sturbed during the summer. Only a short time previously he
had lost sixty-three men in an engagement, where he had been besieged in
a kraal, out of which he, with one hundred and fifty-three burghers, had
managed to escape. Bethal had been laid waste from one end to the other,
and he had no provisions for his commandos. He had on his hands three
hundred women and children; these were in a serious position, owing to
the lack of food; some of the women had also been assaulted by Kaffirs.

General Christiaan Botha (Swaziland) then reported on the condition of
the Swaziland commando. They had no provisions in hand, and were simply
living by favour of the Kaffirs. They had no women there. His commando
of one hundred and thirteen men was still at Piet Retief. As there was
no grain to be had, they were compelled to go from kraal to kraal and
buy food from the Kaffirs, and this required money. Yet somehow or other
they had managed to keep soul and body together. "I have fought for the
Transvaal," he concluded, "for two and a half years, and now, since I
hear that there is food in the Free State, I shall fight for the Free
State for two and a half years more."

General Brits (Standerton) said that he had still provisions for two
months, but no cattle. He had sixty-five families with him, and found it
very difficult to provide them with the necessaries of life. Altogether,
things were in a most critical state.

Mr. Birkenstock (Vrijheid) spoke as follows:

"I shall go deeper into some of the points which the Commandant-General
has brought forward in his general report of the matter. At Vrijheid we
have been harassed by large forces of the enemy for six or eight months,
and the district is now completely devastated. The presence of women and
children causes great difficulty, for of late the English have refused
to receive the families which, compelled by absolute famine, wished to
take refuge with them. There is also continual danger from the Kaffirs,
whose attitude towards us is becoming positively hostile. Both horses
and grain are scarce; but as far as the latter is concerned there will
be sufficient, provided that the enemy does not return. One morning
recently a Kaffir commando, shortly before daybreak, attacked a party of
our men, who lost fifty-six killed out of a total of seventy. That peace
must be made at all costs is the opinion of all the families in my
district, and I feel it my duty to bring this opinion before you