It Is
Whitewashed, With A Door In The Middle And Two Windows On Each
Side; Those On The Left Are Mrs. D-'s Bed And Sitting Rooms.
On
the right is a large room, which is mine; in the middle of the
house is a spacious
Hall, with doors into other rooms on each side,
and into the kitchen, &c. There is a yard behind, and a staircase
up to the zolder or loft, under the thatch, with partitions, where
the servants and children, and sometimes guests, sleep. There are
no ceilings; the floor of the zolder is made of yellow wood, and,
resting on beams, forms the ceiling of my room, and the thatch
alone covers that. No moss ever grows on the thatch, which is
brown, with white ridges. In front is a stoep, with 'blue gums'
(Australian gum-trees) in front of it, where I sit till twelve,
when the sun comes on it. These trees prevail here greatly, as
they want neither water nor anything else, and grow with incredible
rapidity.
We have got a new 'boy' (all coloured servants are 'boys,' - a
remnant of slavery), and he is the type of the nigger slave. A
thief, a liar, a glutton, a drunkard - but you can't resent it; he
has a naif, half-foolish, half-knavish buffoonery, a total want of
self-respect, which disarms you. I sent him to the post to inquire
for letters, and the postmaster had been tipsy over-night and was
not awake. Jack came back spluttering threats against 'dat domned
Dutchman. Me no WANT (like) him; me go and kick up dom'd row.
What for he no give Missis letter?' &c. I begged him to be
patient; on which he bonneted himself in a violent way, and started
off at a pantomime walk. Jack is the product of slavery: he
pretends to be a simpleton in order to do less work and eat and
drink and sleep more than a reasonable being, and he knows his
buffoonery will get him out of scrapes. Withal, thoroughly good-
natured and obliging, and perfectly honest, except where food and
drink are concerned, which he pilfers like a monkey. He worships
S-, and won't allow her to carry anything, or to dirty her hands,
if he is in the way to do it. Some one suggested to him to kiss
her, but he declined with terror, and said he should be hanged by
my orders if he did. He is a hideous little negro, with a
monstrous-shaped head, every colour of the rainbow on his clothes,
and a power of making faces which would enchant a schoolboy. The
height of his ambition would be to go to England with me.
An old 'bastaard' woman, married to the Malay tailor here,
explained to me my popularity with the coloured people, as set
forth by 'dat Malay boy', my driver. He told them he was sure I
was a 'very great Missis', because of my 'plenty good behaviour';
that I spoke to him just as to a white gentleman, and did not
'laugh and talk nonsense talk'.
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