The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1889-01-11
AMONG THE DUTCH BoERs.
Some Very Queer Costumes-Medicine and
Ouackery-Dancing.

"A Quackery-Dancing.
The traveller q speak Of one who is
supposed to understand Boer speech and
habits) arrives at q farm house in, say,
the Orange Free state. A farm house
may have one field of forage and a stone
kraal; otherwise the farm is open coun-
try. He will not off saddle bis 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
furMture, 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," but q
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 converse
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 thunderstorm tomorrow. l have q
very fine red horse running. NachtmaaI
VIII DC IlSNO ihOlltii. NY
vrauw has a cold. The president is q
fine man. Japie de villiers pronounced
Vile, and minus the prefix has had
ram born with five heads. The English
arc 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
special pace called a Cripple" and
good 'trippler" is always priced. With
this pace no ''porting" 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
| is reckoned by time-siX miles to the
| hour. If an. Englishman near the hour
| of sunset asks a Dutchman where such q
| village lies, he will be answered by
raised hand and "a little way over thaU
hill" You then tide 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 tho prey Of
quack doctors; the more as genuine prac-
titioners, who have to so long distances,
charge heavily A Dutchman is satisfied
with the treatment so long as his medical
adviser brings to tho 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-
men are enormous in size, good cooks in
their style, gobble sweets and cakes all
day and take littlo exercise. But now
and then Dutch wife and her daughters
may be seen kraaling tho sheep at even
ing. AiBoer 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 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.
veIa SHUT ap and the sheep
and cattle are taken scores of 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 Us
usual. Fowls cluck among the wild
grasses, and the COWS are milked beneath
the shadows of mighty mountains. The
general belief in the excellence of Boer
shooting is no delusion.
The people arc excessively fond Of
music and dancing; concertina, harmo-
MUM and fiddle are their delight. A
withered Hottentot dwarf will draw q
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 tho 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 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 to the stores for
fm%n m,sfesaon sfsasons ahead "Yonng bloodsn are are
horse and hat with whito ostrich plume
usually denote this species. When q
Boer drinks he is an entire fool. In
| oiuCl W heVl)'. iitlil lltilu over Illo young
men riding transport, the elders of the
free state recently passed bill prohibit
{ ing the sale of liquor at wayside can
teens, and thereby lost largo revenue
; However, there are smugglers.
The Beers arc great religious Journalists !;
| and at certain times they and their fam
lilies ride into the villages from great dis
tances to celebrate the Nachtmaal might
meal or communion), their wagons loaded
with producc-prcsents for the parsons.
At this time business is brisk and tho
streets are like fair. Yet, where natives
and land arc concerned the Boer's con-
slant violation Of the Commandments
does not need pointing out. Tho Beers
arc Dy no means modest, and their family
conversations are ut times boisterously
indecent. Household arrangements, save
on rich farms, arc necessarily meager,
and the traveller must be prepared 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 snoro
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