e no attempt to catch it. So far from being
lured or wheedled by us, they rather conveyed by their wariness that
green had no place in their eyes.

A copy of a Boer proclamation, which had been wafted into Kimberley by a
cynical breeze, gave rise to much astonishment and criticism. In
substance, it presented the Transvaalers with all territory north of the
Vaal river; the Free Staters with the Cape Colony; and the British
with--the sea! The Colonel read and appreciated the excellence of the
joke, but thought it politic to give people who lacked a sense of humour
a little illumination. He, accordingly, issued a counter-proclamation
which made the "point" of the other clear: it was not to be taken
seriously. The British element, which largely predominated, found scope
for their humour in the Boer proclamation; that the enemy should limit
his pretensions to portions of a single continent was surprising.
_Punch_ subsequently published a cartoon which represented President
Steyn artistically painting all territory south of the Equator a
pleasing Orange hue. Oom Paul, looking on in dismay, enquires: "Where
do I come in?" "Oh," Steyn replies airily, "there is the rest of the
British Empire."

But to return to the proclamations. Colonel Kekewich had yet another to
draft; the conduct of the natives compelled it. Many of the aborigines
were addicted to drinking more than was good for them of a species of
brandy--a fiery concoction, with a "body" in it, called Cape Smoke. They
staggered through the streets, rolled their eyes, flourished big sticks,
and sang songs of Kafirland in a key that did not make for harmony. So
the Colonel reasoned that he might as well write out another
proclamation while he was about it, and had pen and ink convenient. He
restricted the sale of "smoke," and decreed that all Kafir bars and
canteens were to remain open between the hours of ten and four o'clock
only. He also provided for the imposition of heavy penalties upon all
and sundry who dared to disobey.

The bar-keepers, it need hardly be said, were angry; it was going rather
too far, they thought. Was it the province of a military man to
advocate, still less to enforce, temperance? Had not the "black" an
"equal right" to quench his thirst? The canteen-men thought so; some of
them, indeed, were sure of it, and went so far as to defy "despot sway,"
by ignoring it. They continued ministering to the needs of the
horny-handed sons of toil. But the po