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ment which he and those with him received. He would never consent to the colonial force being placed under the military, of whose incompetence and whose insolence to the men who were defending their country and their homes, and who were doing the work of those who had proved themselves unable to do it, he had been an indignant witness.

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Commandant Du Toit was no scribe and no observer of the rules of literary composition. It could not be expected of him, a Shepherd of the Gouph,' as he signs himself. English was not his native language, and yet he was a good man and fought nobly and conducted himself so as to honour his name and his country. To understand the springs of Mr. Molteno's actions and conduct at a later period we must give some account of these operations drawn from Mr. Du Toit's narrative. Seldom have the feelings of the men of the type represented by Du Toit been expressed in the press; suffering has been borne in silence, but the bitterness has eaten deeply into the hearts of these brave men and has borne bitter fruit for South Africa and for England.

The force under Du Toit started from Beaufort on the 30th of April on its long march for the frontier in response to the call of the Governor for aid against the Kaffirs. On the 8th of May they reached the Zondags river and requested the use of several necessaries for the supply of the force from the Civil Commissioner of Graaff Reinet. In return they received only a supply of flannel for powder bags, with a message that the Civil Commissioner had nothing to do with the Beaufort commando. Well,' said I, ' are we not all in her Majesty's service, serving the same Queen?' Again, on the 12th, Mr. Molteno and Mr. Devenish were directed to proceed to Somerset, in order to procure shoes for the foot-sore horses. They were, however, 'turned into the streets by the respective Government servants, with each a piece of raw beef and bread, without anything to roast on, without salt or a place An arid district of the Karoo lying to the south-east of Beaufort.

to dwell, and the horses were, after a great deal of trouble, only half of the number shod.' It will be remembered that the force on the long march had no tents or covering of any kind, and were obliged to sleep out at night, yet this is the manner in which the Government officials treated them.

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Upon reaching the frontier they were kindly received by Sir A. Stockenstrom, but being ordered to go on patrol to Fort Beaufort, and reporting themselves to the LieutenantGovernor, Colonel Hare, says Du Toit, We were sent into the dragoon stables, a shelter for one-third of the horses, and none for the men. After a tremendous deal of trouble two tents were pitched in the yard for myself with sixtynine men, each man got 1 lb. bony, dry, poor and black raw beef, and lb. biscuit dust, without a pot or camp kettle, or salt or wood, or a place where to prepare our food, after having been with the empty stomachs ever since last night, being nearly twenty-four hours-a gale of wind was blowing the dry horse-dung and dust filling our eyes-we could hardly breathe or see. This was our lodging, turned into this miserable yard as a set of dogs.

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Our horses had half rations and could not be shod, because the dragoon and Cape corps' farriers could not shoe the horses for the burgher forces, and that his honour had no better and more food for men nor beast. This was the reply given to me on my question whether no better treatment could be given to a set of the most willing and respectable civilians who had left all and everything behind dear to them. Is it not the duty of the military to protect the inhabitants who pay all taxes to Government, and the military are paid by Government? It is not our duty to come here as guards for the military while all the troops are blocked up in the barracks.'

After a long day's work fighting the Kaffirs they returned to the fort and were again placed in the same miserable lodging:-'I arrived with my men at nine o'clock at Fort Beaufort and we were turned into the same lodging, got forage for our

horses and lb. biscuit for the men, the contractor for the 12424 meat would not open his shop, being too late- we were without anything to eat since last night. It was dreadfully cold. I took shelter in the little saddle room, where Mr. Enslin from Graaff Reinet had crept in with twelve men. Mr. Molteno took his lodging in a dung cart. Mr. Devenish, with the other officers and some of the men on the stable loft, the rest under the mangers. The fleas had nearly killed all the men; next morning tried to have our horses shod-it was refused. I applied for tents, and it was said that the tents were for the troops, and not for the burghers. I insisted on having them as we were doing the duty as military under martial law. I then got six tents for 254 men; we got half ration of forage for our poor horses.'

It is pleasing to find some officers who treated them differently. At Block Drift he speaks of the kindness of Colonel Campbell and other officers. He then proceeds to describe the operations there to which we have alluded, and he further mentions Mr. Molteno as having gone out on various patrols and made various captures. It was night and day work. At twelve o'clock in the night I sent Molteno with fifty men to the high ridge above the forest.'

They were now bandied backwards and forwards owing to the vacillation of the military authorities. At last a move was to be made:-'Next morning Colonel Hare asked Sir Andries' aid, by an express, to demonstrate towards the Amatola; within forty hours Sir Andries brought 600 horsemen with him to Fort Beaufort. We were all turned into the Dragoon Guards and Cape corps' stables, with horses without forage and men without food. O miserable treatment.' It turned out, however, that it was to be no forward movement at all; they were sent again to Fort Beaufort and had to return. He writes:'What sort of management is this? Indeed, everything was managed in the same way from the beginning-badly

managed; the demonstration was such that the Kaffirs compared them to a mouse that coming out of its hole, looking round, being afraid, turned into its hole again. Woe unto him who falls into the treatment of the scandalous jealousy of the military—a very, very few military gentlemen excepted. We turned back, each company to its camp; some had to travel seventy-two miles back.' He then, with the other commandants, urged that they were tired of waiting and wasting their time, their horses were becoming more enfeebled every day, and they wished to go in and fight or go home.

Sir Andries Stockenstrom was determined to move, even if he had to do so alone. Colonel Hare said it was dangerous to make the move proposed.' Du Toit replied: 'Why, your honour, no force will and shall detain me from going in on my instructions. I do not fear the Kaffirs and Tambookies together, or any force, and shall march at daybreak.' He describes how by apparent want of caution they endeavoured to induce the Kaffirs to attack them. He says:'Next day went to Chumie Hoek with 200 men to reconnoitre, and saw thousands of Kaffirs. I had no instructions to molest them, so we rode right in between them, as we thought they would surround us. We gave them a fair chance for us to have an opportunity to fight our way through. We all dismounted and waited for them, but not one stirred to come down from the rocks. They perceived this must be another sort of mouse.'

Their mode of operations, so successful in Kaffir warfare, is described in the following passage: We went off at ten o'clock in the evening with 800 men, marched the whole night through, and arrived just when sun rose before the Chumie forests, covered with Kaffirs from all sides; tied the horses together, left 100 men with the after riders with them. We

The same story was repeated in the war of 1878 in Galekaland. The moves proposed by the Colonial Government were always characterised by the military as dangerous,' yet they were always successful.

formed a line before the bush, Sir Andries on the right of our force, myself on the left. Sir Andries took off his hat and said, "Fall in, brave men." The men all cheered, called out, "Hurrah! hurrah! hurrah!" charged the bush at full speed, and rushed in. The Kaffirs soon perceived that this was another species of mice-not of those which come out of their holes, look about, and turn into them again. They fled on all sides; we then scoured the whole of this miserable steep stronghold, killed several Kaffirs, destroyed 250 head of cattle, brought out 300 head and 300 goats, then rested a few minutes.' At the same time Colonel Hare had moved out with his 3,000 men, but effected nothing. After dark Sir Andries and himself visited Colonel Hare's camp, when the following conversation took place:-' His honour said to me we should not attempt to enter the Amatola with less than 6,000 men, for the Kaffirs were very strong in these strongholds. While we were clearing the Chumie Hoek thousands came out on the range, on horseback, and looked on. I said, "Oh, what a pity it is, your honour, you did not fight them.'

The attack on the famous Amatolas is then described :

We arrived about three o'clock on the range of the Amatola, where we tied all the horses together and laid down, waiting for dawning of day. It was a horrid sight to look down into the valley of the Amatola: very dark, the fires glittering by thousands through the thick forest as the stars in heaven. Knowing that Sandilli, Macomo, Botman, and all their forces were in these fastnesses, at daybreak Sir Andries said: 'Now, my dear friends, take courage; trust in the Lord, and do not hesitate. Rush into your enemy and fight bravely. Rather die than surrender.' Here I saw that there were two sorts of commanders. The one sort, to which Sir Andries belongs, says, 'Come on, my brave boys;' the other sort, as in the affair of Burns-hill, I suppose must have said, 'Go along, my brave boys,' else the Kaffirs must have been conquered at that spot, being quite an open field. And we then rushed in, as a large dam of water which suddenly broke and overflowed the earth as far as it reached. We pursued into all kloofs and forests, the Kaffirs shouting from all rocks. Some said,

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