The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1888-10-16
AMONG TIE DUTCH eoERs.
Some Very Queer Costumes = Medicine and
Quackery-Dancinc.

kraali Otherwise tho farm Is open coun-
try. He will not Oft saddle his horse
without receiving permission: this having
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
walls vases Of fruit like those seen
depicted on the London pavements.
The visitor will proceed to shake hands
commencing with the stout vrauw
and ending with the baby in arms. This
Is not the English "handshake,n but
resting Of palm within palm The coffee,
which is made from sunrise 10 sunset, is
then brought in in bowls. tcsacco
pouches are exchanged, and converse
ton, which seldom varies, commences.
The visitor and the farmer answer or re-
ply pretty much as follows: "Tho weld is
green The clouds are heavy; there will
BE- q thunderstorm tomorrow. have a
very fine red horse running. Nachtmaai
(communion) will be next month. My
vrauw has a cold. The president is a
fine man. Japie dc Viliers pronounced
Vile, and minus the prefix has had
ram born with five heads. The English
are thieves" The handshaking ccre.
mony is then repeated the horse, fed
and rested, is brought round; the trav-
elor mounts. emacks his siambock, shows
of his steed and proceeds on his journey.
The farmers have trained ponies TO
special pace called a Cripple" and
good "uippler' is always priced. With
this pace no porting Of the saddle is
required, and on a long Journey the trip
pier will arrive each night without turn
ing hair, while the trotting horse, his
companion, may be done up Distance
is reckoned by time--six miles to the
hour If an Englishman near the hour
Of sunset asks a Dutchman where such a
village lies, he will be answered By a
raised hand and "a little way over that
hill" You shen ride ten miles and sleep
out in a 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-
ttioncrs, who have to 90 long distances,
charge heavily. A Dutchman is satisfied
with the treatment 50 long as his medical
adviser brings TO the house a quart bottle
of physic; if he present him with a small
vial be doubts his skill and sends for an
other man. The dead are buried on the
farms, and over them travelling masons
erect maus5leums of brick. Dutch wo-
men are enormous in size, good cooks in
their style, gobble sweets and cakes oil
day and take little exercise But now
and then a Dutch wife and her daughters
may be seen kraaling the sheep AZ even
ing A Boer likes his wife's company,
and will leave passengers by his wagon
stuck in the mud and half starved while
he tracks OFF fifty miles with another
vehicle to pay q 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 re-
markable. Annually the farmhouse on
the Glow weld IS shut up and the sheep
and cattle are taken scores Of miles up
To the "high vcld'' for mountain pas
ture. Beside some rushing stream the
wagons are camped, perhaps tents are
pitched, and domestic life goes on as
usual. Fowls cluck among the wild
grasses. aud the cows are MIXED beneath
the shadows of mighty mountains. The
general belief in the excellence of Boer
shooting Is no dclusion.
The people are excessively fond OF
music and dancing; conceruna, harmo-
MUM and fiddle are their delight. \
withered II0ttentot 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 have bad
character for pilfering. When the
men and the women enter
an up country store they are allowed TO
carry of small goods like sweets or rib
bons, which they unconsciously pay for
in the BILL Inc farmers 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 a
B0er drinks be is an entire fool. In
order to kecpa firm hand over the young
men riding transport, the elders of the
free state recently passed a bill prohibit
ing the sale Of liquor at wayside can
teens, and thereby lost large revenue.
However, there are smugglers.
g The Beers are great religious Journalists;
and az certain times they and their fam
lies ride into the villages from great dis /
tauces TO celebrate the Nachtmaal (night |
meal or communion, their wagons loaded /
with produce-presents for the parsons /
At this time business IS brisk and the |
streets are like a fair Yet. where natives /
and Land are concerned, the Beers con-
slant violation of the Commandments /
does not need pointing out The Beers !
are bv nOmcaus modest, and their family /
conversations are 40 times boisterously (
Hou.ohcll ARRANGEMENTS. save I