At the end of the year 1850 the Kaffirs were again in a turbulent condition, and Sir Harry Smith, a Peninsular veteran whose record in India I have indicated, summoned the chiefs to meet him, but Sandilli ignored the invitation and was outlawed. Then began another protracted war with the natives, during which several disasters befell the British troops. In the Keiskamma defile misfortune overtook Colonel Mackinnon, where with a force of 600 men, which included detachments of the 6th and 73rd Regiments, he was ambuscaded. He, however, reached Fort Cox, where the Governor, Sir Harry Smith, was surrounded by the dusky hordes. He managed to get away with a flying escort, and safely reached King William's Town. In June 1851 operations were conducted in the Amatola and Wolf Valley with comparatively severe losses to the British troops. In December the passage of the Kei was effected, despite the enemy's ingenious attempt--a new method in warfare to them--at constructing breastworks. Ultimately the chiefs of the Gaikas and Seyolo requested peace upon terms which could not be conceded, and the war was continued. In the spring of 1852 a determined advance was made by the British against Sandilli's stronghold in the Amatola mountains, from whence the 74th Highland Regiment, the "tortoises" as the Kaffirs called them in allusion to the markings of their kilt, after much hard fighting cleared them out. Sir Harry Smith was relieved of his command at the Cape by Sir George Cathcart, and ultimately the Water Kloof was cleared, and the Basutos under Moshesh defeated at Berea; Sandilli again surrendered, and the recalcitrant natives were expelled from the territory they had previously occupied. The regiments represented in the campaign were the 2nd, 6th, 12th, 43rd, 45th; 2nd Batt. 60th Rifles; 73rd, 74th, 91st; 1st Batt. Rifle Brigade; 12th Lancers; Royal Artillery; Engineers, Sappers and Miners; Cape Mounted Rifles, Seamen and Marines. =Loss of the "Birkenhead."=--The South African Wars of 1834-53 recall the loss of the troopship "Birkenhead" on February 26th, 1852, when 9 officers and 349 men, drawn up in parade order on the deck, went to a watery grave after placing the women and children, and sick, in the boats. They were on their way out as drafts for the regiments engaged in the third Kaffir war, which began at the end of 1850, and was not terminated until March 1853. The German Emperor was so impressed with the heroism of these British soldiers, who so calmly went to their death, that he caused an account of their gallant conduct to be read to every regiment of his army.