7th.--At daylight, we were awakened by a pouring rain pattering heavily on our patrol-tents, and congratulated ourselves that we were not likely to march; but in less than five minutes the bugle sounded "strike tents," and the operation of pulling up pegs immediately commencing, we had to bundle out and arrange our toilet in the storm. The rain having put out every fire, and the unexpected march upset the calculations of servants as well as masters, there was no coffee to be had, and we marched without it. A party of Cape Corps, which had been out during the night, returned with two hundred sheep, and seventy head of cattle, having killed several Kaffirs. Four miles marching across a plain, bounded on the left by fog, and on the right by the dark range of the Kromme, covered by a canopy of heavy white clouds, brought us to our halt for breakfast, by the so-called Yellow Wood River, a large gully, containing here and there small pools of water, its course marked across the otherwise bare plain by a belt of the large willow-like trees,[11] from which it derives its name. We discovered here the corpse of one of the enemy killed by the Cape Corps party, and not far off a wounded Kaffir, brought to this point by his comrades, whom, it seemed, we had nearly surprised at their fires, on which the meat was still cooking, or rather, burning. The wounded man wore round his neck a fine string of tiger's teeth, which one of the Levy officers cut off and gave me. On seeing the knife approach his throat, the poor fellow thought it was all over with him, and clasping his hands, with a deep groan, closed his eyes. He appeared as much relieved as surprised to find he had only lost his necklace. The Fingoes, as usual, wanted to kill him, but were prevented by the officers, who left the dying warrior some bread and water, and placed him under the shade in an easier posture. The sun now shone bright and hot. Our way lay across the steaming plain, on which clumps of mimosa again began to appear; here and there the blackened ruins of some unfortunate settler's house showed traces of the destroying enemy. Towards sunset we came to another green belt of trees that for some time had formed the only break in the parched and level plain, and crossed the deep Koonap River in separate bodies, simultaneously, at four or five different points, by narrow slippery ledges of rock running across it, and forming small waterfalls, over which several of the men slipped into the intervening pools, and, of course, got a thorough ducking. Soon after the camp was pitched, a party of our cavalry, whose firing we had seen on the hills, came in with three hundred sheep and a few oxen and horses, (belonging to the owner of one of the ruined farms,) which they had retaken from the enemy, seven of whom they had killed, losing one man.