MAFEKING EXPERIENCES.

Evening Post, Volume LIX, Issue 112, 12 May 1900, Page 1 (Supplement)

MAFEKING EXPERIENCES.

A BOMB PROOF BOUDOIR. The journalistic honours of the Transvaal war will undoubtedly be carried off by our semi-Australian heroine, Lady Sarah wilson, and 'her nephew, the sprightly Winston Churchill. Lady Sarah's letters from Mafeking in the Daily Mail are delightfully brisk and plucky. Being copyright one must not annex much of them, but here is a capital description of Lady Sarah's quiet morning in her bomb-proof boudoir. She says: — "A feature ot the town at present is its bomb-proofs, or shelters from shell fire. From rough holes, hastily dug and covered over with deal boards and earth, which -were at first constructed at the arrival of the monster Creusot Boer gun, . which fires a projectile of 941b, these refuges have been improved upon till they are now luxurious chambers, roofed over with best steel rails and sand bags, ventilated and lighted by round windows and large dram pipes. Mine, for instance, measures lbit by 15ft, and is Bft high, boarded floor, covered with matting, and panelled wood walls painted white. With three large port-holes for windows, it much resembles the cabin of a yacht, and its efficacy has been thoroughly tested, as it is, I think, the only shelter in the town on the top of which a 941b shell actually exploded — without even making the glasses jingle, or disturbing various war trophies hung on the walls inside. As an example of the curious effects of these shells and the marvellous escapes recorded, I may mention that a fragment of this one went through a room of Mr. Well's' adjacent house, taking a canary and cage with it through the .window, and leaving them at some distance ; while another piece went into •i house acros3 the street, mating mincemeat oi a sewing machine and a new drep", a ' young lady was making, and ■which, she had left bub three minute. 1 } before. Except, this misfortune and the death o~ the canary, no harm, was done — but, alas ! the same tale cannot always bo told. Scarcely a day passes without some white man or native Deing added to Ibfc already sadly long list of those in this tiny community who have Been martyrs to this one-sided bombardment. Women and children have not escaped scot free ; only this morning a 3hell exploded in the women's .laager— the locality of which the Boers know perfectly well — killing, curiously enough, a little Dutch girl of twelve years of age, holding a baby (the latter was uninjured), besides f.itall.> injuring a Kaffir girl. And thus il is most days. Apart, from our losses among ihe soldiers— B.S.A.P. and \-ape Police, in the various and £«!•

lant sorties, which have been all duly recorded in the papers — civilians and innocent individuals are struck down and terribly mutilated, suddenly and almost without warning, i h ay almost, for when the big gun is loaded the look-out at headquarters, from whence all her movements can be accurately watched, gives the alarm by sounding a deep-toned bell, and when the gunners go to fire her this is supplemented by the shrill tinkle of a smaller bell— not much louder than an ordinary muffin bell— but which can be distinctly heard in this clear atmosphere. After this second warning about three seconds elapse before the explosion. " HOW MAFEKING IS FED. The feeding of the natives (says a Mafeking letter of the 27th February) gives a lot of trouble. A soup kitchen has been established, where vegetables, mealies, and anything eatable are boiled up with horseflesh into a good nutritious mixture. With some ot the Datives, however, it is against their religion to eat horse, just as the Mohammedans have a horror of pork, and they say they would prefer to starve, and, as a matter of lact, actually do live oiuy on one meal, but our supply is not sufficient to allow this. Rations are, for instance, reduced to half a pound of bread for white people, a quarter of a pound for women, and two. ounces for children per diem. Try putting a healthy boy of ten years old on two ounces of bread per day. Fortunately, vegetables are growing well, and there is a good supply coming on. In the meantime we cheer each other up with scrap's of news that come to hand, and uttering the belief that Great Britain will carry this thing through, not stopping till the whole of South Africa is under the Union Jack.