mission was roughly rectangular, , with loopholed walls high, and was surrounded by a broad ditch in which sharpened sticks were embedded. A second line of defence, should the outer rampart fall, was formed by laagering the wagons inside the walls. A horse and cattle kraal was constructed, as was an abattis; a field of fire was cleared all round out to . The garrison numbered 1,300 soldiers and sailors, plus 400 wagoners. The appearance of large bodies of Zulu on the surrounding hills on 2 February, although they retreated under shelling from the 7-pounders, compelled Pearson to request reinforcements. A week later, he learned for the first time the full extent of the centre column's defeat at Isandlwana and was told that there could be no reinforcement. Pearson considered withdrawing part of his garrison, if Chelmsford agreed, but receiving no response and no further runners, it became clear that Eshowe had been cut off. The garrison would run out of provisions by the beginning of April. February passed with no Zulu attack, save for sniping attacks and skirmishes between patrols. The beginning of March led Pearson to attack a kraal 7 miles away, to keep the soldiers from idling. The next day a heliograph was spotted signalling from Fort Tenedos and a makeshift apparatus allowed Eshowe to reply. The garrison learnt that a relief force would depart the Lower Drift on 13 March and that they were to advance to the Nyezane to meet it. This was cheering news for the garrison, with rations running low and sickness having killed 20 men. A few days later another message advised a delay in the arrival of the relief column until 1 April. Relief Column Lord Chelmsford led the relief column, consisting of 3,390 Europeans and 2,280 Africans to Eshowe. The artillery with the column consisted of two 9-pounder guns, four 24-pounder Congreve rockets tubes and two Gatling guns. The progress was slow, as in addition to taking a roundabout route to avoid ambush, the rivers they had to traverse were swollen by heavy rains. By the evening of 1 April, Pearson's observers at Eshowe could see the relief column laagering on the south bank of the Nyezane. The laager was sited on a 300-foot ridge running roughly west–east. West of the ridge, the ground dipped, only to rise again to the 470-foot Umisi Hill. The ground sloped away in all