utton, bread, and all the best that his laager larder afforded. He
offered to exchange a pipe-load of tobacco with you, and when that
occurred you could take it for granted that he was your friend for life.
The takhaar was the man who went to the frontiers on his own
responsibility weeks before the ultimatum was sent, and watched day and
night lest the enemy might trample a rod beyond the bounds. He was the man
who stopped Jameson, who climbed Majuba, and who fought the natives. The
takhaar was the Boer before gold brought restlessness into the country,
and he was proud of his title. The fighting ability of the takhaar is best
illustrated by repeating an incident which occurred after the battle of
Dundee when a large number of Hussars were captured. One of the Hussar
officers asked for the name of the regiment he had been fighting against.
A fun-loving Boer replied that the Boers had no regiments; that their men
were divided into three brigades--the Afrikanders, the Boers, and the
Takhaars--a distinction which carried with it but a slight difference.
"The Afrikander brigade," the Boer explained, "is fighting now. They fight
like demons. When they are killed, then the Boers take the field. The
Boers fight about twice as well and hard as the Afrikanders. As soon as
all the Boers are killed, then come the takhaars, and they would rather
fight than eat." The officer remained silent for a moment, then sighed and
said, "Well, if that is correct, then our job is bigger than I thought it
was."

The ideal Boer is a man with a bearded face and a flowing moustache, and
in order to appear idyllic almost every Boer burgher, who was not thus
favoured before war was began, engaged in the peaceful process of growing
a beard. Young men who, in times of peace, detested hirsute adornments of
the face allowed their beards and moustaches to grow, and after a month or
two it was almost impossible to find one burgher who was without a growth
of hair on his face. The wearing of a beard was almost equal to a badge of
Boer citizenship, and for the time being every Boer was a takhaar in
appearance if not in fact. The adoption of beards was not so much fancy as
it was a matter of discretion. The Boer was aware of the fact that few of
the enemy wore beards, and so it was thought quite ingenious for all
burghers to wear facial adornments of that kind in order that friend and
foe might be distinguished more readily at a distance.

Notwithstanding the