While the service companies were stationed in Cape Town, the aggressions of the Kafir tribes, which are divided into three nations,--the Amapendas, the Tambookies, and the Amakosa, assumed a formidable and an atrocious character previously unknown. The colonial boundary extended, on one side, to the Keiskamma, but a chief named Macoma, had been permitted to reside within the British territory. Owing to some atrocities committed by him and his followers on the Tambookies, which were attended with the shedding of human blood within the colony, he was deprived of the lands he held by sufferance in the British territory. His expulsion was, however, not strictly enforced until 1833, when he was removed beyond the boundary, and he became violently exasperated against the British. The predatory habits of the Kafirs also led to disputes, when the British were searching for stolen property, and the lenity observed towards the aggressors emboldened them, and occasioned them to become more audacious in their attacks. [Sidenote: 1834] Towards the end of 1834 thousands of Kafirs rushed into the colony, and commenced the work of murder, rapine, and devastation by fire, among the settlers. [Sidenote: 1835] The SEVENTY-SECOND Highlanders were stationed at Cape Town, when the news of these alarming events arrived at the seat of government, and they were immediately ordered towards the frontiers. Three companies sailed for Algoa Bay, on the 2nd of January, 1835, and arrived at that place on the 10th; the other three companies advanced up the country by horse waggons; and as the regiment approached Graham’s Town, it traversed the scenes of outrage, and witnessed the ruins of once flourishing farms bearing marks of savage vengeance; the town was found barricaded, and the houses turned to fortifications. Ten thousand Kafirs had penetrated the colony, and the smoke of ruined farms, with the cries of widows and orphans, were seen and heard on every side. Having advanced towards the frontiers, the head-quarters were established at Graham’s Town, and detachments were employed in chasing the vengeful marauders from the confines of the British possessions.