82 A NATURALIST IN THE TRANSVAAL. 



were now aroused among the Boers, and a sense of 

 danger demanded a swift reprisal ; no homestead was 

 safe if this Kafir attack was allowed to develop, every 

 farmer instinctively apprehended the emergency, and 

 soon upwards of four hundred armed burghers had 

 arrived at the scene of the tragedy determined on 

 vengeance deep and terrible. The Kafirs fled to a 

 huge cavern some two thousand feet in length and 

 four or five hundred in width, which was closely 

 blockaded by the Boers. Now commenced that wild 

 revenge which is common to man's nature under similar 

 circumstances ; it has been practised by the French 

 in Algeria, and by ourselves during the Sepoy revolt in 

 India. Frantic with thirst the imprisoned Kafirs 

 sought at night to reach the water that flows near 

 the cave, but were shot down in the attempt ; quarter 

 was a word unknown, and after twenty-five days' 

 blockade, the cavern was entered and its horrors seen. 

 According to Commandant Pretorius who would have 

 no interest in exaggerating the figures nine hundred 

 Kafirs had been killed outside the cavern, and more 

 than double that number had died of thirst within it *. 

 Makapan himself is reported to have perished by 

 poison introduced in water, but the true story of the 

 wild vengeance will probably never be told. It was 

 during the blockade that the present President Kriiger 

 exhibited an act of that bravery which he has else- 

 where displayed. A Boer commander was shot when 

 standing near the mouth of the cavern, and Mr. Kriiger 

 volunteered to bring away the body, which he did. 

 This man was afterwards buried on his farm, and 

 I have visited the grave ; it was silent and alone, as 

 befitted the last rest of an old voortrekker. 



Some eight hours were at my disposal before the 

 return coach could convey me back to Pretoria, and I 

 seized the opportunity to visit the cavern, guided by 

 one who knew the neighbourhood and had once been 



* The South-African historian, G. McCall Theal, who is cautious and not 

 biassed against the Boer, adopts these figures (' History of South Africa. 

 1854-72,' p. 30). 



