uring which time a number of cases from the
neighbourhood of Rensburg and some from Natal were received. On February
7, I left Wynberg, following Lord Roberts up to my old quarters at
Modder River, where I saw a few wounded men brought in from the
engagements at Koodoosberg Drift. On Lord Roberts's departure for
Bloemfontein he requested me to return to Wynberg to await the wounded
who might be sent down from the fighting which might occur during his
advance. I therefore had the disappointment of seeing the start of the
army, and then returning to Wynberg, where I remained for another six
weeks in attendance at Nos. 1 and 2 General Hospitals.

During this period a very large number of the wounded from Paardeberg
Drift and other battles were sent down and treated, after which surgical
work began to flag.

On April 14, I was recalled to the front and journeyed to Bloemfontein,
where I stayed three weeks, making one journey out to the Bearer Company
of the IX. Division at the Waterworks.

On May 4, I left Bloemfontein with Lord Roberts's army, and shortly
after joined the IX. Division, with which I journeyed until the
commencement of June, seeing a good deal of scattered work in the field
and Field hospitals, and in the small temporary improvised hospitals in
the towns of Winberg, Lindley, and Heilbron. Early in June I left
Heilbron with Lord Methuen's division, and spent the next four weeks
with this division in the field. Thence I journeyed to Pretoria and
Johannesburg, seeing a small number of wounded in each town, and on July
10, with Lord Roberts's consent, I started for home, visiting a number
of the hospitals in the Orange River Colony and Natal on my way down to
Cape Town. During the movements briefly recorded above, which absorbed a
period of nine months, my time was fairly evenly divided between Field,
Stationary, and Base hospitals; hence I had opportunities of observing
the patients in every stage of their illnesses, and in all some
thousands of men came under my notice.

[Illustration: FIG. 1.--Linen Holdall with surgical instruments]

My departure for the seat of war was rather hurried, hence my surgical
equipment was not of an extensive nature. It may be of interest,
however, to shortly recount what it consisted in, since it proved an
ample one, and yet was carried in a small satchel. The plan of selection
adopted consisted in carefully going through the equipment of the
British Field Hospital, and then