Victorious in her previous campaigns in Africa, Britain now confronted an altogether different foe. As this book explains, the Boers proved themselves formidable opponents, masterfully compensating for interior numbers through their resourcefulness, grim determination, strong religious faith and, above all, their expert use of cover, mobility and the power of long-range magazine rifles firing smokeless powder. With inadequate transport, insufficient numbers of mounted troops and poor intelligence the British were to be severely tested in a distant and inhospitable land of immense size and extremes of climate.