d, and although
there is a large Eur-African population, it has sprung partly from
the old days of domestic slavery, partly from the laxity induced by
the recent influx of low-class Europeans. The Boer has a strong
national feeling, and although not exactly daring as a rule, he is
perfectly ready to risk his life in what he believes to be a good
cause. He fights better behind cover than in the open, and has a
profound contempt for soldiers who expose themselves unnecessarily.
At the same time, he is capable at times of embarking on a forlorn
hope. As regards his private character, his notions of honesty and
of truth are lax. But then, from bitter experience, he assumes that
the stranger will try to cheat him, and it is not surprising that he
should consider a certain amount of _finesse_ justifiable. He is
comparatively free from that drunkenness which is the besetting vice
of the low-class Englishman in Africa.

"Although he is incredibly ignorant, and very self-satisfied, it is
somewhat irritating to notice the way in which the town-bred
Englishman is apt to depreciate him. It is not so certain as the
latter thinks that an ignorant peasant is necessarily a lower type
of man than a 'smart' and vicious shop-boy.

"The most unpleasing trait in the Boer character is his callousness,
amounting to brutality, in the case of natives and of animals."

It must always be remembered that in discussing the early Boer we
are discussing the peasant, and that neither his ignorance nor other
shortcomings must be viewed in comparison with the failings of
persons of a higher social grade. When the Boers left the Cape
Colony they had no knowledge of what the word education meant. The
state of public education in 1837 was deplorable. There were
missionary schools and a few desultory teachers, who had in very few
cases the mental or the moral qualities to fit them for the task of
instruction. The most they did was to teach the young idea how to
read or scribble its name. For this they received trifling fees, but
doubtless these fees were no more trifling than the services
rendered. Such free schools as existed, and were nominally supported
by Government, were so indifferently managed that they were treated
with contempt, even by the farmers. So long as they could thumb out
their favourite passages of the Psalms, and sign what few documents
they required, they were content. Of their ignorance they were even
inclined to be proud. Their ow