THE MATABELE WARS. 742 before the enemy was finally cleared out. " It isdifficult," writes Colonel Plumer," to estimate either their numbers or their losses, as the fighting took placeoversucha widearea. Their losses must have amounted to nearly 100. Nearly 1,000 cattle, over 2,000 sheep and goats, and between 500 and 600 women and children were captured, amongst them being one of Lobengula's queens. They were quite willing to be taken with the column, and expressed themselves as heartily sick of all the fighting and moving about theyhadbeen going through. They said that picked scouts had watched and reported the arrival of the column at Inyati, but that the indunas (chiefs) hadcalculated that theforce would march on the 5th and attackon the 6th, by which time the women and cattle wouldhave been removed. Evidently the night march of twenty miles had upset all their plans, andhad been mainly instrumental to the success of the operations." In the caves and in the native camps among the koppies was found a large amount of clothing and other property that had belonged to the murdered settlers. Theloss of the victors was three white troopers killed and five wounded (onemortally), and six natives killed and nine wounded— twenty-three casualtiesinall. ThecaptureofTabas-i-Mhamba put an end to the Matabele insurrection in the country north of Buluwayo.

twoMaxims, was left to hold the camp, and the rest of the field force marchedoff at 10p.m. It was made up of about 500 white troops and volunteers,about 250 Cape Boys, and 300 other black "friendlies"— in all, nearly 1,200 fighting men, with two mountain guns, three Maxims, and aHotchkiss machine gun. Very few of the volunteers weremounted, the horses beingleft behind now that the chief work to be done was fighting on rocky hillsides. Entering the hill country, the column,halted at 1 a.m. on the 20th and rested till 4.30, when the march was resumed. The advance wasup a narrow valley, with the koppies held by the enemy in front. Soon after sunrise the Matabeleopenedfire from some rough stone breastworks. They were shelled out of these,and the koppies were then attackedand stormedwithlittle loss. Desultory fighting went on for somehours amongthe hills, but an attempt to cut off the enemy's retreatby a flanking party failed, and most of Babyan's men got away. The loss in the attack wasone white man killed and one wounded, and four Cape Boys killed and ten wounded. The black auxiliaries did the heaviest part of thefighting. A small detached force under Captain Laing, which was marching to attack a body of rebels reported to beat Inugu Hill,eight miles to the westward,wasitself attacked whileon tlaemarch. The enemy had good cover among bush and granite boulders,and it was three hours before the assailants were beaten off. The losses of the detachment wereheavy,threewhitetroopers killed and tenwounded, andtwenty-five friendlies killed andeighteen wounded— fifty-six casualties inall.

Sir F. Carrington's efforts were now directed to tlae reductionof the rebel strongholds in the Matoppo Hills. The Matoppo country, viewed from one of tlae outlying summits, looked like *'an endless sea of koppies of various sizes, all more or less composed of huge granite boulders, in tlaeintersticesof which grew bush and scrub, and separated from each other in most cases by only extremely narrow and tortuous gorges."

When it is added that the koppies werehoneycombed with caves, it will berealised that the rebels held a natural fortress of formidable strength.

It was consideredthatby the capture of Babyan's stronghold and the dispersal of his army, the strength of the rebels in tlae western Matoppos was broken. Sir F. Carrington, who was in badhealth,returned for a while to Buluwayo, leaving Colonel Plumer in command, and the end of July was spent in patrolling the hills round the camp and securing the ground that had been won by erecting a number of small forts. On the 31st the force left the camp and began tomoveeastward,and on that day,and on August 2nd, encountered and drove off small bodies ofMatabele, who made a not verydeterminedattempt to defend themselves among the rocks. On the 4th the scouts reported that the enemy was in force in the neighbourhood, and this news was confirmed by an old native woman, a member of Lobengula's family, who wasbrought in a prisoner by one of the patrols.

In the middle of July, General Carrington concentrated his force south of Buluwayo, close to thenorthern edgeof theMatoppos. Information obtained by Colonel Baden-Powell went to show that the principal force of Matabele in the western part of the hills was an impi or native army, under Babyan, which held a group of koppies five or six miles from the camp. On July 19th a reconnoitring party sent into the hills had a narrow escape of being cut off by Babyan's men. On the evening of the sameday a detachment of seventy men, with twoguns and