At Kimberley we had motors placed at our disposal by Mr. Gardner Williams, manager of the De Beers Company, and were amused to hear how excited the Kaffirs had been at the first automobile to appear in the Diamond City, and how they had thrown themselves down to peer underneath in order to discover the horse.  These motors, however, were not of much use on the veldt, and we soon found Kimberley very dull, and decided to make a flying tour through Rhodesia to Beira, taking a steamer at that port for Delagoa Bay, on our road to Johannesburg.  Our first halting-place was at Mafeking, where we arrived one bitterly cold, blowy morning at 6 a.m.  I do not think I ever realized, during all those months of the siege, what a glaring little spot it was.  When I returned there two years later:  the dust was flying in clouds, the sun was blinding, and accentuated the absence of any shade.

Six hours spent there were more than sufficient, and it was astounding to think of the many months that it had been our home.  It has often been said, I reflected, that it is the people you consort with, not the place you live at, that constitute an agreeable existence; and of the former all I could find to say was, “Where are they gone, the old familiar faces?” Beyond the Mayor of the town, who called to reiterate warm thanks for the Mafeking Fund, and a nigger coachman who used to take me out for Sunday drives, I failed to perceive one face I knew in the town during the siege; but at the convent we received the warmest welcome from the Mother Superior and the nuns.  This community appeared to be in quite affluent circumstances:  the building was restored, the chapel rebuilt and plentifully decorated with new images; there was a full complement of day-boarders, who were energetically practising on several pianos, and many new Sisters had made their appearance; upstairs, the room where was located the Maxim gun was filled by thirty snowwhite beds.  It was quite refreshing to find one circle who had recovered from their hardships, and who, if anything, were rather more prosperous than before the war.  We paid a flying visit to the little cemetery, which was beautifully kept, and where many fairly recent graves were in evidence, chiefly due to enteric fever after the siege.  There we particularly noted a very fine marble cross, erected to the memory of Captain Ronald Vernon; and as we were admiring this monument we met an old Kimberley acquaintance in the person of Mrs. Currey, who had been our hostess at the time of the Jameson Raid.  Her husband had since died, and this lady was travelling round that part of Africa representing the Loyal Women’s League, who did such splendid work in marking out and tending the soldiers’ graves.

At Mafeking we picked up the Rhodesian train de luxe, and travelled in the greatest comfort to Bulawayo, and on to Salisbury.  At that town we met a party, comprising, amongst others, Dr. Jameson and the late Mr. Alfred Beit, who were making a tour of inspection connected with satisfying the many wants of the Rhodesian settlers.  These pioneers were beginning to feel the loss of the great man to whom they had turned for everything.  His faithful lieutenants were doing their best to replace him, and the role of the first-named, apparently, was to make the necessary speeches, that of the latter to write the equally important cheques.