158 
MARCH TO XJLUHdL 
up the country, and found a fort here occupied by drafts of the 80th 
and 90th. 
July SOlh .—As N/6 was ordered to be ready to go to the Transvaal, 
and N/5 had returned to Fort blewdigate, I asked Colonel Glyn to 
allow me to go on at once to Landman^s Drift for orders, and I arrived 
there at 3 p.m. with Captain Alleyne. I there found an order for me 
to return to England, and sailed from Durban on the 16th August. 
Captain Alleyne, who had been of the greatest assistance as Adjutant 
to me during the campaign, was at his own request kept in the 
country, and sent by Sir G. Wolseley to assist in organising the Swazi 
Contingent. 
In this short campaign the troops were remarkably healthy; fre¬ 
quently there were not above 10 or 11 sick in the 2nd Division. The 
climate was very favourable to campaigning, the country often easy 
for marching, and the rations were excellent and sufficient in quantity. 
The absence of spirits was a great advantage. The conduct of the 
troops was excellent (I only had two men brought before me for 
punishment), and on the only occasion the troops came into action 
their steadiness was all that could be desired. 
With regard to the nightly scares and cannonadings, of which we 
have heard so much, there were only three scares of any sort:— 
June 6th, when the scare would have ended at once had the officer 
of the picquet not fired the two vollies, and then only one round of gun 
ammunition was fired. 
June 19th, when a shot was fired outside the laager, and the troops 
stood to their arms without firing a shot. 
July 1st, when a sentry, not getting any reply to his challenge, fired, 
and the laager was again manned without any shots being fired from it. 
On this occasion certainly a few men did run in, and were punished 
for their offence. 
On the other hand, it will not do to found the reputation of our new 
army of young soldiers, and battalions made up from 10 or 20 others 
the week they leave England, on the results of this campaign. The 
trial of steadiness under fire was not a great one ; nothing gives men 
more confidence than being under a heavy but badly directed fire, 
and that is exactly what we had. Our men may do splendidly under a 
heavy fire, but the fire of good European infantry, supported by 
artillery, would be a much more serious matter than anything they saw 
in Africa; and as to the furious Zulu rush, there was nothing in it to 
shake any maffis nerves if he were one of a compact body. 
