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1803] venture into the camp, which was on the opposite side of the stream, and General Janssens was obliged to leave his retinue and go across with a few officers and the burgher commandant. Ndlambe, Cungwa, Jalusa, Tshatshu, and some others of less note, with numerous attendants, were present. Klaas Stuurman and some of his people were also there.

During three days a discussion was carried on concerning a friendly arrangement between the two races. The chiefs expressed an earnest wish for peace and friendship with the white people, and there was no difficulty in settling such matters as the delivery of deserters and fugitive slaves, the mode of punishing offenders on either side, and the like. But the all-important question of the removal of the Xosas from the Zuurveld could not be arranged so easily. The chiefs admitted the Fish river as the boundary, but declared that they could not cross it through fear of Gaika. They were about to attack him, they said, and if they were victorious they would at once return to their own country, otherwise they must wait for a convenient opportunity. The governor tried to persuade them to make peace with Gaika, and after much talking all except Ndlambe expressed their willingness to do so, provided the overtures came from him. Ndlambe could not be induced to say that he would come to terms with his nephew.

As nothing more could be done, presents were made to the chiefs, who sent a couple of oxen in return; and with assurances of friendship on both sides the parties separated. The governor now issued a proclamation prohibiting the colonists from engaging Kaffirs as labourers, and ordering that all of that race who were in service should be immediately discharged unless they had been over a year with their employers and expressed a wish to remain.

The governor next proceeded to visit Gaika, from whom he had received a message requesting assistance against the Kaffirs in the Zuurveld. At the Fish river the persons whom he sent in advance to announce his intention brought him back intelligence that they had been received in a very friendly manner