refused, and King Mpande, incensed by King Langalibalele I's refusal, launched an attack. The AmaHlubi and the *AmaPutini* fled across the Buffalo River into the Klip River country and King Langalibilele I appealed to Martin West, the lieutenant governor of Natal for protection. In December 1849, after negotiations in which Shepstone exhibited considerable diplomacy, the *AmaChibi*, now reduced to 7000 in number, were granted 364 km2 of good land on the banks of the Little Bushmans River, between the newly established European settlement of Bushmans River (Estcourt) and the Drakensberg. It was hoped that the AmaHlubi would provide a buffer between the bushmen and the settlers and so protect the settlers' cattle from the bushmen. This area proved too small and within a few years, the Hlubi kingdom settlement had spread to over 6000 km2. The British Government required that the colonies be self-supporting in so far as was possible, resulting in various taxes being imposed on all residents. In the 1850s military levies and a hut tax were imposed on the native population who lived within the limits of the Colony. In 1873 a marriage tax of £5 imposed by the colonial government caused much resentment. The rebellion The discovery of diamonds in Kimberley, in the British Colony of Griqualand West, attracted thousand of workers, black and white. Many young men from the amaHlubi became labourers on the mines and some were paid in guns rather than in money, a practice that was legal in Griqualand West. The Hlubi labourers habitually brought these guns back to their home in the Natal Colony, upon returning from the mines. In 1873, John Macfarlane, then magistrate in Estcourt, ordered that Langalibalele hand in his people's guns for registration. As Langlibalele did not know who held guns, he refused to enforce the order. Walker records that the government named eight men who were to be ordered to register their guns and that after some hesitation, Langalibalele sent in five of the named eight men. Pearse on the other hand records that Langalibalele himself was ordered to appear before Shepstone, the Secretary for Native Affairs and that Langalibalele refused on grounds of ill health. In the event, Sir Benjamin Pine, who arrived in the Colony as lieutenant governor in July 1873 ordered the arrest of Langalibalele. Meanwhile, Langalibalele and his people made plans to flee to Basutoland (modern Lesotho) via the Bushmans River Pass.