Daily Yellowstone journal., 1888-10-09
AMONG THE DUTCH Beers.
Some Very Queer Costunes-Iedicine IN
MISUNDERSTANDING.

habits) arrives NJ a 1arm mousse IN, say
the Orange Free state. A farm house
NAV have one field of forage and a stone
kraal: otherwise the farm is open
try. He will not off saddle his horse
without receiving permission; this having
been asked for and granted, the farmer
main apartment. There is home made
furniture. numerous pink and white
paper flowers, and painted or 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 ''h~andshake,' but a
resting Of palm within palm. The coffee,
which is made from sunrise TO sunset, is
then brought in in bowls, tobacco
pouches are exchanged, and conyersa-
ton. which seldom varies, commences.
The visitor and the farmer answer or re-
PLY pretty much as follows: THE weld is
green. The clouds are heavy; there will
be a thunderstorm tomorrow. | have a
very fine red horse running. NachtmaaI
icommunionJ will be next month. My
vrauw has a cold. The president is a
fine man. Japie de Villiers pronounced
Vile. and minus the prefix has had a
ram born with five heads. The English
are thieves" The handshaking cere-
mony is then repeated, the horse, fed
and rested, is brought round; the trav-
eler mounts, smacks his sjambock, shows
off his steed and proceeds on his journey.
The farmers have trained ponies TO a
special pace called a Cripple" and a
good ''trippler" 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 a hair, while the trotting horse, his
companion, may be done up. Distance
is reckoned by time-siX miles 10 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 then 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-
~titioners, who have to 60 long distances,
| charge heavily. ADutchman is satisfied
with the treatment SO long as his medical
adviser brings to the house a quart bottle
Of physic; If he present him with a 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-
men are enormous in size, good cooks in
their style, gobble sweets and cakes all
day and take little exercise. But now
and then n 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 and 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 re-
markable. Annually the farmhouse on
the slow veld' is shut up, and the sheep
and cattle are taken scores If miles up
TO the ''high weld" 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, and 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; concertina, harmo-
MUM and fiddle are their delight. a
withered IIottentot dwarf will draw a
strain from the sole Of an Old shoe strung
with sinew, and men and maidens will
vigorously dance TO il for hours. For
dancing there is no touching the English
Afrikander, and his measures seem quite
original. The Beers have a bad
character for pilfering. When the
men and the women enter
an up country store they are allowed to
carry off small goods like sweets or rib
bons, which they unconsciously pay for
in the bill. The farmers are not often
rich in money, their wool crops being
mortgaged sometimes 10 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
Boer dF, he Is an entire fool. In
order 10 kcepa firm hand over the young
men riding transport, the elders of tina
free state recently passed a bill prohibit
ing the sale Of liquor at wayside can
teens, and thereby lost a large revenue.
However, there are sinugglers.
The Beers are great religious Journalists
and at certain times they and their fam
lilies ride into the villages from great dis
tances 10 celebrate the Nachtmaal might
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 arc concerned, the Beers con-
slant violation Of the Commandments
does not need pointing out. The Beers
are by no means modest, and their family
conversations are at times bo~isterously
indecent. Household arrangements, save
on rich farms, are necessarily meager,