362 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Nov. 4, 1899. 
Boer Life and Characteristics. 
In order to properly understand the peculiarities of 
Boer life it is necessary that one should bear in mind 
that for a long time past they have lived an almost 
entirely pastoral life, depending on their flocks and herds 
for nearly every article which they might , need. Some 
time previous to 1840, a large number of the original 
Boer inhabitants of the Cape Colony became weary of 
British rule and migrated across the Orange River, the 
northern boundary of the Colony, into a district inhab- 
ited by Kaffirs, from whom they conquered a large ter- 
ritory, which they called the Orange Free State, and 
established a republican form of government. Some 
years subsequent the Boers went to war with the Griquas, 
a nation of natives who called themselves allies of the 
British, and the Qu-aen's sovereignty was established 
over the Orange Free State. This caused a number of 
Boers to cross the Vaal Rivfer and found the Transvaal 
Republic. A few years after the government of the Free 
State was restored to its inhabitants, who again estab- 
lished in a republican form. In arranging their boun- 
daries with the Griquas there was a dispute, and the 
Griqua chief appealed to the British, but they refused to 
mix in. the business. Subsequently the famous Kimberly 
diamond mines were discovered in this disputed territory, 
when the British reopened the question, hoisted their 
flag over and took possession of it. When the Boers 
first conquered the region known as the Free State a 
portion of them fought their way down to the coast and 
established a port of entry at what is now Durban, 
Natal. This was opposed by the Cape Colonists, who 
finally conquered the country and annexed it. After- 
ward it was made an independent colony under British 
rule, thus compelling the Boers to pay tribute, as every 
foreign article which they used had to pass through 
British custom houses. Nearly every store in both the 
Grange Free State and Transvaal Avas either a branch 
of Cape or Natal establishments, or owned by English 
colonists, who received their stocks direct from England 
or the Cape and Natal concerns. The mode of con- 
ducting the business was entirely by barter. Once in a 
twelvemonth the Boer would load his entire product of 
wool and skins on his wagons and transport them to the 
nearest store, which was frequently a trip of several days. 
The merchant would then sample the wool, a price would 
be fixed for it, and weighed on old-fasfiioned balance 
scales, the weights of which were frequently large stones 
with the pounds marked on them with white paint. After 
the entire weight was figured up the Boer and his family 
would pass into the store, where the merchant would 
open a package of sweets for the especial delectation of 
the females. I have frequently seen a large jar of pre- 
served ginger placed on the counter, and the women 
would help themselves by thrusting in their hands and 
drawing them out besmeared with the syrup, which they 
would remove by licking. The Boer had to take every 
article in the original package, as nothing was ever cut or 
divided. For instance, all articles used for dresses or 
clothing (such as calicos, etc.) had to be taken by the 
piece. So one can easily imagine that it did not take long 
for the Boer to barter away his produce. Of course 
there were some articles for which there was no demand. 
For instance, shoes, as the Boers make all they require, 
and from personal experience I can assert that they are 
very comfortable and durable articles. A Boer's tan vat 
is a curiosity and a martel of simplicity. It consists of 
two square frames of small poles lashed together by four 
short pieces at the corners, so that the upper frame stands 
about 2ft. above the lower one, which rests on the ground. 
A rawhide is lashed to the upper frame, so that it bags 
about i8in. in the center for the purpose of holding the 
tanning liquid, which is largely composed of the juice of a 
plant which grows wild in every direction over the veldt. 
All the veldt schoens (grass shoes) are of a russet color 
and made without a welt, as the uppers project out to the 
edges of the soles and are sewed to them with very fine 
strips of antelope hide which have been thoroughly 
soaked in grease. 
Like our Western ranchmen, the Boers are not both- 
ered with fences. Their stock have free range — generally 
under the care of Kaffir shepherds and herdsmen — but 
are always driven home at night, where they are con- 
fined in kraals, which are generally square inclosures of 
sod walls, which serve the double purpose of confining 
the stock and drying fuel, as all the manure is carefully 
scraped up and placed on top of the walls until it becomes 
sufficiently dry for combustion. It is almost entirely 
the_ sole article of fuel with the Boers, as nearly the 
entire country is treeless and very similar to our rolling 
prairies. 
The walls of a number of Boer houses are built of sod, 
and I have frequently seen them lacking window frames 
and sash, as in some sections timber is so scarce that it 
is difficult to obtain enough for the rafters to support a 
thatched roof. A large number of them consist of only 
two rooms, one for a sleeping apartment, with curtained 
beds, and the other for a general living room and kitchen. 
The gardens are inclosed by a sod wall, in th'e base of 
which, in the immediate vicinity of the house, square 
openings are left to serve as hens' nests. A Boer con- 
siders it beneath his dignity to walk, and generally several 
horses are fastened in front of their houses, to be used 
on every occasion. If they have a journey to make two 
horses are used. One is ridden for two hours, while the 
other is led; then both are knee-haltered and allowed to 
browse for a short time, when the saddle is shifted to the 
led horse and the trip resumed. They always ride at a 
canter, and calculate to make about six miles per hour. 
Their mode of computing distances is by the hour. If 
a Boer is asked the distance between two points he will 
always answer, "It is so many hours," and by allowing 
six miles for each hour one can easily figure the distance. 
Once in my wanderings in the Orange Free State I 
knew that I was in the vicinity of a village called Boshof, 
and happening to meet a Boer in the road asked him the 
distance. His answer was, "One hour for me and two 
-for yoti»" He was on horseback and I afoot, and I 
instantly figured it to be six miles. In riding at full 
speed across the veldt, a Boer invariably throws his feet 
out of the stirrups and leans back in his saddle. Then, 
should his horse fall from getting his front feet into a 
hole made by the numerous burrowers, his rider will 
slide off feet foremost instead of pitching headlong, as 
is usually the case. It frequently happens that a Boer 
wishes to lay off a portion of his farm for one of 
his children, when he makes a large pile of stone 
to serve as a beacon mark for a corner. From 
thence he canters of! for a short time, stops and 
erects a second beacon, and again canters ofif at 
right angles, and so until he reaches his starting ijoint, 
thus establishing the boundary lines. Their wagons are 
huge affairs, drawn by fourteen oxen, which are called 
"a span," and the greatest laggard is sure to be named 
England, and catches more than his share of flagellation. 
The leaders have a piece of rawhide tied to their horns, 
by which a Kaffir boy (called a "forelooper") leads the 
team in whatever direction they wish to travel. There 
are generally two drivers, seated on the front of the 
wagon, one furnished with a heavy, short, rawhide whip 
for the purpose of castigating the wheelers, while the 
other handles another of sufficient length to reach the 
rumps of the leaders. I often attempted to crack one, but 
invariably became entangled in the lengthy thong. Sev- 
eral times I have seen the drivers kill doves alongside the 
road with them. As a greater portion of the territory 
occupied by the Boers is subject to disastrous droughts 
they are forced to build large dams, which fill during the 
rainy season and serve for watering the stock during the 
dry one. But some seasons the rains fail, and then the 
Boer is forced to load all his movables into his wagons, 
abandon his home, and trek to the banks of the nearest 
river, where he lives in and under his wagons, with his 
cattle and sheep herded roundabout, until the rains 
release him. 
Their diet is very simple, and all of their bread is made 
from unsifted flour, as their mills are rough, homemade 
stones, driven by horse power, and one frequently serves 
for several families, being moved from one homestead 
to another as needed. Wherever it is possible to irrigate 
they have excellent gardens, growing a profusion of 
vegetables and semi-tropical fruits. Instead of salting 
their meat, it is made into what they call biltong, which 
is simply strips of fresh meat hung up in the bright 
sunlight until it is thoroughly cured and dried. Of 
course they have an abundance of milk, and it is a 
universal custom that whenever a guest enters one of 
their homes hot coffee is immediately served. I have 
had it offered when I was sure that it was not used 
daily, but purposely kept for such occasions. One item 
in my stores for my up-country trips was a good supply 
of Holland gin, which was always produced whenever 
I happened to meet a Boer. I usually passed a coffee 
cup with the bottle, so that it was difficult to gauge the 
amount imbibed. The Boers have adopted the Kaffir 
custom of inventing nicknames, and always spoke of 
this incident as "taking a pull out of the square-rigger." 
My Boer title was the "Hyaena man," as they thought it 
queer that I should pay them for the greatest nuisance 
and pest with which they were afflicted. They are su- 
perior rifle shots, and I have frequently seen them kill 
antelopes while riding at full speed across the veldt. A 
common feat is to cripple several head of game with a 
single shot, which is accomplished whenever a herd 
dashes across a Boer's path. The muzzle of the rifle 
is lowered so that the ball will strike the ground a short 
distance from the herd and in its ricochet break the legs 
of several of them. 
Their religion is the Dutch Reformed Church, and 
their annual sacrament is the cause of huge gatherings. 
As the churches are usually situated in their far-apart 
villages, the merchants calculate to do a thriving barter 
business, but the landlords fail in filling their hotels, as a 
Boer, when away from home, generally uses his wagon 
as he would his house. I was surprised to find many 
Highlanders officiating as Boer clergymen. One par- 
ticularly never failed to call on me whenever I passed 
through his village, and if I failed to produce the "square- 
rigger," he was not backward to ask the why and where- 
fore. One of the last acts performed each night by the 
head of every Boer family is to assemble all the mem- 
bers, including the help, and read a chapter or two from 
the Bible. In connection with this proceeding, I once 
had a queer experience. I had accompanied one of the 
up-country merchants, who acted as my agent, to a 
Boer's house one night. For supper we had lamb stew 
served in an enormous pewter dish, of very singular form 
and ornamentation. At bed time, when all were as- 
sembled for the usual service, a Kaffir girl entered the 
room bearing the same easily recognized piece of table- 
ware and proceeded to wash the feet of the entire family 
in it. A Boer seldom or never wears stockings; there- 
fore footbaths are nightly occurrences. My friend seized 
my arm with such force that the marks of his fingers 
could be seen for several days subsequently, and I 
thought he would have swooned. 
Frank J. Thompson. 
I had another queer experience in connection with the 
coffee-serving custom. I was visiting a Boer in company 
with another, when the two daughters of o-ur host left the 
room to prepare the beverage. When they returned they 
were followed by two Kaffir girls bearing the coffee pot 
and cups. They were about twelve and fourteen years 
respectively, and the sole articles of wearing apparel they 
wore were: One had a red and the other a blue woollen 
string tied around their waists. I felt as if I had been 
suddenly seated on a paper of pins, but on glancing 
around I saw that no one seemed astonished, and instantly 
concluding that it Avas one of the customs of the country, 
managed to present a composed front and gulped dovra 
the beverage. F. J. T. 
Mr. Cheney's suggestion of a fly-fishers' club for 
America, with headquarters in New York City, is one 
which should receive cordial indorsement. There is abun- 
dant material for such an institution. We have urged Mr. 
Cheney to take the initiative and put his project into 
practical realization. 
The Saginaw Crowd. 
Usually when a fellow comes back from a hunting 
trip and has been unsuccessful, he keeps still about it. It 
is the exception to see in print an account of a shooting 
or fishing expedition wherein the handsome maiden does 
not marry the brave and of poor but honest parents 
handsome young man with the curly mustache; but to 
vary the monotony I am going to tell how thoroughly 
the Saginaw Crowd got skunked this year on the pil- 
grimage to North Dakota. 
It was the fourteenth annual pilgrimage at that. Of 
course, we had a good time and lots of fun; we always 
have that. We came back feeling hale and hearty, and 
with appetites sufficient to devour anything from a terra- 
pin to an United States Army ration. But the compari- 
son in shooting between the days of the early '80s made 
us wonder if it would be very long before everything was 
killed off excepting the Mongolian pheasant and the 
English sparrow. 
Our car pulled out of Saginaw over the M. C. R. R. 
on the evening of Oct. 7. I was the only home repre- 
sentative of the Saginaw Crowd with it. Avery, of De- 
troit, and I had the car to ourselves. No, by no rtreans 
by ourselves, for our better halves were with us, taking 
the opportunity to go to Chicago to do shopping, a job 
that is generally considered most attractive for woman 
and most damnable for man. 
Bright and early the next morning our transfer was 
duly made, and we wefe joined by the remainder of our 
party, our old friend Bob Schultz, one of the origitial 
Saginaw Crowd, from Zanesville, O., with two friends, 
strangers to the rest of us, and supposed to be "tender- 
feet," both from Columbus, O. One was the Hon. James 
Meek, very appropriately named as to appetite, but de- 
cidedly improperly named whenever his partner made a 
misplay or he caught an adversary cheating at that in- 
nocent game of Old Maid. The other was judge Stevens. 
At first we called him plain Sam, but later on his judi- 
cial qualities developed so that we could not refrain from 
giving him his proper title, that of Judge. He was a 
judge of good chewing tobacco and of a properly con- 
cocted cocktail. A few moments later our friends from 
New York, Dan and Joe, put in an appearance, and our 
party was made up. Their trunks were quickly un- 
locked and the contents stowed away in the two chif- 
foniers that are most conveniently arranged in the draw- 
ing room of our car, and the trunks were left at the depot 
for the return. We had the whole day in the city, and in 
the afternoon, just before train time, had a very pleasant 
call from Mr. and Mrs. Hough. 
Long before daylight Monday morning our car was 
safely sidetracked at Dawson, our old stamping ground. 
We were up bright and early. Jake had a good breakfast 
for us, and Harry got out the decoys and truck from the 
lockers underneath the car. Devore and Gokey put in an 
appearance. We plumped down our little $25 apiece for 
North Dakota licenses. We were told that there were 
plenty of hunters, scarcely any geese, the sharp-tailed 
grouse has been pounded to death, but there were a good 
many ducks, and not nearly as much water in the lakes 
as the year before. I knew at once what this meant — that 
duck shooting was going to be tedious and uncertain. 
Nevertheless, we sallied forth — or fifth, whatever you 
have a mind to call it — Avery, Joe and myself in one 
wagon behind Sam's team of farm horses. After looking 
over the ground we concluded that the Green Pond Hole 
in the sloughs back of Sam Devore's house was about the 
best place. We see lots of ducks, and as we drive along 
the l5anks hundreds of mallards get up. We have a Bond 
sectional boat with us, and put it together. It is dragged 
to the edge of the water. Joe is a little leary about cross- 
ing with us, so we fix up a blind for him in the rushes 
on the edge of the water. The mud is awfully sticky, but 
as he is provided with a tin cartridge box — one of the 
kind of which the lid springs up like a "jack in the box" 
— it makes a revolving seat of just the right height; it is 
water tight, too, so the cartridges keep dry. This is one 
that I had had some time and loaned it to Joe. I did not 
know the catch was out of order; Joe found it out in 
about a minute. He was new at duck shooting, likewise 
was his dogskin coat. Good dinners at Delmonico's 
and late hours at the office in the morning had rendered 
him a little corpulent. The joints of his legs neatly in- 
cased in creased hunting pants were not as supple as they 
became after he had been in our company a week or ten 
days. 
With rushes well stuck up in front of him, he seated 
himself on the revolving box cover, I had scarcely 
turned my back before I heard a splash, an exclamation 
and a cry for help. The box had shut up and dumped 
Joe, and his pants were so tight he could not budge with- 
out help. I jerked him up and adjusted the box. The 
new hunting coat was plastered with mud, and Joe had 
no confidence in his ability to master the art of duck 
shooting; but he was chuck full of sand, intended to stick 
it out; and he did stick it out, and did up some old fast- 
flying singles later on with the precision of an expert 
and an old-timer. 
Wc landed our boat in what appeared to be water, but 
lo and behold! there was but a skim of water overlying 
3or 4ft. of sticky mud. It was useless, we found, to stay 
in the boat, and to reach the other shore we must get out 
and tow it. Fortunately we had our mackintosh wading 
pants, and we made the trip across to the other side 
safely, but about bushed. 
You have all been through this sort of thing. There is 
no use telling you what we did. You know we put out 
the decoys, hauled the boat in the rushes and went to 
work. As we had not fired a shot up to this time, the 
ducks were not disturbed. They began flying by in ones 
and twos and little bunches; they were mo.stly mallards, 
and Ave had a bully good time. In fact, the shooting was 
too good and the mud too sticky to quit at noon time 
and go to the wagon for lunch. We made several good 
shots, but made many mighty poor ones. I shot a 16- 
gauge Scott ejector that weighs 7lbs., with full choked 
barrels, and was swinging loz. chilled No. 6 back of 
.^drs. of E C powder. I had no cripples. Avery was 
.shooting his load with the same kind of stuff in his 
T2-gT!age. .^nd whenever it did get on to an old mallard 
he simply folded uo and came down and stuck fast in t'^e 
mud. But what a job it was gathering up the birds! We 
drove them out pretty well, and about half-past three we 
