At first setting out on the "Commando," as the campaigns are called, the affair promised to be pleasant enough; the weather was delightful, though the month of June is our first winter month here. One company of the 91st had obeyed orders to the letter of the law, and had taken the field in "light marching order:" but the rest had a certain number of waggons and tents, and it was amusing to see the comforts with which some had surrounded themselves--canteens, easy chairs, bedsteads, tables, mats, cooking utensils, etc. These resolved on making the best of the matter, turning what at first appeared a warlike expedition into a pic-nic party; though others were content to lie in the bush, and fare no better than the men they commanded. Never, however, had been seen such times of marching, counter-marching, bivouacking, and eating and drinking, since the days when the City Train Bands and the Westminster Volunteers were called into active service on Wimbledon, Kennington, and Clapham Commons, where they encamped to little purpose, except to eat sandwiches, and drink the King's health in "London particular." About a fortnight after the troops had assembled at Willshire, a division of them, consisting of upwards of two hundred of the 91st, and the same number of the Cape Corps, were ordered to Fort Peddie, to halt and refresh themselves; but the springs, owing to the want of rain, were nearly dry (and a sentry is always placed on the principal tank at Peddie [Note 2]); so the 91st remained in the neighbourhood of the kraal belonging to Eno, a dependent chief of the Gaika tribe, and the Cape Corps came on. There was brack (salt) water enough for the horses. Sunday was spent peacefully at Peddie, and on Monday morning, June 6th, 1843, as the two corps were to meet six or seven miles from the post, I was induced to ride out, with another lady and a party, to the rendezvous. Although I by no means think the head of a brigade in array for the field an eligible place for ladies in general, my friend and I did not regret having yielded to the various solicitations, that we should proceed a little further with the expedition, which had no chance of becoming in reality a warlike one. The morning resembled the one I have described in my account of Umhala's affair. Certainly a South African morning is incomparably beautiful. The want of rain had taken from the turf much of its freshness; still, the mimosa is always green, and the perfume of its bright yellow blossoms most delicious. We kept to the grass, smooth as velvet, and gently undulating here and there, with wooded kloofs to the right and left of us; while the Cape Corps, in dusky array, filled the high-road. Nothing can be more efficient than the appearance of the Hottentot soldier, though I confess to laughing heartily at one or two immediately in advance of us.