24. THE BAROLONG

If we are to be guided by the traditions of this tribe, as well as the siboko adopted by their ancestors, their ancient name must have been Ba-bena-tsipe, the Sons of the Dancers of Iron, a title which seems to indicate the skill of their predecessors in the working of metals. The name Ba-rotou was adopted after one of their early chiefs, who had the sobriquet of Rotou, but the recollection of the name of the particular individual who had this addition to his ordinary designation appears now to have been lost, and all the attempts of the writer to make the discovery have failed.

The name of the great ancestor of their chiefs, Noto, the Hammer for Iron, seems to demonstrate the antiquity of their previous appellation, and as they state that he lived very far to the north, the fact of the eighteen generations which have intervened between his days and our own would prove, if we calculate (owing to the frequent lengthened minorities which occur among these tribes in the line of succession) each generation at a probable length of thirty-five years, that he must have lived some time in the thirteenth century, and certainly, if we take the shorter calculation of thirty years, not later than the early portion of the fourteenth, and therefore when, according to their own tribal traditions, as well as those of the other races we have already investigated, they must have lived not only very far to the north, but also, in all probability, before their ancestors had arrived as far south as the intra-lacustrine region then occupied by the fore-fathers of the present Hottentots of South Africa.

The Barolong resemble the other portion of the Bachoana race in character, customs, and modes of thought, but there is such a variation in their language that the dialect which they speak has been called Serolong, in contradistinction to the Sechoana spoken by the latter, a fact which would seem to indicate that the separation of these two groups must have taken place at an early period of their migration to the south.

These people appear to have been great barterers. Natives, says Broadbent, came from distant parts to traffic with the Barolong. Some brought iron, of which they made hoes, spears, axes, and knives. Others brought brass rings, copper beads, and wire. They also traded in the hides and skins of all kinds of animals found in the country, and some brought a dark mineral powder, with which, mixed with fresh butter, they anointed their heads. The Barolong were also noted for their manufacture of fur karosses, which were much valued. The most prized were those made of the skins of the panther, leopard, wild cat, and jackal. The commoner ones were made of the skins of antelopes.

The Barolong and the Batlapin were the greatest hunters of the jackal, an animal which abounded throughout the plains of Seghoya and the entire country towards the Malopo. When engaged upon these hunting expeditions, M. Arbousset informs us that they went for days into the more desert parts of the country, or rather into those portions inhabited by only the wild game and the Bushmen, with their packs of little meagre dogs, singing their hunting songs, of which the following was their favourite upon such occasions : —

Pukuyne ! Hollo ! Jackal !

Unketele, unketele ; Pay me a visit, pay me a visit ;

Ki gu etetse, ki gu etetse, I have paid you a visit, I have paid you a visit,

Ka linao. On my feet.

Thus, armed with light assagais, they animated themselves and their dogs, pursuing the flying jackal at full speed, which they declare to be "the son of a father whose skin was worth a heifer of two seedtimes " (two years old).

The weapons of the Barolong were of the same description as those of the Batlapin, with the exception of the shield, which was square instead of the peculiar shapes used by the latter. They seem however to have possessed the same natural timidity as the rest of the Bachoana, and as a race were not a whit more warlike than the cowardly Batlapin themselves, who, as we have seen, were only brave when they found their antagonists weaker than themselves, or when they had defenceless women and children to deal with.

In reviewing the list of their early chiefs, little is known of any of them. Molotoe, as his name seems to imply, is said to have been skilful in inventions and resources, a statement which probably refers to the manufacture of iron. It would seem however certain that the tribe was always more numerous and powerful than any of the other Bachoana which had preceded them, as we find at the very earliest point of contact, when their traditions become more definite with regard to their history, that the Batlapin were living in such a state of subjection under them that the most galling and humiliating tribute was demanded of them, and that when they resisted, the latter were broken and scattered, and had to live an unsettled, fugitive life, very similar to that which the Batlapin themselves imposed upon the Balala at a subsequent period.

Tao (the Lion) appears to have been the Barolong chief who pushed the conquests of his tribe farthest to the southward, when he temporarily established his headquarters at a place which he called Taung (the Place of the Lion), and which has ever since borne his name. It was at this place that the fugitive Batlapin chief Mashoe came unexpectedly in contact with his old foe, whom he outwitted and foiled by his clever stratagems, when a number of Tao's over-confident warriors fell into the fatal trap which had been laid for them. It was whilst he was staying here that he first brought down the vengeance of the emigrant Koranas upon the Bachoana tribes, by his treacherous assassination of their great chief Kunopsoop and a number of his people ; when a struggle commenced between the two races, which ended in his being driven back again into the interior, a distance of some hundred and fifty miles.

His atrocities, however, although he was looked upon by the Barolong as one of their great chiefs, were not confined to his enemies and the strange tribes with which he came in contact, but even to his own subjects who had offended him he ever proved himself a pitiless and bloodthirsty tyrant. An immense precipice, which crested a hill near his great-place, became the terror of all those who excited his displeasure, the Tarpeian rock over which his victims were hurled, and these not in isolated cases, but frequently, in considerable numbers. His victims, without distinction of either sex or age, were driven shrieking in a crowd over the dizzy edge, while a heap of bleaching bones accumulated at its foot, to mark the implacability of his wrath.

At his death, on account of the increase of the tribe and the ambition of the younger sons, a division took place, and the tribe thenceforth became separated into four distinct branches, viz. :

1. Those under Ratlou, who were styled Baratlou, or the Men of Ratlou ; and from whom, on a further subdivision, the Batlou, or Men of the Elephant, had their origin;

2. Those under Tsili, known as the Baratsili ;

3. Those under Seleka, afterwards called Baseleka ;

4. Those under Rapulana, taking the cognomen of Barapulana, and finally Bapulana, the Men of the Showers, altering like the Batlou the ancient siboko of their tribe, taking as the object of their reverence, in honour of their chief, whatever might be indicated by the name he bore ; thus giving us an illustration of the manner in which a number of these typical emblems were originally selected. Further changes of this kind took place at a subsequent separation, but the majority of the divisions of the main tribe still rejoiced in the name of Barolong, and continued to " dance " and revere the ancient symbol of veneration of their ancestors.

This first recorded dismemberment is said to have been effected in a peaceful manner, and without any quarrel or civil war. In fact we shall find that the chiefs of some of these separate clans occupied different quarters of the same great agricultural towns, evidently for the sake of mutual defence in case of a hostile attack. On the present occasion, Ratlou, or as he has frequently been called, Tlou, or the Elephant, par excellence, remained with his portion of his father's tribe near the great-place, the others migrating principally in a southerly direction.

Tlou, upon his accession to the chieftainship, followed in his father's footsteps until he raised himself to the highest pinnacle of barbaric fame that any Barolong ruler had ever attained, and acquired dominion over a greater extent of country than any of his predecessors, extending as it did from the Bahurutsi mountains to the Hambana hills, a distance of two hundred miles, while all the intervening tribes became tributary to him.

At his death, however, similar to all such ascendancy among savage nations founded on the energy of a single warrior-chief, the power built up in a lifetime was shattered, and his tribe was divided among his sons. Wars and contentions for supremacy ensued between the rival chieftains, when most of the subject tribes, taking advantage of these domestic dissensions, threw off the Barolong yoke. Following this suicidal policy, from time to time this once formidable branch of the Barolong tribe divided and subdivided, until it dwindled into a number of petty scattered clans, without cohesion, and ready to fall a prey to every invader that chose to enter and ravage their country.

Seitshiro (the Hiding Place) succeeded his father in the nominal paramount chieftainship. Little is preserved in the tribal traditions with regard to his rule, except the incidents which marked its close, although he lived to an old age. At his death he left, among others, a young wife named Sareni, who had no children and who became a veritable Helen to her tribe. A desperate dispute arose between three of his sons as to who should obtain possession of her, the adherents of the rivals siding with their respective chiefs.

Sets-sero wished to take her as his wife, but the others and those who supported them would not permit it. At length Matlaku (the Roof) seized her, when a civil war, called "the Woman's War," at once broke out among them. The whole inhabitants of the town and the people of the tribe were divided, a great battle was fought in the town itself, much blood was shed in every path between the rivals, the place was sacked, the great-town was " broken to pieces," and most of it burnt to the ground. Matlaku, however, proving the stronger, retained the precious prize, and carried her off with the remnant of his people, seeking shelter for a time in the Batlapin country.

Some of the defeated claimants migrated towards the north, while others followed Sihunelo and joined him. Sareni herself, after her second husband's death, fled to the southward, upon her tribe being scattered by the Matabili, and lived near the site of the present Bloemfontein, where she survived to an advanced age, calling, according to custom, the son she had from her last union by the name of her former husband. The meaning of her name Sareni was " the one Wife " ; she was the daughter of a chief named Umkonta, or the Backbone. It was this fatal strife and the destruction of their own great-place in the desperate struggle of the rivals to obtain possession of this sable beauty, which gave rise to the native proverb with regard to this tribe, that " the Barolong are the calves of a great beast that devours the house it lives in."

To enable us to unravel from this point the thread of subsequent Barolong history, it will be better, owing to the number of offshoots into which they were subdivided, that we should pursue our inquiry under the following different heads :

1. The Baratlou and two of its subdivisions,

(a) the Batlou proper,

(b) the clan of the Barolong styling themselves Bataung ;

2. The Barolong of the Baseleka branch ; and

3. The Barapulana.

1. The Baratlou.

In resuming our investigation of the chiefs of this branch, we discover that upon the death of Seitshiro, and the conclusion of the civil war which ended in the destruction of the great-place of the Barolong and the dispersion of several branches of their tribe, Kehelwa or, as he was also called, Mokoto, or the Rump or Pathfinder,N succeeded as paramount chief, although his supremacy was merely nominal and confined to his acknowledged precedency in all rites and ceremonies, to his admitted claim to the chief joint (the breast) when an animal was slain, and to priority at the feast of firstfruits. No particular incidents of the rule of this chief have been preserved, except that his great wife was a daughter of Moroko (the Rainmaker), chief of the Baseleka, and sister of Sihunelo ; and that he died leaving his successor Gontse a minor, when Matlaku, his brother and the ravisher of Sareni, became the regent and guardian of his son during his minority.

Notes: This diversity of names arises from the same individual frequently having different names in different portions of his career ; and thus the apparent confusion, one speaking of him by the one appellation, another by another. The meaning of Mokoto is literally that as the rump of an animal invariably follows the head, so the true pathfinder never falters in following the trail of whatever he may be in pursuit of.

Gontse not having undergone the rite of circumcision at the time of his father's death, could not, for this reason, assume the government, and therefore his uncle ruled in his behalf until that act of initiation into manhood could be performed. His younger uncle, Mongale, despised the youthful chieftain on account of his small stature and mild temper, and concluded therefrom that his mental powers must be defective. Urged on by these ideas, he was induced to aspire to the chieftainship himself.

As a preliminary step, taking advantage of a rhinoceros having been killed in a hunt, he privately appropriated the breast of the animal for himself, which was tantamount to proclaiming himself the chief. Gontse pretended not to observe it at the time, but shortly afterwards he seized, with the advice of some of his captains, a number of calves, the property of Mongale, which he carried off and lodged in his own cattle kraal, and placing himself at the gate, dared Mongale to take them away. Mongale soon found to his chagrin that it would be prudent for him to overlook the capture of the calves, as he discovered that the adherents of the legal chief were more numerous and powerful than he had anticipated, and that his design to seize the chieftainship would be certainly frustrated should he attempt to carry it out. After this no further dispute arose with regard to Gontse's authority, although the great object of the people of this tribe appeared to be, when not engaged in hostile and predatory excursions against their neighbours, to fill up their time in fomenting quarrels and making civil war amongst themselves.

The site which Gontse chose for his chief place stood on an eminence which was destitute of tree or bush, but which, true to their Bachoana instincts, the Barolong covered with cornfields. Meribuwe, another town belonging to them, although not so elevated, was similarly situated, evidently with the intention of preventing surprise through the unseen approach of an enemy. Even as it was, Gontse had been twice attacked by the old Bangwaketsi chief Makaba, who had become the terror of the surrounding tribes ; but then the young Barolong chief attacked others whenever he could do so with any prospect of success. Indeed, writes Campbell, who visited them in 1820, all the nations in this land of strife and blood watched each other, and seized the first opportunity that might occur to attack and carry off cattle.

In 1823 the Mantatees broke suddenly into the Barolong territory, and one town after the other fell into the hands of the marauders, a number were sacked and burnt, many of the inhabitants were slain, and a considerable portion of their cattle was captured ; terror and confusion were spread throughout the country, and bands of fugitives were met with in every direction.

In 1824 a formidable division of the great marauding horde of invaders doubled on the line of retreat, and once more spread devastation among the Barolong. By this time, when they were visited by Mr. Moffat, some of them had learnt wisdom, and several of the weakened clans had banded together for mutual protection. Yet notwithstanding their increased strength, their dreaded enemies ravaged the country wherever they went. Thus from Pitsane, a Barolong town one hundred and twenty miles north-east of Lithako, Gontse, the paramount chief, Taoane, the chief of the Baratsili, and Inche, a Barapulana chief, retreated, after the Barolong had been driven out of Kunana or Mosheu by the first onslaught of the Mantatees, though in the previous year they had been joined by clans of the Bahurutsi and Bangwaketse, the latter living in a suburb called Moromoto.

Moffat describes it as a town which covered a large space, and contained upwards of twenty thousand inhabitants, all of whom had congregated there after the attack of the Mantatees. Although Gontse had the greatest number of people under him, Taoane, being considered the most warlike, was the more powerful. At the time of Mr. Moffat's arrival all the inhabitants were in a state of confusion and excitement from a threatened attack of the Mantatees who had remained in the country. A terrible battle had taken place between them and Sihunelo, the chief of the Baseleka branch of the Barolong, in which a great slaughter among the people of the latter had taken place, when the defeated chief with the remnant of his clan fled towards Pitsane.

On his arrival the alarm was great, as it was said that the pursuing enemy were following on his heels. The chiefs decided that they would not fall back on Koeromanie, as there was an old feud between themselves and the Batlapin, and Sihunelo declared that having lost all, he saw no alternative but to fight or die. The next day Mr. Moffat and a small party of Barend Barends' Griquas who were with him came suddenly upon the advancing body of the invaders. The Griquas did what they could to turn and drive back the enemy, and were successful as long as they remained on the ground ; but after their departure, the enraged enemy turned again and carried the town by storm, driving the inhabitants before them, and killing a great numberN. The Bapulana and the Batlou fled to the northward, Sihunelo turned once more to the south, while the head family with the remnant of their clan settled down at Lotlokani (little reeds), a river or spruit running into the Malopo beyond Meritsani River, not far from Mosega.

Notes: Evidence of Silolecoe, a woman nearly eighty years of age, of the Bakubune tribe. She had married a Morolong, and was the mother of the catechist Gabriel, of the Bloemfontein church mission, and was present at the scenes she described.

In 1826 these Barolong had extended to near the Malopo. The place where they lived was called Choaing, north-north-east of Motlotlobo, its name was derived from Lechoai (Salt). The Barolong of Choaing were under a chief named Bogachu. The country between them and the Batlapin was inhabited by the Balala, and about twenty miles distant were a great number of Barolong and Batlaro, to which the latter had fled to escape the attacks made upon them and the Batlapin by Jacob Cloete, a Griqua, and his bandit followers. It was not a proper town, but a temporary place of abode. At this time Gontse, the paramount chief, was still living and residing at a place called Kougke, where several thousand Barolong had re-assembled under himself and Molala and Mochuara, the Bapulana and Baratsili chiefs.

Moffat says that although he found the Batlapin not only ignorant and depraved, but exceedingly brutal, he still felt convinced that the Barolong he here saw far exceeded them in these respects ; but we must remember that when he visited them they had been (at least many of them) living the life of fugitives, and had been thoroughly demoralised by the state of uncertainty and dread in which their lives for several years had been spent. It is, however, certain that before this period, when the Batlapin themselves were living the same kind of fugitive life, the Barolong far excelled them not only as smiths, in the superiority of their metal work, and as carvers and workers in wood, being noted for the elaborate workmanship of their spoons, bowls, drinking cups, and large vessels, which abounded among them, but in the extent of their agricultural pursuits ; while in their mercantile proclivities they were unsurpassed, and might aptly have been termed the native traders of the Interior. "

Like the Batlapin and all other kindred tribes, they paid a dowry in cattle for their wives, a custom which seems to have originated in the idea of making a provision for the widow and children in case of the husband's death, but which has generally been described by Europeans as a purchase. Campbell states that they had a curious custom of calculating by nights instead of days, thus in speaking of a distance they would say that it was so many nights to such a place, instead of calculating so many days' journey.

Driven about as the Barolong clans had been, they were not allowed to rest long in their new habitations before they were once more attacked by one of those marauding parties from the south with which the whole country was filled, composed principally of Koranas, Griquas, and similar desperadoes, from whom the greater portion fled to the Kalahari for shelter, where on account of the scarcity of water they lost many of their cattle. After the storm had passed, the refugees once more returned to the neighbourhood of Mosega, where they remained until about 1830, when the western advance of the terrible Matabili drove the last vestige of their clans from that place, where Moselekatze built one of his great military kraals.

The wreck of the fugitives wandered to the southward, and after many privations and vicissitudes for a considerable time they joined their countrymen who had located themselves at Thaba Nchu in 1834 ; but on their arrival there the Baseleka branch ceased to acknowledge them as possessing the paramount sovereignty, and repudiated allegiance to them. After the destruction of the Matabili power and the flight of Moselekatze with his myrmidons towards the Zambesi, the fallen chiefs of this branch once more gathered their faithful retainers together, and leaving Thaba Nchu, they retraced their steps towards the interior, and settled in the country where they are now known as the Northern Barolong.

The Batlou (the Men of the Elephant).

These people formed the principal offshoot of this branch of the Barolong family, and by a reference to the pedigree of their chiefs we shall find that they stood next in priority to the chiefs paramount of the main branch. The Baratlou, as we have already seen, had many contentions among themselves, each struggling for supremacy. On one of these occasions they divided themselves under three separate leaders ; one of these fled to the Batlapin, another kept distinct and independent under the guidance of Makraka, the founder of the petty clan of the Barolong-Bataung, and a third remained in what they termed the Batlou country, from among whom the offshoot of the Batlou was formed.

Those who joined the Batlapin prevailed on Molehabangwe, the father of Mothibi, to make an attack upon the other portions of the tribe. To this he consented, when in the engagements which followed many of the Barolong were slain in the mutual slaughter. Molehabangwe, however, evincing more consideration than they did themselves, gave strict orders to his people that if any of the captains of the Batlou fell into their hands, their lives were to be spared ; and thus the life of Tchopi was saved, although he defended himself until two arrows pierced his body. Several other similar battles were fought between the rival clans and their allies.

The Batlou went afterwards on an expedition against Silutane, chief of a tribe living on the banks of the Likwa or Upper Vaal, in which the chief Silutane and many of the cattle belonging to his tribe were captured. In another expedition they accompanied some of the Bakuena (men of the Crocodile) against the Bapiri (men of the Hyena), in which they slew many of the latter, and drove away their cattle.

The Muramusana, a clan of the Bakuena, subsequently made an incursion into the Batlou country, and in their turn seized and carried away some of their cattle. A short time afterwards a large party of the Batlou, being out upon a great hunt, came suddenly upon another hunting expedition of the same Muramusana, when the Batlou immediately attacked them, captured their pack oxen, and slew many of their people.

They afterwards united in a foray upon the Bakobi to obtain cattle ; but when they attacked the cattle posts they met with such a warm reception that they failed in the object of their expedition. They then attacked the great-place of the tribe, but were again beaten off with loss. In a second attack which they made upon the same place, they were joined by Setebe, a neighbouring chief, but in this attempt the inhabitants of the town sallied out and set upon the Batlou with such resolution that they met with a more severe repulse than before, one of the chiefs who accompanied them, Matlaku, the uncle and former guardian of the paramount chief Gontse, being among the slain. Thus fell Matlaku, the abductor of Sareni, the fatal originator of " the Woman's War."

After the Barolong territory had been ruthlessly devastated by its fierce Mantatee invaders, the Batlou gave up what appeared to them a hopeless struggle, and they retreated in a compact body towards the north. Here, as the terrible Matabili spread themselves farther and farther into the doomed country of the Bakuena, they gradually grew in strength from the number of fugitives who from time to time joined their ranks, until they became a powerful tribe. To avoid the onslaught of a pitiless foe, they again fell back in 1836 in a north-easterly direction, until they occupied the country to the north of the Bapiri, along the banks of the present Nylstroom to the great mountain pass afterwards called by the name of their chief Makapan's Poort. Their leader fixed upon this locality as his headquarters or great-place, at a spot called Mamakoa, in the neighbourhood of which are two great caverns, which afterwards became famous in the annals of their tribe for the terrible siege they endured when beleaguered in them by the Boers. Their kraals or towns were situated along the foot of the high mountains, the present Waterberg, which were less wooded than those in the Bapiri territory, or Mogaritse.

At this time Mokopa, Mokopane, or Makapan as he was variously called, had succeeded to the chieftainship of the tribe. He became so renowned as a warrior, but at the same time so noted for his merciless character and the vindictiveness with which he carried on his daring exploits, that he obtained the surname of Sechuamara, or " the Bloody." His great stronghold, as we have already noticed, was situated in Makapan's Poort. About 1836 he attacked some of the more northern stations of the Bapiri, when he besieged and carried by storm Nguanalelle, the town of Seamogo, the younger brother of the Bapiri chief Sekuati, killed every inhabitant of the place, and carried off the whole of their herds of cattle.

On the northern frontier of the country claimed by Makapan was a small village of Bakuena called Matlatla, under a chief named Sebula, who migrated from the south during the confusion of the great native wars. Near this place a large salt vlei, or pan, Lechoaing (the place of salt), was situated, which had given its name to the native village. In April or May 1836 this locality was visited by an emigrant Boer, with his family and servants. He loaded his waggon with salt, and then wished to return ; but his oxen, which had been bitten by the tsetse, became too feeble to drag the load, and left it there, perishing one after the other. This appears to be the first instance on record of the oxen of a European being destroyed by this terrible fly.

Finding himself unable to move, the farmer, after losing his means of transport, furnished himself with another span by the aid of the muskets he had with him, from a kraal of the Barapulana, another branch of the Barolong, who had followed on the trail of the Batlou. Some of the inhabitants of the kraal were killed. They had never before come in contact with firearms ; and the people, seeing their comrades falling in the dust and killed at such a distance, fled panic-stricken, leaving their oxen and some cows in the power of the formidable white man, who drove them all away, and arrived safely with his capture amongst the Bapiri. From this tribe the wanderer went towards Delagoa Bay, where it was said that he, his family, and slaves all perished from the unhealthiness of the climate. This is one of the remarkable instances of the astonishing recklessness and daring which some of the old colonial voortrekkers displayed in their determination to find new homes for themselves in the unknown Interior.

He trekked on, he knew not whither ! the first of his race to pass through those mysterious wilds, whose river banks, wooded and reed covered, were the haunts of the python and the crocodile, travelling with his family through a perfect terra incognita swarming with ferocious beasts of prey, and passing scattered habitations of savage men, yet moving onward, although single-handed, like a conqueror, arrogantly levying blackmail from the trembling inhabitants, and retaining his prey after he had once seized it, in spite of all their efforts to prevent him. Such acts, however much they may be censured, shewed a determination of purpose, which may have been equalled, but never surpassed.

That portion of the history of the Batlou which relates to the desperate siege which they stood in the great caverns of Makapan's Poort, the almost utter annihilation of their tribe by the Boers of the Transvaal, and the causes which led to it, we shall defer until we come to consider the migrations of the Emigrant Boers themselves, and their effect upon the native races with which they came in contact.

The Clan of the Barolong styling themselves Bataung (the Men of the Lion).

Makraka, a chief of the Barolong, was the founder of the petty clan Bataung, a title which was in all probability selected in honour of his great ancestor Tao, the Lion. It appears that a quarrel arose between him and two of his relatives as to whom the supreme authority should belong, and as they could not agree upon the point they separated and declared themselves independent of each other. In 1810 Matlou and Lesuma were still lying in one town, which was at that time larger than Lithako, containing from ten to twelve thousand inhabitants ; but Makraka entered the Batlapin territory, and became for a time a kind of tributary to Molehabangwe, with whom he lived upon good terms until a breach sprang up between them caused by the criminal intercourse which Molehabangwe carried on with the wife of Makraka's son ; and the one thinking the witchcraft of the other to be stronger than his own in consequence of more people dying in his district than in that of the other, a separation took place, and a feud sprang up between the two chiefs.

Makraka then removed with his people to a place called Setabe, on a river seven days' journey from Lithako. Here he was living in 1818. It was shortly after this that the irate chief of the Bataung attacked and cut off an entire party of the Batlapin who had gone on a hunting and bartering expedition to the Bakalahari, with the intention of procuring wild-cat skins. This outrage aroused such an intense hatred and feeling of revenge in the breasts of the Batlapin against these Bataung that it led to a series of desperate struggles between them. As soon as the occurrence became known to Molehabangwe, Makraka found himself suddenly attacked, and many of the cattle belonging to his tribe captured. This so encouraged the Batlapin that they made a second and more formidable attack upon him, when notwithstanding the determined resistance of the Bataung, they were again defeated with severe loss. Their great-place was taken by the victorious Batlapin, and burnt down, and many of its inhabitants were slain. After this severe defeat and the destruction of their great town, the remnant of them fled to the Bakuena beyond the Bangwaketse. At this time however a portion of Makraka's clan revolted, and joined Molehabangwe, while the remainder to the number of about two thousand accompanied the chief in his flight.

The Batlapin, learning the place of their retreat, and burning for still further revenge, sent a third expedition against them. Makaba, the chief of the Bangwaketse, tried to dissuade the pursuing force from carrying out their undertaking, but failed in the attempt. They proceeded on their march, and Makraka found himself once more face to face with his old foes. But the tide of fortune now turned, and he was able, with the assistance of the tribe among whom his people had taken refuge, to inflict such a severe rebuff upon his inveterate enemies that they were obliged to make a hasty retreat. Makaba also, indignant that they had spurned the advice he gave, placed a strong force of his warriors in ambush to intercept the retreating Batlapin. Into this snare they fell ; and thus taken by surprise, and disorganised as they were, so many of them were slain that their expedition ended in a grievous disaster.

About the same time Makraka formed an alliance with his formidable neighbour Makaba. This was not however of long continuance when a difference arose between them, and Makaba threatened to attack Makraka after seedtime. The dread of this warrior was so great that many of the Barolong fled from their chief, and took refuge among their former foes at Lithako. Little more is known of the history of this clan, except that about the end of 1812 a chief belonging to Makraka came on a visit to Molehabangwe. During his sojourn there, he persuaded Molehabangwe to cut down a tree which stood in the square, and, they say, buried a stone near the tree. On returning home he sent a present of Kaffir corn to Molehabangwe, who died soon after the receipt of it ; on which the people interpreted the cutting down of the tree as signifying their chief's death and the burying of the stone as his burial, and asserted that poison was in the corn. This matter renewed the old misunderstanding between the tribes, and the feud appears ever after to have been kept up, although they did not consider themselves in a state of actual war.

Salakutu sometimes went out with a party professedly to hunt, was absent for a long time, and returned with many cattle he had stolen. When Mothibi saw this he would appear to be enraged, but a present of part of the plunder soon pacified him, and should the party injured complain, he took it upon himself to satisfy them. Their wars, says Campbell, generally proceeded from two causes, disputes about their wives, or abusing each other's people ; the party injured then invaded his neighbour's territory, carrying destruction wherever he went.

After this the clan of Makraka disappeared entirely from the scene, which led Dr. Livingstone into the error of imagining that the great tribe of the Bataung, whose career we shall examine in the sequel, had become extinct. Of this clan of the Barolong nothing more is heard, it was therefore most probably annihilated, like so many others of the minor clans during the terrible native wars which desolated the entire country a few years afterwards.

The Barolong of the Baseleka branch.

No traditions appear to have been preserved either regarding Seleka, the Blindworm or Grass-snake, the founder of the Baseleka, or of Koi-koi, his successor. They appear however to have resided, after their separation from the main branch, at a place called variously by different native authorities Tabeu, Thaba, Yataba, and Thaba Matjeeu. The last was probably the original name given to it, meaning the Mountain of Rocks or of Precipices. It was at this spot that Moroke, the Rainmaker, the father of Sihunelo, had his great-place ; it is stated to have been a considerable distance north of the Vaal. According to the evidence of Silolecoe, there was living near them a nation called Baga Motlatla, or the Batlatla, the men of the Corn-baskets, a clan of the great group of the Northern Bakuena.

The Barolong and Batlatla did not live in peace, and at length Moroke determined to end the feud if possible by taking his enemies by surprise and destroying them at a single blow. For this purpose, said Silolecoe, one day Moroke took a large number of his men to murder the Batlatla while they were still in bed. One of the Batlatla men, however, was out on a journey, and he saw the Barolong army coming towards his country. When he saw the Barolong approaching, he at once turned back to tell his chief that he saw a war coming. Upon hearing this, the Batlatla chief did not go out to meet the foe, but he commanded his men to take their arms, their assagais, their clubs, their battle-axes, and their shields, and to watch the whole night. He sent all the women and children away from the town, to hide themselves and sleep within the forests close by. In the evening the Barolong approached the great town of the Batlatla, without knowing that already the chief had heard of their coming.

Very early in the morning Moroke, the chief of the Barolong, commanded his men to fall upon the town like a great storm, while, as he thought, the Batlatla were still asleep, and thus an attack was made. But it was in vain ; for although Gaboronoe, the Batlatla chief, would not let his men go to meet the men of Moroke outside the town, they were waiting like lions within it. And then, as the Barolong came on to surprise the sleepers, the Batlatla came out like a swarm of bees upon them, and killed large numbers of them. Their chief Moroke lost his life, and many of his great men and his captains.

He left two sons of his great house, Mokgosi and Sihunelo, and so Mokgosi, the War cry or Alarm, was made chief in his father's stead. Some years after Moroke's death the two chiefs called their men together for a great jackal-hunt, and they did not know that a great hunt of the Batlatla was also intended, and thus the two parties met at a place called Kokane. When they saw the Batlatla, the two sons of Moroke remembered their father's death, and resolved to avenge it, so a dreadful battle took place at Kokane, and Gaboronoe, the Batlatla chief, was killed with many of his men ; and the Batlatla, after seeing their chief lying dead on the field, killed Mokgosi, the elder son of Moroke, also ; but in the end Sihunelo, the younger son of Moroke, and the father of the present Moroka, being a brave young man, fought until he had defeated the Batlatla, and then he returned to Thabeng, that is Thaba Matjeeu, which was near a fountain called Dibane.

Sihunelo became a powerful chief. His great wife, after she had borne him a son, Moroka, was made over to his brother Sabbedere or Tshabahre, in order, it was said, that the heir might have no rivals, and thus she remained the brother's wife. Among the many commandos in which Sihunelo was engaged against the surrounding tribes was one which he planned against the Bakuena. The Bakuena chief was Siluchoage, the head of the Batlatla branch of that people, and there was a large mountain called Shalili, named after a Morolong, between the Barolong and the Bakuena ; and Shalili was three days' journey on the north side of the Vaal, south of the river Tigane or Tigare.

Sihunelo invited the Batlapin to assist him in the attack, and they came to his aid in great numbers. His army is said to have been composed of eight thousand men, and on this occasion he was assisted by Coenrad Buys, a fugitive Boer, and a runaway slave, besides three others who possessed firearms ; and it was upon the assistance which he thought these weapons would afford him that he greatly relied, and considered from that fact that his army would be invincible.

As he advanced, a small party of Bakuena that was out on a petty foray was surrounded, and about fifteen men were killed. The great-place or chief town of the Bakuena was built upon a hill of difficult access, thus forming a place of considerable strength. It had deep precipices facing the Barolong quarter, but was level on the other side. The Barolong forces attacked it at two different points, in large bodies. When one party of warriors attempted to ascend the cliffs, they were repulsed by the Bakuena rolling down great stones upon them from the summit, so that they were glad to retire without being able to capture any cattle, which was the great object of the expedition.

The second party, however, advancing by a different route gained a footing upon the summit ; but when the Bakuena found that they had done so, they charged them with such resolute vigour that the enemy were quickly thrown into confusion, and put to the rout. The Barolong, knowing the gap or poort, escaped through it ; but the Batlapin, not knowing the country, were entrapped, and were driven head-long over the precipices, where they all perished. Thus the five muskets were found to be ineffectual in making an impression upon so strong a position, and one that was so resolutely defended.

Shortly after this attack, these Bakuena left the mountain, and migrated across the river Khing. Here they built their great town near a large mountain called Muchoane. Whilst here, a chief of the Batlokua, or the men of Ma-Intatisi, sent messengers to them, telling them they were to build walls round their kraals. This mission was to throw them off their guard, and the Bakuena, believing them, fell into the trap. They commenced building large circular walls while the messengers, having gained their entire confidence, still remained with them. The work, after great labour, was completed, and the Bakuena believed that now they could rest in security, when one of the Batlokua messengers secretly informed his chief that the Bakuena were now blind, and slept.

Then a commando was prepared, and with rapid marches came upon the Bakuena town in the dusk of the evening ; they concealed themselves behind the walls the Bakuena had themselves built, and a little after midnight they arose and fell upon the sleeping Bakuena, when many were killed, but others escaped in the confusion and darkness of the night. The fugitives dispersed in different directions, and some retreated towards the Barolong and took refuge under them.

It was shortly after this that the Batlokua, or the Mantatees as they were more generally called at that period, began to push their marauding expeditions into the country of the Northern Bakuena. Silolecoe stated that after this the Makali (Mantatees) collected great commandos to clear the country of the Bakuena, the Barolong, and all the other tribes. We have already described the rumours which spread as the Mantatee hordes went on accumulating in strength, and extending their devastations as they spread themselves farther and farther into the country ; and the attacks made by the invaders upon other portions of the Barolong tribe.

Mr. Broadbent, who commenced a mission among the Barolong in the year 1822, gives a considerable amount of reliable information with regard to the Mantatees both before and after their advance upon Koeromanie. At the time of their first irruption into the Barolong territory he was travelling across the country, in search of Sihunelo, unconscious of the danger he was running. On one occasion he came in actual contact with a party of them, but fortunately as they had never seen white men or waggons before, they fled from him with precipitation, imagining that they saw walking houses filled with white demons and sorcerers !

Miserable, solitary stragglers were sometimes met with ; one, a tall old man, who appeared more like a moving skeleton than a living being. On a raw piece of meat being given to him, he greedily devoured it like a dog, although there was a fire where he might have cooked it. At another time a fine young man, with a deep wound in the neck, was found lying on the ground quite naked. The care he had taken of his weapons excited the traveller's surprise, and would have been worthy of a warrior even in classic times. He had placed his assagais and battle-axe on the dry ground, then his shield upon them, and his kaross so as to cover the whole, and protected this with his naked body which was wet with falling rain. His weapons were his means both of defence and to obtain subsistence.

Other signs were not wanting that the missionary was advancing into a country occupied by the enemy. A short time previously he had passed a Korana kraal, under an old captain called 'Chu-de'-ep, who made his appearance enveloped in a jackal-skin kaross from his neck to his feet, carrying a tail of the same animal to brush off the perspiration and flies from his august countenance. Proceeding onward, Mr. Broadbent arrived at another station, under 'Kudeboe'kei, a captain of the same race.

Scarcely, however, had he arrived when an alarm was given that the Barolong were approaching, flying from the Mantatees. In an instant all was hurry and a Babel of confusion. The huts disappeared as if by magic, the mats of which they were composed were rolled up, and the sticks which supported them were tied in bundles. These, together with the scanty supply of culinary utensils that they used, were soon secured on pack oxen, and in an astonishingly short time they were hurrying away on their march towards the distant horizon. As they disappeared in one direction, clouds of dust arose in another, while the lowing of hundreds of cattle and the bleating of flocks of sheep and goats soon became audible. On these came, driven by a mixed multitude of men, women, and children, accompanied by a host of armed warriors, amid great noise and confusion, each party attending its special charge, while the entire multitude were under the command of Sabbedere, the brother of Sihunelo, the great chief of the Baseleka.

Sabbedere was a tall muscular man, armed with shield, battle-axe, and quiver of assagais, attended by a bodyguard similarly accoutred. A vast horde of the Mantatees had attacked them, and after a severe battle, in which they stormed the Barolong town, many Barolong were slain, and the remainder had to fly. In doing so they had purposely separated their forces into two bands. Sihunelo and his son Moroko had fallen back with those with them by one route, and Sabbedere by another ; and when Mr. Broadbent met them they were attempting to form a junction. The Korana villages were abandoned by their terrified inhabitants wherever the Barolong approached, as it was supposed that the Mantatees were in close pursuit.

The great-place of the chief, which had been so recently stormed and sacked by the invaders, was passed by Mr. Broadbent in his search for Sihunelo. It was beautifully situated near a river. There was abundant evidence of the haste with which the inhabitants had fled, as in some parts the houses were partly broken and partly burnt, here and there were strewn wooden utensils, and sometimes skeletons of persons who had been slain in the assault and of children who had been left by their friends and had been killed by the enemy or died of starvation were seen. A living child, frightfully emaciated, with a large wound in her left side, was found crouching near a door of a hut. The wound had been made by ravens attacking her. She was a girl of about seven years of age. A bare skeleton lay near her, the bones of her sister, who had died of starvation. She had survived for eighteen days, when she was found contending with three hungry dogs and some crows picking bones ! This was the town where Sabbedere and his people were attacked.N

Notes: This country was a portion of that which the early emigrant Koranas had forcibly seized from the Bushmen, and whence they had carried on their depredations against the Bachoana tribes.

The hosts of the Mantatees were then to the north of them. They were estimated at from forty to fifty thousand souls. It was from this point that they turned upon Lithako, where, as we have already seen, they were repulsed. According to Mr. Broadbent as well as the other authorities previously quoted, the Mantatees had not seen horses before, and they thought the horse and rider were one animal ; neither had they been previously opposed by firearms. They evinced, says this writer, desperate boldness in the unequal contest, and made one or two attempts to surround these strange animals which " spit fire " at them ; and it was not until about five hundred were shot that they commenced their retreat from their assailants, whom they could not reach with their weapons, for the Griquas galloped away to reload their guns, and then returned to fire.

The retreating enemy from Koeromanie fell back through a line of country upon the trail of these Barolong, as Sihunelo in his flight first made a temporary halt near the river Koralla, thence he moved to the Nalassi mountains for a short time, when he selected a beautiful spot called Maquassie. This was the very place upon which the Mantatee hordes were then advancing. Scarcely had Sihunelo settled in his new habitation in 1823, when a fresh alarm was raised that the Mantatees were coming. This was before daylight, and all was at once confusion and noise ; instant measures were taken for abandoning the town. In the twilight, amid the shouting of people, the lowing of cattle, and barking of dogs, parties of armed men commenced driving off herds of cattle, followed by women and children laden with such things as they could carry. The chief Sihunelo with some of his men remained to the last, and wished to persuade the missionary Broadbent to accompany them, as he could not remain to defend them and, he said, " it would be madness to hazard a battle, they are too strong for us."

This, at length, proved to be no false alarm ; the dreadful Mantatees were really in the vicinity of the newly raised town of the Barolong, but, strange to say, probably believing the place was abandoned, they passed at a short distance, and never came into it. This seemed the more surprising, as while the vast horde marched on in divisions formed of dense masses of people, the surrounding country was filled, as we have mentioned, with small parties of strolling Mantatees, who, while foraging for themselves, formed a cloud of scouts around them. To these the Bushmen might be added, and the very lions seemed accumulating along the line of march. The great host was three days in passing the neighbourhood of Maquassie in different divisions ; they moved towards the east, and yet during those three days not one of the numerous stragglers appeared on the high ground near the station. This fact aroused the superstition of the Barolong, who reported long afterwards that because the missionaries would not flee from the whole army of the Mantatees, these dared not come to the station while the missionary was there.

The Barolong on this occasion avoided collision with the main body, but cut off the poor stragglers by scores. The greater number of these unfortunate wretches appeared in a most miserable plight for want of food. They were reduced to eat their dogs, cowdung, and, in fact, what could no longer be a matter of doubt, they were found devouring their own dead !

The horrid extremities to which some of these retreating fugitives were reduced is related by Mr. Hodgson, when he describes how horror-struck he was upon discovering two women and a man concealed in a bush in the act of cooking a human leg ; near them was found the skeleton of a full-grown man and part of the body of another, of which a leg and an arm had been cut off, the head opened, the bowels drawn out, and the internal parts of the body exposed to view. One of the women was roasting part of the leg upon the coals, and the other was engaged with the man in eating with savage greediness the portion which had just been cooked, the man breaking the bones with a stone, and sucking them with apparent delight.

At this time, Mr. Hodgson writes, the invading tribes were truly formidable both as to their number and courage ; with the exception of the Griquas' guns there was nothing which could effectually oppose their progress, in whichever way they turned they carried all before them ; but what human adversaries could not effect, gaunt famine accomplished. The subsequent dissensions of their leaders enforced the final dismemberment of the vast host, which at one time had threatened the safety of a large portion of South Africa. It was at this juncture that one formidable section of them, which was said to have been composed of five confederate tribes, doubled again and re-entered the territory occupied by the Barolong clans, with the apparent determination of rooting out the last vestige of these easily conquered people. It was in dread of this renewed attack that Mothibi, the Batlapin chief, and his people fled to the southward ; and the missionaries Moffat and Hamilton retired to Griquatown with their families for greater security from the advancing enemy.

These invaders were led by the Bataung chiefs belonging to the Leghoya group, whose history it will be necessary to investigate more fully as we proceed. Early in 1824 some eight or ten men of this tribe paid Maquassie a visit, but instead of fraternising with the inhabitants, remained at a short distance from the town, where, although several of the Barolong had some intercourse with them, the greater portion of the latter treated them with suspicion ; and it was not long before the real cause of this ominous visit became fully demonstrated.

In May 1824 Sihunelo found himself suddenly attacked in his great-place at Maquassie. This onslaught was made by the combined forces of the invaders, who had surprised the inhabitants by forced marches, and attacked them just before daybreak. Sihunelo was completely taken by surprise, and was unprepared to resist them effectually, although he and his people fought bravely and secured most of their cattle. They were beaten out of the place and obliged to flee, while the enemy retained possession of the town, which they sacked and burnt, the mission station being served in the same manner. Not satisfied with this, the victorious enemy under their great leaders Makari and Mophete pursued the flying Barolong down the Vaal, until some ten or twelve miles west of Moos.

In this extremity Sihunelo dispatched messengers to Griqua-town, imploring assistance, while the Barolong and the Koranas were scattering in all directions before their vindictive pursuers. Waterboer, after being reinforced by the chief of Campbell and others, at length started for their relief, when the Griquas were joined by the Koranas, who hoped that a united attack would be made upon the enemy. The Griquas however wasted their time in hunting ; and then, not troubling themselves to ascertain the actual facts, began without any ground of suspicion to maliciously accuse Sihunelo and his people of having destroyed the mission property and in order to hide their treachery charging the mischief upon reported invaders. The Griqua Waterboer and the other captains, getting Sihunelo into their power, obliged him to pay a fine of six hundred head of cattle. Mr. Broadbent was, however, afterwards able to shew clearly the innocence of Sihunelo in the matter laid to his charge by the Griquas, who were compelled by the colonial government to restore their ill-gotten booty.

The population of Griqualand and of the surrounding region was at this time in a state of excitement, unrest, and apprehension, not so much from the proximity of the marauding Mantatees, Bataung, and other tribes, as from the so-called Bergenaars, whom the Griquas dreaded much more, as they had firearms equally with themselves. It was evident therefore that Waterboer reserved his strength and ammunition, collected professedly to resist the spoilers of Sihunelo, in order to make an assault upon the Griquas who disclaimed his authority, and had taken refuge in the Berg.

With regard to this portion of the Barolong history, Silolecoe stated that at this time some Griquas made a foray upon the Barolong and carried off a lot of cattle, when to avoid a repetition of such conduct Sihunelo retreated to the Barapulana, who were staying at Pitsane. This clearly proves what the Barolong themselves thought of the affair of Waterboer.

We have already recounted the incidents which followed this retreat of Sihunelo in rapid succession, under the head of Barend Barends and that of the Barolong of Pitsane. Suffice it here to say, that when in the neighbourhood of this last town he sent out his men to Setlagole for the ostensible purpose of having a lion-hunt, but in reality to reconnoitre the country and to discover if possible the whereabouts of the enemy who had given chase to him under Mophete and Makari, as soon as they discovered his flight. Whilst employed upon this expedition, they unexpectedly came upon the Bataung, the same body from whom Mr. Moffat had so narrowly escaped on his return from the Bangwaketse, when his waggons were attacked and he was saved by a small Griqua escort under Barend Barends, who had fortunately joined him but a short time before.

Meeting their old foes face to face, a savage and furious battle ensued, although many of the Barolong fled at its very onset. A considerable number however rallied round their chiefs. The slaughter which followed was great, especially among the leading men. Several of Sihunelo's near relatives were slain, among whom was Sabbedere, his favourite brother, besides a number of minor chiefs or captains. Several leaders among the enemy were also struck down, but the great loss on the Barolong side was doubtless that of their great fighting captain. Sabbedere died like a warrior. He grappled with the most determined foes of his tribe until overwhelmed by numbers, but even then he did not submit until after laying six of them dead at his feet, when he fell pierced with many assagais, and was immediately, in revenge, literally chopped to pieces. The victors affirm that Molitsane, the rising Motaung, gave the falling warrior his coup de grace, whom, it is said, he mistook for Sihunelo himself.

This loss was fatal to the Barolong, and their chief, in the bitterness of his grief exclaimed that of all his friends, he alone was left ! For some time he and the remnant of his tribe lived the life of fugitives, and the victorious Bataung carried devastation and death in every direction, the country in the interior being full of their marauding bands.

Some time after this, in August 1826, Sihunelo made a second attempt to establish his great-place at Maquassie, in company with Messrs. Hodgson and Archbell. In September he joined a party of Bergenaars with a number of his people, who had gone up the Vaal with the intention of attacking the chief who had first driven him from Maquassie, captured his cattle, and killed his brother. The opportunity for reprisals seemed too good to be neglected. Sihunelo, however, was evidently more bent on revenging the death of Sabbedere, who was, as we have stated, his favourite brother, than even of recapturing his cattle ; but in neither aim was he successful, for in this attempt he was again defeated, and had a narrow escape with his life. Had it not been for the exertions of the Bergenaars, he and all his people must have been surrounded by the enemy.

After this last reverse, not being in a situation to meet his enemies again in battle, he determined once more to abandon Maquassie, and early in the morning of the 29th of September 1826 all were in motion. The people moved off under their respective chiefs, quitting for ever their newly-raised habitations. After this they wandered about for months, without any fixed place of rest, occasionally disturbed by reports of the enemy being about to attack them, and occasionally falling in with parties of the Bataung, or the men of the Lion.

At length they settled at the 'Ker-by-'kaam, or the Motlanapietse, or Umtlalanpietse, as it was respectively called by the Barolong and Batlapin, the Groote Platberg of the Bastaards. Here Sihunelo died, when Moroka, the present chief, succeeded to the chieftainship. Here the new chief remained with his people until the year 1834, when they were driven from the Vaal by prolonged droughts and fear of Moselekatze. They then migrated in a south-easterly direction, until they arrived at the hills about Thaba Nchu, the Mountain of Gloom.

The advocates of Basutu sovereignty state that Moshesh allowed them to do so. If that be so, then we find that at this early period the refugee " Chief of the Mountain " had already commenced laying claim to the finest portions of the country between the Orange and the Vaal ! From this point the history of this branch of the Barolong becomes so intermingled with that of other races of whom we have to treat, that it is better for us to defer any further consideration of it until then. We will therefore now proceed to the last clan of this group which it will be necessary for us to notice.

The Barapulana.

This branch of the Barolong group after a time dropped or elided the prefix Ra of their founder's name, as might be pointed out in other instances, and thus contracted the appellation of their clan to Bapulana, the men of the Showers. Little is known of them except what has been already given in connection with the other branches, up to the storming and sack of Pitsane by the confederates under Makari.

It appears highly probable that as the name of this formidable invading chief disappears immediately after the furious encounter in which Sabbedere was slain, and that of Molitsane at once rises to the surface as chief of the Bataung, that he also was killed there among the Bataung captains who fell on that fatal day, which on account of the number of great men who were slaughtered on that occasion, was ever after spoken of as " the Battle of the Chiefs." However this may be, it is certain that at the close of the conflict Molitsane had assumed the command of the Bataung.

Upon the scattering of the Barolong clans, and Sihunelo's flight once more to the south, a portion of the Bapulana escaped to the north, where they joined their countrymen the Batlou ; but the greater portion of them rallied round their chief Matlabe (flattened clay),N or as he was sometimes called, Molala (the poor one), on account of the misfortunes which so frequently attended him.

Notes: 1 That is a piece of softened clay which, when thrown against a wall, or upon the ground, flattens out.

This chief, to save himself and his people from utter destruction, entered into a kind of alliance with the enemy who had so persistently endeavoured to destroy his tribe. In this we have an exemplification of the manner in which these great invading hordes were recruited, and how their numbers so rapidly increased, by absorbing into their ranks the weaker tribes which found it impossible to oppose them. Another potent reason doubtless accelerated this process at the present juncture, and that was the growing fame of the Matabili, who were already spreading terror through the Northern Bakuena. Thus we find that Matlabe entered into a compact with Molitsane, and that these two chiefs, aided by Ra-'kabi, chief of the Bakotu or Red men (i.e. Koranas), Jan Bloem the Younger, and some of the Masateu (the mixed multitude), or Griquas, determined to make an attack upon the new, but formidable enemy.

In their first attack, they succeeded in surprising some of the Matabili at daylight, when the Matabili were repulsed at their own kraals, and a large number of cattle were captured, with which they attempted to retreat as rapidly as possible. The Matabili, after recovering from their first surprise, pursued them, surrounded them in the night, and stormed their encampment, slaying a large number of them, when the remainder of the party fled in a panic and took refuge for a time south of the Vaal. The Matabili, however, not satisfied to think that any had escaped, after securing the cattle pursued them again, pushing on after them towards the valley of the Orange river ; but the confederates, in order to avoid them, separated. The Barolong doubled and fled in an opposite direction, while the Matabili in pursuit came suddenly upon a strong party, among whom were a number of emigrant Dutch farmers, when the pursuers were themselves driven back with considerable slaughter.

After a time a quarrel arose between Matlabe and his ally Molitsane, when the latter advanced suddenly towards the Vaal, and attacked Matlabe's great-place, capturing it and most of Matlabe's cattle, killing many of his people, and driving the remainder, together with Matlabe himself, across the Vaal. The defeated Barolong chief applied to his old enemy Moselekatze for assistance. This was at once given to him. They attacked the late victorious Bataung under Molitsane, who was staying near the Vaal, killed many of his warriors, and captured the few guns he had and a great many cattle.

Almost immediately after this victory, Matlabe became apprehensive, from the haughty demeanour of the Matabili, that they would become perfect masters of the situation, when he once more veered suddenly round to his late antagonist and old ally, and entered into a fresh compact with him to drive out their common enemy. According to this agreement, the Matabili were attacked by surprise, but again the confederates sustained a severe defeat, from the superior prowess of the Abaka-Zulu. A terrible slaughter followed, the great towns of the Bataung were in their turn surprised and carried by storm one after the other in rapid succession, and the inhabitants without distinction were mercilessly butchered. The remnant of the clans fled across the country, taking refuge in the first instance among the fastnesses of the Makwatling or Koranaberg, and then continued their flight towards Thaba Nchu.

Shortly after this, Molitsane, his tribe having been scattered by his reverses or dying of famine, found himself so weakened in power that he was obliged to wander about in a state of destitution. Upon this Matlabe determined to seize his old rival and put him to death. This, however, Moroka, the chief of the Baseleka, would not allow. A quarrel then arose between the two kinsmen, Moroka and Matlabe, when the latter, being an imperious man, parted in anger, and taking the remnant of his clan with him, once more retraced his steps, and crossed the Vaal, where he and his branch of the Barolong have since remained.

Thus have we completed our sketch of the Barolong history. Of the Bakubuon, the Batsasin, and the Bakuru, nothing is now known except that they once existed. A few years ago a few of the Batsasin still survived at Taung. With regard to the Bushmen, the Barolong tribe appears to have had little to do with their extermination ; the pioneer Bachoana appear to have performed that portion of the work, so that it will not be necessary for us to dilate upon this point, but to pass at once to the next subject for our consideration.