The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1899-12-14
BOERS AS CAMPAIGNERS.
A PICTURE OF THE HARDY, Willy.
SHARPsHooTlNc FARMERS.

| publics make or receive charges in
silence, their minds intent upon aim
and upon strategy. If it is a charge,
| they advance in scattered and what
seems to be confused manner. In
reality il is only the Beers natural
order, in which they fight best. A
retreat looks like a rout because each
man tries to save himself as quickly
as possible. rout is almost inn
possible because the farmers do not
| understand how to close their heads.
They scatter, and when place of
safety has been reached come together
again as if nothing had happened.
While they have no martial music
in the ordinary sense, they have mar
tial music of most impressive kind
in the extraordinary sense.
Each night before turning in" and
each morning before breakfast, and
also before going into battle if there
is opportunity, the entire army, with
heads uncovered, joins in singing
"Old Hundred. Each note is pro-
longed six beats and the effect is
solemn and even awful, so much of
resolution, of stern and relentless re-
solve do they put into the singing.
| The two strongest points about this
practically uninformed and stranr ely
organized Boer army are both indi-
vidual--the individual ability of n
Boer at strategy and his individual
ability as a sharpshooter.
The favorite topic of conversation
| l. 4 l.
best to meet the British when they
came to destroy the republics, how to
| fight the great defensive war which
every Boer has felt sure would in
evitably come. The plans that are
| being carried out, and will be
carried out, are the result of
years upon years of study of the
situation by the burghers of all ranks,
consulting together upon the stoops
of their matched houses of evenings.
The Boer is natural strategist, willy.
crafty, hard to corner, quick to seize
the slightest advantage, quick to see
advantage where even trained soldiers
of other nations would fail to see il.
1t is a mistake to suppose that the
| Beers have deteriorated in marksman-
ship. The English have got that inn
preston from a superficial observa-
| tion of the Beers of the large towns.
The villagers and farmers are as sure
of shot as of old. With smoothbore
| gun Boer shot Sir George w. Colley
through the head in the Majuba Hill
fight at 1400 yards. With one of the
new guns Gen. Symons was shot in
| the Beers new target-the stomach -
at far longer range. / have seen a
| girl bring down bird on the wing at
400 yards.
If Sir Redvers Butler shows himself
at 1000 yards his fate is hardly doubt
full. For the Beers are now armed
with the sporting Mannlicher and they
can, with their knowledge of air cur
rents, hit small object almost every
time at 1900 yards.
President Kruger has been buying
these arms in large quantities ever
since the Jameson raid and the prac-
tical failure of the British to punish the
raiders. General Joubert took me into a
storehouse at Pretoria fille1 with
thousands of these rifles. 'Isn't it n
beauty" he said, picking up one of
them and patting it affectionately.
"At twenty yards twill shoot through
fifty inches of pine"
The Mannlicher bullet travels with
velocity of 1000 feet per second. At
1000 yards it will pierce two inches of
solid ash and three inches of pine. At
1000 the bullet, if it does not fatten,
will bore a hole right through bone
without splitting. This rifle has u
barrel 80 inches long and weighs
eight pounds. It's calibre is 80. 1t
is hair triggered, has a pistol grip,
and the Boer carries it slung over his
shoulder by a strap.
If the British try to go up into the
republics by way of Natal they must
traverse the Drakensburg mountains,
the only great range in South Africa.
The peaks of these mountains rise as
high as IL, 900 feet. The way through
the range is a tortuous course along
steep cliffs and above yawning preci-
pices. Every few hundred yards there
is an impregnable position. The evap-
oration ofthe lowlands condenses there
and gives plenty of water for a force
intrenched high among the rocks.
Forage, too is plentiful. A few men
can hold out indefinitely, and unless
the British take heavy artillery with
them--an almost impossible feat-a
few hundred men can almost destroy
great army.
Once the British gain the almost
level and almost open "veld," ovel
which two republics spread, the Beers
have left two typical allies s-famine
and fire.
Water in South Africa is often as
precious as gold, and sometimes in.
fnitely more precious. Every yeal
witnesses terrible drought in some
part. One may journey 100 miles or
the "Karoo" and never find drop o.
water. In johannesburg the writer
was glad to pay "a cents for a quart
Nearly the whole city was drinking
bottled and imported mineral waters
at the time.
Scarcity of water is the curse o.
that country. Every farmer main
tains a reservoir, but even these give
out. There are only two or three
large rivers in the whole country, ant
in the dry season even they degener
ate into shallow pools. These are
called pans and serve to quench th,
thirst of wild animals. The Trans
| 4 4 u. n. Il.