Story of the War in South Africa | Page 5

those of common life, as its
needs and dangers are more imminent, the Natal railroad, though much
shorter in distance to the probable scenes of operations, labours under
two disadvantages. The port of Durban is not under all circumstances
safe for large vessels to enter, and there is therefore in the facilities for
landing goods an inferiority to Cape Town. The country, too, is more
difficult, the obstacles to movement, which also favour defence,
increasing as the frontier is approached, and culminating on the borders
of the Free State and the Transvaal. Being thus nearer, the latter are
here better able to concentrate and sustain opposition than they are on
the western flank.
"The mountains which on the edge of Basutoland rise to a height of ten
thousand feet," writes Mr. Bryce, "break down toward Natal in
tremendous precipices. Near Ladysmith the frontier of the Orange Free

State coincides with a high watershed, crossed by only a few passes."[2]
Where this boundary between {p.018} Natal and the Free State ends,
that of the Transvaal begins, and soon after turns sharply to the
southward, the new direction forming with the old a very acute angle,
with apex to the north. Here, just within the territory of Natal, is
Majuba Hill, whose name has been in the mouths of all men, and
Laing's Nek, less familiarly known. The narrow neck of rugged country
embraced between the legs of this angle is about sixty miles long, from
Majuba to Glencoe. Recent events have familiarised to us many of the
names along this line of rail--Glencoe, Dundee (the terminus of a short
branch), Colenso, Estcourt, and Ladysmith itself; while the winding
character of the track, as mapped, compared with the Free State road,
sufficiently indicates the character of the country, in which obstacles
have to be circumvented as well as overcome. The grade is in places as
high as one in thirty, though that is being reduced; but one in forty is
common. Pietermaritzburg, the capital, fifty miles from Durban in a
straight line, is 2,200 feet above the sea. Three hundred miles from its
starting-point the road {p.019} reaches an elevation of over five
thousand feet, at Laing's Nek, through which it passes by a tunnel.
[Footnote 2: "Impressions of South Africa." Third Edition, p. 291.]
A topographical map of the country shows upon examination that the
mountain range, which forms the western boundary of Natal toward
Basutoland and the Orange Free State, and has a general north and
south direction parallel to the railroad, throws off to the eastward spurs
which, to repeat Mr. Bryce's expression, "break down in tremendous
precipices," forming a succession of terraces. The gorges between these
determine the direction of the river-beds whereby the rainfall pours
down to the sea; and the general easterly course thus imparted is
maintained and continued by the lie of the valleys, separating the
successive hills through which the territory of Natal gradually rises to
the northward. These various streams find their way sooner or later to
the Tugela, itself one of the many, but which carries its own name until
it reaches the Indian Ocean, some fifty miles north-east of Durban.
Of these watercourses, the Tugela, which the road crosses at Colenso,

and the Mooi, some {p.020} fifty miles south, have been most often
mentioned. Another tributary called the Klip flows through the camp at
Ladysmith. The channels which these streams have cut for themselves
in time of torrent are both steep-banked and deep. They are therefore
among those accidents of the ground which, duly improved, can
seriously affect military operations. The destruction of a bridge
impedes the transport of troops and supplies; a sudden freshet,
occurring in the midst of an extensive movement, may imperil an army
by sundering its forces; while of the utility of such natural trenches to
the purposes of shelter and of defence, of awaiting attack, or resisting
an advance, both the Tugela and Paardeberg have given recent striking
illustration.
As a general rule such conditions favour the defence relatively to the
offence; the former, remaining comparatively motionless, is shielded
by obstacles, to surmount which the assailant must expose himself in
the open. Thus they compensate for inferior numbers, which is usually
the condition of the defence; and they conduce to delay, ever a leading
object in defensive warfare. Consequently, in the {p.021} present
hostilities they have helped the Boers. It may be added that their
influence is most felt when the armies are face to face, or at least in
touch. Hence their existence near the scene of probable conflict, as in
Natal, is a matter of more concern to the invader than when, as upon
the Cape extreme of the scene of war, they are found beyond the range
to which the defendant can safely extend his