328 KLOOF AND KARROO. 



the Transvaal or Orange Free State, for the 

 President and his family and worldly gear as well 

 as for the spiritual welfare in either case. At meals 

 a long grace is usually said before falling to. 



Few people are more litigious than the Cape 

 Dutch, considering the immense distances that 

 often separate them from their legal advisers. But, 

 disputatious though they are, it is unquestionable 

 that on occasion they altogether surpass their 

 British fellow-subjects in the strength and com- 

 pleteness of their apologies. Here is a public 

 apology, translated from the columns of a Cape 

 paper, Di Afrikaanse Patriot : 



" I, the undersigned, A. C. du Plessis, C. son, 

 retract hereby everything I have said against the 

 innocent Mr. G. P. Bezuidenhout, calling myself 

 an infamous liar, and striking my mouth with the ex- 

 clamation, ' You mendacious mouth (jij lengenachtige 

 bek), why do you lie so?' I declare further that 

 I know nothing against the character of Mr. G. P. 

 Bezuidenhout. I call myself, besides, a genuine 

 liar of the first class. (Signed) A. C. du Plessis. 

 Witnesses, P. du Plessis, J. C. Holmes." 



I have said that the Cape Dutch are great 

 smokers ; they are equally great spitters, and herein 

 they vie with the most notable talent of America ; 

 this habit they even carry with them to the church. 

 A new Dutch Reformed Church was recently built, 

 and the Graaff Reinetter , a local paper, was moved to 

 speak thus in view of preserving the virgin purity of 

 the floor made of pitch pine and oiled. Here is a 

 translation of the article in question : 



"In the last meeting of the congregation the 

 question was discussed whether it was necessary to 



