CAPE COLONY AND SOUTH AFRICA. 



rout, followed for a long distance by the Mauhla- 

 gazus. Cetewayo denied all knowledge and 

 responsibility as to the ill-fated expedition, but 

 he immediately began to drill soldiers for an- 

 other conflict with Usibepu, until he had about 

 six thousand. When he was moving forward 

 with his force, Usibepu and Oham fell upon him 

 with all their warriors and defeated him with 

 great carnage. 



After some preliminary fighting, in which 

 Oham and his warriors were hard pressed by 

 Cetewayo's bands, a decisive battle occurred 

 on July 21st, in which the king's newly or- 

 ganized military force was crushed. Usibepu, 

 with an army equipped with the aid of the 

 people of Natal and partly led by white men, 

 descended upon Ulundi, Cetewayo's capital. 

 The king's army was cut to pieces, all his pos- 

 sessions captured, his town destroyed, and he 

 himself severely wounded. He was carried 

 away into concealment by his people, and was 

 long supposed to have been killed. Umny- 

 amana and the Usutus kept up the struggle 

 until they were reduced by Usibepu and ac- 

 knowledged his supremacy. Cetewayo kept 

 out of the way of his enemies, and entered 

 into communications with the British relative 

 to surrendering himself into their protection. 

 Finally, when assured of the safety of such a 

 course, he delivered himself up and was taken 

 to Natal in October. 



Border War in Bechnanaland. The Transvaal 

 Boers have severely tried the Liberal Govern- 

 ment, which rendered back to them their inde- 

 pendence, by continuing their encroachments 

 in Bechuanaland and assisting the chiefs who 

 were friendly to them to drive tho allies of 

 the British off their lands. The troubles in 

 Bechuanaland,* which lies on the west and 

 southwest of the Transvaal, date back to 1872- 

 '73. After the discovery of diamonds in 1871, 

 Great Britain, which had recognized the inde- 

 pendence of the two Boer- republics in 1852 

 and 1854, and by the Sand River Convention 

 had bound itself never to encroach north of 

 the Vaal river, broke the treaties by annexing 

 the diamond-fields, and began its interference 

 in the affairs of Bechuanaland. The Bechu- 

 ana nation was divided into two parties, one 

 headed by the chiefs Montsiva and Manko- 

 roane and the other by Moshette and Mas- 

 souw. Mankoroane, chief of the Batlapins, 

 and Massouw, chief of the Korannas, laid 



* The Bechuanas are tho negroes among whom Moffat and 

 Livingstone labored. They are akin to the Basutos in race, 

 and are more intelligent and far more advanced in civiliza- 

 tion than the other Kaffir races. They have schools and 

 churches, are clothed, and many of them are to some extent 

 located. They have separate property in land, and had 

 nado considerable progress in industry and agriculture be- 

 fore the Trek Boers arrived in the country north of the Vaal. 

 The chiefs, unless they led the people in the arts of peace, 

 lost their power and influence. Many of them, including all 

 of the four leaders in this intestine conflict which was pro- 

 voked by white adventurers, have at various times requested 

 the British Government to take their country under its pro- 

 tection. Nearly all of the internal quarrels of the Bechuanas 

 are over disputed claims to chieftainship. They are not of a 

 predatory disposition like the Kaffirs in the east, and have 

 never committed cattle-raids in the Transvaal. 



claim to the same territory, while Montsiva 

 disputed with Massouw the position of para- 

 mount chief of the Baralongs. The South 

 African Republic recognized the claims of Mo- 

 shette and Massouw, and by virtue of having 

 subdued Moselekatsie, the Matabele conqueror 

 of the country, and of a cession executed by 

 the chief of the Korannas, the most ancient 

 inhabitants, took the country under its protec- 

 tion by annexing it to the Transvaal state. 

 The British Government, by the Keate award, 

 refused to recognize the annexation, gave a 

 portion of the country to Mankoroane, and ac- 

 knowledged Montsiva as paramount chief of 

 the Baralongs. This award, if not made in 

 the interest of white land-speculators, had the 

 effect of delivering the country over to their 

 machinations and prolonging the tribal dis- 

 putes. Bechuanaland was to have been re- 

 united with the Transvaal upon its annexation, 

 through Sir Theophilus Shepstone, to British 

 South Africa. 



In the Transvaal war which resulted from 

 this act, Montsiva and Mankoroane sided with 

 the British and aided them by furnishing shel- 

 ter and supplies, although the direct military 

 assistance of the blacks was refused by the 

 English. Moshette and Massouw sympathized 

 with the Boers. In the convention of 1881, 

 by which the British under the auspices of the 

 Liberal party withdrew from the Transvaal, a 

 new boundary-line was drawn. This line cut 

 off a large portion of the annexed territory 

 from the Transvaal and even separated from 

 the Boer state a number of farms and settle- 

 ments belonging to its citizens. It was ob- 

 jected to and declared impracticable at the 

 time of signing the convention, and has been 

 the subject of frequent reclamations since. 

 The British Government paid no attention to 

 these diplomatic representations. Bechuana- 

 land was at once plunged into warfare and an- 

 archy by the boundary settlement insisted 

 upon by the British Government for the sake 

 of their native allies and the white abettors 

 and advisers of the latter. Montsiva ordered 

 Moshette and Massouw to vacate their lands 

 and find homes ^within the new boundary-line 

 of the Transvaal. In league with Mankoroane 

 he made war upon them in May, 1881, to com- 

 pel them to give up the disputed territory. 

 The white volunteers and speculative foment- 

 ers of the war who were engaged on both 

 sides were to be paid in farms in the rich pas- 

 ture-lands of the disputed territory. There 

 was a brief cessation of hostilities; but when 

 the war broke out again in October of that 

 year the Boer filibusters or volunteers took an 

 important part in the operations on the side of 

 chiefs who were in possession. 



The Boer Government agreed to place a 

 guard on the frontier, to prevent Boer volun- 

 teers from crossing, but their efforts to pre- 

 serve neutrality lacked earnestness or efficien- 

 cy. Montsiva and Mankoroane were defeated 

 and forced to sign a treaty, in 1882, which 



