896 THE LONDON GAZETTE, FEBRUARY 8, 1901.

Convalescent hospital.—At convent, LadySarab Wilson.

Women and children's hospital.—Miss Crau-fard.

On outbreak of war I took over the townhospital, but at first the administration was notsatisfactory, on account of want of supervisionover expensed of stores, and sanitation. I there-fore appointed an issuer and storekeeper, and asanitary inspector. To existing accommoda-tion I added a native ward, nurses' quarters, award for Colonial Contingent, and a boardedmarquee for shell wounds, &c.

Both doctors and nurses did excellent work,always shorthanded, and frequently under fire.(All the hospital buildings were struck byshells and bullets, and the first convalescenthospital was wrecked, and the second damngedby 94-pounder shells).

Natives.(Under Mr. Bell, Resident Magistrate and Civil

Commissioner.)Natives in Mafeking, during the siege,

were—Baralongs, 5,000.Fingoes, Shangans, and district Baralongs,

2,000.Total, between 7,000 and 8,000.

The Shangans were refugees from theJohannesburg mines, and were sent into Mafe-king by the Boers on the outbreak of war.Being accustomed to digging, they proved usefulfor working gangs on the defences.

The district Baralongs, Fingoes, and CapeBoys, came into Mafekiug when their villageswere burnt and their cattle looted by theBoers. From among them we got about 300men to act as armed cattle guards, "watchmen,police, &c.

The local Baralongs living in the Stadt dis-played their loyalty, and did some good service(especially after I had deposed their ChiefWessels for want of energy), and supplied gooddespatch runners, spies, cattle runners, &c.

Of the natives living in the district, Saaniremained particularly loyal, and although vprisoner in the hands of the Boers, he managedto send us information from time to time.Bathoen was loyal, but too timid to be of use.Copane, a subject of the Boers, although forcedto supply them with men, offered us his allegi-ance. Hatsiokomo and Matuba (British sub-jects), joined the enemy, and the latter and hismen fought with them.

Railway.(Under Captain More.)

132 men, 46 women, 86 children.Eighteen locomotives, only one of which was

damaged by shell fire, as they were movedround to the " lee " side of the railway buildingswith every move of the enemy's big gun.

Also a large amount of rolling stock.Value of railway plant, 120,0007.A defence railway, 1£ miles long, was laid

round the north-east front.We made three armoured trucks, walls of

steel rails, iron lookout tower, acetyline searchlight, speaking tubes, electric bells, water,medicine chests, stretchers, &c.

2uO tons of rails were used in construction ofbombproof s.

The armoured trains did much good service.Specialities.

Ammunition.—Mr. Fodisch, our gunsmith,reloaded Martini Henry cartridges, usingordinary gun caps fixed with plaster of Parisfor detonators. Powder and bullets were homemade.

Armoured train.—We armoured ordinarylong-bogey trucks with steel rails (iron onesnot being bullet-proof) to a height of 5 feet,with loopholes and gun ports. I had three pre-pared at Mafeking under the able direction ofMr. More, Resident Engineer, BechuanalandRailway, also three at Bulawayo by Mr. Wallis,Resident Engineer.

Brawn was made from ox and horse hidesand feet, and was much appreciated as meat.

Bombs.—Dynamite bombs were made up insmall potted meat and milk tins for use as handgrenades, with slow match fuzes, with completesuccess, by Lieutenant Feltham. Sergeant Page,champion bait thrower of Port Elizabeth, byusing a whip stick and short line, was able tothrow these with accuracy over a distance of100 ya.rds.

Fuel.—When coal and wood began to rnnlow, a very satisfactory fuel was made up ofcoal dust and cowdung mixed.

Fusses.—A simple and useful percussion fuzewas invented by Lieutenant Daniel], BritishSouth Africa Police, in which the butt end of aLee-Metford cartridge was used as detonator.This fuze was in regular use with our locally-made shells.

Howitzer.—A 6-inch howitzer was made inour workshops, under the orders of Major Pan-zei-a, by Mr. Conolly. The bore was a tube ofsteel, with iron rings shrunk on in two tiers.The breech was a block of cast bronze. Thetrunnions and ring were a similar solid casting.The gan threw a 18-lb. ball (shell), and reacheda distance of 4,000 yards.

Lookout poles.—Telescopic look-out poleswera made of lengths of iron piping, and setup with steel wire stays, with a pulley andslung seat to hoist the man to the masthead.Height, about 18 feet.

Oat bread.—Mr. Ellitson, our master baker,made up our forage oats into a good form ofbread. The oats were winnowed, cleaned, kiln-dried, ground, steam sieved (twice), and madeinto bread in the usual way, with a small ad-mixture of Boer meal.

Search light.—Mr. Walker, agent for theAcetyline Gras Company, under Captain More'sdirection, made a very effective and portableacetyline search light with an engine head-lightand a theodolite stand. These we had stationedin the principal forts and on the armouredtrain.

Signalling lamp.—Sergeant-Major Moffat andMr. Walker devised a very effective and port-able acetyline signalling lamp, which is reckonedto be readable at 15 miles. We had two inwork.

Sowens.—This is a form of porridge, madefrom the fermented bran of oats after the flourhad been extracted for making bread. 100 Ib.of bran in 37 gallons of water give 33 gallonsof sowenp. On this food we fed both nativesand whites. We had five sowen kitchens, eachcapable of producing 800 gallons daily. It wassold at 6d. per quart to those not entitled to itas a ration.

Sausages.—The horses which we used formeat were, as a rule, so poor in condition thatwe found it best to cut oi¥ the flesh from thebones and mince it for issue as ration. Theremainder of the carcase then went to the soupkitchen. The mince was then mixed with spiceand saltpetre, and made up into sausages, theintestines of the same animal being used forsausage skins. The meat thus treated lastedlonger, and was more palatable.

Steel loopholes.—Finding that the enemy