The Republican journal., 1877-07-26
The Dutch Farmer in Africa.

The Dutch farmer or Boer of the inte-
rior of the Cape Colony may be described
in few words. In every community
there are bad exceptions; and the eXcep-
tlons being all that we hear of at a dis
tance, the South African Boer has till
| lately been regarded in England as little
better than a savage. We must learn to
know his fairer side. The type is un-
changing. AS he was in 1906 in the Col
| ony, so he is in 1876 in the republics of
! the inferior. He is uncultivated He is
unprogressiye: but he possesses qualities
which even here will be regarded as not
without value. ''IIe is domestic, but not
| gregarious." When he settles he pro
cures from 5000 to 10000 acres of undu-
lating grass plain. He takes possession
in his wagon with his wife and children,
his scanty furniture, his family Bible.
which is all his literature and his sheep
and cattle. He selects spring of water
| as site for his house ten miles. perhaps,
from his nearest neighbor His house
| consists of a central hall. with a kitchen
behind 1t, and three four, orr five bedrooms
opening out Of it, all on one floor. He
builds kraalS for his cattle. He fences
in garden which he carefully irrigates.
And so rapid is the growth in that soil
and climate that in four or five Years it
will be stocked with oranges, lemons, cit
rons, peaches, apricots, figs. apples, pears,
and grape vines. He incloses fifty or a
hundred acres, which he ploughs and
SoWS with wheat or Indian corn. His
herds and hocks multiply with little effort
If he is ambitious he adds a few ostriches,
whose feathers he sells at Port Elizabeth
Thus he lives in rude abundance. His
boys grow up and marry; his daughters
find husbands, and when the land is good
they remain at his side. For each new
family house is built a few gunshots
from the first \ few more acres are
brought under the plough. A second
generation is born. The old people be
come the patriarchs of the family hamlet.
The younger gather round them a. the
evening meal, which is preceded by a long.
solemn grace, as the days work in the
morning is commenced with a Psalm
The authority Of age is absolute. The
Old lady sits in a chair in the hall, eX-
tending her hand to Il guest but never
rising to receive him. The Young gencr-
alton, trained to obedience, fetch and
carry at her command. The estate pro
duces almost everything which the fam
lily consumes There is no haste to get
rich. There is no desire of change The
Boer has few wants but those which he
can himself supply, and he asks nothing
but to be let alone The obedience which
he expects from his children be expects
equally from his servants. He is a strict
Calvanlst. The stream of time. which
has carried most of us so far and fast
has left him anchored on the old ground.
The only knowledge which he values is
contained in his Bible. His notions of
things in Heaven and earth are very much
what would have been found in Scotland
in the days OF the Covenant. He is consti-
tutionally republican. yet Of liberty in the
modern sense he has no idea. lie con-
sders work the first duty Of man, and
habits OF work the only fitting education
Native questions and ali other questions
he regards from this point OF view With
out tenderness, without enthusiasm. and
with the narroWest intellectual horizon,
he has a stubborn practicality well suit
ed for the work which he has chosen as
the pioneer of African civilization. TWO
Republics.