cattle
had been captured. In consequence, everything in the shape of food
became very scarce. Flour, coffee, sugar, &c., were now regarded as
delicacies remembered from the far-away past. The salt supplies were
especially low, and we feared that without salt we would not be able
to live, or if we did manage to exist, that we might bring upon
ourselves an epidemic of disease. Our fears in this respect were
increased by the opinions expressed by our doctors, and we viewed our
situation with considerable disquietude. Happily, as experience
proved, our apprehensions were not in the least justified, for during
the ten months that preceded my capture my burghers lived entirely
without salt, and were at the time that I fell into the hands of the
British as healthy as could be desired.

Existing as we did solely on mealies and meat, potatoes and other
vegetables which we might chance upon were regarded as luxuries
indeed. Though it may appear strange it is nevertheless a fact that we
were always fortunate enough to obtain adequate supplies of mealies
and meat. We ground our mealies in coffee mills if no other mills were
available. Mealie pap is cooked in a simple fashion, and occasionally
boiling hot pots of it have fallen into the hands of the British. The
British soldiers were not much better off than we were, for they were
limited to bully-beef and "clinkers," though they frequently
supplemented their larder by stores from Boer farms, such as fowls,
pigs, &c., and had salt, sugar, and coffee in abundance. Their
culinary utensils were not nearly so primitive as circumstances had
reduced ours to.

Many Boers did nothing but roam round with their cattle, and I confess
that on many occasions they excited my admiration by the "slim" manner
in which they evaded capture. Boers of this description were dubbed
"bush-lancers," because they always sought the thickest bushes for
sanctuary. These "bush-lancers" were of three kinds: There were some
who sought by running away with their cattle to escape commando duty,
others who hoped by retaining their cattle to obtain a large profit on
them after the War was over, while others were so attached to their
cattle that they would as lief have lost their own lives as have
suffered their cattle to be taken. All three classes of "bush-lancers"
contrived to supply us with adequate stores of food. Often, however,
it was a difficult task to get the supplies out of them. When we asked
them to sel