To our artillery, however, belonged the chief honours of the
day, for the guns seem to have been splendidly handled. Especially fine was the shooting of the guns manned by blue- jackets from the Powerful,' which had been brought up from Durban on specially built trucks,—a feat which has astonished all the experts, for these great fifty-pounder quickfirers are some 20 ft. long and very heavy. The naval guns seem to have been brought into action as soon as they arrived, but, unfortunately, too late to do much more than cover our retirement on Monday. It is clear, however, that they are more than a match for the heaviest Boer guns. They have repeatedly silenced the Boer batteries, for their fire is as rapid and accurate as it is destructive. It remains to be said of Monday's action that the Boers showed splendid courage, and that our losses were unfortunately very heavy,- i.e , 60 killed and 240 wounded. Taking the war as far as it has gone, our loss appears to be approximately : killed, 200; wounded, 800; missing and prisoners, about 1,200. Thus, in all, our fighting force has been reduced during the fortnight of active operations by about 2,200 men.
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