The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1900-04-04
HORRORS on THE YELDT.
1o-+,,res on the Long March to
Koodoosberg.
prRE7UG SUN AND BLENDING DUST

Experiences of Hardy
uighIanders sunstruck anu "ri'h-
,a For Water-CIOuds of Sand ana
orous Insects-Hnrd Lot of the
Yachting Tommy Atkins.
D,feu seized with sunstroke' with
,,r ond casplng for water, were lying
AVS n Yards or So" This is not a
5osorintion of a battlefield, but mere
II the account of the very ordinary
rroctice march made by General Mac
fonalds hardy Highland brigade to
Ioodoosberg on Feb. 3, writes the cor
rosnondent of the London Standard, as
tbe brigade had marched only ten miles
whom the men thus began to suffer.
The correspondent goes on to say:
fortunately the river being close by
water was procurable, and the men ali
ont into camp at the drift by l o'clock.
ONLY few of the cases turned out to
no rpaEy serious. Two men were lost
altogether, one of whom was found
Two DAYS later by q patrol Of lancers.
He was in a raving condition and died
shortly after being brought into camp.
The march clearly showed the dan
ger of taking infantry for long dis
taDces in the heat Of the day without
proper water supply. 1t practically de-
@ cdes that the route to Pretoria must
be either along a railway or along the
!, rivers. Another thing clearly mani
tested was the unsuitability of the
heavy equipment of the men for
campaign in South Africa
H. 7. Provost Battersby, writing
from Orange River to the London
Morning Post, gives a still clearer idea
Of what it IS TO soldier on the veldt.
His dispatch, dated Feb. ), is in part
as follows:
"The sun feels like a heated iron
held close to the skin. One cannot hold
piece of wood which has been lying
in it. The deep, hot, red sand makes
# iltClarable the sOles of ones boots, and
the dust rises at each foOtstep and
cingS to everything that moves. To
and fro in their midst, in n trail of dust
s that never settles, move continuously
81 The long. strange trains of transports.
ID The sidings are choked with trains
loaded with an army. Progress is
maddeningIy slow. for there is but one
\ line from De Aar to the Modder."
1t is the plaques of dust and flies
that make life unbearable. From Mod
der River Mr. Battersby writes:
When the first shot was fired across
the Modder river, the land was green
IN its way. 1t had at least on it
make believe Of grass, sparse, dried,
untoothsome looking heritage, which
man and beast accepted as fodder.
NO" II Is blazing red waste Of sand
ne waste extends, the sand is inten-
sineu as regiment is added TO regi-
ment battalion to battalion. battery
10 battery troop to troop. The dust.
"hich was once nuisance. is now lit
nc less imam plague. 1t is always be-
ins Surred BY the strings of horses on
'nelr way to watering, which pass and
'epdSS 10 the river almost every hour
" Tue day; by the kicking, squealing
uIo'eS OF transport mules; by the long
II spans Of oxen.
1t rises on the stil!est days without
Warning in hin, twisting spirals OF
'eNo" sand, which take their own
way beautiful and abominabIe, across
.ne camp befoulinS everything, upset
1 Ds everything that stands across
.s'! course aud reaching for hundreds
D. ' upward into the still blue sky
"p uGSt devils are little more than
y. amusement. 10 our dust ridden souls
d H. " 'ae dust which comes. not in
c I.'u,y Sp':alS, but in overwhelming
Fl tl-, '!',t We fear; which hides. not
con,n mere and there, but the entire
4 of ~ vac roof Of heaven. all vpstigp
ond i', world; which blinds the pyrs
month ''- - Giood to the eyelids. fills tie
COATS t," o-. WIN its gritty foulness and
n film 20 inch Of the body with
n fAu, bi,..! IL which lasts not for
after h - moments. but for hour
dnrino. NoGf 81 unrclieved discomfort
70 - LIZ, lux which it is impossib,4tto ride
We'll, ~. a . Ir 70 forgive ones enemiesm
few ,n =" = 'naH have, please heaven, BUT
",s more Gays Of it now.
aftpr' ter TIE husband but a short way
cbild 'NE lies, One used to think. as
and Ia, a. "rSld@ the lice and. the blood
woro tne "Iains, that the Egyptians
A sLo. .et on rather lightly with flies.
kopinTioo,nl stay'by the Modder alters that
Atbe ' iot The tent ls'black with them.
IAN "a pots hum under the handthat
popp .',.-i from the table. and the flies I.
Sblac- s '-' between. ones fingers like
sbniJ ~ ..'.''S OF water. y sudden pyra-
sfood '-.-in ferns on every morsel of /
svo-... .-'i ones hand is lever at rest /
kG,ro,t.- Eng them from ones face. They
e Ink as o. MITES. IL 2n2-ck