as far as my person was concerned, proved less successful,
indeed, almost fatal.

In regard to the blockhouse system, we need only make these general
remarks. The blockhouses along the railway and fighting lines of the
British, as well as in and round garrisoned places, played a most
prominent part in bringing the war to an end. It was at all times
difficult and dangerous to attack them; and to force their occupants to
surrender involved greater loss of life on our part than we could
prudently face. The only way we could destroy them was to approach them
as near as possible during the night, and locate a dynamite bomb on or
near them. In this way some of them have been blown up. It seems a
barbarous process, but is not war, at its very best, barbarous, brutal,
and unbefitting civilized nations?

As a means of capturing the burghers, they were a failure. Our
commandoes, when driven against them, always had sufficient pluck and
courage to cut the wires between them, and so they crossed the lines at
almost any point they pleased. That we _have_ crossed and recrossed them
frequently is proof enough that they were, in this respect, not a
success. The barbed wire fences, however complicated, were easily cut.

As a means of capturing the women and children, and especially the
cattle, sheep and horses, they served the purpose well. It was almost
impossible to drive a flock of sheep or a herd of cattle, not to mention
horses, over these lines during the day. The women with the old and aged
would retreat with the cattle and sheep until they came in touch with
the blockhouses, and were then often captured, one and all.

If it had not been for these little shanties all over the two republics,
it would have taken the British forces double if not treble the time to
have so thoroughly exhausted the late republics of food supplies. When
the republics were cut up into so many small sections it became
impossible to protect our foodstuffs.

From the railway line we went to Rouxville district, where we enjoyed a
rest of ten days. But on the 1st of September the enemy came in large
numbers and till the 22nd of October harassed us almost daily.

As I was anxious to return to the commandoes I left behind in the Cape
Colony, I thought it feasible to cross the fighting line, and take my
commando to Ladybrand district, where the enemy would probably leave us
unmolested for a while, and where the veldt provided ample food for our
horses. Th