The times., 1899-11-20
THE B0ERS AS FIGHTERS.
Description of the Farmer Soldiers
Of south Africu

MINDS intent upon aim and upon strategy.
IL 1t IS charge, they advance in a scat
tered and what seems 10 be a confused
manner. In reality it is only the Beers
| natural order, in which they fight best. A
retreat looks like rout, because each man
tries to save himself as quickly as possi-
bic rout is almost impossible. because
| the farmers do not understand how to
lose their heads" They scatter. and when
I a place of safety has been reached come to-
gether again as If nothing had happAned
While they have no martial music in the
ordinary sense, they have martial music OF
the most impressive kind in the extraor-
binary 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 prolonged six beats and the effect is sol
emn and even awful. so much of resolution,
of stern and relentless resolve do they put
into the singing.
The two strongest points about this prac-
! tically ununifOrmed and strangely Crgan-
/ lied Boer army are both individual-the in
! dividual ability of the Boer at strategy and
4 his individual ability as a sharpshooter
! The fayorite topic of conversation among
/ the Beers has always been how best 10 meet
! the British when they come to destroy the
/ Republics-how TO fight the great defen-
1 stye war which every Boer has felt sure
| would inevitably come. The plans that are
! being carried out and will be carried out
! are ttre result of years upon years of study
of the situation by the burghers of all
! ranks, consulting together upon the stoops
. Of
Boer IS natural stratsgist, 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 it.
It IS mistake to suppose that the Beers
have deterioratsd in craftsmanship. The
English have got that impression from
superficial observation of the Beers of the
large towns. The villagers and farmers
are as sure OF shot as of old. With a
smooth-bore gun a Boer shot Sir George w
Coliey through the head in the Majuba Hill
fight at 1,400 yards. With one of the new
guns General Symons was shot in the Beers
new taTget-the stomach-at a far lcuger
range. The Beers are now armed with the
sporting Mannlicher and they can with
their knowledge Of air currents, hit small
, object almost every time at 1850 yards
President Kruger has been buying these
arms in large quantities ever since the
jameson raid, and the practical failure of
the British to punish the raiders.
The MaLnlicher bullet travels with a
velocity of 2,000 feet per second. At 900
yards it will pierce two inches Of sol d ash
and three inches of pine At coo yards
I the bullet if it does not flatten, viii bore
a hole right through bone witaoat sp it
ting. This rife has a barrel thirty inenes
long and weighs eight pounds Its calibre
is 30. 1t is hair-triggered, has a pistol
grip, and the Boer carries it slung over his
shoulder by a strap.
In the last two years the couptlymen
have been putting away the old smootl-
bore and providing themselves with the
Mannlicher In killing game they use
bullet of which the lead point is exposed
so that it mushrooms" when il str 5.
On entering the bullet expands and tears
an ugly hole. If il strikes siiewi.e the ef-
feet is horrible.
II the British try to go up into the Re-
publios by way of Natal they must traverse
the DTakensberg Mountains, the only great
range in South Africa. The peaks OF these
mountains rise as high as 110GO feet. The
way through the range is a tortuous coarse
alCng steep cliffs and above yawning pTeCi-
pices. Every few hundred yards there is an
inpregnable position. The evaporation of
the lowIands condense there and gives plen-
ty OF water for a force entrenchsd high
amCag the rocks. Forage, too, is plenty.
few men can hold out indefinitely and
unless the British take heavy artillery
with them-a well nigh impossible feat
few hundred men can almost destroy
great army.
Once the British gain the almost level
and almost open .'yeldt' over which the TWO
Republics spread, the Beers have left TWO
physical aliies-famine and fire.
Water in South Africa is often as pre-
cious as gold and sometimes infinitely
more precious Every year witnesses i ter /
rible drought in some part. One may jour
ney 100 miles on the "Karoo" and never
find drop Of water In Johannesburg the
writer was glad to pay "a cents for quart.
Nearly the whole city vas drinking bottled
and imported mineral waters at the time
Scarcity of water is the curse of that
country. Every farmer maintains a rsser-
yoir, but even these give out. There are
only two or three large rivers in the whole
country and in the dry season even they
degenerate into shallow pools. These are
called pans and serve to quench the thirst
Of wild animals. The TranSyaal and Free
State are high plateaus that the sun bakes
to a crisp and where the water evaporates
as ii falls
The Beers. however being thoroughly
acquainted with the country, have a krOwl-
edge of the formation of the rocks ard
plants and know where to dig down few
feet and get water. In this way a COM
mando can always secure enough water to
make coGee-their only drink. With COf-
fee, biltOng, and mealies the Boer can
campaign forever
Coffee he drinks four times a day and so
hot that if thrown on a dog il will take
off his hair" Bitong is a strip of meat |
buffalo. OK. haI tbeeste, dried in the wind |
or sun 1t seems 10 have peculiar nour-
ishing properties. Mealies is like our In
dian corn. The Boer starts off on a months /
hunting trip with a knapsack full of these
commodities and gets stronger every day. |
Tommy Atkins or any other European sol
der cannot do it.
Before the English can reach Pretoria
they must fight over a distance as great as
that from New York to New Orleans. There
will be no forage. no water, and the Beers
will harass them by day and by night.
The other great physical ally of the Boer
is the prairie fire
Nearly the whole South African plateau
is covered with a long, slender grass,
which, under that fierce sun, is often dry /
as tinder Nothing can live in a veldt fire,
and in it's passing it leaves a desert. I'm |
der the cover of the smoke that arises the |
Beers can utilize that strategy for which |
they are famous.
Hnnna's Defiance.
(Flom th. Bcs.on Heraid)
Senator Hanna has already taken his attitude |