THE COUNTRY 361 



good enough for him. He comes here as he has come 

 before to other parts of the continent. He comes some- 

 times to make a home, and as a home-maker he should be 

 and is welcome. Sometimes to make but a short stay and 

 then move on, selling his holding which he has done little 

 or nothing to improve, and again seeking some wilder land 

 where he can live the rough and uncontrolled life he loves. 

 Why these immigrant Boers who now are crowding into the 

 Protectorate by the ship-load have left the Transvaal 

 which is now theirs beyond controversy, none of them 

 seems to be able to say; unless the excuse that times are hard 

 there counts as valid. 



The wandering Boer is an unmixed nuisance; he openly 

 boasts of his hatred of England and all things English, yet 

 he very shrewdly avails himself of every loophole that 

 the extraordinarily generous provisions of the Protectorate 

 allow him. I will quote one concrete illustration of this 

 temper of his and of his attitude to the powers that be. 



A sportmans's licence to kill game in British East 

 Africa costs 250 dollars. A settler's licence 50 dollars. 

 In addition to these purchased commissions to kill game 

 the law permits a bona fide settler to shoot all game except 

 elephant, eland and giraffe, on his own land, and as the 

 grants of land are as extensive as ten thousand acres and 

 often more, a small farm will sometimes extend to four thou- 

 sand acres; this privilege is worth a great deal to the newly 

 arrived and struggling immigrant. 



Many bona fide English settlers were for long refused 

 permission to take out even a 5O-dollar or settlers' licence, 

 but were told by the authorities they must take a 25o-dollar 

 licence if they wished to kill game. It is but the truth to 

 say that 5o-dollar licences were only granted after con- 

 siderable delay, and when positive proof was forthcoming 

 that land was taken up and occupied. 



Now just as soon as the Boers began to arrive in any 



