Here also in April came Erroll's small column, bringing
with it the garrison and inhabitants of Hoopstad, a post which it
had been determined, in accordance with Lord Kitchener's policy of
centralisation, to abandon.
In the month of January, 1901, there had been a considerable
concentration of the Transvaal Boers into that large triangle which
is bounded by the Delagoa railway line upon the north, the Natal
railway line upon the south, and the Swazi and Zulu frontiers upon
the east. The bushveld is at this season of the year unhealthy both
for man and beast, so that for the sake of their herds, their
families, and themselves the burghers were constrained to descend
into the open veld. There seemed the less objection to their doing
so since this tract of country, though traversed once both by
Buller and by French, had still remained a stronghold of the Boers
and a storehouse of supplies. Within its borders are to be found
Carolina, Ermelo, Vryheid, and other storm centres. Its possession
offers peculiar strategical advantages, as a force lying there can
always attack either railway, and might even make, as was indeed
intended, a descent into Natal.
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