FLAT GAME AND SMALL GAME. 87 



yet, if you once gained their confidence, they would do 

 all in their power to assist you. 



They are a simple people, without much education. 

 Their pleasure is the chase ; their occupation to look 

 after their sheep and cattle ; and almost their only social 

 gathering is a periodical assembling for Divine worship 

 and taking of the sacrament, for the Boers are always 

 devout. 



Slow to acquire new ideas and modes of thought, they 

 are remarkably tenacious of anything they have once 

 conceived and digested. In this they resemble their 

 ancestors, who crossed the seas rather than submit to 

 religious and political intolerance. 



I am speaking of the old generation of Boer. There 

 are now many excellent educational establishments, so I 

 am told, and the rising generation will no doubt obtain 

 wider knowledge, though whether they will be better 

 men than their fathers remains to be seen. 



At the time I am writing of, the Boer seldom used his 

 pen, and when he did there was a regular commotion in 

 the house. 



" Hush ! Be quiet all of you drive out the ducks and 

 the geese and the pigs and the fowls father is going to 

 write his name." And then the old gentleman, with elbows 

 squared on the table, would seize the pen with a flourish, 

 and putting on a determined look as though he were 

 going to tackle an adversary, would bend down his 

 head till it nearly touched his left arm, write his name 

 with many a splutter, and then throwing down the pen 

 and pushing back the chair, would look round with an 

 air of mingled pride and resignation, saying : " I have 

 done it" . 



The blessbuck is of a chocolate-brown colour on the 



