The Irish standard., 1889-03-16
THE DUTCH IN AFRICA.
Some Of the Queerest Customs OF
the Thrifty Beers.

Some of the Queerest Customs OF
the Thrifty Beers.
What Wide-Awake Traveller Saw In the
Congo Free State-How Its Citizens Are
victimized by Quacl< Doctors
Their Religious Forvor.
The traveller Il speak, writes a CORE.
spondent of the st. James Gazette, Of the
one who is supposed to understand Boer
speech and habitsl arrives at 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
country. He will not off saddle his horse
without receiving permission; this having
been asked for and granted, the farmer
leads him through the half doors of the
main apartment. There is homemade fur
niture. numerous pink and white paper
flowers, and painted on the walls vases of
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 10 sunset, is
then brought in in bowls, tobacco pouches
are exchanged, and conversation, which
seldom varies, commences. The visitor and
the farmer answer or reply pretty much as
follows: "The weld is green. The clouds
are heavy; there will be a thunderstorm
tomorrow. l have a very fine red horse
running. Nachtmaal {communion) 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 handshaking
process is then repeated, the horse, fed and
rested, is brought round; the traveller
mounts, smacks his sjambock, shows off bis
steea and proceeds on his journey.
The farmers have trained ponies to
special pace called a tripple," and good
"trippler" is always priced. With this
pace no 'sporting" OF the saddle is re-
CURED, and on long journey the trippler
will arrive each night without turning q
hair, while the trotting horse, his compan-
ion, may be done up Distance is reck-
oned by tine-sK miles to the hour. If
an Englishman near the hour of sunset
asks a Dutchman where such g village lies
he will be answered by raised hand and ga
little way over that hill.' You then ride
ten miles and sleep out in thunderstorm,
perhaps. You reach the village the follow
ing midday. Superstition and fear of con-
tagious diseases are great among this peo-
pie.
The Dutch are accomplished herloalists.
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 quac1 doctors;
the more as genuine practitioners, who
have to go long distances, charge heavily.
A Dutchman is satisfied with the treatment
so long as his medical adviser brings to the
house a quart bottle Of physlc; If he pre-
sents him with small vial he doubts his
skill and sends for another man. The dead
are buried on the farms, and over them
; travelling masons erect mausoleums OF
brick. Dutch women are enormous in size,
good cooks in their style, gobble sweets and
cakes all day and take little exercise But
now and then a Dutch wife and her daugh-
tiers may be seen kraalling the sheep ateven-
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
visit to the vrauw. Feather beds are
greatly priced by this people; they general
~ carry their beds with them on journeys.
EEtEkluSS VI luC DOCIS ealC 1CAAdA ~
able Annually the farmhouse on the Glow
veld'' is shut up, and the sheep and cattle
are taken scores of miles up to the "high
veld' for mountain pasture. 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 be-
meath the shadows of mighty mountains.
The general belief in the excellence OF Boer
shooting is no delusion.
The people are excessively fond of music
and dancing; concertina, harmonium and
fiddle are their delight A withered Hot
tentot dwarf will draw strain from the
sole of an old shoe strung with sinew, and
men and 1naldens will vigorously dance to
it for hours. For dancing there is no touch
ing the English Afrikander, and his meas
ures 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 ribbons, 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 two seasons ahead. ''Young
bloods' are independent and wild. A smart
curveting horse and hat with white ostrich
plume usually Cenote Cn1s specIes neA
Boer drinks he is an entire fool. In order
to keep firm hand over the young men
riding transport, the elders of the Free
State recently passed bill prohibiting the
sale of liquor at wayside canteens, and
thereby lost large revenue. However,
| there are smugglers.
The Beers are great religious Journalists;
and at certain times they and their families
ride into the villages from great distances
to celebrate the Nachtmaal might meal or
communion), their wagons loaded with
produce-presentsf for the parsons. At this
time business is brisk and the streets are
like fair. Yet, where natives and land
are concerned, the Beers constant violation
of the commandments does not need point
ing out. The Beers are by no means
modest, and their family conversations are
at times bolsterously indecent. Household
arrangements, save on rich farms, are nee
essarily 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 snore on an elevated and ponderous
feather-bed in curtained corner OF the
room. When sleeping at superior Trans
vaal farmhouse, it is well to examine the