CHAPTER IV. ADVANCE INTO KAFFIRLAND--ATTACK ON THE AMATOLAS--FORT BEAUFORT--CAMP ON THE KOONAP RIVER.

Early on the morning of the 24th June, tents were once more struck, baggage packed, and the long train of waggons stood ready inspanned.

The General, with his Staff, appeared on the ground, where the whole division, amounting to 2000 men, artillery, cavalry, infantry and irregulars, stood drawn up in column; the advance and rear guards were formed; and we moved off to the inspiriting air of "Hieland Laddie," from the 74th band, which accompanied us, at the head of the column, for about a mile; when, halting by the road side (as it had to remain at Fort Hare,) the quickstep changed into the farewell melody of "Auld lang syne," as the long waving line of hardy sun-burnt troops marched steadily past in column of sections; not ceasing till all were hidden from sight in the cloud of dust that floated along the side of the hill called "Sandilli's Kop." The pipers then struck up "Over the Border," and played us across the frontier, into Kaffirland, through the whole of which the "pipes" afterwards accompanied us, inspiriting the men on many a long and weary march, and enlivening our camps with the familiar strains of the "auld country."

Our way lay through level grassy plains along the base of the Little Amatolas, whose sloping verdant sides were beautifully relieved by fine bold crags and perpendicular krantzes, or cliffs, of grey basaltic rock, and varied by deep belts of wood, marking the course of some invisible mountain stream. On these plains, the advance cavalry patrol, about a quarter of a mile ahead, fell in with some Kaffirs, with whom we saw them exchanging shots among the scattered bushes; and being ignorant of their numbers, began to feel excited, as a troop of horse, detached from the main body, gallopped forward to reconnoitre, or render assistance if needed. It proved to be a marauding party who had been surprised returning with stolen cattle, to one of their villages which we saw a little way up the side of the mountain, and on coming up we found they had recaptured forty head of cattle, and killed three Kaffirs. The corpse of one lay close to the track, his hand still clutching a bundle of assegais. A mounted party was sent to set fire to the village, where they found only a Gaika woman; the rest of the inhabitants having fled to the fastnesses above on the first alarm of our approach. Hundreds of Kaffirs were moving along the summit of the lofty heights on the right, watching our movements below; their figures appearing like specks against the clear blue sky.

A few miles more brought us at last to a halt on the Amatola Flats; where, after a continued march of above 250 miles, we pitched tents by the banks of the Quesana River, at the foot of the Great Amatolas. The sun sank behind the purple mountains in a flood of crimson; and as the darkness gathered around, and troops of wolves and jackals commenced their nightly howling, the flames of the burning village grew brighter and more distinct on the dark hill side. The heat of the day was succeeded, as usual, by a cold sharp air, and the cheerful camp-fires were quickly surrounded by men and officers; some in blanket-coats and pea-jackets, squatting cross-legged around a steaming camp-kettle; others in the midst of culinary cares, chopping wood, replenishing the fire, or lifting the pot lid to taste the soup; while those who had already dined, were enjoying their pipes. Our evenings in camp were occasionally varied, either by a round of large parties, when each guest invited brought with him his own "tin-tot," knife, spoon, and biscuit; or by musical soirÉes in our tents; where, with a guttering tallow candle fixed in the socket of a bayonet stuck in the ground, we sipped thick coffee and sang duets and solos with very loud choruses till a late hour, and generally with more satisfaction to ourselves than our neighbours.

The following forenoon several Kaffirs were killed in a skirmish with the Cape Corps, and their huts burnt and destroyed. The expected order was issued for the attack next day, and the division directed to be under arms at five o'clock in the morning, "to turn out without bugle sound, or any noise whatever." A camp-guard of 300 men was to be left behind under a captain; and, lastly, all lights and fires in the camp were ordered to be extinguished at seven o'clock. Till then we sat discussing the anticipated attack, when the curfew put an end to our councils, we groped our way to the dark tents, and lay down to rest in our clothes.

It was still quite dark when my servant shook me by the shoulder, and with some difficulty succeeded in making me comprehend that the troops were already "falling in," and that he wanted to pack up the blanket and plaid on which I lay. Accordingly I jumped up, and after loading the pack-horse with three days' rations, patrol-tent, kettles, and other requisites for the bivouac, we made our way, stumbling along in the dark, over tent-ropes and picketing pegs, to the parade-ground, where the first brigade was rapidly assembling. The motionless ranks were inspected as far as the imperfect light allowed, and all in silence; and at five o'clock precisely, the General having arrived on the ground, the word of command was passed on sotto voce, and we moved noiselessly away to the foot of the mountains, commencing the ascent of the Western Amatolas by the pass in front of our encampment, reaching the summit just at day-break.

Here we were halted in line along the ridge, while General Somerset proceeded with a detachment of the Cape Corps to reconnoitre the position of the enemy on the Victoria heights on our right flank. On reaching the southern point of the range his party was sharply attacked, and a brisk skirmish maintained for a time on both sides. Moving forward a column of two companies of the 91st, and three of European and native Levies, under command of Lieut.-Col. Sutton, the General returned to our brigade to direct the movements of the main attack.

We saw the smoke of the enemy's fires curling slowly up from the dark bush, on a steppe or lower ridge of the elevated range in front, and on the opposite side of a lovely valley which lay at our very feet, carpeted with the smoothest and greenest grass, and dotted with mimosa, protÉa, and clumps of tangled bush. On our left towered the lofty peak of the Hogsback, the highest point of the whole chain; and below it lay a finely wooded deep ravine, down the centre of which foamed a milk-white cataract, the dark forest stretching away on either side, and filling the kloof.

In a few moments an aid-de-camp rode up with instructions for our brigade to move forward and descend into the valley below; the cavalry and pack-horses making a detour of about a mile to our left, to a point where the descent was somewhat less precipitous. After scrambling down to the bottom, we formed "column of sub-divisions," and moved across the valley, perceiving as we neared the lofty bridge opposite several hundreds of the enemy gathering on its summit, their arms flashing and glittering along the edge of the cliff in the morning sun. There was only one point at which this apparently impregnable position was accessible, and that was by a long steep exposed grassy ridge, destitute of all cover, and completely commanded from the top by a perfect fortification of huge detached rocks, behind which we could perceive the enemy strongly posted and quietly waiting our attack, confident in the security of their position. Up this formidable ascent, bare and slippery as the roof of a house, the 74th were ordered to advance and storm the natural citadel at its summit. In the meantime heavy firing, about a mile distant on our right, announced that Col. Sutton's column was engaged with the enemy in that direction; while the different corps of native Levies were moved round to our right and left flanks, those on the left skirmishing through the bush and setting fire to a number of Kaffir huts. Pushing rapidly on to the point of attack, we waded the river, and commenced the arduous ascent, up which, in spite of a burning sun, the men mounted like true Highlanders. To our surprise the enemy allowed us to come considerably within range, and we were beginning to imagine the position was abandoned, when suddenly they opened fire upon us from the shelter of the crags, sweeping every inch of the smooth approach, themselves invisible, the tops only of their black heads peeping over the rocks as they took aim, and disappearing again as instantaneously as the flash of their guns. Showers of balls whistled past us, with the peculiar ping, whit, so well known to those who have been under fire; as we mounted, we returned their fire with steady well-directed volleys every time their heads were seen above the parapet of rocks, and deployed into line under a rattling fire, and the fight begun in earnest. A private fell shot in the foot. For a quarter of an hour there was an incessant roar of musketry and whistling of bullets. As we neared the top, scrambling with hands and knees up the crags, which were now discovered to be of enormous size, and in places insurmountable; the fire became hotter, the balls striking the ground and sending the earth and gravel flying in our faces. One man fell shot through the arm and side; I passed another sitting on the ground wounded in several places, and two more awaiting the surgeon's aid; one with a shattered hand and the other a wound in the head, his face deluged with blood. Lieutenant Bruce received a shot in the arm, and a sixth man fell badly wounded in the leg.

The men's mess-tins and folded coats were grazed and torn on every side, and their firelocks shattered in their hands; in one or two instances the barrels were perforated as though they had been soft lead.

Under this fire we sent out two companies in skirmishing order, and climbing from rock to rock, exchanging shots with the enemy at close quarters, crowned the ridge with a cheer, and carried the position, driving off the defenders, who took refuge in a dense forest a few hundred yards in the rear. We now stood in their fortress, which was scattered with remains of roasted marrow bones and torn cartridge covers, the rocks stained with fresh blood. We were astonished at the strength of the position, which might have been held by a hundred regular troops against such a force as ours, with great loss to the assailants. Towards this forest (of fine timber, the first we had seen in the country), we quickly advanced across the intervening belt of turf-covered table-land. Here again they had the advantage of position; for unseen themselves, they opened a severe fire on us, killing one of our non-commissioned officers at the first volley, the ball passing right through his heart. Our Colonel and the Major very narrowly escaped, a bullet cutting through the clothes of the former by the waist; while the Major's haversac was shot through. Two more men fell wounded, and another, shot through the brain, dropped dead without a groan. The word forward was given by our gallant Colonel, who himself set the example, and we dashed into the wood under a rattling fire, and gave them another volley, which must have told severely; for though they always carry off their dead and wounded to prevent their casualties being known, we found as we advanced the bodies of five lying dead in one place, and twelve in another; and as we plunged after them into the tangled forest, the blood-spoor showed where others had fallen. The change was so great from the glare of the sunshine to the gloom of the forest, its thick foliage overhead interwoven with baboon-ropes and creepers, that we could hardly distinguish our enemies as they darted swiftly from cover to cover. Five rebel Hottentots were killed in a hole or pit half-hidden by bush. Another of our men was shot dead by a Kaffir perched in the thick branches of a lofty tree, from which he was brought down, riddled with balls, the body tumbling with a crash into the thicket beneath. A cluster of Kaffir and "hartebeest" or Hottentot huts (the former shaped like a huge bee-hive, the latter like a patrol-tent) was set fire to, without its being known, till half consumed, that they contained a number of wounded Kaffirs.

We continued skirmishing as they retired before us, dodging from tree to rock, and from rock to bush, taking advantage of every cover to give us a shot, while we kept up an incessant "independent-file-firing," as they retreated, step by step, till lost in thickets, impervious to anything but wild beasts or Kaffirs. Having driven them into their inaccessible retreats among the extensive forests clothing the higher steppes of the mountain, and inflicted a considerable loss upon them, we skirmished through a belt of wood on our right, and after completely scouring it debouched on an open, where we halted in column, and for the first time for nine hours sat down to rest our weary limbs. Here we assisted the surgeon in performing different operations on the wounded, whose cries for water were so constant, that our canteens were soon left without a drop to moisten our own lips, parched and blistered by the sun.

It was now two o'clock, and as not one of us had yet broken his fast, it may easily be imagined with what appetite we gnawed at our black biscuit. While thus engaged the enemy was observed stealing out, one by one, from the forest, and collecting on the open table-land, where our gallant fellows lay dead; and to our indignation we saw them, through the telescope, stripping the bodies, without our being able to prevent it, a deep gorge separating us; a few well-directed conical balls, from heavy metalled rifles by Egg and Purday, dispersed them at a distance of three-quarters of a mile; one was seen to fall. The party were rebel Hottentots (Cape Corps deserters), and Kaffirs, the latter perfectly naked, and armed with guns and assegais; two or three we could distinguish wearing the kaross, with head-dresses of feathers, from which fact, and their being the centre of divers knots, we concluded they were chiefs and headmen, holding councils of war.

We were joined here by the General and the rest of the forces, including Colonel Sutton's column, which had successfully attacked the enemy on the Victoria Heights, driving them from their position, and killing twenty, but with a loss of three men killed and five wounded (two of them mortally), and had burnt and destroyed two of their villages, which we saw blazing away fiercely, and sending up volumes of smoke on the Little Amatola across the valley. During our brief rest the rebels sent a messenger of truce to say they wished to surrender. Lieut.-Col. Sutton, riding out by desire of the General, held a parley with about fifty or sixty of them at the edge of the wood. They stated that they wished to leave their Kaffir allies, and requested a week to collect their own people, when they would give themselves up. But, as the General, of course, insisted on immediate surrender, and granted only half an hour instead of a week, they quickly disappeared into the forest, their object having evidently been only to gain time.

Observing the enemy again assembling on their former ground, the General ordered the 74th to return through the forest once more. As we worked our difficult way through the underwood, taking care not to lose sight of our right and left files, we kept a sharp look out every step of our way; for each thicket, hollow trunk, or jackal's hole, tuft of grass, or lofty tree, may conceal the stealthy Kaffir when least expected; in an instant the silent forest is suddenly peopled with a legion of naked savages, springing, as it were, out of the earth, with a deadly volley from their unsuspected ambuscade.

We passed the dead body of one of our men stripped naked, lying in the jungle with a ghastly wound in his chest; but having orders to advance through the belt, and join the column on the other side, it was impossible to stop to bury or remove it. When the column came up, a grave was dug for the other men; and the Colonel, on my reporting having seen the body, sent me back with half a dozen men to bring it in. We had, therefore, to retrace our steps about a quarter of a mile through the forest, at the edge of which a guard was placed to render us assistance if attacked. The magnificent trees, and the fallen trunks in various stages of decay, overgrown with creepers, or green with moss, forcibly reminded one of the backwoods of Canada. We proceeded in perfect silence, with arms ready at a moment's warning, and again came up to the body. The stems of two or three young trees, picked up by the way, and tied together by wild vine, served as a stretcher, on which we bore the body back, and without interruption, nearly to the edge of the wood. As we stopped at this point to change bearers, a sound like the sharp crack of a dry stick was heard; but as we could see no one, and a dead silence reigned around, we resumed our burden, from whose reopened wound a pool of blood had flowed where it had rested. We had just gained the open ground, when suddenly along the face of the wood there blazed a sharp fire of musketry, and the enemy sprang from every bush; our comrades of the extended company at the same moment briskly returning their fire. The balls again whistled past us, lodging in the trees with a sharp thud, or ploughing up the ground. One of our men was severely wounded in the knee, and died afterwards while undergoing amputation; the rest plunged into the forest in pursuit of the enemy, who left seven dead on the ground, carrying off many more dead and wounded. This interruption passed, we proceeded with the corpse to the grave, which the men had dug in the soft soil with their hands, billhooks, and bayonets, where we buried it with the two other bodies of the poor fellows who had fallen; and, having filled up the grave, carefully sprinkled it with dead leaves and sticks, a precaution which, as we afterwards learned from a Kaffir prisoner, was of no avail, for the crafty wretches soon found the spot, and dragging the bodies out, exposed them, as they said white men ought to be, "to the sun and the vulture."

We learned that whilst we were returning with the dead body an armed party of Hottentots came up, and sat down with Lieut. Gordon, who was posted with the company extended along the edge of the forest, and asked for bread and tobacco, stating themselves to belong to one of our native Levies, at that time at no great distance, and whom they strongly resembled in dress. Among them was a man in the Cape Corps uniform, who, when questioned as to his being on foot and in the bush, said he belonged to "troop A, Captain C——'s" and had, with several others, been ordered to dismount, and skirmish with the Levies, their horses being done up. Strongly suspecting they were rebels, but not liking to act on mere suspicion, Gordon went to request the Colonel to see them; but the moment the rascals saw them approaching the spot where they sat talking to our men, they jumped to their feet, and just as the Colonel shouted, "Shoot them down," fired a random volley, followed so instantaneously by the fire of the company that the two appeared as one report, three of the rebels falling on the spot, beside those killed and wounded at the moment we emerged from the wood.

Simultaneously with the above attack, a combined movement was effected by the 2nd division, under Colonel Mackinnon, which was separated into two columns; the first, under his own immediate command, moving from the Quilliquilli along the left bank of the Keiskamma; and the second, under Lieut.-Col. Michell, proceeding to the Keiskamma Hoek. In conjunction with the operations of the two main divisions, the troops from the garrison of Fort Cox, under the command of Lieut.-Col. Cooper, harassed the enemy in the valleys of the Keiskamma, thus "penetrating the mountains in four columns, converging to a common centre upon the principal strongholds of the enemy." A large native force, under Captain Tylden, R.E., was also placed in position on the Windogelberg, in order to prevent them making for the country beyond the Kei.

It was now near dusk, and having been out since five in the morning we were not sorry to hear the order to return to camp. As we descended the steep pass, stormed in the morning, the lines of camp-fires were seen blazing cheerfully on the darkening plain below, where the rest of the division was already bivouacked. Having again forded the river, on approaching the lines, the officers and men of the 91st came out to meet us. They had got fires lighted, and wood and water ready for our wearied men, and helping to carry in our wounded, shared their coffee with us. Whilst sitting round the fires we talked over the stirring events of the day, lamenting the fate of the brave fellows who had marched out with us that morning in as high health and spirits as ourselves, and now lay in their lonely graves on the heights above.

Shortly after nightfall it was discovered that there was no water left in camp, and, being the orderly officer, I was sent with an armed party to bring a supply from the river, about a quarter of a mile from the sentries, and (being thickly skirted with bush) a very likely ambuscade for Kaffirs, who have a taste for lurking round camps at night. We left the lines quietly, made our way across the dark plain, and soon reached the river, which we heard, rather than saw, rushing along between its shady banks. The water-party filled their load of canteens without interruption, but the return to camp, which on this side was occupied by the Levies, was rather a hazardous affair, for the Fingoes have a stupid way of firing first and challenging afterwards. As a precautionary measure, therefore, before he could see our approach, we commenced shouting "Friend!" to the sentry who had passed us out, and also been specially warned of our return; a bright flash was the immediate answer, and a ball whizzed close over our heads: down we all went flat on our faces, shouting "Friend!" more lustily than before, as a second shot was fired at us; the stir and jabber among the rest of the Fingoes, which also prevented our being heard, promised a general sortie, in which case we should be shot or assegaied to a moral, so we took advantage of the sentry's reloading to jump to our feet, and make a dash for it; to their great astonishment, rushing almost into their arms, shouting "Friend, friend, you scoundrels, friend!"

The wounded, who lay groaning all night by a fire on the open field, suffered acutely from the cold; their distressing cries, together with the unusual hardness of the ground, kept us awake a great part of the night.

We afterwards learned that the enemy's loss was considerably greater than we had imagined, several Chiefs were amongst the slain; Beta, and Pitoi Son-of-Vongya, two of great note. Sandilli, who was present, and directing the movements of his men, was very nearly taken prisoner, escaping only by creeping on his hands and knees through the thickest part of the bush.

The morning after the fight rose dull and misty, and the top of the mountain range was hidden by white fleecy clouds that rolled half-way down. Not long after daylight a Gaika woman, with a child tied on her back, approached the camp, and coolly walked about among the tents and fires, looking for anything she could appropriate.

The Kaffirs were heard on the heights, every word distinctly audible, shouting to us, "Nina Ez'innqulo! yinina ukuba niyalusa pzu kwentaba enje izinqulala?" (Halloa, you Tortoises! why do you keep us up here in the cold?) They distinguished the 74th by this soubriquet, on account of a fancied resemblance between the regimental tartan, and the chequered tortoises that abound on their plains; it afterwards became general among all the other tribes, and was not unfrequently used by our own people.

After sending off our wounded in waggons, under a cavalry escort, to the standing camp at Quesana, we again ascended the same range, though at another point, and by three different routes; the 91st and native Levies by a pass about a mile to our right; the cavalry by another, at some distance on our left; ours, in the centre, though a somewhat shorter course, was by far the steepest and most trying. The men, loaded with their rations, blankets, great coats, firelocks, and sixty rounds of ball cartridge, were so fatigued under the overpowering heat of the noonday sun, that the whole column constantly halted, literally unable to move for the moment. During our ascent, the enemy showed in small bodies on several points, but did not attempt in any way to oppose us; and all three columns met on the table land above, without having fired a shot. After marching about seven miles further, without seeing anything of the enemy, we descended into the Zanooka valley, a beautiful green basin completely surrounded by a splendid amphitheatre of high wooded mountains. The Fingoes plundered a Kaffir village of considerable quantities of maize, discovered buried in large circular holes, neatly plastered over, in the floors of the huts, to which they afterwards set fire. Here we bivouacked, while General Somerset, taking with him the Cape Corps, and Hottentot and Fingoe Levies, proceeded along the head of the Liguey Stream; where, observing a party of the enemy posted in the forest intersecting the ridge of Mount Macdonald, he moved forward to attack them with the cavalry, and after a brisk skirmish and heavy firing on both sides, drove them back, and on the Levies coming up completely routed them. Descending into the valley of the Keiskamma, he returned, by a long circuit, to the bivouac, about dusk, when the enemy began to creep in nearer, and fire long shots at the groups gathered round the blazing fires. A few bullets dropped amongst us now and then; by one of which a Levy officer was shot in the leg, as he was drinking his coffee. At length, becoming bolder and more troublesome, a party of skirmishers was sent out to disperse them; and we sat watching the singular conflict, of which nothing was visible but the two long straggling broken lines of flashing musketry; one retiring as the other advanced up the dark mountain side. The beauty of the effect was heightened by the prolonged rolling of the reports echoing among the crags.

The whole column moved out of the basin shortly after sunrise, and ascended Mount Macdonald, reaching the summit at ten o'clock, where we halted; while the corps of Levies were detached into the valley of the Zanooka to intercept the enemy's cattle, the spoor of which was traced in that direction. Small parties of Kaffirs were observed at some distance descending by different paths, into the valley of the Keiskamma, and the bivouac we had just left was soon covered with their dusky figures. The view from this elevation was most beautiful, comprising the whole of the Zanooka valley with its dark and extensive forests, sheltered glens, and smooth grassy slopes, through which wound the Tsimuka, now roaring along, foaming among masses of red rock, then lost among the overhanging trees to appear again between smooth and verdant banks, dancing and glittering in the dazzling sunshine.

The standing camp of the 2nd Division was clearly visible on a large plain about ten miles off: the troops were patrolling in the wooded valleys between us, and in communication with the General.

After completely scouring the bush at our feet, the Levies passed down the valley, skirmishing with scattered parties of rebels, and setting fire to their huts; finally returning under cover of the Cape Corps, which occupied the heights above under the immediate command of the General, with three hundred and fifty head of cattle, which we escorted along the ridges to our former bivouac of the 26th in the Amatola valley; leaving two companies of the 91st regiment to cover the return of the Levies. This they effected leisurely and without molestation, till the top of the pass was gained, leading down to the plain on which we were already bivouacked; when, just as it was growing dusk, they were attacked in the rear by a few straggling Kaffirs, who, taking advantage of the bush which commanded the pass, opened a dropping fire upon them, severely wounding the Captain of the Levies in the arm, which was afterwards amputated. The 91st fired a volley into their cover, which silenced them for a few minutes; but the Levies, exasperated by the wounding of their officer, kept up an incessant roll of musketry in spite of our bugles; which, in front of the General's patrol-tent, sounded the "cease firing" for full ten minutes. As the darkness increased the combatants were gradually lost to sight, and the flashing of their muskets grew brighter, but less frequent, till they ceased altogether. The wounded man, Captain Melville, was shortly after borne into the camp on a stretcher by the Fingoes, and the weary 91st found their fires lighted by our men, who shared their supper, scanty as it was, with their exhausted companions.

At eight o'clock on Sunday morning, unwashed and unshaven, with tattered clothes and rusty arms, we marched for our standing camp on the Quesana; climbed the face of the intervening mountain, and crossing its ridge, saw the white tents spread on the plain below, which we gained in a couple of hours, and lost no time in realizing the longed-for luxuries of a bathe and a clean shirt.

The officers left behind, had got ready a large camp-kettle of coffee, round which, tin-tot in hand, we all squatted, from the Colonel downwards, and read the General's Despatch, and the honourable mention made of our exertions.

For three days the camp remained stationary, the General being absent at Fort Hare, and the troops awaiting commissariat supplies from thence. On the 2nd July, however, we were again in motion, ascending at day-break another part of the same range as before, for the purpose of clearing the eastern range of the Victoria Heights, and of again attacking the enemy's fastnesses in the forests at the southern point of the Hogsback.

After a tedious climb, we gained the top of the path, and looked down on the plain we had just left, where the pack-horses and mules, like pigmies, wound along towards the foot of the ascent. We halted for a couple of hours on the top of a lower ridge, extended in skirmishing order, lying down among the rocks and shrubs along the edge, looking down into the dense bush below, in which were numerous scattered kraals. From these, as the Fingoes crashing through the underwood were heard advancing through the cover, firing, yelling, and setting everything combustible in flames, the naked Kaffirs stealthily crept, unaware of the sharpshooters above.

In the meantime, a party of the 91st and European Levies attacked the forest stronghold at the southern point of the Hogsback, and thoroughly cleared it of the enemy, burnt their huts, and obliged the inhabitants to take refuge in the highest fastnesses of the lofty Chumie. Two large villages, which, from being of the same colour as the rocks among which they stood, had hitherto escaped our notice, now broke out in flames, sending up into the still air clouds of heavy white smoke, which were seen twenty miles off. The Fingoe and Hottentot Levies, who had been despatched down the valley of the Amatola, burning every kraal on their way, came on a lair, or hiding-place, from which we on the heights could now see the Kaffirs hastily escaping in an opposite direction, their chief, Oba, "son-of-Tyali," plainly discernible riding off amongst them, just as the patrol reached the place; so sudden and unexpected was the discovery and attack of this retreat, that everything was abandoned, and Tyali's wives and children, and those of Oba and other Kaffir grandees, were taken prisoners. A large quantity of karosses, arms, ornaments, and skins, were taken, also the chiefs head-dress of cranes' wings (the insignia of rank), with the full-dress jacket and cap presented to him by Sir H. Smith. The whole of the kraals were burnt to the ground. The captured women were marched through our ranks shortly afterwards, on their way to the General: their stately carriage and dignified step were most striking, as they moved haughtily along with the indescribable ease and grace of manner peculiar to both Kaffir and Fingo women. Having been examined and interrogated to little purpose by the General's interpreter, they were set at liberty, and wending their way back towards their kraal, now a heap of smoking ruins, descended the hill, and were soon lost to sight in the bush below.

The pasturage round our standing camp having become particularly scanty, we moved, the following morning, to the N'caga, or Yellow-Woods, three miles distant.

Just as we had pitched tents, the English mail arrived; and as the welcome news spread like wildfire, hurrying from all sides, we flocked towards the panting post-horses, and as the dusty leather bags were emptied on the grass, crowded eagerly round for the anxiously-expected letters, considerably bewildering the Camp-Sergeant-Major by our zealous assistance in sorting them. Those lucky enough to get letters from home retired to their tents, or to the shade of some tree beyond the bustling camp, to enjoy them—the disappointed vowing never to write home again. The escort with the mail had been attacked in the Ecca valley; the officer in charge (Ensign Gill, C.M.R.), having had his horse shot under him, one of his men killed, and two wounded.

We were permitted to rest in camp next day, though parties of Fingoes were out in all directions, burning and destroying the deserted Kaffir kraals. The whole afternoon they kept pouring into camp laden with their spoils; large quantities of amazimba, Kaffir corn,[8] ornaments, head-dresses, and every kind of Kaffir traps and toggery. Several women were also brought in prisoners, but sent about their business after an interview with the General's interpreter, much to the disappointment of their Fingoe captors, who, finding they were not to have the pleasure of putting them to death as they had anticipated, and highly incensed at their being allowed to return unharmed to their own people after the trouble they had been at in taking them, followed the liberated captives out of the camp, heaping on them every curse and abuse in the Kaffir vocabulary, and thrashing them with their keeries (long heavy sticks), which, however, was summarily put a stop to by us, as soon as noticed.

The part of the camp allotted to these most zealous allies presented a variety of novel and striking scenes. On all sides the eye encountered black fellows of stalwart frame, arraying themselves in the ornaments and insignia of despoiled Inkosi and Amapakati,[9] singing to themselves in a deep guttural chant, and dancing in a slow jerking step to some monotonous measure. In a wide clear space a ring of some three score of these athletic forms, blankets and karosses thrown aside, began a war-dance to the strange chorus of their deep voices, accompanied by regular tapping on a shield of ox-hide. The performers shook their gleaming assegais in the air, and jerked their supple frames to and fro, lifting their feet alternately, or jumping with both, as they sung, in perfect harmony, a wild air, swelling from a low organ-like hum to the full power of their lungs; hissing like serpents, and creeping with bent bodies round and round, and in and out, as if on the spoor of the enemy; then breaking out into cries and yells, stabbing furiously at the imaginary victim in their centre, and shaking their bodies backward and forward, from the knees upward, till the perspiration streamed from every pore. Each verse of the war-song, which was an improvised commemoration of their late achievements, was given by a single voice in a loud recitative, and then caught up by the whole in an astounding chorus,

In another quarter, round a large iron pot of boiled Kaffir corn, a knot of gormandizers were collected, throwing handful after handful of the swelled and steaming grain down their throats with a steady perseverance perfectly astonishing; while stretched around lay others, watching them with looks of mingled helplessness and envy, their own stomachs already gorged to the utmost limit.

A party of headmen and older warriors, seated cross-legged in their tents, ceremoniously smoked the dagha-pipe, a kind of hookah, made of a bullock's horn, its downward point filled with water, and a reed stem let into the side, surmounted by a rough bowl of stone, which is filled with the dahga, a species of hemp, very nearly, if not the same, as the Indian bang. Each individual in the circle receives it in turn, opens his jaws to their full extent, and placing his lips to the wide open mouth of the horn, takes a few pulls and passes it on. Retaining the last draught of smoke in his mouth, which he fills with a decoction of bark and water from a calabash, he squirts it on the ground by his side through a long ornamented tube in his left hand, performing thereon, by the aid of a reserved portion of the liquid, a sort of boatswain's whistle, complacently regarding the soap-like bubbles, the joint production of himself and neighbour. It appeared to be a sign of special friendliness and kindly feeling to squirt into the same hole.

For a few shillings and a little tobacco, we obtained a number of handsome ornaments taken from the huts of some of the members of the Gaika Royal Family, such as bracelets, karosses, &c., with the singular head-dresses, umnqwazi, made of otter skin and beautiful bead work, which are the insignia peculiar to female royalty in Kaffirland.

Next day we returned to Fort Hare, and encamped on the plain at some distance from the walls. Here we expected to have had a short rest after the incessant marching and countermarching of the last few days, as the morrow would be Sunday, but were doomed to be disappointed, for soon after sunrise tents were again struck, and as the early chapel bell tolled for first service, we marched through the straggling village of Alice, the clean Sunday dressed settlers wishing us "God-speed," and the young Fingoes, as usual, dancing round our Pipers in ecstasies of delight. The 91st were left behind to garrison the Fort.

After a hot and dusty march we halted at noon to rest the oxen, near the ruined and deserted settlement of Ely, one of the military villages destroyed by the enemy at the commencement of the war; the houses of wattle and daub still standing, though without doors or windows, appeared, from the numerous articles left in them, such as spades, axes, bayonets, assegais, bridles, and kettles, to have been most precipitately abandoned. A march of some miles further, and we encamped towards evening, about a mile from Fort Beaufort, within sight of the foreign-looking little town with its surrounding clusters of neatly built Fingoe kraals. Next morning we passed through the town, where there are large excellent stone-built barracks, and some snug-looking staff-quarters, with cool verandahs, and high hedges of prickly-pear, enclosing green compounds, adorned with shady trees and large American aloes. It was broiling hot, and we were followed, as usual, by hundreds of Fingoes and Hottentots, while others huddled round their kraals in motley groups, and in every stage of undress—old shrivelled patriarchs, with blear eyes and grizzly heads; haggard witches, with long withered breasts hanging down to their waists; mothers suckling the children tied on their backs; men, as an apology for dress, covering one shoulder with a short kaross; and women, with the most incredible posterior development, whose sole attire was a skin or kilt tied round the waist, reaching barely to the knee; while scores of naked little imps, with enormous stomachs, scuttled about in every direction.

Crossing the Kat river, by a stone bridge, a curiosity in this part of the world, we marched through an uninteresting bushy country, to Clu-clu, where we halted and pitched our camp, half the tents being hidden from one another by the mimosa bushes. Though one of the commonest, this is certainly one of the prettiest trees of the country; its light and graceful form, bright green feathery foliage, golden clusters of globular blossom, filling the air with the most delicious perfume, and bristling array of gigantic white thorns, from three to six inches long, thickly studding every twig, make it at all times a striking object. Fortunately there was plenty of shade, and we lay till sundown under a fine tree, enjoying the unusual repose. The greater part of the native Levy attached to our brigade joined here, having marched from Fort Beaufort, after many parting cups, in a very independent and jovial manner, and contrived to shoot their officer on the road.

7th.—At daylight, we were awakened by a pouring rain pattering heavily on our patrol-tents, and congratulated ourselves that we were not likely to march; but in less than five minutes the bugle sounded "strike tents," and the operation of pulling up pegs immediately commencing, we had to bundle out and arrange our toilet in the storm. The rain having put out every fire, and the unexpected march upset the calculations of servants as well as masters, there was no coffee to be had, and we marched without it.

A party of Cape Corps, which had been out during the night, returned with two hundred sheep, and seventy head of cattle, having killed several Kaffirs. Four miles marching across a plain, bounded on the left by fog, and on the right by the dark range of the Kromme, covered by a canopy of heavy white clouds, brought us to our halt for breakfast, by the so-called Yellow Wood River, a large gully, containing here and there small pools of water, its course marked across the otherwise bare plain by a belt of the large willow-like trees,[11] from which it derives its name. We discovered here the corpse of one of the enemy killed by the Cape Corps party, and not far off a wounded Kaffir, brought to this point by his comrades, whom, it seemed, we had nearly surprised at their fires, on which the meat was still cooking, or rather, burning. The wounded man wore round his neck a fine string of tiger's teeth, which one of the Levy officers cut off and gave me. On seeing the knife approach his throat, the poor fellow thought it was all over with him, and clasping his hands, with a deep groan, closed his eyes. He appeared as much relieved as surprised to find he had only lost his necklace. The Fingoes, as usual, wanted to kill him, but were prevented by the officers, who left the dying warrior some bread and water, and placed him under the shade in an easier posture.

The sun now shone bright and hot. Our way lay across the steaming plain, on which clumps of mimosa again began to appear; here and there the blackened ruins of some unfortunate settler's house showed traces of the destroying enemy. Towards sunset we came to another green belt of trees that for some time had formed the only break in the parched and level plain, and crossed the deep Koonap River in separate bodies, simultaneously, at four or five different points, by narrow slippery ledges of rock running across it, and forming small waterfalls, over which several of the men slipped into the intervening pools, and, of course, got a thorough ducking.

Soon after the camp was pitched, a party of our cavalry, whose firing we had seen on the hills, came in with three hundred sheep and a few oxen and horses, (belonging to the owner of one of the ruined farms,) which they had retaken from the enemy, seven of whom they had killed, losing one man.

8th.—Parade at six, A.M.; bitterly cold, the ground white with hoar frost, and the water in our tents incrusted with ice; by nine o'clock it was warm to inconvenience, and, in the sun, scorching hot. We wandered, gun in hand, along the wooded banks of the river, where we put up several large monkeys and green and crimson parrots. An iguana was shot by Gordon, about three feet and a half long, just as it was wriggling down the bank to reach the water. Our patrols again returned from a successful pursuit after marauders, recapturing one hundred sheep and seventy head of cattle, with a loss of three on the side of the enemy.

In two or three days the scanty pasturage, what with the scorching sun and the hungry cattle, had become so miserable as to compel us to change our camp. Accordingly, on the 11th, we struck tents and moved further up the river, halting near a deserted station, or Post. Four empty roofless houses, and a chapel without doors, were all that remained of it. The former still contained some common broken furniture, which the men borrowed; and benches, tables, and arm chairs, were placed round the camp fires, forming the oddest scene imaginable. The Fingoes, in their ignorance, made a like use of the fittings of the chapel; the pulpit was found at one of their fires, converted, with the aid of a blanket or two, into a snug sort of kennel; it was, of course, immediately ordered back by the Commanding-officer, in double-quick time, together with the font, in which they were grinding coffee with a round stone.

For two or three days we remained in camp, and our time was occupied in parade and drills, the "extension motions" greatly amusing the Fingoes, who seemed to imagine that the squads of men, swinging their arms, and balancing themselves on one foot, were performing a solemn war dance.

Macomo was at this time reported to be in the neighbourhood with a large hostile force, and a party was sent out against him, before daylight on the 14th, consisting of five companies of the 74th Highlanders, a six-pounder howitzer, two hundred Cape Corps, and the Levies. The patrol was absent two days, and went through some hard work, having to drag the gun, by hand, up the steep and narrow Water-Kloof-Pass, and lift it bodily over large felled trees, placed across the path by the enemy. A number of Kaffirs were seen, and the artillery was brought to bear upon them; owing to the nature of the cover in which they took refuge, the effect could not be ascertained, though from the precision with which the shells were dropped, their loss must have been considerable. On our side the casualties were two men killed and one wounded, a couple of horses also being killed.

On the morning of their return I was sent with an escort of one hundred men to convey to Fort Beaufort a train of waggons, containing a quantity of spare arms and accoutrements to go into the ordnance store, with some slaughter oxen for the use of that garrison, and to bring back commissariat supplies for the camp. We were joined on the way, for the sake of protection, by a burgher fleeing from his farm, with his wife and family, and three thousand sheep. We soon neared the spot where, about a week ago, the wounded Kaffir had been left; two or three asvogels, or vultures, skimmed heavily along the ground from a black object, which proved to be his body, already half devoured.

On the approach of evening we halted on the open, drawing up the waggons in a circle, with their dissel-booms outwards. The fires were lighted in the inner space, and the sentries posted about fifty yards outside, with an outlying picquet of Fingoes, for the night was pitch dark, and the neighbourhood infested with Kaffirs, to whom our flocks and herds were a great temptation. Wrapped in a plaid, I sat by the fire contemplating the scene within our little encampment; on one side the soldiers chatted merrily and carelessly over their supper; on the other were the Fingoes, jabbering in their strange dialect; some cutting up lumps of meat with their sharp assegais, and others lying round the fires in wild groups; while the Hottentot drivers, and fore-loupers, sat under their own waggons smoking apart; the whole brightly illuminated by the blazing fires reflected from the circular wall of white covered waggons. One by one, the men dropped off to sleep, and I was soon left to my own thoughts, surrounded by motionless forms rolled in blankets.

On going the rounds at ten o'clock, I found the Fingoe Levies had very coolly left their posts, and were sleeping comfortably by the picquet fire among their comrades. Calling their sergeant, an immensely big fellow, he rushed to the fire, and kicked up the slumbering figures one after another, overhauling them without ceremony by arms and legs, sorting and turning them over like a creel of fish, shouting all the time at the top of his voice. Having found the delinquents, and awarded them "extra guards" as a punishment, with a threat of the jambok, or still more dreaded stoppage of rations, in case of further offence, we marched them back to their posts giving them to understand, that as they would be visited every half hour, it would be advisable to keep a good look out.

What with the angry and incessant barking of the dogs, the uninterrupted bleating of sheep, and the loud snoring of the oxen, all attempts to sleep were in vain. So I sat up, and squatting by the fire, amused myself with piling on fresh wood, wishing by the way, as the picture of old Horace occurred to me—

that I could lay my hand on some of the "quadrimum merum," to render the comparison a little more happy.

At three o'clock the moon rose, and I awoke the bivouac by shouting—"Inspan." Instantly all were alive; the Hottentots tumbled out of their waggons, the men jumped to their feet and folded their blankets, the sentries were called in, and in ten minutes we were "trekking" across the plain. As we descended the little hollow of the Clu-clu, enveloped in a thick fog, the change was most extraordinary, the chilly raw air striking through us instantaneously, and as suddenly ceasing on our emerging from it on the opposite side. In many places the bush by the wayside glowed with bright scarlet clusters of the bignonia,[12] which wreathed among the trees. Suddenly Fort Beaufort opened on us, in the centre of a green plain below, the fine mountains of the Elandsberg and Tyumie forming a noble background.

We found the town looking wretchedly dull and deserted, the garrison being reduced to a small detachment only of the Cape Mounted Rifles, besides the Levies.

The Commandant ordered the Commissariat to have the waggons loaded by dark, as the General had directed their return by moonlight.

We accordingly started at nine o'clock the same evening, but with only half the original escort, the Fingoes not making their appearance at the appointed time, their invariable custom on such occasions, remaining behind, making merry in the kraals of their friends, with a glorious disregard of time, and orders. An attack was fully expected, as well on account of our reduced numbers and heavily-laden waggons as from the fact that our errand and return were as well known to the enemy as ourselves. At midnight we halted to let the oxen graze for a couple of hours, while the men threw themselves down on the grass to snatch a little sleep. At two we were off again. Dark glens, hill, dale, and bush, were passed without interruption, and we were once more on open ground. The encampment having been moved during our absence, I rode forward with the Conductor (a most valuable assistant, attached to each train of government waggons), for about two miles, cantering from one rise to another, looking out for the fires, which we at last discovered at a considerable distance, and turning back, put the waggons on the right track, and reached the camp at daylight.

For a week we remained stationary, patrols going out almost daily to different parts of the neighbourhood to check the enemy, who would suddenly appear in the most opposite directions; one day, for instance, attacking a train of waggons in the Mancazana, and killing seven of the escort; and two days after, firing on the post riders between Fort Beaufort and Graham's Town, killing six on the spot, and wounding three others.

Those of us who remained in camp amused themselves with quail shooting, or with reading under the shade of the yellow-wood trees. Hundreds of turtle-doves swarmed in every direction; and though at first there were some scruples about killing them, they were soon remorselessly shot and converted into pigeon pies. Monkeys and brilliantly-plumaged touracos, or crested parrots, of a dark green, with purple and crimson tails and wings, filled the belt of the wood along the river with their discordant chattering.

One morning, in beating for quail along a reedy sluit, or watercourse, we came on the corpses of some of the Kaffirs killed during the late patrols, which, half devoured by vultures and jackals, lay festering in the jungle.

For three days we endured the misery of a sand storm. The hot air was filled with clouds of fine red sand, driven by a burning wind, and shutting out every object at a few yards' distance, blinding the eyes and stifling the breath, while it not only penetrated the tents, covering everything with a thick red coating, but even found its way into every box and valise. Nothing can be more wretchedly uncomfortable than one of these inflictions, unluckily but too common. The skin becomes dry and hot; an irresistible lassitude is felt, accompanied with headache; the face and hair are red with sand, which, to complete the discomfort, finds its way even under one's clothing. No one ventures out who can possibly avoid it, though even a house is but a partial protection, the closest-fitting doors and windows failing to exclude the finer particles, as the red hue of the furniture quickly shows. Those who, like ourselves, had no choice, braved the storm, with heads bent down and eyes half shut, or shielded by wire goggles with dark blue glasses, giving a most comical aspect to the wearer.

The sand storm at last blown over, we saw in the evening a dense smoke rising about two miles off. A reconnoitring party discovered that the enemy had set fire to the grass, a common expedient with them to oblige us to abandon a position inconvenient to themselves, by destroying the pasturage, and a mode of ejectment so effective, as generally to have no remedy but to trek.

As night advanced, the spectacle was really grand, and all turned out of their tents to look at it; the whole plain, for miles in extent, being one sheet of flame, tinging the sky with a lurid red.

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