Then Came A Dutchman, And Asked For Six Penn'orth Of 'brood En
Kaas', And Haggled For Beer; And Englishmen, Who Bought Chickens
And Champagne Without Asking The Price.
One rich old boer got
three lunches, and then 'trekked' (made off) without paying at all.
Then came a
Hottentot, stupidly drunk, with a fiddle, and was
beaten by a little red-haired Scotchman, and his fiddle smashed.
The Hottentot hit at his aggressor, who then declared he HAD BEEN a
policeman, and insisted on taking him into custody and to the
'Tronk' (prison) on his own authority, but was in turn sent flying
by a gigantic Irishman, who 'wouldn't see the poor baste abused'.
The Irishman was a farmer; I never saw such a Hercules - and beaming
with fun and good nature. He was very civil, and answered my
questions, and talked like an intelligent man; but when Captain D-
asked him with an air of some anxiety, if he was coming to the
hotel, he replied, 'No, sir, no; I wouldn't be guilty of such a
misdemeanour. I am aware that I was a disgrace and opprobrium to
your house, sir, last time I was there, sir. No, sir, I shall
sleep in my cart, and not come into the presence of ladies.'
Hereupon he departed, and I was informed that he had been drunk for
seventeen days, sans desemparer, on his last visit to Caledon.
However, he kept quite sober on this occasion, and amused himself
by making the little blackies scramble for halfpence in the pools
left in the bed of the river. Among our customers was a very
handsome black man, with high straight nose, deep-set eyes, and a
small mouth, smartly dressed in a white felt hat, paletot, and
trousers. He is the shoemaker, and is making a pair of
'Veldschoen' for you, which you will delight in. They are what the
rough boers and Hottentots wear, buff-hide barbarously tanned and
shaped, and as soft as woollen socks. The Othello-looking
shoemaker's name is Moor, and his father told him he came of a
'good breed'; that was all he knew.
A very pleasing English farmer, who had been educated in Belgium,
came and ordered a bottle of champagne, and shyly begged me to
drink a glass, whereupon we talked of crops and the like; and an
excellent specimen of a colonist he appeared: very gentle and
unaffected, with homely good sense, and real good breeding - such a
contrast to the pert airs and vulgarity of Capetown and of the
people in (colonial) high places. Finding we had no carriage, he
posted off and borrowed a cart of one man and harness of another,
and put his and his son's riding horses to it, to take Mrs. D- and
me home. As it was still early, he took us a 'little drive'; and
oh, ye gods! what a terrific and dislocating pleasure was that! At
a hard gallop, Mr. M- (with the mildest and steadiest air and with
perfect safety) took us right across country.
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