The country which has been the scene of operations in South Africa seemed designed by nature for defensive operations. In the Orange Free State the veldt stretches away for miles and miles, broken by single kopjes and short ranges of mountains, from which a sentinel can note the approach of a hostile force in the far distance. In the Transvaal, although the country is more broken, it is easy to watch the enemy’s approach; and with the excellent signal service of the Boers it has been practically impossible for an advancing column to surprise the defending force. The drifts or fords of the rivers were the most serious difficulty that had to be overcome by the British in transportation of their wagon-trains and artillery. By long action of the water in the rivers they have been cut deep, so that the descent from the ordinary level of the country to the bed of the stream is at most places very sharp. Strangely, there was no attempt, except at the railway bridges, to improve in any manner these difficult fords, although in many cases an hour’s work by a company of engineers, or by any kind of a company, would have saved many hours’ delay in the transportation. [Illustration: British soldiers pulling army wagons across a drift.] I stood at one ford for over three hours, watching the passage of a wagon-train which might have been taken over in a single hour had the bed of the river been cleared of stones and rocks, as would have been done by the first American officer to pass that way. The water was not more than eighteen inches deep, and the obstructing rocks could easily have been picked up by hand, and a way cleared by a dozen men. Instead of that, a long wagon-train was taken over, with every wheel in the train in jeopardy, and with a total wrecking of two wagons. At some drifts the descent into the river and the ascent of the opposite bank was so steep that the animals had to be assisted by a company of men with a long rope attached to the wagon, to ease it down and haul it out. This was the regular custom at a drift within twelve miles of Pretoria, where there was every facility for bridging, and where a company of sappers could have constructed a span in a few hours that would have stood during the rest of the occupation of the district. At the foot of San Juan hill, in Cuba, there was a ford of a river where the bottom was perfectly hard and smooth, and after the barbed wire entanglements laid by the Spaniards had been removed, it could have been used without bridging and without any serious loss of time. But as the river banks were steep the engineers quickly threw a span across, using the thick bamboo which abounds in the jungle; and this adequate bridge allowed the men to be sent forward on the advance in better time and in better condition. Similar tactics could have been employed at many passages in South Africa that would have greatly assisted in the operations, but for some reason, and at great cost, they were neglected.