A woman's wanderings and trials during the Anglo-Boer War

by Jacoba Elizabeth De la Rey

Then I heard that the enemy were coming with their blockhouses towards Lichtenburg. Then I knew I must go out of the mountains; I did not want to get blocked up. And we went away again, after having been a week there.

At Duikfontein I found large numbers of cattle and sheep that our people had brought through the lines. General Kemp’s commando had succeeded in doing this and in bringing cattle to other districts also. I was still waiting there when General De la Rey arrived with his staff. By that time I felt quite rested. He said that it was not necessary for me to go at once to Rustenburg. So we merely went to a place not very distant. A day or two later there were again so many “khakis” gathered in Lichtenburg that we did not dare stay longer, as it was only three hours’ distance from the village. We went from there to some untilled ground belonging to us, which we kept for the cattle, two and a half hours away from Lichtenburg. It was a good neighbourhood for fruit; there was plenty of water, and not very distant was a large fruit farm. We hoped thus to be able to stay for a while. We sent the waggon to get fruit, and we set up our tent under the cool trees.

“The picture of my wandering life”.

And here you have the picture of my wandering life. When I could set up the tent under shady trees and cover the floor with green grass, then I felt thoroughly happy and content. Often when in such a good place I thought to myself, “If only I could stay here quietly for some time how happy and pleasant it would be!” And sometimes I had the good fortune to be able to stay for two days or a week in such a spot. But at other times it would happen that just as I had got everything in good order, then the “khakis” would be upon us and everything would have to be taken down quickly to make a fresh start. Often we fled until the middle of the night, and when we could stop to rest it would be so dark that it was impossible to see one’s hands before one’s eyes. Yet the tent would have to be put up before we could get to sleep.

When I saw the bright sun shining in the morning, often I thought, “How much pleasanter the sunlight is than the darkness; what joy will it be for me when the sun of peace is shining for me again!” Then again I would come to a whole district where not a tree or cool spot was to be found. The only cool place would be just under the waggon, on the ground, and that was so uncomfortable that I could not help sometimes crying out, “Why should I have to suffer so grievously?” but the next moment I would think, “After the bitter comes the sweet.” When I left my house and went into Lichtenburg to live in the village, because I felt so lonely on my farm, I thought I was going to stay there until the war should come to an end. I never imagined that I should never set foot in my house again. I was always particular to keep my house neat and clean; it was the greatest pleasure I had to keep my home in good order. I used to think sometimes, “Perhaps it is not right that I should think so much of my house,” and yet I could not help it. A pretty home on a farm, with abundance of cattle and all that is needful, always seemed to me the happiest life. When I was wandering over the veldt with a tent, and especially when I came to dusty and sandy places, I kept thinking all the time of my house, so clean and so cool. The day they told me that it had been destroyed I could not keep my tears back. It was so hard out on the veldt and I had longed so often for my house; now I had to hear that it had been broken up and razed to the ground.

But I told myself quickly that I must not weep. “Why should I be better off than all my fellow-sufferers whose houses had also been broken up or burned down?”

I went back again, this time to Gestoptefontein. That evening General De la Rey was in the neighbourhood, but I knew nothing of his movements nor he of mine. But he arrived the next morning, for the English were now closing up on every side. I got breakfast ready, and after the men had had something to eat, off they had to go again, this time to trek up against Methuen. I remained in Gestoptefontein so as to be able to find out where the troops were moving; and it was soon reported to me that they were coming in my direction. These were the troops from Klerksdorp, so there we were again, exposed to the danger of being surrounded. So many of us came trekking on that we kept getting into one another’s path; but we could only say, “The more the merrier,” and go on without losing courage. “Now we should have to go to Waagkraal,” said everybody. I said, “Very well, the place has a good name, and so we can venture it.” It was a very dark night when we reached there. We were all hungry, and had first of all to get our food ready. After that we went to sleep, and early the next morning a couple of hundred of our burghers arrived also.

They were all going nearer now to see what they could do against the English forces, but there were so many troops they could not tell where to begin.

Most of them went on towards Methuen’s laager to see what they could find to do there. The enemy’s troops moved forward to meet them. Our burghers were now in Pretorius’s place, where I had been staying quite lately; the English army was coming up along the Harts River.