EXPERIENCES IN SOUTH AFRICA DURING THE WAR. 265 



case of a major in a volunteer corps who could not get his 

 claims paid. His solicitor wrote to Mr. Brodrick, our War 

 Minister, and said, " If you do not pay me this money, I will 

 issue a writ." That was to expose the case, for he could not 

 get judgment on a writ against the Crown; and within 48 

 hours that money was paid. The other day a clergyman's 

 brother, who had fought in the ranks, told me he could not get 

 his pay, and could not get even a free passage home. There 

 are a good many things of that kind that I might go into and 

 give particulars of, but it would take too much time. I may in 

 another form ; for instance, I could give you one point about my 

 own sending in a claim for £37 for lodging allowance. When 

 I came to be paid I was given but £30. I said, My claim is 

 just £37, and you have a receipt for this amount. What about 

 this receipt ? " He said, " I do not know anything about it, 

 that is all you can get." That is how they transacted business 

 at the Cape. Those men ride rough-shod over a gentleman and 

 man of intelligence, and do things that would soon be set right 

 in a police or county court in this country. I do not think of 

 anything further to say, beyond a few words concerning 

 natural objects in Cape Colony. The Karoo country contains 

 herds of spring-buck, ostriches, locusts, and flies. The flies are 

 the greatest pest there, and the most dangerous one ; for where 

 they appear, enteric disease spreads with wonderful rapidity. 

 Then there are those extraordinary dust-storms, which commence 

 like a whirlwind. I have been a little distance from them, and 

 have seen the whirling of the wind and the gathering up of the 

 dust — forming a column of great height, whicii moves along, 

 still gyrating, for a couple of miles, and then it dissipates and 

 disappears. These storms form in full force in an instant, when 

 everyone, when the wind is heard, rushes to close doors and 

 windows (which are ever open in the summer), to keep out the 

 dust-storm. Where I lived mostly I found the climate healthy. 

 It was declared to be climatically the most severe situation in 

 the whole of South African camping ground : that is in 

 De Aar. The summer is extremely hot ; but still I had splendid 

 health. It was 106 or 107 degrees in the shade every day for 

 five or six hours, but in my tent it was from 113 to 118 : so I 

 could never go into my tent during the day. I got, all through, 

 most excellent health, and the only suffering I had to endure 

 was four or five days of fever and ague. 



I have read some of the best books on this subject, and I 

 have observed that the incident I referred to of the battle of 

 •the six armoured trains is not referred to by De Wet, who is 



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