Page 1 Advertisements Column 7

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume III, Issue 51, 27 September 1900, Page 1

With ihe Fifth Contingent in Souih Africa. oIn a tetter receivedi ved yesterday from Farrier D. McTayoarfc. and dated Crocodile Pools. Becbnanai'aud, Augasi,7, be gives the following account of his experiences. '•We left Marandallas on June 15, in separate companies, on different days. We did not pitch leuts, but slept in -the open. The country down here is nearly all bush We travelled al ihe rate of only 15 miles a day, our waggons being drawn by bullock*. Wo\ook 80 days' provisions wiih us from Maraudallas to Bulawayo. jfc took us 25 days to go 300 mi lea, and wo walked half the way. There was plenty of waler on the rouLo. a stream ai, about every ten rmic^. It was a dreary jo.miev gom^ tbror&h the same kind of country day afier clay, nolhiug to be seen bnfc bush and rocks. It was pretty coid sleeping out at ni^bi,. Rudonew.s someiimes unpleasdiitl/ sui-jui-jed Io find a poisonous soaLs coiled rp in the blankets mi the morning We passed a few vilUgta on the road, such as Fori Charters, Ankiedorme, ere. Oxie of the roosfe interetsi-ing sights of the road wns the large number of bullock teams we passed, travelling tcgelber in long trains, lb bcl'oclrs in each team to the number of between 4.00 and SCO. Fort Caa^ets is GO miles from JVlaraDdalJa*. It has an hospital wjLh two Aiis.ralian nur«?es. The telegraph line runs from here to Balawayo. At Forfc Oharters we were joined by% Lienlenat^ Keddell, of the Otago Fou: h ConUngeut. who had been left ihe c ill with fever. He accompanied is to Bulawayo. The road w?s mark\ d wiih signboards indicating the watering places aud camping grounds. We reached Bulawayo on July H. camping l-£ miles out of the fcown. Bnlawayo is a town about the size- of Timarn, and is only some eight ye u-s old. Some of the buildings Bra Bi g Ofi as an y j have fceen in New Zealand, notably the PosL Office aad the Stock Bxcbaogo. Balawayo is a greafc place for gold rmaing, but mosn of the mines are at a standstill just now, in conseqneuce of the war. One thousand volunteers left there for tb.B front ab the beginning of the war ; noL bad for a place of that size. Wa^es ihere are very high, tradesmen getting as much as 30s a day. Horseshoting is as much as 15s to 20s a set. Stores were very dear on the road. Bread 2s for a 21b loaf ; butter, 4s 6d per lb ; 5s for a single meal. One of our black bn/lock drivers was killed on the way to Bulawayo. He was driving the waggons of the Auckland Battery, loaded with shell. While going down an incline the bullocks swerved and ran the waggon up the cutting, causing some of the cases of shell to fatl on him, kilimg him instantly. He was buried on a hill at the side of the road. In digging the grave, the body of a soldier killed in the Matabele War was uncovered ; be had beon buried in an-uprjgbt position. On the road, we passed a marble monument, erected to the memory and inscribed with the names of five families, numbering 30 persons,' who were murdered one night by the natives, during tbe Matabele War We lost only one boree on the route. Most of, the horses were troubled with the horse tick. We did what we could by grooming the horses well at every opporunity, and so were able, to a large extent, i# combat tbe evil. Now that we are in a cooler climate the troub.'e |tfft almost disappeared. We have Been very fortunate in the matter of sveather, never having had a wet toy since we landed, though the c _aye been a,few frosts in the morn ■ ngs. From Bulawayo we were Kdered to Tuli, through which we jvere to go to Peiter&bnrg. Wo inarched for eleven* days, aud when if teen miies off Tuli, which is 360 nites from Bulawayo, we got word io turn back and piooed by trivn ;o Mafeking. We hal rations ouly 'or the twelve days' march from Sulawayo to Tali, so in go ng back {Conclud id on fourth p iff c.)