The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-11-12

He had to make his own roads, ford
rapid rivers. scale rugged mountains,
fight savage animals and still more
savage human beings. When | think
of the fortitude ard bravery shown by
! the BOer during his exodus from CIVIL
ization he has my unqualified admir-
alton: but having conceded him this,
/ have given him all he is entitled to-.
AS a pioneer the Boer is decided sue
cess: as a civilizer he is a pronounced
| failure I admit readily that this criti-
| cism is captious, for the Boer does not
pretend to civilize anything
When the Boer was seeking home
where he hoped to be free from the i'm
pertinent intrusion of English philan-
thropy. strange thing happened to
him. A race of men. infinitely inferior
to the Beers. because their skins were
black. had the incOnceivable audacity
to resent losing their land and liberty
These benighted heathens imagined
that by right of conquest and occupa-
ton they should be allowed to remain
in undisturbed possession of their herds
and fields. OF course. this was the
sheereSt nonsense. England has no
right to take an inch of land from the
Beers. but the Beers had the clearest
possible right to tage ii all from the
Kaffirs, because they were doing it to
benefit the poor negro. The most dan
with were the bushmen or Bosjesmen,
a wandering tribe of aboriginal Ish-
maelites. short in stature and speaking
an utterly untranslatable language, re-
sembling more the clicks and guttural5
of the anthropoid apes than any known
human speech. These Bushmen lived
principally in caves and decayed tree
trunks and were hcpelessly untamable
Kaffirs Hate the Beers.
| Their hatred of the Beers exceeded that
of the Beers towards the English, for
they hated the white man indiscrim-
inately and individually. parent and
son. root and branch. The pioneering
Dutchnen used to organize hunting
PARTIES for the purpose of exterminat-
ing these Bushmen, just as they hunted
lions and leopards. No mercy was
shown or expected on either side. An
old Boer once showed me the scars of
wound in his thigh. which he had
received during one of these raids
against the Bushmen. He had acct
6nntally been separated from his COM
panions and was endeavoring to rejoin
them when a Bushman. seated in the
branches of a large tree. sent an arrow
into the Beers thigh. The Boer i'm
mediately shot the Bushman, and then
sitting down. deliberately carved the
flesh around the wound, taking the ar
row head out entire. He then cduler-
ised the wound by placing handful
of gunpowder in it and setting fire to
the same His companions found him
about two hours afterwards in half
fainting condition and carried him
home Investigation proved that the
Boer had saved his life by his prompt
| action. as the poison on the Bush
mans arrow was perfectly fresh. and
/ had the Boer not acted as he did he
would. in all probability, have died in
| the course of three or four hours after
receiving his wound. Had the poison
used by the Bushman been, say, two
DAYS old. its effect would not neceS-
! sarily have been fatal. but the victim
would have suffered from it for the
| rest of his life. l mention the incident
as illustrative of the pluck and grim
determination shown by the Boer in
| his pioneering days TIE younger
Beers of the present day are more eff
Terminate than their ancestors were,
but they are descendants of a stern.
hardy stock and should occasion ever
arise are likely to display the same
| traits which made the early Boer a
successful pioneer.
Growth of Transvaa1.
1t is unnecessary to follow the Beers
| in detail in their occupation of the
Transvaal We will consider them
from the time when the objections of
the native owners of the soil had been
effectually silenced by rifle and lash