| PAGE | |
| CHAPTER I. | |
| [The Way to the Boer Country ] | [19] |
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. | |
| CHAPTER II. | |
| [From Farm to Battlefield ] | [45] |
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. | |
| CHAPTER III. | |
| [Composition of the Army ] | [61] |
Burghers, not soldiers—Home-sickness in thelaagers—Boys in commandos—The PenkopRegiment—Great-grandfathers in battles—TheTakhaar burghers—Boers’ unfitness for soldiering—Theiruniforms—Comfort in the laagers—Prayersand religious fervour in the army. | |
| CHAPTER IV. | |
| [The Army Organisation ] | [88] |
The election of officers—Influences which assertthemselves—Civil officials the leaders in war—TheKrijgsraad and its verdicts—Lack ofdiscipline among the burghers—Generals callingfor volunteers to go into battle—Boers’ scoutingand intelligence departments. | |
| CHAPTER V. | |
| [The Boer Military System ] | [113] |
The disparity between the forces—A national andnatural system of fighting—Every burgher ageneral—The Boers’ mobility—The retreat ofthe three generals from Cape Colony—Differencein Boer and British equipment—Boer courageexemplified. | |
| CHAPTER VI. | |
| [The Boers in Battle ] | [141] |
Fighting against forces numerically superior—Thebattle at Sannaspost—The trek towardsthe enemy—The scenes along the route—Thenight trek—Finding the enemy, and the dispositionof the forces in the spruit and on the hills—Thedawn of day and the preparation forbattle—The Commandant-General fires the firstshot—The battle in detail—Friend and foe sing“Soldiers of the Queen.” | |
| CHAPTER VII. | |
| [The Generals of the War ] | [173] |
Farmer-generals who were without militaryexperience—A few who studied military matters—Leaderschosen by the Volksraad—Operating infamiliar territory—Joubert’s part in the campaign—Hisfailure in Natal—His death and its influence—GeneralCronje, the Lion of Pochefstroom,and his career—General Botha and hiswork as successor of Joubert—Generals Meyer,De Wet, and De la Rey, with narratives concerningeach. | |
| CHAPTER VIII. | |
| [The War Presidents ] | [219] |
The Boers’ real leader in peace and in war—Bismarck’sopinion of Kruger—The President’sduties in Pretoria—His visits to the laagers andthe influence he exerted over the disheartenedburghers—His oration over Joubert’s body—Hisopinion of the British, and of those whom heblamed for the war—His departure from Pretoria—PresidentSteyn and his work during the war. | |
| CHAPTER IX. | |
| [Foreigners in the War ] | [247] |
The soldier of fortune in every war—The fascinationwhich attracts men to fight—The Boers’ viewof foreigners—The influx of foreigners into theBoer country in search of loot, commissions,fame, and experience—Few foreigners were ofgreat assistance—The oath of allegiance—Numberof foreigners in the Boer army—The variouslegions and their careers. | |
| CHAPTER X. | |
| [Boer Women in the War ] | [274] |
Boer women’s glorious heritage—Their part inthe political arena before the war—Urged themen to fight for their independence—Assistingtheir embarrassed government in furnishingsupplies to the army—Helping the poor, thewounded, and the prisoners—Sending relativesback to the ranks—Women taking part in battles—Askingthe Government for permission to fight. | |
| CHAPTER XI. | |
| [Incidents of the War ] | [295] |
Amusing tales told and retold by the burghers—Boy-burghersat Magersfontein capture Highlanders’rifles—The Takhaar at Colenso, whobelonged to “Rhodes’ Uncivilised BoerRegiment”—Photographers in battle—The heliographersat the Tugela amusing themselves—Joubert’sstory of the Irishman who wanted tobe sent to Pretoria—The value of credentials inwarfare as shown by an American burgher’sescapade—The amusing flight after the fall ofBloemfontein. | |
| APPENDIX. | |
| [The Strength of the Boer Army ] | [313] |
CHAPTER I
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.
When the van of the foreign volunteers reached the port there was a new situation to be dealt with, and again the principle of “When in doubt impose a tax” was satisfactorily employed. Men who had just arrived in steamers, and who had never seen Portuguese territory, were obliged to secure a certificate, indicating that they had not been inhabitants of the local jail during the preceding six months; a certificate from the consular representative of their country, showing that they possessed good characters; another from the Governor-General to show that they did not purpose going into the Transvaal to carry arms; a fourth from the local Transvaal consul to indicate that he held no objections to the traveller’s desire to enter the Boer country; and one or two other passports equally weighty in their bearing on the subject were necessary before a person was able to leave the town. Each one of these certificates was to be secured only upon the payment of a certain number of thousand reis and at an additional expenditure of time and nervous energy, for none of the officials could speak a word of any language except Portuguese, and all the applicants were men of other nationalities and tongues. The expenditure in connection with the certificates was more than a sovereign for every person, and as there were thousands of travellers into the Boer countries while the war continued the revenues of the Government were correspondingly great. To crown it all, the Portuguese imposed the same tax upon all travellers who came into the country from the Transvaal with the intention of sailing to other ports. The Government could not be charged with favouritism in the matter of taxation, for every man, woman, and child who stepped on Portuguese soil was similarly treated. There was no charge for entering the country, but the jail yawned for him who refused to pay when leaving it.
Not unlike the patriots in Cape Town and Durban, the hotel and shopkeepers of Lorenzo Marques took advantage of the presence of many strangers and made extraordinary efforts to secure the residue of the money which did not fall into the coffers of the Government. At the Cardoza Hotel, the only establishment worthy of the name, a tax of a sovereign was levied for sleeping on a bare floor; drivers of street cabs scorned any amount less than a golden sovereign for carrying one passenger to the consulates; lemonades were two shillings each at the kiosks; and physicians charged three pounds a call when travellers remained in the town several days and contracted the deadly coast-fever. At the Custom House duties of ten shillings were levied upon foreign flags, unless the officer was liberally tipped, in which event it was not necessary to open the luggage. It was a veritable harvest for every one who chose to take advantage of the opportunities offered, and there were but few who did not make the foreigners their victims.