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Ebook has 756 lines and 144855 words, and 16 pages

THE WAY TO THE BOER COUNTRY

The Blockade at Delagoa Bay--Lorenzo Marques in war-time--Portuguese tax-raising methods--The way to the Transvaal--Koomatipoort, the Boer threshold--The low-veld or fever country--Old-time battlefields--The Boer capital and its scenes--The city of peace and its inhabitants.

FROM FARM TO BATTLEFIELD

The old-time lions and lion-hunters and the modern types--Lion-hunting expeditions of the Boers--The conference between the hunters and the lions--The great lion-hunt of 1899-1900--Departure to the hunting-grounds.

COMPOSITION OF THE ARMY

Burghers, not soldiers--Home-sickness in the laagers--Boys in commandos--The Penkop Regiment--Great-grandfathers in battles--The Takhaar burghers--Boers' unfitness for soldiering--Their uniforms--Comfort in the laagers--Prayers and religious fervour in the army.

THE ARMY ORGANISATION

The election of officers--Influences which assert themselves--Civil officials the leaders in war--The Krijgsraad and its verdicts--Lack of discipline among the burghers--Generals calling for volunteers to go into battle--Boers' scouting and intelligence departments.

THE BOER MILITARY SYSTEM

The disparity between the forces--A national and natural system of fighting--Every burgher a general--The Boers' mobility--The retreat of the three generals from Cape Colony--Difference in Boer and British equipment--Boer courage exemplified.

THE BOERS IN BATTLE

Fighting against forces numerically superior--The battle at Sannaspost--The trek towards the enemy--The scenes along the route--The night trek--Finding the enemy, and the disposition of the forces in the spruit and on the hills--The dawn of day and the preparation for battle--The Commandant-General fires the first shot--The battle in detail--Friend and foe sing "Soldiers of the Queen."

THE GENERALS OF THE WAR

Farmer-generals who were without military experience--A few who studied military matters--Leaders chosen by the Volksraad--Operating in familiar territory--Joubert's part in the campaign--His failure in Natal--His death and its influence--General Cronje, the Lion of Pochefstroom, and his career--General Botha and his work as successor of Joubert--Generals Meyer, De Wet, and De la Rey, with narratives concerning each.

THE WAR PRESIDENTS

The Boers' real leader in peace and in war--Bismarck's opinion of Kruger--The President's duties in Pretoria--His visits to the laagers and the influence he exerted over the disheartened burghers--His oration over Joubert's body--His opinion of the British, and of those whom he blamed for the war--His departure from Pretoria--President Steyn and his work during the war.

FOREIGNERS IN THE WAR

The soldier of fortune in every war--The fascination which attracts men to fight--The Boers' view of foreigners--The influx of foreigners into the Boer country in search of loot, commissions, fame, and experience--Few foreigners were of great assistance--The oath of allegiance--Number of foreigners in the Boer army--The various legions and their careers.

BOER WOMEN IN THE WAR

Boer women's glorious heritage--Their part in the political arena before the war--Urged the men to fight for their independence--Assisting their embarrassed government in furnishing supplies to the army--Helping the poor, the wounded, and the prisoners--Sending relatives back to the ranks--Women taking part in battles--Asking the Government for permission to fight.

INCIDENTS OF THE WAR

Amusing tales told and retold by the burghers--Boy-burghers at Magersfontein capture Highlanders' rifles--The Takhaar at Colenso, who belonged to "Rhodes' Uncivilised Boer Regiment"--Photographers in battle--The heliographers at the Tugela amusing themselves--Joubert's story of the Irishman who wanted to be sent to Pretoria--The value of credentials in warfare as shown by an American burgher's escapade--The amusing flight after the fall of Bloemfontein.

THE STRENGTH OF THE BOER ARMY

COMMANDANT-GENERAL LOUIS BOTHA

GENERAL LUCAS J. MEYER

BATTLEFIELD OF COLENSO, DECEMBER 15, 1899

BOERS WATCHING THE FIGHT AT DUNDEE

ELECTING A FIELD-CORNET

KRIJGSRAAD, NEAR THABA N'CHU

BOER COMMANDANTS READING MESSAGE FROM BRITISH OFFICERS AFTER THE BATTLE OF DUNDEE

GENERAL GROBLER

SPION KOP, WHERE BOERS CHARGED UP THE HILLSIDE

PLAN OF BATTLEFIELD OF SANNASPOST

VILLAGE AND MOUNTAIN OF THABA N'CHU

CALLING FOR VOLUNTEERS TO MAN CAPTURED CANNON AFTER SANNASPOST

COMMANDANT-GENERAL CHRISTIAN H. DE WET

GENERAL PETER DE WET

GENERAL JOHN DE LA REY

PRESIDENT KRUGER ADDRESSING AMERICAN VOLUNTEERS

BATTLEFIELD OF ELANDSLAAGTE

COLONEL JOHN E. BLAKE, OF THE IRISH BRIGADE

MRS. GENERAL LUCAS J. MEYER

MRS. OTTO KRANTZ, A BOER AMAZON

MRS. COMMANDANT-GENERAL LOUIS BOTHA

GENERAL HENDRIK SNYMAN

FIRST BRITISH PRISONERS OF WAR CAPTURED NEAR DUNDEE

THE WAY TO THE BOER COUNTRY

Immediately after war was declared between Great Britain and the Boers of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State, the two South African republics became ostracised, in a great measure, from the rest of the civilised world. The cables and the great ocean steamship lines, which connected South Africa with Europe and America, were owned by British companies, and naturally they were employed by the British Government for its own purposes. Nothing which might in any way benefit the Boers was allowed to pass over these lines and, so far as it was possible, the British Government attempted to isolate the republics so that the outside world could have no communication of any sort with them. With the exception of a small strip of coast-land on the Indian ocean, the two republics were completely surrounded by British territory, and consequently it was not a difficult matter for the great Empire to curtail the liberties of the Boers to as great an extent as it was pleasing to the men who conducted the campaign. The small strip of coast-land, however, was the property of a neutral nation, and, therefore, could not be used for British purposes of stifling the Boer countries, but the nation which "rules the waves" exhausted every means to make the Boers' air-hole as small as possible by placing a number of warships outside the entrance of Delagoa Bay, and by establishing a blockade of the port of Lorenzo Marques.

Lorenzo Marques, in itself, was valueless to the Boers, for it had always been nothing more than a vampire feeding upon the Transvaal, but as an outlet to the sea and as a haven for foreign ships bearing men, arms, and encouragement it was invaluable. In the hands of the Boers Delagoa Bay would have been worse than useless, for the warships could have taken possession of it and sealed it tightly on the first day of the war, but as a Portuguese possession it was the only friend that the Boers were able to find during their long period of need. Without it, the Boers would have been unable to hold any intercourse with foreign countries, no envoys could have been despatched, no volunteers could have entered the country, and they would have been ignorant of the opinion of the world--a factor in the brave resistance against their enemy which was by no means infinitesimal. Delagoa Bay was the Boers' one window through which they could look at the world, and through which the world could watch the brave struggle of the farmer-citizens of the veld-republics.

The Portuguese authorities at Delagoa Bay long ago established a reputation for adroitness in extracting revenues whenever and wherever it was possible to find a stranger within their gates, but the war afforded them such excellent opportunities as they had never enjoyed before. Being the gate of the Boer country was a humanitarian privilege, but it also was a remunerative business, and never since Vasco de Gama discovered the port were so many choice facilities afforded for increasing the revenue of the colony. Nor was the Latin's mind wanting in concocting schemes for filling the Portuguese coffers when the laws were lax on the subject, for it was the simplest arrangement to frame a regulation suitable for every new condition that arose. The Portuguese were willing to be the medium between the Boers and the people of other parts of the earth, but they asked for and received a large percentage of the profits.

When the mines of the Johannesburg gold district were closed down, and the Portuguese heard that they would no longer receive a compulsory contribution of four shillings from every native who crossed the border to work in the mines, the officials felt uneasy on account of the great decrease in the amount of public revenues, but it did not worry them for any great length of time. They met the situation by imposing a tax of eight shillings upon every one of the thousands of natives who returned from the mines to their homes in Portuguese territory. About the same time the Uitlanders from the Transvaal reached Lorenzo Marques, and, in order to calm the Portuguese mind, every one of the thousands of men and women who took part in that exodus was compelled to pay a transit tax, ranging from eight shillings to a sovereign, according to the size of the tip tendered to the official.

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