Derry and Limerick
part of the soldiers' rations, and, it is recorded, "mixed with meal, ginger, pepper, and aniseed, made most excellent pancakes." Later on, starch, disguised as "Dutch flour," was even considered wholesome. Salted hides and horseflesh were luxuries; dogs, cats, rats, and mice fetched good prices; herbs and weeds were eagerly devoured; every day scores perished, and hopes from Kirke sank lower. Rumours of treachery were renewed; jealousies arose amongst the leaders, and a mutinous spirit amongst the men, for the city was drifting into the anarchy of despair.
On the 13th of July commissioners were sent out to confer with the Jacobites. While the deliberations were in progress, a message came from Kirke. Relief, he said, was impossible by the river; he was moving round to Inch in Lough Swilly to divert the enemy; he had sent stores to Enniskillen, and hourly expected 6,000 men from England. With them he would attack the besiegers, who could not stand much longer in their trenches; for the condition of the Jacobites was little better than that of their antagonists. Feeding upon oatmeal, water and lean beef, and suffering from exposure, they sickened and died fast.
In the city a council of war on the 14th of
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