SOUTH AFRICA. 



625 



Louis Botha with 2,000 men made a dash into 

 .Zululand and a feint toward the north, then 

 turned southeast and on Sept. 26 attacked Itala 

 .and Prospect forts on the Zululand border at 

 the southeast corner of the Transvaal. The gar- 

 risons had been strengthened by Gen. Lyttleton 

 without the knowledge of the Boers. Botha used 

 no guns but kept up the assault on both forts un- 

 der artillery and musketry fire for nineteen hours, 

 suffering about 400 casualties. Major Chapman 

 could not have held out longer if the Boers had 

 kept up the attack on Itala, having expended all 

 his ammunition. The British guns were dis- 

 abled during the action. The Boers rushed to 

 the trenches again and again with a daring and 

 persistence that had not before been exhibited on 

 either side during the war, and some passed 

 through the rifle-fire to fall by the bayonet in 

 the trenches. A simultaneous invasion of Natal 

 by his force from the east and De Wet's from the 

 west was planned. One commando made its way 

 into Natal from the Orange River Colony, and 

 others hovered on the border. After his disaster 

 Botha, hard pressed by Lyttleton's columns, was 

 not able to carry out his part of the plan. The 

 cordon was drawn closer around him from Zulu- 

 land and the Transvaal. On Oct. 6 his main 

 force, 2,000 strong, was attacked by Gen. Walter 

 Kitchener's column northeast of Vryheid and 

 evacuated its position, retiring north into the 

 Pongola forest, where it split up into small groups 

 as the other commandoes had already done, and 

 all slipped through the cordon or hid in kranzes 

 and kloofs until the British troops retired. On 

 Sept. 30 Delarey made a night attack with 1,000 

 men on Col. Kekewich's camp at Moedwill. The 

 Boers killed 39 and wounded 108 British, includ- 

 ing the commander, and then withdrew, taking 

 off the camp supplies. The foreigners of Kemp's 

 commando led the attack, which lasted two hours. 

 Louis Botha returned to the Ermelo district, 

 where the columns of Gen. Rimington and Gen. 

 Rawlinson searched for him in vain. The heavy 

 rains and fogs necessitated a lull in active opera- 

 tions for some weeks. 



In December the Boers, though their losses in 

 the last six months had averaged 2,000 men a 

 month and 32,000 horses had been taken from 

 them, displayed renewed vigor. Chris de Wet 

 assembled a strong force with which in the night 

 of Dec. 24 he rushed Col. Firman's camp at Zee- 

 fontein, within the quadrangle having Vereeni- 

 gung, Volksrust, Harrismith, and Kroonstad for 

 its points, which the British had attempted to 

 clear several times and had enclosed with block- 

 houses. There were 6 British officers and 50 men 

 killed, 8 officers were wounded, and 2 guns were 

 captured. The total Boer losses by the war in 

 killed, wounded, and prisoners for the year end- 

 ing Dec. 31, 1901, were 18,320 men. The number 

 of rifles captured from the Boers or surrendered 

 was 7,993, with 2,300,000 rounds of ammunition. 

 All the guns known to belong to or to have been 

 captured by the Boers, 27 in number, excepting 

 the last ones captured at Zeefontein, were taken 

 by the British during the year. The number of 

 Boer horses taken was 29,882 ; of cattle and sheep, 

 366,821. The British casualties in battle during 

 the year were 9,113 men, including 1,513 pris- 

 oners who were afterward released. The number 

 killed accidentally was 342; died of disease, 

 4,090; invalided home, 25,800. 



Claims for damages on account of losses in- 

 curred by being deported from South Africa were 

 asked by the diplomatic representatives of various 

 countries on behalf of their nationals. The pow- 

 ers acknowledged the legal position taken by the 

 VOL. XLI. 40 A 



British Government that a rcneral rommanding 

 an army in the field IKIH the ahsoluto right to 

 expel any persons whom he considers to ho dan- 

 gerous, suspicious, or undesirable. It w^is repre- 

 sented that many persons who hud maintained 

 strict neutrality had been expelled ami h.id inrlo- 

 cently suffered losses and hardships. Su<-h -a.PS 

 the British Government agreed to ex;innn ;md to 

 make some compensation where hardship \vas 

 proved. About 1,800 claims were investigate'! 

 by a compensation commission. The total 

 amount asked was 1,277,195. There were two 

 principal classes of claimants the employees of 

 the Netherlands Railroad, belonging to all nation- 

 alities, Dutch being most numerous, Germans 

 next ; and aliens in Johannesburg of every nation- 

 ality who were deported by wholesale after the 

 discovery of a plot to murder Lord Roberts and 

 other British officers in July, 1900. As the Neth- 

 erlands Railroad officials actively aided the Boers 

 in preparations for and the prosecution of hos- 

 tilities, all employees of the company were re- 

 quired to establish the fact of their neutrality 

 before compensation was allowed. The Johannes- 

 burg claimants, on the other hand, were presumed 

 to have been neutral unless something could be 

 shown to the contrary. The claims having been 

 investigated, a lump sum was offered in settle- 

 ment to each Government, 6,000, for instance, to 

 be distributed among American claimants, and 

 the offers were accepted, the total amount being 

 about 100,000. The British Government de- 

 cided to acquire the shares and debentures of the 

 Netherlands Railroad. The directors had played 

 so zealous and prominent a part in the hostilities 

 that confiscation was urged. This international 

 law and usage forbade. An offer was made of 

 sbmething under the current market price, and it 

 was accepted. The British Government refused, 

 however, to pay anything for the large amount of 

 stock, 5,107 out of 5,713 shares, owned by the 

 Transvaal Government, out of a total of 14,000 

 shares, sold for a good price after the beginning 

 of the war to a syndicate of German capitalists. 

 In the cases of deported professional men, railroad 

 officials, missionaries, and others who had re- 

 nounced allegiance to Germany to become Trans- 

 vaal burghers the German Government held that 

 they were equitably entitled to compensation be- 

 cause they were expelled as Germans. The Eng- 

 lish compensation commission refused to take 

 such cases into account. 



Portuguese Possessions. Portugal claimed 

 all Rhodesia and British Central Africa, Portu- 

 guese missionaries and slave-traders having for- 

 merly penetrated these regions, which were still 

 visited by Portuguese negroes from the east and 

 west coasts, both ancient possessions of Portugal. 

 A British naval demonstration impelled the 

 Portuguese Government, yielding to superior 

 force, to concede to Great Britain the interior. 

 Portuguese East Africa, the inland limits of which 

 are fixed by the Anglo- Portuguese agreement of 

 June, 1891, is divided into the districts of Mo- 

 zambique, Zambezia, and Lourengo Marques. 

 The Manica and Sofala districts of the interior 

 have been transferred to the chartered Mozam- 

 bique Company. The company that undertook 

 the development of Inhambana failed. The dis- 

 trict between the Rovuma and the Lurio is ad- 

 ministered by the Nyasa Company. Gazaland, 

 on account of the recent revolt of the natives, is 

 under military law. In Manica, which borders 

 upon Mashonaland, British miners have registered 

 claims, but however rich in gold the country may 

 prove to be, the mines can not be developed until 

 means of transport are provided. Sugar is cul- 



