THE BOER OF TO-DAY. 343 



krantzes (rocks) of fearful height, by which some were 

 severely injured, others killed moors-dood (stone- 

 dead). I could not help but feel jammer (sorry) for the 

 arme karels (poor fellows). To me it was a wonderful 

 thing indeed ; and to this day I cannot understand 

 how we won the battle. Your rooi-baatjes are brave 

 enough — at least, they were at Laing's Nek and 

 Ingogo River ; but what is the use in these days 

 of breech-loaders, if those that hold them are as 

 brave as lions and yet cannot aim straight and judge 

 distances ? As you know, we Boers are, so to say, 

 born with rifles in our hands, and learn to shoot 

 straight ; and from infancy, climbing as we do the 

 hills and crossing the plains in search of game, 

 we have a continual training which enables us 

 to judge distances to a nicety.' " 



Such was the plain but interesting narrative given 

 to me by a Cape colonist, an Englishman having, from 

 thirty-five years' experience, a very intimate knowledge 

 of the Boers of South Africa. According to the view 

 of my friend's Dutch informant, if a little more 

 forbearance, a little more tact, a little diplomacy, 

 had been exercised towards the Transvaal Dutch and 

 their leaders from 1877 to 1880 ; if a few administrative 

 posts had been judiciously distributed, the Boer War 

 would never have happened, and the Transvaal, with 

 all its potentialities of wealth, would have remained 

 to this day flourishing and contented beneath the 



British flag. 



But on the other hand, I am bound to say a 

 widely different rendering has been placed before 

 me. I have been informed by a Cape gentleman, 

 who held a high administrative post in the Transvaal 

 during British rule, and whose opportunities of 



