234 EXPEDITION INTO [Chap. XXVI. 



broken guns, and tattered furniture. Taking ad- 

 vantage of the absence of Moselekatse's army, on 

 an expedition against a tribe to the northward, a 

 thousand mounted Bastaards dashed across the 

 River Vaal, and obtained possession of vast herds 

 of cattle without opposition. Elated by success, 

 they were encamped, on their return, in straggling 

 detachments ; and whilst slumbering in that ill-timed 

 security for which the tribe is remarkable, were sur- 

 prised about an hour before daylight — the approved 

 opportunity in savage warfare — by a band of un- 

 practised soldiers, who had been hastily called to- 

 gether to meet the emergency. Such was the panic 

 created, that many fell by the guns of their com- 

 rades, and few indeed escaped to tell the fate of the 

 less fortunate. Dowd, the chief whom we met at 

 Daniel's-kuil, and Hendrik Hendrik, a Griqua cap- 

 tain residing at Phillipolis, state themselves to be the 

 only survivors of that disastrous day. Ensconced in 

 a thick bush, they kept up an incessant fire while 

 their ammunition lasted ; jumping on the first 

 horses they could catch, and riding for their lives, 

 the instant the dawn appeared. The scene of car- 

 nage was visited by Moselekatse, and as he viewed 

 the carcases of his foes " strewing the earth like 

 broken glass," his exultation knew no bounds ; the 

 contempt he had entertained for fire-arms being fully 

 confirmed by this signal defeat. Barend Barends, 

 who was infirm in years, had not accompanied the 

 invading army beyond the Vaal River, but died 

 shortly after the destruction of his clan. 



