nd hard fighting, the
treacherous Zulu chief, Dingaan, they would be allowed to enjoy the
fruits of their victories. Not so, however; a party of English soldiers
shortly came up to Natal, and the officer laid down laws for them all.
_This_ was more than the Dutch could stand. They considered themselves
as an independent colony, and owned no allegiance to Her Majesty. A
fight was the consequence, in which the Boers besieged the English
troops, and were nearly driving them to surrender, when reinforcements
were landed and the Dutch defeated. Most of them "trekked" into the
interior after this, to avoid the English dominion, and amongst them was
the visitor here. He gave me a description of the night attack made by
our troops on the Boers' camp at the Congella, and its disastrous
result, in which about sixteen of our men were killed and thirty
wounded. He stated that, whatever idea our English commander had had,
he never could have surprised the Dutch, as _they_ had Kaffir and
Hottentot spies, who were on the look-out all day and all night; and
before the last ox was inspanned at the guns, the Boers had received
information that the troops were coming to attack them, and had made
their preparations accordingly. The hardships that the troops endured
in the camp, rather than surrender, afford one of the numerous examples
on record of the wonderful gameness and heroism of the English soldier.
Having met with a severe check in the attempted surprise of the Boers'
camp, a little handful of men stood a siege for upwards of a month,
although they were short of provisions, and had but little hope of being
relieved. Had this affair taken place in Europe, each actor in the
scene would have been immortalised for his endurance and gallantry. An
extract from the despatch of the commander will give some idea of the
hardships they underwent:--"Upon inquiring into the state of provisions
this day, I found that only three days' issue of meat remained. I
therefore directed that such horses as were living might be killed, and
made into biltong. We had hitherto been issuing biscuit dust,
alternating with biscuit and rice, at half allowance. The horseflesh,
of which there was but little, we commenced using on the 22nd, and, by a
rigid exactness in the issues, I calculated that we might certainly hold
out, although without meat, for nearly a month longer." The party were
at length rescued by a detachment landed from the _Southampton_