The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-05-06
LADYsMITH's BILL OF FARE.
What the Besiegcd We're Reduced to
just Before the Relief

(From the London SJandard)
Colonel Ward issues every day 20 947
rations, which are distributed thus Euro
peans, Is 033; Kaffirs, 2,4i0; Indians, 2.i74
On February 8 the rations for officers and
men were: Preserved meat ohe-half pound
or fresh meat horse or mule. one pound;
biscuits or bread, one-half pound. or bread
! one-quartef pound, aui four ounces OF
mealie meal an occasional horse sausage,
one pint of chevril or horse soup, one
sixth of an ounce of coffee or tea. one
ounce of sugar. onesixty fourth OF an
ounce of pepper. one-twentieth OF an ounce
of mustard, and e-tenth of a gill OF
vinegar Kaffirs receive one pound OF fresh
meat, three-quarters of a pound Of mealie
meal. and one-half ounce of salt. To In
dams are given four ounces of alta, eight
ounces OF rice. nine ounces of mealie mead,
one-half ounce of salt. one and one-quarter
ounces of goor, and one-quarter ounce OF
amchuT.
On paper the bill of fare for Europeans
looks generous. If not choice, but on the
table, Now and then the horse or mule is
tender or can be made into watery
soup; the sausage and chevrl few people
Will venture to eat a second time; the
bread is of mealie meal held together With
starch, end has the appearance and con-
sistency of baked sawdust. This bread
was finally condemned by the doctors as
unfit for human food, though not before
some men had been carried to hospital
writhng in the agonies of collie. Milk and
eggs are for invalids. and stringent regu-
lations are in force to ensure their proper
distribution. Many people are constrained
to live IN biscuits, of which two and one
half are issued daily ia lieu of bread.
mealies. or Indian corn, which make eX-
cellent porridge. Fruit was exhausted be-
fore it had time to ripen, and as neither
vegetables nor jam is 10 be had, small
doses of vinegar are swallowed to correct
any tendency to scurvy.
Several ingenious luxuries have been in
vented out of most unpromising material.
Violet powder. for example makes adj
mirable blanc Notwithstanding the
iavor-and is in high favor among men
who would be the first to denounce its
deleterious qualities a cosmetic. Starch,
of which large quantities are used for the
sick. has also attained a certain degree OF
popularity as an article of food, even
though colored with indigo.
On Wednesday, the 21st, Sir George
White increased the ration of bread or
biscuit to one pound. This addition re-
vived our energies and our hopes. We ac-
cepted it as a proof that our deliverance
was at hand. for the general is not the
man to throw away any chance of avoiding
a surrender that would be nothing short
of an imperial disaster. He felt justified
in making this inroad on the stock of food
by the message he had received from Sir
Redvers Butler viii be in Ladysmith
tomorrow" 1t is now the 27th-the an
niversary of Majuba-and relief seems as
far of it was three months ago The
ration of bread or biscuit-the bread has
been discontinued as unfit for food-has
been reduced to half pound
The Beers began by cutting of ur water
supply from the storage reservoir and
compelled us to draw from the river at a
point where it was impossible to avoid all
danger Of contamination. The muddy wa
ter, never very wholesome. was quickly
tainted with the fetid dust and foulness of
thousands of horses. mules. oxen. and
men. Even the floods brought down BY
heavy rains gave but temporary relief
From November IA to December 10 a daily
supply of 5000 gallons of river water was
filtered after having been cleared with
alum.
On December II the alum was ex-
hausted, and, owing to the muddy state
Of the river. only $500 gallons could be
filtered in one day. This was supple
mented with 1900 gallons of condensed
water from machinery constructed by the
railway authorities. under the direction OF
Engineer Sheen. of the Naval Brigade A
second condenser was ready on December !
"a, when the supply was increased to /
$500 from filters and $500 from the con-
densers. On the first day of the new year
a third condenser was at work and the
output from this source was raised to 600 /
gallons. making the full supply of pure
water $500 gallons day. The coudensers |
were made out of corrugated iron mealie /
tanks. iron piping, which had to be bent /
by hand, and boilers from a fitting shop, /
an armored trsin-for which at last a safe /
and beneficial use had been fOund-and a /
locomotive. This filtered and condensed /
water was issued at the rate of three
quarters of a gallon day a man. while !
each hospital in town received an addi- /
tiOnal 800 gallons daily. Lieut. H. b. |
Abadie. OF the Eleventh Hussars. was !
placed in charge of this important public !
works department to which he devoted /
great skill and energy