THE BOER OF TO-DAY. 329 



have spittoons made for the new church in places 

 where persons befoul the floor by spitting on it. A 

 few members of the congregation thought that those 

 who wanted spittoons could provide themselves with 

 them. The chairman said that the complaint had 

 been recently made that a man and his wife got quite 

 sick from this spitting near them ; even the Sunday 

 school teachers, who taught their classes on the 

 gallery of the old church, had complained that there 

 were so many quids {pruimpjes) and so much tobacco 

 spittle on the floor, that they got quite a turn in their 

 stomachs. Some of the speakers thought that the 

 supplying of spittoons would only make the spitting 

 worse. Generally, the meeting came to the conclusion 

 that they hoped no one would be dirty enough to 

 befoul the floor of our fine new church with spittle 

 or quids, to the disedification of decent hearers and 

 the defilement of God's house." 



The article went on to compare the spitters to 

 Kaffirs, and to ask "how one can give heed to the 

 Word, and heartily sing or join in prayer, while his 

 attention is divided between his plug of tobacco and 

 the service." 



The average size of an ordinary Cape farm is 

 about 3,000 morgen — rather more than 6,000 acres. 

 For a large pastoral farmer, this is a mere fleabite, 

 and farms of 20,000 and 40,000 acres, and even 

 more, are very commonly met with. But it is not 

 to be supposed that all Boers in the Colony are 

 great landed proprietors. There yet remain many 

 who move about from place to place with their flocks 

 and herds, sometimes paying a trifle (in kind) for 

 pasturage and water, oftener finding it for nothing 

 upon the vast crown lands, that still lie unused, in 



