addition of many foul elements, such as fugitive rebels from the colony, and runaway thieves and other criminals from the west, from Kuruman, and from the farther side of the Lange-Bergen, had suddenly fallen upon the neighbouring settlers, and after massacring them, had ransacked their houses. These crimes led to another war. The negro-robbers had taken into account that Griqualand West could receive no assistance from the colony, which was already occupied with the Kaffir war, and they had likewise reckoned that the thousands of natives who were employed in the Diamond-fields would mutiny at the same time, burn down the buildings, annihilate the population, and carry off the booty; whilst they, the originators of the war, would meanwhile be plundering the roadside hotels and stores, as well as laying waste the farms.
I was myself a witness of the position of the whites at that critical time. Fortunately the purifying process that had been going on at the Diamond-fields by the withdrawal of adventurers, had left few but true-hearted men behind, and Major Lanyon, who then represented the government, thoroughly understood the state of affairs. In Colonel Warren, who has since succeeded as governor, he had an associate who never shunned danger, and was always prepared for emergencies. Thus by what seemed almost like supernatural energy, Griqualand West was defended, women and children were saved from destruction, and the Europeans gained for themselves the respect without which it is impossible to live at peace and in harmony with the natives.
Major Lanyon issued an appeal in which he called upon all the residents in the central diggings to
