Letters from the Front.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume III, Issue 90, 29 December 1900, Page 3

Letters from the Front.

Tho following letter, dated Novem- j i -joy 2nd. fiom Mafeking, has been oobu ed by Mr <T. S. V/aUs, of .Va.iroa.to, from his ' brother, who io a in the Hoyal^ FigM Artillery, Jouih Africa .' — "I have been on the march under Lord Mothuen since last writiug. Eta is not -ha man the papers try to m&kG out. We would all follow anwhere ho •ihose to load. I was speaking to some of the mm who were at Mtvgersfontein, and fchv-y say that Mothuen said to G->ta.cre : • The Boers are in the fionohes, take them and make a name for yourself,' So Gatocre advanced (in ck>3s formation). When they got .vi Jnn a hundred yards of tihe kopje tho Boers opened fire and mowed down tne Highlanders. Methven is said to h iv ft cried like a child when he heard i.he uewe. V/e recaptured a British gun wbjeh che Jioers captured at Oolenso, besides a Maxim, twenty prisoners and thirty waggons. I brave been through Ohphant's Nfk, where De Wet got away from Methuen. It is a very rugged place. The hills rise for about 100 ft on each side, and the nek itself is only a chain wids, so that about twenty men, with oue gun, could hold thepa33 agairnt cm army. cametlu'ough Rxme'ibni'g, whtTre Badsn-Poweli was sunouiidefl. It is a very small place, with huh all round the west side and a Dig on tho east. We stoppecF there for one day arid then trekked for Z^eru&t, where Carrington retired frdra Eland's River. Zeerust is a" small village, thirty ixule§ north of Mafekirfg, and is completely surrounded by hills. , To garrison it would have taken a larger force. I have also seen the place whore Oarrington burnt his stosoa. Y/e then movod towards Ottos hoop, camping after four miles teek. I do not know the reason for „ camping so soon, but anyhow we had just got nicely settled down in camp, and had turned the horses out to graze when we heard the boom of a guri, and a shell landed fairly in the middle of our camp, causing a 'great rush for horses. There were fourteen shells sent in our camp -before we- could silence the-gun. I tell

you it was great to » be dodging the ahe!l3. You oould hear tb6na coming ! with a scream, and then there would : ba a ducking of heads. When it passed, you would see a cloud of dust t where it struck, and the" pieces would be flying round like chaff. The first und Becond shells killed two of the nfantry, and another killed one of the uurth battery. He had just finished ; saddling up and was ready to mount, when a shell struck the branch of a tree a little way oiT ?;:d bu) sfc, killing him and his horso, &Ifo two horses near him, and wuuuded another man vVho wa& standing three ytuds away. I was hfimbsung tuy hocecß aoouL half-a-chaiu off, and the pieces flew ah. acound, wouhdiug the hcae I wad saddling, so that was near enough co be healthy. But his all in a lifetime Tho country here in not as I expected. There ate co minerals about M.ifekiuy at all, mid no wood, nil the wood being brought up by train from other parts."

I Tne following letter has been | received from Troopor J. Goldstone, : of Waimate (second contingent). It was written at Bulfltj&ioutein on November 18. :—: — " Wo are at present camped on the busli veldt, half-way batweon Com iHEindo Nuk and Iluatenbuig, doing patrol wovk and burning farms and crops. The bngada consists of the i2&h and 19uh Laucors, lGlh Ilussars, Q Batt ry and t*vo naval guns, under General Brofidwood. We left Pratoria thre 5 \vev3liB ago on a ten days' trip to esoort a convoy to Rusten'ourg. Whe we pmvad we wero .sent on an expe dttion about forty mile^ across the hill to burn a mill which was grindm o j cor a for the Boors. Wo went out b}' O'ltselvos, ninety of the second am eeveuoy of the third contingent, undt Major Craddock, barjit the mill and got bu,ttk to KuGteVourg next day, without a single casualty, although we were feniped at all du,j. " I have cbargo of a scoiion now. Besides myself, it consists of Olouston, Loaoh and White (Pleasant Point). I don't think they will send us back until after the twelve months ate- up. The rainy season is now on, aud as we have only our blankets to make bivouacs of, things are pretty uncomfortable. As we cania out for a ten days' trip only, we have nothing but what we stand up in, and no soap or tobacco.