124 Recollections of Adventures 



in two loads as soon as peace was proclaimed. The 

 result of Sir Philip Wodehouse's interference was 

 shown a few years later, when, owing to Sir Gordon 

 Sprigg's disarmament proclamation, these same 

 Basutos, nominally British subjects, waged a war 

 with the Cape Colony, which cost millions. It largely 

 increased the Colony's debt ; but nothing was done 

 to disarm or conquer the tribe. This war called the 

 Morosi War was brought about as follows : 



In the early days of the diamond fields the 

 Griqualand West government (under Sir Richard 

 Southey,) allowed natives working on the mines to 

 be paid for their work, in guns, as an inducement to 

 labour. Their chiefs ordered them to accept guns in 

 preference to money. The consequence was that 

 Langalibalele in Natal, Sekukuni in Eastern Trans- 

 vaal and other tribes, and the Basutos acquired 

 arms wholesale, mostly cheap Birmingham "gas 

 pipes" (of little value it is true), but also some 

 efficient guns and ammunition. This was done 

 in a newly-annexed British colony, while in all 

 other adjoining colonies the law prohibited natives 

 from possessing fire arms. The first consequence 

 of this inconsistent and nefarious policy was 

 that, when Langalibaleli was called upon to give 

 an account of his arms it led to friction; then to 

 rebellion, and the deportation of the chief and the 

 ruin of his tribe. Colonel Durnford, the same man 

 who was to blame later on for the disaster at 

 Isandhlwana (having disregarded warnings), was 

 caught in a pass in the Drakensberg, and several 

 young Natalians were killed by Langalibaleli's men. 

 Then there was the trouble with Sekukuni when the 

 Boer commando under President Burgers was de- 

 feated, and after the annexation the expedition under 

 Colonel Rowlands was such a fiasco. Sekukuni 



