The age-herald., 1900-01-07
SCENES FROM THE
 LAND OF CONFLICT
Correspondent Graphically De- scribes South African Situation
THE HEAT IS SWELTERING
Soldiers Have Suffered for Water, and Many Are Glad of an Opportunity to Drink from the Exhaust
 Pipes of Engines

1lp6S Ol GInRlHSS
 Correspondence of the Associated Press. London. December 30.-"1he men were crowding around the engines in line offer ing the drivers fabulous prices for cup of water" writes the Globe correspondent describing the close of the battle at Enslin, 'tbut it was useless.
 "The drivers had been threatened with ccurtmartials if they supplied any, as there was great difficulty in getting up sufficient steam for the engines 1 saw one soldier lylng flat on the Lne under an engine catching few drops in his mouth from steam pipe"
 Such extracts as this from the mailed descriptions of the fighting in South Af- rica give some faint idea of the conditions under which it is being carried on. Related as these letters are by the time they ap- pear in English papers, throw much needed light upon the campaign, so barrenly re- ported over the censored cables.
 "The heat that drove British soldiers to drink gratefully from the exhaust pipe of an engine fas proved a serious factor in the care of our soldiers, and this after hard-fought battle with British reverse.
 "Ine majority of the wounds were in- nJcted by the Mauser or Iee-Metford bull lets and small proportion by Martini bullets and large projectiles. A wounded Beer referred to the Lee-Metford~ as a 'gentlemanly bullet and this remark is equally applicable to the Mauser. The wounds made by them are small and clean. These bullets met with so far have been little deformed, unless they have struck stones before entering, and l have seen no single instance which would suggest either the pf Hatianad ar Sa-n lad ciy bullets among the wounded here"
 From Mafeking, under date of October 26, the Times correspondent in that be- leagured place vlvidly describes a night sortie by Captain Fstz Clarence with 55 men of the Protectorate regiment, and Lieutenant Murray, 25 men of the Cape police:
 Description of the Sorlie
 Shortly after Il o'clock" writes this cor. respondent, Captain Fitzelarence and his men started on their perilous undertaking, hurrying silently across the veldt. In the blue haze of the distance a black blur be- tokened the position of the enemy, and 1t seemed that any moment the hoarse chal- lenge of the Boer outposts would give the alarm. The silence was intense. The heavy gloom, the wistful noises of the veldt at night, 'the shadowy patches in the bush all seemed to heighten the tension of ones nerves. In a little while our men were within a few yards of the enemy; then each fixed his bayonet to his rifle and the gallant band raised ringing cheer. In- stantly the Boer position was galvanized into activity. Figures showed everywhere shots rang out, men shouted, horses stam- peded and the confusion was supreme Then there a loud crash for many of our men were nearer the entrenchments than had been anticipated and their charge had precipitated them upon several sheets of corrugated iron which the Boers had erected for protection from the rain. With our men on the parapet of the trench few rapid volleys were fired into the enemy who, completely taken by surprise, were altogether demoralized. Those in the first trenches seemed to have been petrified by fright. Where they were they remained disabled with bayonet, knocked senseless with the rifle butts or shot.
 The Boers had been completely unnerved by the onslaught of the protectorate men, and a feature of the hour elapsed between the final withdrawal of our force from the dawn was the heavy firing of the enemy Who still continued discharging useless vol leys into space. The loss to us in the en- counter had been six killed, ten wounded and two of our men taken prisoners, but the loss which the enemy sustained can be most surely measured by tine fact that un- til late hour afterwards they could not find the spirit to retaliate
 The seseiged at Ladysmith
 "The doings of the beseiged at Lady smith have been fully described by recent letters. If the Boers continue to so closely hem us in and bombard Whites force the beseiged promise to become full fedged cave dwellers. for, according to the Daily News correspondent at Ladysmith. the prevalent tendency there is to burrow themselves, and find life there so intolerably monotonous that they prefer to talk. the chances above ground. Others pass whole days with wives and families in solitlry misery where there Is not light enough to read or work, scarcely showing a heai out side from sunrise to sunset. They may he seen t,ooping away from fragH tin r,ofed houses half an hour before daybreak, car rying children in their arms or eat or monkey mongore o a cage of pes bids. end they come back similarly lader' when the night gets too dim fce the gunners to go on shooting.
 The Imperial Light Horse have amused themselves at LadysiI.th by constructing tunnels to the river bank, connecting dark caves in which whole regiments might be hidden.
 Looking out over the plain that stretches to he southeast of the tewn.'' writes the Standard correspondent at Ladysmth on November 10 'it is hard to realize that we are in the midst of war. There is not Boer in sight.
 "A great ministry of peace has fallen on the land That serene tranquility which fills the air and clothes the sunlt hills car r,es one hack to some remote English vil- 1aea on a Sabbath morning. The scene too' is home-like-leve reaches of meadow on which cattle are grazing, prosperous ldrth- steads dotting the green plain.
 The heat yesterday was terrihc'no wino; n hot bI9zing snn all day. We were all done and literally parched, our only re- freshment during the twelve hours WAs water heated by the sun Tn our auar'eis
 v,nyor'ent Meeting He'd
 London. January 6.-Lord Salisbury came .o I.ondan from Hatfield house at noon To- dav Somewhat contrary to his custom and nroceeded duectly to the foreign ofhce u,.ere he srent the greater part of the af- tar,oon Not only Lord Salisbury, but the ..l Ss.Ari.arli-