A large drove of commissariat cattle ascended the Pass one day for Colonel Buller's camp, and as they came up I found it was escorted by a strong party of troops and Fingo Levies, under my brother's charge. Having handed them over to the Rifles, we had a chat over the united contents of our haversacs, exchanging the gossip of camp and post, after which he left us to return to the Blinkwater; before he had gone half a mile down hill we saw the Kaffirs creeping from the mountain, as if to intercept the party at its foot, of which, however, we gave him timely warning by a Corporal's party of the Cape Corps. Our principal amusements, besides acting as engineers, and directing general proceedings, were sketching, and rifle practice at the monkeys and lories hopping about in the thick forest, and at the enormous vultures sleeping on the high crags that towered above us on the opposite side of the narrow ravine. Snakes were abundant here, as indeed everywhere else, and among others we killed a "boom slang," a long slender viper of a brilliant grass green, which dropped from a tree under which we had lighted a fire. This and the cobra and puff-adder are the most deadly of all the snakes of the country, but though they are all very common, and were frequently found in our camps, we never once heard of a single accident occurring among the troops, though Clifford, of the Rifles, had a very narrow escape; one day sitting with a party of officers on the ground, and carelessly resting his hand on the grass, he felt something moving, and turning round, to his surprise found he had got his hand on the neck of a large puff-adder! without withdrawing it, he coolly drew out his clasp knife with the other, and severed the beast's head from its body. Having finished our task, we returned once more to Post Retief, where we found a large and jovial party of the Rifle Brigade.