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the shout was wildly re-echoed through the adjacent hills and dales for many miles around. A simultaneous rush was made upon the colonists from all sides. The tragic scene was brief. Mr. Stockenstrom and fourteen of his men fell, pierced by innumerable wounds. Such of the boors as had drawn the muskets from their holsters fired at random, and killed a few Caffers; but the surviving colonists, of whom several were already wounded, were glad to avail themselves of the fleetness of their horses, to escape along the mountain ridge; and thus succeeded in reaching Colonel Graham's camp that evening,-with the exception of two, who not being able to get on horseback, crept into the thicket, and eluded the search of the Caffers, until darkness enabled them to re-cross the mountains to the spot whence they had that morning started. One of these two men was my acquaintance Paul du Plessies of Zwagershoek.

In the meanwhile, one little Bush-boy (the musket-bearer of a boor), who had escaped unnoticed when the massacre commenced, reached the camp where Ensign Stockenstrom was posted, with the news of his father's fate, about an hour after the tragical event. The feelings of this officer (then a very young man) may be better imagined than described. He hurried towards the spot with about twenty men. On the way they came in collision with a numerous body of Caffer warriors, returning triumphantly from the scene of death, with the guns and horses of the slaughtered colonists. A fierce conflict ensued, in which the open nature of the ground gave the mounted boors the decided advantage. The Caffers, unable to avail themselves effectively of the fire arms they had so recently obtained, were defeated with great slaughter, and driven back towards the main body of their countrymen, who had occupied in strong force the perilous passes of the mountains in the vicinity of Slaghters-nek, the field of massacre. The sun being then setting, and it being obviously too late to save any of the colonists who had been left on the field, young Stockenstrom, after a vain attempt to find the spot where his father had fallen, retired to protect his

camp, which was threatened by parties of the enemy in other directions

The following day, Colonel Graham sent a party of cavalry under Capt. Fraser, which formed a junction with that under Ensign Stockenstrom, after having likewise been desperately but ineffectually attacked by the Caffers. This united force then encamped near the scene of slaughter, and interred the mangled remains of the lamented landdrost and his unfortunate comrades.

From this spot I looked round on the scenery which I have attempted to describe; and could well fancy the effect of the savage shout of exultation (described to me with sensations of horror by some of those who were present) pealed forth by two or three thousand barbarians, as they stood over their fallen enemies and which was instantly responded to by similar shouts

# As a pleasing contrast to these scenes of mutual enmity and slaughter, I have great satisfaction in quoting from the recent work of Mr. Kay, a Wesleyan missionary in Cafferland, the following interesting note in reference to this melancholy affair:-" The Honourable Capt. Stockenstrom, who succeeded his unfortunate father in the office of Landdrost of Graaf-Reinét, and who is at present Commissioner-General of the Eastern Province, and likewise a Member of Council, had occasion to visit Wesleyville (a missionary station in Cafferland) in April, 1829. On his arrival, the chiefs were called together, in order to receive a special message with which he was charged from the Colonial Government. In the course of his address to them, he adverted to the lamentable events of former days; but at the same time remarked, ' We do not now seek each other with the musket or the assagai to shed each other's blood. When we meet, it is to shake hands and be good friends. The bad times have passed away. The Caffers killed my father; and some of you were near at the time. The boors killed your father (old Kongo), and I was not far off when it happened. Those were bad doings; but now all is changed. You have received missionaries; you have now the same word of God that we have. The only difference between us is the colour of our skins; but though you are black and we are white, yet God has made of one blood all nations of the earth.' The palaver being ended, Capt. Stockenstrom dined at the Mission-House in company with the chiefs."-Kay's Travels and Researches in Caffraria, p. 254.

The precise spot where these bodies were interred could not, when I was there, be readily discovered. It is little to the credit of the Colonial Government that not even a rude stone has been erected to mark the grave of this meritorious magistrate, and of those who perished with him in the discharge of duty ennobled by a humane benevolence. Mr. Stockenstrom had been upwards of twenty-five years in the public service of the colony.

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from hill to hill, and from glen to glen, as the joyful tidings were thus conveyed through the adjacent woods and mountains, then inhabited by a dense population of Caffers. The sonorous power of the Caffer voice, the stern and stupendous features of the country around, and the dismal spectacle of the field of slain, must have given to the scene at that moment a character indescribably terrific and appalling.

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CHAPTER VII.

Interview with the Acting Governor at Somerset-Further Enlargement of the Location-Excursion to Albany—Appearance of the Country near the Coast-Situation of the Albany Settlers in July, 1831-Predatory Bushmen-Mulatto Hottentots settled at Glen-Lynden-Their Character—Subdivision of the Location-Author's Residence at EildonDescription of an Emigrant's Cabin-Privations- The Ceded Territory-The Winterberg-Scenery of the Koonap River and its Branches-Excursion with a Party of Officers-A Herd Elephants—Remarkable Escape of Lieutenant Moodie. IN June, 1821, the Acting-Governor, Sir Rufane Donkin, paid a visit to the eastern province, in order to inspect personally the situation and progress of the British settlers, and to redress, as far as possible, any grievances of which they had to complain. After making a circuit through Albany, he proceeded to Somerset, where I was invited to meet him, as the pressure of business elsewhere did not admit of his extending his tour to our location. I found Sir Rufane perfectly disposed to listen to every reasonable representation, and to remedy to the utmost of his power every disadvantage under which we laboured. He deplored the disappointments to which we had been subjected by the unexpected dispersion of the Highland party intended to have been placed near us, and the calamitous fate of those who had perished in the Abeona; and as he had given us reason twelve months ago to rely on being placed in immediate connection with a considerable population of our countrymen, he now offered, since that hope had been frustrated, to remove our party, if they desired it, to Albany, or to any other situation that they might prefer. This was kind and considerate. But as our party had now fully made up their minds to remain at Glen-Lynden, I stated to Sir Rufane that I considered the most effectual way to promote their prosperity was to allow a liberal extension of the boundaries of the location, so

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as to afford an ample range of pasturage, and thus place the Scottish settlers more upon a footing with the older colonists around them. To this he willingly consented, and gave orders that our territory should be extended down the valley till it was bounded below by the lands formerly occupied by Frederick Bezuidenhout, and recently granted to Captain Cameron, an officer of the 72nd regiment. Subsequently additional farms were granted separately to some of my brothers, and to other individuals of the party, on the Mancazana branch of the Koonap River (now Glen-Pringle), which is divided from Glen-Lynden by a ridge of steep mountains. And thus, instead of the 1100 acres, to which we would have been confined by a strict adherence to the Government scheme of settlement, and which would have scarcely been equal to one-fourth of a grazier-boor's farm, we at length succeeded in obtaining from the considerate liberality of the Colonial Government, the munificent allotment of not less than 20,000 acres. This indeed was fully more than we could immediately occupy or adequately stock; but not more than in that part of the country was absolutely requisite for the complete establishment of eight or ten substantial farmers.

A few weeks after my interview with the Acting Governor, I accompanied my friend Mr. Hart on an excursion to Albany; in the course of which we visited Graham's Town, Bathurst, Port Frances, Theopilus, Salem, and all the principal locations of the English settlers from the Kareega to the mouth of the Great Fish River.

My first view of the country formerly called the Zureveld, in which the great body of those settlers were located, was from the summit of the steep hills that bound to the southward the valley or kloof in which Graham's Town is situated. From this elevated ridge we had at once under our eye the whole of that extensive district, bounded by the ocean in front, and by the Bushman and Great Fish rivers on the right and left. This tract may be described as an immense plain; though it is very far from exhibiting over the greater part of its extent any thing like a level surface. Near the coast it is much diversified by