‘If the trenches had been at the front edge, not a Boer could have got up, as the ascent is very, very steep.
‘January 31st.—I rode over and saw the schanzes, trenches, &c., of our men, and the English at Thaba Nyama. The two positions extend for a long way, nearly parallel to each other. The Boer positions consisted of long isolated trenches dug in the bare veldt, and for Boer positions were undoubtedly weak and unsatisfactory. The English had schanzed the long ridge for a great distance. The schanzes were beautifully made, and in many places were compartments large enough to hold three men lying down. The distance between the positions varied from 1,000 yards in some places to 1,800 in others. In front of the English left was a sort of kloof. Between one edge of this and the schanzes was a flat of about eighty yards. Between the other edge and a long Boer trench was an open slope of about 100 yards. For some reason the English would jump out from the schanzes in batches of twenty-five or thirty men, and make a run for the kloof, and it was while doing this that most of the English were shot. If they had waited till dark, as many men as required could have got into the kloof without any risk, and then a night attack or a rush on the trench could have been made at daylight. This was what the Boers were afraid of for five or six days. The country at the back of the trench is often rolling veldt, affording no cover for any retiring force, and if an attack had been made the Boers would have had to have stopped and made a fight of it. There were millions of empty cartridges lying about, and also several unburied soldiers.
‘February 2nd.—I rode up to the top of Spion Kop and had a good look round. General Botha had obtained a twenty-four hours’ armistice, so that the English dead might be properly buried, as our men had to hold the position and the stench was too dreadful.
‘In some places the English trenches were just behind one another, and quite parallel, and in the flurry and excitement of the fight it would be surprising if some of the men in the front trenches were not shot from behind. From the Kop we could also see Chieveley and Ladysmith, and the people in the latter must have been able to see the fight and the Boer retreat, and what they must have suffered the next day, when it dawned on them that the English were not going to hold the position after having won it, can be easily imagined.’