Pietermaritzburg is sixty miles from Durban, but as the railway zigzags up and down hill and contorts itself into curves that would horrify the domestic engineer, the journey occupies four hours.  The town looks more like Ootacamund than any place I have seen.  To those who do not know the delightful hill station of Southern India let me explain that Pietermaritzburg stands in a basin of smooth rolling downs, broken frequently by forests of fir and blue gum trees.  It is a sleepy, dead-alive place.  Even the fact that Colonel Knowle, the military engineer, was busily putting it into a state of defence, digging up its hills, piercing its walls, and encircling it with wire obstructions did not break its apathy.  The ‘Times of Natal’ struggled to rouse excitement, and placarded its office with the latest telegrams from the front, some of which had reached Pietermaritzburg via London.  But the composure of the civil population is a useful factor in war, and I wish it were within the power of my poor pen to bring home to the people of England how excellently the colonists of Natal have deserved of the State.

There are several points to be remembered in this connection.  First, the colonists have had many dealings with the Boers.  They knew their strength, they feared their animosity.  But they have never for one moment lost sight of their obligations as a British colony.  Their loyalty has been splendid.  From the very beginning they warned the Imperial Government that their territories would be invaded.  Throughout the course of the long negotiations they knew that if war should come, on them would fall the first fury of the storm.  Nevertheless, they courageously supported and acclaimed the action of the Ministry.  Now at last there is war.  It means a good deal to all of us, but more than to any it comes home to the Natalian.  He is invaded; his cattle have been seized by the Boer; his towns are shelled or captured; the most powerful force on which he relies for protection is isolated in Ladysmith; his capital is being loopholed and entrenched; Newcastle has been abandoned, Colenso has fallen, Estcourt is threatened; the possibility that the whole province will be overrun stares him in the face.  From the beginning he asked for protection.  From the beginning he was promised complete protection; but scarcely a word of complaint is heard.  The townsfolk are calm and orderly, the Press dignified and sober.  The men capable of bearing arms have responded nobly.  Boys of sixteen march with men of fifty to war—­to no light easy war.  All the volunteers are in the field bearing their full share of the fighting like men.  Nor are the Outlanders backward in their own quarrel.  The Imperial Light Infantry is eagerly filled.  The Imperial Light Horse can find no more vacancies, not even for those who will serve without pay.

I talked with a wounded Gordon Highlander—­one of those who dashed across the famous causeway of Dargai and breasted the still more glorious slope of Elandslaagte.