Документ взят из кэша поисковой машины. Адрес оригинального документа : http://www.mso.anu.edu.au/pfrancis/tree/South_Africa.pdf Дата изменения: Thu Oct 14 05:59:19 2010 Дата индексирования: Tue Oct 2 03:52:34 2012 Кодировка: Поисковые слова: http www.badastronomy.com phpbb index.php

Our Ancestors from South Africa
Paul Francis, 2010

distraction from the serious business of making money through trade. The first of our family to visit the cape were French sailors on ships run by the French East India company, stopping at the Cape to resupply en route between France and Mauritius (see Mauritius section). Many must have passed through Cape Town, whenever there was a state of peace between the French and Dutch Governments, and we know that Antoine de Chazal briefly stopped off at the Cape in 1788 en route from his home in Mauritius to be educated in France. In 1795 the Government of Holland was overthrown by a French-inspired revolution, and the Prince of Orange fled to England in a fishing boat. The British government were afraid that the Cape would fall into hostile

The Dutch Colony

Our story starts in the mid 18th century, when the Cape was owned and run by the Dutch East India Company. As far as the company was concerned, the sole purpose of the Cape was to protect their lucrative trading routes to the Far East. Everything was geared towards supplying and protecting the ships. Colonists were useful in growing produce to resupply the ships, but otherwise were an unnecessary

1


(French) hands, and threaten their vital trade routes to India. So they resolved to get in first, and in June 1795 a small British army landed, and after a brief engagement, accepted the surrender of the the colony. Two years later, the British sent out of governor. Travelling with him was his secretary, Andrew Barnard, and Andrew's remarkable wife, Lady Anne Barnard (neИ Lindsay). She was the first of our ancestors to spend any substantial time in South Africa.

Lady Anne

In her twenties, she moved to London, sharing a small house in Berkeley Square with her widowed sister Margaret, who was a famous society beauty. The "Lindsay sisters", as they were called, enjoyed a unique position in London society. Margaret's beauty, and Anne's charm, wit and generosity made them extremely popular, and their house became a social centre, and a favourite resort of some of the most famous literary and political men of the day. Pitt, Burke, Sheridan, and Windham were a few of those who availed themselves of the sisters' hospitality; the Prince of Wales was also one of their frequent guests, and his friendship with Lady Anne lasted all his life. They also enjoyed a considerable share of Court favour from King George and Queen Charlotte. Lady Anne must have received many proposals of marriage, but by 1790 had reached the age of 40 still single. From hints in her letters, it appears that she had been in love with Henry Dundas, a Scottish politician she had first met in her early twenties, who had risen to become one of the foremost lawyers in Scotland, and then moved to London where he became a cabinet minister, and ended up as Secretary for War, a crucial post in the midst of the Napoleonic wars.

Lady Anne was a remarkable lady, and you can read much more about her in a separate section of these notes devoted to her alone. She was the daughter of the impoverished Scottish Earl of Balcarres, and grew up in a rambling decaying castle in Fifeshire. In her early twenties she wrote a ballad "Auld Robin Gray" which became wildly popular and is still played today. She was also quite a talented artist, and all the pictures of South Africa in this section are her own work.

Henry Dundas seems to have reciprocated her feelings, but chose to marry for money and
2


influence instead. His marriage was very unhappy, his wife flagrantly unfaithful, and he spent many evenings escaping from this domestic discord at the house of the Lindsay sisters. When he divorced his wife, Lady Anne must have felt that her chance had come. But in 1793, he married again, and once more chose a wife of wealth. We don't know how Lady Anne took this, but within a matter of months, she stunned all her friends by marrying Andrew Barnard, a man 15 years younger than her. The marriage was by any standards highly imprudent; Andrew was in poor health, and neither of them had much money. Their only hope was for Lady Anne to use her social connections to get Andrew a good job, and for three years she tried in vain. But finally, her old flame Henry Dundas came good, and Andrew was given the post of Secretary to the newly appointed governor of the Cape. In 23rd February 1797, Lady Anne took sail at

"But to return to our voyage. The heat decreased as we passed the Tropic of Cancer, and, after having quitted our blankets and cloth habits, we all took to them again. Our course was pretty direct by the chart from the time we passed the Madeiras (where you made us go into a fine scollop to avoid certain French cruisers which we have since heard you had intelligence of) till we got into the latitude of the Cape, where contrary winds vexed us much, and blew us very nearly into the latitude where the 'Guardian' was lost by mountains of ice. However, five or six days produced a favourable change, and the joyful news of land being seen was announced, though in truth it was so enveloped in fog that we did not enjoy its appearance till we were exactly placed in

Plymouth with her husband on HMS Trusty, and on 4th May, they arrived at Cape Town. Here is how she described the arrival (taken, like almost all the quotes in this section, from letters she wrote to Henry Dundas):

the bay opposite to Cape Town. Then, as if by one consent, the Lion's rump whisked off the vapours with its tail; the Lion's head untied, and dropped the necklace of clouds which surrounded its erect throat, and Table Mountain, over which a white damask table-cloth had been spread halfway down, showed its broad face and smiled. At the same time guns from the garrison and from all the batteries welcomed His Majesty's Government, and the distant hills, who could not step forward to declare their allegiance, by the awful thunders of their acquiescing echoes, informed us that they were not ignorant of the arrival of the Governor, who was at that moment putting his foot on land. Nothing could be finer than the coup d'oeil from the Bay; yet nothing can have so little affinity with each other as the bold perpendicular mountains, bare and rocky, and the low white card houses, which from
3


the are, But are

distance seem even smaller than they and scarce large enough to hold an ant. this is only appearance, in reality they excellent.'

loaded with two bundles of sticks slung across his bare shoulders. It made one sigh at first in looking at the weight of the bundles; the only comfort was that one of them only was for the master, the other was for the private benefit of the slave. We walked up the town, which I found much superior in appearance and area, and in the size and accommodation of the houses, to what I had expected.

The first thing that struck me, strongly and disagreeably, was a very offensive smell in the air, and I afterwards found it in some of the houses: I was told it proceeded from the oil with which the slaves grease their hair. Waggons of wood next appeared, driven by one man, eight and ten horses moving with perfect docility to the crack of his whip. Next we saw more melancholy evidences of the far distant classes amongst human creatures -- slaves returning from a seven or eight miles' distance, each man

Lady Anne was the most senior wife present in the colony, and had been specifically entrusted by Henry Dundas with the task of making friend with the Dutch. With her husband she settled into the castle, and was soon throwing

4


balls where the British officials and officers could mingle with the suspicious Dutch residents. Here is how she described her first ball: "I have given a most capital party on the 3rd of this month, and shall have one the first Thursday in every month. It is true, some of the Dutch fathers of families were sulky and stayed at home, being lukewarm, I suspect, to the English Government ; but the mothers and daughters came, and to plough with heifers has always been reckoned a good means to improve reluctant soil. By-and-by I shall get the fathers, you will see. I had a fiddle or two and a bit of supper after; all went most friendly. The 'hop' gave me also the opportunity of obliging the juvenile part of the Army and Navy, who, as I have told you, have been kept much in the background by their commanding officers. The invitations were conveyed through the mediums of the colonels of the Army and captains of the Navy to the subaltern officers, and thus all of them who were best behaved and most gentlemanlike were sent, and I think enjoyed themselves thoroughly, flirting a good deal with the Dutch ladies, who did not seem to share their fathers' dislike of English officers." For the first few years, she had a wonderful time, climbing Table Mountain, going on excursions up-country in a wagon train, working hard to befriend and conciliate everyone. The contrast with her old life in London was sometimes stark, as she noted when getting out candles to explore a tigerinfested cave, and finding that they had last been used in a society dinner in London: "We had fortunately brought a tinder-box, and the gloom of the cave was soon illuminated by some wax candles which I packed up after my last party in Berkeley Square -- you will remember! They little thought, those candles, when their tops had the honour of shining upon some of their Royal Highnesses, and in your right honourable face, that their bottoms would

next illuminate the Drup Kelder in South Africa." She was struck by the diversity of races at the Cape, and tried to sketch all the different groups. She even tried to attend a slave market, but was told it would be improper for a lady to do so. Here is her account of meeting with a Bushman chief:

"I went with Mr. Barnard to Cape Town yesterday to see the chief of one of the tribes of what is called here the right Bushmen. What a courageous fine fellow that young man must be, who, after having gone on plundering a neighbouring nation (the Hottentots) for such a length of time, trusts himself with a band of them to come down (the first time a Bushman ever came voluntarily so far) to see the English Governor at the Cape ! His brother only accompanied him. The chief, whose name was ' Philan ' -- I am willing to hope a contraction of philander -- was covered with old military ornaments of different regiments, some of which we had brought with us from England, having stored ourselves from an old shop for such things with all the ornamental brass we could pick up. Different people had given him some very old clothes before he came to
5


pay me a visit at the Castle, so I did not see him quite in his unadorned state of loveliness. But over these clothes he wore his own, the skin cloak and all his decorations -- gorgets, belts, and pouches. His countenance was good-humoured to the greatest degree, with more character in it than the Hottentot face, which has rarely more than gentleness to boast of. His hair was perfectly different from the hair of any other human creature I have seen, as it was like fringes of fine knotted black worsted -- such knotting as old ladies do for beds. In the front of his forehead he wore a little button, hanging down, somewhat like a pagoda, and behind he had a queu (I don't

think I have spelled this word aright), that is a pig- tail, which hung down an inch, with two shells to it. I was quite delighted with the dress of the tail -- it showed he was no democrat ; but it is not exactly such as is worn by our captains in St. James's Street. As they speak no Dutch, and as the interpreter (a Hottentot) was obliged to leave them to fetch the rest, I could not get so much of their minds as of their faces. But they seemed much pleased with the English, and are to bring their vrows to visit me this winter. The Gonagua man took great pains to tell Mynheer Barnard what pretty girls there are in that country ; theirs is the country described by Valliante,

so perhaps there may have been some truth in his representation of 'Narina.' They have some ideas of marriage -- the chief and his brother had two wives each, but one or two of the Hottentots who accompanied them only one apiece. We gave to all coarse handkerchiefs, knives, scissors, needles, thread, and beads. To the chief I gave a very fine button, which he instantly tied round his neck, and Mr. Barnard gave him a coat and waistcoat, which he also put on, throwing off his clothes to do so. Fortunately, Mr. Barnard at that time gave these two articles only, else I know not to what lengths the chief would have carried his toilette in my presence. There is something singularly delicate in the make of the Bushman -- his arms are so finely turned and hands so small (one of the fingers of this one was withered off by the bite of a serpent). His wrist was as delicate as that of a lady's, yet when he bent his bow it seemed to be strong, and the wildness of his figure was striking -- but their tones ! Oh, how strangely savage ! They have all the clucking noise of the Hottentots, each word being so divided, but accompanied by sounds, or rather groans, quite uncouth. We gave them some brandy, which they greedily took, and, previous to their departure, some gimlets, and an old sword, and to each some tobacco and a new pipe. They were quite happy, and, bidding us farewell, made each a sort of bow with his hat or handkerchief in hand. The chief, rapid in his motions, made a low one ; a table was near, and the tobacco-pipe (stuck in his hat), knocking against it, was shivered to pieces. Never, no never, did painting convey such an attitude, or the feelings of nature speak so plain. He did not gaze at it, or pick it up. He covered his face at once with his hand, desolation was in his heart, and he stood there till, ready to burst into tears, he could just turn aside to prevent them from dropping. Meantime we had sent for another pipe. The Hottentots clucked to him that here was another ; he took his hand from his face -- saw the pipe -- received it -- but the remedy to his sorrow was too sudden for the transition of
6


joy to follow it -- the pain of the broken pipe stuck, though the new pipe was in his hand. He then picked up the fragments and placed all once more in the hat, of which he seemed very proud, and with a deep sigh and a consoled ' Tankee,' went off. By the bye, I asked him if he had any objection to giving me a little of his queer hair and his queue -- giving him a fine large shell to tie in its place, which enchanted him. He was greatly flattered by my request, and held down his head to have it cut off, which the brother seeing, came forwards with his fringed top also. I had meant this modern relic for Lady Jane, and had written her a note, but it looks so odd and uncouth that I think it would rather frighten than please her. Perhaps, as you are a bold man, and not easily scared, I may send it to you, or a little of his hair." As time went on, however, life became harder. A new governor arrived, one who sidelined Andrew Barnard, and was eventually recalled for corruption and embezzlement. Infighting within the British community became rampant under this new governor, and the whole British community was demoralised by the news that peace with Napoleon was in the offing, and that when it came, the Cape would most likely be handed back to the Dutch.

resume his old job of Secretary, and Lady Anne had intended to join him, but in 1807, after only a few months at the Cape, Andrew died. In her widowhood Lady Anne returned to Lady Margaret's house in Berkeley Square, where the sisters resided together, and she took up the thread of her life very much where it had been broken by her marriage. Among her best friends at this time were Sir Walter Scott and the Prince Regent. Lady Anne had no children. But about fifty years after her death, her nephew's grandson, Edward Baldwin John Knox, would settle in South Africa.

The Great Safari
In February 1803, the Cape was indeed returned to Dutch control, the English flag was hauled down, a Dutch garrison replaced the British troops, and the Barnards came home. Dutch rule was to be short-lived, as war soon broke out again, and the British re-took the Cape in 1806. Andrew Barnard came out to

In the first half of the 19th century, the British presence at the Cape steadily expanded, particularly around Port Elizabeth and nearby Grahamstown. Many of the Dutch farmers (Boers) resented this and decided to move further inland away from the British government, setting up independent states in lands that had been temporarily devastated by Zulu invasion.
7


John Lymer Cope Charles Frederick Joseph Cope Rev. Charles William Stocker

Francis Harriet Stocker

Frances Dupuis John Patrick Cope Robert Knox Edward Baldwin John Knox Lady Maria Lindsay May Knox ? Czerney Carolina Helena Czerney ? Krupp

Jane Laure Cope Francois Joachim John Rouillard

Jean Francois Frederic Rouillard

Marie Laure Drieux Philippe Rouillard Edmond Joseph Antoine de Chazal Edmee de Chazal Margaret Nancy Rouillard Margurite Claire Rouillard

Francis Thompson Francis Robert Thompson "Matabele" Nancy Hely Thompson Georgina Rees Ann Gill Ann Backhouse

Colonel Charles Rees

In 1850, the first of our ancestors to settle permanently in South Africa arrived, newlyweds Francis and Ann Thompson. Francis came from a line of Yorkshire squires who had lived on their own land for six centuries. There were members of the family who had served their country as soldiers and sailors, but the only remarkable distinction achieved through the years was that of being the best horsemen in their county. His wife Ann came from the Cumberland family of Backhouse, well-known bankers of their time. Her family had strong leanings towards the Church, and there was a large sprinkling of clergy among her relatives, but she had also a strong Quaker strain. Ann seems to have had quite a strong and independent streak - while little more than a schoolgirl she fell in love with a man of whom her parents disapproved, and ran away to Gretna Green to marry him. Unfortunately he

died within a year and she returned to her family. Despite the family tradition of staying comfortably at home, Francis had long had an ambition to become a big game hunter. When his father died and left him ё7000, his chance had come. Egged on by his fiancИ Ann, they married in June 1850 and almost immediately set out for the wilds of the Cape Colony. The landed at Port Natal, and headed inward to the new Boer settlement of Pietermaritzburg, where Ann was to stay while Francis ventured into the wilds. Before long, Francis was venturing far and wide into the wilds of Africa, hunting and bartering. He ventured as far as the Zambesi, met David Livingstone, and was able to make a quite reasonable income. Ann must have been less happy. She was stuck in the dusty frontier settlement of
8


Pietermaritzburg, where her first child was born. As more children arrived, her son says that she began to think that the shooting and exploration had gone on long enough, and when Francis was home from his expeditions they began to talk about settling down and buying some land in South Africa, and making it their permanent home. But during one of Francis' trips, an event happened which completely changed their outlook. Francis' elder brother, who had come out later to Natal, talked Ann into investing their money in a project to salvage a wreck in the harbour at Port Natal. This was said to be worth a considerable sum, and their fortune should easily be doubled. The deal was put through, but before the work began a storm sent the wreck and most of Francis and Ann's money into the Indian Ocean, beyond the reach of salvage. It was a pretty bad tale to have to tell the returning traveller, as it changed the whole aspect of their African plans. Something was saved from the debacle, but certainly not enough to provide for a growing family. Trading, of which Francis had gained some experience, offered a solution; and he buckled down to the uncongenial routine of a partnership in a shipping and trading concern at Port Elizabeth. It was here that their son, also named Francis Thompson was born in 1857. In later years he acquired the nickname "Matebili Thompson" but I will use it throughout to distinguish him from his father. As he grew up, the Thompsons were establishing themselves as important members of the Port Elizabeth community. Here is how Matebili Thompson describes his youth: "I grew up with boys of whom some became famous in the history of South Africa. I can remember being popped over a garden wall one afternoon by a boy who became a justice of the Supreme Court. I was the youngest and most agile of the gang, and it was required that I should steal a fowl from the neighbour 's yard and hand it over to my friends. It was needed for a stag picnic the next day, and the fact that the owner of the bird was to be a guest only made the adventure more exciting. Besides the companionship of my boy

friends, and the many devious escapades which are part of any healthy boy's existence, I found special pleasure in wandering about and watching the growth of the town. Building and other development was going forward, and I soon became a friend of the artisans. I think I must have been more than usually alert in acquiring general information of all kinds, as I certainly gained a store of practical knowledge that was to be of the utmost value to me in later years. I always found making friends with people of all classes an easy thing. I inherited a gift of languages from my mother, and thus quite naturally became proficient in Dutch, and in the various native languages that I came across. Had it not been for my mother 's influence I have no doubt that I should have become a very rough small diamond indeed, but she was adamant in morals, manners and the necessity of education. Just because the dangers of contamination in a new country of mixed population were ever present, she and many like her were much stricter than would have been necessary in a more settled community... I had discovered in my talks with builders that copper nails were hard to get in the country, that the supply had run short, and that Europe and the nail makers were very far away. A small boat was the beloved possession of myself and some of my boy friends. One calm day I commandeered the boat and rowed out to one of the wrecks that lay not far from the shore at Port Elizabeth. With a small chisel I prized out the copper-headed nails from the hull, and filled a little bucket. I then made my way back to town and sold them. I think I was aged ten, and I remember that the sum I realized gave me more joy than any money I ever earned afterwards." In 1870, diamonds were discovered in the Kimberley, and the 13 year old Matebili Thompson set out on foot over the mountains to try his luck. Here is how he describes it:
9


"Life on the diggings was hard work for a boy. I hired a native for ten shillings a month and his food, and together we toiled from sunrise to sunset. My food was mealie meal and a little tea and coffee. Meat was rare. The life had its compensations for in each bucket of gravel I hoped that I might come upon a diamond. Most of those round me had some luck, but nothing came my way. At length the day arrived when food and money were almost exhausted and I nearly gave up in despair. Then, to my delight, my trusted native brought me a beautiful stone. This was on a Thursday. I dissembled my excitement and worked until the Saturday, when I went into Klipdrift to sell my treasure. I realized 40 pounds, and with a great sense of importance I laid in a further stock of provisions and returned to my camp with 25 pounds. I put the money carefully into my little box, determined that this should constitute my capital for eventualities. I toiled on for another month, but with no luck of any kind. Then one day, feeling heartsore and despondent, I returned to my tent and found that my box had been broken open and my money stolen. I was only a lad and the blow seemed almost overwhelming. I had nothing left, and food on credit, especially for a lad of my age, was not to be had. I decided to give up this dream of wealth before I got into debt, and try something else." For the next three years, he worked as a trader, went hunting far into the interior (roaming around Bechuanaland and reaching the Limpopo river), and learned to speak several native languages. He became a friend of Cecil Rhodes and several other people who were to be of great importance in later days. And then in 1874, using money made from selling feathers and ivory, he bought a block of land on the frontier, on the Hartz River in Griqualand West, where he was one of the first pioneers on the far northern borders of the Cape Colony, right up against the borders of the uncivilized and little explored interior. He named the farm "Cornforth Hill", after the home of his ancestors in Richmond, Yorkshire, and over the next four years amassed a quite respectable three thousand sheep and six hundred head of cattle.

Meanwhile his father Francis, who had also moved to the Kimberley with the rest of his family, became involved in politics, and was elected as one of the first members of the legislative council of Griqualand West. We will come back to the Thompsons after meeting the next ancestors to arrive in South Africa.

The Disgraced Vicars Daughter

We must now turn to the quiet English parish of Dreycott-on-the-Moors in Staffordshire, and its vicar, the Reverend Charles Stocker. The Stockers were university people, parsons doctors, lawyers etc for a good many generations. Charles took holy orders at Oxford in the early 19th Century and became a don at St. John's College. The college at that time was strictly celibate and when Charles got married he had to leave Oxford. His wife was from a French (Huguenot) family settled in England and her father was Vice-Provost of Eton College. Charles was found a living on Guernsey Island but eventually wangled a much more lucrative living at Dreycott-on-theMoors in Staffordshire. They lived in an enormous double-storey house with about twelve bedrooms which was necessary in those days. The parish was wealthy and a lot of the country people were free-holding yeoman farmers owning their own land and not tenants or labourers under the squire as in most of England. Frances Harriet Stocker, one of the younger daughters, did the unmentionable thing of falling in love with a yeoman farmer, John Lymer Cope, and the old rector refused her his permission to marry him as he was "beneath her station in life". Frances was twenty-eight when they eventually decided to elope and get married without Papa's permission. They did this and sailed off to Canada in 1862. In retaliation Charles in his will cut Francis off with one shilling. They settled at lakeside near Toronto and three boys were born there, the last being Charles (Carol).

10


necessary. I will let Matebili Thompson take

Drawing by Frances Harriet Stocker About this time the old Rector died and Frances was duly paid 1s. out of his estate. Her older sister Emily had married and lived in Natal at Warley Common. She offered to share her inheritance with Frances, but Frances was so hurt by what her father had done that she refused to accept a penny. So Emily bought a farm at Rudolfs Hoek and gave it to the latest baby (Carol) as a christening present. Just at this time while John Lymer, Frances and the family were in church one Sunday something frightened their horses which were tethered outside and they bolted with the trap and plunged into Lake Ontario and were drowned. The family were finding farming in Canada hard and winters freezing and they took the accident as a sign from God. So they accepted Auntie Turner 's plan and left Canada to settle on the Hoek, 1874, the owner of the farm, Carol, being three.

up his story: "I rose at the first streak of dawn and with my natives was going to the kraals when I saw in the distance a native lad named Mangale coming towards the house. I thought this strange, as all natives in the surrounding country had fled northward. When the boy got to the homestead he told us that his father had sent him to warn us that we would be attacked almost immediately. He had overheard a conversation some twenty miles away the night before, and as he and his father had previously worked for me, they showed their gratitude by giving me warning -- one of the few instances of the kind I know of. I warned my cousin and also my father, who was just getting out of bed. We ordered the three natives to get their guns ready, and scarcely had we done so when we saw in the distance a body of thirty mounted Kaffirs galloping down on the homestead. These, as it turned out, were merely the advance party. Most of them were mounted on grey horses and wearing European helmets and soldier 's coats. They had surprised a detachment of our troops at Klein Boetsap and defeated them, our men making off in the darkness as best they could and leaving the bulk of their ammunition, horses and clothing, to the enemy. This troop, as was generally the case with our men, had not taken precautions against surprise, and had even neglected to post outlying pickets. The Kaffirs halted about a hundred and fifty yards from the homestead and there
11

The Native Raid

We now return to "Matebili" Thompson. In July 1878, he had been farming at his homestead at Cornforth Hill for four years, and had become moderately prosperous. But in that year, a concerted rising of the natives began across the frontier regions, culminating in the Zulu war (the battle of Rorke's Drift was featured in the movie "Zulu"). Cornforth Hill, being on the extreme frontier was extremely vulnerable, and Matebili Thompson's father Francis was so worried about his son's safety that he decided to come and visit him. On 18th July, hearing rumours of attacks, the father and son (together with a cousin just out from England) decided to begin preparing their stock in case an evacuation became


awaited the arrival of a hundred more men. The whole force then concealed themselves in a donga, or dry river bed, which ran round the homestead at a distance of a hundred yards. My father and I agreed that I should attempt to parley with them. I put down my gun in the house behind the door, and stepped out in front, although I must admit that I was very nervous. On my calling that I wished to speak to them they immediately replied with a volley of bullets, but fortunately I was not hit. I went back for my rifle and returned their fire. My father, who had taken up a position on the left hand of the house, behind a little portable blacksmith's forge, repeatedly called to me to keep cool and shoot straight, as our only chance was to make a good stand. He was using an elephant gun loaded with slugs, and was the first to draw blood, hitting one of the leading attackers in the abdomen. A moment later I brought down the second man with a shot through the left shoulder, and then the firing became general. Owing to the concentrated fire of the natives none of our party was again able to expose himself so the fighting went on, we for dear life and the Kaffirs for murder, loot and revenge on the white man. We were but si