The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1896-10-22
NEWS FROM SEAT OF WAR.

of Mashonaiand forces, has met and
defeated with heavy loss the Kafirs
under the chief Makoni, driving them
to their strongholds in the caves near
their head kraal, whence it is impossi
BILE to dislodge them except by dy-
Mantle, since they are proVisioned for
six months or more and have an abund-
ance of water. A quantity of sulphur
for smoking them out and dynamite for
more powerfully eXhorting them was
taken up country by Col. Anderson, but
evidently the fear of Exeter Hall and
the army of stay home philanthro-
pists who howl at abuses sO-called
which they in no wise understand, de-
TERED him at the last moment from
adopting these measures, which though
severe, are accounted most necessary
by men of experience. This same
spirit of chronic kicker, maudlin
sentiment and an utter ignorance of the
rGiS0'e Getge it was, which in Goods
country" in 1890 started the " LO, the
Poor Indian" chestnut to roasting
again after Wounded Knee and made
every one at all familiar with the ras-
Gally red man tired to prOstratiOn.
Forces intending to cooperate with
the Mashonaland column left Buuwayo
for the purpose a week or two ago,
thereby weakening the Matabeleland
defence, and as a natural consequence
the MatabeIe were encouraged to more
active aggI eSsiOn and heavy white loss
es at Matopo on the 9th was the result.
MakOni is left to his own devices
among his rocks while the Mashona-
land column pushes on to Salisbury,
mending the telegraph line by the way
and the war is prolonged yet more
weeks or months. Meanwhile the
Tjad0pest, or cattle plague, makes a
clean or rather unclean sweep business
is at a standstill and the wise fools
blame Rhodes. SO always will matters
prosper when a government takes the
management of affairs out of expert
enced hands at critical moment, or
swaps horses while crossing a stream"
as President Lincoln aptly expressed it.
The Kafirs will be severely punished
eventually, of course, and Rhodesia re-
sumo all her former prosperity, but
English investors are in the meantime
paying pretty penny on account Of
England's blunder and obstinacy.
In marked contrast to the lurid war
picture presented but a few miles to the
northwest. is our comfortable little
domestic scene here on the Penhalanga.
Nestled in q sort of natural bowl at the
head of a donga or small ravine, at an
elevation of 5000 feet is our picturesque
camp consisting of living huts, mess or
dining hut and kitchen, with flourish
ing little vegetable garden surrounded
by lemon and blue gum trees. The
huts or kiaS as they are called, are all
plastered with dh0gG and matched with
Jungle grass and our kitchen boasts
fireplace of rude bricks At daybreak
every morning beady eyed, scantily
attired pcinin' brings coffee and
cigarettes to each bedside and
we'll after sunrise We emerge to
partake. of q hearty breakfast in
the mess hut; after which ratification
we are ready for the business of
the day, engineering in my case,
both above and underground. A mine
survey in the deep levels. if not exactly
a pleasant recreation, is very interest
ing and here IN Africa it has its spec
tacular and dramatic, or perhaps bet
ter, comic Operatic aspect as well.
Imagine a rocky tunnel or drive
hundreds of feet below the surface of a
wild, mountainous landscape, reached
only after a journey in cage down a
weIl-like shaft and extending over
/ 900 feet in straight line; at the end
of the vista the perfectly nude Kaff1rs
at their work, distinct and clear cut as
a cameo in the steady light of their
candles and singing to the rythm of
aheir hammer strokes, savage chants
and choruses, which echo again along
the rocky walls. If not exactly ro-
mantle, such scene is rather weird
and not to be duplicated in any other
mining country.
Above ground, of course, the work is
much the same as in any other unset
tied country, except that on low ground
one occasionally meets with rather ap-
palling obstacles in the matter of vege-
tation, and while taking observations
from a mountain top one is sometimes
treated to a panoramic view of sur
passing loneliness.
One may often hear expressed the
opinion that Africa is no country for a
white woman, and in this l most heart
lily concur in view of wars, pestilence
and all the hardships and discomforts
of semi-civilized community; but
certainly the British meiden who
braves all these and more, be she of
most uncertain age and ever so ugly
which she mostly is seven, need never
be doomed to a life of single blessed