Our good friend, Mr. T., from Pinetown, kindly came on board to say good-bye, and brought us a lovely hamper of flowers, some of which we arranged in Lord Roberts' cabin.
Fifty men were to leave the day after we did, so they will be very light in the hospital, and the P.M.O. said he should not send more down till he had settled the staff.
Lord Roberts came on board with his staff at 6 P.M. on December 5th, and we sailed at once. Only 400 troops came on board at Durban, but we heard we should have 1200 after Cape Town.
The Canada is a splendid boat, with the finest stretch of upper deck that I have seen on any ship. From Durban to Cape Town the saloon was very empty; besides Sister and myself there was only one lady on board, the wife of a chaplain from Wynberg—they have been to Ceylon for a trip with a shipload of Boer prisoners.
Besides Lord Roberts, we have on board General Ian Hamilton, General Kelly-Kenny, General Marshall, Lord Stanley, and others.
I was shown a copy of the orders about the Medical Company to be put on board this ship: it read, "to include two specially selected sisters"—it sounded like choosing turkeys for Christmas!
There is a hospital with eighty-four cots on board, but, as the men were supposed to be chiefly time-expired men and not sick troops, we did not expect very much work.
We had fine weather coming round the coast, and Lord Roberts went ashore to receive addresses both at East London and at Port Elizabeth; after Port Elizabeth there was a very heavy swell till we reached Cape Town, and poor Sister —— was so bad we were quite glad the hospital was still empty.
Before we reached Cape Town Lord Roberts came up to speak to me, and we had quite a long chat; he was very anxious that we should have everything that we wanted for the hospital.
He told me that Lady Roberts and his two daughters would join us at Cape Town; and two sisters who have been nursing her are coming home with the Miss Roberts who has been ill.