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.