the siege, had an extraordinary escape yesterday. A 94 lb. shell came into his office and exploded whilst he was talking to two other men, wrecking the place, but providentially only slightly scratching one man. As he emerged from the _debris_ much shaken, his first remark was, "That the slip would not be issued to-night." This is the second shell through the office, and though the setting up operations are carried on in a bomb proof, he has consistently carried on his editorial avocations regardless of the heaviest fire. This practice I am glad to say he proposes to discontinue in a measure, and work more or less underground, for, as he truly says, "The third shell may hit me." Really this does look as if it were the beginning of the end, and as if this somewhat isolated outpost of the Empire were going to get its communications with civilization restored. It has been an experience, and though certainly not a very pleasant one, I do not think the survivors can but have profited by it. I rather fancy, however, that it will take a singularly astute foeman ever to involve any of them in a siege again; it is, however, Colonel Vyvyan’s second experience in South Africa, as he was once before shut up in Etchowe. March 1st. Yesterday a large party of women and children, who do not belong to this district, were sent away; the Boers turned them back, and when they were retiring deliberately opened a heavy fire on them, killing and wounding many. This is not the first deliberate outrage on the native women and children, and in addition they have flogged and turned back women trying to escape. Colonel Baden-Powell has addressed several remonstrances to General Snyman on the subject, and pointed out that he cannot expect the native chiefs in the vicinity to restrain their tribesmen, if the Boers persist in murdering their friends and relations, and that he, Colonel Baden-Powell, cannot be answerable for any subsequent occurrences in the way of reprisals on the part of the natives, to which General Snyman has answered as a rule more or less civilly (generally less) that we and the natives may do our worst. To-day is the usual sort of day, heavy sniping at intervals and a fair amount of shelling. Certainly the amount of damage done to Mafeking in life and property has been wholly disproportionate to the amount of shell fire sustained, the reason of course being the soft mud bricks of which the houses are constructed; and to-day we had two very fine object lessons of the extensive damage these shells would have done among more solidly constructed edifices. Mr. Whitely, the mayor’s, house, which is built of stronger materials than any other house in Mafeking, was struck by a shell, and the damage done was far greater than was usually the case. Round the house of Mr. Bell, the magistrate, there is a loose stone wall, the shell struck and exploded at the base of it, the fragments of shell did but little harm, but one boulder about twice the