Page:George McCall Theal, History of South Africa from 1873 to 1884, Volume 1 (1919).djvu/72

 CHAPTER III. THE NINTH KAFFIR WAR. The district which was restored to KreH in 1864, and thereafter termed Galekaland, embraced the territory be- tween the Kei and Bashee rivers, from Fingoland and Idutywa to the sea. Owing to the poUcy of the British authorities that had been in force for many years, to contract the realm abroad as much as possible in order to avoid responsibility, — a policy now happily almost entirely reversed, — more than by the choice of their chief, the Galekas remained independent, and the colonial officer stationed with them merely performed duties similar to those of a consul, without interfering in any way with their government. In May 1873 Mr. William Fynn was succeeded as resident with Kreli by Mr. James Ayliff, who was transferred to Fingoland in March 1876. The clerk, Mr. West Fynn, then acted as resident until November 1876, when Colonel John T. Eustace received the appointment. At the time when Colonel Eustace became resident with Kreli there was a general feeling of uneasiness throughout the eastern frontier districts of the Cape Colony. The Earabe clans of the Xosa tribe had been arming, they were stealing from the farmers on an un- precedented scale, and their tone and bearing indicated that a collision might easily take place. Kreli at that time had some twelve thousand warriors at his command, without counting those of the kindred Rarabe clans west of the Kei, who, though they were British subjects, still venerated him as their head. Maki, 52