everal of them were killed. The road was
altogether a bad one. The relief column used it on their way up, but
only the Pioneers and the mounted men went by that route on the way
back. In fact, it would have been useless to have attempted to use
it for the passage of waggons. Whenever the road party went out they
were fired on by Kaffirs, but of course shots were returned, and
many a Zulu warrior was knocked over whilst the work was being
proceeded with. Everything in camp was conducted in a most orderly
manner. We were roused at half-past five sharp, and at eight
o'clock, sharp, lights were out. For one month we existed very
comfortably on full rations, but at the end of that time we were put
on short rations, made up as follows:--One pound and a quarter of
trek-oxen beef, six ounces of meal, one ounce and a quarter of
sugar, third of an ounce of coffee, one sixth of an ounce of tea,
one ninth of an ounce of pepper, and a quarter of an ounce of salt.

"Life of course was very monotonous. The bands of the two regiments
played on alternate afternoons, and every morning they were to be
heard practising outside the entrenchment. The most pleasant part of
the day was just after six o'clock, when we used to be enlivened in
the cool of the evening by the fife and drum band playing the
'Retreat.' The water with which we were supplied was indeed
excellent, and the bathing places, I need not say, were very
extensively patronised. The grazing was not nearly sufficient for
the cattle, and from the first they must have suffered very much
from want of nourishment. You will have heard of the fate of the
eleven hundred head of oxen and the span of donkeys which we sent
away from the camp in expectation of their reaching the Lower
Tugela. They left us in charge of nineteen Kaffirs, but at the
Inyezane they were attacked by a large body of Kaffirs. The natives
in charge of the cattle decamped and reached the fort in safety, and
the enemy got possession of the whole of the cattle, which they
drove off. The donkeys were all killed with the exception of one,
and this sagacious animal surprised everybody in camp by returning
soon after the Kaffirs had come back."

The prices of food at this time were scarcely in keeping with those
of the London market. A bottle of pickles fetched 25s., and a ham
L7, 10s.! Milk was purchasable for 23s. a tin, and sardines for 12s.

As may be imagined, the arrival of Lord Chelmsford at Eshowe was a
matter