of the colonists. Khoikhoi were torn between obeying their trekboer pa-
trons and deserting them to join up with the Xhosa, which was an attrac-
tive alternative, since, as we have seen, the nearest Xhosa chiefdoms had
already incorporated numerous Khoikhoi. Thus, during the first two spells
of warfare in the frontier zone between the colony and the territory of the
Xhosa in 1779 and 1793, people were killed, property was destroyed,
sheep and cattle changed hands, but the results were indecisive.V
These events strained the relationship
between the frontier trekboers
so