[103] Sir Benjamin D’Urban provisionally extended the boundary of the colony to the Kraai river, and on the 6th of November 1835 Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Somerset, who visited the north-eastern districts as an agent of the governor, issued a notice that Stephanus Petrus Erasmus was to be fieldcornet of the newly annexed ward. In September of this year one hundred and sixty families were reported to be living on the Stormberg spruit and the Kraai river. See the D’Urban papers in the South African Public Library. A full account of the massacres and robberies by the Matabele will be found in my History of South Africa.
[104] See his Fifty Years of the History of the Republic in South Africa (1795-1845), published in London in 1899, Volume II, pages 23 to 28.
[105] I am unable to add to or amend the accounts of these events given by me a quarter of a century ago in my History, except in one particular. The number of men and boys murdered at Umkungunhlovu on the 6th of February 1838 (page 318, volume ii, History of South Africa since September 1795) should be sixty-seven, not sixty-six, and to the names should be added that of Pieter Retief, junior. This is found in Mr. Boshof’s list, but not in most of those made shortly after the event. These vary from each other, and some trouble must be taken to verify many of the names. In a letter from Magdalena Johanna de Wet, widow of Mr. Retief, to her brothers and sisters, dated at Pietermaritzburg on the 7th of July 1840, published in Mr. Preller’s work, she mentions the murder of her son Pieter Retief with his father, and also of Abraham Greyling, her son by a former marriage, at the same time.
[106] For the particulars see my History of South Africa since September 1795, Volume II, pages 323 to 326.
[107] The difficulty of giving a reliable account of all the details of this event is insurmountable, as it is impossible to reconcile the narratives of those who took part in it with each other. I give therefore only the leading features. Readers who may imagine that every incident should be obtained by thorough research are requested to consult the different statements given by Mr. Bird in his Annals of Natal, and to believe that others consulted by me long before the publication of that work are equally as conflicting.