3-071-061 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Transvaal War: all that we saw of the Boers at Majuba Hill, 1881. Front-page illustration depicting '...an instance of the manner of lighting amidst the rocks and crags of that rugged mountain summit where the British troops, on the morning of Sunday, Feb. 27, as they lay behind an imperfect shelter afforded by the blocks of stone around its exposed margin, could hardly perceive the approach of their enemy, in much greater force, climbing up the steep hillsides to make the final assault on their...position. They were...quite taken by surprise..., after having endured, for several hours...the incessant firing of the Boers from covered places below, though hundreds of bullets struck the rocky rampart, in front of each British soldier, and cast splinters of stone over their heads. It was not till one o'clock in the afternoon that the Boers suddenly appeared at the top of the mountain, leaping over the stones and breaking through the circle of its defenders, who were speedily overpowered, shot down or driven off the ground, by greatly superior numbers...those not killed or wounded got down the sides of the hill, with much difficulty, in a scattered and dispersed condition...Sir George Colley was left dead at the top of the hill'. From "Illustrated London News", 1881.