believed to be purely fictitious creations.

KURUMAN. During the siege of this town in British Bechuanaland Cape of
Good Hope stamps were overprinted "KURUMAN BESIEGED" and the date, but
they are not fully credited by philatelists as _bon[^a] fide_ issues.

LYDENBURG. During the temporary occupation of this South African
Republic Town in September, 1900, the stamp commemorative of penny
postage (_Fig._ 101) was surcharged "V.R.I. 1d." and the ordinary
Transvaal stamps were locally overprinted "V.R.I." (_Fig._ 102). The
values are 1/2d. green, 1d. carmine and green, 2d. brown, 2-1/2d. blue,
3d. on 1d. carmine and green, 4d. sage green and deep green, 6d. lilac
and green, 1s. ochre and green.

[Illustration: 101 102]

MAFEKING. During the memorable siege of Mafeking, a Bechuanaland town
but under the Cape postal administration, arrangements were made for a
local post, and for occasional transmission of letters to Cape Colony,
Natal, Rhodesia, and the United Kingdom. The postal arrangements of
the town had only been transferred to the Cape Colony shortly before
the siege, a fact which explains the variety of Bechuanaland and Cape
stamps available in the town during the siege. Payment of postage at
the special rates chargeable for the service in the town and
beyond was payable in the stamps of either "British Bechuanaland,"
"Bechuanaland Protectorate," or of the Cape overprinted
"Mafeking--Besieged," and the new value (_Figs._ 103-114). As will be
noticed from the illustrations, the Bechuanaland stamps were
chiefly created by overprinting the name "BRITISH BECHUANALAND" or
"BECHUANALAND PROTECTORATE" on English stamps.

[Illustration: 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114]

The foregoing stamps were chiefly used for letters sent by native
runners who had to dodge through the enemy's lines and get either to
Buluwayo in the north or Kimberley in the south. A special penny and a
threepence stamp were prepared by a photographic process in the town,
and these form the most interesting philatelic souvenirs of the South
African War. The penny stamp, designed by Dr. W. A. Hayes, shows a
portrait of Sergeant-Major Goodyear, of the Cadet Corps (_Fig._ 115),
and there are two sizes of threepence stamp, designed by Captain
Greener, the Chief Paymaster, showing a portrait of the gallant
defender of Mafeking, General Baden Powell.

[Illustration: 115 116 117]

PIETERSBURG. This town in the north of the Transvaal pr