Town, would not allow this treacherous _refugee_ to wander at large as he does. News from the camps--unsatisfactory--Kaffirs still firing into the bivouacs. Lieut. Stokes, R.E., slightly wounded by a sentry, Mr S having imprudently ventured beyond the lines.

"August 8th.--The Kaffirs have again entered the Colony in numerous bodies, and continue plundering and murdering as usual. We hear this day of the arrival of the 45th in Simon's Bay on the 30th July. The distance they have to travel would in England be journeyed in about forty hours; we shall now observe the period that elapses between the arrival of the 45th in Simon's Bay, near Cape Town, and their entrance into Graham's Town, as well as that between their departure from Graham's Town and their arrival in the immediate front of the army in Kaffirland. It is to be hoped that their approach will daunt the enemy, but the Kaffirs have learned their power ever since the disastrous affair at Burn's Hill; and, in spite of occasional reverses, the tide has. .h.i.therto been in their favour. Their losses, considering their number, have been trifling; they have possessed themselves of the colonial cattle, and they have cut off vast quant.i.ties of our supplies, while we are obliged to pause. We have driven the great body of them out of the ceded territory, it is true, but they have taken most of the plunder with them into a richer and more fertile country. The month of July has been marked by the death of one of the Colony's most promising and creditable settlers. Mr Gordon Nourse, a.s.sistant Commandant of the Burgher Force, was shot by the enemy, while a.s.sisting a neighbour to rescue his cattle. Sir Andries Stockenstrom, in announcing officially the death of Mr Nourse, says, 'He fell yesterday in a gallant attack made by himself at the head of a small party upon a body of Kaffirs in the jungle. The Commandant-General has to lament the loss the service has sustained of one of the most efficient, zealous, and meritorious officers under his command.'

"9th, Sunday. Sad news from a place known by the hideous name of h.e.l.l's Poort. Five burghers have been shot by Kaffirs in that terrible pa.s.s.

A party of nineteen having entered a rocky and bushy kloof in search of some cattle, they were fired upon by some Kaffirs posted on the summit of the hills on either side. The burghers, being surrounded by 200 Kaffirs, and their ammunition getting low, retired to their camp for a reinforcement, with which they returned, and again faced the enemy.

Among the five who fell, were two brothers of the name of De Villiers, the history of whose death is a mournful one. As one brother fell wounded to the ground, the other ran to him to comfort and support him in his dying moments. His friends called him away; he would not stir, but held his young brother's hand in his, till a shot from the savages brought him down, and laid him beside him whom he would not forsake to save his own life.

"10th. The bodies of the five Stellenbosch Burghers were brought in to be buried. A concourse of people followed the melancholy train of five coffins through the town to the burial-ground.

"13th. Rain, at last! gentle showers. Only those who have looked on the parched soil of Africa can have an idea of the blessing of rain after a long drought. It sounds quite musical as it patters on the few trees that are in the garden. The enemy have laid waste the country from the Buffalo to the Kei. What a sight must those vast tracts of country be, when blazing! The gra.s.s will spring up all the fresher for it, afterwards.

"17th. Walked into town. As we pa.s.sed the Wesleyan Chapel, we saw Umki and his wives and children basking idly in the sun on the pavement near the chapel-porch. Umki was set aside by his tribe for being a coward in the last war, so now he bestows his unwelcome company on the English, roaming about, begging from every one he meets, spending what he gains at the canteens.

"19th. My child's birthday! these seem trifles to touch upon; to us they only bring sad memories when we compare the present state of war and anxiety with happy anniversaries pa.s.sed in peaceful England. News from the head-quarter division. The General is encamped at a place called Fort Beresford, so named in the last war by Sir Benjamin D'Urban, in compliment to one of his aides-de-camp. Colonel Johnstone, 27th Regiment, had led about 300 infantry over the Buffalo mountains, while Colonel Somerset, with a cavalry column and guns, had gone round the base of the hills, the infantry, ascending to the summit in single file, and Mr Melville's Hottentots mounting the hill in another direction, killed three Kaffirs and captured some cattle. The troops bivouacked for the night on the ridge. Next day, every bush and kloof was scoured, but neither shots nor yells, nor the old cry of 'Izapa!' was heard in those now solitary places, the enemy having decamped in the night. At one time, a party of hors.e.m.e.n were discovered winding leisurely along an eminence at some little distance, and this was afterwards ascertained to be the chief Seyolo and his people coolly riding off from the vicinity of the troops, who, they knew, would have great difficulty in catching them, from their having no cavalry with them.

"In spite of the silence which reigned in these solitudes, there were evident traces of hasty retreat, by the fresh spoor of cattle; but to detail this march up the hill and down again, would be but a repet.i.tion of many other such expeditions. The Kaffirs slipped away, and the troops followed them with their ammunition loose in their pouches, to be ready for action, but returned hara.s.sed, disappointed, and half-starved.

"The country through which they pa.s.sed is of a much grander and more fertile character than that occupied by the colonists; and, were the Buffalo and Keiskama rivers opened to trade, an immense increase of commerce would be the result." [This desirable change has since been effected by Sir Harry Smith.]

"The head-quarter division, consisting of part of the 91st and 90th Regiments, under Major Yarborough (91st), two troops of the 7th Dragoon Guards, and some of the Cape Corps, remained encamped at Fort Beresford, the whole being under the command of Sir Peregrine Maitland. Colonel Somerset, Cape Mounted Rifles, and Colonel Richardson, 7th Dragoon Guards, having reported their horses unfit for duty, it was resolved that the main body of the cavalry should take up a position where both men and horses could rest and be refreshed. As soon as the horses that remain recover from the late fatigue and starvation, the country will be patrolled and kept, until more decisive measures can be framed, and the worn-out cattle are fit for more active operations.

"The Kaffirs have long remained in small detached bodies in the neighbourhood of the camp, firing into it at night and lying in wait for occasions of theft, or mischief, all day. A prisoner was brought in one day, who a.s.serted that the woods close by were full of women and old men. Although Macomo had ordered his men not to fight, they were determined to plunder and murder, and crept into the colony and round the orders as usual. 'Young Kaffirland' had gone over the Kei for the present, with the stolen cattle.

"Troops were sent into the woods, to bring in some of the prisoners.

The poor heathen females are employed in carrying powder and provisions from one ambuscade to another, and it is therefore necessary to search them. But they are not easily intimidated; and, when threatened by the military, who to frighten them put their muskets to their shoulders, they calmly put the pieces on one side, and as there was little to repay any one for the trouble of carrying off a set of Kaffir women against their will, they were left in the woods, where, no doubt, corn was buried for their provision. Great scarcity, however, must prevail with them, as the crops failed last year.

"On the 15th of August, fourteen poor waggon-drivers, chiefly Fingoes and Hottentots, went into the kloofs of the mountains to search for corn, and, seeing some cattle, were led miles away. A strong force of Kaffirs, seeing the weakness of their party as they emerged upon an open plain, rushed upon them, and, it is supposed, killed all but one, who crept into a bush, and, lying by till night, made his way back to the camp, with the melancholy intelligence. Lieutenant Owen, with a party of the 90th, was sent out in search of these poor creatures, but found only one body. The rest had probably been borne off, to suffer torture and mutilation. The savage brutality of the Kaffir is not satisfied with taking life, or even by immediate mutilation. Some Hottentots having been decoyed to a bush by some goats being placed at the edge of it to graze, they were seized by the Kaffirs, and murdered. The bodies, being discovered by the troops, were buried; but when a party again traversed the spot where they had been interred, it was found that the poor dead creatures had been dug up, mutilated, and impaled! I have lately heard a shocking anecdote, connected with the death of an unfortunate Hottentot, who, having been brought up as a Christian, wished to be allowed to make his peace with the Almighty ere he suffered death. Some wished to give him a few moments to devote to prayer, but others rushed forward, exclaiming, 'Nonsense, kill him at once,--what is the use of his praying here? Have we not driven G.o.d Almighty from the land?' The murder of the missionary Schulz dispelled the idea that such men were protected by an invisible power, an idea the Kaffirs always entertained before, and even since the commencement of the war. They have shown no respect for the missionary stations, for they have destroyed houses, chapels, and bibles; hence, their idea that they have 'driven G.o.d from the land.'

"21st. News from Fort Beaufort. Macomo had again sent to Colonel Hare to sue for peace. The Lieutenant-Governor replied, that if the Gaikas would give up their guns and the plundered cattle, he would intercede for peace with the Governor. This is not the sort of peace they want.

I hope the rumours of a rupture between Macomo and Sandilla may be correct.

"A paramount chief's person is held sacred, otherwise, perhaps, as Macomo wishes to head the Gaikas, Sandilla might be secretly disposed of; but such an instance has never been known. How strange the tie between chief and people! The chief will not hesitate to sacrifice by death, or torture, any individual of his tribe, however innocent he may know him to be, if he stand in the way of his most trifling whims, but the person of the chief is sacred, and will be protected by his people at the risk of their lives. [We see the same thing among insect and animal communities.] Kreli and Pato have quarrelled, the former, it is said, reproaching Pato for bringing the Umlunghi into his country. I think it more likely they are at variance about the plunder. Kreli probably keeps a fair face to us, while he invites Pato to his kraal, and having got him there, would fain share the booty.

"Nothing yet heard of Sir Andries Stockenstrom and Colonel Johnstone, with their divisions, but to-day, the 25th, some news of importance has reached us from the Governor's camp! Stock, Eno's son, has sent councillors to say, that he wishes to surrender himself. Macomo and Umhala have intimated the same desire, but Sandilla, as obstinate as ever, protests that if we will not grant peace on his own terms, his people shall advance into our colony in the same degree as our troops move through his. This day, the contractor has killed the last slaughter-ox for the troops in Graham's Town.

"26th. News from Fort Beaufort. Captain Ryneveldt and his Burghers had had an 'affair,'--four people killed on our side, and five wounded. No chance of rain, and the country in that district and this is in a frightful state. Cattle, as usual, are dying round us, in the very streets, and dropping dead from the waggons. Colonel Somerset is patrolling between the Fish River mouth and Fort Beaufort. It will be a great thing to get supplies along that line from Waterloo Bay, for there is scarcely any corn at Beaufort. The 7th have gone thither to recruit.

"28th. Stock's agreement, drawn up by Colonel Somerset, is to be submitted to the Governor for approval. Stock's readiness to give up the cattle surprises me. He will outwit us, if he can, and probably now only wants a truce that he may be allowed to plant. No sense of honour brings him 'to the feet of the Governor,' but the doc.u.ment must speak for itself. Like Sandilla's, in February last, it is very pathetic, and sounds poetical. Having obtained permission to enter Colonel Somerset's camp, near the Gw.a.n.ga, Stock reached it on the 21st, and made the following declaration:--

"That 'he was come to throw himself at the Governor's feet, that he was to-day the Governor's Fingo (slave), that he had fallen, and laid no more claim to his ground, that he was come out of the bush, that he was at our feet, and that by coming without arms he considered he surrendered himself; that he would leave his father's bush, and asked only for a place whereon to "sit." He entreated he might not be sent to Fort Peddie, as it might lead to quarrel between the Fingoes and his people. He stated that his people were so numerous he could not count them by tens, that he was willing to give up all his cattle and horses, soliciting nothing but a place where he might sit, and hoped the Government would appoint him the care of his father's bones.'

"Colonel Somerset replied, that, 'the bush where his father's bones lay was no longer Stock's, that he had forfeited it by breaking faith with the Government, but that it should be protected, although he would not be allowed to live in it.'

"Terms were then drawn up. Stock was to send into Kaffirland for the stolen cattle and horses, a temporary ground 'whereon to sit' was appointed him till the Governor's pleasure was known; and, in the meantime, he was to be held responsible that no molestation should be offered to our convoys proceeding through that part of the country.

Sonto, an inferior chief of his tribe, was not considered in these agreements.

"At the close of these proceedings, Stock laid down his arms, and wept as he did so. They consisted of thirty-three stand of arms, and thirty-six a.s.segais in the possession of his immediate followers.

Colonel Somerset returned the chief his own gun. At first, Stock was unwilling to resign his arms, saying his tribes had never yet been subdued, and would be considered women for doing so. Some time was given him to decide, and finally he gave them up with this remark, that 'sooner or later the other chiefs must come to the same resolution.'

Still, the 'people' continue to infest the Colony, still their signal-fires are visible from the town, and still the cattle are captured and recaptured, and poor settlers are found murdered in their homesteads. Much anxiety is felt for the result of Sir Andries Stockenstrom's expedition into Kreli's country. It is to be hoped he will make no treaty with that treacherous chief, that can in any way compromise the Governor."

Note 1. The Kaffirs are in the habit of burying their chiefs, but no other dead.

Note 2. It is the general custom of the Kaffirs to leave an old woman in a kraal as a spy. They manage to keep up a constant communication with her, and supply her with food.

Note 3. Captain Donovan nearly lost his life on the banks of the Gw.a.n.ga, on the day of the memorable action there. On reaching a drift, whither he had led his horse to drink, four or five Kaffirs suddenly rushed upon him. His rifle was on the ground, and there was no time to draw his sword, before the musket of a savage was levelled at his head.

A man named Brown, formerly a private in the 75th Regiment, coming up at this instant, s.n.a.t.c.hed up Captain Donovan's rifle, and shot the Kaffir dead on the spot.

PART TWO, CHAPTER NINE.

EXTRACTS FROM JOURNAL.

"September 13th. Sir Peregrine Maitland is moving with his division towards the Fish River mouth. A report is in circulation that Faku, the Amaponda Chief, has come down upon Kreli's country. This is not to be desired. Faku is a man of immense power, with a great number of people, who will be ready to creep into the Colony at all points for plunder.

"Among our allies employed with the army are 150 Bushmen, with poisoned arrows. [It was some of these who were exhibited lately in England.]

The Kaffirs have great dread of these 'new a.s.segais,' which are barbed, and cannot be extracted without additional injury to the wounds they inflict.

"More intelligence has been received relative to Sir Andries Stockenstrom's expedition to the Kei. The capture of 7,000 head of cattle is cheering and important; but the treaty appears a sorry affair.

"Kama, the Christian Chief, has proved himself worthy of our confidence and respect. With the few followers who have remained true to him and us, he has been, as far as lay in his power, an active and efficient ally in defence of the district to which he was driven by the threat of a.s.sa.s.sination from his half-brother, Pato. Herma.n.u.s, too, has, I am told, been true to us for many years; but of him I know nothing personally. We were always glad to receive Kama in our cottage at Fort Peddie. It is proposed to give these friendly chiefs the land in the ceded territory, hitherto occupied by Tola and Botman--Gaikas.

"September 9th.--We learn that General Maitland has reached the mouth of the Fish River; but he finds it necessary to contract the line of forces, so to speak. Much impatience is manifested by people 'sitting still' themselves, at the delay in military operations. It is said, 'With such a force the Kaffirs ought long since to have been crushed.'

To use a lady's simile, a skein of thread is a simple thing to unwind when fresh from the weaver's hands; but, when once entangled, it requires time and patience to unravel it.