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. EXPERIENCES OF A BIEGE. !
Mr H. J. Ooulboum, Government agricul
tural expert, ia in receipt of ths following
letter from & relative at -MajEeMng, uhder ?
date July 7 : 'At last I am -informed -by:
the authorities that if letters »ra posted,
here by to-morrow they will be kind enough
to forward them on ; why notlong'betcre
this ii a mystery. We have not . yet. re
ceived any roa?l from '-Samps . 'since the
siege beg*n, In fact we aw beneath tie
coneiderRtion of the military authorities in
every way. -I cabled you aBsoon after the
relief came ss circumstances '-wonld permit;
' ' Well,' just to .show, thatl'waa 'still living.
Wb have had a fearful time cf it. I was in
hoBpital for seven weeks, and left the same
UBJ. ILB IB1LCJ. gUL I1SIV.
gave me a Mauser bullet in the arm, just
above the elbow, breaking the bone ard
making a mess of things, bnt thanks to a
good constitution, although nearly starved
at tbe time, everything seems to be mendinga
-I am writing this .with the injured arm, fo
that you may judge the damage, F. r
over four months I was nnder fire
night and day, and - have had same
marvellous escapes, the Boera can't kill me
apparently. During most of the«iege I was
working for the base commandant, Colonel
V ivy an, as assistant foreman overseer. -My
duties were to make gun emplacement, -
sandbag forts, trenches, etc., Tgry
risky work, some of it 'having to be done in
the night whilst the enemy were pulling off
vollejs in the direction of thB noise caused
by pick and shovel. In the daytime ^e
worked under fire of Big Ben, which threw
a shell weighing 911b ; this npdh bursting
made a general smash of anything that got
in the way. Amongst other luxuries they
treated as to were Maxims, pom-pomp, 6, 7
and 12 nnnndem. find innnennnt
The beggars tried hard to get us out, bu'
found us always ready to entertain them at
a distance. How many times they attacked
us I don't know, bat not less thsji 50 real j
good advances were made by them. The last
one on May 12 netrly cost ns the town;
tha Boers were getting a part of the
defences in their hands. It cost them dearly
as no doubt you will have Been by the
papers. Although my arm was in a sling J
was taking part by helping in different
ways, and the ballets did fly, but it was a
glorious fight. I quite miss the excitement
now it is over. I may perhaps go to Pre
toria from here, but am not at all certain
where I may go to. My fnnds are very law,'
for this has not been a plying game, in fact
shall have to make a fresh start in life as
everjming in lost ; nara line?, tint it can't
be helped. Fighting for England doei not
pay. a favored few may make money out of
it. However, we have beaten the Boem 1'
$