Page:George McCall Theal, History of South Africa from 1873 to 1884, Volume 1 (1919).djvu/84

64 History of the Cape Colony. [1877 guard various positions of protection, and that the governor himself, tv^^o members of the ministry, and the general commanding the imperial troops happened all to be in King-Williamstown, the base of operations, where they could devise and carry out the best measures possible. It was arranged that Lieutenant-General Sir Arthur Cunynghame should have command of the frontier armed and mounted police, the volunteers, the burghers, and the coloured levies, as well as of the im- perial troops, in order to secure uniformity of action; that Lieutenant-Colonel E. T. Glynn, of the first battalion of the twenty-fourth regiment, should have direct com- mand of the forces west of the Kei, and that Commandant — now styled Colonel — Griffith should have direct command of all the forces operating in the country east of the Kei. This meant that Colonel Griffith was to direct his reports to General Cunynghame, from whom he would receive intimations, but the colonial forces would be entirely under his command. Mounted volunteers were to receive five shillings a day with rations for themselves and their horses, foot- men four shillings a day with rations, and officers according to their rank. They were also to have prize money when cattle were captured. Colonel Griffith stationed Major EUiot at Idutywa with full magisterial power in that district, and with him were three thousand Tembus under Gangehzwe to support his authority and defend the district in case it should be again invaded by the Galekas. They lived largely upon maize taken from the store pits of the enemy, so that their maintenance cost but little. On the 9th of October Colonel Griffith surprised Kreli's great place and burnt it, together with the kraals of Sigcawu and many others. Sigcawu was Kreli's son of highest rank, and was one of the leaders of the war party. He was not a man of great intelligence, but was regarded by his people as being a skilful strategist, and