NEWS OF THE WEEK.
Vicountry is to-day in deep anxiety. It was expected that tt news of the relief of Ekowe would be received on Wed- nesday, but it was not received. On the contrary, the telegrams -brought to Madeira by the ' Durban ' are of the most unsatis- factory kind. Colonel Evelyn Wood has lost seven officers and seventy men in defending his camp against an attack from the Swazi chief Umbelini, and though he repulsed the enemy, will have to be reinforced. The rebellion expected in the Transvaal appears to be nearer than ever, and Secocceni is threatening to declare war once more. Above all, the relief of Ekowe has become uncertain. So low has Colonel Pearson's stock of food become, and so numerous are his sick, that Lord Chelmsford has been forced to send a column con- taining only 3,300 whites, no cavalry except fifty mounted Europeans, and 2,500 natives of sorts, to relieve the position. This force, under Colonel Law, left the Tugela on the 29th March, and on the night of the 30th was on the Amatikulu, a broad, shallow river, eighteen miles on its way. Between the column and Ekowe are seventeen miles of hill and bush, with three passes to be traversed, and a Zulu army, estimated by Colonel Pearson at 35,000 men, and probably exceeding 20,000. They may be defeated as we write, but the work is hard, the force small, the difficulty of dragging the convoy great, and the time strictly limited. The public, therefore, till it hears of success, almost holds its breath,—and with reason, for the echo of that struggle is waited for all over the World.
