RY TREK THROUGH FEVERLAND.

The 18th of September, 1900, found us trekking along an old disused
road in a northerly direction. We made a curious procession, an
endless retinue of carts, waggons, guns, mounted men, "voetgangers"
nearly three miles long. The Boers walking comprised 150 burghers
without horses, who refused to surrender to the Portuguese, and who
had now joined the trek on foot. Of the 1,500 mounted Boers 500
possessed horses which were in such a parlous condition that they
could not be ridden. The draught cattle were mostly poor and weak, and
the waggons carrying provisions and ammunition, as also those
conveying the guns, could only be urged along with great difficulty.
In the last few months our cattle and horses had been worked hard
nearly every day, and had to be kept close to our positions.

During the season the veldt in the Transvaal is in the very worst
condition, and the animals are then poorer than at any other period.
We had, moreover, the very worst of luck, kept as we were in the
coldest parts of the country from June till September, and the rains
had fallen later than usual. There was, therefore, scarcely any food
for the poor creatures, and hardly any grass. The bushveldt through
which we were now trekking was scorched by an intolerable heat,
aggravated by drought, and the temperature in the daytime was so
unbearable that we could only trek during the night.

Water was very scarce, and most of the wells which, according to old
hunters with us, yielded splendid supplies, were found to be dried up.
The veldt being burned out there was not a blade of grass to be seen,
and we had great trouble in keeping our animals alive. From time to
time we came across itinerant kaffir tribes from whom we obtained
handfuls of salt or sugar, or a pailful of mealies, and by these
means we managed to save our cattle and horses.

When we had got through the Crocodile River the trek was arranged in a
sort of military formation enabling us to defend ourselves, had we
been attacked. The British were already in possession of the railway
up to Kaapmuiden and we had to be prepared for pursuit; and really
pursuit by the British seemed feasible and probable from along the
Ohrigstad River towards Olifant's Nek and thence along the Olifant's
River.

Our original plan was to cross the Sabi, along the Meritsjani River,
over the mountains near Mac Mac, through Erasmus or Gowyn's Pass and
across Pilgrim's Rest, where w