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to send it, but the officer commanding finally decided to permit its transmission in an abridged form.
" Kimberley, 10th
February. — On behalf of the inhabitants of this town, we respectfully
desire to be informed whether there is an intention on your part to
make an immediate effort for our relief. Your troops have been for more
than two months within a distance of a little over 20 miles from
Kimberley, and if the Spytfontein hills are too strong for them, there
is an easy approach over a level flat. This town, with a population of
over 45,000 people, has been besieged for 120 days, and a large
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portion
of its inhabitants have been enduring great hardships. Scurvy is
rampant among the natives; children, owing to lack of proper food, are
dying in great numbers, and dysentery and typhoid are very prevalent.
The chief food of the whites has been bread and horseflesh for a long
time past, and for the blacks meal and salt only. These hardships, we
think you will agree, have been borne patiently and without complaint
by the people. During the past few days the enemy has brought into
action from a position within three miles of us a six-inch gun,
throwing a hundred-pound shell which is setting fire to our buildings,
and is daily causing death among the population. As you are aware, the
military guns here are totally unable to cope with this new
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