330 KLOOF AND KARROO. 



millions of acres, in many parts of the Colony. 

 Many of these families have never known a home, 

 save their own waggons ; they have been born and 

 reared in this fashion, and so they bring forth and 

 rear their own children. A strange existence, indeed ! 

 These nomads pay no taxes, and, practically, own 

 no laws, and by all careful and prudent farmers, 

 they are looked upon with unmixed disgust and 

 resentment. It is probable that a great part of the 

 contagious diseases that ravage the flocks and herds 

 of the colonial farmers — such as scab, brand-sickte, 

 red-water, and lung-sickness — are transmitted by 

 these Trek Boers. Theirs is, no doubt, a picturesque 

 and interesting survival of the old wandering existence 

 of the early Dutch settlers, but it is a survival not 

 exactly fitted for these days of progress, and its 

 departure would greatly benefit the Colony. 



In the north-west divisions of the Colony, notably 

 in Calvinia, Namaqualand, Fraserburg, and Victoria 

 West, even the well-to-do farmers move away, 

 periodically, from their regular homes, and with 

 families and flocks, seek fresh pasturage in the 

 trek- veldt (part of the ancient Bushmanland), 

 where their white waggon tilts and camping tents 

 lie dotted upon the landscape in picturesque 

 disorder. 



The curious customs of the young Boers when 

 courting have too often been touched upon to need 

 repetition here. The smart attire, the shining riding 

 boots, the bright new spurs, the curvetting horse, 

 the "opsitting," and the "opsitting" candle, by the 

 burning of which the duration of the lovers' interview 

 is regulated, are all pretty well known. The following 

 Boer Dutch verses, composed by an old Cape friend 



