CHAP. XVII. 
THE EOOMAH PASS. 
131 
intercepting the chief should he endeavour to escape 
over the Kie; this column consisted of cavalry (Cape 
Mounted Rifles) and infantry, under the command of 
Colonel Eyre, 73rd Regiment. 
Another column, consisting of Cape Mounted Rifles, 
armed Kafir police, and infantry detachments from 
several regiments—in all about seven hundred men, 
under the command of Colonel Mackinnon—marched 
from the camp at Fort Cox direct into the Amatola 
Mountains, in the direction of the Keiskama Hoek, 
with the view of taking Sandilli prisoner. 
My nominal appointment in British Kaffraria up to 
the time of the breaking out of the war was that of 
major of brigade, but from the moment the troops took 
the field I became chief staff-officer, and the whole of 
the duties of the Adjutant-General’s and Quarter¬ 
master-General’s departments devolved upon me. 
The column under Colonel Mackinnon marched from 
the camp at Fort Cox at daylight on the morning of 
December 24, 1850, and after passing Burns Hill mis¬ 
sion station wound up the valley of the Keiskama, and, 
crossing that river three times, halted for breakfast on 
its right bank near the junction of the Wolf River. The 
whole distance was mostly through dense bush, with no 
roads except cattle-tracks or footpaths made by the 
natives, and with rugged mountains and dense forests 
all round us. 
