to show their loyalty to England. There would at the same time have been a general rising of the numerous natives of the same race in the Rustenburg district. They were ordered to remain perfectly quiet, and they have done so.

In the Waterberg district it was the same, Captain Sampson reported :

As far as I was able to ascertain, the natives are loyal to the Government, and were unanimous in offering their assistance against the Boers.

In Pretoria district it was the same. The chiefs there were smaller, but all were loyal. Some of them appeared before the Royal Commission at Newcastle and at Pretoria. Their plaintive petitions not to be left to the mercy of the Boers, and the disingenuous and shifty answers given to them by the authorities, are worth study.

In the eastern part of the Transvaal the natives were restrained with the greatest difficulty from fighting. Mapoch actually took the field, and a British official had to be sent to him to stop him.3

Sir Morrison Barlow, the commissioner for the lower part of the border, says in his evidence before the Royal Commission, speaking of the natives, "They are British to a man." In fact Sir Evelyn Wood himself admitted the same fact to me personally.

There is no part of recent English history so black as our desertion of the Transvaal natives. The provisions of the Convention are mere subterfuges. Already the Kaffirs are feeling the vengeance of the Boers. Ikalefeng has lost all his cattle; Mankoroane and Montsiwe have lost most of their territory; Mapoch has lost his land and his people, and is 3 C. 3114, p. 143.

2 C. 2950, p. 174.

under sentence of death. One after another those who helped us in our time of difficulty will experience the vengeance of the people into whose hands we have surrendered them. We have had no regard for our loud-sounding protestations of philanthropy, nor for the piteous complaints of the natives. We have buried out of sight all considerations of gratitude, of faith, and of honour. But we cannot shake off our moral responsibility, and on our heads will rest the blood of these unfortunate Kaffirs, whom we have deluded, deceived, and deserted.

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CHAPTER XIII.

THE FIGHTING IN NATAL.

Point chosen by the Boers to resist the British troops at Laing's Nek -Laing's Nek in Natal-Sir George Colley marches against them with 1000 men-Arrival at Mount Prospect-Battle of Laing's Nek-Reasons for defeat-Description of the IngogoThe battle there-Effective fire of the Boers-Abandonment of the plateau-Firing on a flag of truce-Arrival of Sir Evelyn Wood-His march over the Biggarsberg-The Majuba defeatDescription of the mountain-The ascent of the hill-Consternation of the Boers-They rally and attack the mountain— Deadly fire of the Boers-Death of Romilly-The reserves waver-The retreat becomes a rout-Attack on the hospital. Death of Sir George Colley-Firing on the white flag-Heavy British loss-Reason for the defeat.

THERE were several points at which the Boers could with advantage have opposed the march of British troops from Natal to relieve the beleaguered garrisons in the Transvaal. Within the borders there was the crossing of the Vaal River near Standerton, which is often impassable for days in the wet season, though the occupation of this point would have been rendered difficult by the presence of the small British force in Standerton. Beyond this lay a group of hills, called the Roode Kopijes, or Red Hills, half way between Heidelberg and Standerton, through which the road to Pretoria ran. Still further inland was Heidelberg

itself, where the road traverses a narrow pass, which could easily have been defended.

The Boers, however, selected a position beyond the Transvaal borders within the colony of Natal, and it must be confessed they exhibited great judgment in so doing. The point at which they determined to make their stand was at Laing's Nek, where the main road crosses the Drakensberg. The Drakensberg Mountains are situated along the line where the great inland plateau of South Africa suddenly drops to a lower level. On the western side of the mountains the country is 5000 or 6000 feet above sea-level. On the eastern or Natal side it is only about 3000 feet. The Drakensberg towers above the Natal plains like a huge wall; and there are only one or two points at which access can be attained to the higher plateau beyond. The easiest pass over the mountain was at Laing's Nek, but the approach to it was over rough, mountainous roads, and the pass itself was guarded by steep hills on either side.

At the time the outbreak occurred there were only about 1000 troops available in Natal. Sir George Colley gathered them together in the shortest possible time, and marched with them in the direction of the Nek, with a view to relieving the besieged garrisons, who were supposed to be in greater straits than they actually were. It was a chivalrous but perilous experiment. The force at his disposal was deficient in cavalry, that branch being represented only by sixty mounted rifles. The Boers were well mounted, and accustomed to fight on horseback. Against the British there was a force at least four times as strong, nearly every man of which was a picked shot; while Sir George Colley's soldiers, like most of the British

army, shot exceedingly badly. A Natal newspaper pointed out the disadvantages under which Sir George laboured, and suggested that he should at least wait for the arrival of the reinforcements which had been telegraphed for, and were arriving from all parts. But Sir George Colley was anxious to save the garrisons, and perhaps also to strike a blow before the arrival of other officers, and he determined to advance.

Before leaving Maritzburg Sir George published a general order, in which he called upon the troops to assist him in putting down the rebellion of a brave and high-spirited, though misled and deluded, people. The terms "rebel" and "misled and deluded" irritated the Boer leaders exceedingly, and they issued a counter-manifesto repudiating them.

The Nek itself was not actually occupied by the Boers till the 27th of January, though their commanders had been collecting in the neighbourhood some time previously. Sir George Colley arrived at Mount Prospect, four miles below the Nek, and in sight of it, on the 26th, but he was not ready to give battle till the 28th. The roads between Newcastle, the last town in Natal, and the Nek were in a very bad condition, and the country was very hilly and heavy.

The attack was commenced by the artillery, who shelled the Nek for about twenty minutes. The artillery practice was good, and the Boers on the Nek were beginning to get very uneasy when the firing stopped. A charge was then made up a steep side to the right of the Nek by the mounted men; but the force was too small, and they were beaten back. Meantime the 58th infantry were advancing to attack a Boer fort on the top of a hill between the Nek and

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