Page:The Bromsgrovian, 1883-06-08, New Series, Volume 2, Number 5.pdf/4

 In February, '79, we left for Zululand. Our passage out to Natal occupied six weeks, on board the S.S. England. We were about 400 men and horses. Madeira was passed without calling there; at St. Vincent, Cape de Verde, we lay for three days, taking in coal: a most desolate place, chiefly occupied by half-caste Portuguese. The only thing noteworthy I observed in these islands was the singular beauty of the sun-rises and sun-sets against the brown hills, which rise sheer from the blue, still sea. Thence we steamed to Cape Town, then in a great flurry on account of H.I.H. the Prince Imperial's arrival. From Cape Town, in lovely weather, we steamed along the treacherous coast to Durban, landing by great luck in a perfect calm. The Port of Durban is usually (as I will mention in writing of the return journey) very bad for disembarkation. In '79 the Point, or landing-place, consisted of a small wooden quay, with an hotel (?) called the Criterion: a wooden drinking den. The line (single rail) runs down to the water's edge. Landing is done by surf boats, towed by tugs over the bar. On landing, our horses were very weak from the long voyage, and were led up to the Beren, or inland suburb of Durban. Here we camped four or five days, and then proceeded further up country some five miles to Cato's Manor. Cato is one of the great men of Durban; he was originally a private in some foot corps. From here we marched right through Natal for Zululand, passing Pinetown, a pretty little village near Durban, Botha's Hill, then the railway terminus, on the way to Petermaritzburg. The last is really a nice town, and the people, too, appeared to welcome us in the light of men who had been sent out for other reasons than to find transport work for the waggon drivers. The town stands on a hill, with higher ground to the North-West. It is a well-built, cleanly place, with a very English, homely look about it. From Petermaritzburg we went to Escourt, a police station, with a canteen and two or three houses about it; thence to Ladysmith, one of our hospital stations, inhabited by about as churlish a set of white savages as are to be found in Natal. In fact, I have met but few worse specimens in the Cape colony, and that is saying a good deal. From Escourt on to Dundee, a place east of Newcastle; thence to Landtman's Drift, and so across into Zulu-