BOER LADIES AT HOME.

Otago Witness, Issue 2231, 3 December 1896, Page 49

BOER LADIES AT HOME.

I shall never forget the shock I experienced when I alighted from the ox waggon which* had brought me from Pretoria to the house of a Boer farmer, and found the entire family assembled — not to welcome me, for they did not then know who I was, but to stare at the stranger. Fortunately I knew a little of their dialect, and some letters of introduction from a Government official having been perused by the only member of the family with the slightest pretensions to learning, I was introduced by my host, or THE "DOPPBB," as they called him, to the members of his household, which I subsequently ascertained were 30 in number, only 20 of whom were present, the sons and .the husbands of the daughters being out on horseback. All the females eyed me with that peculiar lowering, suspicious gaze which seems the normal expression of these strange people ; but after the administration' of some sweats to _the youngsters, - they condescended- to shake hands, a custom which begins with the dopper and ends with the babies, all of whom are invariably in a more or less sticky condition. A Boer homestead is built In the open veldt, generally olose to a spring. The walla are composed of red bricks made of red mod baked in the sun, the spaces between being filled with mud, which the women folk in the summer time ' have to keep constantly i moistened with water to prevent the brink*

from crumbling into powder. The inside is even worse. As wood is so scarce in the Transvaal that the Boer farmer who has HALF-A-DOZEN COFFINS in stock thinks himself a fortunate man, wood flooring and staircases are out of the question. The men would probably plant trees if urged, but the women hate all innovations, and staircases would necessitate exercise, which they loathe. I shall never forget the insolent scorn with which they listened to my description of an Eoglieh home. "My grandfather lived here," said one, " and he was a olever man ; I am satisfied." Wooden flooring being out of the question, the Boer finds an excellent substitute in mud, which, after being well trodden in, 1b smeared with bullock tat and left to dry. Everj eye makes its own beauty, and as all the male Boer requires on the score of attractiveness in bis womankind is. that the lady shall weigh at least 15st, with a waisb measurement of 36in to 40in, the Boer damsels naturally regard oorsets, combs and brushes, jewellery, soap and water as mere idle and useless frivolities. I had proof of this on the first evening of my visit. Ooe of the unmarried girls who had won the affections of a farmer's son who lived 20 miles away was rejoicing on the visit of her lover. Etiquette, however, demanded that all BILLING AND COOING should be postponed till the family had retired for the night, when two wax candleß specially purchased for the occasion would be lit, enabling the love-sick couple to gaze in silent rapture at each other till the dying fUmea warned them that it was time to part. From the occasional glances he shot across the room I fancy he would have preferred her sister, who was repairing the only chair the place boasted— the other seating acoom- | modation being stools — with some rushes, because this colossal prize weighed upwards of a stone more; but unfortunately this muoh-to-beenvied lady was bespoke. I was not sorry to ascertain this, for the amorous glances she oast on me as long as my stock of sweet stuff held out made me feel quite uncomfortable. > Every time I gave her a piece of toffee she insisted on banding me not a cup, for oups and saucers are unknown in the Transvaal, but a basin of coffae. Transvaal o-iffee is very gritty and tasteless; its defective qualities are made farther apparent by the absence of sugar. I had reluctantly consented to swallow a seoond dose of the national beverage, and my basin had been rinsed in a huge pudding-basin filled with stale coffee slops, when, to my horror, she picked up a particularly GRIMY-LOOKING CLOTH, and, after well polishing her face with it, proceeded to smear over the basin. Reading. and writing being despised by the genuine Boer as heartily as, railways and the English people, the sort of life I lived during my stay, which lasted six months, oanjoe well imagined. Daring the rainy season it was impossible to go out of doors, and even when the, summer came round the life outside was almost as monotonous as it was in. There are no trees in the Transvaal, and consequently no birds. Neither, as the rivers dry up, is there any fishing. Having my gun with me, I looked about for big game, but beyond a few springboks one might as well have looked for sport in Regent's Park. The farmers who fought us at Majaba were snob keen sportsmen that they loft none for their descendants. Information on these matters I obtained from an Englishman I met near the next farm, which, was 10 mileß off. He was very oommunioative about the Boers, but laid little about himself. Still, from the few hints he did drop, I was able to gather that he had once held a responsible position in some London bank, and that after quitting the beaten path of .respectability he bad betaken himself to the Transvaal. " lam safe here," he said moodily to me one day, " for the Boers have no extradition - treaty with England, and they hate you' so that they wonld sooner fight than givew* up." 11 Us ? " I said. " Are there any more FUGITIVES FROM SOCIETY besides yourself 1 " • " Plenty," was the reply ; " but they, are so scattered that I seldom see them. The nearest lives 20 miles away. Wo used to be rather chummy, till one day, growing communlcatlve over a bottle of square-face,* he told me bis story. We have never spoken since. lam not squeamish, but I draw the line at murder.". " And what is your life here?" I asked, greatly pitying the man. . •'My host .is a progressive Boer, who does not believe in Kruger's patriarchal ideas ; so in return for my food and lodging and £4 a month I act as tutor to his daughter?. The eldest is 22, and has not yet mastered the alphabet. I believe she has done me the honour to fall in love with me, and I am quite certain her father, who is very intelligent for a Boer, would, despite his neighbours, welcome me as a son-in-law, but the rooted antipathy evinced by the lady for soap and water hopelessly bars our union." An evening in a Boer household is an experience not easily forgotten— 3o people in one room, and not a word spoken. The Boer, whilst repairing his veldschoons, which are home-made boots made of untanned leather, loves to meditate — about what I could never learn in silence. The women either mend their gowns or look Into vacancy. I showed them one evening iome pictures of London, but the interest arousedwas languid in the extreme.' Then I talked about the size of London and the beauty of some of its buildings ; but they only gazed at me with weary, apathetic eyes, and offered no comments. One evening just before 6, whioh is the hour for the second meal of stewed meat — the only dish partaken of — I remember the dopper saying that, although be did not approve of his policy, KBUGEB was a far greater' man than Gladstone, whioh sentiment was endorsed by Tant Sannie, as they called his wife, who added that, If ever they went to war -with England again, they should send over an army to capture out island I There being bo variety in the food, all the. Boer ladles— and, for the matter of that, the? men as well— inStr from dyspepsia. The only occasions on which these much-to/ba-. nitied. women ever do enioj themselves la

when th«y pay their quarterly visits to the •mall towns, dotted about' the country, on . •hopping excursions. — Home Paper.