The total tonnage engaged in the movement of the Army Corps, its supplies, and its transport was about 600,000, exclusive of vessels chartered for the divisions which followed later. Yet so vast were the shipping resources of England that the withdrawal of this great number of steamers from the mercantile marine only slightly affected the cost of freight. [Illustration: ARRIVAL OF NEW SOUTH WALES LANCERS AT CAPE TOWN FROM ENGLAND. This detachment, being the only Colonial force in England when war broke out, was accorded an overwhelmingly enthusiastic send-off by the immense crowds who lined the London Streets to see them march to the railway station.] [Illustration: ARRIVAL OF THE WELSH FUSILIERS AT PORT ELIZABETH.] [Illustration: [_Photo by G. W. Wilson & Co._ BUFFALO HARBOUR, EAST LONDON; WHERE PART OF THE ARMY CORPS LANDED.] [Sidenote: The voyage out.] [Sidenote: NOV. 1899.] _Sir Redvers Buller's Plans._] The voyage was covered by the Channel Squadron and its cruisers. At Gibraltar were the eight battleships of the squadron; between Gibraltar and the Canaries, patrolling the route, the cruisers _Furious_, _Pactolus_, and _Pelorus_; and at the Canaries the 20-knot vessels _Niobe_ and _Diadem_. Nor were these attentions superfluous. Some days before the time when the transports began to arrive at the Canaries a strange cruiser appeared, which had been built in France for Brazil and sold, no one knew to whom. Before the war there had been talk of Boer privateers, and this vessel was a most suspicious intruder. She was watched night and day by the cruiser _Niobe_, but it was possible that she had confederates. Accordingly, orders were given to the transports on leaving the Canaries to put out all lights and to alter course, steaming 100 miles to the west of the usual trade route. Nothing happened, however, and the Boer cruiser, if Boer cruiser the stranger really was, vanished. It would be interesting, however, to know what subsequently became of her. The last of the Army Corps transports left England on November 9, and on the same day the first arrival at Capetown was recorded. This was the _Roslin Castle_, which had left Southampton on October 20 with General Hildyard, his staff, and one battalion of his brigade. She was at once sent on to Durban by the Commander-in-Chief, Sir Redvers Buller, who had reached Capetown on October 31. The next transports in were the _Moor_, which arrived on the 10th, the _Yorkshire_, _Lismore Castle_, _Aurania_, and _Hawarden Castle_ on the 11th, and the _Gascon_ on the 12th. Thereafter every day for a week saw the arrival of more ships and men. [Illustration: _R. Caton Woodville._] A RECONNAISSANCE IN FORCE.] [Sidenote: The plan of campaign.] [Sidenote: [NOV. 1899.]