Page:George McCall Theal, History of South Africa from 1873 to 1884, Volume 1 (1919).djvu/142

 122 History of the Cape Colony. [1878 the 21st two officers of the diamond field horse, Captain Donovan and Lieutenant Ward, met the same fate. The attempt to capture or destroy the rebels failed, and on the '21st was abandoned. Between sixty and seventy Kaffirs, however, had been killed, and sixty horses and two hundred head of cattle had been captured. On the colonial side, in addition to the three officers above named, one soldier and four Fingos were killed, and four volunteers and seven Fingos were wounded. No men were made prisoners, but before the colonial forces retired about five hundred Kaffir women and children came out of the forest and threw themselves upon the mercy of the white men, begging piteously for food, as they said they were starving. Their emaciated appearance confirmed this statement, so there was no doubt that they told the truth. The question then arose what was to be done with them, for humanity forbade their being driven away and left to perish, and on the other hand prudence forbade their being supplied with provisions where they were. Such women formed the intelligence department of the Kaffir army. They knew they had nothing to fear from white men, and they took care to avoid the Fingos, who would not have scrupled to maltreat them. A Kaffir woman's duty is to find food for her husband, even if she has to do with very little herself, and it was certain that if for instance a few biscuits were given to one of them, the largest share would be conveyed to the chief Sandile, a some- what smaller share to her husband, and only what was then left would be eaten by the children and herself. Who that knows these people has not been shocked by seeing strong men taking the most and best of what there is, while women and children wait patiently and express their thanks for whatever remains when the men are satiated? Another reason why these women could not be provided for and permitted to remain at large was that they served as spies and communicated to the