Griggs courier. (Cooperstown, Griggs Co., Dak. [N.D.]) 1885-1902, 1901-06-27
BoER PRISONERS m cEYLoN.
coed Feed And Pleasant Pastines 81
the AfrikaaAers Under NH.
tary Aestraint.


tary RestFaiHt.
II q criterion may be taken by the
condition of Boer life in the laagers
Of Ceylon, it is a comparatively good
thing to be military prisoner of the
British government.
Nursed in lap Of modified luxury,
the 5000 trappers of the veldt on
the island are 20 we'll satisfied with
their surroundings as not to desire
change until South Africa touches
normal once more, says the London
Express.
The captives are as healthy and fit
. crowd rs ever stepped upon Brit
ish possession, and a transport rides
at anchor in Colombo bay bereft of
any justification for her existence
there as hospital ship.
The Beers are accommodated in
iron huts in two camps, each Of which
is Enclosed by liberal radius OF
barbed wire fencing, through which
the muzzles of q Maxim or two pro-
trude as q sort of dumb sermon on
law and order. The area 10 large.
and the prisoners have abundant ex-
ercise room. They are fond of chat
ting with their guards, and call them
Tommy with easy familiarity. just
as they used to do across the river
trenches at Fourteen Streams, for the
Boer has a quiet admiration for the
British private, and in his days Of
much ease follows his example in
many things, including sport.
The hot eastern days are beguiled
with nonexertive recreation, and in
the cool tennis, cricket and football
form a self-appointed curriculum OF
athletic pastime.
It is particularly interesting to no.
tice how much the prisoners have
taken to the purely British game of
football. At the beginning they were
content to watch the Seeker men OF
the garrison dribble, or to applaud
the dexterous handling of the oval.
Then they joined in. and progressed
to a primitive game of their own.
They have long since ceased to bor-
row the Gloucestershire regiments
ball; they have dozen of their own,
and pit the Transvaalers against the
Free Staters, or the doprers OF the
back veldt against the johannes
burgers"
The troops usually start the play,
and leave off to be a guard while the
burghers attempt the intricacies of
combination.
The appetite of the captives is abb
normal, and the influx of SO many
big eaters has actually upset the
local markets and brought about q
rise in the price of provender. Even
the Gloucester sentry envies the Boer
his supplies, and is daily heard to
hold forth upon the iniquities of o
commissariat which provides COM
forting extras for the captives which
find no place in the regulars dietary.
But Tommy grumbles good-humored-
", and would share his ration any
day with hungry Boer. just because
he is the same brave, tough, tender,
lion-hearted Atkins beloved of all
who know his sterling qualities in
the field.
Commandments Krantz and Olivier
and nearly all the officers live on pa
role outside the camps. Many of
them reside at the Queens hotel,
Kandi, including a number of French
men, who hold aloof from their for
mer comrades-at-arms.
Others, including a percentage of
burghers who can afford it, live in
the bungalows of Trincomali street,
and, save that they report daily to
the chief of police, enjoy the privi-
leges of leisured resident or visitor
Numbers of the men had carried
cameras on commando, and the CO.
lombo apothecaries have been busy
developing plates and films in great
numbers.
vrouw Krantz, the wife of the
commandant, is proud of having car
ried rife on commando with her
husband. Guests at the Queens ho-
tel often hear the good lady recount
her bag of rooineks. There is not a
suspicion of animus shown against
the British. The captives are CRATE
full for good quarters and liberal
treatment.
Many Beers are voluntarily en-
ployed on the foreshore works at
Colombo at wage, and one at least
has been installed into the ease of
comfortable government billet.
This fellow means to stay, and has
sent for his vrouw.
Such is burgher life in the laagers
of Ceylon, where there is philo-
sophie calm and an absence of worry
about war. The veldtborn look about
them with a we'll fed and leisured in
difference, and some say that when
they cross the Vaal again there will
be big trek north to alien terri