AFRICANWARSAND WHITEINVADERS
Smith strengthened the human barrier against the Xhosa by settling
Mfengu and white military veterans in the fertile land between the Fish and
the Keiskamma. British Kaffraria east of the Keiskamma he ruled autocrat-
ically,placing white magistrates over the chiefs. He interfered drastically in
domestic Xhosa politics-for
example, by deposing Sandile, the senior
Ngqika chief, and proclaiming the son of a British missionary as regent in
his stead, Deeply humiliated, in December 1850 the Ngqika chiefs and
councillors initiated yet another round of military resistance. In this, they
were encouraged by a prophet, Mlanjeni, who had been influenced by
Christianity. Mlanjeni claimed that "he had been to Heaven and had talked
to God who was displeased with the white man for having killed his
Son ...
God would help the black man against the white-...
a stick from
the plumbago plant would make them invulnerable."12
Mlanjeni's War, as it became called, continued for more than two years.
The Ngqika were joined by many other Xhosa, by numerous Thembu, and
by Khoikhoi rebels from the Kat River settlement, making a total of about
20,000 fighting men. The colonial government mustered nearly as many,
including Mfengu, Gqunukhwebe, colonial volunteers, a few Khoikhoi,