re justly speaking
lacking in civility than what we term uncivil. He knew nothing of
the art of being obliging to his fellow-creatures, merely because
they were his fellow-creatures. He would entertain a stranger, and
ask nothing in return, but he would do so without courtesy, and
would put himself out of the way for no one. The traveller might
take him or leave him, conform to his hours and habits entirely,
and, to use the vulgar phrase, "like them or lump them" as his
temperament might decide. "Africanus," who, in his book on "The
Transvaal Boers," writes of them with judgment and without
prejudice, gives a very true sketch, which exactly describes the
strange blend of piety, indolence, ignorance, and ferocity which we
are endeavouring to study. He says--

"The Dutch farmer is in some respects very unlike his supposed
counterpart in England. His pursuits are pastoral, not agricultural,
for in most parts of South Africa the want of irrigation renders the
cultivation of cereals impossible. His idea of a 'farm' is a tract
of at least 6000 acres, over which his flocks and herds can move
from one pasture to another. His labourers are all natives, and
though, before the advent of storekeepers, he used often to make his
own clothes, boots (veld-schoen), and harness, he looks on actual
farm-work as a menial pursuit. He was, and is, wont to pass whole
days in the saddle, but, to an English eye, his horses seem unkempt
and often ill-used. The magnificent herds of game which wandered
over South Africa sixty years ago tempted him to become a keen
sportsman, but he has never shown much 'sporting instinct,' and the
Boer is responsible for the wanton destruction of the African fauna.
The unsophisticated Boer is a curious blend of hospitality and
avarice; he would welcome the passing stranger, and entertain him to
the best of his ability, but he seized any opportunity of making
money, and the discovery that hides and skins were marketable
induced him to slaughter antelopes without the slightest
forethought. That the Boer is no longer hospitable is very largely
due to the way in which his hospitality has been abused by stray
pedlars and ne'er-do-wells of various kinds. He still retains a
sincere and primitive piety, but his belief that he is a member of
the chosen people has sometimes tended to antinomianism rather than
to strict morality. His contempt and dislike for the Kaffir has
preserved the Dutch stock from taint of black bloo