Chapter CCXVIII

_Natal: The Land and its Story_ (Pietermaritzburg: Davis & Sons, Fifth Edition, 1897). By permission of the author.

l. 1. _Congella._ Hostilities having begun in Natal (1842), Captain Smith led the English forces out of Durban for a night attack on Pretorius’ position at Congella. It was a moonlight night, and the advance was observed. Our men were shot down as they marched along the shore without cover. The survivors retreated to Durban, and the Boers immediately invested the town. A despatch-rider having made his way through the Boer lines, reinforcements were sent by sea, and the siege was raised (June 25, 1842). Natal was annexed the following year, and the Boer was thus headed off from the sea.

VIII.--AUSTRALIA