SOUTHERN AFRICA. 193 



the awning*^ to which they had hitherto been lashed, and 

 stowed away in the hold as pig" ballast. Yet even this pre- 

 caution did not exempt us from further misfortune — the 

 same ill-fated van was ag'ain overthrown in a few days with 

 most alarming' detriment to its contents — the portable sex- 

 tant, amongst other thing's, being* flattened in one of the 

 side pockets, whilst the mercury of Fnhrenheit's thermo- 

 meter was scattered to the four winds of heaven. 



The third day after crossing- the mountains, we encamped 

 on the Machachochan river, near the scene of the sig-nal 

 defeat of Barend Barend's Griquas in 1831, an event to 

 which I have before had occasion to allude. A conical 

 mountain, seen from a considerable distance in every direc- 

 tion, points to the spot j and its base is a perfect Golg'otha, 

 thickly strewed with the whitened bones of men and horses, 

 broken g'uns, and tattered furniture. Taking- ad\'antag-e of 

 the absence of Moselekatse's army, on an expedition ag-ainst 

 a tribe, to the northward, a thousand mounted Bastaards 

 dashed across the River Yaal, and obtained possession of 

 vast herds of cattle without opposition. Elated by suc- 

 cess, they were encamped, on their return, in strag-g-ling- 

 detachments ; and whilst slumbering- in that ill-timed secu- 

 rity for which the tribe is remarkable, were surprised about 

 an hour before daylig-ht— the approved opportunity in 

 savag-e warfare — by a band of unpractised soldiers, who 

 had been hastily called tog-ether to meet the emerg•enc3^ 

 Such was the panic created, that many fell by the g'uns of 

 their comrades, 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 captain residing* at 

 Pliillipolis, 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 



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