Afrikaners -- Biography; South African War, 1899-1902 -- Personal narratives; Van Warmelo, Dietlof, 1872-1966
When we got to the prison I alone was detained, and had the disagreeable
experience of being locked up. The ambulance doctor was dismissed, as he
was 'Not guilty'; and the 'hands-uppers' were taken to the refugee camp.
The treatment that the prisoners of war receive varies, and depends very
much on the prisoners themselves and on the men into whose hands they
fall. I was allowed to see my mother and sister, who obtained a pass to
come from Pretoria to see me. But I have seen the guards roughly send
away weeping women who were begging to be allowed a few words only with
their dear ones.
At Elandsfontein Station the Transvaal colours worn by some of the
prisoners of war were taken away by force. On the long journey to
Ladysmith we were packed like herrings in open trucks, with insufficient
covering for the cold nights.
The Ladysmith camp contained chiefly burghers who had been 'tamed' by
the enemy, and were ready to take the oath of allegiance. They were well
treated.
On April 3 I was taken prisoner, and on May 6 I was on board the
_Manila_, together with 490 other prisoners of war, on our way to India.
The burghers, accustomed to a free, independent life, suffered horribly
from want of space and insufficient and bad food. They could not get
over the idea of having to appear twice daily for the roll-call,
although there was no escape possible. But their sense of humour did not
suffer.
Our burghers acknowledge that travelling is an education in itself, but
they one and all prefer travelling as free men--first or second
class--and they even prefer the high walls and limited space of the
fortress to being a prisoner-of-war passenger on board the steamer.
The long, galvanized-iron bungalows in which we live here have zinc
roofs to guard against the heat of the tropical sun, but at any rate the
wind can blow through the openings on either side. The burghers are kept
alive and in pretty good health by an extremely temperate manner of
life. Once a week they are taken by a strong guard for a walk an hour
beyond the fort. They never get out on parole. As far as we are
concerned, they might even take cannon along with them to guard us, if
only they would take us out oftener.
Here, too, the moral tone of the burghers is kept up by religious
services, and by the great devotion of the Rev. Mr. Viljoen, clergyman
of Reitz, in the Orange Free State, who is a fellow-prisoner of ours.
The gaiety is kept up by sports and by the companionship of many
children. The sorrow is enhanced by the presence of many gray-headed old
men and by sad and heart-breaking tidings. 'Guard, is there any news
this morning?'
We are grieving with the grief of the exile, but we are waiting
patiently, and hoping still that a dove will bring us a branch with our
colours--Orange, green, red, white and blue: peace and independence.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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