The contingent had had a fair voyage after the first few days at sea. Submarines were active in the Mediterranean, and stringent precautions had to be taken in the way of guards and boat drills, which, combined with the congestion of the ship, made life on board a Spartan business. At Malta the Governor, Lord Methuen, was prevented by illness from greeting his old friends, but he wrote to General Lukin: “South Africa has been a second home to me. Fourteen years of my life have been spent there, and you know the love we bear for each other. I look back as the proudest and happiest time of my life on the helping hand I gave to General Botha and General Smuts in the formation of your great citizen army, that true bond of union between Englishmen and Dutchmen. We little thought how soon and how splendidly you would be called upon to show its value.” On 10th January the _Saxonia_ reached Alexandria, and the _Corsican_, bringing the 4th South African Regiment and the Field Ambulance, arrived three days later. The Brigade encamped under canvas at Mex Camp, six miles west of the city, where they spent some days in training and in perfecting the local defences. On 18th January they were inspected by the G.O.C. of the Forces in Egypt, Lieutenant-General Sir John Maxwell, who years before had been Military Governor of Pretoria. “The South African Brigade,” he wrote, “is evidently fit to take its place alongside the best troops in the army,” and he expressed the hope that it might soon have the chance of meeting the enemy. His hope was speedily realized, for next day came orders for part of the Brigade to move towards the western marches. [Sidenote: _Jan. 21, 1916._]