314 EXPEDITION INTO 



and whilst of this ill-fsited expedition^ two hundred and 

 thirty only survived to return to Natal, the victorious bar- 

 barians are said to have sacrificed in the contest no less 

 than three entire reg-iments, each consisting* of one thousand 

 men. 



In the interim, arrang-ements were making- on the part of 

 the emig'rants for the protection of Natal ; but although two 

 hundred boors were despatched from the nearest camp with- 

 out a moment's delay, the settlement had been destroyed, and 

 the whole country ravag'ed north of the Port, before their 

 arrival. Following up their success, the greedy Zooloos 

 poured down like a wasting" swarm of locusts upon the un- 

 defended location, and remaining" several days, swept off 

 thence, and from Captain Gardiner's missionary station of 

 Berea, the greater part of the property, and the whole of the 

 cattle. The native settlers, who consisted chiefl}^ of deserters 

 from Ding-aan, had previously betaken themselves to the 

 bush, where their women and children were mercilessly 

 hunted down and speared. Fortunately for the few surviving 

 whites, and those of the missionaries who had tarried behind, 

 they were enabled to take refuge, with the remnant of their 

 moveable effects, on board the Comet, a brig which happened 

 to be ridino* in the harbour at the time that the disastrous 

 intellio-ence was received of the annihilation of the com- 

 mando. From the deck of the vessel the barbarians could 

 be perceived flocking over the heights, which were darkened 

 for miles with their congregated hosts ; — an occasional shot 

 discharged amongst them, having the effect of deterring the 

 infuriated horde from approaching the shore whilst the em- 

 barkation was being* completed. 



Such was the posture of affairs at Port Natal, when the 

 intelligence of these successive disasters was conveyed to the 

 trans-montane division. Maritz, the only surviving leader 

 •of the emigrants, promptly exerted himself to obtain rein- 



