For this purpose, since no direct attack was intended, the guns were of more importance than the infantry--and indeed the infantry should, one might imagine, have been used solely as an escort for the artillery.

A desultory and inconclusive action ensued which continued from nine in the morning until half-past one in the afternoon.

A well-directed fire of the Boer guns from the hills was dominated and controlled by our field artillery, while the advance of their riflemen was restrained by shrapnel.

The enemy's guns were more easily marked down than at Elandslaagte, as they used black powder.

The ranges varied from three to four thousand yards.