Not only food, but money was running short in Mafeking now, and the ingenious brain of its commander was called upon to supply the deficiency. He instituted a paper currency for sums as low as threepence, and also issued bank-notes for £1 and £5. The postage stamps becoming exhausted, a new supply, stamped with the words "Mafeking Besieged," was produced. However short the money supply was, however, it seems to have made little difference to people who wished to spend it, since one hears of unexploded shells being sold as curiosities for as much as twelve guineas each. In his despatch of March 27th, Baden-Powell, after beginning with the familiar "All Well," which sounds so strange to folk who were wondering how Mafeking was contriving to hold out as she did, goes on to say that they are experiencing the hottest shelling of the siege, but that the town was comparatively free from musketry fire. The Boers, in fact, were being steadily pushed back, the besiegers never losing an opportunity of advancing their trenches nearer to the enemy's position, and the latter were also worried by the advance of Colonel Plumer's relief column. On March 31st, heavy firing was heard to the northward of the town, and the enemy were seen to be going in a northerly direction in great haste, taking three field guns with them. The garrison at once opened fire on their forts, and continued it until the firing northward ceased. Next morning General Snyman sent a message to Baden-Powell requesting him to send out an ambulance to bring in the dead of Colonel Plumer's force, who, according to his version, had been slain by hundreds. When the ambulance reached the scene of operation, three bodies were discovered. About the beginning of April, General Snyman was relieved of his command, in which he had had no more success than the redoubtable Cronje, by Commandant Botha. This made no difference to the garrison, who were determined to hold out two months longer if necessary. Some considerable help was given to the commissariat department at this period by a Scotsman, Mr. Sims, who invented a food called sowan porridge, made from the husks of oats. This proved very nourishing, and if not exactly appetizing, was wholesome, and much to be preferred to nothing when the question of going supperless to bed came on. A statement prepared by Captain Ryan, head of the commissariat department, shows how things were going in April:-- "The total number of white men is approximately 1150, of white women 400, and of white children 300. The coloured population consists of some 2000 men, 2000 women, and 3000 children.