The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1899-11-22
THE HARDY BOER
AS A CAMPAICNER
By an American who Has Lived in South


make or receive charges in silence, their
minds intent upon aim and upon strategy.
| II it is a charge, they advance in scat
tered and what seems TO be a confused
manner. In reality 1t 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.
! A rout is almost impossible because the FAR
mers do not understand how TO lose 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 martial music OF
the most impressive kind in the extraordin-
airy 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 "One Hundred" Each note is pro-
ionged six beats and the effect is solemn
and even awful. so much of resolution, OF
stern and relentless resolve do they put
] into the singing.
The two strongest points about TINS prao-
tically ununiformed and strangely organ
| lZed BOeF army dic DOth
individual ability of the Boer at strategy
! and his individual ability as sharp
shooter.
The favorite topic of conversation among
the Beers has always been how best 10
meet the British when they come io nc
stray the republics, how to tight the great
defensive war which every Boer mas leiI
sure would inevitably come. the plans
that are being carried out and Will De car
ried out are the result of years upon years
of study of the situation by the purshefs
of all ranks consulting together upon the
stoops of their matched houses OF evenings
| The Boer is natural strategist, WHY,
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.
1t is a mistake to suppose that the Beers
| have deteriorated in craftsmanship. Inc
English have got that impression from
superficial observation of the Beers Oh Tue
large towns The villagers and farmers are
as sure of shot as old. With smooth-pore
gun a Boer shot Sir George w. Cohey
through the head in the MaJuba flii hsh'
at / 400 yards With one of the new guns
General Symons was shot in the Boer ne"
target-the stomach-at far longer rahse'
have seen girl bring down pira Oh the
wing at 400 yards
If Sir Redvers Butler shows himself at
1900 yards, his fate is hardly doubtful. for
the Beers are now armed with the sporting
! Nannlicher. and they can, with their khoWi-
! edge of air currents, hit small OBJECT AZ
most every time at 1850 yards.
President Kruger has been buying these
arms in large quantities ever since the
Jameson rail and the practical failure OF
the British to punish the raiders. General
Io,,bert took me into a storehouse at Pre-
toria filed with thousands of these rifles.
isn't II a beauty?' he said, picking up one
of them and patting it affectionately. AT
tuontv wards it will shoot through fifty
inches of pine
| rha Nannlicher bullet travels with We
locity of 1900 feet per second. At 4,0oo yards
it will pierce two inches of solid ASH anu
three inches of pine At thousand yards
I the bullet, if it does not flatten, Will pore
hole right through bone without splitting
This rifle has barrel thirty lnehes lohs
and weighs eight pounds. Its eaiiofe 10
thirty 1t is hair-triggered mas d pis'oi
grin and the Boer carries it slung over his
shoulder by a strap.
In the last two years the conhtrynheh
nave been putting away the Old shioo'ti-
bore and providing themselves with the
Nannlicher In killing game they use oui-
let of Nl.icG The lead pons is exposed 50
| that If mushrooms when it strikes. On
ente-ing the bullet expanGs and tears an
| ugly hoe. If it ssrikes s.deNise the enect
is horrible.
General Jou1oert assured me that THESE
| bullets would net be used against one ENG
| llsh-unless the latter employed their par
| barous dum-dum.
If the British try to go up into the repub-
| les by Natal ruhey must traverse Inc Drak-
ersburg Mountains, The only great range IN
| South Africa The peaks of these noun
rains rise as high as 1900 feet The way
through the range is tortuous course
along steep cliffs and above yawninS prec-
ip,ces. Every few hundred yards there IS
an anrpregnable position. Tie evaporation
Of the lowlands condense there and give
! pleryty of water for force irtreneaed high
among the rocks. Forage, too, is plenty
| \ few men can hold oft indefinitely and
unless the British take heavy artillery with
cinema weii-niga impossible feat-a few
hundred men can Almost .des-roy a great
army.
Orce the British gain lie almost level and
almost open weld over which the two re-
ptablics spread, the Bosrs have LETT two
physical alhes-famine and fire.
Water in South Africa is often as precious
as gold and sometimes infinitely more pre-
tious Every year Witnesses 4errible
drought in some part One may journey 100
nd f,5 n
drop Of water. In johannesburg the writer
was glad to pay "a cer'ts for quart. Nearly
the whole city was drinking bottled and
imported mineral waters al l.lle time.
Scarcity of water is the curse of that coun-
try Every farmer maintains reservoir, 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
l. shallow pools. THESE are called pans and
serve to quench the thirst of wild animals.