taken by a party under Major Pratt (Durham Light Infantry), who drove the Boers towards the Ermelo-Standerton line of blockhouses, where the luckless Dutchmen were forced to surrender. Other bands were also run to earth, and in all 82 prisoners--among them Field-Cornet de Villiers, Corporal de Jager (Staats Artillery), and Mr. de Jager, formerly of the First Volksraad--were the reward of this brilliant enterprise. General Hamilton by these dashing exploits (during the last his troops covered fifty-two miles in twenty-four hours) had considerably unnerved the enemy, who now, both by night and by day, lived on tenter-hooks, and consequently evaded as much as possible all contact with the British troops. In his operations the General was materially assisted by the activities of the columns under General Plumer, Colonels Pulteney and Colville, who effectually barred all exits to the south, and kept the enemy within range of General B. Hamilton's schemes. General Plumer scored on the 25th. Then, 24 prisoners were hemmed in and taken in the kloofs between Spitz Kop and Castrols Nek. Colonel Fry (West Yorkshire Regiment) seized thirty more straggling burghers who had run their heads against the Piet Retief-Wakkerstroom blockhouse line. Colonel Mackenzie was meanwhile guarding the northern avenues of escape leading across the Delagoa Railway in order to frustrate plans for a junction between Botha and Viljoen, but the last ruffian remained north of the railway at a farm between Boschoek and Kruger's Post, where, on the 25th, he was cleverly captured by a detachment of the Royal Irish under Major Orr. Thus the enemy lost one of his most prominent and trusted leaders, one who nursed a supreme hatred for the British. The weather continued deplorable--fogs, mist, and incessant rain baulked the best enterprises of the troops--but on the 21st 300 Boers were encountered by Colonels Park and Urmston, and in spite of the elements some captures were made. On the 24th, near Houtenbek, another guerilla gang, with whom the Boer Government was said to be, was encountered. But this will-o'-the-wisp disappeared at the first shot into the broken country north of Roosenekal. January closed with the departure from Lydenburg of Colonel Urmston, who escorted General B. Viljoen and other prisoners to the railway at Machadodorp. Early in February, east of Springs, the columns under General G. Hamilton and Colonel Wing made an important haul. The Boers had broken back to the west of the constabulary posts, and clung tenaciously to their ground--most probably in fear of facing, in their efforts to escape, the fire-swept region of the blockhouse lines. They were exceedingly wary, and the reward of very hard labour on the part of the British columns was meagre until the 3rd February, when, at Grootpan, 31 burghers with their transport were captured, and 3 killed. TRANSVAAL (NORTH)