The news from the /dodder River is, as far as
it goes, satisfactory. The Boers have been working night and day at their entrenchments, and have extended them for many miles in a creseent•shaped formation, but though this would make another frontal attack most difficult, it does not threaten our camp, nor will it, when we have transport, pre- vent a flank movement, though it may, no doubt, make us fetch a wider compass. Meantime, our camp is pronounced to be unassailable and supplied with excellent water. Our works are strong and our artillery sufficient, and all round our position is a wide open plain, which could not be crossed by the Boers without a loss which they are not likely to risk. Our communications to the South are open, and our troops appear to be able to worry the Boers to a consider. able extent whenever they show themselves outside their works. The news from the Southern frontier, though as unsensa- tional as that from the Tugela and the Modder, is also good. General French and General Gataore are holding their own well, and, as far as can be judged, the alarmist views as to a Dutch rising on a great scale are not likely to prove correct. At any rate, they have not yet been justified by events.
