The train soon traverses the distance between Belmont and Graspan. None
can wish to linger on this journey, for the surrounding region is dreary
and forbidding. The everlasting kopje crops up here and there, looking
like--what in fact it is--a mere vast heap of boulders and stones from
which the earth has been dislodged by the constant attrition of wind and
rain. The hillocks in the Graspan district are by no means lofty--none
of them seemed to get beyond a few hundred feet--but beyond Modder River
the big kopje on the right which was seamed with Boer trenches must be,
I should guess, well over six hundred feet from the plain. A large
proportion of the kopjes in this part of the country have absolutely
flat tops--why, I cannot imagine--and the whole appearance of the
country suggests at once the former bed of an ocean. _A propos_ of
geology, I once in camp came across a sergeant who was surrounded by a
little band of privates, deeply interested in his scientific remarks,
which began as follows: "Now, some considerable time before the Flood,
Table Mountain was at the bottom of the sea, for sea shells are found
there at the present day, etc." It is quite a mistake to suppose that
the soldier cares for none of these things. As a "Tommy" myself I had
some unique opportunities of learning what they talked about and how
they talked, and certainly the subjects discussed sometimes covered a
very big field.
Pages:
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53