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South African Memories

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<h1>SOUTH AFRICAN MEMORIES</h1> <h2>SOCIAL, WARLIKE & SPORTING</h2> <h3>FROM DIARIES WRITTEN AT THE TIME</h3> <h3>BY</h3> <h2>LADY SARAH WILSON</h2> <h4>WITH ILLUSTRATIONS</h4> <h5>LONDON EDWARD ARNOLD 1909</h5> <center> <ANTIMG src= "images/frontispiece.jpg" title="Lady Sarah Wilson" alt="Lady Sarah Wilson" width="357" height="597"> </center> <hr style='width: 65%;'> <h2>DEDICATION</h2> <h5>TO THE MEMORY OF MY BELOVED SISTER, GEORGIANA, COUNTESS HOWE, TO WHOSE EFFORTS AND UNCEASING LABOURS IN CONNECTION WITH THE YEOMANRY HOSPITALS, DURING THE WAR IN SOUTH AFRICA, THE EARLY BREAKDOWN OF HER HEALTH, AND SUBSEQUENT DEATH, WERE UNDOUBTEDLY DUE, THIS BOOK, CONTAINING RECOLLECTIONS OF THAT GREAT AND MYSTERIOUS LAND, THE GRAVE OF SO MANY BRAVE ENGLISHMEN, IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED</h5> <hr style='width: 65%;'> <h2>PREFACE</h2> Everything of interest that has happened to me in life chances to have been in connection with South Africa. In that land, where some of my happiest days have been spent, I have also experienced long periods of intense excitement and anxiety; there I have made acquaintance with all the charm of the veldt, in the vast country north of the great Zambesi River, hearing the roar of the lions at night, and following their "spoor" by day; and last, but not least, I have there made some very good friends. Only a few years ago, when peacefully spending a few weeks at Assouan in Egypt, I was nearly drowned by the capsizing of a boat in the Nile; again the spirit of the vast continent (on this occasion far away to the north) seemed to watch over me. For all these reasons I venture to claim the indulgence of the public and the kindness of my friends, for these recollections of days in South Africa, in which shade and sunshine have been strangely mingled, and which to me have never been dull. To sum up, I have always found that life is what you make it, and have often proved the truth of the saying, "Adventures to the adventurous." I am indebted to Colonel Vyvyan for statistics respecting the Mafeking Relief Fund; and to Miss A. Fielding, secretary to the late Countess Howe, for a résumé of the work of the Yeomanry Hospital during the Boer War. S.I.W. THE STUD HOUSE, HAMPTON COURT. September, 1909. <hr style='width: 65%;'> <h2>CONTENTS</h2>  DEDICATION PREFACE LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS CHAPTER I FIRST VOYAGE TO SOUTH AFRICA—CAPE TOWN CHAPTER II KIMBERLEY AND THE JAMESON RAID CHAPTER III THE IMMEDIATE RESULTS OF THE RAID—THE RAIDERS THEMSELVES CHAPTER IV JOHANNESBURG AND PRETORIA IN 1896 CHAPTER V THREE YEARS AFTER—LORD MILNER AT CAPE TOWN BEFORE THE WAR—MR.         CECIL RHODES AT GROOT SCHUURR—OTHER INTERESTING PERSONAGES CHAPTER VI PREPARATIONS FOR WAR—MAFEKING, AND DEPARTURE THEREFROM CHAPTER VII IN A REBELLIOUS COLONY—VISIT TO VRYBURG DURING THE         BOER OCCUPATION—I PASS OFF AS A DUTCHMAN'S SISTER CHAPTER VIII BETRAYED BY A PIGEON—THE BOERS COME AT LAST CHAPTER IX HOW I WAS MADE A PRISONER—IN A BOER LAAGER CHAPTER X EXCHANGED FOR A HORSE-THIEF—BACK TO MAFEKING         AFTER TWO MONTHS' WANDERINGS CHAPTER XI LIFE IN A BESIEGED TOWN CHAPTER XII LIFE IN A BESIEGED TOWN (continued) CHAPTER XIII ELOFF'S DETERMINED ATTACK ON         MAFEKING, AND THE RELIEF OF THE TOWN CHAPTER XIV ACROSS THE TRANSVAAL TO PRETORIA DURING THE WAR CHAPTER XV PRETORIA AND JOHANNESBURG UNDER LORD ROBERTS AND MILITARY LAW CHAPTER XVI MY RETURN TO CIVILIZATION ONCE MORE—THE         MAFEKING FUND—LETTERS FROM THE KING AND QUEEN CHAPTER XVII THE WORK OF LADY GEORGIANA CURZON, LADY CHESHAM, AND THE         YEOMANRY HOSPITAL, DURING THE WAR—THIRD VOYAGE TO THE CAPE, 1902 CHAPTER XVIII FOURTH VOYAGE TO THE CAPE—THE VICTORIA         FALLS AND SIX WEEKS NORTH OF THE ZAMBESI APPENDIX I MAFEKING RELIEF FUND APPENDIX II IMPERIAL YEOMANRY HOSPITALS, 1900-1902  <hr style='width: 65%;'> <h2>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h2>LADY SARAH WILSON RIGHT HON. L. S. JAMESON, C.B. RIGHT HON. CECIL JOHN RHODES THE LAST COACHES TO LEAVE MAFEKING FOR THE TRANSVAAL BEFORE THE WAR "OFF TO THE KALAHARI DESERT" LADY SARAH WILSON GENERAL SNYMAN AND COMMANDANT BOTHA COLONEL BADEN-POWELL AND STAFF AT MAFEKING INTERIOR OF LADY SARAH WILSON'S BOMBPROOF COLONEL BADEN-POWELL AT THE SUNDAY SPORTS A BOER FORT BEFORE MAFEKING CORRIDOR IN THE CONVENT WHERE THE SHELL EXPLODED SKETCH BY COLONEL BADEN-POWELL FACSIMILE OF LETTER FROM MR. CECIL RHODES THE ARTILLERY THAT DEFENDED MAFEKING THE ENGLISH TROOPS TAKING POSSESSION OF KRUGER'S HOUSE AT PRETORIA, JUNE 5, 1900 LADY GEORGIANA CURZON CEMETERY AT MAFEKING, 1902 VISCOUNT MILNER, 1902 RESULTS OF A DAY'S SPORT NEAR KALOMO <hr style='width: 65%;'> <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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