Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T21:41:00.511Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Difaqane: The Mfecane in the Southern Sotho Area, 1822–241

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 January 2009

William F. Lye
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The accounts of the Difaqane written in all the major histories of South Africa are based on three books which were written over fifty years ago: G. W. Stow, The Native Races of South Africa; D. F. Ellenberger and J. C. Macgregor, The History of the Bosuto; and especially the earliest, G. M. Theal, History of South Africa.

Certain contradictions exist between the story as told in these accounts and the evidence brought to light by the publication of the journals of Robert Moffat and David Livingstone. The object of this study is to reconstruct the events of the wars from the broadest possible evidence to give a more complete description, and thereby to test the revision implicit in the new information.

This revision is required properly to identify the participants in the battles which were observed by Europeans in the western Tswana lands, especially the battle at Dithakong. In the earlier histories all the battles were attributed to the ‘Mantatee’, a name properly applied to one group of Tlokwa ruled at the time by the regentess, MmaNthatisi. Now it is possible to show that these Tlokwa were never in the west, but restricted their migrations to the valley of the Caledon River. Nor can their enemies, the Hlubi of Mpangazita and the Ngwane of Matiwane, be blamed, for they too remained in the east. Rather, the victims of these three bands, the Sotho peoples of the Caledon valley, can be identified as the aggressors among the Tswana beyond the Vaal. Moffat identified the Phuting of Tshane and the Hlakwana of Nkgaraganye. Livingstone demonstrated the role played by Sebetwane and his Fokeng, and Thomas Hodgson implicated Moletsane, the Taung.

While many gaps in our information still exist, this reconstruction seems to justify the revision of the accepted account of the Difaqane.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of African History , Volume 8 , Issue 1 , March 1967 , pp. 107 - 131
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1967

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

2 Walker, Eric A., A History of Southern Africa (3rd ed. rev.; London: Longmans, Green, 1957). Originally entitled A History of South Africa.Google Scholar

3 Ibid. 175–6. The battle did not occur at Kuruman as stated, but at Dithakong (Old Lithako). See below, p. 125. Tshane (Tswane) was not chief of the Fokeng, but of the Phuting. The Fokeng were led by Sebetwane. This error seems to originate in: ‘Statement drawn up at the request of Chief Molitsane’, Mekuatling, 28 January 1852, in Theal, G. M., Basutoland Records (3 vols.; Cape Town: Richards, 1883;Google Scholar reprinted Struik, C., 1964), I, 517–20.Google Scholar

4 The designation ‘Mantati (Mantatee)’ derives from the name MmaNthatisi, regent of the Mokotleng group of Tlokwa during the time of the wars. See below, p. 115.Google Scholar

5 Cory, George E., The Rise of South Africa (6 vols.; London: Longmans, Green, 1926–1932;Google Scholar reprinted Cape Town: Struik, C., 1965), II, 230–1;Google ScholarMacmillan, W. M., Bantu, Boer and Briton (rev. ed.; Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1963), 32;Google Scholar also MacMillan's, contribution to the Cambridge History of the British Empire, VIII (2nd ed., Cambridge University Press, 1963), 308.Google Scholar The revision is based on Apprenticeship at Kuruman: Being the Journals and Letters of Robert and Mary Moffat, 1820–1828, ed. Schapera, I. (Central African Archives Oppenheimer Series, no. 5; London: Chatto and Windus, 1951), 102–3 n. Hereafter cited as Apprenticeship. Schapera's explanation has since been accepted by several authors.Google Scholar For example, Smith, Edwin W.wrote a review and a brief comment on the subject in Africa, xxii (April 1952), 186–7 and xx (October 1952), 375–6. Subsequently he incorporated the revision in ‘Sebetwane and the Makololo’,CrossRefGoogle ScholarGreat Lion of Bechuanaland (London: Independent Press, 1957), 373;Google ScholarSillery, A., The Bechuanaland Protectorate (Cape Town: Oxford, 1952), x n.;Google ScholarHow, Marion, ‘An alibi for Mantatsi’, African Studies, XIII (1954), 65–76;CrossRefGoogle ScholarNorthcott, Cecil, Robert Moffat: Pioneer in Africa, 1817–1870 (London: Lutterworth Press, 1961), 94;Google ScholarOmer-Cooper, J. D., The Zulu Aftermath; a nineteenth- century revolution in Bantu Africa (London: Longmans, 1966), 94–6.Google Scholar

6 Theal, G. M., South Africa As It Is (King Williams Town: Privately printed, 1871).Google Scholar

7 Theal, G. M., Compendium of South African History and Geography (Lovedale: The Institution Press, 1874). This version does not name the horde and attributes the initial impetus to Mzilikazi rather than Mpangazita (3rd ed., 1877) 197–8.Google Scholar

8 Theal, G. M., History of South Africa (II vols., 5th ed.; London: Allen and Unwin, 1927), vol. v (vol. I of that section entitled History of South Africa from 1795 to 1872). This edition is identical with the fourth edition published in 1915 and reproduced in 1964 (Cape Town: C. Struick). The 1964 reprint will be cited hereafter as History, 1, unless other editions are specified.Google Scholar

9 Theal, , History of South Africa (5 vols.; London: Swan Sonnenschein, 1888–1900), III [1795–1834], 301–4.Google Scholar

10 Theal, History, 1, 442–5.Google Scholar

11 Cory, Walker and Macmillan all rely on Theal.Google Scholar

12 Theal, History, I, vi.Google Scholar

13 This evaluation of Theal is confirmed by what follows; however, a similar indictment appears in Marais, J. S., Maynier and the First Boer Republic (2nd imp.; Cape Town: Maskew Miller, 1962), v–vi.Google Scholar

14 Stow, George W., The Native Races of South Africa, ed. Theal, G. M. (London: Swan Sonnenschein, 1905; reprinted Cape Town: C. Struik, 1964).Google Scholar Authors who have relied on Stow include D. Fred. Ellenberger (see below, note 16) and Becker, Peter, Path of Blood (London: Longmans, 1962).Google Scholar See Smith, Edwin, Great Lion, 149 n.Google Scholar

15 Stow, 376, 460–87, 506–04.Google ScholarSee also Preface, vi–viii.Google Scholar

16 Fred, D.. Ellenberger, and Macgregor, James C., History of the Basuto: Ancient and Modern (London: Caxton, 1912).Google ScholarOriginally written in French by Ellenberger and rewritten in English by Macgregor, his son-in-law. Cited hereafter as D. F. Ellenberger. Some of those who have depended on Ellenberger include: Becker; Sillery; Agar-Hamilton, J. A. I., The Native Policy of the Voortrekkers (Cape Town: Maskew Miller 1928); Edwin Smith, Great Lion.Google Scholar

17 Ellenberger identified his informants concerning this topic as Setaki and Moletsane (pp. 139, 186). A prefatory note by Macgregor attributes the contents of this work to oral tradition as the sole authority (p. xi). However, Ellenberger credits published sources on numerous occasions. For example, see references to Theal on pp. xxii, 6, 119, to Stow on pp. 2, 4, 11, 13, 53, 114, and to Lemue, Casalis, Arbousset, Moffat and Orpen. Despite his familiarity with Moltesane, who knew that the Tlokwa were not present at Dithakong (see note 3), Marion How suggests that Ellenberger preferred published sources. See How, 67.Google Scholar

18 Ellenberger, D. F., 534.Google Scholar

19 Ibid. 137.

20 Ibid. 137–9.

21 Moffat, Robert, Missionary Labours and Scenes in Southern Africa (London: John Snow, 1842).Google Scholar

22 Apprenticeship; see especially, 75–155.Google Scholar

23 Thompson, George, Travels and Adventures in Southern Africa (London: Henry Colburn, 1827; reprinted Cape Town: Africana Connoisseurs, 1962).Google Scholar

24 Memoirs of the Rev. Thomas Laidman Hodgson: Wesleyan Missionary in South Africa, ed. Smith, Thornley (London: J. Mason, 1854);Google ScholarBroadbent, Samuel, A Narrative of the First Introduction of Christianity amongst the Baralong Tribes of the Bechuanas, South Africa (London: Wesleyan Mission House, 1865).Google Scholar

25 Journals of Andrew Geddes Bain: Trader, Explorer, Soldier, Road Engineer and Geologist, ed. Lister, Margaret H. (no. 30; Cape Town: Van Riebeeck Society, 1949), 52–70.Google Scholar

26 Arbousset, Thomas, Narrative of an Exploratory Tour to the North-East of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope: by the Revs. T. Arbousset and F. Daumas of the Paris Missionary Society, trans. Brown, J. Croumbie (London: John C. Bishop, 1852; originally published in French: Paris: Arthus Bertrand, 1842).Google ScholarCasalis, Eugene, Les Bassoutos (Paris: Meyrueus, 1859);CrossRefGoogle ScholarEng. Trans.: The Basutos (London: J. Nisbet, 1861; reprinted Cape Town: C. Struik, 1965).Google Scholar

27 Backhouse, James, A Narrative of a Visit to the Mauritius and South Africa (London: Hamilton, Adams, 1844).Google ScholarThe Diary of Dr Andrew Smith, Director of the ‘Expedition for Exploring Central Africa’, 1834–1836, ed. Kirby, Percival R. (2 vols,, nos. 20–21; Cape Town: Van Riebeeck Society, 1939–1940);Google ScholarHarris, William Cornwallis, The Wild Sports of Southern Africa (5th ed., London: Bohn, 1852; reprinted Cape town: C. Struik, 1963).Google Scholar

28 Macgregor, James C., Basuto Traditions (‘William Hiddingh Reprint Series,’ no. 2; Cape Town: University of Cape Town Library, 1957; originally published in 1905).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

29 Theal, History, I, 428–9;Google ScholarBryant, A. T., Olden Times in Zululand and Natal (London: Longmans, 1929: reprinted C. Struick, 1965), 7–9, 87, 236, 228.Google Scholar The Embo were later called Mfengu, as were the Ngwane called Mfecane after they entered the wars. See Ayliff, John and Whiteside, Joseph, History of the Abambo Generally known as Fingos (William Hiddingh Reprint Series, no. 17 Cape Town: University of Cape Town Library, 1962, originally published in Butterworth, Fingoland, 1922), I, 16.Google Scholar

30 Theal, History, I, 429–30;Google ScholarEllenberger, D. F., 120–1.Google Scholar

31 Theal, History, I, 432;Google ScholarStow, 446;Apprenticeship, xv–xviiGoogle Scholar

32 Apprenticeship, xviii, 85 n.Google Scholar

33 Ellenberger, Vivien, ‘History of the Batlôkwa of Gaberones (Bechuanaland Protectorate)’, Bantu Studies, xiii (Sept. 1939); 165 ff.;CrossRefGoogle ScholarEllenberger, D. F., 40.Google Scholar

34 Ellenberger, D. F., 40.Google Scholar

35 Macgregor, 34.Google Scholar

36 Ellenberger, D. F., 44. Macgregor spells the name Mokotyo (p. 34),Google ScholarTheal spells it Mokotsho (History, I, 430)Google Scholar and Arbousset spells it Mokotcho (p. 57).

37 Macgregor, 34.Google ScholarTheal gives the name as Monyalwe (History, I, 430);Google ScholarEllenberger, D. F. as Monyalue (p. 42).Google Scholar

38 The date is derived from Macgregor, 27, and is supported by Arbousset, 58. This date has been selected on the basis that Macgregor and Arbousset had more immediate associations with the Tlokwa. Perhaps as likely a date is 1813, which is given by Ellenberger, D. F., 44.Google Scholar

39 Ellenberger, D. F., 44.Google Scholar

40 Ellenberger, D. F., 42;Google ScholarMacgregor, 34. In these oral traditions MmaNthatisi appears very attractive. Theal says, ‘In her youth she must have been handsome, though her eyes were cold and piercing, such as command obedience without inspiring affection. She was utterly callous to human suffering’Google Scholar (History, I, 422). In contrast, D. F. Ellenberger claims that her people called her Mosayne, ‘the little woman’, out of their affection for her (p. 42). This latter suggestion is borne out later. See note 45.Google Scholar

41 Macgregor, 34.Google ScholarEllenberger, D. F. says ‘she was but a young woman at the time’ (p. 44).Google ScholarBackhouse substantiates the younger age (p. 405).Google Scholar

42 Arbousset, 58.Google Scholar

43 Smith, Andrew, II, p1. 14;Google ScholarBackhouse, 405.Google Scholar

44 Arbousset, 57–8.Google Scholar

45 Macgregor, 33, 35;Google ScholarEllenberger, D. F., 127.Google Scholar

46 Ellenberger, D. F., 44, 46–7, 530.Google Scholar

47 Arbousset, 8;Google ScholarBackhouse, 405.Google Scholar

48 Ellenberger, D. F., 25;Google ScholarTheal, History, I, 445. Nguni tradition attributes blame to MmaNthatisi and names the Hlubi chief ‘Mjoli’ (Bryant, 155–3). Macgregor holds that Mokotyo was still alive, and calls the incident a rebellion by Motsholi (Mochodi), p. 27.Google Scholar

49 Ellenberger, D. F., 48;Google ScholarBryant, 151;Google ScholarTheal, History, 1, 44. Macgregor indicates that Sekonyela was not yet circumcised and that Mokotjo killed Motsholi (p. 27).Google Scholar

50 Macgregor, 27;Google ScholarEllenberger, D. F., 45;Google ScholarBryant, 151.Google Scholar

51 Macgregor, 27;Google ScholarEllenberger, D. F., 121;Google ScholarArbousset, 403;Google ScholarAyliff and Whiteside, I, 9;Google ScholarShaw, William, The Story of My Mission in South-Eastern Africa (London: Hamilton, Adams, 1860), 525. Bryant dates this attack in 1818 (p. 138).Google Scholar

52 Ellenberger, D. F., 124. Macgregor claims that MmaNthatisi Sent her son to the Sia to be circumcised while she and the Tlokwa deflected Mpangazita's attention by fleeing directly west (pp. 27–8).Google Scholar

53 Ellenberger, D. F., 124, 130.Google Scholar

54 Macgregor, 37;Google ScholarEllenberger, D. F., 130;Google ScholarAyliff and Whiteside, 10.Google Scholar

55 Macgregor, 43;Google ScholarEllenberger, D. F., 123, 127, 135, 139–45;Google ScholarBryant, 141. Because of the unstable nature of the Difaqane, each band should be regarded as the followers of a leader rather than a traditional clan membership.Google Scholar

56 Ellenberger, D. F., 43;Google ScholarMacgregor, 33. The details concerning the wanderings of the Tlokwa differ markedly in various accounts. This study will generally follow the pattern established in D. F. Ellenberger because he offers greater detail. Alternative renderings and preferences will be incorporated either in the text or in the footnotes.Google Scholar

57 Ellenberger, D. F., 124. Macgregor states that the Patsa were located at Botsepe, west of Bethlehem (p. 33).Google Scholar

58 Livingstone's Private Journals, 1851–1853, ed. Schapera, I. (London: Chatto & Windus, 1960), 18;Google ScholarEllenberger, D. F., 126.Google ScholarArbousset, 85, 406,Google Scholar and Macgregor, 28, place this Battle of the Pots toward the end of MmaNthatisi's wanderings.Google Scholar

59 Ellenberger, D. F., 126;Google ScholarMacgregor, 33.Google Scholar

60 Ellenberger, D. F., 126–7;Google ScholarMacgregor, 33.Google Scholar

61 Ellenberger, D. F., 127;Google ScholarMacgregor, 33. Many such stories could be symbolic. A similar account is given in Ngwane tradition.Google Scholar See Msebensi, , History of Matiwane and the Amangwane Tribe, ed. van Warmelo, N. J. (Ethnological Publications, no. VII; Pretoria: Dept. of Native Affairs, 1938), 28.Google Scholar

62 Ellenberger, D. F., 127.Google Scholar

63 Ibid. Macgregor does not account for a second attack on the Patsa but says that they were driven out by the initial attack (p. 33). Later he cites Ellenberger to suggest that the Taung were driven out at the end of 1822 (p. 62).

64 Ellenberger, D. F., 127. This northward digression is not mentioned in Macgregor.Google Scholar

65 Ellenberger, D. F., 134, 145.Google Scholar

66 Ibid. 134; Macgregor, 34. Ellenberger places this incident at the Orange River which was in flood. Khiba supposedly saw the Tlokwa from across the river. Macgregor places the incident in the Rouxville District.Google Scholar

67 Ellenberger, D. F., 135.Google Scholar

68 Ibid. At this point Ellenberger fits into his narrative a foray across the Vaal (pp. 134–8). Such an incident is not found in either Macgregor or Arbousset. It was apparently rejected by Ellenberger later. See How, 67. Further, René Ellenberger, at the request of his father, learned that the Tlokwa praise songs never mentioq such raids. He regards this as positive proof that they did not occur. René Ellenberger to Marion How (his niece), Johannesburg, 5 April 1953, in How, 68.

69 Ellenberger, D. F., 139. This mentions the Phuting raids over the Vaal. Macgregor mentions their return to join Sekonyela, p. 43.Google Scholar

70 Ellenberger, D. F., 140. Macgregor indicates that this was the point at which Sekonyela returned to his clan after his circumcision by the Sia, pp. 28, 37. See below, note 83.Google Scholar

71 Ellenberger, D. F., 339–40.Google Scholar

72 Ibid. 140–1.

73 Ibid.

74 Ibid.

75 Ibid. 141–2.

76 Ibid. 143; Arbousset, 408–9;Google ScholarMacgregor, 28. See above, note 58.Google Scholar

77 Ellenberger, D. F., 143–6. Ellenberger names the Nguni Sepetja; Msebenzi indicates it was Matiwane, 24;Google ScholarGodfrey Lagden attributes this attack to Mzilikazi, (The Basutos (2 vols., London: Hutchinson, 1909), I, 44.) Moshweshwe moved after this incident and established his people at Thaba Bosiu, a significant step in the history of the Basuto nation.Google Scholar

78 Ellenberger, D. F., 130. Ayliff and Whiteside date the entry of Matiwane two years after that of Mpangazita (p. 10). This would conform to Msebenzi's version, which relates Matiwane's entry to the siege of Butha Buthe (p. 24). Bryant dates the entry of Matiwane four years after that of Mpangazita, but would seem to be more accurate in reference to Matiwane's entry than the earlier date (p. 140).Google Scholar

79 Ellenberger, D. F., 126–31;Google ScholarBryant, 140.Google Scholar

80 Ellenberger, D. F., 531. The Nguni were identified as Phuti and Polane.Google Scholar

81 Ibid. 131–9; Macgregor, 22;Google ScholarBryant, 140.Google Scholar

82 Msebenzi, 26;Google ScholarEllenberger, D. F., 540, 177–8;Google ScholarBackhouse, 388;Google ScholarBryant, 540.Google Scholar

83 Ellenberger, D. F., 124–139;Google ScholarMacgregor, 36–37;Google ScholarBryant, 140.Google Scholar

84 Ayliff and Whiteside, 10–11;Google ScholarBryant, 14;Google ScholarMsebenzi, 32 ff.; D. F. Ellenberger gives March 1825 as the date of this battle (pp. 554–5).Google Scholar

85 Ayliff and Vhiteside, 11;Google ScholarBryant, 141;Google ScholarMsebenzi, 36;Google ScholarEllenberger, D. F., 155.Google Scholar

86 Ayliff and Vhiteside, 11;Google ScholarMsebenzi, 36. Some survivors were reported to have joined Shaka also.Google ScholarEllenberger, D. F., 155.Google Scholar

87 Ayliff and Whiteside, 16;Google ScholarEllenberger, D. F., 578–82. Msebenzi tells of an advance reconnaissance by two regiments followed by the removal of the entire group when they were forced out by Shaka, who was induced to attack them by Moshweshwe, who had ceased being a vassal of Matiwane (pp. 30, 38 ff.). Bryant gives this account but considers more likely Mzilikazi's participation, as Zulu tradition does not mention the raid (pp. 142–3)Google Scholar. See also Sir Plasket, R. to Hay, R. W., Cape of Good Hope, 26 August 1827,Google Scholar in Theal, , Records of tile Cape Colony (36 vols., London: Govt. of the Cape Colony, 1898–1905), XXXII, 496.Google ScholarAccording to Plasket, a captured Mfecane told the Landdrost of Somerset that they had entered the colony because Shaka had stolen their cattle (W. H. Rogers, Lieut., Cape Cavalry, to Major Forbes, Commanding the Frontier, Chumie, 27 May 1825, in Records of the Cape Colony, xxii, 428). Rogers states that the first entry of Mfecane occurred two years prior to the main migration.Google Scholar

88 Ayliff and Whiteside, 16;Google ScholarBryant, 143;Google ScholarShaw, 525;Google ScholarMacKay, W. M., Landdrost of Somerset, to Sec. of Govt., Somerset, 8 August 1827, in Cape Colony Records, xxxiv, 463–5. This letter quotes an Mfecane who identifies his people as ‘Masotu’ and ‘Manguana’. ‘Mattuana’ was identified as their chief. Shaka was named as the cause of their flight south.Google Scholar

89 Msebenzi, 46;Google ScholarEllenberger, D. F., 185–97;Google ScholarBryant, 143.Google Scholar

90 Dundas, Major William B., Landdrost of Albany, to Lt.-Col. Henry Somerset, Camp above the Kaj River, 1 August 1828, in Msebenzi, 239–40. Major Dundas thought he had fought Shaka's troops.Google Scholar

91 Msebenzi, 54–60;Google Scholarvan Warmelo, in Msebenzi, 6, 236–7;Google ScholarSomerset, Lt.-Col. H. to Major-General Bourke, Bashee River, 29 August 1828,Google Scholar in Msebenzi, 252–7.Google Scholar

92 Ayliff and Whiteside, 16;Google ScholarBryant, 144. Msebenzi states that many of the tribe gathered again later under the heirs of Matiwane, 146.Google Scholar

93 Msebenzi, 72–76;Google ScholarEllenberger, D. F., 189;Google ScholarBryant, 145.Google Scholar

94 The refugees were identified in a census as ‘Mantatees, Goes [Ghoya] and Toro’. Stockenstrom, A., Landdrost of Graaff Reinet, to R. Plasket, Graaff Reinet, 1 June 1825, Cape Colony Records, xxiv, 295. See note 142, below.Google Scholar

95 An example of defective oral tradition regarding the identity of the invaders among the Tswana is Molema, S. M., Chief Moroko (Cape Town: Methodist Publishing House and Book Depot [1951]), 9–10. Molema has obviously depended on published sources for his information.Google Scholar

96 See above, notes 57 and 63.Google Scholar

97 See above, note 63.Google Scholar

98 Ellenberger, D. F., 139.Google Scholar

99 Ibid. 125, 141.

100 Thompson, 210.Google ScholarSee also Theal, History, I, 443.Google Scholar

101 Broadbent, 17.Google Scholar

102 Ibid. 29–30.

103 Ibid. 31–8.

104 Ibid. 37–8; Apprenticeship, 101. See Schapera, I., Apprenticeship, 86 n.Google Scholar

105 Thompson, 87–8.Google Scholar

106 Moffat, Robert to James and Mary Smith, Kuruman, 12 April 1823, in Apprenticeship, 73;Google ScholarMoffat, Missionary Labours, 340.Google Scholar

107 Apprenticeship, 85–6.Google Scholar

108 Ibid. 87 n.

109 Ibid. 89; Thompson, 206.Google Scholar

110 Apprenticeship, 87.Google Scholar

111 Ibid.; Thompson, 88–90.Google Scholar

112 Apprenticeship, 88–9; Missionary Labours, 347–53;Google ScholarThompson, 99–207. Thompson dated the pitso 14 July.Google Scholar

113 Thompson, 536–26; Apprenticeship, 90.Google Scholar

114 Apprenticeship, 90. Moffat listed ninety-nine Griqua. Thompson says they did not exceed eighty (p. 131).Google Scholar

115 Thompson, 333. Thompson returned to Griquatown the next day (p. 135).Google Scholar

116 Ibid. 135, 163–4; Apprenticeship, 93–2. Moffat named those who fought outside the town Hlakwana and those in the town Tshane's people (Missionary Labours, 360).Google Scholar

117 Apprenticeship, 92, 96;Google ScholarThompson, 165, 173.Google Scholar

118 Thompson, 165.Google Scholar

119 Thompson, 165–8;Google ScholarApprenticeship, 92–4.Google Scholar

120 Apprenticeship, 94. The battle continued until 3.30 p.m., according to Mclvill, making the whole last over seven hours.Google ScholarThompson, 168;Google ScholarApprenticeship, 95.Google Scholar

121 Thompson, 169–70;Google ScholarApprenticeship, 94.Google Scholar

122 Thompson, 171; Melvill estimated the number at 50,000. Moffat estimated the total at 50,000 in his journal, but submitted the number as 40,000 to the London Missionary Society (Apprenticeship, 95). He used the smaller figure in his memoits (Missionary Labours, 361).Google Scholar

123 Apprenticeship, 95;Google ScholarThompson, 272.Google Scholar

124 Apprenticeship, 96.Google Scholar

125 Ibid. 98; Moffat, Robert to Moffat, Mary, Kuruman, 13 August 1823,Google Scholar in Ibid. 106–7.

126 Apprenticeship, 98. See below, note 152.Google Scholar

127 Ibid. 95; Thompson, 171.

128 Thompson, 171. Moffat, Mary to James and Mary Smith, Griquatown, 1 September 1823,Google Scholar in Apprenticeship, 109;Google ScholarHodgson, in Broadbent, 70–1.Google Scholar

129 Thompson, 170.

130 Ibid. 203–4.

131 Ibid. 136–7, 204–5. Thompson spells the name of the tribe ‘Batcloqueene’ and ‘Bacloqueeni’.

132 Ibid. 102 n). See also Ellenberger, D. F., 71.Google ScholarIn 1857 an old Phuting warrior who had fought at Dithakong and was then residing with Mzilikazi told Moifat that three chiefs had been killed that day: Tshane, Nkgaraganye and another (The Matabele Journals of Robert Moffat, 1829–1860, ed. Wallis, J. P. R. (2 vols; Oppenheimer Series no. I; London: Chatto and Windus, 1945), II, 81).Google Scholar

133 Apprenticeship, 103.

134 Missionary Labours, 360. By 1842, when this work was published, Moffat had developed a more familiar orthography. Stow, referring to the names, states, ‘These must have been names given by the Batlapin to these chiefs’ (Stow, 477 n.).

135 Apprenticeship, 117, 230, 249. See also Missionary Labours, 414 ff. That Moffat recognized the distinction between various bands is indicated in his journal: ‘It appears from their statements that the late invaders are a tribe very diiferent from those who were defeated at Old Lattakoo’ (Apprenticeship, 215). See also Mary Moffat to Robert Moffat, Kuruman, 28 July 1824: ‘The Mant. fought terribly, had five kings, used the assegai dexterously, but were not the same people who fought at Old Lattakoo…’ (Apprenticeship, 159).

136 Ellenberger, D. F., 139.Google Scholar

137 ‘Statement drawn up at the Request of Chief Molitsane’, Mekuatling, 28 January 1852,Google Scholar in Basutoland Records, 1, 517.Google Scholar

138 Livingstone, David to A. Tidman, Banks of the Zouga, 17 October 1851, in Livingstone's Missionary Correspondence: 1841–1856, ed. Schapera, I. (Berkeley and Los Angeles: U.C. Press, 1961), 180–1;Google Scholar see also 174–5, 18. Livingstone's Private Journals, 22. Marion How notes Livingstone's claim but disregards it. In her reconstruction she accepted the version of her grandfather, D. F. Ellenberger, that the Phuting fought Sebetwane earlier and that Sebetwane had moved before the battle against the Griqua (How, 69–70). See Ellenberger, 307, and Edwin Smith, 372.

139 See above, note 68. See also Macgregor, 27–35. Marion How claims Macgregor, her father, obtained his information from two elderly Tlokwa warriors who had accompanied MmaNthatisi during her wanderings (How, 68). Samuel Rolland attributes the widespread fame of MmaNthasisi to the practice of the Sotho of shouting their news from hill-top to hill-top in such fashion that everyone became apprehensive and mistook any approaching army for that of MmaNthatisi (How, 66).

140 Moffat, Mary to James and Smith, Mary, Griquatown, 1 September 1823, in Apprenticeship, 108.Google Scholar See also D. F. Ellenberger, 139.

141 Ibid.; Moffat, Robert to Mary Moffat, Kuruman, 13 August 1823,Google Scholar in Ibid. 107.

142 Ibid. xx, 405–6. This describes the entry into Graaff Reinet of many starving women and children who survived the battle at Dithakong. A later dispatch numberedt he refugees as being upwards of 300 (Somerset to Bathurst, Cape of Good Hope, 30 July 1825, in Ibid. XXII, 419).

143 Macgregor, 41, 43; D. F. Ellenberger, 205.

144 Moffat, M. to James and Mary Smith, Griquatown, 1 September 1823,Google Scholar in Apprenticeship, 109;Google Scholar Hodgson, in Broadbent, 70–1.

145 Apprenticeship, 131.Google Scholar

146 Ibid. 131–2.

147 Smith, Edwin, Great Lion, 77.Google Scholar

148 Casalis, 77–8.Google Scholar

149 Macgregor, 62–6; Broadbent, 128–32, 158–66, 169–73; Apprenticeship, 132, 144–53.Google Scholar

150 Apprenticeship, 247.Google Scholar

151 Bain, 57–70.

152 Apprenticeship; for examples see pp. 117, 158–9, 170, 174.Google Scholar

153 Ibid. 170, 211, 235, 268–9. See 160 n.

154 Ibid. 225 ff.

155 Estimate from Thompson, 89, 205.

156 See above, note 5.

157 Thompson, 208 ff.;Google ScholarShaw, Barnabas, Memorials of Southern Africa (London: J. Mason, 1841), 47;Google ScholarEllenberger, René to Marion How, Johannesburg, 5 April 1953,Google Scholar in How, 73.