say, a ton of these shells, and drawn by eight mules, stuck
fast for a time in the open veldt; the passers-by have run up and shoved
at the wheels and so at last the lumbering cart has jogged slowly on.
This load would probably in action disappear in half an hour; and when
one reflects that in one of our recent engagements each battery fired
off 200 shells, it is easy to understand the enormous weight of metal
which has to follow an army in order to make the artillery efficient,
and to realise how unwilling a general is to leave a railway behind him,
and attempt to move his transport across the uncertain and devious
tracks of an unmapped African veldt. Lord Kitchener's successful march
upon Omdurman was only rendered possible by the fact that the army kept
continuously to the railway and the Nile.

The railway journey northwards is full of interest. Between Capetown and
Worcester the country is well watered and fields of yellow corn
continually meet the eye, interspersed with vines and mealies. Yet here
and there that lack of enterprise which seems to characterise the Dutch
farmer is easily noticeable. Irrigation is sadly neglected and hundreds
of acres which with a little care and outlay would grow excellent crops
are still unproductive.

Soon after leaving Worcester the line rises by steep gradients nearly
2,500 feet. Right in front the Hex River Mountains extend like a vast
barrier across the line and seem to defy the approaching train. But
engineering skill has here contrived to surmount all the obstacles set
up by Nature. The train goes waltzing round the most striking curves,
some of them almost elliptical. Tremendous gradients lead through
tunnels and over bridges, and the swerving carriages run often in
alarming proximity to the edge of precipitous ravines. What a splendid
position for defensive purposes! Had the present war been declared three
weeks earlier De Aar would have been quite unable to stand against the
Boers, and thus the enemy might with his amazing mobility have made a
swift descent along the railway and occupied the Hex River pass. Out of
this position not all the Queen's horses and all the Queen's men would
have dislodged him without enormous loss. With the armed support of all
the Dutch farmers from Worcester to the Orange River, a Boer occupation
of this strong position would have been a terrible menace to Capetown
itself. As it is, shots are occasionally fired at trains as they run
northward