HOME LIFE OF THE BOERS

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume 30, Issue 9186, 13 October 1899, Page 3

HOME LIFE OF THE BOERS

AN INTERESTING INTERVIEW. The exodus which has been, going on in Johannesburg since the publication of Sir Alfred Milner's drastic despatch has brought a number of the fugitives to London. A representative of Pearson's Weekly recently interviewed a gentleman who, it will be seen, is in a position to tell us what the Boers of to-day are like. The following narrative by him will be found deeply interesting:— Although the Johannesburg is one of the healthiest places in the world, being 6000 ft above the level of the sea, the cyanide process by which the gold is extracted from the quartz fills the streets with a dust so fine that when the wind blows the particles rise, tilling the air with a thick November fog. The dust, when it settles on the lungs, results in a curious sort of fever, which in my case left me so weak that when I was fit to leave the hospital my doctor insisted on my going away for a time. Knowing a young Boer in Pretoria, I obtained letters of introduction to his family who lived not far from Duvenage, a little place a few hundred miles north of Pretoria, and having procured a seat in a Boer waggon, I set out on my journey. The natural beauties of the Transvaal are not great; miles of veldt, then 4 valley between big ugly-looking hills in and out of boulders ; craggy rocks, few bushes, grey or brown, scattered here and there ; and the soil, the dull red color which splashes the roads, which are simply tracks across the country made by cart wheels. Jacobus Grundling and his family received rae at the entrance of their home. The deadly apathy which pervades a Boer household is not easily disturbed. I was stared at for a few moments, asked a few questions, such as the number of rooms in Windsor Castle; and the only member of the family who spoke a little English, told me in a shamefaced sort of way, as if he were, saying somsthing discreditable, that his brother had once told him that he liked me, but the rest of the family contented themselves with shaking hands. This over I was invited insi'Je. The homestead, like the Boer farmhouses, is stuck in the open veldt, and built close to a stream, bounded on one side by a garden, in which grew orange, lemon, citron, peach, apple, and pear trees. The houses are built of red bricks, being filled with mud, which to keep from drying to dust has to be continually moistened with water.

That of Mr Grundling would not have louked so repulsive had the roof been thatched. As the boer, however, has no eye for the picturesque, he finds galvanised corrugoted iron an admirable substitute. But, if the outside was not prepossessing, the inside was absolutely forbidding. Wood is scarce in the Transvaal, so the houses are never more than one storey high, which does away with staircases. Another featuro of home life for which these people entertain a lofty contempt is furniture and domestic crockery. All the furniture belonging to mine host was unmistakably of home origin ; the stool on which I was invited to seat myself while partaking of the Boer national beverage, cofl'eo, having only two short legs. Cups and saucers, as well as knives and fotks, being unknown among these primitive people, I was handed mv collec in a basin. I should have liked a little milk, but milk, although the Boors are a pastoral race, is practically

unknown in the Transvaal, and sugar tht-y despise, mainly, I believe, because they understand it is popular in Europe. To describe one; Boer;family is to describe .all Boer families. There are, I believe, about the Transvaal, and E fr6inf:whab I haveseen of them they-se ,ru ; ueh resemble, each other as to convey, the impression they: all belong to one family. There were several young men in the house of J,a,Go,bus c Grundling, all tall, powerfully made, with.long~matted beards and unkept hair, all inconceivably dirty. They all wear dirty pegtop corduroy trousers, and very shortjackets, which make them look like gigantic boys, no collars, dirty ragged flannel shirts, billycock hats, and veldschoons,' which are shoes "made of untanned leather, and, like the furniture, of home manufacture - The average weight of a Boer young lady is 14 stone, increasing to 16 stone and upwards as they get older. Every man forms his own idea of beauty, and the Boer signifies his in one expressive word—bulk. A Boer lady seeking to win the affections of an Englishman would probably endeavour to keep her face I and hands clean; but, as all a Boer lover cares about is the weight avoirdupois, she can afford to be as untidy as the most slovenly of her European sisters. Still, as I began to study more closely my new friends, I could not fail to be struck by the simple, unaffected love which existed between them all, and the respect in which they held their elders. This so impressed me that in nothing I say do I wish to create a prejudice against them in this country, especially at this moment, when it seems that we are on the verge of a conflict. So, in justice to these folk, let me say that, although the primative life they lead may cause them to dispise conventions which to us are absolutely necessary, they can, and do, cultivate virtues which are fast dying out of our modern civilisation. They are not afijicted with the greed of gold, for instance. I have so come to regard the Boers as a raoe apart so that I do not think they should be judged by ordinary standards. Before I had been at the farm a week, I discovered that not only was their moclstof life unsuited to the modern ideas of the European, but that the diet, from its want of variety, was detrimental to health. This was the sort of life I led for six months. Daybreak would find me at the front door of the farm by the side of Jacjbus as he leaned against the house, sleepily counting his sheep and cattle as they were driven past by his Kaffir herdsman. Boer farms average frcm 3000 to 6000 morgen, that is 6000 to 12,000 acres. Consequently, the farms being ten miles apart, there is plenty of room for the rearing of live stock. But the flocks are very small. The sheep are subject to a disease called redwater, which the Boers obstinately imagine can be erred by soap and water, or tobacco-water. A good veterinary surgeon could make a fortune in the Transvaal if the people could be prevailed on to trust to his skill. Ten a.m. was the time for the first meal, which consisted of stewed meat and coflee. Then the entire family, consisting of some 20 people, m->ny of them men verging on middle age—for, a Boer farmer does not start in business for him?elf till he is well advanced in years—all set to work to water the garden, smoking Boer tobacco, which is of excellent quality. Idling or riding about would bring us up to two p.m., at which hour the household would close the doors and shutters, and indulge in siesta till four. Then smoking and riding about the farm would be resumed till six, when the second meal, consisting of meat soup and stewed meat, would be served. During the whole of my stay I never saw any departure from this bill of fare. I asked for bacon, but there was none to be had, the Boers disliking pork. Dinner over, the men smoked, and thought, or looked as if they did. No one spoke except the lovers, -who ■ ogled and smirked at each other in a way quite wonderful to behold. I looked at the shelves and saw plenty of bottles, but no books. I used to wonder whether they took in a newspaper. The son who could read did, but he had to peruse it in secret, as his father, who was regarded as a sort of chief, had no opinion of learning. The monotony of those evenings was dreadful. The all appeared on the best of terms with each other, but their ignorance and apathy were appalling. I showed the young ladies my wateh and trinkets. They gazed at them with lack-lustre eyes, and turned away. I brought out for the men some photos of London. They gave them a furtive glance, and then went on repairing their veldschoons. At eight, prayers, a chapter out of the family Bible—a wonderful book containing atrocious engravings printed on ancient paper—a long sermon, and then- bed. There was only one bedstead in the house, and this 1 occupied. I had no compunction in doing this, as I soon found that the Boers do not undress on retiring for the night. A few skins are sufficient for their wants.

I experienced so many novel sensations during my stay, that even when I discovered a couple of coffins under my bed one night when endcivouring to ejeot ono of the wretched Transvaal dogs which had taken shelter there, I was not surprised. It seems that wood being so scarce in the Transvaal most families keep a few coffins iu stock for emergencies,