]

And so it is with other things. When once you have aroused suspicion
in the Boer--and it sleeps lightly--you can safely say good-bye to him
for ever. He knows within his heart that the English are bent upon
taking advantage of him, and when a man makes up his mind like that
he is seldom disappointed.

There is one characteristic of the Boer which the most casual observer
cannot fail to notice. It is his entire indifference to personal
appearance. He likes to see his vrouw gorgeous in all the colours of
the rainbow (pink and green being the favourites), and he doesn't mind
if the material costs a little over ninepence a yard; but he evinces
no desire to discard the suit he has himself worn for three or four
years without a change. So long as it holds together, he is content to
wear it, and he does not in the least mind what other people may say
about it. It may be supposed that this applies exclusively to the
poorer classes, but I can assure my readers that I have known it to be
the case with scores of men who could well afford to wear a brand-new
suit every day of the week and every month of the year. And what does
this characteristic indicate? It indicates the man. He has no desire
to advance beyond what he is--what his forefathers were. The latter
manufactured their own clothing; they made their own shoes, and, had
they been presented with a cast-off suit belonging to the Prince of
Wales, they could not possibly have appreciated it, and they certainly
would never have thought of wearing it. The Boer does not care to
dress respectably; he prefers to finger the coin and sit down and
watch the increase in his stock. He would have everything converted
into stock, because that is his great ambition.

Another thing--he lacks taste. His clothes never by any chance fit him
(in the eyes of more refined people), and his boots are always three
sizes too large; but then he thinks he is getting more for his money.
If he must needs buy boots, he takes care that he invests his money in
quantity, not quality, or style.

CHAPTER III

The Boer would like to lay hands on the man who invented ploughs. Not
that he has any aversion to ploughs as ploughs; he merely objects to
the labour involved by the introduction of these implements into the
market. He sees some sense in an ox, a sheep, a goat, and a horse. Put
these animals on a bit of green veldt, and they do the rest
themselves; they thrive and multiply, and enhance th