IN MEMORIAM — E. G. KENSIT 
195 
North, so certainly did his sympathetic instinct find, point and set to the 
worth in his fellow creatures and draw them to him, to wit the following 
friendship instantly decided on.^The quotation is from a letter. “He was my 
friend,— a friend for friendship’s sake; for no two ever differed more than we 
did. Could any man ask for better? Four short years did I know him, but 
always I think back to that first time when he whistled himself into the 
Library, hushed in that sudden way of his, when he saw me sweating at 
Kerner, and then introduced himself via his beloved Burchell. And neither 
knew the other’s name for weeks, nor thought to ask.” But Kensit knew he 
had found a comrade and was content, and just as he was wont to find and 
abide by the truest in mankind, methinks he trusted it to be found in him, 
no question asked, and he was dumb where excuse might have served to 
divert some measure of blame from himself at times. How little do we re- 
cognise the great spirit in life ! Strange that in the twinkling of an eye, in 
the very instant of Death, the veil should be lifted and we should see face to 
face. Strange too that it should take so great a War to point us back to the 
numberless deeds of selflessness in Peace, which we, in our dalliance, had 
passed by unheeded. 
Quietly and without fuss the South Africans left for England. In Borden 
Camp they were kept training for some time. From England they sailed for 
Egypt, arriving at Alexandria on January 11th, 1915, in the troop-ship 
“Saxonia” carrying nearly 4000 troops. Useless it were, to speak of the 
discomfort, an almost unavoidable concomitant of any such voyage when 
men are packed into space that will accommodate but half their number, 
roughly speaking. There is no complaint in any of the letters — sometimes 
the bald statement of a fact which we have known of but hardly realised 
occurs in such phrases as “ no place to sleep — wet clothes as well— for food 
we wait for hours in a row and when you get there you are too hot to eat.” 
Immediately, however, he washes out any adverse effect of criticism by the 
more than compensating item of interest, “we were chased by a submarine, 
but two of our boats captured it — I saw it being towed in,” and here the 
artist in generous appreciation of work skilfully performed, Man! there are 
some brave men about.” All through the correspondence runs this generous 
tribute of free admiration of the British soldier in action. 
The South Africans left Alexandria by sea early in February and arrived 
at Mersa Matru “after an exciting trip on a pleasure boat on a rough sea! 
Then “began our march along this Mediterranean shore. We nevei left the 
sea until we began climbing the Libyan Mountains. Our march was 106 
Egyptian miles which another South African says are like back-veldt miles 
very long ones ! Here they were going over loose and stony ground and oui 
men suffered much from blistered feet. 
Mersa Matru they found very much like the exposed sea-fronts of Muizc n 
