raised a clamor for its reannexation."
The tenuous peace collapsed after Stockenstrom was superseded by men
who lacked the will to check the settlers. In 1846, war broke out again. In
white circles it was known as the War of the Axe, because it was sparked by
an incident in which a Xhosa band released a man who had been arrested
for stealing an ax and killed the Khoikhoi prisoner who had been hand-
cuffed to the accused. The Xhosa-assisted
this time by allies from the
neighboring Thembu chiefdoms-drove
the colonial forces back beyond the
Keiskamma River, but once again the troops concentrated
on destroying
their homes, cattle, crops, and grain reserves. With their women and chil-
dren facing mass starvation, the chiefs sued for peace. 10
In 1847, Sir Harry Smith-the
man responsible for killing Hintsa-be-
came governor of the Cape Colony, and on 23 December he paraded his
troops in the presence of two thousand Africans. Sitting on horseback, he
read out a proclamation
reannexing the land between the Keiskamma and
the Kei as a separate colony, called British Kaffraria. Then, according to
one report, he called the chiefs forward and required them to kiss his feet.
Two weeks later, the report continues, he assembled the:chiefs again and,