The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-12-17
PARIAHS OF THE Beers.
TREKKERs REGARDED BY BURGH-
ERs AS OUTCAsTs.

Mode of Life-Their Laziness and
Dense IgnOranee-SO Busy Doing
Nothing They Have "No Time TO
Think"-A TrekISer TriIby-Man
Who Told of an Automobile Called
a "VerdOomed" Liar.
ormond Ledge. in the Field.
"The Trek Boer is a living example of
the truth of the colonial saying that mon
otony does not harm a man with no
brains,'" The life led by these people is
hideous in its never-ending sameness. The
famiies DO not mingle together, and there
is none of that offhand sociabiity which
is such feature of the TransvaaI and
Free State Beers. During my stay in Ia
marafand l came across scores of trekker
families. On one occasion one Of these fam
lily groups, consisting of father. mother,
two sons and daughter, camped near the
wayside store where I was staying. Their
mode OF life was as follows: At daybreak
the family would disengage themselves
from the wagon, and the Kafir boy wolll
come from his roost under this conveyance
and drive the stock away 70 feed. The
old man would then take up his position
on a stool in the lee of the wagon, and
would rest there hour after hour, looking
straight ahead of him. The TWO sons would
lie on the grass, ppe in mouth, gazing up
at the sky, hut never exchanging a word:
and the old Vrouw would sit near by Oh
another stool, also busily engaged in doing
nothing, the only one of the family who
ever worked being the daughter, who a.
tended to the washing and cooking ar
M fVNfC u. -. i
soon turn an ordinary man into hopeless
lunatic; but these people thrived on it.
NOn one occasion l spoke to the old
man on the subject. He was seated on
his stool, wrapt in contemplation of the
landscape, and 1 went over to him and
asked him what he was thinking about.
Think he said. L haven't got time TO
think and l was 50 staggered by the an
swer that left him to his own devices for
the time being; but later on 1 tackled
him again. 1 said, Did you mean what
you said about not having time to think?'
Yes he said, of course did What funny
people you English are!
The Trek Beers. though they belong to
the same race as the Transvaal and Free
State Beers, have held themselves apart
from these others for a considerable
period; but there is no doubt but that the
present difficulty will be the means OF
their uniting together again, and, for a
time, at any rate, burying old grievances
in their mutual hatred of the common en-
envy. The Trek Beers are not conspieu-
GUS by their numbers, and merit interest
more from their personal habits and pecu-
liarities than anything else. My first ex-
perience of a Trek Boer was during a trip
made into Damaraland. had off-saddled
one day by a stream to rest the horse
when a troop of about dozen cattle and
couple of hundred sheep appeared COM
ing toward me over the brow of the hill
These were shortly followed by a wagon
driven by a tall. white-bearded old man.
who walked alongside the oxen and urged
them on. The outfit arrived at the drift
the wagon was outspanned, and the in
mates, consisting of an old woman, four
or five young women and several children
alighted.
81 have at times seen patrol tents made
to hold two men provide shelter for seven
or eight, but never saw such a clear case
of overcrowding as this before, and was
waite ing them dismount one after an
other, wondering whether there were any
more to follow, when the old man came
over and shook hands with me. / drew
out handful of tobacco and we sat down
together. He was travelling for the sake
of his cattle and sheep he told me; he l!v-
ed wherever he might be when the sun
went down. oh. said, then you are one
of the trekxers? Yes he said, have al
ways been trekker' His father came up
from Cape Colony during the Great Trek
and had not settled down as most Of the
others had done He thought it was no
use, he added, because as soon as he be-
came comfortably settled he knew that
the English government would come along
and drive them fruther inland, and he
himself had followed in his fathers foot
steps. / looked at him as he said this
but there was no suspicion of sarcasm in
his face.
Presently the old vrouw, who had been
| seated on a footstool watching the girls
make the fire, called out that the coffee
was ready, and I went over with the old
man and shook hands with the ladies'.
| They were dressed in the most outrageous
! attempts at female apparel that l had
ever seen, and their feet and heads were
| bare. One of the girls, about 10 years old,
was dressed in a mans corduroy coat and
| a short skirt of what had originally been
| some white material; she had cut off the
arms of the coat, presumably to give
| freer movement, and, taken altogether,
| presented an unusual sight. This young
| lady, after looking at me searchingly for
| a few moments, asked me where my wife
| was. I told her l had none. 'Oh, you
| liarT she replied, quite genially; but The
| old vrouw now turned her head and said:
| BE quietr much in the same tone with
| which one addresses a disobedient dog
| and the girl. TO my great relief, subsided.
| Il sat down, ana the Ola VrouW poured
| me out a basin of coffee, and we got
| into conversation. My host informed me
that he had left Bechuanaland when Sir
Charles Warrens expedition went into the
country and had to come to DamaraIand
with many others. Bechuanaland was a
fine country for the trekkers, he said; the
grass was good and the pans (pools of
water) were at nice distances apart but
here in Damaraland there were too many
trekkers, every river and drift was crowd
ed with them. Crowded. asked. Yes,
he said I've seen three to-day, and 1
wondered what would happen to the old
man II he really did meet a crowd Of peo-
pie
when the trekkers first arrived in
| Damaraland the country was infested with
freebooters. principally of European orr
gin, and these people thought that Prov
| idence was acting extremely friendly to-
ward them in sending the Beers down to