ote: Transvaal High Veld.]

The High Veld of the Transvaal differs slightly from that of the Free
State in appearance. It is more broken and undulating; the range of
vision, at times apparently boundless in the southern state, is rarely
extensive, except from the summit of a kopje, being usually bounded by
the low ridge-lines of one of those great, gentle, almost
imperceptible, rolls of the ground which are a feature of the
Transvaal veld, and with its hidden watercourses, its peculiar
tactical danger. A mountain range is seldom out of sight; and,
speaking generally, the Transvaal may be said to be less sombre than
the southern or western districts of the great plateau.

[Sidenote: The kopjes.]

If the veld can only be compared with the sea, the kopjes which
accentuate, rather than relieve, its monotony resemble in as marked a
degree the isolated islands which rise abruptly from the waters of
some tropic archipelago. Sometimes, indeed, the kopjes form a rough
series of broken knolls, extending over a space of several miles, as,
for instance, the ridges of Magersfontein and Spytfontein, between
Kimberley and the Modder; sometimes a group of three or four, disposed
irregularly in all directions, become a conspicuous landmark, as at
the positions of Belmont and Graspan; and it is not uncommon to find
larger masses, not less irregular, enclosing the river reaches which
their drainage has created, among which may be enumerated the heights
south-east of Jacobsdal, and by the river Riet, and those about
Koffyfontein and Jagersfontein on the same stream.

[Sidenote: Better for view than defence.]

But, as a rule, the kopje of the veld is a lonely hill, a mass of
igneous rock--flat-topped or sharp-pointed. From 200 to 800 feet in
height, without spur or underfeature, accessible only by winding paths
among gigantic boulders, sheer of face and narrow of crest, it is more
useful as a post of observation than as a natural fortress; for it can
almost always be surrounded, and the line of retreat, as a general
rule, is naked to view and fire.

[Sidenote: Boer States as defensive terrain.]

So far as tactical positions are concerned, any force on the defensive
upon the veld of the Boer States must be mainly dependent on the
rivers. Yet the spurs of the Drakensberg, blending in a range of
ridges, form a mountain stronghold admirably adapted for guerilla
warfare; and all along the Basuto border, at a distance of from 10 to
20 mi