Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1900-06-14
BOER FARMERS.
They Spend Their Days in Ease and
Content

Content.
With his pipe and tobacco and his
constantly replenished cup of So
called coffee the country Boer Is con-
tent to spend his days in comparative
idleness. From his homemade chair
of leather thongs on wooden frame,
standing on the verandah of his home
stead, he shouts directions to the
various boys" or natives at work in
the wagon house or down by the
stream. AS for himself, particularly
If he has groWn-up sons, he does lit
tie, If any, manual work, and still less
mental. He vegetables, Eliminates and
expectorates in the beatitude of moth
ing accomplished, nothing done to
earn nights repose.
Very good tobacco Is grown In the
Transvaal particularly in the Potchef.
stroom district, and under the Maya
liesberg Mountains, near Rustenberg.
1t is always home cured and dried.
At first it strikes one as peculiar, and
not altogether palatable, as it is very
dry and almost powdery, with an in
dividual flavor which is all it's own;
but gradually one grows accustomed
to 1t, and eventually one refuses to
smoke anything else 1t is absolutely
pure and healthy. Everybody smokes
1t all day long, and there is no throat
tickling, no harshness and no heat
about it. The farmer produces it for
about Is cents a pound, and 1t is sent
to the town in great circular rolls,
weighing about 40 pounds each. When
cut and unraveled, it Is retailed at rs
and 80 cents a pound, and search the
world over you will find nowhere bet
ter pipe tobacco.
Among the older Beers it was con-
sidered highly indecorOus for wOm'
an to allow her hair to be seen, even
by her sons or daughters. 1t was al
ways, night and day, carefully con-
cealed beneath gigantic sunbonnet
or "kappie," which projected far in
front of the face, somewhat after tho
fashion of the old poke bonnet.
The women's dress is almost always
black-of a heavy twill material akin
to baiize or bombazine. 1t sticks out
straight all the way around like
sort of crinoline.
On an outlying farm, which may ba
anything from 20 to 200 miles from q
town of any sort, the shopping-apart
from the quarterly visit to Nachtmaal
or Holy Communion--is conducted
through the agency of a "smaus.' This
is to all intents and purposes, ped
dler, who goes from farm to farm with
tray or jewelry and nicknacks In
front of him and pack upon his back.
ready to deal in anything and every
thing that will yield a handsome
prot1t.
A few quaint, homemade medicines
are kept at hand in every farmhouse,
for the Boer is always falling sick OF
some more or less imaginary com
plant, and wants to be coddled, doc
tered and physiced with all manner OF
extraordinary connections. favorita
remedy for children's commissions is
dogs blood made hot and mixed with
vinegar, while vulture's fat and jack
ais liver combined is supposed to
cure agile and shiveriHg fever.
The Juice of wild alocs is a sort o,
general allaround tonic, which is
given frequently and freely for colds
and coughs. and an oinment made
from the fat of viakvark, or wild
pig is always used for sprains or
bruises. All these things are 'old
women's remedies" but whether it Is
that faith has good deal to do with
a cure, it Is quite certain that many
of them are extraordinarily ettica-
cious. Some of the prescriptions for
preparations of herbs have been hand
ed down to the Beers by native doc
tors, and are very often successful in
mitigating, If not in curing, minor
ailments.
Before the advent Of the railway IN
the Transvaal, and even now in those
districts into which the iron horse has
not yet penetrated, the whole of tho
transport, or carrying trade, Is con
Quoted by kurveyors. Every other
Boer farmers son Is or was, kur-
veyor, or carrier. Their only stock
in trade was a wagon or l6 oxen. Tho
former, usually built in the Cape Col
ony at one or other of the famous
wagon dorps, is strong, heavy, we'll
puttogether concern, either half or
fully tented, capable of carrying goods
to a weight of five or six tons, and
drawn by eight spans, Of two each, of
patient, meek eyed oxen. These ver'
liable beasts of burden can walk for
eight hours a day at uniform pace
of three miles an hour. AT the head
of the team strides a little, nearly
naked, Kaflir boy, called the 'voor-
looper" He guides the long string
of oxen by short riempje, or strap,
attached to the horns of the near sido
leader. On the wagon sits the ker.
veyor, fourishing twenty.foot whip
at the end of long bamboo whip
stick. With quite extraordinary deX-
terity he is able to flick any one of
his team on any part of the body, IL
he thinks that particular OK Is tagging
a bit, or not doing his share of tho
pulling. The worst OK of the team,
the one which always comes in for
the most punishment is, in a spirit
of derision always called "Engelsch.
man or En- chman