The present position is this:  We have got the Boers, a big lot of them, at any rate, into a very broken and mountainous country, a country which, though it suits their tactics and is strong for defence, is nevertheless very difficult to get out of.  The way south is barred by the Basutoland border.  They dare not cross that or they would have the hordes of Basutos, who are already buzzing and humming like a half-roused hive, on to them.  The other passes Hunter occupies in this way:  Rundle comes up from the south-west to Fouriesberg through Commando Nek.  Paget and Clements march south towards the same point through Slabbert’s Nek.  A little farther east Hunter himself forces Retiefs Nek, while farther east still Bruce-Hamilton, helped by Macdonald, is to hold Naawpoort Nek and block the Golden Gate road.  The western columns, i.e. Rundle’s, Clement’s, Paget’s, and Hunter’s, are to force a simultaneous entrance into the Fouriesberg valley, and having got the enemy’s force jammed against the Basuto border, to force it to turn eastward up the rugged Caledon valley, the only two exits to which are, we hope, by this time held by Bruce-Hamilton and Macdonald.  This we have now done.  Now it only remains to see whether these eastern exits have been successfully occupied by our columns or not.

[Illustration:  PLAN TO ILLUSTRATE PRINSLOO’S SURRENDER]

From the moment of leaving Bethlehem, at which place we remained nearly a fortnight while the General placed his columns, we entered among the hills and fighting was continuous.  Our passage to force was Relief’s Nek, and, as we had expected, the Boers made a determined stand there.  The ground lay in a naturally defensive position; a narrow plain among steep, almost precipitous, ranges, and in the plain, arresting further progress, an abruptly sunken valley, scooped out to a depth of a couple of hundred feet; as though, what must perhaps have happened, some sudden collapse down below had allowed the ground here to fall in.  The sides are in most places precipitous, but to the north they shelve up by degrees in terraces of sloping rock which a man can easily clamber up.  The first terrace is only a few feet deep, and accordingly a number of men can form here along the brink and fire across the plain, being totally concealed from the advancing troops.  Moreover, the edge of this curious and sudden valley is indented and pierced with a number of little crevices and fissures in which riflemen can snugly ensconce themselves with little risk of being seen by attackers in front.  This was the main Boer position.  You see it departed from the general rule, and instead of occupying a hill, occupied a hollow.  They are past-masters in the art of choosing ground.  The adjacent heights were also held.