A few luxuries could still be bought from the native traders, but at prodigious prices.

A spoonful of whisky cost 2 shillings, a seven-pound tin of flour 6 shillings, a box of matches 2 shillings, and a small tin of beef 2 pounds, 16 shillings.
The refugees fared much worse.

They had no reserve of food, and foraging was next to impossible.

As a result, they died at the rate of thirty and forty a day.
When only three and a half days' rations were left, it was decided that something must be done, and a council of war was called.

It was then agreed that those who could walk should make a dash for it; and that a garrison of three Europeans, and a hundred rank and file, should be left behind.