THE MATABELE WARS. 730 Krugersdorp it is stated that before the main battle began the Boers were driven from an advanced position by Maxim and rifle fire. A correspondent of oneoftheJohannesburgpapers, who joined the column shortly after noon,says that he heard firing and then sawabout a dozen Boers inretreat, the headof the column appearing shortly afterwards in pursuit. It would seem, therefore, that there was a mere skirmish with an advanced Boer picket. Pressing on, the column found itself in front of the main Boer position.

they would disarm. The train that conveyed them back to Johannesburg conveyed also a battery of the State Artillery, the only regular forcethen maintained by the TransvaalGovernment. It was moved out towardsKrugersdorp, wherefighting wasalready in progress.

TheBoershadbegungathering at Krugersdorp on the Tuesdayevening, butfor thefirst twentyfour hours they had only a small force there, andif the Johannesburg committee had "meant business," they could easily have occupied the place. Boer patrols were thrown out to the westward to look for the approaching column. The place the Boers had chosen for defence IOHANNESBURG:A FIRST SIGHT OF THE RANa On Wednesday, January ist, at Ia.m., the first shots were firedin bright moonlight. The head of the column was then about twenty miles west ofKrugersdorp. A small partyofmounted Boers appeared in front and fired a few shots which didno damage. It -was afterwards somewhat foolishly argued that because the BoersI fired the first shots, they and not the invaders were the aggressors. The Boers galloped off just as aMaxim gun wasbeing brought to bear upon them. A little further on the column bivouacked for the night.

The march was resumed at dawn, but the progress of the column, the horses of which were all tired, was very slow. The track that was followed led right on to a position which the Boers had prepared for defence. Inseveral of the narrativ.s of the New Year's Day fight at was part of the brokenground west of Krugersdorp, near theViolet Mine. They held a line of hillocks across theroad, thehillocks beingpartly the rough rocks of the district, partly refuse heaps from the mine. They had dug shelter trenches, put a smallgarrison into the loopholed buildings near theshaft of tlae mine,and marked the ranges in front with sticks. Some of the estimates made by the raiders placed the Boer force as low as 200, others as high as 2,000. Probably the lower estimates are nearer the facts, for only the Boers of the neighbouring district had yet arrived,and,besides holding the ground near Krugersdorp, they had to keep a force to observe Johannesburg,and they appear to have sent parties out to the northward and southwardtopreventtheirposition being turned.

The Boer account of the Krugersdorp fight