329 APPENDIX. 
bush. Here they dismounted from their horses, threw the 
bridles and saddles away, and turned their horses loose. 
Whilst they remained concealed in a thicket, a party of about 
fifty Caffers crossed towards the colony, and returned soon 
afterwards with about four hundred head of cattle, which 
‘they divided into different lots, and proceeded with them 
towards the Kap River heights. They heard Caffers all 
night round them, and it appeared to him that they were in 
considerable force. After several hairbreadth escapes, 
Mr. Brown and his son, in a state of great exhaustion, fell 
in with the party who went out to recover the bodies of 
Messrs. Henderson and Mahony, and were conveyed by them 
to town. 
A dispatch was received by the civil commissioner from 
Lieut.-Col. Somerset. It stated that the Caffers were 
pouring into the colony in incredible numbers, and were 
sweeping everything before them. He computed that 
during the four preceding days, not less than ten thou- 
sand head of cattle had been carried off. 'To repel the in- 
vaders was utterly impossible; his horses were knocked 
up, and there was nota single burgher who could afford him 
any assistance. Equally gloomy was the intelligence from 
Bathurst—the other extremity of the district. A commu- 
nication from a committee of safety which had been ap- 
pointed there, stated, that in consequence of the alarming 
state of the country, the inhabitants of that part had aban- 
doned their homes and property and fled; that the new 
church at Bathurst was filled with those unfortunate and 
destitute people; and that the remainder were exposed in 
their waggons. It went on to state that on Christmas day 
the Caffers attacked the cattle in the most daring manner, 
and succeeded in carrying off a great number; that they 
were kept in the most feverish state of excitement in conse- 
