.

(4.) All the 12-pounders except two were in the first instance
sent up without limbers, and therefore had to be limbered up to
wagons. This for practical purposes in the country we had to trek
over was absolutely useless and caused endless delays. Eventually
we all got limbers built at Maritzburg, and equivalent gun-oxen
to drag the guns separately from the wagons.

(5.) The trail of the gun consisted of a solid block of wood some
12 feet long; so that if one laid the gun to any long range (in
most over 7,000 yards, I think) the oil cylinder under the gun,
on trying to elevate it, would bring-up against this trail and
prevent laying. This therefore necessitated digging pits for
trails to shoot much over 7,000 yards, which in bad ground often
took some considerable time. To obviate this defect would of
course be very easy with a steel trail of two side plates, and
space for gun and the cylinder between the sides.

(6.) The general idea of all the mountings I saw was narrow axles
and high wheels, whereas, for all trekking purposes, it should be
broad space between the wheels and low wheels. This was amply
proved to us by the number of times the high-wheeled narrow
mountings upset on rocky ground, whilst the broad low type went
along steadily. The 12-pounder gun itself did its work
beautifully, shooting hard and lasting well, and owing to the dry
climate of Africa we had no trouble at all to keep the guns clean
and all gear in good order.

(7.) Perhaps the most troublesome defect of all was that the
gun-carriage had no brake fitted. The gunnery drill-book system
of "lash gun wheels" may be at once erased from the book for all
practical purposes over any rocky or bad country; it simply, as
we soon found, tears the wheels to pieces, and chokes the whole
mounting up. An ordinary military Scotch cart brake, or a brake
fitted as the trek wagons here have, under the muzzle of the gun
on the forepart of the wheels, acts very well, and my
bluejackets, although not carpenters, fitted these for me. They
are screw-up brakes.

The sighting of the gun (drum and bar system) cannot be beaten, I
think. Perhaps a V-shaped notch to give one the centre of the H, or
hind sight, might be an improvement, as here personal error often
occurs. Lieutenant, now Commander, O