_Tuesday, 30th October._--After saying good-bye to many old friends of the _Philomel_, and others, and undergoing lunches and dinners (of which the most amusing and lively one was with Captain Bearcroft of the _Philomel_ who led the Naval Brigade under Lord Roberts and whom I was glad to have met before sailing) I got on board the _Tantallon Castle_, finding Commander Dundas on board and coming home in the same mail. We left Durban on a beautiful day, and I was glad to find myself in possession of a large cabin. And so I must end this long and rambling Journal on seeing the last of Natal, merely adding that we had rather a rough passage, after touching at Port Elizabeth, up to Mossel Bay, a most picturesque place on account of the towering peaks and ranges of hills running close to the coast-line. We reached Capetown on the 5th November, and I found Table Mountain and the general view much more striking than I had previously thought. We had to wait here till the 8th November, when we finally bid farewell to South Africa which with every beat of the screw gradually faded from view into the dim shadows of an interesting past. While the revolving wheel of life bears one on to other scenes and toils, with dear old England looming once more on the horizon, we leave South Africa behind with the problem of the war still unsettled, and with desultory but fierce fighting still going on. But let us hope that the shadows will lift, and that the glory of a rising sun will eventually dim and absorb the sea of blood which has submerged that wonderful and hitherto unfortunate land. The lines from the "Light of Asia"-- "Om Mani padme Hun, The sunrise comes, The dew-drop slips into the shining sea"-- express, I think, the hope of every British heart for South Africa, as they do that of my own. CHAPTER IX Gunnery Results: The 12-pounder Q.-F. Naval gun -- Its mounting, sighting, and methods of firing -- The Creusot 3" gun and its improvements -- Shrapnel fire and the poor results obtained by the Boers -- Use of the Clinometer and Mekometer -- How to emplace a Q.-F. gun, etc., etc.