280 GALLANT DEFENCE. 



into the interior after this, to avoid the English dominion, 

 and amongst them was the visitor here. He gave me a 

 description of the night attack made by our troops on 

 the Boers' camp at the Congella, and its disastrous result, 

 in which about sixteen of our men were killed and thirty 

 wounded. He stated that, whatever idea our English com- 

 mander had had, he never could have surprised the Dutch, 

 as they had Kaffir and Hottentot spies, who were on the 

 look-out all day and all night ; and before the last ox was 

 inspanned at the guns, the Boers had received information 

 that the troops were coming to attack them, and had made 

 their preparations accordingly. The hardships that the 

 troops endured in the camp, rather than surrender, afford 

 one of the numerous examples on record of the wonderful 

 gameness and heroism of the English soldier. Having 

 met with a severe check in the attempted surprise of the 

 Boers' camp, a little handful of men stood a siege for 

 upwards of a month, although they were short of provisions, 

 and had but little hope of being relieved. Had this affair 

 taken place in Europe, each actor in the scene would have 

 been immortalized for his endurance and gallantry. An 

 extract from the despatch of the commander will give 

 some idea of the hardships they underwent : " Upon 

 inquiring into the state of provisions this day, I found 

 that only three days' issue of meat remained. I therefore 

 directed that such horses as were living might be killed, 

 and made into beltong. We had hitherto been issuing 

 biscuit dust, alternating with biscuit and rice, at half 

 allowance. The horseflesh, of which there was but little, 

 we commenced using on the 22nd, and, by a rigid exact- 



