ractically 200 (199.3). In the year ending February, 1902, the
official returns (which are incomplete) show more than 20,000 deaths in
camps with an average total population of about 100,000.[33] Our
accusers said the camps were instituted for the purpose of killing off
the Boer population. The truth is, the feeling against Britain, even
amongst the onlookers, was extremely bitter, and great bitterness does
not make for sane judgment. What is certain is that the camps
illustrated some of the callousness and carelessness which war always
produces. "The sites chosen for the camps were mostly chosen on purely
military grounds, and were often unsuitable; the medical and sanitary
staff was at first insufficient," writes Dr. Spaight. But, "unsuitable
sites, and insufficient" sanitation may produce terrible results, where
human lives are concerned, and one would not convert an adverse critic
by simply quoting the "_Times_ History" to the effect that "the Boers
themselves proved to be helpless, utterly averse to cleanliness, and
ignorant of the simplest principles of health and sanitation." The
attempt to shift the chief burden of responsibility on to the prisoners
is surely scarcely chivalrous. Carelessness and ignorance amongst the
prisoners are certain in all such cases to be contributory causes, they
are amongst the difficulties to be combatted, but to suggest that they
should have been permitted to produce such appalling results is to court
derision. Moreover, the chief authority on the subject, Lieut.-Col.
S. J. Thomson, C.I.E., I.M.S., who became Director of Burgher Camps in
February, 1902, by no means supports these charges. "Much has been
said," he writes, "about the want of personal cleanliness among the
Boers, but it must be remembered that ablutions are apt to be less
frequent and popular when water has to be laboriously brought from
considerable distances, as is often the case with farms on the veldt.
When bathrooms were provided in the camps, they were very freely and
regularly used. Nevertheless it is a fact that the Boer's notion of
sanitation as understood by Englishmen is very vague, and all classes
resort for purposes of nature to the open country. This custom, probably
innocuous enough under the conditions of existence on an isolated
homestead, made it extremely difficult to maintain the cleanliness of a
camp site, and it was very long before the people could be brought to
see that foul matters and dirty water