iner men in the world than the young Boers of
the Transvaal; in after-life they often become heavy, but as young men
their figures are perfect. Very tall and powerfully built, they sit
their horses as if man and animal were one, and are such splendid
marksmen that, while riding at full speed, they can, with almost
absolute certainty, bring down an antelope at a distance of 150 yards.

But the abodes of the Boers, and their manner of living, impressed the
boys far less favourably. However extensive the possessions and
numerous the herds of a Boer, he lives in the same primitive style as
his poorest neighbour. The houses seldom contain more than two, or at
most three, rooms. The dress of the farmer, wife, and family is no
better than that of labourers; whole families sleep in one room; books
are almost unknown in their houses, and they are ignorant and prejudiced
to an extreme degree. Upon his horse and his gun the Boer will spend
money freely, but for all other purposes he is thrifty and close-fisted
in the extreme. Water is regarded as useful for drinking purposes, but
its utility for matters of personal cleanliness is generally altogether
ignored. Almost all sleep in their clothes, and a shake and a stretch
suffice for the morning toilet.

The power of a Boer over his sons and daughters is most unlimited, and
he is the hardest and cruellest of masters to the unfortunate natives
whom he keeps in slavery under the title of indentured apprentices, and
whose lives he regards as of no more importance than those of his sheep,
and as of infinitely less consequence than those of his horses or even
of his dogs. To the unhappy natives the taking over of the Transvaal by
England had been a blessing of the highest kind. For the first time the
shooting of them in cold blood had come to be considered a crime, and
ordinances had been issued against slavery, which, although generally
evaded by the Boers, still promised a happy state of things in the
future.

At the native kraals the travellers were always welcomed when it was
known that they were English. The natives looked to Queen Victoria as a
sort of guardian angel, and not a thought entered their heads that they
would ere long be cruelly and basely abandoned to the mercies of the
Dutch by the government of England.

Slowly and without incident the caravan made its way north, and at last
encamped upon the banks of the great river Limpopo, the northern
boundary of the