{p.083} Up to this moment of writing, no certain account of the number of colonial troops furnished by the South African colonies has been accessible to me.

Speaking in public recently, Mr.Chamberlain has said that more than 30,000 men had been offered by the self-governing colonies.

Early in December it was estimated that, including the forces in Kimberley, Mafeking, and Rhodesia, Cape Colony had already 10,000 in service.

In February, an official, but incomplete, and therefore a minimum, list attributed 7,158 at that time to Natal.

Combining these various statements, and reckoning at 12,000 the contingents from the other self-governing colonies (excluding India), at the time of Chamberlain's speech (May 11), it seems probable that British South Africa put into the field from 20,000 to 25,000 men.