Litchfield enquirer., 1877-11-08

through existence After rnmmaging aiP over this desk time or l5wO;5 tho D5co ltof found ashaah leathegns ddAgg iRhichfh Lad netics neticcs atb the. frst glanse rRei0Fa Qpehing It lie made another attempt t0 explain she how and tiis why Of his pos isessing lie knew npt what Bdt ld took she bag fgemi bin. rgthlspsly seyaEed thsAI G9rllian knot, and no0red g bright Little cascade of diamohds upon the upper Dunk. The Dsc5eEs e4citspsst HAsRjtj- ful;l he shook all over with excitement. But there.was no need ito keep theepoOri 'oid fellow in suspense. These are the real thing" said at once. ..and of good water, apparently: ltheugh Dotb lassefI They look Ike Bulfoptsin stones, but yoE3s elgN have not been there. sl Where did EQq ind .':f the as y sdf4sa,a ails.
 This e"srss ~ss sssher s.sng Egas,sy a,sasa, one EinsG Grisqualahd; but it was a novel idea thst then .sdiamondafereus formation''r stsetcned so far north. Il became. more
 eager to iRear this story than vas afreks- ter tostBh its Wemouated to the poop again. and there the fDoctor'sr tala pta- folded. | warn the reader it is no fiction
 am writing To asmake up' an adven-
 tnre of the sort is So easy that I, for one,
 would not doit. Nor can Ibelieve even now that my, informant deceived me or himself on any polnt. But comment is
 more fitting in the end. a' NA s-'''''''F 2
 Trekster was a successful merchant m South America, until a revolution de- stroyed his stock, and the failure of some
 great house ruined his credit. At fifty
 years old he had to begin life once more,
 with very small resources in himself and none outside His brother and partner
 returned to Holland; but he, dreading
 the climate. and wisely distrustful of his ability to make way among a hard race
 oi men, chose to seek his fortune at the
 Cape. There he drifted straight into tn-
 torship. if one may so call the business.
 The Cape fsschoolmaster" is an institu-
 tion of the land. Where population is so scant and so far between, regular schools could not exist. The pedagogue is a cir culating creature, who rides from farm to farm, taking his pupils Tn such order
 as he can. Some boys receive an hour g
 week, some two, some a whole day. of
 his attention. In the wilder districts of
 the colony and the Free State, a land 4 owner must give his children the. luxury
 of tutor, or send them to 3 distance.
 His wife would object to the latter course if he proposed it. and people who not
 not do the former see their sons grow
 up without knowledge or manners. They do not much regret 1t, pel haps. A boy can ride and shoot, raise stock and sell 1t,
 without learning, aud that which has nev.
 CT been valued IS not missed. But among
 wealthy beers, of whom there are many in the Transyaal, the schoolmaster is an officer of the household, as one may say.
 Though the farmer have no children, he still keeps g pedagogue to read and write his letters, to advise him in politics and social matters, and to amuse him with stories of the world beyond the farm. Tue schoolmaster, in fact, is half secfeta- ry, half steward, and half-servant. In 8. few embarrassed but pregnant words,
 Dr. Trekster let me understand what hu-
 miliations. drudgery. and unkindness. he
 had passed through in twenty years of
 his life. The Transvaal boer is a white
 Kaffir, raised above the savage in few
 respects and in several beneath him. He despises the secretary, encouraging his children to do the like, But, at the same
 time, he Hogs them With awful brutality upon complaint of ,idieness or bad, be-
 havior, for he asks the fnll worth of his
 money. Blows are his resource for every
 trouble, and his reign is one of terror. Ills amusements are cards and drink, pot
 hunting, and marrying his black neigh
 bors.
 Once year the beers go out fer a
 6Qttase of game, ln parties of half-a-doz- en or more. Each has his great wagon,
 and sometimes two, with slaves and ri-
 ding-horses. Not many years ago it
 would have seemed impossible to exhaust the Transyaal hunting grounds, but mur- derous driving has thinned them. The sportsmen could satisfy himself any day. even now, but the boer looks upon the chase as matter of business. He counts to fill his enormous wagons with horns
 and hides, nor will he give himself much
 trouble i'll the doing of it. Consequently,
 he goes further and further afeld every year when bent on one of these grand ex-
 petitions. The Kaf6r chiefs. however.
 value their own game. and the sight of Dutch hunters is naturally hateful to
 them. Of late years they have begun to
 claim tax upon each rifle, and they are certainly right in doing so. When the in-
 truders are weak, they pay; when strong
 enough, they resist. Several wars have arisen upon such disputes. sf,sesFzst,g.g a In 1874 Treksteer was living with rich
 boer by. Leodenburg. At the proper sea-
 son his master took unto him six kindred
 spirits for grand chosse. Several school masters" attended. They tracked up the
 country northward, passed the Crokodyl
 and Sushi Rivers, and begin their hunt ing on the extreme border of the tsetze country. A chief of the Masele Kafiirs
 demanded his due of pound gun, but failed to get it. He ordered his people
 to give the invaders no assistance, but
 they took what they wanted and shot as
 they pleased. Wandering just too far.
 however. tLey passed the fatal boundary,
 and lost number of their oxen by ''the fly Bitterly vexed, they turned east ward, recrossed the Sushi and reached
 the territory of Emboonda, King of the Batsoetta Kafirs. Here, lacking oxen and foreseeing difficulties, they thought
 it best to pay the game license, and make
 a present besides.31 But their proceedings
 toward the people were not less oppres- l. siye. Secure in the Kings permission,
 they wandered freely through his lands. IODe evening. as they rode back to the tlwagons, a bushman slave picked up a pebble, and examined it with del,ght.g A
 boer asked him the, use. of 1t, and hs ex. plained that with such stones his people
 out their digging Knives to fix a handle on themg Therumoro of diamond discoveries iahad already SD cad to the, Transvaal,, but hpene of the, party had seen diamond. They knew, however. that it would bore stones, and On reaching camp this pebble lawasI minutely .scrutinized All agreed
 that it looked like nothing familiar to
 ther experlence, and ne4t day they reyis- tied the spot. It was marshy piece of | ground; 5f that Dr? Trekatesr is quite certain, hut as to the locality he could orlJ declare that if lay beyond the Sand River. I and some two miles from the kraal of Fee lipautze. sub chief under Emboohaab
 Phere are many lleps in iba apeighbor llhood. -
 lua A marshis not the sort off ground in.
 which an sxperieneed digger would look E for diamonds. But if there be, one fact
 pFbved in geology by the Gaps discovers ies, itis thatEws know nothing gaof the con- 1 ditions underswhich q diamond may be expected I have not the. slightest doubt that Treksteer spoke the truth, afdoh