seeing that
for a while they were rationed on one and a half biscuits a day. Yet
they gave Mr Stead's "ill-treated women" two shillings a loaf for
bread that sixpence would have well paid for, and no one was allowed
to bring foodstuffs away from any farmhouse without getting a written
receipt from the vendor. If the military police caught a ragged
Leinster packing a chicken down his trouser leg through a big hole in
the seat, and he could not show a receipt for the bird, away went the
man's purchase to the nearest Field Hospital. To this same
representative of the Press the wife of a farmer still out fighting
our troops naively said, "For goodness sake do keep those wicked
Colonials away; I am terrified of them" (he was himself a
Colonial)--"but I am so glad when the English come; they pay me so
well." That was the experience of almost all who had anything to sell,
alike in town and country; and this particular Frau confessed to
having made a profit of ten clear pounds in a single week out of the
bread sold to the British soldiers. It is said, however, that in some
cases when they asked for bread our men got a bullet. Around many a
farmstead there hovered far worse dangers than the danger of being
fleeced.

[Sidenote: _No wages but the Sjambok._]

At Elandsfontein an almost frantic welcome was awarded us by the
crowds of Kaffirs that eagerly watched our coming. As we marched
through their Location almost the only darkie I spoke to happened to
be a well-dressed intelligent Wesleyan, who said to me, "Good Boss, we
are truly glad that you have come; for the last seven months the Boers
have made us work without any wages except the sjambok across our
backs." It is only fair to add that the burghers on commando during
those same seven months were supposed to receive no wages; and the
Kaffirs, who were commandeered for various kinds of service in
connection with the war, could scarcely expect the Boer Government to
deal more generously with them. From the very beginning, however, the
Kaffirs in the Transvaal were often made to feel that their condition
was near akin to that of slaves. The clauses in the Sand River
Convention which were intended to be the Magna Charta of their
liberties proved a delusion and a snare. Recent years, however, have
effected immense improvements in their relative position and
importance. Since the mines were opened their labour has been keenly
competed for, and a more considerate feeling concern