THE COUNTRY OUR TROOPS HAD TO PENETRATE.

Evening Post, Volume LX, Issue 116, 13 November 1900, Page 5

THE COUNTRY OUR TROOPS HAD TO PENETRATE.

Renter's correspondent in the Elands Valley (wiiting at- the end 'of September} 1 says :— From Waterval Boven to Waterval Onder the railway passes along the valley of the Elands River. So precipitous is the descent into the valley that a rack railway was constructed, and trains, as a rule, are moved up and down by a cog-wheel engine; none of these engines being for the ' moment in our possession! we had to be content with transporting small loads at a time from the upper to the lower station. The two little railway hamlets above and below the . aterval hang like Swiss chalets upon the slopes of the mountains of the Elands River, consisting of pretty little substantial railway cottages, embedded in trees. The scenery between these two chalets is magnificent. Dipping suddenly from the upper station one slips along a zig-zag cut into the uniside. Below, the river foams and sparkles over black rocks, the train now high above, seeming to hang suspended in mid-air directly over it. Everywhere among the rocks are little Knaki pickets watching. Then through a deepcut gorge the train approaches a tunnel ; here, sentries step smartly to and fro. Passing through a tunnel on an open truck,' especially when descending a grade of 1 in 20, is a curious and father eerie sensation. We all sincerely hoped no brakes would fetch away. Out of the tunnel once more, past more sentries and pickets, and with much groaning from the engine, we pulled up. A railway employee passed along the trucks tightening up the hand brakes. An engineer friend kindly informed me that we were approaching the worst part of the descent. He added, further, that a day or two before a trolley had broken away just there, and had shot down the incline, colliding with a locomotive, and very nearly killed six men. Vastly cheered by this pleasing intelligence, I hung on to mv truck and awaited developments. Down ! Down ! we dipped, creaking and sighing at every step. All went well, and we reached the end of the road without accident! Then round a corner Waterval Onder hove jn sight. From a military point of view the position is terribly bad. Great mountains, their topmost ridges lost in white mist, overlook the village from Qvery point. With their slopes held by the enemy, the place might become a veritable valley of the shadow of death ; but at present they are crowned by our own pickets, and we are able to sleep Without fear of the sneaking sniper, nor is the voice of the pompom heard any longer in the land. As the purple gloaming fell over the river bank, the valley became a picture by Dore. Down along the river bark the camp fires of the Coldstreams and- the Grenadiers began to glow *dully red ; as it grew later the outlines of the great hills stood out black and clear against the sky ; then, as the half-lights deepened into darkness, away upon the topmost of the commanding peaks little flash lamps began to talk to each other and the town. upon one of the highest of the northern peaks, General Pole-Cai'ew has established his camp, and the little flash lights fling his orders far and wide in the streets of the village. ELANDS RIVER INCIDENTS. EFFECTS OF THE CHASE AFTER DE WET. WORN-OUT TROOPERS AND STEEDS. After our thirteen days' siege at Elands River had been .ended by the arrival of Lord Kitchener our little camp became the centre of some strange scenes. We had the divisions of General Hart, Smith -Dorrien, Broadwood, and Ridley, camped out on the plain. These troops had been chasing De Wet since the end of May. It was obvious to us they were handicapped in their chase. First, their horses were done — poor brutes, they were too weak to carry* the equipment, much less the troopers, and

the men had to walk as much as possible (o rest them and save themselves becoming " loot -sluggers" altogether. The men too had been on quarter rations too long and their clothing was worn .to shreds. The food we had saved was a God-send to them, and all day long our stores 'were loaded up on Kitchener's waggons until they could not take .ti.y more. After staying with us for two days Kitchener left, and, sending each of his divisions in different directions, he scoured the country Pretoria- wards. He, however, left a cavalry division and some batteries of guns with us until Lord Mothuen's division arrived, with, which we travel to Maf eking to refit. ' On" Mcthuon's arrival we had a repetition of the same scene in regard to starving men and horses, only more so. Lord Metbueu and his troops were 'to be pitied, for they had done all that was expected of them, and, through no fault of theirs De Wei had slipped out of the trap into which they had run him, and they were all. from the General downwards, very sick about it. Methuen drove De Wet up to the Magaliesburg mountains, where he was forced to go through either MagatoV Nek or Olifan's Nek to escape. It was understood that Baden-PoweH was to hold these 'passes ; and then Carrington, with the Rhodesian field force, was due in the district too. But two things interfered with the original plan— first, De La Rey.'s attack on us and his successful operations against Carring- • ton; and second, Lord Koberts's change of policy in deciding that ail small positions were to be evacuated and garrisions. withdrawn, and only flying columns used in the further prosecution of the war. Then again Baden-Powell marched to our relief on the third day of our siege, and had actually got to within less than 20 miles of us with a force of about 2000 mesn adequately supported with artillery, when a message came from Lord Roberts to say that Carrington had . reported that We had capitulated and it fc was better for Baden-Powell to return. So Baden-Powell's forces did neither one "thing nor the other. They didn't relieve us and secure a big ' haul of Boer prisoners, which was easily within the range of possibility; nor did they block De Wet's escape through. Olifant's Nek or Magftto's Nek. Either of these movements would have been brilliant chapters in the war, but they were frustrated by wrong information evolved ,from some mysterious source. I have since heard that lan Hamilton was sent to take the place of Baden-Powell at Olifant's Nek and Magato's Nek, but failed to get into position in .time. Kitchener's coming was equally unsatisfactory from a tactical standpoint. He was first of all informed that we were invested, and he made haste to- our relief. Then followed the same news — that Carrington reported our capitulation, and Kitchener then - moved more leisurely. Then followed a message from Lord Roberts to say that our runner had got through the Boer - lines and reached Mafeking with the news that we were holding out. Then Kitchener hurried up, and his huge column did a 35 miles' march in a single day, but they arrived too late to engage the enemy. A staff officer here in Pretoria told me that he never saw "Bobs" so angry 'as he was during that week of mistakes. No wonder. It was, however, a good thing that all the army corps came to Elands River, for we fed them all. They took all the stores they had transport for, and even then we had to destroy a small quantity of stores we could not bring along. In addition to the regular provisioning from our stores of tEe different divisions, it was almost pathetic to see how the starving Tommies helped themselves when op- > portunities occurred. Here there would be a group of them picking up tins of beef scattered from a broken box. How that box was broken let no one inquire. Men filled their helmets,, the horse's nosebags, old haversacks, and mud-coloured handkerchiefs with flour, and even officers were glad to have "good places" pointed "out to them where they could supplement their commissariat by the addition of odd boxes of things. Sentries were placed over the stacks of stores, but some hungry l Tommy would come along and say, "I say, matey, do you know where I could get some 'scoff?'" ' "There's .some bully beef round the corner there, but you ain't supposed to take it, but I can't say anything if I don't see you," and the sentry would march away id the opposite direction whilst Tommy helped" himself. An officer demanded an explanation from a guard as to why' so many things had disappeared which were under his charge. " You see, sir," said the innocent guard, "them Tommies are such awful thieves, you'd have to put a guard on every box to keep them off." A young quartermaster with the Queenslanders, seized" with a spasm of zeal, became indignant one night when he saw an Imperial officer coolly ride off to a , heap of miscellaneous stores, and indicated to the troopers he- had brought with him what boxes they were to take away. " This sort of thing has gone on long enough,?' said the quartermaster, we can't have any more of this looting." "Oh," said the other, we need these things very muph, and I have permission to get them, and must have them." After some more "indaba," the matter ended by the quartermaster insisting that nothing was to be taken unless the officer womd leave his receipt for the goods. " I'll do that with pleasure," he said, and talcing out his pocket-book he wrote a detailed receipt for what' he was taking, and handed it to the quartermaster. The signature to the receipt was "Adolphus of Teck." Fancy a Prince Royal hard up for " scoff." ■ The Premier has received a cablegram from the Imperial authorities asking the New Zealand Government to act as their agents in the purchase of 5000 tons of oats for the requirements of the army in South Africa. The Agricultural Department is making enquiries as to prices. Major - General Le Qallais,, who was ', killed in the engagement near Bothaville with De Wet's commando was born in Jersey in 1861. He came of a fighting family, his father being an old Indian officer. A Wellington gentleman who knew the deceased General states that he was a very popular man. A letter just received from South Africa, dated 26th September, states that Captain L. Bourn (of Timaru, and with the Fourth Contingent) was then temporarily acting as chief postmaster at Barberton. A Waikato trooper now in South Africa j says that whenever a farm or a store was met with the Bedford men would get enough to last them a day, but the New Zealanders would be carrying fowls for a week— in fact their camp was like a little farmyard, and whenever the Boers heard the cocks crowing in the morning on the veldt they knew the New Zealanders were about and it was time to clear." We learn that Mr, Ross, who was mentioned in last week's cable news as having left with Mrs. Baden-Powell the sword of honour sent by the people' of Dunedin for her son, the hero of Mafeking, is Mr. John Boss, of the firm of Ross and Glendining.