Orders were issued to march at eight next morning, a most gentlemanly hour, as all agreed, and the more cordially as the distance to be performed was only six miles, to the Kat River, to pasture the oxen, which now absolutely required rest and food. They were turned out to graze under the protection of a subaltern's guard, while we hastened to purify ourselves in the rocky stream, protected by an armed party on the willow banks; for some dozen Kaffirs in red blankets were seen on a low hill about a mile off, their attention apparently divided equally between the herds and the bathers.
After this welcome rest we resumed our march next morning, but before many miles were accomplished, the waggons in front came to a stand-still at the foot of a steep short hill. Judging from its apparently moderate height we thought the stoppage would only be brief, but to our surprise, soon observed the more knowing drivers in rear of the train begin to make deliberate preparation for breakfast, those nearer the front contenting themselves with a biscuit. Fires were made, coffee pounded, dirty bags rummaged, and lumps of raw meat drawn out, studded with copper caps and bits of broken pipe, and plentifully dusted with crumbs and powdered biscuit; and they were soon at work, tooth and nail. As for the troops, no orders having been given for breakfast, from the uncertainty of our movements, we went without.
The last forelouper had finished his scanty pickings and wiped the greasy clasped-knife on his woolly pate, the drivers had smoked out a digestive pipe, and were fast asleep under their waggons, before the "fall in" sounded, and we moved forward. We had wondered at the long delay, but were more astonished, when we came to the ascent, that it had ever been accomplished with such heavily laden waggons.
This achieved, the road was tolerably level, and we jogged on at a good pace to a ruined and deserted missionary settlement, where we were again brought to a stand by the breaking down of a waggon in the middle of a drift. There was nothing for it but to unload and carry everything to the opposite bank, when officers and men set to and spoked it out, inch by inch; the driver, meanwhile, manufacturing a new "dissel-boom" or pole out of a young tree.
On approaching Fort Hare, we were met by a large mounted party of officers who had come out to welcome us, and shortly the place came in sight, which appeared, from the hill, of considerable size, consisting of white wooden houses, and dark Fingoe huts, widely scattered round the fort. Though covering a large extent of ground, the works hardly deserve the name, being in reality nothing more than a small village of thatched mud cottages, enclosed by picketting and low walls mounting a few guns and old musquetoons.
Our arrival was greeted with lively demonstrations of joy by the coloured population, who headed the band, yelling and dancing in a state of complete nudity. Our camp, with two others consisting of Europeans and Fingoe Levies, was on a green level plain, between the fort and the River Chumie, beyond which rose a fine range of lofty mountains.
Anything more miserable in the shape of barrack accommodation than the officers' quarters in the fort can hardly be conceived; uneven floors of dried cow-dung, bending walls of "wattle and daub," smoke-blackened rafters and thatch, crazy doors, and ill-fitting windows, which exclude the light and admit in turn, wind, rain, and clouds of sand, are the characteristics of the best.
We took advantage of our stay here to ride over in a party to the scene of the engagement mentioned, which took place on the 29th December, in attempting to open a communication with the Governor, then blockaded in Fort Cox; when out of a band of only 230 men, after a hand-to-hand fight, two gallant officers, Lieutenants Melvin and Gordon, 91st regiment, and twenty-one privates, were killed, and many wounded. The ground, a thorny valley, still bore marks of the struggle: rags of uniform, and old forage-caps, with bones of Kaffirs, lay scattered about; while from the grave of the soldiers, bones were protruding, scratched up by jackalls and hyænas, which we carefully buried again in the best way we could.
About thirty Kaffir and Hottentot prisoners were confined in the fort, who sat, for the greatest part of the day, sunning themselves outside the cells, hand-cuffed, and chained two and two. The Hottentots, who had been taken at the capture of Fort Armstrong, and were awaiting their trial by court-martial as rebels, looked sulky, and scowled with a vindictive and villanous expression. The Kaffirs, on the contrary, laughed and chatted with us, through an interpreter, displaying the most magnificent teeth,—a feature common, also, to the Fingoes, and of which both are not a little proud. A fine young Fingoe was pointed out to us among the Levies, who, having had a front tooth accidentally knocked out, got it replaced by an artificial one, for which he willingly paid five-and-twenty shillings.