e colonists remained in daily expectation of a fresh
incursion upon their little territory; to complete all came the cruel
conviction that their stock of ammunition was insufficient to maintain
more than an hour's defence.

These considerations, as well as the fear that the infant captives might
fall victims to their infuriated enemies, determined the Agent to make
another attempt to open a treaty for peace with the hostile chiefs, and
after great difficulty he succeeded in conveying a message to their
council (then in the act of debating a second attack), descriptive of
the wishes of the colonists to maintain peace, and of their equal
determination to oppose an invasion, with measures still more
destructive than those under which their assailants had already
suffered. These negotiations being unsatisfactorily entertained for some
time, a day of humiliation and prayer was set apart at the settlement,
after which the preparations for resistance were carried on as before.
Fortunately, at this juncture a trading vessel touched at the Cape, from
which the most pressing wants of the people obtained relief, and a few
days after, a still more bountiful supply was received through the
disinterested kindness of Captain Brassey of Liverpool, who, unsolicited
and without prospect of remuneration, nearly exhausted his own stores to
relieve the necessities of the sick and wounded, and presuming upon a
long acquaintance with the people of these parts, he undertook to
negotiate for peace; his efforts were however not successful; and
immediately after the departure of his vessel a considerable army
advanced upon the colonists; they, however, on their part were better
defended than on the former occasion, and although the force against
which they had to contend was more numerous and better disciplined than
before, yet as the forest in the neighbourhood of the town was now
converted into a wide plain, the assailants were obliged to approach
under a fire from the cannon, the rapidity of which to them appeared
like magic.

The natives sustained these destructive measures with surprising
fortitude and perseverance; several times throwing themselves on their
faces to allow the shots to pass over them, and renewing their own fire
immediately after each discharge. But a contest so unequal could not be
long maintained--in seventy minutes from the commencement of the attack
a final victory was accomplished; and the terrified fugitives dispersed