NS OF BOER SHELLS]

A lesser disaster this morning befel Captain Jennings Bramley, of the
19th Hussars. Whilst on picket he felt something slide over his legs,
and looking up he saw it was a snake over 5ft. long. The creature at
once raised its head also, and deliberately spat in his face, filling
both eyes with poison. That is the invariable defence of the "Spitting
Snake" (_Rinkholz_ in Dutch, and _Mbamba Twan_ or child catcher in
Zulu). The pain is agonising. The eye turns red and appears to run with
blood, but after a day or two the poison passes off and sight returns.
The snake is not otherwise poisonous, but apparently can count on
success in its shots at men, leopards, or dogs.

_January 23, 1900._

Soon after dawn our own guns along the northern defences from Tunnel
Hill to King's Post woke me with an extraordinary din. They could not
have made more noise about another general attack, but there was no
rifle fire. Getting up very unwillingly at 4.30 a.m., I climbed up
Junction Hill and looked up the Broad valley, but not a single Boer was
in sight. The firing went on till about six, and then abruptly ceased. I
heard afterwards that Buller had asked us to keep as many Boers here as
possible. I suppose we expended about 200 rounds of our precious
ammunition. A cool and cloudy sky made the heliograph useless, but in
the night the clouds had served to reflect the brilliance of Buller's
searchlight.

So far the Boers have passed us all round in strategy, but in
searchlights they are nowhere, though Bulwan makes a grand attempt. All
day from King's Post or Waggon Hill I watched the Great Plain of Taba
Nyama as usual. Now and then we could see the shells bursting, but the
Boer camps have not moved.

The ration coffee has come to an end, except a reserve of 3 cwt, which
would hardly last a day. The tea ration is again reduced. The flour
mixed with mealy meal makes a very sour bread. The big 5th Lancers
horses are so hungry that at night they eat not only their picket ropes
but each other's manes and tails. They are so weak that they fall three
or four times in an hour if the men ride them. Enteric is not quite so
bad as it was, but dysentery increases. The numbers of military sick
alone at Intombi, not counting all the sick in the camps and hospitals
here, are 2,040 to-day.

_January 24, 1900._

The entire interest of the day was centred on Taba Nyama--that black
mountain, commanding the famous dri