TOPIC:

This map tries to make sense of the contemporary maps and current geography to explain the defensive positions.

This picture is taken from the road leading north from the drift and looking back in a SE direction.

The high ground in the foreground continues left and arches round to Observation Hill, the colonial HQ. The mighty Jammersberg Mountains are in the distance.

The picture shows the flat ground the the middle of the colonial defences which is protected from the encircling hills except from the middle going west.

This panorama is taken from within the colonial lines from just south of the Kaffrarian Rifles position. The centre of the photo looks east, across the river to the Boer positions on the far side. The Caledon River can be seen snaking through the picture. Here, the higher ground was set back from the river giving the defenders a good vies of anyone approaching from this direction.

The hills slightly to the left help Boer guns.

There is a disused railway bridge 300m north of the current road bridge. This picture is taken from beside the railway bridge, looking due west into the positions held by the Kaffrarian Rifles. The defensive position on the higher ground is clearly visible.

Crossing back over the river to the defences, this picture look due north and at the front edge of the Kaffrarian Rifles position. The river is in the valley floor to the right and the Boer gun positions are on the Jammersberg hills to the right.

We have travelled on the road, past the church on the left as the land rises from the valley floor. This picture is taken looking south west towards the hills held by the CMR.