landers have
taken up their abode there during the war, is nicknamed 'The Helot's
Rest.' Last night I started by rail for East London, whence a small ship
carries the weekly English mail to Natal, and so by this circuitous
route I hope to reach Ladysmith on Sunday morning. We have thus gained
three days on our friends who proceed by the 'Dunottar Castle,' and who
were mightily concerned when they heard--too late to follow--of our
intentions. But though it is true in this case that the longest way
round is the shortest way, there were possibilities of our journey being
interrupted, because the line from De Aar Junction to Naauwpoort runs
parallel to the southern frontier of the Free State, and though hostile
enterprises have not yet been attempted against this section of the
railways they must always be expected.

Railway travelling in South Africa is more expensive but just as
comfortable as in India. Lying-down accommodation is provided for all,
and meals can be obtained at convenient stopping places. The train,
which is built on the corridor system, runs smoothly over the rails--so
smoothly, indeed, that I found no difficulty in writing. The sun is
warm, and the air keen and delicious. But the scenery would depress the
most buoyant spirits. We climbed up the mountains during the night, and
with the daylight the train was in the middle of the Great Karroo.
Wherefore was this miserable land of stone and scrub created? Huge
mounds of crumbling rock, fashioned by the rains into the most curious
and unexpected shapes, rise from the gloomy desert of the plain. Yet,
though the Karroo looks a hopeless wilderness, flocks of sheep at
distant intervals--one sheep requires six hundred acres of this scrappy
pasture for nourishment--manage to subsist; and in consequence, now and
again the traveller sees some far-off farm.

We look about eagerly for signs of war. Little is as yet to be seen, and
the Karroo remains unsympathetic. But all along the southern frontier of
the Free State the expectation of early collision grows. The first sign
after leaving Cape Town is the Proclamation against treason published by
Sir Alfred Milner. The notice-boards of the railway stations are freely
placarded with the full text in English and Dutch, beginning with
'Whereas a state of war exists between the Government of her Majesty and
the Governments of the South African Republic and of the Orange Free
State ...' continuing to enjoin good and loyal b