Note 117 — VI.

A remarkable stampede of about 1,100 horses took place one night whilst the troops were at the village. Owing to its being cold and rainy, the animals were driven, with some mules, into a paddock near camp. The mules later on caused the horses to stampede, when the whole started galloping wildly, en masse, round and round in a great circle, part of whose circumference lay within a few yards of the camp. The thunder of the rush as each time they swept madly by was positively deafening, much to the dismay of the reclining warriors. Once or twice they dashed through the picket lines, compelling the sentries to take refuge helter-skelter in camp for fear of being trampled to death. Not until dawn did the galloping cease, probably owing to sheer exhaustion. It was found that many of the animals had severely, and some even permanently, injured themselves by running into barbed-wire fences in the dark.