The evening times., 1899-10-28
MAFEKlNG AND OTHER TOWNS.
Places Threatened In the Campaign
of the BOers,

| fore unimportant places in South Africa
have become suddenly interesting through
the presence of English troops and the
burghers of the Transvaal in opposing ar
ray.
Mafeking is a little town on the Be-
chuanaland Railway. about eight miles
! from the Transvaal border, 875 miles from
| Cape Town. 1t has a cricket ground and
a racecourse, Surrey Hotel" and 9TH
ers. English. Dutch, and Wesleyan church
| es, and is the headquarters Of the Be
chuanaland border police. 1t is bound to
! be an important base of observation and
supplies, and the Barolong tribe being very
friendly TO us, their services will be read
lily available and very useful, although they
are no fighters. From sMafeking carts run
regularly in time of peace to the Malmani
| goldfields and the Marico Valley. where
| some of the most fruitful Dutch farms are
| to be found. From this neighborhood Mafe-
| king ordinarily draws considerable sup
| plies, and even its water comes chiefly
| from the springs at Roof Grond, In the
Transvaal territory. IT is believed, how
J ever, that the town will not have to run
| the risk OF these wells being poisoned.
Mafeking is in the hands Of Colonel Baden
/ Powell's force, enlisted in the Cape Col
ony itself, and although 1t Is merely
| town on an open plain, with nothing but
| trenches for defence, 1t will probably rem
| der a good account of itself in any opera
| tions General Cronje may undertake to re-
duce 1t.
Ramathlabama, where British camp il
| situated, and Pitsani Pothlugo. where DR..
Jameson started on his march over the fiat
zebra country into the Transvaal, are
points on the Bechuanaland Railway few
miles to the north of Mafeking.
Vryburg, about hundred miles south OF
Mafeking on the railway to Cape Town.
was the capital of British BechuanalanJ
until that colony was Incorporated with the
Cape. The country around is uEdulating,
but very bare and sandy, and Vryburg it
self is by no means an attractive town, al
though when IL was the northern terminus
OF the railway II did considerable trade
with wagons coming from the interior II
has two or three thousand inhabitants and
a number Of government buildings of an
unpretentious character including a hos
pital.
Taungs, forty miles south of Vryburg on
the railway. is an important native town
where Sir Charles Warren erected fort
at the time of his expedition which
squelched the Boer flibuster republics Stel-
laiand and Land of Goshen. Here resides
the chief Mankoroane, whose tribe is said
to number 10000.
Fourteen Streams and Warrenton are
points where the railway crosses the River
Vaal. The Warrenton Bridge, named after
Sir Charles Warren, is $3.50 feet in length.
Kimberley. 647 miles from Cape Town
and about go south of Mafeking on the
railway. is well known as the centre OF the
diamond industry, possessing the great
mines known as Kimberley and De
Beers. and being practically the con-
trolling centre for the diamond in
ha
last census its population was about $4,000.
of whom rather less than one-half were
whites. 1t has number Of hotels. as well
as a hospital and sanatorium, a public
library containing one of the best collec-
tions of books In South Africa, club, q
Masonic temple, q park with cricket and
football fields; Anglican. Wesleyan. Pres
byterian. and Roman Catholic churches.
trans, cabs, and couple of daily newspa-
pers-the Daily Independent and the
Diamond Fields Advertiser" A short dis
tance away is Beaconsfield. practically a
suburb. with a population of 10000. halt
whites. around the mines OF Du Toit's Pan
and BulfoEtein. AT Kimberley the dia-
mond mines and De Beers offices would Of
fer an irresistible temptation to the Beers,
but, Notwithstanding the Cape govern
ment's en3eavor to weaken the volunteer
force there by recalling the civil servants.
Kimberley will doubtless prove hard nut
for the Beers TO crack. Its defenders are
North Lancashires. volunteers, and engi-
reers-about 2,5G0 in all-with guns and
MaNims and the debris heaps and trenches
connected with the mines afford fortifca-
tions ready made.
Modder River, Hope Town. and Orange
River are small places on the railway he
tween Kimberley and the junction OF the
" m
Port Elizabeth. respectively, De Aar being
the name Of the important station at the
apex OF the triangle just over 500 mi ,es
from Cape Town. As De Aar is a spot
touched by the trains running north 10
Kimberley and northeast to Blosmfon ein. !
the Orange Free State, and the Transyaal,
1t is extremely likely that the Free State
Beers will do their worst to wreck the
railways in that quarter. 10 prevent or at
least delay the passage Of troops. In the +,
same vicinity and subject to the same con-
sideration are Colesberg and Burghers- |
dOrp. towns in the Cape Colony near the |
Orange River and on the railways that ap-
proach the Boer republics from Port Eliza |
beth and East London. respectively. !
Colesberg, famous as the birthplace of |
President Kruger, is a town of some 1000 |
inhabitants, and has two bridges-the |
road-bridge being 1340 feet in length. and !
l $50 feet. Burghersdorp is a smaller town
but with English, Roman Catholic. and |
Wesleyan churches as we'll as Dutch: the |
Orange River is crossed at Bethulie Bridge, |
l 1856 feet in length. Aliwal North short !
distance from Burghersdorp on a branch |
line, is an important frontier town Of be-
tween 1000 and 5000 population, and faces
the Free State across the Orange River.
which is spanned by the Frere Bridge, $50 |
feet in length, an avenue also from the |
colony into Basutoland.
The northern Natal towns which are
threatened are enclosed in the triangular
space where the railway from Durham runs
up to the Transvaal by way Of the pass
well known as Laing's Mex or the COL"
between the mountains of which Majuba Is
one. the higher ground being in the hands
of the Beers Charlestown, in the extreme
north of Natal colony, 3O4 miles from the
port of Durham stands 1886 feet above sea
level, four miles distant from Majuba Hill.
Before President Kruger suffered the rail-
way to penetrate his territory Charles
town was of Importance as a terminus, but
its small glory has departed, and the place
is now quite insignificant A little lower
down the hills up which the railway climbs
lies Ingogo station, close to the Schuins
Hoogte battlefield Qngogo Heights, and
still lower, at a distance of thirty-six miles
from Charlestown, in the direction of the
sea, stands Newcastle, on the Incandu Riv-
sr, at the foot of the Drakensbergs. 1t is
4 very healthy little town of some 1000
inhabitants, and possesses English, Wes-
cyan and other churches, a town hall. and
, public library and il is the centre of