unless immediate steps were taken to arrest
the appalling death-rate, the Boer population in the camps would be
extinct within a period of three years.

Copies of this report were sent to the Military Governor and Lord
Kitchener, and to ten foreign Powers, with copies of the second
petition.

What diplomatic correspondence then passed between England and the
foreign Powers we shall never know, for the utmost secrecy was
observed throughout; but what we do know is, that the famous
commission of inquiry, the "Whitewash Committee," so-called by the
Pro-Boers in England, was very soon afterwards sent out. It consisted
of six English ladies, and as a result of their investigations some of
the inland camps were removed to the coast, the rations increased,
additional medical and other comforts provided, and the general
condition of the camps improved to such an extent that after some
months the death-rate decreased considerably, continuing to do so
until it became nearly normal. But, as I have said before, not until
over 20,000 women and children had been sacrificed as a direct result
of being torn from their homes, exposed to the elements, and herded
together under conditions which only the strongest could survive. It
would take too much space to insert copies of the petitions here, but
they are to be found in Hansie's Dutch book on the Irene Concentration
Camp, published in Holland from her diary a year after the war.

The following statistics of what is known as "Black October 1901" are
taken from the Blue Books of England and will give the reader an idea
of the number of camps in the Transvaal alone, the number of their
inhabitants, and the full death-rate within the period of thirty-one
days:--

TOTAL CENSUS OF DEATHS, ETC. ETC., OCCURRING IN THE CONCENTRATION
CAMPS, TRANSVAAL ONLY, DURING THE MONTH OF OCTOBER 1901.

Camps. Census. Deaths.
1. Barberton 1,907 12
2. Balmoral 2,580 70
3. Belfast 1,397 33
4. Heidelberg 2,173 41
5. Irene 3,972 101
6. Johannesburg 2,937 29
7. Klerksdorp 3,822 176
8. Krugersdorp 5,500 90
9. Middelburg 5,602 127
10. Mafeking 4,783 410
11. Nylstroom 1,819 52
12.