The enemy were on both sides of the latter when first seen by the British.

To the north of the Nek--to the Boer right--is Talana Hill, where the decisive fighting occurred, and which had to be carried by direct assault, lasting, with the intervals of cover, for nearly six hours.
The {p.041} characteristics of the Hill itself, therefore, need to be understood.

As described by an eye-witness, it is about eight hundred feet high from the level of the donga.

The summit presents the flat table-like sky line, frequently noted in South African travel, of which Table Mountain, in Cape Town, is the conspicuous example.

After a few hundred yards of gentle acclivity through open ground a wood is reached, near which is a homestead called Smith's Farm.