The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-09-24


strategy and religion Before going
into battle each captain leads his
troops in prayer. for the Boer children
are brought up on the Heidelberg cate
chisln, and the first thing they learn is
the answer to the question: What is
the only comfort in life and in death?"
The army then joins in singing odd
Hundred - every man," as one Eng
lishnnan described it, trying to Guido
the other in slowness of. time, each note
being prolonged for at least six beats.
The religion injunctions are not for
gotten on the march and travel on the
Sabbath day is tabeoed as much as
possible. Dom Paul'ss pre-eminence in:
the nation is due to his piety as much
as anything else, and when he was
coulmandant general and military
leader he could get a following By rails
ing his hand. The Beers are almost
as great fanatics in war as the Mo-
hammedans, though their natural
strategy prevents them from recklessly
destroying themselves. Kruger rose to-
fame by taking hold Of a campaign
against the natives in which his prede-4
cessor had failed This man did not be-
long to the Dopper church,, which Is
the ultra-orthodox branch Of the Dutch
Reformed that is in the ascendant
there. The Beers said the Lord was
against the other leader on account Of
his heresy.
A Boer military camp, however is
not entirely devoid of recreation. Shoot
ing at mark is always in order, and
the young men indulge m arougn sport,
that sometimes proves serious. They
call it throwing the ox-hide." and II
consists in throwing a. man up in. the
air just as the American soldiers Do
with blanket About al dozen chaps
grab the edges of an ox-hide and from
this throw a comradel IN the ar 20
nigh that when he strikes again he is
unconscious and perhaps has broken a.
few bones.
There is no doubt about the skill Of
Roer with the rifle, though the EngIlsh
contend that the new generation mas
deteriorated vastly in this respect. rms
may be true of those young men VINO
are growing up in the towns. Dut. Oh
those who live in the open veldt |tals
cannot be said 1t is common TO see
them while riding at a good pace drop
a bird on the wing at 100 yards. In
killing an OK for meat on the march.
more than one bullet is never useq,
Tommy Atkins breads the boef.
There is such a cold, unfeeling crack 20
his rifle that makes the. English sol
der pale, for he knows the bullet r.
coming straight for. the center Of ms
belt Fighting against the Matabele-
or Bechuana is not such a dangerous
matter The machine guns do nosl o.
the work, and the only reply is a scat
tered volley of assegais and slugs- ahFu-
ger and Joubert know this. and count
on this shrinking dread to keep tne
English troops at a distance. Hereto
fore this has been done
Five battles has Joubert had with
British troops. The number OF troops
engaged on each side at these various
engagements have varied between zoV
and ]. 500. At Laing's Neck the Engl1sn
lost 1870; the Beers "a; at Ingogo 9he
British loss was 142; the Boer, IL; az
Majuba Hill the British loss was ~,
the Boer. 5; at Bronkherst Spruit, tne
British lost 12O, the Beers l. and IN tine
Jameson raid 100 reformers fell, while
the Roere lost but s. Thus, while the
English troops have suffered IN tnelr
fights with the Beers to%the eXIenI oI
S32 men, the Transvaai FARMERS loss
has been but fifty-two. and atsth1s rate
they believe they.leanf az least MAINTAIN
a long war with the English '17a 3r7 re"sa
A war with the Beers will prove a
costly proceeding to England for kru-s
gers first move will be to rush over
the border to Kimberley and wreck the
diamond mines that have produceo
$500 100000 worth of diamonds IN tWen-
ty-fiye years. There is militia Tegi-<
ment at Kimberley, but is not strong
or we'll armed, and they could not With
stand an attack by the Beers. TIE Jo-
hannesburg mines he could Destroy az
his leisure. They produce S125, o99,0O0
worth of gold every year, and are own
ed almost entirely by Englishmen.
Laing's Neck.fs a pass in theDrakens-
berg mountains and it is the key to
Natal. It is Kruger's plan to secure
this and from there ravish the colony
of Natal. 1t would be easy for him to-
destroy the railroad communications.
as the Neck is pierced by a tunnel lib
feet long, and the Natal railroad worms
it's way around the mountain peaks at
a great height and one sortie would
suffice to destroy it's usefulness.
The Boer Rad has been experiment
ing in the last two years with devices
to utilize the railroads in the Trans
vaal in event of war and to this end
have employed skilled engineers to con-
struct fortified cars consisting simply
of a steel bed with an oval covering of
wrought steel. This hood is large
enough to contain o company Of sharp
shooters, who fire from portfolios, and
a large quantity of ammunition. 1t is
intended to operate these modern Tro-
jan horses on the various lines rum
ming out from Johannesburg. Kruger
has been progressive in recent years