A word must now be devoted to the terrain in South Africa. Except in Natal the country through which the advance was about to take place is generally arid, waterless, and unproductive. The climate is dry, salubrious, and generally hot. Rain is almost unknown except in the rainy season, which includes the months from mid-October to mid-March. Over a great part of Western Cape Colony the rainfall is less than 10 inches; in Central Cape Colony and the west of the Free State it ranges between 15 and 25 inches. In consequence of this diminutive rainfall forage for horses and mules is difficult to obtain in any but the wet season, and South Africa generally cannot maintain its own population, but has to import breadstuff's. The physical structure of the country is a vast table-land, 2,500 to 5,000 feet in height, lying on both sides of the great Drakensberg Range, the topmost summits of which rise to 11,000 feet. As in most mountainous regions, the climate of this great upland is hot by day and cold by night. The rivers, for the most part, shrink in the dry season to mere chains of stagnant pools; the Orange River alone is able to float small boats along the greater part of its course at all times of the year. When the rains do come the tricklets swell to formidable torrents, and can only be crossed with difficulty. The surface of the interminable table-land or veldt is broken by innumerable low hills or kopjes, which are covered with boulders, affording the finest possible shelter for marksmen. Here and there rise the low conical mounds which mark the nests of white ants, and which give equally good cover. Desolate, monotonous, and forbidding though this land appears at first sight, its charm grows upon the traveller. Its very dryness makes it a healthy home for the white races; its air is clear and stimulating to a degree. [Illustration: A VIEW IN THE KARROO. The northern portion of Cape Colony and much of the Orange Free State is of the arid character indicated in this photograph. It is dotted with ant-hills and with low scrub.] [Illustration: A KAFFIR HUT IN THE KARROO.] [Sidenote: New tactics required.] In such a country as this the tactics of Europe cannot be employed. The general's greatest difficulty will be to provision and water his men and beasts of burden. The absence of good roads compels entire reliance upon railways, and gives them an importance which they nowhere else possess. Yet, liable as they are to interruption by a single daring horseman, they are most untrustworthy lines of communication, as was seen again and again during the course of the war. [Illustration: A BATTERY OF ARTILLERY CROSSING A DRIFT.