The evening times., 1899-10-13

that in 1858 large party OF French set
tiers, fleeing from the revocation of the
edict of Nantes, were sent out from Hol
land for colonization purposes, were granted
lands around Stellenbosch at Drakenstern.
and at Fransche Hoek (Frenchman's Cor
ner). They intermarried with the Dutch
colonists. and this combination of the
strong religious feeling and skill in farm
ing of the French, together with the busi
ness qualities and stolid cunning of the
Dutch, produced an ideal coloniziug and
pioneer race. The governorship would seem
to have alternated between French and
Dutch for we read that in 1l14 the Gov
ernor was lie Marquis de Chavonnes, and
in 172S one Gysbert Van Noodt
A very important element, which is often
overlooked, has tended much more than is
generally supposed to one side of the pres
ent Boer nature. This is the constant in
tercourse with natives, and the constant
assimilation OF some Kaffir characteristics.
There was no intermarriage, of course, but
during the tricks, often lasting from two
to ten years. when the hardy Boer pioneers
with womenkind and children, pluckily ven-
tured to the unknown North, they were ac-
companied by slaves, probably Hottentots
and Bushmen, who became in a way COM
panions, at any rate to the children, who
naturally picked up many of their ways.
Now a prominent characteristic of all At
rican races is a subtle diplomacy OF Ian
guage, largely assisted by SMILES drawn
from the surroundings of daily life. A
Kaffir will rarely, if ever, say yes or no
to direct question. He will equivocate
circumlocute, and do everything except lie
outright He is vastly pleased if he thinks
he has deceived you. even if only verbally.
The Boer is much the same. and the high
est compliment one can pay him is to call
him ''slim,' or cunning. General Jou-
bert's nickname is slim Piet," and he is
proud of it. The Boer and Kaffir methods
Of diplomacy are vastly similar.
To turn to another side of the Boer
character. The Voortrekker was the true
adventurer. as understood in the strictly
Elizabethan sense. Time and again during
the last two hundred years he had to set
forth into the unknown, fighting the KAT
frs, shooting for his bare existence, living
almost the life Of savage for years at a
time, and eventually settling down in
some remote spot where he is absolutely
isolated from his fellow beings. To this
day the Boer feels unhappy and crowded
if from any part of his ten thousand or
twelve thousand acre farm he can see the
smoke from any neighbor's chimney.
NOtNluS less tudu magnificent INSTANCES
pleases him. He feels unsafe in a town.
and i'll at ease even in a village That
townspeople are one and all rogues, thi YES,
and verneukers (swindlers) is precon-
ceived and ineradicable notion, which
truth to tell Is only too often verified.
The patriarchal Transvaal Boer had in
his time been through the most terrible
hardships-Kaffir wars, awful massacres
(Weenen, Bloedrivier) thirst, hunger, and
in great many cases, actual starvation
The gradual conquering Of a savage and
hostile negro hinterland took many years
and untold lives. Even when farms had
been taken up, rude mud houses built, and
mealies sown to keep body and soul to-
gether, either drought or locusts devastat-
ed the crops, and the work had to be re-
commenced The country swarmed with
wild animals-buck of eighty -and-twenty
different kinds, from the swift little oribi
to the wildebeest and koodoo. Then there
were elephants, lions, giraffes, buffalo,
quagga and, of course. birds innumerable
Every man had (and has to this day. his
trusty rooier, or muzzle loading rifle, and
through constant practice his aim was un-
erring.
There Is a story, which is amply true,
that an Englishman shooting with Boer.
and having his cartridge belt full up, ask
ed Dom Dante why he only took three
cartridges with him. The Boer said he
only meant to bring home three buck. He
got his three buck, sure enough, and the
Englishman got nothing. However, that
was the older generation. The shooting
Of the younger is by no means SO good to-
day, as is shown by the wappen-schou-
wings, or rife contests, which are held in
country dorps. or villages, and at which