Page:George McCall Theal, History of South Africa from 1873 to 1884, Volume 1 (1919).djvu/101

1 87 7] The Ninth Kaffir War. 8i general applied for more soldiers, announced that two additional battalions would be sent out, but that all expenses must be paid by the colonial treasury. A different view was generally held in South Africa, where the troubles on the border were attributed by most people to the policy enforced by the secretaries of state before the introduction of home rule, with the consequence that Great Britain ought to furnish the men and money and put matters right, after which the colony would be solely responsible for its own defence. Whether this view was tenable or not, at this particular time the imperial forces were almost alone in the field. In the froptier districts the burghers could not volunteer for service, because they had to protect their families, and those at a distance needed time to muster. There was also among these last named, especially among the Dutch speaking farmers of the west, great reluctance to being placed under the command of regular military officers unacquainted with their habits, so that they did not respond heartily to the call that was made upon them. On the 19th of December two of Kreli's counsellors, named Botumane and Waki, came in and applied to be informed what terms would be granted to their chief if he would desist from further fighting. They were assured that no harm would be done to him personally and that he would receive good treatment, but that he would be required to live wherever the govern- ment should decide. An armistice of six days was agreed upon to give him time to consider these terms, but he did not accept them. In the interval the event of greatest importance in the whole course of the war took place. On the 24th of December Kiva, the bravest leader of the Galeka army, with a body-guard of two hundred men, crossed the Kei and entered the Gaika location, where he made an impassioned appeal to the people to aid the head of 7