Among miscellaneous articles which were luckily to be obtained at Weil's stores were 2 tons of gunpowder and other ammunition, 132 rifles, insulated fuses, and electric dynamos for discharging mines, etc.
About a month after the siege started, the C.O.placed an embargo on all food-stuffs, and the distribution of rations commenced.

From then onward special days were allowed for the sale of luxuries, but always in strictly limited quantities.

At first the rations consisted of 1-1/4 pounds of meat and 1-1/4 pounds of bread, besides tea, coffee, sugar, and rice.

As time went on these were reduced, and towards the end of March we only had 6 ounces of what was called bread and 1 pound of fresh meat, when any was killed; otherwise we had to be content with bully beef.

As to the "staff of life," it became by degrees abominable and full of foreign substances, which were apt to bring on fits of choking.
In spite of this drawback, there was never a crumb left, and it was remarkable how little the 6 ounces seemed to represent, especially to a hungry man in that keen atmosphere.
One day it was discovered there was little, if any, gold left of the L8,000 in specie that was lodged at the Standard Bank at the beginning of the siege.