326 KLOOF AND KARROO. 



War could be written, the part played by the house- 

 wives in stirring up the spirit of discontent and 

 insurrection, would not improbably be the cause 

 of some wonderment and even admiration ; for in 

 restless determination the Dutch Afrikander women 

 are often much in advance of their stolid husbands. 

 The huis-vrouw may be found usually from dawn 

 till nightfall, seated in her easy-chair, directing the 

 polity of the establishment. If the weather is chilly, 

 as in spring and winter it often is, her ample feet 

 not seldom repose upon a kind of footstool filled 

 with hot charcoal. No other person would dare 

 to occupy the vrouw's seat of honour under any 

 circumstances whatever. In the remote districts, 

 and farther up in the Transvaal and Free State, 

 many of the Boers are to this day as primitive in 

 their habits as when Barrow wrote of the Dutch 

 housewife more than ninety years ago. "She makes 

 no scruple of having her legs and feet washed inwarm 

 water by a slave before strangers. . . If the motive of 

 such a custom were that of cleanliness, the practice 

 of it would deserve praise ; but to see the tub with 

 the same water passed round through all the branches 

 of the family, according to seniority, is apt to create 

 ideas of a very different nature." This evening 

 custom still obtains in the households of the remote 

 back country, and to the stranger, who is expected 

 to share the luxury, is rather appalling. From her 

 huge arm-chair the vrouw exercises a severe sway 

 over her numerous native servants, only rising 

 occasionally to bake bread, make coffee, and 

 superintend the butchering department, and the 

 manufacture of dried flesh, soaps, candles, and other 

 necessaries. Occasionally, if the servants are away 



