all the one rail could do, and when it was necessary to leave the
railway line, the troops often had to wait weeks to scrape together
rations to carry with them.
I believe the R.A.M.C. were well prepared for the probable number of
wounded, but when unexpected sickness knocked the men over by the
thousand, it is scarcely surprising that it was impossible to get up
tents and all medical necessaries and comforts quickly enough.
I believe the sick and wounded are quite comfortable now in
Bloemfontein; but no doubt there was suffering there, and the Commission
will find out whether it might have been prevented.
There can have been little excuse for the bad management that is
complained of at the base, and if that is proved, no doubt some one will
get blamed for it.
I know the single-line railway on this side, that passes close to us,
has been very hard worked night and day; at one time eight trains went
up each day with water-tanks only, besides almost incessant trainloads
of men, horses, mules, stores, &c.; the only wonder is that there have
been so few accidents.
All the sisters have now had some leave, and as we have extra sisters
here and very few bad cases, I am going to take a run up-country with a
lady from here, and hope to tell you about that next time I write.
XXXIV
PINETOWN, NATAL,
_August 1900_.
I must first of all tell you of my interesting few days up-country. I
left here on the evening of the 20th of last month with Mrs. D. and her
baby and a small Kaffir nursemaid; she was going to stay with friends
who have a hotel and store at Colenso, and I had engaged a bed at this
hotel, and took my saddle with me hoping to secure a horse there, and be
able to explore the country around.
Two of our medical officers were going for a run up-country the same
day, but as the train ran in two sections, I only saw them on the
platform at Maritzburg late that evening.
At the same time I saw another officer in khaki looking at me, and then
recognised in him a well-known London surgeon who is chief of another
hospital out here--of course I was more used to seeing him in frockcoat
and top-hat. He had his wife on the train, and as they also were going
to Colenso, I was very glad to be able to be with them there.
The train rocked about so much (first crawling up a hill, and then
tearing down the other side) that it was difficult to sleep, but the
baby slept like an angel with the little Kaffir girl, safely deposited
on the floor.
At 4.30 the next morning we arrived at Colenso. It was very cold and
very dark, but Mr. Edwards (the hotel proprietor) met us, and with him
we stumbled across the veldt to his hotel, which is just a one-storey
shanty, as their house had been knocked to pieces by the Boers.
Unfortunately he could not possibly take in my friends, so they had to
stay at the station.
I was very glad to be able to tumble into a clean bed and have a good
sleep, and by breakfast-time I was quite fresh again.
Then I was annoyed to find that I could not get a horse, as they were
all engaged, and I had hoped to be able to ride to Ladysmith and to
Spion Kop; however, I got on all right in the end.
That morning we climbed Hlangwane Hill, and saw some really wonderful
Boer trenches; you absolutely can see no sign of them in broad daylight
till you nearly walk into them.
Then we saw the place where Colonel Long lost his guns (the dead cavalry
horses are still lying there); and where poor young Lieutenant Roberts
was mortally wounded in trying to save them; and where Major Baptie,
R.A.M.C., won his V.C.--I think by carrying Lieutenant Roberts into a
donga and staying with him, and other wounded, all through that day of
heavy firing, trying to keep them comfortable with some morphia he had
with him.
We picked up as many pieces of shells and shrapnel as we could carry,
and walked back along the banks of the Tugela.
I heard that a luggage train would be passing at 2.30 P.M., so I thought
I would go into Ladysmith by that, and see whether there was any chance
of getting out to Spion Kop from there. There are very few passenger
trains now (except just the mails), so we are allowed to travel in any
train that happens to stop, but of course they don't undertake to keep
to any particular time.
Directly after lunch I strolled down to the station--no station-master
or any official there, but I met a gentleman who told me that he had
walked all the way out from Ladysmith, and was expecting to have to wait
for the mail train to take him back, so he was very glad when I told him
I knew the next goods train was going to stop there; he said his wife
was in the waiting-room, so we walked along to find her, and soon I
discovered she was Mrs. ----, Secretary of the Women's Patriotic League
in Durban, whom I had not actually met before, but with whom I had had
much pleasant correspondence, as they had been very kind in helping us.
So we trained in to Ladysmith together, and on the way they pointed out
to me the remains of the great dam which the Boers made to try to flood
Ladysmith out, also the neutral camp of Intombi; there is no hospital
there now, only the cemetery, sadly full of graves.
They told me they were staying at the "Royal," and that people from
there frequently drove out to Spion Kop; so I walked up with them and
interviewed the manageress, who told me that a party of ladies had
engaged a waggonette to drive out there next morning, and she thought I
could easily secure a seat. Eventually I met these ladies, and found
they were Durban people who had been over here to help at a concert for
our men, so they were very kind and said I had better stay the night (as
they had to start early in the morning) and dine with them.
I went out and wired to Colenso not to expect me back, bought a few
necessaries, and then took a look round the town.
The hotel I was staying in had had a big shell right through, which had
killed a man who was sitting in the hall, and the Town Hall had had a
great piece knocked off the tower by one of Long Tom's shells.
Then I climbed up to the convent, which was used at first as officers'
quarters, but had been tremendously knocked about by shells. The kind
old sisters were very busy with workmen, patching up holes in the walls,
&c.
Then I walked out to the cemetery, rather a long walk, and it was
getting dusk, so I could not stay long; there were rows and rows of
siege graves, and amongst many interesting names I saw those of the Earl
of Ava and poor George Stevens of the _Daily Mail_.
It was quite dark when I got back to the hotel, and I was glad of
dinner, and not sorry to go early to bed. It is eighteen miles out to
Spion Kop, and they won't send a carriage there for less than £5, but
for that sum you have four horses, and six people can go in the
carriage; I had told the manageress that I would gladly pay £1 for a
seat, but in the end I was not allowed to pay anything, as there were
only four besides myself, and they had already arranged to pay the £5,
and would not let me share.
We started at 6 A.M. with a black driver, and a small white boy to act
as guide. Many of the horses that went through the siege have not yet
recovered; one of ours was taken worse on the way, and we had to wait
while the driver crushed up a nut between two stones and thrust it down
the horse's throat, then it struggled on till we reached the kraal at
the foot of the hill at 9 A.M., and outspanned. On the way we passed the
place where Colonel Dick-Cunyngham was killed.
We had a bite of lunch, and then started with our small guide up the
Thaba Inyama, one peak of which is "Spion Kop."
We had with us a January number of the _Natal Mercury_ giving a full
account of _the_ day, so we were able to trace the positions, and I had
heard the men talk so much about it I felt I knew my way quite well.
Of course we went up from the Ladysmith side (where the Boers were), but
from the top we could look over to Potgieter's Drift and Spearman's
Camp, and marvel how our poor chaps ever got up in the dark, with the
Boers in such good cover above them; and _then_ to be ordered back must
have been frightfully disappointing.
We saw many English and Boer graves, and I took a good many photos,
including one of the cross on the spot where General Woodgate fell.
We picked up heaps of cartridges (full and empty ones), emergency ration
tins, soldiers' uniform buttons, &c.; it was too hard climbing to burden
ourselves with any shells, but I bought a few from Kaffirs who had
gathered near our carriage. I am collecting a very varied stock of
ammunition, including one soft-nosed cartridge.
They were burning the grass down all round the base of the hill, and
every now and then a cartridge went off; we hoped the fire would not
come across any stray shells while we were there.
We had a splendid view of the Drakensberg Range. Returning to our
carriage we had lunch, with an admiring crowd of rather naked Kaffirs
around (who seemed much to appreciate our remains), and we started for
the return drive about 1 P.M. The sick horse was worse on the way back,
and had to have several doses administered.
As we were nearing Ladysmith, I found we were passing close to Tin Town
Hospital; so, thinking it was a pity to miss seeing the place, I left
the carriage and walked across a drift on the Klip River.
First I passed some officers on their ponies playing at "Heads and
Posts"; then I came to the horses' sick camp, and met a nice old
veterinary sergeant (who, I found, was a Colonial who came from
Kimberley, and of course knew people whom I had met there); he told me
he had charge of 400 sick horses, but many of them were "convalescent,"
and if he had known I wanted a horse he would gladly have lent me one;
he said if I would stay another day or two I could send down for my
saddle and he would lend me a horse and a mounted orderly so that I
could ride to Bulwana, Waggon Hill, Cæsar's Camp, and other places which
I should much have liked to visit, but I could not spare the time.
Then he took me along to the sisters' huts. I found the Lady
Superintendent was out, but some kindly Kilburn Sisters gave me some tea
and took me round the hospital; not many cases in just now, but a few
very bad enterics.
The sisters told me that as the Red Cross Ambulance (drawn by eight
mules) was going into Ladysmith, I could drive back in it. I was just
going to climb inside when a gentleman in khaki came and asked me if I
would not rather ride on the top with him, so I gladly climbed up, and
found he was a doctor (one of the big civilian doctors); he had heard
who I was, and amused me by saying he wished I had called at their mess
(fancy shy _me_ calling at an unknown officers' mess!) instead of going
to tea with "those estimable females," as they would have shown me more
of the place, and they have a good collection of curios that would have
interested me (he was looking at the things I had picked up). It was a
very jolly drive, and he insisted on driving me right up to my hotel.
I must really tell you about the rest of my travels in my next letter. I
was away only five days, but you will see that I squeezed a good deal
into those days.
XXXV
PINETOWN, NATAL,
_September 1900_.
I will just finish telling you of my travels while they are fresh in my
memory, and then this letter can wait till there is enough material to
fill it up.
I was very sorry to hear from my friend on the ambulance of the death of
Sir William Stokes (physician); he was ill only four days, and it seems
only the other day he came round this hospital and was so cheery and
bright, and I know he was meaning to say a good deal to the Hospital
Commission in favour of the hospitals out here, and of the work they
have done.
I just had dinner with my friends at the Royal, and then the 'bus took
me to the station with my heavy bag of shells, &c., in time for the 7.40
P.M. train back to Colenso. I was awfully tired, but the mosquitoes were
bad, and did not let me have much sleep.
The next day I was invited to go with a picnic party to the Tugela
Falls. A large ox waggon was loaded up with children, provisions, &c.,
and I went with some more people in an Army Service Corps Scotch cart,
with no springs, drawn by four mules, who frequently ran away, and who
seemed to have a rooted objection to keeping to the road (or rather
track); so the journey was rather perilous and distinctly painful.
We passed Fort Wylie, and saw where all the fighting took place on
Pieter's Hill, and we saw the rough bridge that the Boers had made over
the Tugela by simply pulling up our rails with the sleepers attached and
throwing them into the river.
We had lunch close by the Falls--even after this very dry season it is
quite a big fall--and after lunch we climbed the hills around, including
Hart's Hill. On the top of this hill is a big memorial stone to Colonel
Thackery, several more officers, and _sixty-seven_ men of the 27th
Inniskillings, who fell up there, and we also saw their grave (fenced
in) at the foot of the hill.
By the time that we got down to the line again it was blowing a gale,
and _such_ dust, so some of us sheltered in a platelayer's cottage.
He had a fine collection of shells and other relics; his cottage had
been used by the Boers as a telegraph station, and we found he had been
in the smash-up of the armoured train, when Winston Churchill was taken
prisoner.
As Mrs. D. had her baby with her, and it was now a really bad
dust-storm, this man kindly stopped a goods train with his red flag, and
we returned comfortably to Colenso in the guard's van.
I should much like to have had longer stay both at Colenso and
Ladysmith, there was so much of interest both in the places and in the
people one met; but I wanted to visit a few places on the way down, so I
left Colenso the next morning at 9.30. My first stop was at Chieveley,
where there had been a big hospital, but all that remains now is a
little closed-in graveyard, with nearly two hundred graves; many died
from wounds, but many more from enteric. They had a clever way of
marking the graves, each man's name, regiment, &c., being written on a
slip of paper and enclosed in a medicine bottle and securely stuck into
the mound.
I saw poor Lieutenant Roberts' grave (it has a plain stone with an
inscription, but I hear a cross is being sent out); they had brought him
from Colenso on the ambulance train the evening of the day he was
wounded. The station-master told me he had helped to lift him out of the
train, and he seemed sensible and comfortable then, but he died the same
night.
I saw a very fine redoubt at Chieveley made by the Royal Engineers, but
it was never used. I took the next train on to Mooi River. Before we
reached Frere station we passed the place of the armoured train
disaster, and the graves of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers who fell there.
Wherever you go there seem to be graves dotted about, most of them
enclosed with barbed wire, and some with a cross set up, or the man's
initials marked out in empty cartridge-cases.
There is a large hospital at Estcourt, but I had only time for a hasty
lunch at the station there, as I wanted to have an hour or two at Mooi
River, to see the hospital, where I knew one of the doctors, and where
it seemed probable that we should be sent when we first arrived; on the
whole, I am glad we were _not_ stationed there, though they have had
more interesting surgical work than we have.
Unfortunately my friend was away, but the superintendent kindly showed
me round, and I had tea in the sisters' mess.
They have 950 beds, nearly all under canvas. It was blowing hard, and
while I was there it began to rain, and it was snowing on the
Drakensberg, and very cold, so every one looked rather miserable. It is
a desolate place on the bare veldt.
I left again on a goods train at 4.30, and rattled down to Maritzburg by
9 P.M., where I meant to stay the night.
Miss ---- kindly met me at the station, and we drove down to her house
in a riksha; she has been taking in convalescent nurses, and feeding
them and giving them a rest. She has had much anxiety about her
brothers, one of whom was commandeered and had to fight for the Boers,
together with his son (a boy of sixteen). They were with Cronje at
Paardeberg, and are now prisoners at St. Helena; another brother was
fighting for us, and was taken prisoner by the Boers, but released when
we took Pretoria.
Miss ---- wanted me to go out to Howick to see the falls there, and to
have a look at the big convalescent camp, where they have 1600 beds; but
the train left half-an-hour earlier than she thought, so I missed it,
and instead she took me to see the Maritzburg Hospitals, Fort Napier,
Grey's Hospital (now civilian again), and the Garrison Church, the last
the most comfortable looking hospital I have seen further up-country
than this one, but it was a little strange to see the men in their
hospital suits lounging and smoking on the church steps.
I met a sister whom I had known in London. She was excited about playing
in a cricket match; and as she and all the eleven sisters had been given
a week's leave from duty to practise for this cricket match, they are
evidently as slack in the way of work as we are.
I had some nice greetings from some old patients of ours, now on duty
in Maritzburg.
I left there about 6 P.M., had dinner at Inchanga with a _Daily News_
correspondent, and got back here about 9.30 P.M. Some orderlies were at
the station and kindly carried up my load of curios, &c.
The two medical officers had got back the night before, and though they
went as far up as Newcastle they had not seen as much as I had, and
regretted that they had not had my offer of a convalescent horse at
Ladysmith!
I have seen a good many hospitals, and met a good many sisters, and I
have gathered a few hints of little ways in which we might improve this
hospital; but, though "I says it as shouldn't," I don't think there is
any hospital up this side where the men are more comfortable and happy,
and I think the sisters here are better fed and their mess bills are no
higher than at any of the hospitals--indeed, lower than most of them.
I was glad to find that they had had a peaceful time while I was away,
and no difficulties; and as there are actually only eighteen men and ten
officers in, we are still very slack; we expect some more any day now,
but there is very little sickness just at present.
You ask about the men and their letters; it was rather difficult when we
were so frightfully busy at first to do all that one would have liked,
but we always try to write for the men who are too ill to write for
themselves, and I always saw that all the men who wished had writing
materials, and they used to help each other.
They say at some of the base hospitals stray lady visitors have been
such a nuisance in interfering with the nurses, but I could well and
safely have employed a few stray ladies in amusing the men, writing
their letters for them, &c. The friends of those officers who were
dangerously ill were all written to by each mail.
Now that we are slack, of course, I have much more chance of talking to
the men, and they tell me many tales of the fighting, and of the rough
time they have had at the front; but you will hear plenty of that from
the men who have gone home.
I am beginning to have many grateful letters from our patients' friends
at home.
There has been some delay about our pay lately, and some of the sisters
who were lodging here had not received any since they left England, so
were not able to pay their mess bills, and I had to pay various mess
accounts when I got back from my run up-country, and began to feel
rather anxious as to whether I could go on feeding my large party of
sisters; but now the pay has turned up, so we have got straight again;
and the Government give us various allowances--Colonial allowance, and
for mess, servants, fuel, &c., so we are feeling rather well off.
We are much enjoying a big package of papers that the Red Cross Society
now send up to us each week; whole weeks of _Times_, _Daily Mail_,
_Daily Graphic_, _Daily Telegraph_, _Standard_, _Illustrated London
News_, _Army and Navy_, &c. They are the greatest boon to the whole
camp.
The men point out to me the "pretty boys" in the illustrated papers when
they see any pictures of soldiers, as, by comparison, they all look so
thin and rough out here.
XXXVI
PINETOWN, NATAL,
_September 1900_.
Now we are really getting busy again. Patients keep arriving, sometimes
small parties, sometimes large.
Early in September we admitted thirteen men who had been prisoners in
Pretoria for nine months. They were very weak and run down, and so happy
to be here; when I took them their first basket of fruit, they simply
wolfed it down, as they had seen no fruit since they went up-country.
Then we had rather a "difficult" batch of officers sent down from Mooi
River. They have no officers' wards there, so these men had been
quartered in a hotel more than a mile from the hospital, where each had
his own room and servant, and they seem to have ordered and done just
what they liked.
Up to now we have never had more than three or four officers well enough
to sit up to meals at one time, as they have always come to us really
ill, and as soon as they were well enough they have either rushed back
to the front or have been sent home on the hospital ships; but with
these officers from Mooi River (none of them very ill), I suddenly found
that we had twenty-four sick officers in, and that _sixteen_ of them
were well enough to sit up to meals, and that it was not suitable for
them to eat in the ward where there were a few men still very ill; so,
eventually, a large tent had to be rigged up for them, and as it was a
long way from the kitchen there was some difficulty in getting the food
to them hot.
The medical officer was a civilian, and he did not seem to think he had
anything to do with the responsibility about feeding these hungry
convalescent officers; in fact, every one seemed rather inclined to say
"It isn't my work"--and our St. John's men are not like R.A.M.C. men,
who may be accustomed to turning to as mess waiters on occasion; neither
was the cook quite ready to serve up a dinner of several courses instead
of single "diets" for each patient.
I am afraid I had to worry the poor C.O.; but I knew if I did not do so
the officers would complain they could not get anything to eat; and,
after wrestling through the first night's dinner--(when I found
well-meaning orderlies running down with the fish before the soup, and
some vegetables after the sweets had been served!)--we laid plans for
better management, and for a day or two the Major went to the kitchen
and saw the food sent down in proper order, and I received it and saw it
served in the tent, and four of the officers' servants were told off to
wait each night, and the orderlies had only to carry the food down for
them. So now that is running all right, and I only just have to look in
to see they have all they want.
For some time we have been expecting to be inspected by the Hospital
Commission, but at last we heard they were not coming here at all, as
there had been "no complaints" about this hospital; so I should have
been very vexed if our record had been spoilt at this late stage of the
war.
Our next order was to prepare for a train that was bringing us seven
officers and 108 men from Pretoria (the biggest trainload we have yet
received). Having had sisters here over our correct number for some
time, and very little for them to do, of course as soon as we got busy
we kept having wires to send one sister for duty on the Hospital Ship
_Avoca_, or two sisters to the Hospital Ship _Dunera_, and so on, and
none of them wanted to go, so it was a little difficult to sort them.
In fact, there have been so many orders and counter orders that I should
never be surprised if I had a wire telling me to go off on a hospital
ship, or if we had orders to pack up the whole hospital and take it up
to Pretoria.
Before Mr. X. left, he let us buy some remaining groceries at home
prices (a great saving for our mess), and after we found a small
storeroom to arrange them in, I, rather foolishly, let them use the
cases for firewood, which has been very scarce here; so, if we have to
move, all the sisters intend to sling bottles of fruit, and tins of jam,
sardines, &c., round them, as we really can't leave our stores behind!