The Cape and the Kaffirs Part 14

The charger, which had carried his master through the actions in the Amatolas, moved on, unconscious of its sad trappings, and the dirge that wailed through the lately blockaded streets was in strange contrast with the echoes that had formerly filled them from the rifles on the hills.

"The 6th Regiment, under Lieutenant-Colonel Michel, presents so youthful an appearance, that some of the recruits look anything but suited to the service here. Two hundred of them have never yet been taught to handle a musket. Such a country as this is very disheartening to a zealous Commanding Officer, who finds his men and officers scattered in all directions, with no prospect of seeing them in a body till he lands in England. The Rifle Brigade have taken the coloured population by surprise, as. .h.i.therto all soldiers from England have been _Roed Batjes_--red-jackets. They have named the Rifle Brigade the 'English Cape Corps.'"

As the enemy began to succ.u.mb, and to mingle with the people in our camps, we heard various details connected with the war for which we were not prepared. It was learnt that the Gaikas, under Sandilla, seriously meditated an onslaught on our handful of troops, under Colonel Hare, at Block Drift, on the 26th of January, 1846. These are the particulars, as related by the Kaffirs. Besides the three thousand warriors drawn up in front of Colonel Hare's force of scarcely three hundred men, there were immense numbers collected on the hill-sides, and in the ravines.

Women were there, too, watching for the signal, which was to be the waving of a kaross by a chief. It was stated, also, that, as soon as this signal was given, the scout on the point of a hill attempted to obey it, as he had been desired,--namely, by firing off his piece; but three times it missed fire, and he gave it up. No response followed the raising the tiger-skin banner, and the result was the breaking-up of the conference, and the safe return of the troops to quarters. It is most probable the armed scout was deterred by superst.i.tious motives from trying a fourth time to give the signal of destruction. Had the Gaikas risen _en ma.s.se_, as was intended, what a fearful slaughter there would have been at the moment, and how terrible would have been the effect on this devoted Colony!

The day that meeting took place, my little girl and I were travelling with a small party, on horseback, through the bush not far from Block Drift. Captain Bambrick had accompanied us part of the way on the first day's journey: it was the last time I ever saw him. As we wound along a splendid road, lately made between Post Victoria and Botha's Post, a distance of nine miles, I looked up the mountain-sides, clothed with euphorbia, mimosa, and innumerable shrubs, and observed that probably those silent thickets were tenanted by human beings, who could watch our progress un.o.bserved. We had no fear. "The word had not been given to kill;" and, though they were not aware of this expression on the part of the Kaffirs, we had every reason to believe they would never fire the first shot. I am doubtful as to the truth of the premeditated onslaught at Block Drift; for they did not fire the first shot in the Amatola Mountains.

The account of one death in the ranks of the 91st Regiment, on the first day's action in the Amatolas, affected me sincerely when I heard it.

Gibb, a soldier, who was much exhausted with the march up the mountain, was allowed to mount the horse of an officer's servant, and was shot dead soon after. The melancholy task of informing his younger brother-- a bugler, attached to the grenadier company--of his loss, fell to the lot of the Captain of that company. The poor fellow was shocked at the intelligence; but, at the moment he heard it, the enemy were pressing on; the grenadiers were ordered to advance in skirmis.h.i.+ng order, the cavalry were coming up in support, and it was necessary to sound the bugle to extend. The officer, feeling for the young soldier, bid him calm his emotion, if possible, at such a moment: he obeyed as well as he could; and after various attempts to sound his instrument, did so at last, with tears running down his face in showers. What thoughts of home and of parents' faces, and sorrowing voices, were pa.s.sing through that poor fellow's heart at the moment of excitement and danger! What memories of early times, when he and his brother had played as children together! [Note 1.]

"15th December.--Another movement is to take place over the Kei, into Kreli's country. At the commencement of hostilities, a body of Fingoes were located, to the amount of three thousand, east of the Kei. These soon found that Kreli was in league with the tribes near the colony, from the circ.u.mstance that many of his best men were creeping towards it. Large droves of fine colonial cattle were pa.s.sed over into the forests of the Bashee. The resident Agent and the members of the missionary department, with five hundred Fingoes, took refuge with the Amapondas, farther east, where they must have suffered great privations.

What must be the sufferings of the women and children in such difficult straits! The women are most to be pitied, since their misery arises from anxiety of mind, and this is worse to bear than a host of physical evils. Two thousand five hundred Fingoes remained with their families and cattle in the district of Kreli, who has certainly displayed great tact in avoiding all open collision with our dependents. Faku, it will be remembered, is the terrible Zoolah Chief, who spares neither women nor children, but who, with his tribe of warriors, drives all before him at the point of a short a.s.segai. With this weapon, these people close upon their enemy, and stab him. The Fingoes in Kreli's neighbourhood have been permitted to keep their ground and cattle; Kreli would not choose to meddle with them, because they are our allies, while Faku had probably some dread of the good musket in their hands, a weapon ill-suited to the Zoolah spear. Faku's tribe, it is said, resemble the Mantatees in their cannibal propensities, only indulged, however, after an unsuccessful foray in search of plunder, or provision. The Mantatees are a tribe farther north than the Zoolahs. It has been determined to march into Kreli's Country, in consequence of the discovery, that Kreli has been the receiver-general of the enemy's plunder. The 27th have been ordered from the head-quarter division at Fort Hare, to join Colonel Somerset--Number 2 division--and advance towards the Kei.

Whether they will cross it, appears very uncertain. It is perfectly well-known now, that, besides the Gaikas, Pato, Umhala, Sonto, Seyolo, etc, have made Kreli's Country their depot for stolen colonial cattle.

"Sutu, the mother of Sandilla, has made her appearance at Fort Hare, wis.h.i.+ng to surrender herself, and to make intercession for her son. To this latter request, the General has replied, he does not war with women, and can enter into no negotiations with them. Sutu is an aged woman, of a size that would befit the wife of a Daniel Lambert. She is very infirm, and would have gladly have given herself up long ago, but was not permitted by Sandilla to have any communication with the English authorities. This young Gaika tyrant was once on the point of roasting his mother alive! and she was only saved from this fearful doom by British interference.

"Colonel Somerset has made two successful forays across the Keiskama; and, besides re-capturing some fine colonial cattle, has brought the I'Slambies to implore for peace. After the first expedition, Umhala, Nonnebe, and Seyolo presented themselves with their abject and deceptive protestations at his camp on the Chalmuna river.

"In the second expedition, from which he returned not many days ago, four hundred head of cattle were taken, and the notorious Chief, Pato, narrowly escaped falling into the hands of the troops, but concealed himself in a cave. He has since sent in to beg that he may give himself up, if permitted to do so. The Government will be puzzled how to act towards him; he has been our most treacherous, troublesome, and determined enemy.

"In the first foray two of the Cape Corps were killed, through their own imprudence. They stopped to drink milk in a Kaffir hut, where there were some women. The latter slipped away, and gave warning to some men concealed in a kloof near the kraal, who, on learning that but two were to be opposed, came upon them at once, and murdered them both. One poor Hottentot, in his dying moments, brought down his Kaffir foe.

"In the second expedition, on the 24th and 25th November, the Rifle Brigade proved a most efficient force.

"On the 17th December, we learn that Sandilla has at last surrendered himself at Fort Hare, bringing in about forty head of cattle, and several muskets and carbines taken from the waggons at Burn's Hill, on the 17th of April, and giving up the two prisoners demanded by Colonel Hare in February and then refused. One was the axe-stealer; the other the murderer of the Hottentot. They were lodged in gaol. Another prisoner, who accompanied them, died the night he entered his prison; and, some time afterwards, the Kaffirs, affecting to suspect poison, requested permission to examine the body, which was accordingly exhumed; but was too much decomposed to allow of the forming any opinion on the subject."

Note 1. Another soldier of the 91st met with a cruel death at the hands of the savages. Being too much exhausted to ascend the Amatolas, he sat down by the way side. At night, when the roll was called, poor Ewell was missing. The Kaffirs admit, too, that they took him through the bush to a spot where some of their Chiefs were a.s.sembled with many warriors. Here they tied their victim to a stake, and literally flayed him alive; the little children being permitted to a.s.sist in tormenting him. Oh, "pastoral and peaceful people!" The Kaffirs said that they imagined the grenadiers of the 91st could not be killed, as the b.a.l.l.s appeared to glance harmlessly past them. Mr Cochrane, however, was wounded three times on the last day in the Amatolas.

PART TWO, CHAPTER ELEVEN.

APPOINTMENT OF SIR HENRY POTTINGER.

The expedition across the Kei was still the theme of expectation during the month of December, 1846. Sir Andries Stockenstrom's command of the Burgher Forces had been deputed to Captain Sutton, Cape Mounted Rifles, who was to proceed across the Kei in the intended foray.

At this time I wrote in my journal, "This is certainly an extraordinary warfare. The enemy are coming into our camps eighty at a time, enrolling themselves as British subjects, and obtaining cattle, which they a.s.sert to be their own, and even horses; while we are marching troops into Kaffirland, seizing plunder and meeting with little open resistance, but running the chance of being murdered, as the Cape Corps soldiers, were, in the hut. It is certainly very difficult to understand.

"The attention of the public has been lately called to an article in the Leeds Mercury, a.s.serting that 'the present war has been forced upon the British Government by the settlers.' Now, this a.s.sertion of a 'correspondent of undoubted veracity,' that 'the colonists have tormented the Governor into this war,' and that they 'thirst for Kaffir blood,' is vicious in its purpose, and utterly opposed to truth. The colonists have lived in alarm and uncertainty for ten years. Waste of time and property have never been considered, and many lives have been sacrificed on both sides in consequence of the aggressions of the border tribes on the unprotected farmers! No other nation than England would have permitted her settlers to bear the insults and depredations suffered by British emigrants at the hands of these heathen robbers, who have been permitted to arm themselves and to make every preparation for war during a period of three years, and this in the ceded territory between Kaffirland and the colony. Those who a.s.sert that the present Kaffir war has not been forced upon the British Government by the Kaffirs, are the enemies of their countrymen, and no friends to the heathen. We have too long attempted to civilise him by indulgent measures, and have not even established such laws for the security of the industrious settlers against the aggressions of these barbarous thieves, as would be considered necessary defences against any civilised Christian neighbours, whose characters and customs are opposed to our own. Sir Peregrine Maitland is the last man to allow 'a people thirsting for blood' to torment him into 'deeds of violence;' and, had not the colonists an implicit reliance on his justice, they might fear, from the present aspect of affairs, that his humanity might cause him to relax in his demands on the Kaffirs for compensation for cattle. They are at present, indeed, subdued by terror at the sight of our reinforcements, but are far from being humbled, or convinced: their humility is feigned, their apparent conviction and submission are exhibited in the sulkiest moods. I much doubt their system of non-resistance lasting beyond the season for gathering in their corn.

However, as Talleyrand said of the Bourbons' return, 'C'est le commencement de la fin.' Matters now must be brought to a close, not speedily, and perhaps not satisfactorily. Already the colonists say, 'We shall have another war ten years hence.' The military hoping to leave the Colony, rejoice in the prospect of home; those lately come out wear rueful countenances,--visions of solitary outposts, of commandos, of no society, of continued discomfort, disgust the young soldiers just arrived, and promise no good will in the performance of their duties.

"At Fort Hare, they are endeavouring to drive away ennui by hack races, or any kind of amus.e.m.e.nt which easily presents itself. The listlessness of a camp life is too often complained of to need comment. In this Colony it is worse than ever, since books are obtained with difficulty, And the heat and glare render the tent habitations very trying to the patience as well as to the const.i.tution. The sight especially suffers, and several officers and men have been rendered incapable of duty from inflammation of the eyes.

"Macomo's eldest daughter is the belle of the camp; she is one of nature's coquettes, and att.i.tudinises, exhibits her teeth, affects bashfulness, or mirth, as suits the taste of her admirers, and is as great an adept in the art of mute flirtation as any beauty at Almack's, or Ascot.

"December 6th.--We hear that Umhala has come into Colonel Somerset's camp, offering to give us three hundred head of cattle, and bring with him two hundred and fifty of his people, tendering his submission to Captain Maclean, late 27th Regiment, and now the Agent between the British Government and the I'Slambie tribes. His adhesion is accepted on the understanding that he can never be recognised as a chief, but merely as a Kaffir; that the British are not anxious for peace, unless arranged satisfactorily and honourably, that if he wishes for war he had better avow it honestly than propose terms which he may intend to violate, and that he had better now make his decision without duplicity.

In reply to this, Umhala remarked that 'the war had lasted too long, since the corps of the Kaffirs were suffering in consequence of the delay.' Very cool! 'His arms and those of his people had been left on the plains of the Gw.a.n.ga! He had but two alternatives. One was to place himself at the Governor's disposal, the other to be dependent on Kreli. He found he could depend upon the honour of the Britis.h.!.+ whereas he could not place confidence in any Chief of his own land!' etc.

"After he and his people had been duly registered, they all moved over the Buffalo, and are to remain there until matters shall be more definitively settled.

"Umhala's alternatives remind one of the choice of David, who preferred 'falling into the hands of G.o.d rather than men.' The cunning Kaffir knows that, by submitting to the British authorities, he yields to the humane influences of Christianity, whereas by giving himself and his people up to Kreli's tender mercies they would, to use Umhala's terms, 'become the slaves (Fingoes) of the Amagalekas,' or as some call them, the Ama Hintza tribe. The terrible Zoolahs also would a.s.sail them.

"The position of the Fingoes for many years, under their hard taskmasters the Kaffirs, reminds one forcibly of the Israelites under the Egyptians. Sir James Alexander, in his sketches, gives an animate description of the redemption of these unhappy slaves from their miserable bondage by Sir Benjamin D'Urban." [Note 1.]

"There is a report, from very tolerable authority, that Pato has come in contact with Kreli, and that both are disputing about the cattle. It is not unlikely that Kreli has coaxed, or at least tacitly encouraged Pato into his country, with a promise of protection after pa.s.sing over the Kei. Kreli may even make a merit of giving up the treacherous Pato.

These, however, are merely my own surmises. One thing must be apparent to every one who has the honour of our country at heart--Pato should never be admitted to terms by our Government; he should be hunted from our borders, and made to take his chance among the other tribes eastward of the Colony. To enrol him as a British subject would be a disgrace to the name of one.

"I must not forget to mention that on Umhala's leaving the camp, after registering his name, it was ascertained that he and his people had abstracted several of the trek oxen belonging to the Government! What honourable subjects are these!

"The Rifle Brigade has been found a most efficient force on the frontier of South Africa; one hundred of them are to be mounted. The General finds it expedient to dispense with the Burgher forces, who will be permitted to return to their homes in February. The corps of liberated Africans, who have been chiefly employed on escort duty, have been asked if any of them will volunteer for the Cape Corps, but not even the promise of a horse and the appointments of a soldier, will tempt them to enlist. Some say, they would not mind returning to the frontier to serve, after having seen their families near Cape Town, but they object to the green jacket. Scarlet would be a greater temptation. These poor redeemed slaves display their joy at the prospect of a release from service, in dancing and singing. Unlike the war-dances of the Kaffirs and the Fingoes, theirs are slow and quiet, and regulated in their time by a small drum, or tom-tom, and another curious instrument of wood and wire, a rude imitation of the lute; indescribable, however, in appearance and sound, but requiring to be regularly tuned before using, like any other stringed instrument. While they move, or rather slide along the ground within a circle, they sing a monotonous air, containing only three or four notes.

"When I touched on the subject of the burial of a Malay some time since, I did not mention the custom of turning the face of a corpse towards Mecca, the Malays being strict Mahommedans. I should not have thought, perhaps, of inquiring about it, but that the question was asked me. I learn that the Malays are scrupulous with regard to this, regulating the arrangement by a compa.s.s, and making a strict allowance for the variation.

"One peculiarity of Africa has been singularly striking, during the continuance of this wretched war. I allude to the variety, consequently presented, of the coloured tribes. First, comes the stalwart Kaffir, with his powerful form and air of calm dignity, beneath which is concealed the deepest cunning, the meanest principles. Some call the Kaffir brave; he is a liar, a thief, and a beggar, ready only to fight in ambush; and although, to use the common expression, he 'dies game,'

his calmness is the result of sullenness. Are such qualities consistent with bravery of character? Next to the Kaffir ranks the Fingo, differing from the Kaffir much as the Irish do from the English, being more mercurial, and less methodical. After these, may be named the Kat River Hottentots and the Griquas, half-castes between Dutch and English.

The Hottentots, whom I have already described, are little appreciated, or even known in other countries. This war has proved that they make the most efficient soldiers for the service in which they have been engaged. The little stunted Bushmen, too, the real aborigines of the land, have a.s.sisted us with their poisoned arrows, and are a keen-witted race. Their talent for mimicry is well-known, a proof of their quickness of observation. The Malay may be considered naturalised in the Cape Town districts. The Africanders, a caste between the Malays and Europeans, with apparently a dash of Indian blood among them, are a remarkably handsome race; the women would make fine studies for Murillo's beauties. Their hair is their chief ornament, and is of the deepest black. They take great pains in arranging it and twist it up quite cla.s.sically at the back of the head, fastening the s.h.i.+ning ma.s.s of jet with a gilt arrow, or a miniature spear.

"The Zoolahs, or Zooluhs, I have already spoken of. These are to the east, beginning some way beyond Kreli's Country, and reaching to Natal Their great chief, Panda, is in constant communication with that dependency.

"Finally, we may name the West Coast Negroes, the liberated Africans, who have been trained, in a short s.p.a.ce of time, into tolerable discipline. They have lately been brought to the Cape from Saint Helena, the latter place having been established as a depot for these poor creatures, when rescued from their sea-prison by our vessels-of-war off the coast. None of them are ever willing to return to their own country, where they are liable to be seized, and made objects of traffic between their own people and the European slave-dealers.

"December 28.--As I write, this eventful year is closing in. The curtain is gradually falling on the scenes of the last nine months."

"It is thought that this expedition over the Kei will be the last, and perhaps Kreli may make a merit of necessity, and give up Pato and his plunder. This latter, however, is only my own idea. Colonel Somerset, will follow up the enemy, as far as he is permitted to do so. At this period, while Kreli's people are only waiting to reap their corn, it seems to me that it would have a good effect, to threaten the Chief with a march through his country in search of cattle, unless he exerts himself to restore what we know is either there, or has pa.s.sed through it.

"The resources of the colony are open. We have troops, supplies, and some fresh horses. The Graham's Town Journal of the 19th of December, has some remarks on the efficacy of sending a vessel to the mouth of the Umzimvooboo, in Amapondaland. 'In one month,' says the writer of this article, 'the British flag may be floating at the mouth of the Umzimvooboo.'

"This river lies about midway between Graham's Town and Port Natal, being, rather nearer to the latter place.

"While Colonel Somerset's division is in preparation for another forward movement, the Government Agents are busy in registering black British subjects. The Kaffirs see that it is to their interest to make peace for the present. They will apparently submit to any terms we may dictate, but no matter what promises they may make, or what guarantee for future good behaviour they may give, their promises are written upon sand, and their bond is insecure, because void of all honour. Thieves and liars they will remain, until some system is established to overcome their heathen customs, and subdue their vicious natures. Whether the proposed system be available for these purposes, can only be judged of by the result.

"Sir John Malcolm, in his 'Central India,' says there is no other way of converting heathens than by beginning with children; the prejudices of the old ones are too strong to be eradicated. Sir James Alexander makes a remark to the same effect, and in no country can there be greater proof of it than in this.

"I yesterday happened to open 'The Report of the Directors to the fifty-first General Meeting of the London Missionary Society, on the 15th of May, 1845,' and in a notice from King William's Town, find these words in conclusion: 'Jan Tzatzoe and the other native a.s.sistant have made extensive journeys through the year, for the purpose of diffusing the name of Christ and the knowledge of his salvation.' My first impulse was to laugh, knowing that Jan Tzatzoe, the propagator of Christianity in 1845, has been foremost in the mischief of 1846; but it is melancholy to think how we have been imposed upon. The very writer of the report probably considered Jan Tzatzoe in earnest. It is hard to accuse others of deliberate mis-statements, unless their motives are fully proved. Jan Tzatzoe has also had the advantage of religious instruction in England, having been exhibited there as a Christian Kaffir a few years ago!

"December 29th.--Intelligence has been received from Colonel Somerset's division, which is moving along the sea-coast. He has captured two hundred and sixty head of cattle from the I'Slambies. Sir Peregrine Maitland had come up with the second division, and would cross the Kei at Warden's Post on the 21st of December. Colonel Somerset would proceed by the mouth of the Kei, and the two divisions would meet at b.u.t.terworth, the missionary station between the river and Kreli's kraal.

The whole country is said to be teeming with cattle. There have been some encounters between the Burgher patrols and the cattle-stealers, and a Hottentot Burgher was shot last week at Kaffir drift.

"More mule-waggons have pa.s.sed up the hills to-day, with provisions for the troops. How invaluable would be the camel in this country! Some object to the use of it, in consequence of the moist state of the country after severe rains; but the slow-moving oxen, with the heavy waggons, are often detained for weeks. The camel, by its swift pace and its strength for burden, would soon make up for time lost by casualties.

The latter animal, too, would always thrive on the food from the bush, and would have less need of water than the ox. I heard an officer of well-known intelligence and keen observation remark how useful elephants might be made in such warfare; the bush would afford them provision, and a howdah, filled with armed men, and placed on an elephant's back, would make a splendid portable battery for the low jungle of Africa.

"The troops cross the various rivers in boats, which they carry with them. There must be something very imposing in the sight of an armed force, varying in numbers from two to four thousand men, moving along these vast wilds by moonlight; but choosing such paths as shall screen them from the spies, who lie in wait to bear intelligence back to the enemy, and give warning of the approach. In these wilds will be found much grander scenery than in the colonial districts. Here the gra.s.s is richer, the trees are of a superior height, the rivers clearer, the mountain slopes more abundantly clothed, sometimes with vast forests, and the valleys are more fertile. Here the Hottentots, Kaffirs, and Fingoes dwell amid the finest pasturage, and in the most healthy part of the country.

"December 31st.--New Year's Eve! Home! Home! Where are the happy faces I have seen gathered round the cheerful hearth long years ago?