On Commando

other occasion. Therefore Oom Dietlof will take this opportunity to give his nephews in South Africa some practical hints that may be of use to a burgher in his tr

ty-four hours. The movement of the small hand is therefore twice as fast as that of the sun. If one points the small hand of a

°/12 = 30°, and the sun goes a distance of 360°/24 = 15°. If at one o'clock one points the small hand of a horizontal-lying watch to t

therefore one must point the figure XII. to the sun, and then divide the

one has not always a good watch, and the sun sometimes hides behind the clouds.

(to us) unknown shrub, and from the poison of the most venomous snake, which they make into a powder. This powder is used as an antidote by swallowing a small dose-enough to cover the point of a pocket-knife-and also by applying some to the bite, after first having cut an opening into the bitten part with a pocket-knife. Some people protect themselves against the poison of a snake-bite by regularly swallowing some of the poison and vaccinating themselves with it. One can eve

d. I would recommend everyone always to take a small quantity of brandy with him on commando, if experience had n

is is becoming too bad!' and that reminds me that one must be very careful not to overload. The knapsack must no

he did not take his horse's power of endurance into greate

so we lost a great deal of time. On our way back, close to the lager, we heard the whine of the wild-dog, the well-known feared wolf. We thought it very interesting to come across a wild animal of which we had no fear just then. But when we reached the camping-ground of the lager, where only the trolley stood to which the wandering mule belonged, we found to our surprise that both white men and Kaffirs had given up the search for the mule for fear of the wild-dog. They had all congregated round large fires. The wild-dog, however, is harmless by himself; like the khakies, his strength lies in numb

red a little further on. We made a large fire to entice the eels, and, as we were none of us

ss. The glow threw a sombre light on the water that gave one a creepy feeling, as if a crocodile were on the

he poor man fell down a height of 6 feet, his fall being hastened by the heavy branch he held. For a moment we stood irresolute. To jump after him into a crocodile-pool! But he called for help, and we had to act immediately. Fortunately, one acts almost instinctively in such cases. One of the others slid down the bank-the thought striking him: 'If only there are not t

to our eel-fishing. We had

ending to the war, if the burghers were capable of enduring such hardships as at present. Then he also told us in what a hurry he was to reach h

y few steps upwards we had to put stones under the wheels to prevent the waggons from slipping back. It took our little lager nearly all day to reach the plateau. Then we had a most magnificent view of the Boschveld that lay behind us. In the distance the Lobombo Mountains were visible on the boun

chinery of the gold-mines. We simply stormed the shops, that were still well supplied with provisions, and bought all sorts of luxuries and necessaries for our journey. From Pilgrim's Rest we once more crossed a steep mountain, along a road that for length and height has not i

of bread anywhere. And it is anything but pleasant in a time of war to come across such lax and unenergetic people as they proved to be. The men were nearly always at home, and appeared to be discouraged and unwilling to fight. We had all lost our sweet tooth. That one could tell by such expressions as: 'Even if you give me sugar:-' But occasionally we got a more desirable substitute, when a beehive was discove