On The East Of The Town, Broken By The Loops
Of The Klip River, Is A Broad Green Plain, Some Miles In Extent,
Which Furnished Grazing Ground For The Horses And Cattle Of The
Besieged.
Beyond it rises into a long flat-topped hill the famous
Bulwana, upon which lay one great Creusot and several smaller guns.
To the north, on Pepworth Hill, was another Creusot, and between
the two were the Boer batteries upon Lombard's Kop.
The British
naval guns were placed upon this side, for, as the open loop formed
by the river lies at this end, it is the part of the defences which
is most liable to assault. From thence all round the west down to
Besters in the south was a continuous series of hills, each crowned
with Boer guns, which, if they could not harm the distant town,
were at least effective in holding the garrison to its lines. So
formidable were these positions that, amid much outspoken
criticism, it has never been suggested that White would have been
justified with a limited garrison in incurring the heavy loss of
life which must have followed an attempt to force them.
The first few days of the siege were clouded by the death of
Lieutenant Egerton of the 'Powerful,' one of the most promising
officers in the Navy. One leg and the other foot were carried off,
as he lay upon the sandbag parapet watching the effect of our fire.
'There's an end of my cricket,' said the gallant sportsman, and he
was carried to the rear with a cigar between his clenched teeth.
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