96 Recollections oj Adventures 



praat." (" Yes, that will teach him not to be so long- 

 winded/') old Venter saw the joke in time, and 

 sought a more appreciative lot of cronies to spin his 

 yarns to. 



To-day it is to me a sad sight to see the descen- 

 dants of families whom I knew some years ago in 

 comfortable circumstances, now living in degrading 

 poverty, and deteriorating physically and morally, 

 without energy for the work of the day or hope for 

 the future. The only chance of bettering these poor 

 people is to educate the children, and teach them 

 self-respect and the dignity of honest labour, not to 

 despise work or service as only fit for Kaffirs. If 

 the landless people of white descent do not become 

 industrious, the natives will take their place and 

 they will die out. It is to be regretted that the 

 Dutch Ministers of religion, who in some ways so 

 strongly influence the Dutch constituents politically, 

 have not been able to do more for the so termed 

 " poor white " section of the race, industrially. 



In 1856 I was commandeered to go on commando 

 against Mahura and Gasibone in the Batlapin 

 country. I took my own wagon and oxen, and 

 Matabele servant, so as to be comfortable, but to my 

 disgust they quartered two fellows by name Piet 

 Viljoen and P. Du Preez, on me. They " sponged " 

 on me until I could stand it no longer. One night, 

 while there was a prayer meeting going on, they 

 stole all my biscuits and filled a large chest they 

 had. When I found them out I shamboked Du 

 Preez, and was court-martialled for cutting him 

 about rather worse than I knew. He was a powerful 

 man, and tried to grapple me, but I managed to keep 

 him off until he was tired of being punished. He 

 then complained to the Commandant who imposed a 

 fine of 60 on me, instead of restoring my stolen 



