EARLY DAYS 9 
In those days the natives had not absorbed European ideas and 
so were simple and happy. They loved squatting round a log fire 
at night discussing the events of the day. Being eloquent speakers, 
they dramatically described the most trivial happenings, and the 
most amusing similes added color to the story. Frequently the 
narrator was interrupted by the whole company bursting into fits 
of laughter. 
When working on the farm far from headquarters, they always 
gave vent to a sort of ditty or cry of joy when the signal was given 
for them to cease work for the day. A slightly refined version 
would be: 
Work is now finished, we are going to our homes, 
We are going to get food and to make love to our women, 
Make love to our women. 
This ditty was voiced with so much gusto that it sounded like a 
war Cry. 
The Shangaan women were garbed in loin cloths, and wore 
pounds of heavy wire round the wrists and ankles as bangles. It 
always amazed me to see them walking majestically for miles in 
the heat of the day carrying all this weight plus babies on their 
backs, and enormous pots of maize or millet on their heads. The 
men on the other hand carried nothing except knobkerries and 
spears, though you might see a civilized fellow carrying his boots 
on his head for comfort and to save wearing them out. They were 
never meant to fit, and were worn only when passing through a 
village to impress the simple barefoot folk. Sometimes I saw one 
of these aristocrats walking along with a stone on his head, which 
puzzled me until I found that this was the natives’ way of carry- 
ing stamps. | 
About the time war was declared my brother was made man- 
ager of a ranch in the remote part of the Rustenburg district, and 
a few days after his departure I received a note from the District 
Commissioner instructing me to be ready with horse and rifle to 
do combat, as rebels were heading for our district. I expected to be 
called into action any minute, but fortunately they changed direc- 
tion at the last moment. The rebels were soon defeated, and the 
