Evening star., 1901-04-27
THE BUSH YELDT.
Why Fugitive Bodies of BurShers Are
Seeking Asylum There.
From the London Express.

From the London Express.
The news that fugitive bodies of Beers
are trekkinE toward the bush veldt has
somewhat hastily been assumed to indt-
cate that finding themselves driven from
pillar to post the desperate burghers are
seeking a last fever-stricken asylum.
The bush veldt is term applied loosely
to a long strip of wooded country which
runs roughly east by west In line fifty
miles to the north of Pretoria. 1t lies
somewhat lower than the surrounding
country, and for this reason maintains
throughout the year a warm mean temper
ature.
People at home have even yet failed to
grasp the immensity of the Transvaal
They seem to think that because it Is all
called by one name it is all of one geo
graphical and climatic character. The
truth is that one part of the TransNaai
differs from another just about as much
as California does from the state of New
York
There are never frosts in the bush Veidt,
though the high tablelandS about Mid
delburg and Belfast. not thirty mules away
night frosts are both frequent and bitter
in the winter season. Similarly, the rain
fan in the bush vcldt is inches higher than
on the plains.
In the depths of winter. when the grass
the veldt il brown, parched and ineHi-
bic. it is green and fresh and succulent i'll
the bush country. For this reason the
willy Buer leaves his farm on the plains
when his animals can no longer find graz
ing there. and tricks laboriously off in
search of pastures new. Generally he
takes his entire household with him, wife
children and furniture, the family lares
and penates being heaped iudscrirlinatcly
in enormous trek wagons.
This annual trek is a sight to be seen
and never forgotten. 1t beats a Scotch
Hitting or an Irish eviction into fits.
The male members of the family ride on
horseback, the women and children sit on
the wagons, and all gesticulate wildly,
screaming curses at the kaifirS and oxen
at the highest pitch of their voices. Some
times the trek occupies a fortnight if
there is a long way to go; and every night
the oxen are outspanned and q camp is
formed for the night. Eight to twelve
miles day IS the average rate of pro-
gresSion.
The land in the bush veldt is not taken
up III the same way elsewhere: the
bursher simply treks on till he finds a
place which suits him and stops there. He
does not build house, but lives entirely
IN his WaGons-snmetimcs with huge sail
thrown over to form q tent. Some of the
richer farmers have special wagons for
this annual picnic-enormous numbering
things they are. which thirty oxen strain
to move.
From April till October life in the bush
veldt is pleasant and healthy enough In
october 1t begins to get warm, and by the
Inlddle "f November the hcGt Is unneara-
Die Then fever comes. and the knowing
burSher returns to health and the spring
grass on the plains
In the ordinary way trekking to the bush
Neldt does not commence till Man. but
there is no reason why it should not begin
IN April AS rule, there is still sufficient
grass through April to keep the beasts fat:
and $" long as he is not compelled to move
ine Boer Is the incarnation of Iaziness
Therefore. 1t Will he seen that. whatever
else the bodies of Beers now reported to
be trShkinS to the bush Veldt are doing
thsy are assuredly not running their heads
blI1dly into death-trap. 1t has been
stated repeatedly by papers which ought
TO Know better that those who seek ASYLUM
IN tn" bush country must necessarily per-
ish of fever. This is nonsense. The ordi-
nary Boer is a great deal more afraid of
fever than he Is of the Lec-Enficld rifle
especially II he has good horse under
him.
The Beers are going to the bush yeldt
because they know that they may now do
50 with safety They will stay there lust
So long as they can with impunity-ie
tIi tctobcr-itud then they will come back
ON the plains Whether We can tiis!odce
them earlier remains to be seen. The bush
Seidt Is almost impossible country 10 move
large bodies Of men in, and it is for the
most part unknown
W nave had mapS-prctty bad ones too
-of IN" rest of the Transvaal but We. have
nom of the bush country