e nine thousand effectives at Ladysmith and might be contained by
fifteen thousand Boers, perhaps by a smaller number. There will,
therefore, be available against Sir Redvers Buller a force on the lowest
estimate about equal to his own, and possibly outnumbering it by two to
one.

On Wednesday, the 10th, the British force started westward. No telegram
as yet gives its distribution, but it is plain that Clery's and Warren's
divisions moved out, together with the cavalry brigade and whatever
mounted infantry had not been sent south. Hart's and Barton's brigades,
or one of them, with a proportion of artillery may be assumed to have
been left in the entrenchments which face Colenso and cover the British
line of communications by the railway. On Thursday morning Lord
Dundonald with the cavalry brigade and some of the mounted infantry was
in possession of the hills overlooking Potgieter's Drift and of the pont
or ferry-boat. The same day the infantry or the leading division,
Clery's, was in the hills north of Springfield. Lord Dundonald's force
commanded the river at Potgieter's Drift, and the crossing there was
thus assured. A pause of four days followed: a pause probably not of
inaction, but of strenuous preparation in order to make the final
advance vigorous. During those days, no doubt, supplies would be
accumulated at Springfield Bridge Camp, at Spearman's Farm, and at some
point near to the next drift to the west. This would save delays when
the advance began, for if the force depended upon magazines at Frere the
transport would break down in the advance beyond the Tugela, whereas if
the transport had in the later stages merely to start from the south
side of the Tugela, the force could be kept supplied for a few days.
Lord Dundonald was engaged in strengthening his position at Zwart's Kop,
so that in any case there would be a secure retreat across the river if
need be. The river itself seems also to have been properly reconnoitred.

The enemy's position could be seen four or five miles to the north, and
he was known on Thursday to be strongly entrenched. A passage for
Warren's division was chosen at Trichardt's Drift five miles above
Potgieter's and near to Wagon Drift which is marked on the sketch map
issued by the Intelligence Division. From Trichardt's Drift there is
evidently a road leading into the Bethany-Dewdrop Road, and parallel to
that which runs from Potgieter's Drift. On Tuesday, the 16th,
Lyttelton's brig