ndependently of His Majesty's troops, and no further
information as regards the matter is available except the
report as stated above.

In conclusion, I think that it is not improbable that kaffirs have
made attacks in the districts named by you, but I can only attribute
these attacks to the action of your own burghers, _i.e._, to the
shooting and robbing of kaffirs, and the enmity thereby awakened among
the kaffirs by such maltreatment. While at the same time they (the
burghers) have supplied the kaffirs, by manner of sale, of weapons and
ammunition wherewith the attacks were made concerning which you
complain. I emphatically deny that they (the kaffirs) were armed or
incited by His Majesty's troops.

I have the honour to be,
Your obedient servant,

KITCHENER,
_Commander-in-Chief in
South Africa_.

District Lydenburg,
_6th November, 1901._

TO HIS EXCELLENCY LORD KITCHENER,
_Commander-in-Chief of His Majesty's Forces in South Africa._

YOUR EXCELLENCY,--

I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Excellency's
letter of the 26th October, containing a denial of certain acts
committed by armed kaffirs in the neighbourhood of Wit River and
Ohrigstad.

With respect to the first incident, _i.e._, that at Wit River, I can
only say that it appeared to us not only strange, but even improbable
that a band of armed kaffirs could attack simultaneously, and in
evident harmony with His Majesty's troops, and that neither party
should have any cognisance of the other's presence.

If it were the first occasion that His Majesty's troops had acted in
conjunction and with the assistance of kaffirs to make raids on the
burghers, then His Excellency's explanation would be feasible.

But, alas, our bitter experience in this War is otherwise. I shall,
therefore, be causing your Excellency no surprise if I contend that
your Excellency's explanation is untenable. As to what occurred at
Ohrigstad, I adhere to what I said, and to my letter of the 8th of
October, and I regret to observe that Colonel Parke misled your
Excellency by giving you an inaccurate account of the true facts.

To assist Colonel Parke's memory I may state that the same night he
left Lydenburg on his way to Kruger's Post, the Boer, Harb