A SOLDIER IN SOUTH CAMPAIGNING IN SOUTH AFRICA AND EGYPT.

Otago Witness, Issue 2210, 9 July 1896, Page 49

A SOLDIER IN SOUTH CAMPAIGNING IN SOUTH AFRICA AND EGYPT.

— %f mm By. Major-general W. W. O, MolyneuX. This book Is a plain unvarnished tale of a soldier's compaigninga. It makes no pretence, it scorns method, disdains style. Sometimes the disdain extends to facts. Bat on the whole it is a, frank, downright, and straightforward narrative. I confess to having read "it .with keen interest —an interest whioh the obvious but notunamiable prejudices of its author entirely failed to diminish. Major-general Molyneux is before all else a soldier. He comes from a fighting stock, and is proud of it— so proud that he has prefaced bis book with a long liss of bis military forebears, which, in its length and weariness, reminds one of the chronicles in* the Bock of Kings. Naturally enough, be looks at everything from a soldier's point of view. If he has many of the soldier's characteristic merit?, he has also a fall share of his idiosyncrasies. As for his prejudices, they are all full-blown. There is something amusing in his undisguised contempt for politics and statesmanship. Soldiers win empires, he says, in order that statesmen may lose them. The words " Socialist " and 1 " Radical " represent to him all that is most detestable yinv in modern life. But his frank geniality and bretziness of manner atone for mucb, and are emphatically more than a fair compensation for tbe somewhat vehement opinions to which he gives such goodhumonred expression. Major-general Molyneux has taken part in several of tho " little wars " which have accompanied the expansion of the empire duricg the past 20 years. In the extracts from 1 his book, I shall confine myself to the experiences which he gained in South Africa. Having regard to the existing state of affairs in that perpetually simmering pot, Jhe lessons to be deduced from them will possibly not be without value. The reflection uppermost in one's mind, after perusal of any volume dealing with South Africa, is ono of ever-fresh surprise at the procession of blunders whioh has followed on the heels of British diplomacy in that region.. South Africa has been the grave of many reputations. But not alwayd has that been the fault of the owner of the reputation. Both political parties in England have committed folly upon folly in their African policy, h_ave blundered and stumbled, and have then sought out some hapless scapegoat on whom to lay the bnrden of their misdeeds. Half the evils, in South Africa have arisen from the lack of a guiding principle of conduct and a definite and matured policy. It has been a case of living from hand to mouth, with no thought of the morrow. I.— The Soldier Afloat. Major-general Molyneux obtained his first experience of active service in 1878, when he proceeded to the Cape as aide-de-camp to General Thesiger, afterwards Lord Ohelmsford. In January of that year General Thesiger, who had just been appointed to tbe command of the forces in South Africa, left with all speed for the Cape. The general only heard of his appointment on January 21-, and we had to sail on tbe 31st. I believe it was Lord Clyde who said that two hours was enough notice for a soldier, and s piece of &oap and a tooth-brush sufficient kit. That may be all very well for a bachelor in lodgings in London ; for my own parb I found a week uncommonly short time for all that had to be done. . . . However, everything and everybody were ready by the 29tb, and on the 31st we embarked from Southampton on the Union Steamship Company's American, off at last on what every soldier longs for— aotive sorvica. There were drafts on board—some 200 men—for various regiments quartered at the Cape ; and it v.ill hardly be believed that, either because the Cape was considered so healthy or the prospect; of war with Russia so imminent, they seemed to have picked out the little children for these dr&ftf, their musketry returns shoeing that over one-half had not been through oven a recruit's course of musketry. Now,' the RussoTurkieh war lasted from April 14, 1877, .till the Treaty of Berlin on July 18, 1878, and it is true that early in February of the latter year the rumour of the entry of the Russians into Constantinople was circulated in London ; but that will never excuse <°<he authorities for sending out such youngsters to tho Cape to oppose the bravebt eav»ges in the world, or for expecting the poor boys to be good at ■ bush-fighting, a game that requires seasoned soldiers who will' work when not under the eye of an tfficer, and j whese reliance is on their own coolness' and skill. It is well to mention those things ; it is'ill to condemn anyone unheard because of panics to which the most experienced troops are as liable as the rawest. Colonel Evelyn Wood and Major Redvers Boiler joined the ship at Plymouth as special service officers. The staff thus numbered six, including the general — * modest following, it will be allowed, considering the numbers (hat have been authorised for preceding and subsequent expeditions ; but I was the only one of us who had nob been on the warpa'h before— the rest were veterans. The War OfEco had provided us with numerous Blue Books— we had Stiver's Guide to tell us about the country, and a precis from the Intelligence department on the manners and customs of the Kaffirs'; everyone owned a copy of "The Soldier's Pooket Book";- most had. Galtpn's "Art of- travel," and there were Koffir grammars and' dictionaries on board. • There were also among the passengers a judge, the Cape Attorney-general, a member of the Legislative Assembly, and some men from Port Elizabeth who couldjalk Kaffir. So our guides to knowledge were many. Triple expansion engines had nob then been invented, and instead of 16 days we were 25 on the voyage ; bub you cannot get nftioh into jour head in that time. .. We had not Theal's excellent " Compendium of South African History *nd Geography" then, and gettiDg Up history from Blue Books is a very alow proceis. We learned what we could of the history, the language, and the manners of the country we were bound for, bub I am afraid ib was not very much, except that the war had been caused by a fight between Galekas and Jingoes at % marriage feast. - - XI— A Kaffir Outbreak. . General. Thesiger at once assumed command of the troops in the operations against the Kaffirs in Galekaland. Now , that the Matabele are up in arm>, one reads with quickened heart-beat the description of the mode of warfare of the aborigines in Africa.' ffiwre is nothing mote piteoui to sea ti*a the

result of a Kaffir outbreak. Farms in that country are large - say, from 1000 to 4000 acres ; they are occupied by pioneer farmers, discharged Eoldiers of the old German Legion, 1 and other military settlers, who, with their families, live far apart ; and it is only by their known good marksmanship and the respect inspired by a white face that they hold their own amongst hundreds of black men. When a man has laboured on his farm for the greater part of his life, when he sees his homestead burned and all his cattle swept off, when he has barely been able to save the lives of his wife and children, it is small wonder, when he and his comrades go on the warpath in revenge, that he ehould be a greedy fighter, and avow his determination once and for all to make an 'end of it. The Kaffir gives no quarter. Why should he ? ' To tske bat one instance of what a Kaffir war means to the settler, here are the experiences of & well-known man who lived in (he East London distriot within the colony, On January 4, 1878, a Urge body of Kaffirs swept his farm- completely. They burned his houses and outbuildings, and carried off 12,000 sheep and many cattle and horses. From affluence he was reduced in an hour to destitution. He had grown grey with long toil, and was too old to begin lite afresh. Does even "the Aborigines Protection Society wonder that this man should have occupied a conspicuous place at the front during the war, and would they b9 surprised to hear that the motto of such men was " Slay and spare not " ? We have an illustration of the settler's passion for war aVoutrance in the story which came over the cables a few days ago of the farmer near Bulawayo who, before escaping from his homestead, found time to deposit in various places a quantity of dynamite fuses, which exploded while the natives were engaged in looting operations, and claimed over 100 of them as victims. lll.— Sir Bartle Frere. Sir Bartle Frere was at this time High Commissioner of South Africa. Sir Bartle, who came back to Kr gland after a lifetime of splendid service in India, went out to South Africa at the late Lord Carnarvon's express desire. Leaving his well-earned retirement with reluctance, Sir Bartle entered upon bis new and onerous duties with high impulses, and a resolve as far aB in bim lay, to advance the idea of an African Confederation. The deplorable incidents of the next few years cot only obscured that purpose and deferred its realisation, but eclipsed Sir Bartle Frere's own reputation, and be came home a broken-hearted man. This is how the High Commissioner struck the young aide-de-camp at their first meeting. Sir BarQo Frere I met for the first time sit dibner that night. He bad a wonderfully quiet, deliberate manuer of speaking, never hesitating and never at a loss fcr tbe rigbt word, giving you the idea that whatever might be the subject of conversation he kuew much more about it than any of his audience. He impressed us all as a most cool-headed diplo-matist,-and we recognised that he was one who was doing his beat for the good -of the State, and one who had tha will, the determination, and the power to carry out any. policy that he thought would be for the best. To us lie seemed a model pro-consul. > ■IV.— War in the Bdsit. Fighting in the bush is evidently trying business.' "Listen to what an expert like our author has to say cf it. With the exception of certain educated Kaffirs, mostly sons of chiefs who can afford to buy rifles, there are very few good shots amoDg them. If they see you from the bush against the sky-line, and have time to take a steady aim at a few yards' distance, you will probably Buffer, bo the plan is always, if possible, to attack them up-hill ; but, "as a rule, aKsffir with his assegai and knobkerrie is mere to be dreaded in the bush than one with a gun. The follow hao a hide like r rhinoceros, and the wait-a-bit thorn that tears pieces out of your clothes merely makes & white scratch on his .brouzed or reddened 6kin. His movements are therefoie unheard ; ycu may be surrounded by a crowd of Kaffirs in the bush, and unless you have come across their spoor you may be quite ignorant of their proximity till, with a ruth, a red form with a quivering assegai appears within a few yards of you. Then your coolness oud your firearm— Snider carbine or Winchester repeater for choice— decide whether you are to be ripped open or not. It is difficult for white men with their clothes, their great helmets, and their boobs to move through the bush at any pace ; and so a glade, or at least a bush path, is sure to be chosen if it leads in the proper direct r on. Your enemy knows this well enough, and will line the path in wait for you. When he shows himself there is only one thing for you to do— to go straight at bim into the bush with a cheer. You are then both in semiobscurity and on more than even terras,' and he is almost sure* to run ; at eny rate, if he does no!;, on account of number?, you can see him to shoot at, and are not firing wildly into darkness. White troop* moving in the bush should always have friendly natives as scouts to precede and flank the column. A broken twig, a blade of grass turned over, ' or » stone that has been moved is as " good as a sign-post to them ; whereas your men take months to learn such woodcraft, and would blunder on at first into the most open ambuscade. V.--A Rational Missionary. People are beginning to realise that the mission field is the scene of more misdirected zoal than any other department of human endeavour. Where else Is there Bach vast expenditure for such mioroscopic results 7 If half -the zeal and the sacrifice and the wealth lavished on the mission field had been expended' on the poor, the Buffering; and the destitute in our own country, the face of England would be transformed. ,' Close to Alice is the Lovedale mission station —the best of its kind in South Africa. They do not imagine there, as most missionaries seem to believe, that the singing of hymns translated into the Kaffir tongue will turn a wild man into an angel. The Kaffir is fond of singing ; he usually has a splendid' voice, and when chanting loudly and rolling his eyes he looks so intensely devout that ordinary missionaries think he is regenerate. Mr Theal, of Lovedale, goes on a different system. He catches the Kaffirs young, teaohes them to read, write, and sew, turns them into the workshop, shows them how to make chairs and tables, then into the garden 'to irrigate, sow, and re&p; later on he lets them help to print the local paper in their own dialect, or work tho telegraph, the wire of which runs through the establishment, all the while the Christion belief being gradually laid before them. The Kaffir sees, of course, the utility of the things he makes and dec, and naturally argues that, as the white man knows so much that is beneficial, doubtless what he says about religion must be also beneficial— in fact, he gets to believe in the missionary first and then in the religion that he practises. Mr TheaJ, of Lovedale, ba« obviously a

thoroughly rational view of a missionary's work. Vl.— The " Bongo." Unlike his more civilised brother, the Kaffir does not blow his own trumpet, but employs someone to do It for him. Here is on amusing account of the bongo :— It was on this toar that we met with that institution of savage South Africa— the bongo. Every chief of note has one ; a man of loud voice and greab powers of oratory, who goe3 before the savage singing praises of his beauty and his valonr. VeldbmaD, a Fingo leader who had behaved very well in the first Galekaland campaign, had been rewarded by some wags with the present of a bright, plum-coloured suit of corduroy, garnished with gold lace off a tunic, and an old gold-laced staff cap. Carried away by this, he had stack a feather or two about him in addition, and set up hi 3 best; shooter as borgo ; and one day wheri we were on the road he came thus to meet us and pay his respects to the general. His bongo came along a mile ahead, shoutiDg like an Egyptian cavass, " Clear the nay for tho great man," regardless of the fact that the road was nowhere but, as the American would say, " where you darn please to go." This was too much for our native guide, who began to shout in hiß turn that there was a bigger personage about ; and the two orators nearly came to blows. Before the crisis, however, Veldt man cantered up, with his big toes only in the stirrups, and made obeisance ; but on many occasions bongos have met and had a ronnd'or two with tbeir cubs btfore their lorda could arrive and discuss the question of precedence. - ' . Tho war was soon brought to an end ; but our author was destined ere long to resumo hie acquaintance with South Africa, ao.d that in much more critical times. Vll.— Wab with the Zulus. The first and most immediate result of the annexation of the Transvaal Republic was trouble with the Zulus. As Me Martinean testifies in his " Life of Sir Barlle Frare," " the annexation altered our relations with the Zulus greatly for the worse. Regarding the Boers as his natural and hereditary enemies, Cetewayo had courted the fiiendohip of the British and of his 'father Somtseu' (Sir Theophilus Shopstone) as a protection against them in case of need. Unfortunately there had been too much disposition on the part of the Natal Government to accept this position, and to regard the Zulus and Boers an dangerous neighbours who could be played off against each other." At first Catewayo was puzzled what to make of the new situation. On his own part, the Zulu chief had long been in a state of military efficiency, &nd biß braves were now thirsting for blood. Catewayo had revived the stringent military syatsm of Cbaka. A 26nltt who had not " washed hia spear " — that is, who had not killed an enemy— could not marry. The unmarried men and the unmarried women were formed into separate regiments and classes ; and a regiment or clase of either might reach middle age, failing an opportunity of figuring, without being allowed to marry. Peace under Panda, ,Cetewayo's father, bad been of such unwonted duration that a grievance had arisen. In "the ultimatum which Sir Bartle Frere sent' to Oetewayo the'Zula chief was required to abolish' the military system which enforced celibacy 'until the spears were washed, and which made aggressive war sooner or later a necessity for him. The conditions specified were not fulfilled, and there ensued the Zulu war. '.' VliL— The Prince Imperial. Major-general-Molyneux was in England (where he- had been invalided) when the war broke out; bub having been passed by tho mecliostl board, he hastened at once to the sc6ne of operations. He arrived to find in everybody's month stories of the heroism and disaster aY Isandhlwana and Rorke's Drift. With the British forces was tho young and, hapless Prince Imperial. The Prince had arrived on March 31, and had bean staying with Captain and Mrs Baynton. The- day *f fcer our arrival he came with Gasseb to see the general, and was delighted when the chief attached him to his personal staff, asking him to act as an extra aide-de-camp. The Prince then and afterwards always wore the uniform of the Royal Artillery; he was not very well at the time, with a slight touch of fever. On his arrival the chief thought it would be as well to have a medical officer attached to the be&dqua'rbcr staff, and Surgeon-mo jor F. B Scott was accordingly appointed to the posb. The Prince was a charming young fellow, burning to disbinguish himself ; a capital rider and swordsman ; but, of course, like all high-spirited young men, a little difficult to manage, and I think the fever never quite left him while he lived. Major-general Molyneux had an oppor-tunity-of seeing with his own eyes an exhibition of the Prince Imperial's foolbardiness. • ■ ~ m As we rode home that day, the Prince Imperial and I were walking our horses a little behind the rest, talking over all sorts of thingi, while half a mile away, in all directions, were EOOutiDg parties of Irregulars. Some days before, when out with Colonel Harrison and Bettington'n men, the Prince had gone straight for some Zulus on a hill, who, luckily, had bolted. Reverting to this, I asked him why he had risked his life when the death of one or even a dczen Zulus 'would not affect the success of our campaign. " You are right, I suppose," he said, "but I could not help it; I feel I must do something." Just at this moment a shot wss fired on our left. I looked aorosi, and saw the nun who had fired riding on quietly, re-loading. If he had fired at a Zulu he had killed him ; if he had fired at & buck he had missed it. He was neither hurrying nor dismounting. These conc'.usions were plain enough. Yet there w»s the Prince going, sword drawn, at full gallop for the man. I could have uo chance of catching hiro, Rnd in the dusk he might break his neck in the wild ride. "Prince, I rauet order you to come back," I shouted. He pulled up at once, saluted, returned his sword, and said nothing for a minute; then he broke out, " It seems I am never to be without a nurse " ; and a moment after, " Ob, forgive me; but don't you think you are a little phlegmatic ? " I reminded him of what be had just owned about the affair with Bettiogton's men. and he laughed, Buying that I h&d answered him rather neatly. •• Some day," he answered, "in Paris, I hope, I will be your guide, philosopher, and friend." How could one help loving a boy like that— brave, daring to rashness, and determined to make a name for himself to add to the records of his race P But with all our love we were terribly anxious about him. A couple of days later came the last scene in this pathetic and phantasmal life :— I was assisting at the Umgor-mivking thia dtvy,

and did not think of much beyond it, except that I had seen the cavalry doing some very pretty parade drill about two mile 3 off over the neck, and had wondered why •on earth they were not ten miles to the front. That evening, as I was in my tent working out the distances for tho next day's laager, Ernest Buller came in. "The Prince is killed!" he said. "A colonial has brought in his horse ; the near wallet is torn half-way down. Carey, who was with him, has gone to tell the general." It was so; the torn wallet on tbe near side was the awful proof that the horse had got away from him when trying to mount ; and we knew that if dismounted, disabled, and abandoned, there was no chance of mercy from the Zulus. Next day the body was discovered at the bottom of a donga. ' It had 17 wounds, all of them in front, and the marks on the ground and on the spurs that were found indicated a desperate resistance. M. Deleage, correspondent of the Figaro, expressed a wish to assist the bearing party, a wish that was immediately granted. IX.— John Dunn. John Dunn, the white man who abjured civilisation and became a Zulu chieftain, assisted the British, though at first with reluctance, against Oetewayo. . John Dunn was the son of a Scotchman who had settled at Pert Elizabeth, in Cape Colony. Being of an adventurous frame of mind, he had«come to Natal about 1850, ' had been made interpreter to the Governor of Durban, and somehow got mixed up in the Zulu civil war [ of 1856, when Cetewayo defeated his brother Umbulazi on the Tugela. Though Dunn had been on that occasion on the loiing Rid°, he see ma later ou to have teoome me si fcieudly with Cetewayo, and with his brother, Dabulamanzi, whom he taught to ride and shoot with a rifle. The king gave him lana" near the Lower Tugela, and wives, as he was now a chief over & tribe. He had warned Cetewayo against fighting us ; but when, at the beginning of 1879, he saw war was imminent, he went over with his tribe into Nutil and remained neutral. The general had asked him to come with us to Bcbowe as guide, for he knew every path and every bit of bush on the way. He would nob premise, but when we had started he sot off after us, and, of course, all the fighting men of his tribo followed their chief. We welcomed them warmly, gave each a red handkerchief for his head, and employed them as soouts. John Dunn was a handsome, powerful man of about 40 years of ago, a perfect rider and lifle shot, rode an excellent jagd paard (shoobing horse) on all occasions, had the best of saddlery, breeches, boots, and other clothes (which bo always got ftotn England, though hehadnover been there), and, but for his large wide-».wake hat and tanned face, nvghfc have been taken for an English country genthman. X.-Thh Machine Guns. The fire of the machine guns told with terrible effect on the Zulus, a3 tbe following; passage will show :— Soon the mist cleared a bit-, and we could Bee black bodies of 'men across the Inyezane River and- on the-top of^misi Hill, opposite our front and -left facas. - V Stand to your arms— saddle up-r-no independent firing— volleys by companies when they are within 300 yds," were almost the only orders.' From a waggon I could aee'the Zulus advancing* ia the "usual foimntioa— tw6 'enchcTing "horns'" and a "chest," with the' ""chest"" Hanging back at first. We were in luck ; there could be no donbb about the day now ; but' what had induced them to leave us alone on the match dnd attack us now, when wo had all our oxen s&fe inside and all our figh'.ing men ready outside, passed my comprehension. ' I suppose they ha 4 wa'cued us, seen that the oxen were let out to graze before the mavcb, expected" we'Bhould do it .to-day, and laid their plans accordingly ; for if the oxen are dspbured the column is ruined. That musb always be your weak point in fighting with an enemy who has no transport but women aud boys— who, in faob, always flgats'oi fair. Not a shot was fired except by the outposts &c they hurried bick ; but when our front was clear, the petty officer in charge of the GatliDg gun at the left front angle implored Ernoot Buller to let him have one turn at a body of Zulus that had ' formed in full view half a, mile away. " Beg your pardon, sir," he said ; '"last night I stepped the distance to that bush where those blacks are, and its just 300 rd«. This 'no firing ' seems liko throwing a chance away. I've got her laid true for them ; may I just give her half" a turn of the handle?" ThS chief, who was close by, did not objeot to the range being tested, provided he stopped at once. A fiaal sight and, I am sure, quite two turns of the handle w? b the response, and there was ft clear lanecut through the body of men. The effect of the fire of a machine gun is awful if it is served by a ceol hand. The gun has no nerves, and, provided the man is steady and the cartridges do not jamb, nothing can live in front of ib. The captain of this gun was a veteran, and afterwards, during the fight, his exhortations to his crew would have made, when carefully expurgated, an admirable essay on behaviour under fire. ■ . XL— ApiER the War was Over. The defeat of the Zulus at Ulundi ended the war. Satisfied that they had been beaten, the brave savages accepted the inevitable' with tbe stoicism of fatalists. It was curious, according to the author of thil book, to notice how rapidly the people h&d settled down again. Those kraals that had not been destroyed were full of people at their old avocations. In on<& would be the lord and master lying on a sheepskin in the 6un, taking snuff and calling to the women and girls hoeing in the mealle patch to get on with their business and not chatter, or giving them stick when, fondly imagining him to be asleep, they had knocked off work. • One large kraal I visited on the 18th was full of wounded men, who were as friendly as possible. Thirty-one miles is a long trek, and by the middle of the day we had grown rather thirsty. Longcast knew this part of the country well, and many of tbe people, as he had lived at Kwamagwasa for years. "I should liko a good pot of Kaffir beer," said he ; "and I think they will give us some at that kraal." I had never tasted the Zulu beer, and willingly joined him. At the gateway stood a sentry with a bundle of kernes. "It ,is peace, oh people ! " cried Longoast. " Peace in the land again," said the sentry, who was thereupon asked to call the ohief. A fine-looking, old, riuged Zulu came out, and asked us in. " Leave your sword and revolver with the sentry," said Longoasb, giving up his carbine. "It is the rule, and you will be quite safe, for I know the head of the kraal well." So I gave op my weapons, bub with some reluctance. When we were inside they all crowded round us, and Longcast introduced me to the head man as an Induna of the Amangesi (English). They gave us beer, drinking put of the basket themselves first, and then offering as a bleeding piece of goat just killed, while I emptied my tobacco pouoa. in the bead man's hand. The beer is

kept in gourd-shaped baskets, so beautifully made that, when wetted, the material swell* and the vessel is water-tight. There were » lot of wounded, all as merry as could b». . . . The many little mounds oufcaido, oovered with stones, told how many poor fellows had crawled homo merely to die. One couldn't help beimr sorry that such a generous, bravo race hed undergone so much suffering in supporting their peculiar military system. We left with mutual salute*, and found our arms outside the kraaJ, untouched, as the interpreter had promised. Xll.— Bobbs as Marksmen. The wonderf al skill of the Boers as marksmen is commented upon by Msjor-general Molyneux, who gives the following story by way of illustration :— O.ie day when the general had gone to Newcastle I was asked by a friendly Boerto come out shooting on the morrow. There were a lot of buck, he said, ou the Elandnberg, north-east of vi. Nexb morning, accordingly, I fcook a rifle and a bag of cartridges, and, attended by Noot and two horses, set out for the' place. When I met my friend he said, "What hava you got in that bag— your dinner ? " " No," I answered, "cartridges," wheretb he roared with laughter. " You Englishmen mnsb be very rich; they cost 6d apiece out here." " Where are youra ? " I asked, not seeing the jck9. "la this," he oaid, tapping his doublebarrelled rifle. " You don't intend to shoot much ? " " Two spring buck are as much as I can carry." " Snppose you miss ? " " Nobody misses when a cartridge costs 6d." That was ■ the conversation, and it taught mo. much. f Ib m*y perhaps teach u9 all wby we were beaten by tho Boers in 1881. The Boer does not wj^ste h'S ammunition. He will aim and fc&lce down bis rifle a dozen times until he is.satisfied that he is going to get something for his cartridge. An Englishman shoots for sport, the Boer only for the pot ; and the nation of one of them going out snipe shooting is absurd. He will stalk a pauw (great bustard) and get it— it will feed his family for two dayi. A koraan (lesser bustard) i» not worth powder and shot to him. In plncaa where there is game this shooting goes on from bhe time a boy in old enough to be trusted with a rifle, for the more game killed the less the need to kill from the flocks and herds. No wonder tho men become such perfect shots; they have been born in the country, and can judge distasces infallibly. My friend got bis two bucks ; I fired five and got one, and then we off-?addled for a rest. He did nob think much of my Maitini, wanbibg to file off the foresight and put a bib of white bone in its place. Bub Government arms are precious things, and I would not have ib. la 1881, aftec Majuba and the surrender, the 14th Hussars had some practice at targets at Ladysmith, some Boers also competing. The latter were easily beaten at kuown distances. This clearly shows that their superior marksmanship in the field is due to their being better judges of distances, and to their being accustomed from earliest: youth not to throw a single shot away. , The late Sir Bartle Frere was equally struck by the skill of the Boerß with the rifle. He has placed on reoord his surprise at the discovery that' it was customary for a boy of 13 or 14 to be cent out to bring homo a head of game for the table. Powder and lead being expensive, as a matter of course only one cartridge was given to the lad, .the contingency of bte making a miss being inadmissible.— H. J., in the Weekly Sun. ■