d Roberts, in the course of his despatches,
endeavoured to bring home both of these circumstances to the public in
England.

Of the area he wrote:[194]

[Footnote 194: November 15th, 1900. Johannesburg.]

"The magnitude of the task which Her Majesty's Imperial troops
have been called upon to perform will perhaps be better realised
if I give the actual number of miles of the several lines of
communication, each one of which has had to be carefully guarded,
and compare with the well-known countries of Europe the enormous
extent of the theatre of war, from one end of which to the other
troops have had to be frequently moved.

[Sidenote: Vastness of South Africa.]

"The areas included in the theatre of war are as follows:

Square Miles.
Cape Colony 277,151
Orange River Colony 48,326
Transvaal 113,640
Natal 18,913
--------
Total 458,030
--------
Rhodesia 750,000

"And the distances troops have had to travel are:

By Land Miles.
Capetown to Pretoria 1,040
Pretoria to Komati Poort 260
Capetown to Kimberley 647
Kimberley to Mafeking 223
Mafeking to Pretoria 160
Mafeking to Beira 1,135
Durban to Pretoria 511

"From these tables it will be seen that, after having been
brought by sea 6,000 miles and more from their base in the United
Kingdom, the army in South Africa had to be distributed over an
area of greater extent than France (204,146 square miles) and
Germany (211,168 square miles) put together, and, if we include
that part of Rhodesia with which we had to do, larger than the
combined areas of France, Germany, and Austria (261,649 square
miles)."

Of the nature of the country and its inhabitants he wrote:[195]

[Footnote 195: November 15th, 1900. Johannesburg.]

"And it should be remembered that over these great distances we
were dependent on single lines of rail