and commoners . .. in a communal defence of their way of life." Peires
adds: "The 'soft' party of believers saw themselves as properly loyal and
submissive adherents of the old order, who put their nation first in giving
up their cattle for the good of all. They viewed the amagogotya as selfish
and even despicable 'cowards who fear hunger.' The unbelievers probably
thought of themselves as sensible men, who realized that one could not eat
grass, but their unbelief was probably sustained by a deep unwillingness to
slaughter their cattle."21
A mass slaughter of cattle and destruction of grain ensued. The frenzy
rose to a crescendo at the new moon on February 18, 1857, when the
prophecy was to have been fulfilled; and again on successive dates desig-
nated.in revised prophecies. The scale of the catastrophe was appalling. It is
estimated that the people destroyed 400,000
head of cattle and that at least
40,000
Xhosa died of starvation. By the end of January 1858 a~other
33,000
had moved inside the Cape Colony to become laborers on farms or
in the towns and villages as far away as Cape Town.22
Throughout
most of 1857 social relations bordered on anarchy, as
amathamba plundered amagogotya for food. Sir George Grey took advan-