1609

THE BOER TRENCHES.

IN the report in THE LANCET of May 26th of the meetingof the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society on May 22ad wereferred to the lantern slides of the Boer trenches exhibited

by Mr. Clinton T. Dent, F.R.C S. Eng., in illustration of hisaddress. By the courtesy of Mr. Dent, by whom the photo-graphs were taken, and of Messrs. George Bell and Sons, weare enabled to reproduce two of these slides, which, withseveral others, will appear in a book Messrs. Bell are aboutto publish, entitled, "My Diocese during the War," by theRight Rev. the Lord Bishop of Natal. Fig. 1 shows a

typical Boer trench at Magersfontein, the foremost figure

in which, that of the Bishop himself, gives an excellentidea of the almost complete cover afforded by these deeptrenches to those engaged in them. The shelter provided waseven more complete than appears in the photograph. Skinswere spread over the iron supports laid across the trench,and in these skins earth was piled up. In many places sheetsof corrugated iron were laid on the iron supports. Thetrenches were thus to a great extent bullet-proof, if notaltogether bomb-proof. The Highland Brigade advancedalong the plain on the left. The front wall is coveredwith mealie sacks filled with earth. In places loop-holesare made between the sacks. Fig. 2 represents anothertrench, with a roofed-in shelter behind. On the top of thecentral kopje was an emplacement for a big gun.

FIG. 1.

FIG. 2.