Mafeking is from Kimberley 223 miles; Kimberley from De Aar, 146; De Aar from Naauwport, 69; Naauwport from Stormberg 80, as the crow flies over a difficult country, at least 130 by rail.

All three junctions with their intervening lines of rail, bridges, culverts and all, are little over fifty miles from the Orange River, which hereabout forms the boundary separating Cape Colony from the Free State.

And White is about to be invested in Ladysmith, and the Army Corps has not yet left England.
The average length of a transport's voyage from the United Kingdom to Cape Town, as determined from 162 records, was 22-1/6 days.

The first, with Hildyard's brigade, accomplished it {p.107} in 20 days, arriving November 9; the last of the four took 25 days, coming in on the 14th.
With them, and their one predecessor, 6,000 additional troops were at the latter date--five weeks after the Boers' ultimatum became operative--landed at the far base of operations, yet 500 miles by railroad from the front.

Kimberley and Mafeking were then already invested, and the bombardment at both places begun.