292 EXPEDITION INTO 



Missionary at that station^ tliroug'h whose assistance only 

 they could effect an entrance. 



Can it be wondered at^ under these circumstances^ that 

 Moselekatse should have viewed Avith a jealous and sus- 

 picious eye^ the sudden advance of so formidable a body of 

 strang-ers from the forbidden quarter, to the very borders, if 

 not actually within the confines, of his territories ? AVith- 

 out so fair a pretext as their open defiance of his commands 

 afforded him, would it have been surprising* that the tempta- 

 tion afforded by the fat flocks and herds of his new, opulent 

 and very unceremonious neig-hbours, should have induced 

 the despot to impart a lesson which mig-ht inculcate the 

 necessity of at least propitiating' him w ith presents, Avhich 

 are known to be the only sure road to the friendship or g-ood 

 offices of a savag*e ? Towards the close of Aug-ust, a com- 

 mando consisting" of about five hundred Matabili warriors, 

 w^as despatched from Moseg*a for tJds very jmrjwse. On 

 their way to plunder the emig'rants, who were encamped in 

 scattered detachments along- the Yaal Biver, the}" accidentally 

 fell in Avitli Stephanus Erasmus, who had been on a hunting* 

 expedition still farther to the northward, and was then on 

 his return to the colony by the forbidden route. Arriving- 

 at his wag-g-ons in the evening* with one of his sons, and 

 finding* them surrounded by a host of armed savag-es, he 

 precipitately fled to the nearest emig'rant camp, about five 

 hours' ride on horseback from his own, where, having* suc- 

 ceeded in persuading* a party of eleven farmers to accom- 

 pany him, he returned towards the spot. On the way 

 thither they were met by the barbarians, whose impetuous 

 onsets obliged them to seek refug*e within the encampment. 

 A severe strug*g*le ensued, but the enemy were finally 

 repulsed with g*reat slaug'hter, and the loss, on the part of 

 the farmers, of only one man named Bronkhorst. 



This was, however, but the prelude to a more bloody 



