They did wisely, for by the beginning of March the number of Colonial troops at the front was approximately as follows: Cape Colony, 15,000; Natal, 7000; Canada, 2820; Ceylon, 130; New South Wales, 1800; Queensland, 810; South Australia, 340; West Australia, 230; Victoria, 500; Tasmania, 180; New Zealand, 730; India, 250; total, 29,790. This tremendous increase in the size of the Transvaal force was a magnificent spectacle for the world at large. While it constituted the greatest military concentration in the history of the Empire, it left the British possessions in India, Malta, Crete, Barbadoes, Bermuda, Ceylon, Hong-Kong, Gibraltar, and elsewhere, if not adequately, at least powerfully defended. For instance, in India alone we had still a superb British army. It was composed of forty-seven battalions of infantry, six regiments of cavalry, sixty-two batteries of artillery, not to mention the enormous Indian Army, of which the cavalry was styled by Lord Curzon "the finest cavalry in the world." Even then we were not at the end of our tether. Conscription was undreamt of. Our military resources had barely been tested. The display of loyalty to the British flag, love for the Mother Country, and an ardent desire to uphold her rights, had not been confined to Great Britain's larger colonies. Small contingents for South Africa had been offered by Jamaica and Trinidad and elsewhere, and these, though gratefully acknowledged, had been refused, mostly in cases where the contingents were not large enough to constitute a military unit, and there might have been trouble in the movement of the force. The growth of Colonial offers of assistance from the time--the 10th of July--when Queensland sent an anticipatory telegram proposing military aid, it is interesting to follow. Two days later, the 12th of July, came a telegram from Lord Brassey at Victoria, saying that "offers have been received from Volunteers for service in South Africa." Five days passed. Then an offer of 300 men from the Malay States Guides arrived, the High Commissioner intimating, however, that he could not spare them. Three hundred Hausas from Lagos volunteered on the 18th of July. On the 21st of that month New South Wales offered 1860 officers, non-commissioned officers, and men. The offer of Hong-Kong on the 21st of September was followed by New Zealand's Parliamentary resolution to send a Transvaal Contingent. On the 5th of October Western Australia came forward, and on the 9th Tasmania offered her unit. On the 13th the offers of troops from South Australia and Canada were "gratefully accepted." Last, but not least, came the offer of assistance from India, and additional help from those whose aid had previously been given and acknowledged as invaluable.