20th. Boers cut off some cattle which had strayed out too far.
21st. In addition to the main railway line, a temporary line had been laid down in an easterly direction towards the race course, and north of the town extending about a mile and a half. The armoured train now patrolled this line; painted green and covered with bushes, it was indistinguishable from the scrub surrounding it. I slept in the armoured train at the railhead. In the early morning Captain Williams commenced firing on the Boers at the head of the waterworks as they came out of their trench to make their coffee, with two Maxims. I fear they got their coffee rather late, and that some even did not get it at all. This went on with fitful replies for two or three hours, and then firing in that quarter ceased.
On the western front in the afternoon the Boers looted some cattle which had strayed, and from this date sniping commenced, pretty generally all round on both sides.
22nd, Sunday. Band and calls on various outlying forts, hospitals, &c. All church services were held.
FIRING FROM AN ARMOURED TRAIN
And now to endeavour to describe the town and defences of Mafeking. Mafeking is situated on a rise about three hundred yards north of the Molopo river, which flows from east to west. It is about three-quarters of a mile square. The railroad runs to the west of the town, and practically speaking, due north and south, but immediately south where it crosses the Molopo by an iron bridge it inclines rather westward for a distance of two or three miles. The railway embankment north and south of the river thus furnishes cover from the east and south-east heights on the southern bank of the Molopo. To the west again of the railway, and nearly butting it half a mile south of the Molopo, is the native stadt, lying on both sides of the river, and on the northern bank, commencing about half a mile from the railway, then running in a north-westerly direction for about a mile and a half, and ends about a mile and three-quarters west of the railway. The ground in front of the northern end is slightly higher than the stadt and soon commences to sink away from it, affording good cover to an enemy moving on that side. Near the railway the ground slopes gradually down for a considerable distance to the river. The country round Mafeking to the west, north and east, is flat, but across the Molopo to the south and south-east it commands the town. The ground to the west of the stadt commands the stadt.
Situated two thousand yards south, and slightly east of the centre of the town, is an old fort of Sir Charles Warren's--Cannon Kopje. This is the key of the position. It is an old circular stone fort, and only by dint of extraordinary exertion had it been possible to bring it by this time up in any degree to a state of efficiency enough to enable it to resist even old ordinary seven-pounder guns. It has an interior diameter of approximately twenty-five yards. The native location occupied by half-breeds lies directly between Cannon Kopje and the town on the southern bank of the river. Following the course of the river eastward about twelve hundred yards from the town, and on the northern bank extend the brickfields (eventually occupied by both parties), while in the same direction, and about three miles and a half from Mafeking on a ridge, is MacMullan's farm (subsequently the Boer headquarters). To return to the town--at the north-eastern corner is the convent. Due east of that is the grand stand about a mile away, while N.N.E. from the convent, and a mile and a half away, is the base of the waterworks, which extend to a trench at their head in the same direction for nearly a mile.
Thus we have the railway station the north-west corner, the convent the north-east corner, Ellis's house the south-east corner, and the south-west corner the pound; while in a line from the south-west corner of the town and the northern portion of the stadt, the B.S.A.P. barracks and fort lie about midway. With the exception of a strip of scrub about a mile wide to the north and east of the convent the country all round is almost bare.
The town is composed of one-storey houses built of soft bricks and roofed with corrugated iron, the only exception being the convent of two storeys and the station, which is not yet complete. The native stadt consists of Kaffir huts. The B.S.A.P. fort is a duplicate of Cannon Kopje, thus the outline of the defences of Mafeking is, roughly speaking, an obtuse angled triangle, of which the apex is Cannon Kopje, while the other two angles are the northern end of the native stadt and the convent. The population in time of peace is, Mafeking two thousand whites, the native stadt four to five thousand, location five hundred. At the present moment fifteen hundred whites approximately, native stadt seven thousand owing to native refugees, location five hundred.