Note 37 — Chapter XII

This "granary" lay in the Ladybrand, Ficksburg and Bethlehem districts, and not only supplied the Free State, but also the greater part of the Transvaal. If the districts of Wepener, Rouxville, Bloemfontein, and Thaba'Nchu be included, this "granary" was the source of a very large yield of corn, and there had been an especially rich harvest that year. As the men were away on commando, the Kaffirs reaped the corn under the supervision of the Boer women; and where Kaffirs were not obtainable the women did the work with their own hands, and were assisted by their little sons and daughters. The women had provided such a large supply, that had not the English burnt the corn by the thousand sacks, the war could have been continued. It was hard indeed for them to watch the soldiers flinging the corn on the ground before their horses' hoofs. Still harder was it to see that which had cost them so much labour thrown into the flames.

In spite of the fact that the English, in order to destroy our crops, had let their horses and draught oxen loose upon the land, there was still an abundant harvest—perhaps the best that we had ever seen. And so it happened that whilst the men were at the front, the housewives could feed the horses in the stable. But Lord Roberts, acting on the advice of unfaithful burghers, laid his hand upon the housewives' work, and burnt the grain that they had stored.