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260 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
newspaper
was full of complaints. As some of them put it, they had taken up arms
to defend the very people who were starving their families by putting
the prices for the necessaries
of
life beyond their means. Colonel Kekewich was equal to the occasion,
and wisely issued a proclamation fixing the -price of all supplies at
the same figures as formerly existed. For the support of people too
poor to pay even for the barest necessaries of life, thoughtful
provision was made by Rhodes in the institution of a soup kitchen in De
Beers convict station. The details of the work were ably carried out
under Captain Tyson, Dr. Smartt, and the Hon. Mrs. Maguire, the latter
attending to the distribution at Beaconsfield. The soup was excellent,
being composed of beef or horse-meat (with now and again a donkey or a
few Angora goats thrown in), and a variety of vegetables from
Kenilworth, and thickened with Boer meal or mealie meal. Captain Tyson
carried pockets full of
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