ral Backacher." Further comments were made by those who
always find the art of criticism so much easier than the art of
performance, but to repeat them at a time when the principal actors in
the sorry affair are unable to defend themselves would be unjust and
ungenerous. Our Generals, besides treachery, had from the first unusual
ignorance to deal with. One of our misfortunes has been the necessity to
rely for information on friendly Kaffirs, or those who affected to be
friendly. Now, as all know, the Kaffirs, even when honest, are scarcely
reliable. Their notions of size, for instance, are on a par with those
of the man who described the dimensions of a bump by saying it was about
the size of a piece of chalk. To the Kaffir an impi is an army, whether
small or large, and it is almost impossible to bring home to him the
value of exactness. In fact, in the matter of ambiguity the Kaffir has
the makings of a politician, and therefore it was no wonder that so many
of the well-organised military schemes in this unlucky war came to
grief. But in the case at Stormberg there were other difficulties to
contend with. The map of the ground was utterly unreliable. The
configuration of the hills was incorrectly presented and the distances
badly judged. The general knowledge of the direction was so imperfect
that none was sufficiently well informed to put a check upon the
movements of the guide, nor had the position been reconnoitered by any
of those engaged against it. In this way the winding and circuitous
route more than doubled the march, knocked up the troops, and ruined the
effect of the night assault; for it was full daybreak before the British
approached the point of attack. One of the sufferers from the disaster
declared that the British were so worn out that after the engagement
they threw themselves down and did not mind whether they were taken
prisoners or not. He himself crawled to within three miles of the base
camp, and then lay down on the veldt and fell asleep. How long he
remained asleep he did not know. Most of the prisoners, he believed,
were taken by the Boers while the men were asleep.

A report was circulated that General Gatacre had shot with his own hands
the guide who led him astray, but this statement was entirely incorrect.
The military authorities thoroughly sifted the case of the sergeant of
the Cape Police who acted as guide on the occasion, and it was allowed
that he erred genuinely in mistaking the en