this 16th of December, 1838,--a Sunday too. On that day a
trial of strength took place between the whole of Dingaan's warriors,
amounting to from ten to twelve thousand men, and about four hundred and
fifty emigrant farmers. Even considering the difference in the weapons,
yet twenty to one were great odds; and should the Zulu warriors succeed
in forcing the camp, their numbers would enable them to annihilate their
enemy, even though they sacrificed thousands in the endeavour.

Forming themselves into a dense mass, the Zulus rushed on to the
farmers' defences, and endeavoured to tear a way through them. Met
every where with a shower of bullets, the dark-skinned soldiers fell
fast, and their first effort was a failure. Nothing daunted, however,
they again and again renewed their charge, and for three hours never
relaxed their efforts. At length a vast number of the enemy having
concentrated on one side of the camp only, a party of two hundred
mounted farmers dashed out from the opposite side, and, charging both
flanks, poured in volley after volley, which soon discomfited the
bravest of Dingaan's chieftains:

"Even as they fell they lay,
Like the mower's grass at the close of day,"

and a panic seizing them, they at length retreated, leaving not less
than three thousand men dead upon the field. The emigrants' loss was
most disproportionate, three men only being killed, and some half-dozen
wounded.

Immediately after this victory the emigrants pushed forward to Dingaan's
kraal, which they found burning, he having retreated to the bush with
the remnant of his forces. Here, on a hill outside the town, they found
the remains of their ill-fated countrymen, Retief and his party, many
individuals being recognised by the leather pouches they wore. A fierce
retribution had, however, been now taken for the treacherous slaughter
of these guests, and the power of the great Zulu chief was broken by a
mere handful of well-trained men.

Finding that their ammunition was falling short, and their horses losing
condition, the farmers did not consider it advisable to continue their
attacks on Dingaan in their present state; they therefore seized about
five thousand head of cattle, and gradually returned to their lager.

After this decisive victory the emigrants' position was much improved.
They could now venture upon many of those agricultural pursuits which
they had before considered it useless to attempt. A town was la