Historical records of the 91st Argyllshire ... - waughfamily.ca

122 HISTORICAL RECORDS OF THE1845. themselves, and acknowledged that " they werejista set o' drunken old deevils." However,theycould carry their liquor well, and, when they didfeel the worse, went quietly to bed. The rankswere filledmostly with Lowland Scotch, havinga few Gaelic-speaking* Highlanders among them.It will be best now to indicate briefly the causeswhich led to the outbreak of the Kaffir War of1846. 1846-47. In the early part of the year 1846the Kaffirs began to manifest symptoms of arestless and aggressive spirit, their maraudingincursions into the colony becoming daily morefrequent and 1daring. A meeting of the Gaikachiefs was convened byColonel Hare at BlockDrift on the 29th of January, at which 120 of thereserve battalion of the 91st Highlanders, threetroops of the 7th Dragoon Guards, one hundredof the Cape Corps, and one gun were present(a picture of this meetingis now in the officers'mess of the regiment, presented by Major Hollway).This array of British troops was fullyequalled or rather exceeded by the Kaffir chiefSandilla, who is said to have had a force ofsome 4000 horsemen, mostly armed with guns.*Up to 1839, a squad was always drilled in thatlanguage.