THE WAIMA CALAMITY 771 VILLAGE SCENE NEAR THE SIERRA LEllNE IRONHER.

Dolice, under ColonelEllis andCaptainE.A.W.

Lendv,D.S.O.,tohunt downand break up these bands of brigands.

Colonel Ellis's line of march lay through the difficult bush country- in the north-east part of the colonial territory. On December 21st he camped at Waima or Warina, close to the border. In the bush on the other side of the little-known frontier line, Lieutenant G. M. Maritz, of the French Marine Infantry, was patrolling the country with a French column, in order to break up any parties of Samory's people(the"Sofas," they w erelocally called) who might recross the border from Sierra Leone. On the 22nd he was within a few miles of Waima, and he was told by the natives that there was a large camp of " Sofas " at that place. They may have been mistaken as to the force actually- camped there, or they mayhave wilfully misled the French officer. It is not certain that Maritz knew that Waima was in British territory,but evenif he did, he probablyhad no hesitation about crossing the border to attack the common enemy of both French and British. In the night between the 22nd and 2rd he started off to surprise the camp.

The result was the action fought at Waima in the moonlit forest before dawn on December 23rd. Creeping close up to the camp, the French openedarapid fire at closerange. The sentries replied, and the men rushed to their weapons.

The first attack was beaten off, but not before CaptainLendy,LieutenantsListonand \Vroughton, Sergeant-Major Carraher, and six privates had been killed by the deadly Lebel bullets, while eighteen other men w*ere wounded. It was not till the lull in the siring after the first attack that it was perceived that some of the enemy, who lay wounded close in front of the camp, wore French uniforms. The "cease fire" then sounded. Till then, each party thought its opponentswere a party of Samory's people. The French had also suffered heavily, and their leader, Lieutenant Maritz, was brought in mortally wounded. He spoke regretfully of his unfortunate mistake, and, de-spite all efforts to save him, died within an hour. The French and English officers were buried side by side in megrave,the survivoi of thefight uniting 111 paying them the last solemn tribute of respect.