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the Taal would be still in vogue and would no doubt be used in Law Courts. A great many of the Boers in Urugas were said to have held posts as clerks, and billets in the Police and elsewhere, while the larger number of both Free Staters and Transvaalers had farms and families in South Africa. The authorities were faced with some trouble a few months after this camp was opened, in providing for the spiritual wants of these prisoners-of-war on parole. Most of them belonged to the Dutch Reformed Church. Although they had their own predicants sent out from South Africa and the services of Revd. Mr. Boshoff, they made a demand for the services of a local chaplain. The services of the Rev. David Tweed having been secured for the purpose, bickering on this subject ceased, but it did not take long for the artfulness which prompted them to be revealed. In conformity with the rules of this denomination of the Church of South Africa, every candidate for confirmation had to undergo a course of preparation and catechising for six months by a clergyman, and not infrequently had to stay for that period with paying him boarding fees all the time. There were 39 Boers in Urugas who were unconfirmed and sought to join the Church. They appreciated the possibility of doing so here under less rigorous conditions. Revd. Boshoff confirmed them, but refused to give them certificates. The minutes of a meeting of the Consistory of the Dutch Reformed Church of Ceylon held on the 3 rd of July reveal that “on the 20 th of June 1902, the Rev. David Tweed and Brothers Limburger and Speldewinde proceeded to the camp at Urugasmanhandiya, and having satisfied themselves that the 39 prisoners-of-war, who expressed a wish to join our church, were fit to be admitted as Church members, they were duly confirmed and formally admitted.” Each of these new members was given a certificate. Forty-four years have gone by since this camp filled by men from afar was abandoned, and “…the place that once knew them, knows them no more…” Scrub and lantana have long blotted out the croquet lawns near the Volunteer Officers’ mess where many votaries of this game used to assemble; the stretch of green south of the road from Kosgoda, which once saw exciting cricket and football matches played against local teams, and was also the venue of many Boer Athletic Sports Meets, is in the occupation of local colonists, who strive with much less energy and raise a meagre crop of vegetables from a soil which was once shown to respond freely. White ants, and the fret of time and weather, have removed all traces of the buildings. Not so long ago there were still some aged and venerable villagers left in the locality who could point out the site where once upon a time there stood a hospital of two wards to accommodate 10 Boer patients, and a Bungalow near the Rifle Corps lines where the medical officer in charge, Dr. H.U. Leembruggen, used to live. They could tell from cross-questioning, which of the mounds was called the Ceylon Mounted Infantry Hill, where buildings were set apart as a segregation camp should any infectious disease break out among the Boers. With their aid it was possible to trace the 36 acres, two hundred yards off the site of the old Volunteer Camp, where work on yet another emergency camp
had been started by the P.W.D. and abandoned, immediately peace was declared, with the barbed wire fence round it half done and the buildings partly erected. And they would also tell how the advent of the Boer prisoner-of-war had brought them the facilities of a post office, prosperity with trade and barter, and good times. The only building, which stood then, and passing years have not entirely destroyed, is the rest house at Urugas, where many a Boer doubtless sat to a tasty and liberal ‘spread’ of curry and rice, which until recently, with the serenity of its country setting, was its chief attraction. (To be continued)
Page 1: Boere Krygsgevangenes in Ceylon ‘
Page 4 and 5: Let us try another source - the vil
Page 6 and 7: epidemic of enteric had broken out
Page 8 and 9: at Diyatalawa in the year 1929. Eve
Page 10 and 11: esort of travellers off the beaten
Page 12 and 13: hododendron, the strips of forest t
Page 14 and 15: educated, others were of very mean
Page 16 and 17: The Boer in his tropic camp lost no
Page 18 and 19: well laid out settlement, were fill
Page 20 and 21: game of their own. It did not take
Page 22 and 23: impression. Although the presence o
Page 24 and 25: horses. An invitation extended to h
Page 26 and 27: Journal of the Dutch Burger Union o
Page 28 and 29: came to be called the Irish-America
Page 30 and 31: This large band of adventurers rang
Page 32 and 33: One night, as a protest against bei
Page 36 and 37: Journal of the Dutch Burger Union o
Page 38 and 39: two prisoners-of-war and warned to
Page 40 and 41: with the three funnels, the Russian
Page 42 and 43: taking charge was to press for more
Page 44 and 45: As no more doctors could be spared
Page 46 and 47: A fact most noticeable was the larg
Page 48 and 49: A number of persons, more particula
Page 50 and 51: The Frenchmen captured with the Boe
Page 52 and 53: about it. “What could they do aga
Page 54 and 55: A decade later, during the World Wa
Page 56 and 57: esidential bungalows and cottages w
Page 58 and 59: The vrouw entered her home followed
Page 60 and 61: transient abode. Here, as month gav
Page 62 and 63: A rather unique application was mad
Page 64 and 65: 55 Petrus Fourie Ficksburg, O.V.S.
Page 66 and 67: ADDENDUM. THE BOER PRISONERS OF WAR
Page 68 and 69: with one of his messages we took an
Page 70 and 71: DE KOMMANDANT. DES KREUZERS EMDEN.
Page 72 and 73: No Naam Tuisdorp Datum van Afsterwe
Page 74: Acknowledgement and Note by Transcr

Boere Krygsgevangenes in Ceylon - Boekmakierie.co.za

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