Related article: undoubtedly be to this circum- stance that the constant adoption of frontal attacks, involving ter- rible losses, must be attributed. Would Gatacre, would Methuen, would Buller have charged di- rectly against well-armed men in a ch6sen position, if it had been possible to make a widely ex- tended flanking movement ? They have evidently had no efficient transport, and no man's dinner could be made secure if he was at any distance from the friendly iron road. And it is perfectly marvellous how well the railways have done their duty. When it is remem- bered that they are, as a rule, only single lines of rails (with many sidings, it is true), it speaks volumes for their management, and for the Army administration, that men, horses, guns, with all their gear, have been carried many hundreds of miles to the scenes of action, that every man has been supplied with neces- saries and even luxuries, and that the sad convoys of sick and wounded have been promptly and comfortably removed to the sanc- tuary of the base hospitals. But what a slight thread this is to be depended upon in the present ! Supposing racial sympathy be- came, as is not impossible, an I02 BAILYS MAGAZINE. [February influence too strong to be resisted by the Dutch farmers in Cape Colony and Natal, how easily might they interrupt the railway working. The ^ country itself would no doubt still be in our hands, but it might become ne- cessary to move many supplies to the front by road under escort. Then, in the future, what is the prospect ? We may be sure that all the railway lines, in Northern Natal, in the Free State and in the Transvaal, will be wrecked when Purchase Timolol our enemy begins to re- treat, and that, if our army is to arrive at Pretoria, everything ne- cessary to its existence as a fight- ing force must be carried in waggons by road. And this will be no small amount, for the ad- vance will be made through a devastated and exhausted coun- try, yielding little but grazing for animals, if even that is still to Buy Timolol Online be found in any satisfactory quan- tity. And how is Order Timolol all of this transport to be provided, and what are the animals that will be its most im- portant feature ? No doubt the forces in Natal and elsewhere that were in the field when the war began were able to draw upon local resources for their means Purchase Timolol Online of movement, and all the first requirements of the various divisions that have since been Buy Timolol landed have been met in the same way. The waggons that ply in various duties round the camps are probably all found in the country. But the great masses of transport which are necessary to give real mobility to our Timolol Mg columns must all be exotics. Only a small portion of them can now be in working order, and some considerable time must pass before every fighting unit Order Timolol Online can consider itself to be really mobile. In August and early September, Timolol Cost 1899, when the disputes with the Transvaal Government w^ere en- tering upon an acute stage and the probability of war was in- creasing daily, officers of the Army Remount Department were sent to Italy, to North and South America and other places Generic Timolol to arrange for the purchase of mules. In Italy alone, five thousand were to be procured. All that were to be sought for were the small mules, from 13^ to 14^ hands high, of the same class as those which are annually bought for the Timolol Price use of our army in India. The big Spanish mules, which run to 16 hands, have long ago been found ill adapted to military ser- vice, as they require an excessive amount of food, if they are to be kept in condition, and they have little pluck and stamina. Small mules have always a reserve of energy, while the tall, stately animals ar« of little use except for show and dignity. There was little difficulty in finding what was wanted. All arrangements for the purchases Timolol Tablets were made, and, as one remount officer ex- pressed it, it was only necessary ** to press the button '* in London to have shipload after shipload despatched. About 500' mules went to a shipload. But the button was not pressed till far on in October, nearly simultaneously with the order for the mobilisation of the army corps, of which the mules were to form the baggage animals. Then, Buy Cheap Timolol of course, all was immediate movement. Sea transport was taken up, and in the great fleet of ships that ploughed the sea towards the Cape was a very large proportion hoisting the signals that it carried animals. What was the prospect however that the thousands of mules which then passed on to the establish- ment of our army would be able to take a useful part in that army's operations ? It might i9ca] TRANSPORT AND SUPPLY IN SOUTH AFRICA. 103 then have safely been predicted that, as far as his road transport was concerned, Sir Redvers Buller would not be able to make one step in advance till the ist January, 1900, and that it was more than likely there would be a still further delay. The sea pas- sage to the Cape would, in the comparatively slow steamers era- ployed, occupy little less than a month. Then, in order to regain anything like working condition, from three weeks to another month would be necessary. The animals had to be fitted with harness, assorted in teams and probably to a great extent broken to steady draught. The waggons, when complete, had to be orga- nised and placed in charge of conductors and drivers, and it seems likely that many of them would have to be sent to their ultimate destination by road, for the railways and rolling stock must have been very fully other- wise occupied. And, in one of these items at least, there was, it is understood, unnecessary delay. Strong recommendations were made that all mules should be bought with their collars, as this would save a 'very considerable amount of fitting, when they came to be put into harness. But, for some reason or another, the suggestion was negatived. The collars were not bought and each animal had afterwards to be spe- cially fitted with perhaps the most important part of its equipment. In making the later purchases,