rolled at the rate of 200 a day.
Durban a month later raised a splendid corps of colonial scouts for the
purpose of checking Boer raiding. It was composed of some sixty or
seventy men of the best families in the place.

The conduct of the Natal women was especially noteworthy. Their
patience, their fortitude, their eager desire to be of service, their
readiness to face sacrifice, won general esteem. One eye-witness stated
that while shells were hurtling through the air and bursting on the
ground, they--the women-folk of the place--calmly traversed the streets
in ordinary costume and with ordinary demeanour, as though no hostile
Boer or bellowing gun was within a hundred miles of them. Not a trace of
fear or panic was manifest. It was not surprising to learn that a
community boasting such noble specimens of womanhood decided to remain
where they were rather than accept the dubious shelter offered them by
the Boer general.

Mr. Winston Spencer Churchill, writing of the Natalians in the _Morning
Post_, feelingly said: "There are several points to be remembered in
this connection. Firstly, the colonists have had many dealings with the
Boers. They knew their strength; they feared their animosity. But they
have never for one moment lost sight of their obligations as a British
colony. Their loyalty has been splendid. From the very first they warned
the Imperial Government that their territories would be invaded.
Throughout the course of the long negotiations they knew that if war
should come, on them would fall the first fury of the storm.
Nevertheless, they courageously supported and acclaimed the action of
the Ministry. Now at last there is war--bitter war. It means a good deal
to all of us, but more than to any it comes home to the Natalian. He is
invaded; his cattle have been seized by the Boer; his towns are shelled
or captured; the most powerful force on which he relies for protection
is isolated in Ladysmith; his capital is being loopholed and intrenched;
Newcastle has been abandoned, Colenso has fallen, Estcourt is
threatened; the possibility that the whole province will be overrun
stares him in the face. From the beginning he asked for protection. From
the beginning he was promised complete protection; but scarcely a word
of complaint is heard. The townsfolk are calm and orderly, the Press
dignified and sober. The men capable of bearing arms have responded
nobly. Boys of sixteen march with men of fifty to war--to no