Goldsboro weekly argus. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1885-1909, 1899-11-30
THE HARDY BOER
AS A CAMPAIGNER.
By An American Who Lived in
South Africa

lu1GSs
The farmer soldiers of the two
republics make or receive charges
in silence, their minds intent upon
aim and upon strategy. II it is a
charge, they advance in a scattered
and what seems to be a confused
In reality it 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 farmers do not understand how
to lose their heads They scatter,
and when a 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 impress
sive kind III the extraordinary sense.
Each night before turning III"
and each morning before breakfast,
and also before gong into battle if
there is opportunity, the entire ar
my, with heads uncovered, joins in
singing Zone Hundred" Each note
is prolonged six beats and the eff
feet is solemn and even awful, SO
much of resolution, of stern and re-
lentless resolve do they put into the
singing.
The two strongest points about
this practically ununltormed and
strangely organized Boer army are
| both individual ability of the Boer
| at strategy and his individual ability
as a sharp-shooter.
The favorite topic of converse
ton among the Beers has always
been how best to meet the British
when they come to destroy the re-
publlcs, how to fight the great de-
fensive war which every Boer has
felt sure would inevitably come. The
| will be carried out are the result Of
years upon years OF study OF the sit
uation by the burghers of all ranks,
consulting together upon the stoops
of their thatcned houses of evenings.
The Boer Ia a natural strateglst,
willy, crafty, hard to corner. quick to
seize the slightest advantage, quick
to see advantage where ever trained
soldiers Of other nations would fail
to see it.
It is a mistake to suppose that
the Beers have deteriorated in mark
manship. The English have got that
impression from a superficial Obser-
walton Of the Beers of the large
towns. The villagers and farmers are
as sure Of. shot as Of old. With q
smoothbore gun a Boer shot Sir
George W. Colley through the head
in the Majuba Hill fight at 1,4OO
yards. With one of the new guns
General Symons was shot in the
Beers new target-the stomach-at
bring down a bird on the wing at
400 yards.
II Sir Redvers Butler shows him
self at 1900 yards his fate is hardly
doubtful. For the Beers are now
armed with the sporting Mannlich-
er, and they can, with their knowl-
edge of air currents, hit a small OBJ
ject almost every time at $500
yards.
President Kruger has been buy
ing these rms in large Quantities
yer since the Jameson raid and the
practical failure of the British to
punish the raiders. General Joubert
took M into a storehouse at Pre-
toria filed with thousands of these
rifles Isn't it a beauty" he said
picking up one Of them and patting
it atfectionately. SAT twenty yards it
will shoot through fifty inches Of
pine"
The Mannlicher bullet travels
with a velocity of 5000 feet per sec
ond. At 1000 yards it will pierce two
inches of solid ash and three inches
of pine. At a thousand yards, the
bullet, if it does not fatten, will
bore a hole right through a bone
without splitting it. This rife has 6
barrel thirty inches long and weighs
eight pounds. Its calibre is thirty
It 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 country
men have been putting away the ole
smooth-bores and providing them
selves with the Mannlicher. In kill
ing game they use a bullet Of which
the lead point is exposed SO that i
mushrooms" when it strikes. On
OAUOI1uS UuC Oull0U tARdIOS dIS
tears an ugly hole. It it strikes side
wise the effect is horrible
General Joubert assured me tina
these bullets would not be usec
against the English-pnless the lat
ter employed their barbarous dunn
dun.
1t the British try to go up int
the republics by Natal they mus
traverse the Drakensburg Noun
tains, the~only great range in al
. South Africa. The peaks of thes
mountains rise as high as HOO
feet. The way through the rang
is a tortuous course along steel
; cliffs and above yawning precipices
I Every few hundred yards there is a.