NATIVE GENTLEMEN. 71 



To leeward, some twenty paces off, is another 

 fire, twice the size of the cooks' ; around it are 

 assembled voorlopers, horse-boys, and all the strangers 

 and hangers-on that have been picked up on the 

 way. They are a queer heterogeneous mob, and 

 represent half the tribes of South Africa. How 

 jolly they are, how their faces beam with good 

 nature, and how their eyes sparkle in anticipation 

 of their coming feast ! Talk about change of facial 

 expression ! No English actor that ever was born 

 could rival these men, and their pantomimic action 

 is so inimitable that, even without a knowledge of 

 their language, the observer can almost understand 

 every scene or action they are describing. 



If it, the subject of their conversation, be war 

 or the chase, how excited they become ; if love 

 and intrigue, how honeyed, suave, and plausible they 

 appear ! 



Politics these people discuss with all the energies 

 of their nature ; the last scandal they repeat with 

 all the gusto of the oldest club roud. Yet they 

 never quarrel, because they never offend natural 

 delicacy, knowing how far they can go, and never 

 overstepping that bound. If these people were 



