society. Consequently, the Mfengu were particularly susceptible to the
ideas and practices of the traders and missionaries and prone to be disloyal
to their Xhosa patrons.f
By the 183os, relations between Blacks and Whites were deteriorating.
There was cattle rustling both ways across the frontier. Government offi-
cials and British settlers humiliated African chiefs in the presence of their
followers. Colonial forces expelled Africans whom the government had
allowed to settle in part of the "neutral 'belt." White traders, with accessto
capital and supplies of Western commodities, eliminated Xhosa com-
petitors and formed cartels to change the terms of trade to their advantage.
ByDecember 1834, Xhosa resentment was so general that, with fewexcep-
tions, the chiefs cooperated in organizing a massive invasion of the colony.
Absorbing the lesson of their failure to capture Grahamstown in 1819, they
attacked on a wide front and waged a skillful guerrilla war, forcing most of
the British settlers to abandon their farms. Eventually, however, an imperi-
al force carried out a destructive expedition into the heart of Xhosa territo-
ry across the Kei River. The Gcaleka chief Hintsa, who was generally
recognized to be the senior of all the Xhosa chiefs, was tricked into cap-