On February 8 General Colley made a demonstration in force on the
Ingogo Heights. The force consisted of under 300 men, with 4 guns and
38 mounted men. On the Boer side there were about 1,000 men, and the
fight lasted from morning until after dark. It was a drawn fight, in
which both parties left the battlefield at night. There cannot be any
doubt, however, that the balance of advantage was with the Boers,
since the loss on the British side was very severe: 76 men were
killed and 69 wounded.

On February 27 came Majuba, when Sir George Colley designed to
retrieve his fortunes and strike an effective blow without the aid of
his second-in-command, Sir Evelyn Wood, whom he had sent to hurry up
reinforcements. The scaling of the mountain at night was a fine
performance. The neglect to take the rocket apparatus or mountain
guns, or to fortify the position in any way, or even to acquaint the
members of the force with the nature of the position which they had
taken up in the dark, and the failure to use the bayonets, were the
principal causes of disaster. The Boers attacked in force a position
which should have been absolutely impregnable, held as it was by a
force of 554 soldiers. The Boer force is not known, but probably
consisted of upwards of 1,000 men, since Christian Joubert after the
fight offered to take a portion of the men, numbering, as he said,
some 500, to attack a small British laager on one of the spurs of
the mountain. The splendid feat of taking the hill-top, however, was
accomplished by a small storming party of less than 200 men, the
balance of the Boer forces covering the approach of their comrades
by an accurate and incessant long-range fire. The result, as is
known, was terrible disaster: 92 killed and 134 wounded, and a
number taken prisoners, represented the British loss, whilst the