We soon bade farewell to Muisenberg, and marched to Wynberg, and were in camp for several months. Here we suffered dreadfully from the inclemency of the weather, and from lying on damp ground, in small bell tents; added to which, our very lives were drilled out by brigade field-days, from three and four o'clock in the morning, until seven and eight o'clock at night. At this period the Caffres were committing the most terrific murders and robberies amongst the Dutch boers up the country. To stop these devastations, a rifle company was formed from the several corps of the 8th Dragoons, and the 22nd, 34th, 65th, 81st, and 91st regiments, and placed under the command of Captain Effingham Lindsay, one of the bravest soldiers in his majesty's army. We were dressed in green, and our pieces were browned to prevent their being seen in the woods where the Caffres congregated. About three months after the formation of the company, we were sent up the country, in conjunction with the light company of the 91st regiment and a corps of Hottentots. We embarked on board the _Diamond_ frigate, and reached Algoa Bay in fourteen days, having experienced bad weather.[7] From thence we marched to Graaf-Reynett, about five or six hundred miles in the interior, and fifteen hundred miles from Cape Town, and took up our quarters in a Dutch church. The road from Algoa Bay to Graaf-Reynett is hill and dale, and infested with lions, tigers, hyenas, wolves, and elephants; and we frequently saw eight or ten a-day, at a place called Rovee Bank, a day's march on this side of the great pass. One day I went out shooting wild ducks here with another person. We came to a pool of water, surrounded with very high grass--some of it ten feet high--which abounded with wild ducks and geese. I took aim and fired, and had just time to see, that at least one bird had fallen a victim to number four, when I heard a most tremendous roar, and the whole pool was in a moment in a state of commotion. I was in the act of plunging into the water after my butchered duck, when, imagine my astonishment and alarm, on seeing an enormous white elephant rush out from the high grass, roaring loudly, and striking the grass aside with his trunk. Neither myself nor my companion had ever seen one before, and we had now no inclination for a second peep; so, leaving the ducks to their fate, we took to our heels, and never stopped till we arrived safe in camp.