Alex. Strubcn's Trip 91 



some strongholds and was given command of their 

 solitary 24 pounder carronade. Before the Pretoria 

 commando arrived, the Boers were only about 150 

 strong, but the Makatees were cowardly or they 

 could easily have wiped them out. Some of his 

 descriptions of these times, 1863 to 1866 are not 

 pleasant reading. The cruelties of the savages on 

 both sides, countenanced by the whites as far as 

 their allies were concerned, were dreadful, flaying, 

 mutilating, burning, etc., especially in the fights at 

 " Katlakta's," " Simondo' ," " Magor's," " Lobola's 

 Kop," etc. 



A comical event happened as related to me by 

 Alex, with Commandant Geister. There was one of 

 the annual little wars on, with the tribes in the forest 

 clad Zoutpansberg, this time with Simondo. The 

 Boers and Albasini's Knobnoses had dragged an old 

 32 pounder ship's carronade up the mountain to 

 bombard the kaffir " schanses " or stone walls. A few 

 shots proving ineffectual, the kaffirs made a sortie, 

 and the commando fled round the mountain, leaving 

 Geister, Alex., one Venter, and some Knobnoses to 

 get the cannon down as best they could. Alex, was 

 gunner for the nonce, and while he was firing some 

 shots to keep the kaffirs off, Venter jumped on Alex's 

 horse and fled after the commando, knocking several 

 people over in the narrow bush path on his way to 

 camp. Geister, Alex and the Knobnoses then pushed 

 the cannon into a bush kloof and retreated, keeping 

 the kaffirs off with their rifles. On arriving at camp 

 in the evening, Alex, asked Venter, (who was a tall, 

 ungainly " takhaar " with a head like a bassoon), 

 what he meant by taking his horse and leaving 

 Geister and himself in the lurch ? Venter solemnly 

 answered " Mr. Struben, don't be angry with me. I 

 am a man of peace and don't want to quarrel. I 



