At the
end of December I wrote two posts (here and here) about the attempts to keep up
the Christmas spirit during the siege of Ladysmith (South Africa,) in the face of
ever-dwindling food resources. I want to return to the story of the siege again
today, but first, for those of you not familiar with the events of the time,
let me repeat my summary from my December post:
For 118 days during the Second
Boer War, the city of Ladysmith (Natal, South Africa) was under siege
conditions. From 2nd November 1899 to 28th February 1900,
Boer forces kept the British stronghold surrounded, forcing the 20,000
residents to ever-increasing creative efforts to feed themselves. By the time
the siege was broken, thousands had died from disease and starvation, as well
as from artillery fire.
We pick up the story on this day,
February 1st, 1900, as it was recorded by a correspondent for Daily News in one of a series of
letters published after the siege was over.
February 1. It has come at last. Horseflesh is to
be served out for food, instead of being buried or cremated. We do not take it
in the solid form yet, or at least not consciously, but Colonel Ward has set up
a factory, with Lieutenant McNalty as managing director, for the conversion of
horseflesh into extract of meat under the inviting name of Chevril. This is
intended for use in hospitals, where nourishment in that form is sorely needed,
since Bovril and Liebig are not to be had.
It
is also ordered that a pint of soup made from this Chevril shall be issued
daily to each man. I have tasted the soup and found it excellent, prejudice
notwithstanding. We have no news from General Buller beyond a heliogram,
warning us that a German engineer is coming with a plan in his pocket for the
construction of some wonderful dam which is to hold back the waters of the Klip
River and flood us out of Ladysmith.
February 3. Horseflesh was placed frankly on the
bill of fare to-day as a ration for troops and civilians alike, but many of the
latter refused to take it. Hunger will probably make them less squeamish, but one
cannot help sympathising with the weakly, who are already suffering from want
of proper nourishment, and for whom there is no alternative. Market prices have
long since gone beyond the reach of ordinary purses.
February
4.
One pathetic incident touched me nearly this morning, as a forerunner of many
that may come soon. I found sitting on a doorstep, apparently too weak to move,
a young fellow of the Imperial Light Horse - scarcely more than a boy -his
stalwart form shrunken by illness. He was toying with a spray of wild jasmine,
as if its perfume brought back vague memories of home. I learned that he had
been wounded at Elandslaagte and again on Waggon Hill. Then came Intombi and
malaria. He had only been discharged from hospital that morning. His appetite
was not quite equal to the horseflesh test, so he had gone without food. I took
him to my room and gave him such things as a scanty store could furnish, with
the last dram of whisky for a stimulant, and I never felt more thankful than at
that moment for the health and strength that give
an appetite robust enough for any
fare.
As the recipe for the day, please enjoy the following very
basic instructions for horse meat soup given in The Journal of Prison Discipline and Philanthropy (Philadelphia,
1868) and said to be that served in Danish prisons of the time:
The prison fare for Denmark is two pounds of rye bread a day
for men, and one and a half pounds for women; one pint of beer, and in winter
half a pint of hot beer. Neither tea nor coffee are served, and nothing
(excepting the beer) given as substitute.
Twice a month, on Sunday, there is a soup served, in which
there are fifty pounds of beef, bone and all, for one hundred persons, and on
the alternate Sunday soup is served, made of Horse Flesh.
Subjoined
is a recipe for the horse meat soup:—
Horse
meat, 50 pounds
Cabbage,
36 pounds
Barley
groats, 4 pounds
Spice, 2 pounds
Salt, 4 pounds
Some
onions.
There
are several of these recipes, but horse meat is the basis.
No comments:
Post a Comment