322 EXPEDITION INTO 



latter fell from the lire of their comrades. Of Diiig-aaii's 

 warriors^ several were ag'aiii in equestrian order^ and during- 

 the eng*ao'ement one of their charg-ers^ recog'nizing* his Dutch 

 masters^ seized the hit between his teeth^ and went forth 

 among-st them at an uncontrollable g'allop — sorely ag'ainst 

 the inclination of his rider, who, unable to curb the im- 

 petuous steed; in despair stabbed himself with his own 

 asseg'ai. 



The Colonial Government having* in the meantime, ob- 

 served with no small alarm, that the violent occupation of 

 Natal by the emig'rants had ag'ain converted a larg-e portion 

 of Eastern Africa into a scene of the most sang'uinary w^ars 

 of extermination, which threatened to be felt in their con- 

 sequence upon the frontiers of the Cape Colony — had des- 

 patched under the command of Major Charters, a body of 

 British troops to assume military possession of the sea-port 

 and territory adjacent, in the name of Her Britannic Majest}', 

 desig-ning- to erect a fort therein, with a view to the preser- 

 vation of peace, and the prevention, as for as mig*ht be pos- 

 sible, of further encroachment and bloodshed.* Not the 



• PROCLAMATION. 



"Whereas Her Britannic Majesty's Government hasbeen pleased to approve 

 of the proposed occupation of Port Natal, in Southern Africa, by Her Majesty's 

 Forces, in consequence of the disturbed state of the Native Tribes in the Terri- 

 tories adjacent to that Port, arising in a great degree from the unwarranted 

 occupation of parts of those Territories by certain Emigrants from this Colony, 

 being Her Majesty's subjects ; and the probability that those disturbances will 

 continue and increase, so that the whole of that part of Southern Africa may 

 speedily become the scene of the most sanguinary wars of extermination ; — and 

 whereas Her Majesty's Government will no longer suffer such a state of affairs 

 to exist within the reach or influence of the Government of this Colony, nor 

 such atrocities to be participated in, if not originated, by the acts of the said 

 Emigrants, Her Majesty's subjects : I do hereby proclaim and declare my 

 determination to seize the said Harbour of Port Natal, and to erect a Fort 

 therein, and to seize so much of the said Territory surrounding the said 

 Harbour, in whose hands soever the said Fort and Territory' adjacent thereto 



