n of those halcyon days of Municipal splendour in these of
common khaki. Let it suffice to add that the "lamps shone o'er fair
women and brave men." The "cannon's opening roar" was soon to be heard
in the land; but all unmindful of the nation of farmers the
"shopkeepers" tripped it on the toe.

Well, we were besieged; and the great Hall was adapted to very
different uses. It was made headquarters. Within its walls the Town
Guard were formally "sworn in," and supplied with hats, rifles,
bandoliers, and ammunition. Hundreds of distressed refugees congregated
there, for one of the Offices of the building had been transformed into
a benevolent grocery shop, presided over by benevolent ladies. There
also did mass some thousands of natives to gather their picks and
shovels and pay. The Town Hall was the pivot round which revolved all
sorts and conditions of men. Overrun inside and outside by roadmakers,
citizen soldiers, and municipal officers (whose military dignity had
raised their souls above scavenging), it was bad enough. But when the
rich and poor of all classes and sexes were forced to join in the
scramble for a bit to eat, it was worse. Until the "permit" system had
come into vogue, money could buy much (of what was going); but the
"permit" system lowered mammon to his rightful level. Money for the
moment had lost its value; a "permit" was all-important--even Croesus
himself would have starved without one. To procure these useful scrips
all sorts of formalities had to be entered into, and the amount of time
lost in waiting to prove one's right to live was provocative of many an
oath, at the expense of the British army. Kafirs, coolies, Europeans of
all nations, the wealthy the poor, and the lowly--all struggled to
procure the precious "permit," as if they were at all hazards determined
to gain one week's respite before finally succumbing to hunger's pangs.
It must be owned that the work was carried on more smoothly when the
black sheep were separated from the white, and when different days were
assigned for attending to the residents of each of the respective wards
into which the town was divided. The incompetence of the military in
civil affairs added to the grievances of the people; complaint against
the administration of the "Law" was as loud as the clamour against the
"Law" itself. The bother entailed in the procuring of authority to
purchase food, and in the purchase of it, was extreme. The food was not
worth it;