BOER INCREDULITY. 



My story was not about herds of antelopes consisting 

 of thousands, of attacks made on troops of elephants or 

 buffaloes, or of lions carrying off horses from under the 

 very eyes of their owners. I simply wished to tell the 

 Boers what sort of a place London was, which I men- 

 tioned as about half its real size, that I might not astonish 

 too much. I gave them a description of the large shops, 

 and at last tried to describe St. Paul's Cathedral. I told 

 them that it was so large that at least four thousand 

 people could stand at the same time inside the building ; 

 and that it was so high that if your own brother hap- 

 pened to be at the top, and you at the bottom, you would 

 not be able to recognize him. I was at once told by the 

 young Dutchman that this could not be true ; my host, how- 

 ever, came to the rescue, and said that he himself had seen 

 the building, and it was, in reality, even larger than I had 

 stated. The Dutchman would not have it so, at any price, 

 but asked, with a knowing look, " if the wind ever blew 

 in my country," or " if it ever rained." I told him it 

 did both, the latter pretty often. "Then/ 7 said he, " that 

 big place that you have spoken to me about cannot exist ; 

 it could not be built so strong as to stand more than a 

 week ; it would be blown down or washed away. You 

 see that the Deutch mensch (Dutchmen) cannot be hum- 

 bugged so easily as you thought." Perfectly satisfied at 

 his nattering discovery, he walked out of the room and 

 took his place for the night in his waggon, and I have no 

 doubt communicated to his admiring Hottentot driver 

 how he had shown the Englishman that he was a clever 

 fellow. 



