The Express.
London, England, 1846-10-24 00:00:00

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(From the Grananes Town Journi
The Commander-in-chief publishes the folio'.:4l•L
oleney's orders in the Amatola. The
our forces through this difficult country, prao.
,7'll
amine time from different points, seem to have
of baffling the calculations of the Kadin, and est
intention to resist our troops in their strouehiVel
they have hastily abandoned one after acothei., .11,
tunng to risk the result of any decisive tumuli ill The conduct of the officers and men empl t"ved it
services, which have been extremely h- thee
is entitled to great praise : araasuig and it,44.1
Fort Cox, August 1,1846 9 ,
Sir,—ln my letter of the 28th ult. I acquai'
the Commander-in-chief 'a informationnted and l°4
move on the following morning to suppor""mell
Andries Stockenstrom, in our proposed operarinnnf.,_witla
and clearing the Amatola valley. It had been my
to move my force at three o'clock in the movnina—.4lla
arrive at daylight at the entrance to the ridge 11;44,14
I had been informed I could take my guns. Tau: 7411
however, of moving at so early an hour, I was c0...1,---""01,
abandon, in consequence of a brisk fire having bee4—"‘
on the camp during the night, which led me to at:
that the enemy might be in some force in my neighbovh,
and therefore that a march in the dark might not aste---"' with interruption from the enemy, but lead to *ln
amongst my own form, from the fact of ito hew,'
wholly composed of fresh raisedA.
ed Hottentot levies ard
companies. I consequently determined not t o la*
daybreak, having, however, as a precautionary e0.„,...".1
detached the Hottentot companies, under Captain
Drags agmonth orders to possess themselves, of the high via::
hills that overlooked camp, and there to awaiting with the guns and remaining part of the division. Tit;
companies ascended the hill in perfect silence, and geiaida,
summit without being observed, killing a Kaffir seep, aZ
had not perceived their approach. The distance ft*:
camp to the entrance of the gorge through which Ire' pass with my guns might perhaps be above three railek
I reached without seeing a single Kaffir.
caused the kloofs to be entered by the Hottentot aatlFaa
levies, whilst I moved on, keeping the head of the kkof -7
my guns and the detachment of the infantry of the I::
which were only sufficient to form their escort, la ea manner the kloofs were completely secured from the heats
the valley on this side, and we continued our work maii
reached the hill which overlooks Fort Cox,
I have great satisfaction in communicating to the NI.
mender-in-Chief the very excellent conduct of the wbviia
the force under my command ; particularly the Hate*
companies and Fingoe levies, on whom devolved the *a,
task of scouring the kloofs, a duty which they perfcemedi
such a manner as to merit the greatest praise.
Sir Andries' operations, as previously arranged bra*
us, were directed to the hills and kloofs on the me*
range, through which his force passed, carrying an bis
him" in his onward course. Their fire during the win&
of the day was extremely brisk, and at times hemy;*
these operations, upon the whole, of which we had la ara.
sional view from our several positions, must have bees et.
tremely fatiguing, and were attended with complete seam
having, as I learn, killed about 40 Kaffirs, and wawa(
many more. On our side the loss was five killed sad thew
wounded in my division ; the ascertained loss of the Min
of bodies seen, was 37 killed, and I think the maker
wounded must have been considerable, judging from then.
tremely heavy fire kept up during the day is the Weir I
have no correct information of Sir Andries' loss, but lase
from his aide-de-clamp that it was much the same as ewer'.
Having moved along the range of mountain until I Masi
that point which overlooks Fort Cox, I at first sight thought
of proceeding to take up that position for the night, *
having lost sight of Sir Andries, whose fire seemed, as far
I could discover, to have ceased about 2 o'clock p.m., I sou
apprehensive of losing my communication with him by tik.
ing up that position, and I therefore determined upset re
turning to 23y camp,—a point from which I could ram
readily co-operate with Sir Andries had he rette:ned to the
head of the valley, and at which, as I eubsequently lea ad,
he had formed his bivouac for the night.
It is evident that the body of Karlin have left that talky,
and do not think that, taking the whole of the small per
ties that are concealed in the numerous kloofs therein, then
are more than a few hundreds, and to this conclusion I as
the mere led from the fact, that throughout our course a
that day (the 30th of July), net a single head of anion
seen by either Sir Andric+ division or mine.
Sir Andries having yesterday sent his aide-de-camp to
form me of his intention of moving from his bivouac at th
wphroe:rdchedofpiotnlisgieiivoia:llhetyeh,ewtoweowoudrsemmilesoovfedthiinsteanthdaet
myfrolgtobmt
Btmunoy:teammitp,fraudth
country about the sources of the Keiskama, I instantly&
tided upon affording the co-operation of he whole day
division by a movement also on this point ; and, after ay
abut two
lo'dotifo
dieivmpectLoyedneste,:dfrintanney,:htharrielree sv:"iein:rghaledthheifre:co,
iimmeam,:mouhyunbt:icuahmrtalhilo):;:ifsm:tabduettel me h
Last
.SmeirenithAchrnadrihdeadiesrTaindire-dr.:3-ecam.ypt,hitnhgatoflhishmo.uld have found ht
The express containing his excellency's dispatch pa-. 24
to the camp during the night, and at the very moment dm
arrival, on being forwarded to this place, I had the troop
11,
bo
uei
o
and sop
the troops having marched here with only three days' bind
plies,formedol overlookscarending
wd ibhufitacrt on
back
nthe rpeereceiving
remaintePv Tif
tt:mh the
oyti fn
former removalmovingcommunication
position, ot°°flook
msy k
17
camp Duo
t odtt for
4-ohtic ei
whirl
in their haversacks, and without a single waggon, as oath
previous move.
Mr. Stretch having kindly. offered his services to move
this dispatch will be able to explain anything which I me
have omitted to mention.—l have, ite.,
J. II A R F., Colonel.
Lieutenant-Colonel Cloete, K.H., Deputy-
Quartermaster-General.

P.S.-4 o'clock, p.m.—Sir A. Stockenstrom has jug
arrived, having lett his division in the Amatola valley
within a few miles of this. He proposes returning kerne
diately to his camp at the Tyumie Hoek, for the purpose
getting a :supply of provisions and ammunition, and. fa
making arrangements to mare his camp to where mine is s
present, under the Amatola height, and establiahing 11,
force somewhere about the Leney River, between Burn'
Hill and the Tabendodo. These arrangements will take
least four or five days.
Sir Andries requests that I will communicate to his et
cellency the satisfaction that he has experienced during th
operations at the manner in which all under his comma
performed their duty; and he would particularize th
spirited conduct of the Fingocs under Mr. Crause as de
serving of cepecial notice.

Amatola Camp. Aug. 1.
Sir,—l have the honour to report my proceetlingi fin(
my late communication from Shiloh, where I posted my le
wing in such a posture as to check the Tambookies as at
as Kaffir,, and to be ready to join me to the south of tl
great mountain range.
Od the 21st ult. I proceeded to Elands Post, and ammo
with Captain Sutton, to whose zealous co-operation I a
much indebted, the necessary measures for the advance
the Kat River Contingent into the field, and for the prow
tion of that part of our frontier. On the 22nd 1 proceed'
to the camp of my right wing, which I had ordend to tat
post on the Chumie Ridge. Having communicated with]]
Honour Colonel Hare, and Lieutenant Stoaes (deputed f
that purpose by his Excellency the Commanderdn•Chief),
marched the right wing to Block Drift on the as
leaving the heavy baggage and waggons undira alts
guard at that post, started thence at dusk on the 26th wi
700 men in expectation of attacking, at daybreak on t
27th, the great force of Kadin which was reported to ha
concentrated in the forests at the head of the Chumie. I
proceeded throughout the night, but as soon as day slaws
became aware that the enemy had abandoned this sum
hold. I nevertheless caused the several recesses to be scout
to the tops of the mountains. Some shots were exchanj
with straggling parties of Kafir, and a few of them se
killed. I then deemed it important to push forward ]
camp and show a determination to keep posseision of t
country ; my waggons were, therefore, brought to the Chus
missionary station during the night of the 2bth, and, hay
on the same day communicated in person with Colonel
at his camp, I made my preparations for attacking t
Amatola mountains and fastnesses._

I had directed my left wing, under Commandant slosbe
to move from Shiloh, 800 stnalg, to join the Kat River Cc
tiagent, 400 strong, at the foot of the Louheary (Gs&
kop), and fall on the Chumie forests from the north, whi
I entered them from the south ; but a thick fog and the af
take of the guide prevented that zealous commander fn
joining me before the 28th. Soon after sunset on the 2f
I left my encampment (in charge of Field-Cornet Krug
with 200 men) GOO strong, and, taking up Joubert with I
1,200, ascended the western face of the Amatola ranee, t
lesser summit whereof we reached about midnight. lien
left a reserve of 500 strong in charge of our horses, and
tached to my right Assistant-Commandant Botha, with
of the Kat River Legion, to keep open my communicati
with Colonel Hare, who was to make a iillitatanCOUS RIO'
ment against the lower part of the Amatola, as agreed I
tween us. An attack made on his Honour's camp during
night, as perceived by us from the repeated volleys
flashes of firing, delayed his Honour's march till morn"
but not so as to diminish its efficiency. Whilst the darken
continued we saw numerous lights throughout the whole,
the Amatola kloofs and jungles, indicating a cent% t,tr.:e
of great force. At daybreak my division rushed down
eastern declivity with the utmost alacrity, in hope of so
decisive struggle ; the alarm signals of the scouts were ho
from every peak, and bodies of men were seen assembling
the several elevations rising above the forests. Mr force'
at once divided into several subdivision—every kloof,
rapier, and bush, where any party of the enemy was P
ceived, was rushed at and attacked with spirit. The me
saw that their only chance was in flight, and according
after two or three attempts to concentrate in appareu
tenable positions, they were seen to fall back from rdtr
ridge, as they found us making our way through the thr
est forests and the steepest mountains. Nothing dosero
the name of a battle can be said to have taken place, but
spirited rush of my men clearly struck panic into their op
Dents, and whore an attempt at a stand was made, the del
mination of the former put a speedy cad to the struge
thirty-nine dead bodies of the Kaffir* were seen. and
many more fell in the jungles as well as the newts
wounded, it is impossible to estimate. The loss on our
is five killed, and four severely wounded.
About 3 p.m. my several detachments were seen desec
ing the steep mountains much fatigued after the rcpca
night marches and climbing and dercenling so many I
cipitous elevations, but the Kaffir, except a few stingtil