DUKE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY / 95 / Jfteihuen’s Colonial gibrarg WITH THE MOUNTED INFANTRY AND THE MASHONALAND FIELD FORCE Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2017 with funding from Duke University Libraries https://archive.org/details/withmountedinfan01alde_0 TYPES OF THE FORCE P l WITH THE MOUNTED INFANTRY AND THE MASHONALAND FIELD FORCE 1 896 BY Brevet-Lieut.-Colonel E. A. H. ALDERSON THE QUEEN’S OWN (ROYAL WEST KENT REGIMENT) WITH A MAP AND NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS AND DIAGRAMS METHUEN & CO. 36 ESSEX STREET, W.C. LONDON 1898 Colo?iial Library °l TO MY FATHER WHO TAUGHT ME THAT WHICH, DURING MY NINETEEN YEARS’ SOLDIERING, I HAVE FOUND OF MORE VALUE THAN ANYTHING I EVER LEARNT — NAMELY, TO RIDE, THIS BOOK IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED. a PREFACE On arriving - home from South Africa in March last, I had no intention whatever of writing a book, and it was not till May, when writing a brief account of the operations in Mashonaland in 1896, for the Intelligence Department of the War Office, that it struck me that there were many points of general interest which had no place in an official account. This idea assumed definite form when Colonel R. S. Baden-Powell’s book, The Campaign in Matabeleland , , 1896, and Lieut. -Colonel Plumer’s, An Irregular Corps in Matabeleland , appeared, and the thought “ Why not Mashonaland too ? ” cropped up. So bad example started^ the hare, and the hunting of it was encouraged by the following considerations : I. Judging by the little that appeared in the papers, there was no regular correspondent, or PREFACE viii artist, in Mashonaland, while per contra Mata- beleland seems to have had correspondents and artists oralore. O II. During the early part of the rising in Mashonaland parties of volunteers gallantly relieved the several collections of miners, farmers, and others, who, surrounded by natives, had shut themselves up in improvised laagers. Later on these same volunteers, when organized into local corps, did excellent work, and individual members of them performed acts of heroism such as always do, and always will, occur when Britons fight. The story of the above has never been told. III. Imperial British troops had never before landed at Beira, gone up the Pungwe River, or fought in that part of Africa. IV. In their small way the operations of the Mashonaland Field Force illustrate the following difficulties of war : 1. The embarkation, the moving by sea, and the disembarkation in a neutral port, of men, horses, guns, and stores. 2. The dealing with, the passing through the territory of, and a base in a port of, a neutral state. 3. An advance by river, rail, and road, with a line of communications over all three of PREFACE IX these, some 380 miles in length, the first part of which might be, and the last 150 miles of which was, open to attack. 4. Operations in a country, many parts of which were unknown even to the in- habitants, and of which there were no reliable maps. 5. Movements hampered by want of supply and transport, and then hurried by the necessity of concluding operations by a certain season. 6. An enemy with no capital and no main army; therefore there was no definite objective, and consequently decisive action was rendered difficult. 7. The force employed was very small in com- parison with the area of the country (about 2000 men to 1 14,000 square miles), while it included regular troops of all arms (except cavalry, though the bulk were mounted), and irregular troops, both black and white, also of all arms. V. The last, but not the smallest, thing which encouraged the following up of the hare, is the fact that, since arriving home, I have found that more than half the people I met imagined that Matabeleland and Mashonalancl were the same X PREFACE thing. Knowing that one had been in Salisbury they would say — “ Oh, then you must have met my cousin who is in Buluwayo,” being apparently ignorant of the fact that the two towns are nearly 300 miles apart, and only joined by a waggon track ! Perhaps this is excusable when the London papers frequently reported casualties which occurred near Salisbury under the heading of Buluwayo ; while one of them, when giving news of a fight in the Matopo Hills, which are some twenty miles sozith of Buhiwciyo, said, “ the Matopo Hills near Salisbury !” For the best of the sketches produced I am indebted to Lieut. R. W. Hare, Norfolk regiment, who served with the English company Mounted Infantry. Three of his sketches have already been published in the Graphic , and my thanks are due to the editor of that paper for allowing them to be reproduced. For the four photographs reproduced I have to thank the Argus Publishing Company, Umtali, and also Mr. J. M. Jensen. Majors A. V. Jenner, D.S.O., Rifle Brigade, A. J. Godley, Royal Dublin Fusiliers, and Captain Sir Horace McMahon, D.S.O., Royal Welsh Fusiliers, all of whom served with the PREFACE xi Mounted Infantry, have kindly written chapters describing the operations which they personally conducted. In conclusion, I would ask the reader to re- member how difficult it is to avoid being ego- tistical when writing (absolutely for the first time) of events in which one personally played a part. I would also ask that my own very amateurish attempts at sketching may be leniently looked at. E. A. H. ALDERSON Grand Hotel, Lowestoft, July 1897. CONTENTS CHAPTER I PAGE The Mounted Infantry. Cape Town and Wynberg i CHAPTER II By Sea to Beira n CHAPTER III Beira, and the Situation There 23 CHAPTER IV The Pungwe River, Fontesvilla, Chimoio, and Umtali 46 CHAPTER V Makoni’s and the Devil’s Pass ----- 72 CHAPTER VI From the Chimbi River to Marandellas - - - 99 CHAPTER VII Salisbury, and the Situation Generally - - - 116 XIV CONTENTS CHAPTER VIII PAGE Exit Makoni. Supplies Short 131 CHAPTER IX Umtegeza’s and the Gona Hills 146 CHAPTER X Simbanoota’s, and an Abortive “Indaba” - - - 156 CHAPTER XI Clearing the Granite Range in the Mazoe Valley 170 CHAPTER XII The Hartley Hills - - 188 CHAPTER XIII The Umvukwe Mountains and Eyre’s Farm - 1 212 CHAPTER XIV The Sinoia and the Ayrshire Mine Patrol - - 220 CHAPTER XV Fighting on the Line of Communications. Mr. Rhodes takes out a Patrol 237 CHAPTER XVI The “ Image of War,” and the Beginning of the End 247 CONTENTS XV CHAPTER XVII PAGE Whoo ! Whoop ! - 257 APPENDIX A Mounted Infantry for South Africa- - - - 265 APPENDIX B List of Casualties (White Men) during the Mash- onaland Rising, 1896 ------- 267 APPENDIX C Part I. — Patrols sent out from Salisbury before the Arrival of the Imperial Troops - - - 278 Part II. — Columns and Patrols sent into Mashona- land 285 Part III. — Patrols sent out after the Arrival of the Imperial Troops 288 INDEX 297 LIST OF FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE Types of the Force - Fro?itispiece The Pungwe River at Fontesvilla 51 Chimoio - - 52 Scene of Railway Accident of July 8th 54 Makoni’s Kraal -------- 92 Salisbury from the Kopje - - - - - - 121 Mashangombi’s Main Kraal 198 Western Portion of Chena’s Kraal - 200 The Norfolk and the Hampshire Sections of the English Company Mounted Infantry getting into the East End of Chena’s Kraal - - - 205 Sketch Map of the Theatre of Operations 296 CHAPTER I THE MOUNTED INFANTRY. CAPE TOWN AND WYNBERG I N Punchestown week, 1896, I rejoined my battalion, after having spent two very pleasant years at the Staff College. When we returned from the second day’s racing, a telegram was produced, which ordered me to hold myself in readiness to proceed to Aldershot in order to go out to South Africa with the Mounted Infantry. Having been employed with this corps on three previous campaigns, and having also been their first adjutant (when the present system of training Mounted Infantry was started at Aldershot in 1888, by Colone E. T. H. Hutton, C. B., A. D.C.), this was most delightful news. The telegram did not state in what capacity I was to go, but that made no difference ; to go at all was sufficient. Two days later (April 25th), the battalion were kind enough to dine me. Having just been away for two years, come back for a week, and now being off again for an indefinite time, it 2 THE MOUNTED INFANTRY was impossible not to feel that this kindness was undeserved. To “run in off the black," at black ball pool, just before saying good bye on an occasion like this, is what many people would call a bad omen ; it happened, but, not being- superstitious, it did not bother me, and certainly nothing bad came of it. Crossing over to England the next day, and going to the War Office the following morning, I learnt that I was to command the four companies of Mounted Infantry which were being sent out to Cape Town, in case they might be wanted in Rhodesia. Of these companies, the detail of which is given in Appendix A, the Highland company had already sailed on the 25th of April, and the others, the English, the Irish, and the Rifle companies were then assembling at Aldershot. It is probable that, when looking at the above- mentioned detail, even a non-military reader will exclaim, “ How can such a scratch pack as that work ? ” Well, experience has shown on many occasions that such a pack does work, and right well too. As Mounted Infantry is not a permanent corps, and does not appear in the Army Eist, it would perhaps be as well to briefly explain its organ- ization. A glance at the detail will show that each of the four companies is comprised of four de- tachments from certain battalions, of about thirty ORGANIZATION 3 men and an officer each ; these detachments are called “sections.” The officer and all the non- commissioned officers and men of each detach- ment are specially selected by their own battalion commanding officers for Mounted Infantry work, and, in the present instance, they had all done at least one training of two months at Aldershot. The conditions for the selection of the men are that they should be marksmen or first-class shots, of good character and physique, and not above a certain weight. The officer should be at least a fair rider, and have some knowledge of what is required to be a “good horse-master.” He must, of course, be a good soldier. The conditions for the selection of officers are not laid down, but the above qualifications are essential. The officer has to teach his men to ride, manage, and take care of horses, and how can he do so if he has not q-ood knowledge of it himself? The officer commanding the company is speci- ally selected, his name being usually submitted for the approval of the authorities by the officer commanding the Mounted Infantry at Aldershot, who also submits the proposed organization of the companies. An officer commanding a Mounted Infantry company cannot do it, or himself, justice unless he possesses the three qualifications mentioned above, as necessary for the subaltern of a detach- ment, in a marked degree 4 THE MOUNTED INFANTRY The principle on which the Mounted Infantry section, company, or battalion is worked, is one of decentralization, every man, even down to one in every four in the privates, running his own show, and standing, or falling, by the results brought about by his own work. The men in each section are told to form themselves into permanent “subsections,” i.e. groups of four. These groups have their beds together in the barrack room, lie down side by side in the bivouac, have their horses picketed together, form up on parade together, and do their work together. Mutual confidence is thus established. The group selects its own leader, who is responsible for it in every way. The subaltern officer, or “section leader,” is solely and entirely responsible for his section, men, horses, equipment, and everything con- nected with them. In the same way the captain runs his company, and very little in- spection, either on or off parade, is done by the commanding officer. Thus no one feels that he is merely one in a crowd, and that what he does does not much matter, but each has an opportunity of showing his own individuality. That there is no greater incentive to work than this is certain. Besides this, there are four other spurs at work — emulation between subsections, between sections, between companies, and esprit-de-corps for the Mounted Infantry as a whole. CHARACTERISTICS 5 To say what is the exact role of Mounted Infantry is impossible ; they have done, and will do again, all sorts of work. But to say what a Mounted Infantry man is, is easy ; he is simply a picked infantry soldier provided with extra means of locomotion, be it a bicycle, a char-a- bancs, or any sort of animal. He will probably be most efficient if you give him a pony about fourteen hands high. The first essential for a Mounted Infantry man is that he be a thor- oughly good infantry soldier. In this he differs from a Mounted Rifleman, who need only be a good shot, and does not require the cohesion and solidity necessary to produce the discipline which enables the former to stand steady in square, or to face a severe fire when attacking a position. Mounted Infantry are essentially an active ser- vice corps, and they do not show to advantage when marching past, or at peace manoeuvres ; so much is this the case that one is inclined to think that they should never attempt the former. That Mounted Infantry aspires to, or ever can, assume the role of cavalry, no thinking soldier who has seen the two arms on active service would say. The former fights on foot, and is helpless if attacked on his horse ; the horse of the latter is part of his fighting equip- ment, and his motto should almost be James Pigg’s exclamation when asked to get off and 6 THE MOUNTED INFANTRY pull down the fence for Pomponious Ego, “ Ar niver gets off I ” 1 The creed of the one is, “ Stand steady, fire low, and no living thing can get near us”; of the other, “Swords out, knee to knee, and we can smash anything.” While to ask the latter to do the work of the former is like asking a huntsman to do gamekeeper. To again refer to the detail. The combination of the companies English, Irish, and Scotch, with Riflemen thrown in, was perfect, and I was much pleased to find that I already knew all the officers commanding companies and also many of the subalterns. An old and valued friend of mine, poor Evans of the Derbyshire Regiment, had the English company ; McMahon, Welsh Fusiliers, whom I had soldiered with before, had the Irish com- pany ; Tod, of the Seaforth Highlanders, who had just won our point-to-point race, the High- land company; and Jenner, Rifle Brigade, of Mounted Infantry in Burma fame, the Rifle company ; while Godley, Dublin Fusiliers, then the Mounted Infantry adjutant at Aldershot, was to be adjutant. Sportsmen and good men to hounds every one, which is what we try to get in the Mounted Infantry. It was good also to find that an old friend, Colour-Sergeant H. F. Nesbit, who started as orderly room clerk when I started as adjutant in 1888, and had held the position ever since, 1 Vide page 370, Hatidley Cross. LEAVE ALDERSHOT 7 was now to come with us as orderly room clerk and quartermaster sergeant. On May ist, the English, Irish, and Rifle companies were inspected by the Commander- in-chief at Aldershot, and on the 2nd, after being seen off at the North Camp Station by H.R. H. The Duke of Connaught, commanding the Aldershot district, they embarked at South- ampton on the S.S. “ Tantallon Castle” (Captain Duncan). On board we found Lieut. -Colonel R. S. Baden-Powell, 13th Hussars (now Colonel 5th Dragoon Guards), who was going out to do chief staff officer to Sir Frederick Carrington in Rhodesia, and also Lieut. -Colonel C. H. Bridge, Army Service Corps, who was on his way to Buluwayo to re-organize the supply and transport. The former, being senior to me, commanded the troops on board. The voyage was a very pleasant, if an un- eventful one ; we did our best to keep the men fit by arranging for regular exercise for them, getting up athletics, tugs of war, and concerts, Baden-Powell invariably bringing down the house at the latter. At Madeira we officers all did the usual thing, i.e. had breakfast ashore, rode up the hill on ponies, and then tobogganed down on the cobble-stones. Near the line a saloon passenger died, while a rifleman fell out of his hammock and broke his jaw. These, and the fancy dress ball, were the only events which broke the even tenor of our days. THE MOUNTED INFANTRY About four a.m. on the 19th May, we anchored in Table Bay, and went alongside the wharf about nine a.m. A little over fourteen years since I left there with my battalion in February 1882 ; and to again refer to omens. I can see now the rat, which, at the first turn of the screw, came up from somewhere below, got on to the outside of the ship and ran along the combing, then when it got to the stern, jumped for the wharf. Just reaching this with its fore feet, it failed to draw up its hind quarters and fell back into the dock. It was a Friday too! Fifty years ago no doubt every sailor in that ship would have refused to sail that day, and perhaps to go in her at all. What does the individual say who will not walk underneath a ladder? However nothing happened to us, and we had a glorious passage home. But did that rat know that that ship (the “ Balmoral Castle”) was shortly to be sold to the Spanish Government as a troop ship, and that she was to be burnt in the Bay of Biscay ? We disembarked that morning, were inspected on the wharf by Major-General Sir W. H. Goodenough, K.C. B., commanding the troops in South Africa, and afterwards went out to Wyn- berg by train. Here we were most hospitably received by the 1st Battalion Leicester Regi- ment, then commanded by Lieut. -Colonel C. W. Vulliamy. AT WYNBERG 9 There were only two or three companies of the Leicesters with their headquarters at Wyn- berg, and I am afraid that we, with our twenty- two officers, completely swamped the mess. At Wynberg we found the Highland com- pany, which had arrived at Cape Town two days before us in the “Warwick Castle.” We soon learnt, much to our disgust, that there was no immediate prospect of our being wanted in Rhodesia, and further, that there were no horses being bought, or likely to be bought, for us. It was a damper! For a month we remained at Wynberg, having a very good time it is true ; but this was not what we had come out for, and we all felt as if we had had cold water thrown over us. We spent our time in teaching the men to work, and fight, through the bush on the Cape Town flats, having many little field days of our own. Once a week came a field day under the General, or the Chief Staff Officer, Colonel Morgan Crofton, D.S.O. Then came the Queen’s Birthday, when all the troops fired a fezi-de-joie and then marched past on the Market Square in Cape Town. The space available would barely hold the troops, and we, who always work in single rank, had first to be in double rank, then get into single rank as we came on to the saluting base, and back again into double rank as we wheeled off it. Not a verv easy manoeuvre, especially with little room avail- able, but the men did it well. It was the first IO THE MOUNTED INFANTRY time that four companies of Mounted Infantry had ever marched past together on a Queen’s Birthday. By the middle of June we had fairly settled down, had bought ponies, started polo, and been out with the Cape Hounds, which I had taken over, installing McMahon and Vernon as whips. Our first day was rather amusing. We started, hounds, horses, and men, by train from Wynberg about eight a.m. and proceeded to Klapnuts, about thirty miles up the line. Owing to a very bad engine, we did not arrive there till eleven o’clock. A field of about thirty-five, including the General and Miss Goodenough, had trained with us. We at once proceeded to draw and very soon got on the line of something, and this, which turned out to be a hyena, we quickly ran up to, or rather he waited for us, with his back against the wire railway fence ! The leading hounds hesitated before pulling him down, and, as we were sup- posed to be, and thought we were, running a jackal, they were whipped off. After some more drawing, a wild cat jumped up in the middle of the pack, and escaped in a most wonderful way with its brush as big as its body! We then ran something, which proved to be a buck, quite fast for about thirty minutes, hounds being whipped off when he was viewed. At last, about 3 p.m., we did find a jackal and ran him hard for some forty minutes ; he then turned directly away from the station, and, having a train to catch, we were obliged to whip off. CHAPTER II BY SEA TO BEIRA N the 19th June the clouds, as regards some of us at any rate, rolled by, a telegram arriving to say that the British South Africa Company wished 200 Mounted Infantry to pro- ceed to Salisbury, via Beira, in order to assist the local forces in suppressing the Mashona rising, which had by this time begun to assume serious proportions. The rising had commenced on the 16th June, when the first whites were murdered at the Beatrice Mine (see map) by M’Slopa’s people. This w r as quickly followed by other murders at Hartley, and at Norton’s Farm on the Hunyani River. (A list of those murdered during the rising with places and dates is given in Appendix B, and by this list the course of the rising can be traced.) Apparently no one in Mashonaland had even dreamt it was possible that the Mashonas might rise, every one had got so used to two or three men going to a kraal, when anything I 2 BY SEA TO BE1RA wrong had been done by the natives, and demanding to see the chief, and when that individual came forth, if it appeared good to them, breaking his own cooking pot over his head, or threatening him with, and even using the sjambok on him. That the worm might turn did not seem to have occurred to them, and the saying, “You only want a sjambok and a box of matches to take any Mashona kraal," had become proverbial. Even when the first murders were committed, they were put down to fugitive Matabele on their way to Zambesi. The result of this excessive contempt for the worm was that, when he did turn, the whites, taken entirely by surprise and totally unprepared, appear to . have gone into an almost equally excessive state of alarm. It is not the first time that we Britons have had excessive contempt for our enemy recoil on us, and demonstrates forcibly what a bad gauge we had taken of his character. There is no doubt that at the commencement of the rising, Salisbury was in an awkward O J position. It then had no police, these having been taken for the Jameson raid; the bulk of its available fighting men, and of the horses, were in Mata- beleland under Lieut. -Colonel Beal, some three hundred miles away ; what was worse was that arms were none too plentiful. The town went into laager, in and around o THE MASHONA RISING 13 the gaol, and this laager was made practically impregnable to any number of Mashonas. The inhabitants were told off into various local corps, the weak point in which appears to have been that they had too great a proportion of officers. Mr. Justice Vintcent, the senior official of the company then in Salisbury, was appointed Com- mandant General by Sir Frederick Carrington, who was then at Buluwayo. From what I have been told, the time in the laager was in many ways amusing — to look back to — though trying enough at the time. The ladies, for instance, were accommodated in the cells, three or four in each, and as there was no time to pick and choose fellow-prisoners, the result was not always happy ! Some of the laager’s defenders dis- played lamentable ignorance of their weapons: one, when on sentry on the walls, in trying to discover the mysteries of the action of his rifle, let it off, caused a scare, and nearly shot a lady who was taking an evening walk round the laager. This offender was promptly “ run in ” and brought to the orderly room the next day. Just before he came up, or just after he had been told off, the adjutant of the left, or right, wing (there were two, and it does not appear certain which it was), let off his revolver by mistake in the orderly room, the bullet ploughing into the wall not far off the commanding officer’s head ! This would scarcely tend to grease the wheels for the day’s work ? One morning, in 14 BY SEA TO BEIRA the grey dawn, a piquet sentry saw some weird, brown-looking forms approaching his post. “Are they Mashonas ? ” no doubt he said to himself ; “ they seem to be stopping and looking, then crouching and advancing — Yes, they must be, Mashonas.” Bang! goes his rifle; bang! bang! bang ! go the rifles of the piquet, and in they run. Up get all the people in the laager and rush to their posts. The grey of dawn becomes the light of day, and, what do they see ? a herd of tesessapi (buck about the size of a donkey), who, owing to the unwonted quiet, had come into Salisbury and were quietly gazing towards the laager. Only a scare, the result of over-strung nerves, such as trained soldiers have had many a time in Zululand, the Soudan, and elsewhere. I would have it understood that I am indebted to hearsay for the above, but I believe it to be true ; any way, it is founded on fact. Not the least amusing part is that someone — was he a wag or was he taken in ? — telegraphed to the Cape Town papers, “The Tesessapi tribe have risen and are threatening the laager.” The order for the two companies to go was received on the night of the 19th June and they were to sail on the 26th, so there was plenty of time to draw equipment, etc., etc. The first question to be decided was, “Which two companies were to go ? ” Luckily I had anticipated the likelihood of being split up, and WHO IS TO GO? 15 had talked the question over with the officers commanding companies while on board the “ Tantallon Castle.” We had arrived at the conclusion that the company commanded by the senior officer should be the first on the list for detachment, and that the company com- manded by the next senior officer should be next and so on. At the time that this was settled the two junior company commanders, Jenner and McMahon, were dismal ; now they were jubilant, for, as the headquarters of the corps were to go, it was a detachment which remained behind. This was how the Irish and the Rifle companies came to go to Mashona- land. As bad luck for them would have it, this came particularly hard on the Highland company, who were the first to arrive in South Africa, and who had also gone out when just at the end of their training at Aldershot, and thus were the last off horses. Most of the next six days was spent at the ordnance store in Cape Town, looking after and drawing equipment and stores, and much I bothered the officer in charge, Captain H. W. Perry, to whom I am most grateful for the ready and cheerful manner in which he assisted me. Would that all officers in charge of stores were like him, especially when one is on, or preparing for, active service; for on such occasions men are sometimes met who appear to think it is their duty to keep 1 6 BY SEA TO BEIRA their stores full, instead of to issue articles to people who want them. There were also several interviews with Mr. J. A. Stevens, the secretary of the company in Cape Town, and he was most ready to give orders for us to be supplied with anything we asked for. What a blessing it is to have a man to deal with who is not afraid of taking respon- sibility upon himself. The company was paying the bill, and certainly they stinted us of nothing it was in their power to provide. Now that we were wanted, horses were necessary, and these of course had to be bought in a hurry ; the result was that the numbers were difficult to make up, and that the quality was not so good as it would have been had they been bought gradually, and properly fed, during the last month, in which we had been doing comparatively nothing. For some time prior to the purchase of the horses, forage, especially in and around Cape Town, had been very scarce and expensive, consequently the majority of the horses were in poor condition, some of them being extremely low. One hundred and forty-five horses were bought in and near Cape Town, and were put on board the Union Company’s steamer “Arab (Captain Chope), which had been hastily fitted up, on the 25th June. The next morning the following force, which LEAVE CAPE TOWN 17 was under my command, embarked at nine o’clock, and we sailed immediately afterwards, stopping when we got out into Table Bay to take the ammunition on board : Mounted Infantry, head-' quarters, and the Irish and Rifle companies - (as per detail in Ap- pendix A), Royal Artillery (Lieut.] S. C. Townsend), -J Medical Staff Corps (Sgn.-j Capt. F. A. Saw, Army Medical Staff), - -J Captain J. Roach, in the employ of the British South Africa Company, who had gone into Mashonaland with the pioneers in 1891, was placed at my disposal as intelligence officer. We took with us two seven-pounder R. M.L. guns of 200 lbs., and also two .303 Maxims on low infantry carriages. The pith of the instructions which I received from the High Commissioner were to make my “way to Salisbury with all due expedition and without digression from the direct road unless for strong military reasons.” The “ Arab” had been for some time employed in carrying mules and cargo coastwise, and she was a mere shell, her bulkheads having been taken down to make room. The only cabin accommodation was on the upper deck, and that B Non-Commissioned Officers. Officers and Men. 13 230 i 6 1 5 i8 BY SEA TO BEIRA was very rough and very limited. The men were put on the fore part of the main deck, which was roughly fitted up and partitioned off from the after part, which was full of horses. Neither officers nor men minded the discomfort which ensued, we were all only too glad to be off ; but we did mind the frailness of the horse fittings and the insecure way in which they were fixed, for that might mean accidents to, and perhaps the loss of, horses, which, having no spare ones, we could not afford. When we got out of the bay and began to round Cape Agulhas the swell, consequent on the previous day’s gale, made the ship, light as she was, roll considerably, and many of the horse fittings carried away. This gave us all plenty of employment, and there was but little time to be sea-sick. At four a.m. on the 29th we arrived in Durban Roads and, had there been steam up in the pilot’s tug, we might have gone over the bar at six. As it was, the ship missed the morning tide and did not go in till four p.m. She then grounded in the harbour, and did not get along- side the wharf till nearly dark. I went on shore with Godley early in the day in order to get telegrams, and to see the Charter Co.’s agent, Mr. Jameson, who took us to lunch at the Club. Durban appeared to me to have much im- proved since I last saw it in 1882. Many new ARRIVE DURBAN l 9 and handsome buildings had sprung up : among them a fine town hall which Mr. Jameson, who was mayor for the year, showed us with pride. Two telegrams were waiting for me, one from the chief staff officer at Buluwayo, directing me to assume supreme command of all armed men in Mashonaland on arriving in the country, and giving me other instructions, and the other from Judge Vintcent at Salisbury, informing me that a Mr. Honey and twelve volunteers would join us at Beira. After a visit to the ordnance store, where Captain Ledsham quickly produced the articles we wanted, we went down to the docks, only to find the “Arab” stuck fast in the harbour; while 140 odd horses were waiting on the wharf to be shipped, and the daylight was fast going. Just as it was getting dark the ship got alongside, and we at once began with the horses, and a rare game we had with some of them. The ship’s side being high above the wharf, all had to be put in slings, hoisted up to the upper deck, and then lowered down on to the main deck. Some of the horses were only partially broken, and several appeared to have been scarcely handled at all, while a few had to be cast and their legs tied before they could be slung. McMahon superintended the work, and I immensely admired the way in which he did it ; every troublesome horse he either adjusted the slings on or held himself, and never one 20 BY SEA TO BEIRA did he let go. There were several scenes of this sort : McMahon, the farrier sergeant, and perhaps four to six men, would be round a horse adjusting the slings ; suddenly the horse would plunge forward dragging the whole lot with him ; another plunge and two or three men drop off ; with less weight to keep him down the horse goes forward in a series of bounds, perhaps nearly over the edge of the wharf into the dock, or up against the iron store shed with a tremendous bang, and anon through the doors and into the shed among the other horses waiting their turn. As this goes on the men drop off one by one, and McMahon is left hanging on by himself. No nice job this at any time, and especially in semi-darkness and in a place where there are so many things to knock against, and the dock to go into into the bargain. As each horse was put into his place down below, the bar to keep him there was fixed up ; several times we had to suspend operations till extra fittings were hastily put up by the ship’s carpenters. All this delayed us, and it was 3.30 a.m. before we had got the whole of the horses on board. That there were no accidents was, I consider, entirely due to McMahon. That evening Surgeon Colonel Maxham, Army Medical Staff, principal medical officer South Africa, and Lieutenant and Quartermaster IN SIGHT OF BEIRA 21 W. E. Barnes, Army Service Corps, joined the ship — the former having been directed to accompany us as far as Beira, in order to report on the accommodation available there for the sick and wounded, and the measures to be taken for their conveyance down the line ; the latter was to take over the duties of supply and transport officer to the column. Mr. J. E. Nicholls, registrar of the High Court at Salisbury, and a lieutenant in the Rhodesia Horse, and Mr. G. Bowen, chief mining com- missioner in Mashonaland, also joined us ; the former subsequently acted as my senior galloper throughout the operations, and did his work in all respects like a born aide-de-camp. We left Durban at 6.30 next morning, the 30th June. The sea being still somewhat rough, more trouble ensued with the horse fittings, many of them carrying away and a few horses getting down. Next day one of the horses taken on board at Durban developed symptoms of farcy, of which there had been cases at Maritzburg, where the horses had been purchased. We had no veterinary surgeon with us, and, rather than run risk of infection in the crowded ship, I had the horse shot at once. On the evening of July 2nd, we were in sight of the one solitary tree, on the low flat coast to the north of Beira, which serves as a landmark to ships. The tide not serving, we 22 BY SEA TO BEIRA anchored near the outer buoy, some twenty miles from Beira, which is approached by a shallow tortuous channel. The next morning we upped anchor at daybreak, and dropped it again in the Pungwe River, off Beira, about ten a.m. In the river was H.M.S. “ Widgeon,” Lieut. -Commander (now Captain) E. Duke Hunt, who at once came to us in his galley, and he and I went ashore. CHAPTER III BEIRA, AND THE SITUATION THERE NE has often heard Aden talked of as VV about the most undesirable place in the world to live in, and, if we can trust the veracity of the gentleman who said that, when he visited Hades, he saw four men playing whist quite comfortably, and on asking the custodian how it was they appeared so content with their surroundings, was told, “ Oh, they came from Caracas and are used to this sort of thing!” Then Caracas (capital of Venezuela) must run Aden close. But Beira might safely be backed to beat them both. Built on sand, nothing but sand, on a sancl- spit, in fact, between the sea, a muddy creek, and a mangrove swamp, Beira appears as un- attractive a place to live in as it is to look at. The very streets are sand, and there is no getting away from the heat and glare of it. If you go near the creek, the smell of the mud and the decaying vegetation make you think of fever, and drive you back to the 24 BEIRA, AND THE SITUATION THERE streets, and they make you wish to be on your ship again. In spite of the drawbacks of its situation Beira appears flourishing, has large custom houses, store sheds, etc., and the dwelling houses are some of them well built and appear comfortable. It is of course the nearest port to Mashona- land, and as that country is populated and developed, Beira is bound to become more important and thriving. What it needs is energy, and this its present inhabitants, and all connected with them, appear to lack most lamentably ; indeed, we only found three people there who appeared to know what the word energy meant : these were Colonel Machado, TROOPS WITHOUT ARMS! 25 Mr. Carnegie Ross (Her Majesty’s Consul), and Mr. Harrison, who was acting as the British South Africa Company’s agent for Messrs. Suter & Co. Commander Hunt and I called on “the Governor of the territory of the Mozambique Company,” this being the official title of Colonel Machado, who was most agreeable and pro- mised to help the forward movement as far as he could. We had a somewhat amusing discussion as req-ards the arms. He said that his government had informed him that they had given permission for three hundred troops to pass through the country, but that nothing was said about arms, and that he wished the men to go without their arms, which could be packed in boxes and follow them. This I could not agree to, and I pointed out to him that the existing state of even Portuguese territory was sufficient excuse for the arms going with the men, and further that it might be said that men without arms could hardly be called troops. The latter argument appeared to convince the genial colonel. We then went to the consul, whom we found just recovering from an attack of fever, but very ready to assist. Afterwards we saw the representatives of the Beira Railway Company, of the Boating Company, and various other officials. None of these appeared to have expected us, nor had they any suggestions to make in the way of 26 BEIRA, AND THE SITUATION THERE helping the disembarkation and the forward movement ; some of them did not appear to care so long as they personally were not bothered. Altogether the morning spent in trudging about the blazing hot, sandy streets, was both depressing and exasperating, and Hunt and I went back to our respective ships in no good mood, having, however, gathered that the situ- ation was as follows : (а) The telegraph wire was cut somewhere north of Umtali (see Map), and consequently no communication was possible with Cape Town or elsewhere. (б) The natives in Portuguese territory, and even in Beira itself, were restless and unsettled, while most of those working on the railway had deserted and gone to their kraals ; should these natives rise, the Portuguese troops then in Beira were insufficient to cope with them. (c) It was the local opinion that any sign of weakness or a single reverse would cause a rising. The effect of this would be to cut Salisbury’s and our one line of supply. (d) The one steam tug available for towing lighters up the Pungwe had a hole in her boiler, and the Beira-Fontesvilla section of the railway was still four miles short of Fontesvilla, and there were no horse trucks on it. Even sup- posing that this piece of line could be used, local opinion differed as to whether it was possible to get horses across the river at Fontesvilla. THE SITUATION NOT CHEERFUL 27 (e) Local labour available to repair the tug, to improvise horse trucks, and to construct a landing stage and a pontoon at Fontesvilla was nil. ( f ) The local officials, and the representative of the Boating Company, who was supposed to be responsible for the river transport, were supine and lethargic to the last degree. iyg) Added to all the above the Chartered Company’s agent, and every one with local knowledge, stated that Salisbury must by this time be badly off for food. Therefore haste was necessary. Not a cheerful prospect certainly, eager as we were to be on the move, and it made Hunt and myself scratch our heads and speak of Beira, and of some of the people we had seen in it, in no measured terms. Before we parted (the “ Widgeon ” was lying further out than the “Arab”), Hunt promised to send some of his artificers to mend the boiler of the tug, and also to call for and take me ashore early the next day. During the afternoon the S.S. “Garth Castle” arrived in the river. On board her were the 43rd company Royal Engineers, and drafts of the Royal Artillery, York and Lancaster regi- ment, and also of the Medical Staff Corps, all being on their way to Mauritius. Captain A. E. Haynes, Royal Engineers, was the senior officer, and, when the ship had touched at Durban, he had telegraphed to the High Commissioner suggesting that possibly his 28 BEIRA, AND THE SITUATION THERE company might be useful in Mashonaland, and also that the ship should touch at Beira in order to ascertain. The High Commissioner had answered to Lorenzo Marques, where the “Garth Castle” also called, approving of her going into Beira, and stating that the company might be landed, should the Portuguese Governor consider it necessary for the safety of the railway to Chimoio, and of the road to Umtali ; but that the other troops on the ship were to go on to Mauritius. Captain Haynes was also directed to report himself to, and transfer his instructions to, me on his arrival at Beira, and, on these instructions, I was to “act according to emergency, with the sanction of the Governor, in holding the line of communications to Umtali.” Directly the “ Garth Castle ” anchored, Captain Haynes came to the “Arab,” and reported him- self, giving me his telegraphic instructions to the above effect. It then of course devolved on me to act one way or the other: either to let all the troops go on to Mauritius, or to take some or all of them off the ship and join them to my force. Whichever I did might turn out wrong. It was a regular case of “what should A do ? ” The safe course perhaps was to go to the Governor and ask him whether he wanted any assistance to make the rail and road in Portuguese territory safe, thus throwing the re- sponsibility on him. But knowing that he had HASTE IS NECESSARY 29 not then sufficient men to ensure safety, and also feeling that he would naturally make light of the situation as regards his own sphere ; and even if the rail and road through the latter were safe, it was pretty certain that the Umtali-Salisbury road was not, I therefore thought that, though I might save myself from taking responsibility by going to him, I might not do the best for the cause, and this determined me to act as I myself thought right. Turning the question over in one’s mind, the salient points appeared to be: First and foremost, haste was necessary or Salisbury might starve, while each day’s delay in the arrival of troops at Umtali would have a bad effect on Umtassa, and other chiefs near there who were still “sitting on the fence.” We could not make a move at all until the tusf’s boiler was mended, while to move even fairly quickly we must use the railway also. To use the latter it was necessary to improvise covered horse trucks, something like a big meat safe, for there was a belt of tsetse fly country between Beira and Fontesvilla. Further, as far as we could make out, by taking the mean of the local accounts, it would be necessary to improvise a pontoon and to construct a landing stage and a ramp, before horses could be got across the Pungwe at the latter place. We had not a single pioneer, and probably not a man who could drive a nail in properly, on board 30 BEIRA, AND THE SITUATION THERE the “Arab”; while, as I have already said, local labour of the carpenter sort was practically nil. This made me decide to take the Engineers off the “ Garth Castle.” Another very obvious point was the shortness of food in Salisbury, and in Mashonaland gener- ally, and it made me argue to myself: “Suppose we go through to Salisbury with the Mounted Infantry, as we can easily do, and a rising takes place behind us, the road will be closed up again, and by taking Salisbury more mouths to feed we shall do it more harm than good.” In other words, I saw then (July 3rd) that the food question would be the vital one, and after-events proved that this view was correct. The only way to ensure keeping the road open was by establishing posts on it. I could not spare any of my mounted men for this purpose, and con- sequently decided to take the detachment of fifty of the York and Lancaster regiment off the “ Garth Castle” for it, intending with them and a portion of the Engineers, to form some four posts between Umtali and Salisbury ; obvious places for three of these being near the Devil’s pass, at Headlands, and at Maranclellas (see Map). With the original force, on the “ Arab,” there were only five men of the Medical Staff Corps, and, having in view the fact that the men ex the “ Garth Castle” would increase this force by over 100, and also that we had some three hundred and eighty miles to travel, with every MOMENTOUS QUESTIONS prospect of fighting before reaching Salisbury, I considered it was desirable to take the ten men of this corps off the latter ship. Regarding the Royal Artillery detachment, we had with us one officer and six non-commissioned officers and men, with two seven pounder guns, the intention being that the detachment should conduct the guns to Salisbury and then act as instructors to men of the local forces. Having been able to glean something of the nature of the country between Urntali and Salisbury, and also having gathered that it would be necessary to take Makoni’s kraal before going on to the latter place, I was able to decide that it was desirable that both of the guns should have crews, and therefore took eight men of the Royal Artillery off the “ Garth Castle.” This made the total of all ranks taken from that ship iii, made up as follows: Corps. Non-Commissioned Officers. Officers and Men. Royal Engineers (Capt. A. E. Haynes, Lieut. C. St. B. Sladen, Lieut. I C. B. Thompson), -J 39 Royal Artillery, S York and regiment M. Middle Medical Staff Corps, io (includes i warrant officer) Total 4 107 32 BEIRA, AND THE SITUATION THERE I can well imagine the reader saying about this period : “Why does he hang about so instead of getting ‘ forard ’ into Mashonaland.” Well, before you can run a fox, you must find him, and all this, and a little more to come, is merely the drawing for him. Also, it may be said that the position in which I found myself was somewhat unique. We read in military history of momentous questions having to be decided by “ the man on the spot” without reference to superior authority; but, in these days of electricity, such situations do not often occur, and this is another reason why I have gone into the circumstances somewhat fully. Though the numbers were small, the question was certainly momentous for me, and I remembered that disobedience of orders, or the exceeding of instructions, could be only justified by emergency, and is often only admitted by superior authority to be justified when followed by success. In taking the men off the “Garth Castle” I was certainly exceeding my instructions, and perhaps was going near to disobeying orders. However, I thought then (and think so still) that I was doing what was right, and both Surgeon-Colonel Maxham and Hunt, who, as the two senior officers on the spot, I talked the matter over with, agreed with me. That evening the following telegram arrived from the Commander of the Burghers at Umtali, Mr. Montague : “July 3. At present Chief Umtassa, in whose UMTALI UNEASY 33 district we are living, is loyal, but no kaffir is to be relied upon; the adjoining chief, Makoni, is in rebellion. “ I have fortified the government buildings and a two-storied hotel here, and can hold my own if attacked. “Only two government horses fit for use, twelve private horses ; the wire between here and Salis- bury either cut or broken since Saturday. Whole country four miles from here up to Matabeleland in rebellion. The public here wish me to send a party to repair wire running through rebel country. I received orders from C.S.O., Buluwayo, and Judge Vintcent, Salisbury, not to weaken Umtali ; have acted on these orders, and refused to send party until I heard from you on the subject.” This telegram showed clearly that the situ- ation at Umtali was thought to be serious, and also made me think that I had been right in deciding to take the men off the “Garth Castle.” I answered ; “ Consider your action in not weakening Umtali is wise. Am doing best to hasten my advance.” The following day, July 4th, was a busy one indeed. Hunt came for me in his galley early. What a blessing it was to have the cheery practi- cal sailor to help one to move the lethargic people ashore into some sort of action, The tide was running out very strongly, and a stiff breeze was blowing up the river ; the usual result of these conditions, high and hollow seas, ensued. Once, 34 BEIRA, AND THE SITUATION THERE during a squall — was it by accident, or did the sailor refrain from easing the sheet in order to frighten the soldier ? — the galley lay down to it so much that the water bubbled over her gunwale, and I began to consider what articles in the boat would float, how many of her crew of three blue- jackets could swim, how far we should all go towards the outer buoy before we were picked up, and last, but. not least, were there any sharks on the look-out in the river? But the good little boat recovered herself well, and we got ashore with nothing worse than a slight wetting. I was much struck by the respect and awe with which all the natives appeared to regard Hunt, as he stepped ashore, and as we walked up the town. I was told afterwards that all along the coast, and even for some distance inland, they are more afraid of a man-of-war than anything else, and that the presence of the little “ Widgeon” in the river would go further than anything to prevent a native rising. Not complimentary to the soldier perhaps, but one more proof of the long arms that Great Britain possesses in her navy. We at once went to see Colonel Machado on the subject of the extra men from the “ Garth Castle” passing through Portuguese territory, to which he kindly gave his verbal consent, stating at the same time that he did not wish them to be on shore while they were waiting to advance. Hunt then said that he would take part of them on board the “ Widgeon,” and I decided that the RAILWAY’S CAPACITY SMALL 35 remainder must go on to the already crowded “Arab” somehow. I only had authority to detain the “ Garth Castle” for forty-eight hours in any case, and every hour meant money, so it was necessary to o-et the men off her at once, and this was done during the afternoon. On leaving the Governor’s we went to the telegraph office, and had a conversation over the wire with Mr. Moore, the manager of the Beira railway, who was then at Fontesvilla. Here is a specimen of this conversation : Question. Col. A. to Mr. Moore : “ What is the greatest number of horses you can take by rail from Fontesvilla to Chimoio daily?” Answer. “Thirty.” Question. “ Can you send sixty horses every other day, so as to work in with the lighters?” Answer. “Yes.” Question. “ Can you take sixty men with their saddles and accoutrements complete as well as the horses ? ” Answer. “No, I cannot do it the same day as the horses ? ” Question. “ How many men can you do the same day as the horses ? ” Answer. “ I think I can do the sixty with the horses, at any rate I will try my best.” And much more to the same effect regarding trains, accommodation, etc. At the conclusion of this conversation we congratulated ourselves that 36 BEIRA, AND THE SITUATION THERE here was one man at any rate who would do his best for us. We then had a conversation, again on the wire, with Mr. Montague, who was commanding at Umtali, and from whom we gathered that, though Umtali was quite safe, they did not feel strong enough to move out far, and also that the natives were in possession of the road to the north, and were holding the Devil’s Pass, a very awkward place, in force. I directed Mr. Montague, at Umtali, and Mr. Fotheringham, at Chimoio, to commandeer every available waggon and span of animals for the use of the force. This step, of which more hereafter, by no means met with the approval of the local residents and traders, nor with the loyal support of the local authorities, but it was an absolutely neces- sary one, as even by taking every waggon we could lay hands on, we only just got together sufficient transport for the column. Later in the day I received the following tele- gram from a body, styling themselves the “ Defence Committee,” at Umtali : “To Lieut.-Colonel Alderson, Beira. “July 4th. The following letter sent Resident Magistrate, as regarding British South Africa Company, yesterday, begins : ‘ I am instructed by the Umtali Defence Committee to forward to you the following copy of a resolution passed at their meeting held this, Friday, afternoon, and to ask you for a written reply to the same. A THE MAKINGS OF “RUCTIONS 37 further meeting will be held to-morrow at ten o’clock, and I shall be glad to place your reply before the committee. Your attendance at the meeting will be esteemed a favour. Resolution : That in the opinion of the Defence Committee it is desirable that a force should leave Umtali for the purpose of connecting the telegraph line, and the committee request the British South Africa Company to provide all the necessary equipment, and also request the Commandant to give the necessary orders. (Signed) Secretary Defence Committee.’ “ Meeting committee held this morning, to which Resident Magistrate sent message defer- ring reply till to-morrow. Meeting then resolved as follows. Begins : “That committee instruct secretary to write Resident Magistrate and express their extreme surprise and dissatisfaction that he has omitted, according to his promise, to give them an answer to their communications of yesterday, and they wish to point out that such inaction on part of government, and disregard of the deliberately expressed opinion of the people, is calculated, in a crisis like the present, to cause serious trouble between people and government. Also that a copy of both resolutions be wired to Colonel Alderson, through the Resident Magistrate, ask- ing for an immediate reply, and informing him that the public are clamouring for a meeting at 38 BEIRA, AND THE SITUATION THERE which to hear your reply. Government repre- sentative here waiting on your committee ; first place you in possession of all facts and ask your views as to sending local force to connect tele- graph wires.” This telegram was somewhat involved, but it clearly showed me that there were the makings of “ructions” at Umtali, and I decided that it would not improve matters if I got myself mixed up in them from the end of a wire some 160 miles away, and therefore answered: “Not knowing local circumstances I cannot interfere between you and the Resident Magistrate. I understand that his orders are not to weaken Umtali, and this I consider wise.” In the afternoon I interviewed Mr. Wilfred Honey and his twelve volunteers ; the latter wanted to know what terms they were going to serve on. This I knew nothing about, my only information regarding them being the telegram, received at Durban, from Judge Vintcent, which merely stated that he wished me to attach them to my force. Luckily I had suspected, when at Durban, that they would have no horses, saddlery, etc., and had asked Mr. Jameson, the Company’s agent there, to purchase these and put them on board the “Arab,” which he promptly did. On my remarking to the men that my ex- perience of volunteers was that they were men who did it for the love of the thing, I was met with such remarks as “Oh! not a bit of it,” etc., THE SCOUTS 39 and I then learnt from Mr. Honey, that a volun- teer in Rhodesia is a man who never receives less than ten shillings a day, plus his clothes and rations, and that some of the officers draw as much as two pounds. On Mr. Honey stating that he was sure that Judge Vintcent meant these men to be on the same terms as the others, I allowed them to sign on, at the same time making a mental note that the term volunteers, applied to corps of which the very privates received half a sovereign a day, was a decided misnomer. Mr. Honey’s men, however, thoroughly earned their pay. We christened them “the Scouts,” and as such they did excellent work throughout the operations. Following on this interview came visits to Messrs. Suter & Co., and various other stores, in order to obtain the necessary supplies and equip- ment for the men ex the “Garth Castle.” Those on the “ Arab” were fully equipped, and we had two months’ supplies for them ; but the people from the former ship had no supplies and field equipment, such as waterproof sheets, etc. Very good substitutes for waterproof sheets were made by cutting some light canvas into pieces of the necessary dimensions, then soaking them in oil and drying them in the sun, while waggon sails (large stout canvas sheets, used to cover the waggons when loaded) were purchased in lieu of tents. In all this Mr. Harrison gave us the greatest assistance. All the locally obtained sub- 40 BEIRA, AND THE SITUATION THERE stitutes for the regulation equipment turned out well, but the food supplies did not. The biscuit was very hard and of inferior quality, as also was the tinned meat, and the same might be said of the tea, sugar, etc. All were very badly packed and consequently much loss occurred in the many loadings and unloadings which they had to undergo. In the evening Mr. Sawerthal, the Chartered Co.’s representative specially sent from Salisbury to assist and advise me in local matters, arrived at Beira. I am afraid that we did not at first “talk alike.” Mr. Sawerthal had already made his own plan as to how the troops were to go up country, and this plan was that they were all to go by river to Fontesvilla, entrain there, and on arriving at rail head (Chimoio), to go on from there to Umtali as they were detrained, i.e. in small detachments. This plan, which meant that nearly double the time would be taken than if the Beira-Fontesvilla section of the railway was used as well as the river, was not only contrary to sound tactics, but was also contrary to the telegraphic instructions which I had received at Durban from Sir Frederick Carrington, which were : “ Assemble your command at rail head and move forward from there with all precautions.” It took Mr. Sawerthal a considerable time to realize that I meant to obey these instructions, and also that anything concerning the safety or the movements A HOLE IN A BOILER 4i of the troops with a view to military precautions was my business and not his. When once he had mastered these facts we became very good friends. Next morning, the 5th July, we were again ashore early, and succeeded in making final arrangements for a move, both by rail and river, to commence, the latter on the following day, and the former on the 7th. The tug’s boiler, thanks to the help of the artificers from the “Widgeon,” was mended, and she was to have a trial run during the morning. After an interview with Mr. Charlton, the local railway manager at Beira, and another talk over the wire with Mr. Moore at Fontesvilla, we were able to arrange for Honey’s men, with all their rations and equipment and twenty-four horses, to go by train to Fontesvilla on the 7 th, thence, when they had crossed the river, on to Chimoio. I promised Mr. Charlton that a party of the Engineers should be ashore early on the next morning, to fit up the frames 42 BEIRA, AND THE SITUATION THERE in the horse trucks, and to cover them with “limbo” (limbo is a sort of thin, white, gauze- like material, which is used for trading with the natives), as a protection against the tsetse fly. The sketch on the preceding page shows what they produced. The tug’s trial trip was satisfactory, and it was arranged that she should tow lighters up to Fontesvilla, starting early the next morning. The lighters were at once got alongside the “Arab,” and loaded with sixty-six horses, and the accoutrements, etc., with two months’ supplies for some seventy men of all ranks. I decided that this party should include two detachments of Engineers, one to remain at Fontesvilla to improvise a pontoon, a landing stage, etc., and the other to gfo to Chimoio, to do whatever might be necessary in the way of accommoda- tion, watering arrangements, etc. We had heard so many conflicting stories about the river at Fontesvilla, the accommoda- tion at that place, the capacity of the line, and the halting places on it, and also about the space available for horses and men at Chimoio, that I decided to go with the first river party myself to Fontesvilla, and then on by rail to Chimoio, and to come back again as soon as possible. Among other things about Chimoio, we were told that there was not sufficient space clear of bush in which to put two hundred men and LIONS! 43 horses, while, when we got there we found there was room for at least a whole cavalry brigade. Again, we were told, that if we kept any number of horses there, for even two or three days, they would be eaten by lions, who walked about the streets like dogs ; and my remark that possibly sentries might manage to keep them away, was received with a shrug of the shoulders, expressive of, “ Poor Devil, fresh out from England ; you’ll see.” Surgeon-Colonel Maxham and Lieut. Hunt decided to accompany me on this expedition. The relief to all of us of at last being able to do something was indescribable. Perhaps it would be as well to state here exactly what the force was that we had now to disembark and get up to rail head. A copy of the state of the force, as on July 5th, will be found on page 44. This is the first time that the name at the top of this state, which gives the second part of the title to this narrative, has appeared. Every independent, or detached, force must have an official name, by which reference to it can be made, and by which its commander is addressed, thus: “ O.C.M.F.F.” After duly considering the object for which the force had been got together, and the fact that the various local corps in Mashonaland would shortly be merged into it, we decided on the above name, MASHONALAND FIELD FORCE 44 BEIRA, AND THE SITUATION THERE * U3 H "0'3'N ‘•O'M 1 E 3°X fO B* 't On O i" h co 00 M o M CO M M lo M M lO CO •Sa^BAIJ^ m rt- oi co ON ON M CO 00 O • N M I M r^* O co •SJ3[3ng • oi ^ • oi : : : : in •siBJodao3 : oo vo ; w m co ; ; On M •S5UB33i9g VO VQ 01 01 M * • M 01 01 *S5UB92j9g n • j I h JJ^S •5193^0 : ; = ; • : « ; ; M •SJ3O10O LO to M ro M . M M 01 Fiox 01 •SJ90LJJ0 CO ID If) H co M M W M M Ol •sjaoyjo ppm ' ' ' ' ' U .... , cvS ■ * * ■ . ^ « i 1 1 . 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