The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1888-11-15
AMONG THE DUCTH Beers.
SOME VERY QUEER CosTUMEs-MEDICINE
AND QUACKERY-DANCING.

| The travellers q speak of one who is
supposed to understand Boer speech and
habits) arrives at farm house in, say,
| the Orange Free state. A farm house
may have one field of forage and stone
kraal: otherwise the farm is open coun
| try. He will not OFF saddle his horse
without receiving permission; this hav
| ing been asked for and granted, the
| farmer leads him through the half doors
into the main apartment. There Is home
| made furniture, numerous pink and
white paper flowers, and painted on the
wall vases of fruit like those seen depic
ted on the London pavements. The
| visitor will proceed to shake hands, COM
mencing with the stout vrauw and end
| ing with the baby in arms. This is not
| the English 'handshake, but resting
| of palm within palm. The coffee, which
| is made from sunrise to sunset, is then
| brought in in bowls, tobacco pouches
exchanged, and conversation, which
seldom varies, commences. The visitor
and the farmer answer or reply pretty
much as follows: 1.-The weld is green.
The clouds are heavy; there will be
| thunderstorm tomorrow. I have fine
red horse running. Nachtmaal (commun
ion) will be next month. My vrauw has
cold. The president is a fine man.
Japie de Villiers pronounced Vile, and
minus the prefix has had ram born
with five heads. The English are thieves"
| The banishaking ceremony is then
repeated, the horse fed and rested, is
brought around; the traveller mounts,
srnacks his sjambock, shows off his steed
and proceeds on his journey.
| Tho farmers have traiuad popiaS IN q
special pace called a cripple" and
good ''trippler" is always priced. With
this pace no sporting" of the saddle is
required, and on long journey the trip
| pier will arrive each night without turn
ing hair, while the trotting horse, his
companion, may be done up. Distance
hour. IF an Englishman near the hour
of sunset asks Dutchman where such
village lies, he will be answered by a
raised hand and "a little way over that
| hill" You then ride ten miles and sleep
out in thunder storm, perhaps. You
reach the village the following midday.
| Superstition and fear of contagious dis
eases are great among this people.
| The Dutch are accomplished herbal
lists, doubtless obtaining the knowledge
Of the Hottentots and Bushmen; they
have herb brandies for colics and plants
for sores. They are often the prey of
quack doctors; the more as genuine prac-
ticioners. who have to go long distances,
charge heavily. ADutchman is satisfied
with the treatment SO long as his medical
adviser brings to the house quart bottle
of physic if he present him with small
vial he doubts his skill and sends for an
other man. The dead are buried on the
farms, and over them travelling masons
erect mausoleUms of brick. Dutch wo-
man are enormous in size, good cooks in
their style, gobble sweets and cakes oil
day and take little exercise. But now
aud then Dutch wife and her daughters
may be seen kraaling the sheep at even
| ing. A Boer likes his wife's company,
and will leave passengers by his wagon
stuck in the mud ard half starved while
he tracks off fifty miles with another
vehicle to pay a visit to the vrauw.
Feather beds are greatly priced by this
people; they generally carry their beds
with them on journeys.
The trekkings of the Beers are remark
able. Annually the farmhouse on the
slow veld' is shut up, aud the sheep
aud cattle are taken scores Of miles up to
the 'higb veid' for mountain pasture
Besides some rushing stream the wagons
are camped, perhaps tents are pitched,
and domestic life goes on as usual.
Fowls cluck among the wild grasses, and
the COWS are MIXED beneath the shadows
of mighty mountains. The general be
lief in the excellence of Boer shooting is
no delnsion.
The people are excessively fond of
music and dancing; concertina, harmo-
nuim and fiddle are their delight. A
withered Hottentot dwarf will draw a
strain from the sole of an old shoe strung
with sinew, and men and maidens will
vigorously dance to it for hours. For
dancing there is no touching the English
Afrikander, and his measures seem quite
original. The Beers Lave bad charact.
er for pilfering. When the men and the
women enter an up country store they
are allowed to carry off small goods like
sweets or ribbons, which they uncon-
sciously pay for in the bill. The far
mers are not often rich in money, their
wool crops being mortgaged sometimes
to the stores for two seasons ahead.
young bloods'' are impudent and wild.
A smart curveting horse and hat with
white ostrich plume usually denote this
species. When Boer drinks he is an
entire fool. In order to keep firm
hand over the young men riding trans
port, the elders of the free state recently
passed a bill prohibiting the sale Of
liquor at wayside canteeus, and thereby
lost large revenue. However there are
| smucelers.
The Beers are great religious formal.
lists; AID at certain times they and their
famlii5s tide into the villages from great
distances to celebrate tie NachtmaGi
(aight meal or communion, their wagons
loaded with prodnce-rresents for the
parsons. At this time business is brisk
and the streets ere like fair. Yet.
where natives and land are concerned,
the Beers violation of the Command
ments does not need pointing out The
| Beers are by 10 means modest, and their
| family conversations are at times bolster
ously indecent. Household arrange
ments, save on rich farms, are necessar.
lily meager, and the traveller must be pre-
| pared to sleep on the floor in the midst
of four or five sisters and their three or
four brothers, all grown up, while the
| head couple suore on an elevated and
ponderous feather bed in curtained cor.
ner of the room. When sleeping at
superior Trapsvaal farmhouse, it is well
| to examine the mattress: if it rests on
| sheepskins, throw the skins out.--St
James Gazette.
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! THEIR RJTSINESC pnONTSr