Of General Ian Hamilton's part in the proceedings on the right an eye-witness contributed to the _Morning Post_ an interesting account:-- "At daybreak on May 9 Ian Hamilton's column left their bivouac at Klipfontein and marched north to Boemplatz Farm without resistance. About mid-day the Mounted Infantry, who were a mile or two ahead of the column, on topping the ridges overlooking Zand River, came under fire of the enemy concealed in the dongas near the river, and on the hills beyond, and in the kopjes on our right. They remained there all the afternoon, peppering and being peppered in return. The veldt here was alive with buck and hartebeest, and they were so tame that herds of them grazed between the Mounted Infantry screen and the main body. This was too much for some officers of the C.I.V., and they left their bivouac near the main body, about a mile in the rear, and let drive at the buck. "Meanwhile the Hampshire Squadron of Mounted Infantry, which were playing hide and seek with their brother Boers, began to wonder how it was that bullets were coming from their rear as well as from their front. When they discovered that these bullets from the rear were intended for buck, they sent down a message, the language of which was hardly parliamentary, to the would-be buck slayers, and threatened to send a volley at the buck themselves. More Boer commandos were seen to be arriving from the east towards dusk, so there seemed to be every prospect of a warm time the next day, especially on the right flank. Up till now Ian Hamilton's column had been working quite independently, and had marched north from Thabanchu as a flying column, but this afternoon we were acquainted with the presence of another force on our left by seeing Lord Roberts's balloon in the air about eight miles away. That Lord Roberts met with but slight resistance may be accounted for by the fact that Ian Hamilton's column away on his right was always a few miles ahead of him, and threatened the enemy's flank. Lord Roberts's force had been marching north along the line of railway, and now the two columns were converging with a view to reaching Kroonstadt together.