on attempting to fill a bucket I found the tap guarded by a sentry,
because, apparently, the water came from the river and was thought to be
dangerous.

The water question is always a difficult one in exploring or
campaigning. One can do a certain amount with alum towards rendering the
water less foul. Rub the inside of a bucket with a lump of alum, and in
ten minutes most of the mud sinks to the bottom, and the water is
comparatively clear. But besides producing a nasty flavour in the water,
if used in any quantity, the astringent alum tends to produce
disagreeable effects internally. Of course the only absolute guarantee
against the bacilli of enteric fever or other diseases which may be
admitted into one's system by drinking, is to boil the waters for five
minutes; but it is very provoking, when the thermometer stands at 90° in
the shade, to wait until the boiled water cools, and as it is impossible
to boil a whole river a few thousand bacilli may quite well get into our
food through "washing up".

The Boers have almost raised trench digging to the level of a fine art,
and on every occasion when their commandants have found it necessary to
withdraw they have had an entrenched position ready for them at some
distance in the rear. At Modder River the trenches on either side of
the stream were, as far as I saw them, a series of short ditches holding
about six riflemen. These small trenches were separated from each other
in order possibly to avoid that appearance of continuity which would
have rendered their detection more easy to our scouts. In the Modder
River fight a new factor is noticeable. For the first time in the
campaign the Boers fought on level ground. Hitherto their bullets had
come from the summits of the hills, and for this reason had not proved
nearly so effective as a sustained fire from rifles raised, say, about