ins and barren plains, rendering,
except at the points mentioned, or by way of the sea, the transfer of
troops from one to the other a difficult process. Therefore the branch
lines (I. De Aar--Naauwpoort; 2. Stormberg--Rosmead) had a significance
hardly inferior to that of the three ports, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth,
and East London. These varied greatly in the facilities they afforded.
Table Bay, with its docks, wharves and store-houses, took rank among the
great commercial harbours of the world. Port Elizabeth, 430 miles
eastward, had no true harbour. Its open roadstead, although frequented
by the mercantile marine, was exposed to the dangerous south-east gales
prevalent on that coast. At East London, 140 miles yet further
eastwards, there was a small although excellent harbour. Its deep basin
allowed ocean steamers to moor alongside the railway wharf, but the
water area was limited and a sandbank at the mouth of the river Buffalo,
which flows in here, barred the approach of vessels exceeding 4,000 tons
in burden. On the east coast, Durban, at a distance of 300 miles from
East London and 830 miles from Cape Town, formed a satisfactory base.
The difficulties of a bar at the entrance to the harbour, similar to
that at East London, had been overcome by the energy and enterprise of
the colonial authorities. There was no direct communication by land
between these four ports, but this was of little consequence to a power
holding command at sea.

[Sidenote: The northern Drakensberg.]

North of the Stormbergen the Drakensberg range maintains its
north-easterly trend continuously until it breaks up in the valley of
the Limpopo. Along the eastern Basuto border, from the Natal to the
Free State frontiers, its characteristics, which have been always
grand, become magnificent. Here it is joined by the Maluti Mountains,
a range which, bisecting the domains of the Basuto, and traversing
them with its great spurs, has earned for the little state the title
of the South African Switzerland. At the junction of the Basutoland,
Free State, and Natal frontiers stands Potong, an imposing
table-shaped mass, called by the French missionaries Mont Aux Sources,
from the fact that it forms the chief water parting between the
numerous streams flowing west and east. Further south tower Cathkin
(or Champagne Castle), Giants Castle, and Mount Hamilton, the latter
within the Basuto border. All these and many lesser peaks are joined
by ridge after ri