io8 Men, Mines, and Animals in South Africa. 



cleared some acres of bush, sunk a well with tim- 

 bered sides about thirty or forty feet in depth, 

 erected a circular fort Avith thick earthworks and 

 timbered walls and wide deep ditch. Underground 

 in the fort was kept the ammunition and other 

 stores. The whole represented an immense amount 

 of hard, incessant labour, and had been effected 

 with an amount of neatness, of ingenious expedient, 

 of fertility of resource that spoke volumes in 

 favour of the skill and science of the officer, of 

 the enprit de corps and resolution of the men. 

 What an armv "we mioht have in Eno;land if onl\' 

 we had no AYar Office ! The B.B.P. are now 

 guarding about 150. miles of the Limpopo in aii- 

 ticij^ation of the Boer trek. Along this length of 

 river are four or five drifts where detachments are 

 stationed, and where forts have been erected. 



Major Goold- Adams described to me the attempt 

 made shortly before b)' a party of Boers to cross the 

 river. About thirty Boers, the advanced guai'd of 

 a mucli larger party, came down to the river, fully 

 armed, intending to cross. They were called to 

 that they would be fired upon by the British force 

 if they advanced, upon Avhich they sent over two or 

 three of their partv to parley. They Avere in- 

 formed that they could not 1)C allowed to go in un- 

 less they signed declarations of their intention to 

 recognize the British flag, and to abide by the laws 

 and regulations of the Chartered Company, and 

 that in no case would any large, armed party be 

 allowed to enter. They refused to sign any docu- 

 ments, and in a manner described as most insolent 



