etrating
the mass of hills and making their way eventually into the Klip
valley.

[Footnote 221: Sir R. Buller's despatch, dated 17th December,
1899.]

[Sidenote: The river as known, and unknown to the staff.]

In this section of the Tugela, the only crossings which seem to have
been known to Sir Redvers Buller's staff, before the battle, were the
two bridges, the drifts immediately above and below that over which
the road passes, and the "Bridle Drift" four miles up stream to the
south-east of E. Robinson's farm. There were other fords which will be
mentioned later; but the river, in consequence of the difficulty of
approaching it, had not been systematically reconnoitred, nor had the
known drifts been tested, although, as elsewhere in South Africa, they
are subject to sudden variations, here dependent on the rainfall in
the Drakensberg. The Tugela is, as a rule, fordable at this season of
the year at the regular passages, and has an average breadth of some
120 to 150 yards. The banks, fringed in places with low bushes, are
near Colenso twenty feet above the summer level of water. Immediately
to the south and to the south-west of the bridges the ground runs down
to the bank in gentle glacis-like slopes, which, except where the
Doornkop Spruit and a few dongas traverse them, afford no cover to
troops advancing towards the river. East of the railway the terrain is
more broken, and the fringe of bush country is soon reached. For this
reason, but still more on account of its isolation on the south bank
of the river, Hlangwhane Hill, which looked down on the Colenso
kopjes, was tactically weak and has generally been regarded as the
true key of the whole position. Nevertheless, even if Hlangwhane and
the crossings close to Colenso had been captured, only one stage of
the task would have been accomplished. Further severe fighting would
have been necessary before the defiles and the very difficult country
to the north-west or north could have been forced.

[Sidenote: The Boer defences.]

[Sidenote: Their occupation.]

[Sidenote: The story of the Boers on Hlangwhane. 1st stage.]

The whole of the mountain redoubt had been elaborately fortified under
the personal direction of General Louis Botha. A special commission,
consisting of Generals Erasmus and Prinsloo, had been nominated by a
Krijgsraad, held on 2nd December, to supervise the defence
arrangements on the Tugela, but the commission made but one