"We can't repay them now, but
we will remember this when our turn comes."
The Boers, as they rode up, leapt from their horses, and with shouts of
exultation walked along the waggons, striking at the men, hurling every
epithet of contempt and hatred at them, and even spitting at them. Many
of the women were also struck as well as being grossly insulted.
"And these scoundrels call themselves Christian men, and their friends
speak of them as simple pious farmers! I call them, both from their
appearance and their actions, as unmitigated a set of ruffians as are to
be found on the face of the globe," Cairns exclaimed passionately.
They were indeed as unsavoury in appearance as they were brutal in
manner. Water is scarce in the Transvaal, and is used most sparingly for
all purposes of cleanliness. The Boer sleeps in his clothes, gives
himself a shake when he gets up, and his toilet is completed, unless on
very exceptional occasions when he goes outside the door to the water-
cask, fills his hands with water, and rubs them over his face.
Four times in the year, however, the Boers indulge in a general wash
before starting with their wives and families for four or five days'
stay at the nearest town to attend the services of the church and to do
their quarter's marketing.
Pages:
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43