The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-09-24

guns effectively, and the town is sup
piled with provisions to withstand a
long siege.
The latter method has been the
favorite one spoken of by the English
to conquer the Beers. The Transvaal
is such a poor country that wild ami
mails cannot exist in some parts of it,
and the British experts have always
said that to starve the burghers would
be the easiest way of Subduing them.
Kruger has provided against this in
some measure by building a great
granary, where meats and canned food
are stored in large quantities. He has
little fear of such a pass, however, and
to the writer recently said that the
English might build a wall around
them high as Jericho" and then he
and his people could live comfortably
fer twenty years.
The old Beers do not WORRY much
about being starved out, for a Boer can
do more work on less food than any
other human being, if he wants to. He
is accustomed to living on the veldt for
weeks with no nourishment but a long
strip of dried meat, called bit tong, cof-
fee and mealies What he most breads
is TO be deprived of coffee which fluid
the Boer drinks black, and so hot that
as he says, if he spits it on his dog it
will take the hair off. MealieS is
species OF corn, very nourishing, which
is raised in large quantities in South
Africa. 1t is cooked like oatmeal until
the kernels are soft, and then eaten
with salt or milk and sugar
On campaign the Beers observe
very strict rules. If a man fires after
the order is given to cease, the COM
mandant fines him. Every night the
lights are put out early, and the men
turn In behind the lager. This is a cir
cular impromptu fertilization, made by
lashing all the wagons together. and
affords a good protection against bull
lets. Their method when attacked is
to send out line at double-quick, drop
to the knees, take steady aim and fire.
rushing back to the lager, then to
give way to second party. They
have always been successful in native
warfare this way. but against trained
English soldiers with machine guns
they would have small chance.
A long campaign is no hardship to
the Boer. When the alarm comes tbe
women of the house, and nearly every
Boer has family of ten, twelve or
eighteen, of whom two-thirds are girls.
get him half a dozen pieces of bit tong
and a supply of coffee and tobacco
while the boys saddle and equip the
best horse in the stable. Of course.
every lad who can stand a march also
are taught to suse a rifle at an early
age. and 1t is a. common SIGHT to meet
on the open veldt, two or three stran-
ping girls swinging along with a. rifle
on the lookout for hartbeeste or turkey
buzzardS
In fact, the women count on doing
their share of the fighting. Since the
Beers left Cape Colony in 1886 the fem
mime portion have been accustomed to
loading rifle behind the lager and.
II necessary, firing it at black face.
In case OF war with the English they
are supposed to look after the i,5eks
and herds and defend the homestead.
and every Boer hut in the Transvaal in
war time is fortified block house, de-
Tended by company of girls and boys.
with the mother of the home in COM
mand.
What they most fear is an uprising
of the natives, the very thought of
which. gives every white person in
South Africa a chill of horror. If a
chieftain should arise with the ability
of Dungeon or Jchaka at the time when
the English and Beers We're at war, the
consequences would be too horrible to
think of. With the bloodthirsty nature
of the North American Indian and sur
passing him in vicious cruelty, the
African natives could wipe out the
whole population of South Africa, SO
greatly do they outnumber them.
Thus Mr.. Kruger counts on being
able to muster at the very most $1,000
men in the Transvaal and Orange Free
State; but around him are 367 900 ma
Hves, little better than savages, who
are only waiting for an opportunity to
massacre white men, not being partic-
ular whether they are Beers or Eng
lish. The English town of Durham, Ma
tai, contains 10000 white persons. Just
north Of them are 100000 Zulus, who
are the bravest black fighters in South
Africa No one knows what attitude
the blacks would take in case of an
English Boer war, but both Queen Vic
toria and Dom Paul dread an uprising
in this quartz