128 
SPORT AND WAR 
CHAP. XVII. 
CHAPTER XVII. 
THE BOOMAH PASS—1850. 
In December 1850 the Kafir War broke out that lasted 
until 1853. British Kaffraria had been held by military 
occupation from the termination of the previous war 
(1847). The military head-quarters were established 
at King William’s Town; and several minor posts were 
occupied in different parts of the country, to keep the 
Kafirs in subjection. 
The Kafir chiefs, however, formed a combination to 
throw off the white man’s supervision of their country, 
and committed several overt acts, with the intention 
of bringing on a war. Cattle were stolen from the 
Colony ; and although traced into Kafirland and to the 
marauders’ kraals the chiefs refused either to give up 
the beasts or to surrender the thieves. Wagons were 
also stopped upon the high roads and plundered, and 
in some instances the leaders and drivers killed. 
General, then Colonel, Mackinnon, commanded in 
Kaffraria, and was also chief civil governor of the 
province. This officer’s rule in Kaffraria had been most 
temperate and just towards the Kafirs, and his word 
