Carriages were now no longer to be got easily, because the British had not only taken them away from the farms, but had also burnt many of them.

Where formerly in each farm there were at least one carriage and a team of oxen, and in some two, three or even more, there were now frequently not a single one.

Even where there were carriages the women had always to keep them in readiness to fly on them before the columns of the enemy, who had now already commenced to carry the women away from their dwellings to the concentration camps within their own lines, in nearly all villages where the English had established strong garrisons.

Proclamations had been issued by Lord Roberts, prescribing that any building within ten miles from the railway, where the Boers had blown up or broken up the railway line, should be burnt down.

This was also carried out, but not only within the specified radius, but also everywhere throughout the State.