WITH THE SEVENTH CONTINGENT.

Evening Star, Issue 11607, 22 July 1901, Page 4

WITH THE SEVENTH CONTINGENT.

[Speoiai, to the Stab.] The troopship arrived at Durban at 10 a.m. on Thursday, 9th May. We lay in the Bay' until the following morning, when we went intp (he harbor alongside the wharf. No one was allowed on shore with the excepiion of the staff officers, the doctors, and myself. We had not very much time to see Durban properly. There ! seemed to be a general air of prosperity 1 about the place, which is not to be won- • dered at considering the enormous amount | of skipping there has been there for the i past two years. The outer bay had about twenty large steamers at anchor, and u> sido the wharves were packed with cargo steamers and troopships mostly four or five deert: while there were a large number of sailing ships l:ing at anchor. In coming into the outer bay on Thursday morning the first steamer we came to at anchor was troopshin No. 15, full of Boer prisoners. The outer bay is exposed a good deal in certain weather, and a fairly heavy sea runs into it from the south-east. All the vessels waiting to go inside, are tendered by really magnificent tugs. There are four belonging to the harbor authorities, besides several owned by private firms. Those belonging to the authorities all-have two funnels of the same pattern as those of a man-of-war. They are very powerful, are beautifully painted, and look as spick and span as the finest yachts. The civic authorities of urban are evidently taking advantage- of the good times, as they are making creat improvements in the streets all over the town, and are doing the work well. I suppose that there must have been at least a dozen steam rollers at work, in addition to any amount of smaller ones drawn bv natives. All the work is done by native labor. They work in gangs, with a " boss" over them, and certainly they don't hurt themselves by working too hard. 1 saw one gang of about a dozen all squatting down placing the stones in position by hand prior to the roller going over the ground. Thev work as slowly as possible until the "boss" stirs them "up with the whip, when they make a bit of a spurt, and-.then relapse into their ordinary speed. THE NATIVE POLICE ' are a great institution. They are mostly Zulus, "and arc armed with a, shin stick, a sjambock, and a spear; and they seem to be adepts in the use of these weapons, leoplo here all say that it is impossible to get the Kaffirs to work properlv without the use of the whip. Whether "this is h> or not, the fact remains that whenever a Kaffir boy does not do his work properlv he sets a "licking," and then he works all right for a while, when the dose is repeated. Thev seem to expect it, and if thev don t get it they think the " boss " is frightened of them, and'plav up accordingly". Another great feature in' Durban is the immense number of rickshaws in *use. There are over 4,000 of them. The drivers are rigged out in the strangest fashion imaginable, with all sorts of colored costumes, shaped like running suits, and they have their heads adorned with immense horns or feather head-dresses, while on their lets and arms are great shell bracelets and "bells, which keep up a constant jingling when they are travelling. It is wonderful how well they travel, even up steep hills. We tried to get them to race each other, but the native policemen will not allow that. When they see a race on the police follow the whole wav, and will not allow the one to paro the other unle* the first rickshaw gets blocked by the traffic. A_ PLEASANT SURPRISE On arrival at Durban wharf we were m?t by Captain Seddon (son of the KJ ™ wr V'™ *f««e ,Hay. V* contingent disembarked at four o'clock, and the E S V 2 e 0 re en ffi ncd H leavin * for M °"- at The otters journeyed on half a* hour later. I went by this train as : *e Twenty-sixth Company wer. to drtrain S"f .i Capltal - of Natal - t0 get the £5 V hG con , fl .^. en '- and take it on to Mooi -River, which we,did on the foli lowing alonoav. | THE CAPITAL OP NATAL. i Manteburg is rather a nice town, and seems very busy. A very large number of new buildings are in course of erection at present, and there already are some very fine buildings (both public and private) m the town. The new Town Hall,, just beii. K finished, will take a lot of boating anywhere. Our journev from Durban to Maritzburg was done 'in the ! dark, and, therefore, we could not see what the country was like. We left there j at ten, o'clock for Mooi "River, and so had a few hours of daylight, and from what we saw we concluded that Natal was not | a bad country bv , any means. Wattle i cultivation is enrried on to a large extent, and com seems to do extra well here, the stock being in splendid condition. Mooi lliver is. nothing' in the way of a township, Out it is a- depot for cavalry I remounts, and when we were there there

were about 15,000 horses for rmodnta. There is also a hospital' (under canvas) with 1,000 beds.. The contingent were mounted herd, but we were not atlc-wetl to stay any time, to try the horse*,'' or even to get them shod. Urgent wires" were being received every day for US to como on to Standerton}" so we' had "16 move on. We were two nights atad one-; day and a-half oUe board the trains.' Oar' contingent/with horses,'"made' fop ' seven * trains. We reached Ladysmith jilst be* fore daylight, ~and after getting' refresh.; ments Bteamed out again, as day was* breaking, so, to the regret of all,.we did' not have an opportunity of seeing this row historic town. A lot of the k6pjes on* which ihe Boers had their guns were pointed cut to us, as We proceeded'on our journey, and we also saw Bomo of the trenches which were used by the defenders." were unfortunate, too, in regard to Majuba Hill. We reached that well-known landmark just at dusk, and, although we saw it fairly well when coming up, it was a great disappointment to go past it in the dark Ave arrived all safe at Stander-, , ton just after the Fourth Queenslanders (TOO '> strong), with their hortes. As they were* the first to arrive we had to wait' till they were detrained before getting bur. horses off; so it was late in the day be* ; fore wo reached camp, about one mile and a-half from the station. Standerton is a. very poor town, But is a l ; , ; GREAT DEPOT FOR MILITARY STORES, Etc. There are about twelve different columns operating from this, point. They are,'gr'ie*. rally out for two or three weeks, and then come in again for supplies, unless they are brought out. to them'by some other column.' We got our remaining outfit and supplies here, and were sent away on the 20th, May for Ermelo, in charge of a large convoy with, provisions for General Bullock's column* Our convoy was several miles long, but old campaigners said it was only a small one. 'We had water carts, mule waggons, and ox waggons by the score. "» SOME SNIPING PRACTICE. On our third day out we came in contact with the Boer outposts, and thenceforth sniping was the order of the day. I forgot to mention that our column consisted of the' New Zealanders, the Queenslanders, and between 300 and 400 Tommies, . and 'we had with us four 15-pounders, a pom-pom, and Maxims. The column was under the command of Colonel Grey, of Jameson Raid fame, and the mounted division was under the command of Colonel the Hon. Henry White, with Colonel Porter second in command. At the end of the third day's march we spotted some Boers at a farmhouse, about 3,oooyds away, and the pom-pom was turned on them. After they had seven shells it was quite enough. They scattered in double quick time. On the fourth and fifth days sniping was pretty brick on both flanks, but beyond a horse being shot dead while one" of the Auckland troopers was loading, and several narrow shaves, no damnge was done. We reached termelo on the 26th, nnd handed over the convoy to Bullock, who was waiting for ns. Ermelo is a nice, compact little town, with some very good places in it. There were only three or four men and some , women in it when we arrived, and the boys had a fairly good time looting. The houses and stores were all open. Some of them were snlendidly furnished. After our column and that of General Bullock had left about an hour the Boers ajrnin occupied Ermelo, but, we heard that Bullock doubled back on them, atid that he hnd ciiutrht fifty prisoners. Ermelo, I understand, Ims now been totally destroyed bv Colonel French- since we were there. HOW WYLIE WAS KILLED. We only stopped a day at Ermelo, and ■during the early hours of next morning about 400 mounted men and the pom-pom went out on a night march to rapture a Boer outpost. They' arrived before daybreak at the farmhovFC, but the barking of a dog awakened the Boers who were there, and in approaching the house one of the srouts (Sergeant Wylie) was shot dead. This was our first casualty. The bullet first of all went through the stock of Wylic's rifle, and then went clean through him. He was buried at the farmhouse. Wylie was - made . a King's corporal for taking a gun "on his own "in an engage- • mont the name of which I forget. He joined ns with the men from the Fourth who volunteered for further service. Poor fellow, he wur brave to a fault, and his chums were predicting the nitrht before his dealh that he would get killed just as it happened. We took eleven prisoners this dav. On the 31st of May, on our way back to Standerton, there -.raa very heavy sniping. We took a Jot of women away . from the farmhouses on our march, and brought them to otanderton.