DEPARTURE OF THE SECOND QUEENSLAND CONTINGENT FROM BRISBANE.
The first contingents supplied by the Colonies were sent off with wild enthusiasm by the great crowds which witnessed their departure. A more sober, but not less impressive, loyalty marked the departure of later contingents. War had, even to the man in the street, become a dread reality.
ON THE WATCH: AN OUTPOST AT MODDER RIVER, AFTER THE BATTLE OF MAGERSFONTEIN.
Lord Methuen keeps the enemy busy.
Jan. 8-Feb. 4, 1900.] Minor Movements from Modder River Camp.
Meantime Lord Methuen at Modder River shelled the enemy almost daily with his 4·7 naval guns and howitzers. More than once the Boers at night, evidently in constant dread of attack, opened suddenly a terrific rifle and Maxim fire. On December 31 a small composite force under Colonel Pilcher was despatched from Belmont to attack a laager of rebels at Sunnyside, near the little village of Douglas, to the north-west of Belmont. The force was remarkable in that it was made up of Canadians, Australians, and Imperial troops, including as it did the Toronto company of Canadians, 100 strong, 200 Queenslanders, 40 mounted infantry of the Munster Fusiliers, and 200 of the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, with two guns of the Horse Artillery. Great precautions were taken to prevent the enemy gaining any knowledge of the intended move. No one was allowed to leave the British camp for some time before the march began, and all natives were shut up and their names repeatedly called. Early in the morning of January 1, the force was close to the enemy's camp. The rebels were in complete ignorance of its approach; and the camp was asleep when the British guns suddenly opened fire. The Queenslanders and Canadians at once worked in splendid style towards the astonished Boers, making every use of cover. The great bulk of the enemy bolted when the burghers found their flanks threatened; a few, however, were cut off by the British advance and raised the white flag; forty-three prisoners and the rebel laager fell into our hands. From Sunnyside the column marched to Douglas and re-hoisted the British flag there, but on January 3 had to retreat, taking with it all the loyal inhabitants, and to return to Belmont. Against this small success had to be placed the loss of Kuruman, where 120 of the Cape Police and native half-breeds had for months defied the Boers, holding out in the school-house.
On January 8 an important reconnaissance was made into the Free State. From Modder River moved the 9th and 12th Lancers, a force of mounted infantry, and a section of G Horse Artillery Battery; from Enslin a squadron of the 2nd Dragoons, with detachments of mounted infantry, and from Belmont the Australians and Canadians. The Boers were seen to be in strength at Jacobsdal, but there were none of them to the south of the Riet. About the same time Zoutpan's Drift was occupied, and a British post permanently established in the enemy's territory.
