30 Men, Mines, and Animals in South Africa. 



ordnance would have been complete/ But it is 

 ever so. Our War Office and Admiralty can never 

 be persuaded to make a finished and perfect work. 

 The various detached forts in which these guns 

 liave been placed have been constructed with great 

 solidity. The Cape Government supjDlied the sites 

 and the labour at a cost of about G0,000/. ; the 

 guns and mountings were furnished by the Home 

 Government. A 9*2-iixcli breech-loading gun, w^ith 

 hydro-pneumatic mounting, costs 17,000/. Two 

 of these guns, two 9 -inch muzzle-loaders, together 

 with several seven-ton muzzle-loaders, command 

 and protect the naval station at Simon's Bay. 

 The forts at Simon's Bay have been so ingeniously 

 concealed by the engineers that it would be 

 difficult and perhaps impossible for the officers of 

 an approaching hostile fleet to discover their situa- 

 tion until it had come well within range. The 

 General kindly allowed the 9 •2-inch breech-load- 

 ing gun in Fort Wynyard to have three rounds 

 fired from it for my inspection. The projectile 

 Aveighs 3801bs., and the charge of powder is 1661bs. 

 The target, a flagstafl" on a barrel, was moored at 

 a distance out at sea of 2900 yards. All three 

 shots, so excellent is the accuracy of the gun and 

 the training of the gunners, passed Avithin a few 

 I'eet of the target, which, if it had been an 

 enemy's ship, would have suftered fatal damage. 



^ The facts set out above were controverted in the House of 

 Commons, were controverted hy ]Mr. Stanhope, Secretary of 

 State for War. They are nevertheless authentic and accu- 

 ratelj'- stated. 



