Moroka and also your father Moshesh would confirm in which circumstances they were at the time of our crossing of the Orange River – how we formed a … - Sarel Cilliers

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Moroka and also your father Moshesh would confirm in which circumstances they were at the time of our crossing of the Orange River – how we formed a wall of protection around them against the robbery and destruction of the Korannas and Basters – and how it subsequently went with them, as Rev. Archbell and Mr. Sephton can testify. In fact, in the year 1834, in a company of 10 men, namely A. and J. Struijs, A. and P. Pienaar, H. and P. van Heerden, A. Duvenage, A. Visagie, P. Cilliers and myself, we undertook a commission trek to the far side of the Vals River, during which we were able to view the region from the Modder River almost to the Renoster River. At this time, this region was empty, so to speak without inhabitants, with only here and there a few particularly lean and emaciated kaffirs who were in the process of starving. Wherever we went at this time, I did not see any sheep, goats or cattle. Those who escaped the assegai of Mzilikazi and the ravages of the Basters and Korannas, yes also survived famine, subsisted by digging trapping pits at the waters' edge. We also observed more than once that they carried bones and remains of overnight lion and hyena catches back to their kraals, when they saw the vultures descending on these. Out of compassion we shot a lot of game for them, and a group of them also accompanied us. In two places we met with horrible scenes. At the first I saw a stream where the waters had washed the corpses into a heap. The second was a defile in a cliff which was so to speak filled up with human bones. Upon our return home, we sent a memorandum, signed by 72 men, to the Cape Governor requesting to go and live there. This request was however denied.