The veteran and gallant Commander of our Division, General Somerset, being appointed to a command in India, during this month took leave of us, and of a country which for thirty years had had the benefit of his services, and where he had commanded in three wars. He was greatly beloved and respected by his Division, and the esteem and regard in which he was held by the inhabitants were manifested by their inviting him to a public dinner at Beaufort. About a week after this, having been left for some days in almost solitary occupancy of the Post, Bruce returned with his escort of mounted men and Burghers from Beaufort, bringing an order from the General for my appointment to head-quarters. Three days afterwards, I was quartered in Fort Beaufort. The change of temperature from the mountains to the dusty town, shimmering and dancing in the burning sun, was most disagreeable. Hot north winds from the deserts constantly prevailed, almost stifling the breath, and scorching the face like the blast from a furnace; doors, windows, and furniture cracked with the heat, and the thermometer often rose twenty or thirty degrees in a few hours. Each morning, the streets were filled with endless droves of cattle and goats going to pasture; and strings of Fingo women with children tied on their backs, and large hoes over their shoulders, trudging to their "meelie gardens." All day long, crowds of dirty, drunken Totties of both sexes, hung round the doors of the canteens; fought, shrieked, and swore in the square; or sat in the sun smoking, picking each other's heads, and eating snuff. Naked Fingoes trotted about on oxen, and little black urchins charged through the streets on calves; while dusty post-riders and mounted patrols galloped in with reeking horses; and native escorts straggled out guarding long trains of wagons. Towards evening, the cattle returned in hundreds; and the Fingo women re-entered the town, carrying on their heads enormous pumpkins, huge bundles of firewood, or grass. At sundown, the bugles and trumpets of the different barracks sounded "the retreat;" at dark, the cicada began his night-long ringing chirp, and, softened by the distance, the Fingoe's wild chant and monotonous drumming continued without intermission till long past midnight. The Governor-General, whose residence and head-quarters were at Fort Beaufort, had just left with a strong escort for the Umvani, about five and thirty miles from Kreli's "Great Place," where he had summoned an assembly of troops and burghers to meet him on the 6th instant, to proceed against that Chief, who had not only refused to send in the fine of cattle imposed on him by Sir H. Smith, on the faith of his promise to pay which the troops had been withdrawn, but had insolently sent back the letter in which his Excellency General Cathcart demanded payment, and remonstrated with him on his want of good faith.