Sunday. Last night heavy firing as usual, but to-day, contrary to our late custom, peace has reigned in the brickfields, and both sides sat on their parapets and asked after various friends on the other side. The Boers have lately, as the natives express it, become much more tame, and have allowed Kaffir women to gather wood, pumpkins, and Kaffir corn without molestation. Our Sunday was absolutely peaceful and quiet, and as we are not able now to indulge in mounted sports, &c., owing to the condition of the horses, we have fallen back on cricket as our Sunday relaxation.
12th. The natives went out last night, and McKenzie's boys got into Jackal Tree which they found empty. The Baralongs attacked Fort Snyman from the rear and had a lively engagement with the hundred odd Boers who garrisoned it, and after finishing their ammunition, withdrew with a loss of one killed and two wounded. We know of one Boer dead for certain, for Trooper Webb of the C.P. blew his head off at the entrance to the work, and we fancy that at the short range our volleys must have accounted for several more. General Snyman has returned and notified his arrival by an unusually heavy dose of shell fire. I rode round the western outposts this morning with Captain Wilson; the natives seemed quite pleased with themselves, more particularly as they had secured some thirty head of fat cattle in a raid two days ago. We then inspected the soup kitchens which he is managing, and which are a great improvement on those first started; the food provided is very popular with the natives, who come in their hundreds for it.
13th. Our runners brought us in good news of the relief of Ladysmith and the heavy Boer losses. Everybody is consequently jubilant, and our only regret is that we can't drive these Boers over the frontier and clear British territory; however, Colonel Plumer is at Lobatsi, and as there cannot be any considerable body of Boers between this and Kimberley, we ought soon to have the line open both ways. They began shelling early and kept on with their home-made shrapnel all day, killing two and wounding several. One shell burst in a pigeon-house and killed sixteen valuable carrier pigeons; the shot is somewhat large for pigeon shooting, but apparently effective. The base of another shell went through the head-quarter office, making a hideous mess, but hurting no one; in fact, they were shooting offices all round, and the ordinarily neatly-kept official papers were in two or three cases much upset and covered with the debris of their various abodes. This new shrapnel is essentially a man-killing shell, for which reason I suppose the Boers have paid particular attention to the earthworks, per contra if they want to snipe cattle or slay men they generally employ common shell. Last night a cattle raiding party came in with some horses, saddles, rifles and bandoliers belonging to some deceased Boers. The Boers had tracked this party of Baralongs, who, seeing them following on their spoor, had doubled back on their own trail and ambushed them at short range. They accounted for six or seven, and relieved their dead of their arms, &c., as far as they could, before the Boers recovered from their surprise, and drove them off with a loss to the raiders of one killed and two wounded, the latter of whom they brought in. This success has naturally much pleased the natives, and encouraged them greatly for future raids, which is most useful, as the results feed us and harass the Boers. The advanced trenches also got a couple by moonlight as they were creeping up to our trench.
14th. Shelling has begun again this morning, quite up to its best form. The Boers in Snyman's absence take things much more easily, and if we could only kill him here and Kruger in the south, as well as old Cronje, it would save a vast amount of trouble, for it takes these leaders all their time to keep their followers up to the scratch. They had a sort of "indaba" this morning. I only trust it was bad news for them, they get their news about a fortnight before we do.
15th. Fairly quiet day, pretty heavy shelling.
16th. Very little shelling. The Cape Boys in the advance trenches were playing a concertina, and so chaffed the Boers, saying they were dancing, and asking them to send some ladies, &c., that one of them, either attracted by the music or bursting with repartee, popped up his head, and was incontinently shot by a wily Cape Boy, to the intense delight of the others. They have a distinct sense of humour, though possibly a somewhat grim one. The advance trenches are now deepened and strengthened, and are as safe as it is possible for them to be to walk about in; from the advance trenches the Boers and ourselves throw bombs, and they are also using explosive bullets; their bombs are made like old hand-grenades, the bombs of both sides being charged with dynamite. They throw theirs by hand, but ours, though of a cruder form (being mainly jam tins) are propelled in a much more scientific manner. Sergeant Page, of the Protectorate Regiment, has rigged up a bamboo as a fishing-rod, and casts his bomb with great precision the short distance to the Boer trenches.
17th. Pretty quiet day. Last night McKenzie's boys raided Jackal Tree fort, killed one Boer and a Kaffir, and secured three horses and rifles. The dug-outs are all so close to various residences that it was amusing to see one card party, disturbed by the ringing of the bell, dive from the mess to the dug-out, and actually be back picking up their cards before the shell which had passed high in the air, had exploded. Vices in time of peace become virtues in war time; the most expert Baralong cattle thief, who under other circumstances would assuredly be in durance vile, is now indeed a persona grata and leader of men, and whilst enjoying himself at the top of his bent is making the most of his fleeting opportunity.
18th, Sunday. I went down to the brickfields to the advanced trenches; down there both parties had agreed not to shoot, and exchanged tobacco for peach brandy, &c., asking after their various friends and relations. I got three snap shots at the Boers in the advance trench, and we studied each other with great curiosity, our clean shirts, collars, and Sunday clothes apparently astonishing them as much as their remarkable grime surprised us. On the way back there is a pleasant meadow, in which we lay and smoked and tried to pretend it was England, though that was somewhat a failure. Whilst down there I met an old warrior who had drifted a long way from his last fight. A native of Bagdad, he was in Sarif (?) Pasha's command at Plevna, which he said was a very different siege to this; he says they fought only occasionally there, and then killed thousands of men, but rested in between, whilst here we were continually shooting. If we killed thousands here the siege would soon come to an end. The old man is very fit and seems to enjoy his fighting still. Runners came in from the south this morning who had seen the relief of Kimberley, which impressed them very much. They said that the man who wrote the Bible must have been referring to the English army, when he spoke of the Tribes of Israel and the thousands which composed them, and that the aforesaid army was big enough to eat up all the Kaffirs; they reported, also, that the searchlights of the force advancing up the line had been seen as far as Taungs, and that the Boers were concentrating, but are pretty thick between here and the advancing force. As regards this place the boot will soon be on the other leg, as the Boers are now afraid to move about except in large bodies, and we hope that our communication will soon be thoroughly restored. The runners from Setlagoli reported that the raiding party I spoke of on the 13th, had killed and wounded some twenty Boers, including the man who had shot one of our Baralongs in cold blood the day before. There was a smoking concert to-night to celebrate St. Patrick's Day, largely attended by Irishmen and others; the proceedings were harmonious throughout.
19th. A fair amount of shelling. A party of Boers and three guns have returned from the north, where native rumour says they have had a repulse, and in which direction musketry fire was faintly heard yesterday morning.
20th. We got runners in from the north; the Boers seem in a bad way all round.