THE FASCINATION OF IT 19 



fishing in the brown waters of the river. . . . 

 What one would have done without the river is 

 hard to say, and it proved a great boon for all the 

 inmates of the fort in providing a pleasant addition 

 to the daily fare of trek ox and goat." 



From France, in the early days of the great 

 war, reports came that the rank and file, when 

 off duty near a river or fishable water, used to 

 angle with a rifle and fixed bayonet for rod, with 

 an improvised line ; hooks no doubt were pro- 

 cured somehow or other. Much was made of 

 this in the illustrated papers at the time, and the 

 rector of Boksburg, a mining centre in the 

 Transvaal, took occasion, in a Sunday sermon, 

 to approve heartily of the diversion, describing 

 it as a wholesome set-off against over-concentra- 

 tion in time of strain. Later a good deal of 

 fishing was done both by officers and men in 

 parts of the great battle area where it was 

 possible. 



In the South- West African campaign of 1914- 

 1915, when off the coast at Luderitzbucht in the 

 early days, you could see occasional fishermen in 

 khaki. Amongst them once, for a brief spell, 

 was Captain Louis Botha, son of the great man. 

 Some of those sturdy, well-built sons of Natal, 

 the Natal Carbineers, used, now and again, when 

 off duty, to slip down for an hour's sea-fishing ; 

 those of them who lived on or near the Natal 

 south coast, and enjoyed the excellent sea-fishing 

 there, were especially skilled. 



At Alexandria, Egypt, in 1918, the garrison 



