In the morning, as we breakfasted under the trees on the edge of the lofty bank, admiring the bright sunny river and its green islands, it was curious to see the cavalry horses swim across, following a mounted Totty. The stream had considerably abated, and they landed safely, and at a very little distance below the drift-path. His Excellency and Staff followed in the pontoon, and our march was resumed. It was New Year's Day when we again reached Burghersdorp; brand-new waggons painted the brightest red, yellow, and blue, drawn by sleek spans of fat oxen, and filled with Boers, vrouws and children, dressed in their holiday clothes, were pouring into the town; others stood outspanned in groups, with tents pitched round them; the stores were all closed, and service was going on in the church. Thirty miles a day soon brought us back to the Colony; our eyes were once more delighted with the sight of trees; the bush looked lovely; the mimosas were one sheet of golden blossom, filling the air with the most fragrant perfume; and jessamine, bignonia, and plumbago, with numbers of beautiful flowering bulbs, appeared at every step,--a change most grateful to all after the bare and arid wilderness we had so long been traversing. On the 9th of January we reached the Blinkwater standing camp, where we met many old friends, and the same evening got to Fort Beaufort, where C----, whose shoulders were bleeding from the constant jolting of the waggon, was moved from his rough, narrow bed, to a four-poster at the little inn; and the kind-hearted Mrs. Mills replaced his awkward nurses. No outbreak or disturbance whatever had taken place among the thoroughly dispersed Kaffirs, nor had any case of cattle stealing occurred during the long absence of so large a portion of the army. The Waterkloof, so long contested and dearly won, was at length entirely evacuated by the enemy, and held, without molestation, by very small garrisons. Seyolo, the T'slambie Chief, one of Sandilli's principal supporters, and a most warlike and active leader in the rebellion, was a prisoner at Cape Town, where, not long afterwards, I visited him in his cell. Moshesh, the head of the Basutos, we had left at Thaba Bassou, humbled enough, and only too desirous to maintain peace. In Tambookie Land everything was perfectly quiet, the Tambookies having settled down in profound peace, in their appointed location; and more than 800 applications had been sent in by the Burghers for farms in the unappropriated districts. Kreli was suing for peace. The Amatolas and Gaika district were entirely cleared of Kaffirs and Hottentots; Sandilli and the other Chiefs had fled beyond the Kei, and the whole tribe was dispersed.