Campaigning in Kaffirland; Or, Scenes and Adventures in the Kaffir War of 1851-52. William Ross King
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,
Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.
Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».
Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.
Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.