the enemy
seemed to find no difficulty in subsisting there....

"To-day a large and important district of the Transvaal is now
firmly held by us. But it must not be supposed that all the rest
is held, or even roamed over, by the enemy. Wide districts of
both the new colonies are virtually derelict, except, in some
cases, for the native population. This is especially true of the
northern part of the Transvaal, which has always been a native
district, and where, excepting in Pietersburg and some other
positions held by our troops, the natives are now almost the only
inhabitants. Indeed, nothing is more characteristic of the latest
stage of the war than the contraction of Boer resistance within
certain wide but fairly well-defined districts, separated from
one another by considerable spaces. Instead of ranging
indifferently over the whole of the two late Republics, the enemy
show an increasing tendency to confine themselves to certain
neighbourhoods, which have always been their chief, though till
recently by no means their exclusive, centres of strength....
From time to time the commandos try to break out of these
districts and to extend the scene of operations. But the failure
of the latest of these raids--Botha's bold attempt to invade
Natal--shows the disadvantages under which the Boers now labour
in attempting to undertake distant expeditions.

"The contraction of the theatre of war is doubtless due to the
increased difficulty which the enemy have in obtaining horses and
supplies, but, above all, to the great reduction in their
numbers.... To wear out the resistance of the Boers still in the
field--not more than one-eighth, I think, of the total number of
burghers who have, first and last, been engaged in the
war[300]--may take a considerable time yet, and will almost
certainly involve further losses. I will not attempt to forecast
either the time or the cost. What seems evident is that the
concentration of the Boers, and the substitution of several
fairly well-defined small campaigns for that sort of running
fight all over the country which preceded them, is on the whole
an advantage to us, and tends to bring the end of the struggle
within a more measurable distance. Our great object, it seems to
me, should be to keep the Boers withi