The real strength of the Boer armies at no time exceeded thirty thousand armed men, and of that number more than one-half were never in the mood for fighting.  If it could be ascertained with any degree of accuracy it would be found that not more than fifteen thousand Boers were ever engaged in battles, while the other half of the army remained behind in the laagers and allowed those who were moved by the spirit or by patriotism to volunteer for waging battles.  As has been pointed out in other chapters, the officers had no power over their men, and consequently the armies were divided into two classes of burghers:  those who volunteered their services whenever there was a battle, and those who remained in the laagers—­the “Bible-readers,” as they were called by some of the more youthful Boers.  There were undoubtedly more than thirty thousand men in the Republics capable of bearing arms, but it was never possible to compel all of them to go to the front, nor was it less difficult to retain them there when once they had reached the commando-laagers.  Ten per cent. of the men in the commandos were allowed to return to their homes on leave of absence, and about an equal proportion left the laagers without permission, so that the officers were never able to keep their forces at their normal strength.

The War Departments at Pretoria and Bloemfontein and the officers of the commandos at the front had no means of learning the exact strength of the forces in the field except by making an actual enumeration of the men in the various commandos, and this was never attempted.  There were no official lists in either of the capitals and none of the commandos had even a roll-call, so that to obtain a really accurate number of burghers in the field it was necessary to visit all the commandos and in that way arrive at a conclusion.

Early in December the Transvaal War Department determined to make a Christmas gift to all the burghers of the two Republics who were in the field, and all the generals and commandants were requested to send accurate lists of the number of men in their commands.  Replies were received from every commando, and the result showed that there were almost twenty-eight thousand men in the field.  That number of presents was forwarded, and on Christmas day every burgher at the front received one gift, but there were almost two thousand packages undistributed.  This was almost conclusive proof that the Boer armies in December did not exceed twenty-six thousand men.

At various times during the campaign the foreign newspaper correspondents—­Mr. Douglas Story, of the London Daily Mail; Mr. John O. Knight, of the San Francisco Call; Mr. Thomas F. Millard, of the New York Herald, and the writer—­made strenuous efforts to secure accurate information concerning the Boers’ strength, and the results invariably showed that there were less than thirty thousand men in the field.  The correspondents visited all