In one instance a soldier of the Second Queen's was
shot while cutting wood within three hundred yards of
Fort Cox; in another, a Hottentot boldly entered a
camp, and mounting a horse, rode off. The Caffres
annoyed General Yorke's camp at Line Drift by firing
the surrounding grass. Spans of oxen continued to be
taken in or near the camps. Caffre fires were constantly
visible from Fort Beresford. At Eiland's Kloof, a place
about four miles from Graham's Town, four spans of
oxen, some cows, and a mare, were swept off, on the 3d
of June. The mail from Graham's Town was captured
on the 6th. These are some characteristic but minor
incidents of the war. In every instance the Hottentots,
as usual, fly before any considerable forces.

On the 13th June, thirty-five Sappers and Miners
under Colonel Moody, escorting five waggons
containing stores, Minié rifles, and ammunition, were on
their way from Graham's Town to head quarters at Fort
Beaufort. They had rested at Fort Brown, and were a
little beyond the Konap Post, when they were fired on
by Hottentots in ambush. The first volley killed and
wounded several men. The fight continued for half an
hour; the Sappers fired away nearly all their ammunition,
and were gradually beaten back to Fort Brown.
The waggons were then plundered, chiefly of the Minié
rifles and the ammunition. The Hottentots fled on the
approach of a party from Fort Brown. Nine Sappers
were killed, and ten wounded. It was thought that the
Hottentots were perfectly informed of the movements
of the escort, and that the ambush was regularly planned.

In another attack on the Camp of Ulhaalder, a rebel
Hottentot, on the 15th June, a Cape Coast Corps sergeant
was found among the rebels, and hanged on the spot.

General Cathcart had intimated his intention of
establishing a mounted Rural Police, which would
probably perform services similar to those so effectively
rendered by the police which hunted out the last of the
Australian Bushrangers. In addition to this, he had
gone over a great deal of ground, in order that he might
become personally acquainted with the country; and
he intended to establish a line of defensive posts within
the colony. But his most important and latest act was
to issue a proclamation, on the 1st of July, stating that,
in consequence of the non-payment of the fine imposed
on Kreli by Sir Harry Smith, General Cathcart would
collect a sufficient force "on the Umvani River,
near Bram Neck, midway between Shiloh and the
White Kei; and that it was further his intention
with this force to cross the Kei, and establish his
head-quarters at Kreli's Great Place." General
Cathcart also commands "all Burghers of the
divisions of Graaf Reinet, Uitenhage, Port Elizabeth,
Somerset, Cradock, Albany, Albert, Victoria, Fort
Beaufort, and Colesberg, capable of bearing arms, to
take the field upon the old Commando system of the
colony," and join him at the appointed place on the
6th of August. Moreover, he promises "the colonists
of all classes, who shall voluntarily join in this great
Commando, that all cattle that may be captured by them
shall be divided amongst the captors, for their own use
and benefit, according to such equitable division as
may be determined on by their own commandants."

Major Hogge died, at Bloem Fontein, on the 9th June,
of a fever, supposed to have been caught in the country
of Moshesh. He was one of the Commissioners sent out
from England last autumn to settle the affairs of the
Orange Sovereignty. His loss is regarded as a calamity
by the whole Cape Colony, and he is spoken of in the
same warm terms by the journals of all parties.

Accounts from the various gold fields of Australia
have been received to the middle of May last.—From
Melbourne we learn that the miners have recommenced
their labours with great energy. A large nugget—the
largest yet—had been found opposite Golden Gulley,
which is said to be worth £2000. Many fatal accidents
had occurred, owing to men falling into deserted holes
or the earth falling in upon them when undermining,
and the want of due care. At Ballarat the miners were
comparatively inactive. At Forest Creek there had
been a few showers, but not enough to affect the water
holes. The miners were looking with no little trepidation
for the approach of winter. To the greater number
of diggers it would be their first winter in the bush.
The commissioners had relaxed their vigilance in
exacting the license fee; so that there was no ground
for provoking opposition, or the resistance threatened a
few months ago. The price of gold at Melbourne was
58s. per ounce, and not likely to advance until the
advent of English capital, money being more scarce
than in Adelaide. The diggers at Coghill's Creek,
distant fifteen miles from Ballarat, were doing well.
At Cape Otway, also, the miners were reaping a good
reward for their labours. The place is situated at the
foot of the ranges, about eighteen miles from the coast,
and about six from the head of the Barwon. Letters
from Mount Alexander notice that more than a hundred
men were employed in making roads, and orders have
been given to the chief commissioner that reserves should
be made for roads through the diggings. The Melbourne
newspapers contain innumerable instances of violence,
murders, affrays, night and day robberies, sufficiently
attesting the character of hundreds of wretches who
have resorted to the place for the basest purposes.

The accounts from Adelaide state that several recent
instances had occurred of footpads attacking persons
after dark for the purpose of plunder. In example of
the footpads at Melbourne the ruffians attacked every
one they met in the street after dark. Many men
without a farthing in their pockets had been ill-treated,
but the robbers occasionally secured a good prize. Such
a state of things had induced the authorities to augment
the police force. Considerable difficulty was experienced
from the paucity of silver coin, and to meet the exigencies
of the case it was suggested that one of the banking
companies should issue five and ten shilling notes, which
would be readily adopted by the community; and it
was believed that the destruction of notes which
invariably results from a small note circulation would
justify the expense and trouble incurred by issuing
notes of small value. The city and district of Adelaide
—indeed, the entire province of South Australia, which,
a few months since, were cheerless and comparatively
deserted—had once more a busy and happy population,
the result of the opening of the overland route to the
diggings at Mount Alexander, and the expected issuing
of gold bars from the Adelaide mint; the arrivals of
gold by the escort having been made with great
regularity, the aggregate in two months having exceeded
£350,000, and there being a fair promise of about a ton
of gold reaching monthly. Emigration to Melbourne
still went forward with much activity, but most of the
men's families were left behind, and remittances sent to
them by the government escort. Port Phillip journals
to the first week in May notice that the lieutenant-
governor was making arrangements to stem the torrent
of crime pouring upon the province; he had authorised
the erection of six out-stations at Mount Alexander,
each to accommodate an assistant commissioner, with a
staff of officers, three horse and sixteen foot police, two
police magistrates, stations and barracks for pensioners.
The salaries of assistant commissioners had been
increased from £300 to £400 per annum, and their
establishments in proportion. The iron auxiliary screw
steamer Conside, from San Francisco, was running
regularly between Melbourne and Sidney. The ordinary
revenue at Melbourne for the quarter ending March
31st, was £75,272, and the territorial revenue £156,827,
the total being an increase over the same quarter in the
previous year of £182,981.

The latest accounts from Hobart Town, Van Diemen's
Land, are to the 1st of April. Gold, it is stated, has
been discovered in the country lying between Fingal
and Avoca. It is little more than speculation at present,
as no gold in any quantity has been brought in; but the
Hobart Town Guardian says that "all doubt" of its
existence is at an end, and that two hundred men are
at work in "the diggings."

A letter from an officer of the 99th regiment, now
quartered in Van Diemen's Land, which has appeared
in the newspapers, gives the following account of the
State of the Military Service there:

"We are very badly off for men. Captain B— has gone to
.Melbourne with a hundred pensioners, as we had no men to