eno
on 3rd January, and another party, about the same date, had driven out
of Dordrecht a patrol of British mounted troops, which had occupied
that place on the 23rd December. At Mafeking and Kimberley the
garrisons were still gallantly holding their own against the enemy,
although in the latter town the hardships of the siege were telling
much on the spirits of the civilian portion of the population. In
Natal the 5th division had landed; and an attack, made by the Boers on
Ladysmith on 6th January, had been repulsed after a severe struggle in
which the fighting efficiency of the British troops was shown to be
unimpaired. Yet disease, coupled with losses in action, was beginning
seriously to reduce their effective strength and their capacity for
active co-operation in the field with the relief force.

[Sidenote: Boers.]

[Sidenote: In Natal.]

[Sidenote: Cape Colony. 1. With Grobelaar at and near Stormberg. 2.
With Schoeman at Colesberg. 3. Reinforcements on road. 4. With Cronje.
5. With Ferreira before Kimberley. 6. With Snyman before Mafeking, and
in the west. 7. Under Botha fronting Plumer.]

The Boer scheme for the whole war still centred on the capture of
Ladysmith. For the siege of that town, and for the repulse of the
British relieving force, at least 21,000 burghers appear to have been
still employed under the supreme command of Joubert. In the western
theatre Grobelaar had probably 4,000 men under his control at
Stormberg and in the adjacent areas: facing French at Colesberg were
some 5,000 men, with Schoeman as leader; Boer reinforcements, gathered
from various sources, amounting in all to some 2,000, were on their
way, or would shortly be on their way, to that threatened point. The
strength of Cronje's commando at Scholtz Nek may be estimated at
8,000, while 3,000 men, under Wessels and Ferreira, were investing
Kimberley. Snyman had under his orders some 2,500, most of whom were
encircling Mafeking, although a few detachments patrolled and
dominated those western districts of Cape Colony which lie to the
north of the Orange river. North of the frontier of the colony about
1,000 men, under Commandant Botha, opposed Plumer's efforts to relieve
Baden-Powell's garrison from southern Rhodesia. Thus the total
effective strength of the Boer forces actually in the field at this
time may be approximately set down as nearly 46,500 men. Of these
probably 1,000 were Natal rebels, and 5,000 British subjects belonging