The age-herald., 1900-03-25
OFFENCES OF PRETORIA
 ~
Mines Under the Defles That Approach
 The Boer Capital

From the New York Sun.
 Now that the British have taken Bloem- fonten everybody is waiting for the at tack on Pretoria. It is taken for granted that her majestys forces will not march into the Boer capital without the hardest fighting of the war. Nobody who has not seen them has any comprehensive idea of the elaborate preparations the Boers have made for the defense of their capital Not long ago man, now in New York, who has inspected more than once the fortifica-
 tions of Pretoria and who negotiated the
 purchase of many of the guns which will
 be used in defending the Boer capital, told
 to a reporter of the Sun about the Pre-
 toria Qualifications and the plan of defense,
 should the British invade the Transvaal.
 and this is what he said:
 Pretoria is practically surrounded by hills Between the hills and through them are narrow defiles. Every Edll about Pre-
 toria is fortined by the best modern guns
 that can be made by the best European
 gunmakers, outside England. The guns
 that were not considered good enough for
 the defense of capital are the guns which we have been using in the field Therefore, you may get some notion of
 the care with which the Pretoria guns
 were selected They were mounted under the direction of skilled military experts from the works where they were made and 1 very mudh doubt if there are better 1 or more soldly mounted guns in amy for
 tification in the world.
 'These guns have been so placed that they command every approach to the capital Each gun is supplied with its own ammuni- tion vaults, holding enough shells to feed the guns for at least two years. And, what Is very much to the point, these ammuni- tion vaults are full-not a shell having been taken from them since the war began. Ow- ing to the topography of the country comparatively small force of artillerymen can serve these guns and they will be so protected that one life will be the equal of about ten, were the guns placed in less fa- vorable natural positions Moreover the na- ture of the country is such that We have been able to place the guns so that they will not be easily located by the enemy. We have figured on being able to annihilate larger army than Fcgland has in South Africa at present, and stiD not be obliged
 to surrender.
 only fortifying we have done. We have
 paid particular attention to the defies in
 these hills, through which an invading
 force would have to send good part of it's
 troops These defiles have been mined and,
 should the necessity arise, and British
 force attempt to pass through, the explo-
 sion of these mines will follow and Eng
 land will then be able to count the cost of
 warning upon a free people. Our home guard is not so very large, but is quite large enough, we believe, to defend and preserve our capital.
 "Of course, the question of supplies will enter into the defense of Pretoria. The defenders have made provision for long siege and so long the crops do not fall, so long as there is no drought, we can hold out indefinitely. If a drought comes, then we will suffer- If it continues long
 enough maybe we would be compelled to
 surrender. But we have considered these
 questions and we have come to the con-
 ciullion that, in the event of a drought,
 the Boer would be kvirg to tell about it
 long after the Briton was dead"