sive lips wider and wider
apart, until, when the last bag had been ransacked, the torch was
applied to the pile of clothing. Then they realised the blasting of
all their hopes, and with one accord they gave vent to the despairing
yell which had attracted the attention of the camp. They became like
men possessed. Smiting themselves heavily upon the head with their
fists, they went through the paroxysms of negroid lamentation. One
could almost feel for them, great bronzed children that they are. They
had worked hard for months, shared the privations and dangers of war
with the white men, in order that they might return to their kraals
bedecked as they thought in all the glory of the white man's clothes.
To them the Utopia of life would have been their homecoming. The
admiration of chattering women, the acclamation of piccaninies, and
the hideous smile of their paramount chief as they humbly presented
him with a battered helmet in a semi-decayed state of pipe-clay
finish. But Freddy was no philanthropist when the honour of the
uniform which his family had worn for two centuries was at stake. And
he was right. The dignity of the King's uniform is precious before all
philanthropy: "These brutes in Gunner Uniform--never! They may keep
their kharki; but I will not have our uniform outraged in my battery,
whatever other people may think!"

The native question throughout the war has furnished an interesting
study. It cannot be claimed that, under the circumstances existing in
South Africa, good will result from this tremendous struggle for
existence and paramountcy between two white races. It must always be
remembered that South Africa will, similarly with India, be held by
the dominant white race with the sword. It is not for us to trace here
what troubles may be in store for the white races in the far future.
The situation in the present and near future appears unsatisfactory
enough. The untutored mind of the Ethiopian does not appreciate the
finer ethics of social intercourse and the equality of mankind.
Freedom to his reasoning means independence; to possess independence,
to the semi-savage, is a proof of power. The inherent vanity of the
aboriginal then finds scope, and the nation which cringed and quailed
under the sjambok of the Boer will be the first to rebel against the
equity of the Briton. And what have we done during these long months
of military occupation to counteract the evil effects of war. Nothing:
Briton-like