Page:George McCall Theal, History of South Africa from 1873 to 1884, Volume 1 (1919).djvu/73

 i877] The Ninth Kafir War. 53 his former chief counsellor, a moderate and sensible man, whose weight was always on the side of quietness, had been accused of being a sorcerer, and had been compelled to flee for safety to Idutywa, where he placed himself under British protection. His post was then filled by Ngubo, the head of an important clan and a near relative of the paramount chief, whose strongest feeling was one of bitter hostility to the white man. The Galeka section of the Xosa tribe, living east of the Kei, had increased until the territory, which in 1864 was more than ample for all its requirements, was considered by it too small, and not unnaturally covetous eyes were cast over the Fingo border to the land that in former years had been Galeka property and that was then occupied by the people whom they had once regarded as their dogs. On their side the Fingos were never tired of taunting the Galekas by reminding them of the changed condition of the two peoples since 1834, so that the old animosity was kept up, and instances of friendly intercourse were rare, A circumstance which weakened the Galekas was the very bad feeling that then existed between Kreli and his cousin Mapasa, a chief of high rank and considerable power. Mapasa was the great son of Buku, who was son and heir to the right hand house of Kawuta. In such a condition of things the least rumour, however unfounded, is capable of causing alarm among a people so unprotected as the colonists of the frontier districts then were. The panic of 1876 indeed passed away, but a general sense of insecurity remained. On the 3rd of August 1877 there was a marriage feast at a Fingo kraal just within the boundary separating their district from Galekaland, and two petty chiefs of Mapasa's clan, by name Umxoli and Fihla, with nine or ten attendants crossed over to partake in the festivities. On such occasions custom demands that every one of superior or equal rank that presents himself is to be