I.

germs, taken into the system by drinking impure CHAP. water. Statistics showed that when the troops remained stationary in places where proper sanitary precautions were taken to ensure no contamination to the water, the fever ceased; and that fresh outbreaks could usually be traced to outside causes— soldiers returning from marches, when the same precautions and control could not be exercised.

able inval

Sekukuni

For some months after the Sekukuni war, the Considerhospitals were filled with cases which had originated iding after in this way, and considerable invaliding followed— war. an item of expenditure that is generally forgotten in calculating the cost of a campaign. These men had to be sent down to the coast for embarkation, by an expensive system of ambulances, taking several weeks in transit; and their places had to be filled by drafts of trained men from the depots, who in turn had to be replaced by fresh recruits, raised to meet this extra drain.

enteric

South

The causes of this evil in South Africa will be more Causes of easily understood, when it is explained that the fever in streams met with at the various halting-places on Africa. the roads were, more especially in the dry season, liable to organic impurity from the numerous dead oxen lying about. The heavy road traffic,-greatly increased when a campaign is being carried on, or large bodies of troops are occupying the country,— being conducted by means of ox-waggons, moving about thirteen miles a-day, the number of oxen turned adrift to die-sick from some epidemic, or exhausted from bad roads and deficient grass-was

I.

CHAP. very large. The poor animals would then generally seek water, and often drop down and die in the streams.

Attempts made to remedy the evils.

Discipline suffers from troops being detached.

The officer commanding the troops endeavoured, with some success, to allay the mischief, by directing transport officers and military parties, when on the move, to draw the dead oxen away from the immediate vicinity of streams, and issued orders for the drinking water to be invariably taken from above streams. But even the vultures, which assembled in such crowds to feed on the carcasses, though useful as scavengers, were suspected of defeating all these precautions, by repairing to the water after they had over-eaten themselves and disgorging into the streams, flowing but sluggishly in dry seasons. A suggestion made by Dr Skeen, that wells-such as used in Eastern countries with weighted pole would answershould be sunk along the main roads, was considered good, but in advance of the means of the country to carry out successfully.

From the foregoing it may be surmised that, had the troops not been so detached, fewer parties would have been on the march, and fewer casualties would consequently have arisen from sickness.

Discipline invariably deteriorates in some particulars, when troops-like those referred to-have been campaigning for a long period in such a country as South Africa, or when, broken up into fragmentary detachments, they occupy a territory so extensive as the Transvaal, and small armed parties are frequently

I.

marching from station to station, or to the coast, CHAP. traversing long lonely roads for weeks together under insufficient control. It is not surprising if, in the latter circumstances, many instances of depredation occurred, committed by passing soldiers on inhabitants or farms at wayside places. These acts sometimes seemed to show that the men looked upon themselves as in an enemy's country, where they need not be over particular. In many cases, no doubt, the sufferers did not consider it worth their while to lodge complaints with the Landdrost, who often resided. miles away at an inconvenient distance; and besides, the culprits might have, meanwhile, had time to get into another district before any formal identification or arrest could be made. In other cases,

the owners having ridden after and obtained restitution of some articles taken, would be satisfied, and decline to take further steps; or compensation having been offered, the affair would be thus compromised.

arrest

The military authorities, however, while carrying Checks to out as many checks as possible upon the conduct of crime. parties proceeding through the country, gave every encouragement and assistance in their power for the detection and punishment of such crime; indeed, with such good effect that, during the month preceding hostilities, there were more than a score of soldiers at one time in prisons undergoing sentences for various civil offences of a bad type-shooting cattle and sheep, and carrying off the carcasses, horsestealing, breaking into stores, &c.

с

СНАР.
I.

Great loss

It has sometimes been urged that British troops when stationed in a colony cost no more to the This was

through Imperial Government than if at home.

desertion.

Deserters to Trans

to annexa

tion.

certainly a fallacious estimate in regard to the Transvaal, where the expenditure in transport, stores, and in other ways was, as shown in the preceding paragraphs, largely in excess. A fertile source of this extra cost, and at the same time weakness, was that arising from the large number of men deserting— only approached during the period we had garrisons stationed throughout Canada-an item of expenditure which, like that on account of invaliding, is very generally forgotten, when making such a comparison or counting up the cost of an army of occupation.

This crime had always been rife among the troops vaal prior stationed in South Africa, and a large proportion of the deserters had found their way to the Transvaal before our arrival there, many of whom had become thriving citizens. It was not thought expedient to molest these men unless they had recently deserted, and they were accordingly furnished with certificates to protect them from arrest. The Orange Free State has similarly benefited from a like supply of labour, sometimes skilled, from the same source; and the Diamond-fields and other mining districts have plenty of such men.3

Anecdote of a deserter to the

Orange

Free State.

Just prior to the withdrawal of the King's Dragoon Guards, an officer of that corps crossed over into the

1 See ante, pp. 30-32.

2 See ante, pp. 30-32.

3 Many of the Filibusters now in Bechuanaland are said to be deserters from our forces.

I.

Free State to attend the Harrismith races. Stopping CHAP. on his way at a smith's-one of his horses having cast a shoe-he recognised the name over the door as one familiar to him, and the man himself coming out, proved to be a deserter of a few weeks before from his own regiment, who had set up a forge, and was driving a very paying trade. The officer's horse was shod, but a heavy price had to be paid for the favour!

ments to

With startling evidence occasionally brought before Inducehim of the prosperity enjoyed by former deserters, desert. and feeling acutely the contrast between his small army pay, scanty fare, and tent life, and the enormous wages, with plentiful board and lodgings, offered to him if he would desert, it is not to be wondered at that the British soldier should so frequently have been tempted to run all risks to change his lot.

The risks were certainly great: mounted look-out Risks attending parties hovering around, and following up a chase for desertion. fifty or even a hundred miles, in the hope of gaining the large reward-£5-offered for capture; heavy punishments on conviction; danger of starvation or death from exposure. The bodies of two artillerymen were reported in the papers to have been seen on the veld between Potchefstroom and the Diamondfields: the unfortunate men having evidently succumbed and perished miserably from hunger and cold.

offered for

The inducements to desert were, however, too often Facilities irresistible, and facilities were frequently afforded to desertion. take men beyond the reach of the patrols. A builder was suspected of having placed horses at the disposal

of two soldiers, which enabled them to reach a