The Philipsburg mail. [volume] (Philipsburg, Mont.) 1887-current, 1897-06-04
IN DARKEST HFRIGH
Experiences Of a Montanian in the
Black Continent.
y STATE OF WAR EXISTS THERE
j, ". Jarvis Receives Letter From
His Brother Who Is Now in
Mashonaland.

ceived another very interesting letter
from his brother, an old resident Of
Philipsburg but now of Charter, Ma
shonaland. says the Anaconda Recor-
der The letter is dated at the last
named place March 10. 1891 There are
some private references aud inquiries
in the letter, but the news portion is
very interesting reading aud is as
follows:
| received today a letter dated De-
cember 3lst, f",n =. S, Twohy, of
Philipsburg, auG tiu account IF things
over there j. not such that | feel i'll
ciined t. ret, n.
The wa IS not over yet with us, but
IS kept up in IL desultory fashion. \
few kraals get burned and crops be-
longing to the rebels destroyed. The
new police are not altogether success
many being down with fever. They
get %l.25 per Gay and rations. I have
been OF a patrol, the account of which
is ii the paper | sent you. | am 60
ing to leave at the end of the month
and am going out trading among tie
friend!ies. | am to receive SO per
month and q bonus, with everything
found, which will be better than be-
ing in the volunteers, as | have to
spend - per nUAth for Il niger to
bring wood and water, make fire,
wash my clothes, etc. Then [ have to
bay Il few extras for the mess [ belong
to. 1t will he bit risky going out
but I viii. not be the only ore, and
| think there viii not be any trouble
near where | viii 20.
AS soon as the rains finish I expect
they will begin the war again in rea!
earnest. The government is anxious
to finish tie railroad sc as to be able
to keep the place well supplied with
provisions. Hitherto we have been
obliged to depend upon OK wagons for
transport, but the rinderpest having
wiped out 80 per cent Of the cattle in
the country, MAKES the cost Of living
too great for people to live here Meat
sells in Salisbury for rs cents per
pound \ good many donkeys are be.
ing brought into the country, but now
a new disease has broken ont amongst
them. which makes them lame mules
and horses are also afflicted in the
same way Horses for tran portation
are out of the question. rs they are
subject to another disease We have
lost lot of the troop horses here al
ready, and the bad has not commenced
yet. A number Of cattle here at Char
ter had the rinderpcst and got over it,
but now they have it a second time.
A lot Of people as soon as the Untali
road was cleared of rebels left the cOun-
try via Beira, but / hear many are re-
turning. BulawayO is increasing in
,1,it I'D
out again into Matabeleland but none
care about venturlng into Mashonaland |
yet. The country where the rebels are
is rough and mountainous and it is
very difficult TO get at them AS soon |
as they are driven out of their l1raals !
they retire to tie canes and crevices in |
the rocks, from which point Of van.
tage they fire on the whites sent |
against them. l was sent up to Sails
bury as one Of the escort to the mail |
coach and L noticed that the govern
ment had been getting up lot of or
dinance stores SO they will be far bet
ter prepared for business this time
I Cont know whether you think of
coming here I think you could do
better here, though | would not like to
advise you or anyone else to come uu-
til the railroad is finished. as living is
dear now. \ tin of butter
costs 81 20 per pound. A one pound
tin of jam, Is to 81 cents. Condensed
milk, G2 cents per pound tin. Flour,
81 cents per pound. Meat, as l have
already stated, and other things in
The government has been
very good under the circumstances
Here. at Charter, we get no fresh
meat issued except game, which we
are all tired Of. as it always purgcs us.
The meat we get in tins comes from
Chicago. Eating that day after day,
without any fresh vegetables, is max
ing US sick. In our mess is the man
who shoots the game. He seldom goes
ont without shooting something. We .
have had eland, russaby red back,
sable. antelope, etc. The other day lie
killed two ostriChes, but | did not care
for the meat much, as he parts he
saved were the liver, heart and giz-
zard. We also had the wings, the rest
he gave away to the other me-. and |
the niggers. AS the birds were young |
ones, the feathers did not amount to |
much. There was not a decent black |
or white feather on either, Or l would !
have secured some to send you | hear
it was reported in Phiipsburg that | |
was killed. How that yarn got out is
more than | can tell Our duty here
is to attend morning and evening sta
bles, parade at ) p. m. and do guard |
every night at the stables, repair the
telegraph and furnish escorts to the |
governments wagons and the mail
coach. Sometimes there are only six
men available for duty left, aud then
we have one night in bed and one on
guard
A short time ago some hostiles came
and stole six head Of cattle from q |
Cape Colony nigger's place about eight
miles away. A patrol of 10 men-vol-
unteers and civilians-went in pur-
suit, but only succeeded in getting five
of the cattle back. the niggers getting !
away with a fine bull. The cattle that |
were recovered were quite exhausted !
a tld \ lrtt- u