which, if fraught with little danger, is at least calculated to produce a certain amount of friction between white and black.  Added to this, there is the fact that the education of natives, which is becoming more general, undoubtedly assists the growth of this independence.  The Boer farmers in this connection adhere to their pristine view of the matter, namely, that educating natives amounts to casting pearls before swine; and although this does not tend to encourage the work of the missionary, there may possibly be a certain amount of truth in it.

Before the arrival of British subjects at the Cape, the Boer had it all his own way.  He looked upon himself as practically the ruler of the country, and it was not natural that he should look with favour upon the advent of a probable rival.  He lived peacefully in a way—­that is, when he was not in open conflict with the natives.  He killed his game and cooked it and ate it heartily, and he enjoyed a measure of happiness.  He had found a home; the free-and-easy life suited him; and if he was not possessed of riches (which would have been of little value to him then), he had, at least, health and strength and an abundance of daily food.

But one day the now accursed Englishman crossed his path, and that made a considerable difference.  He perhaps wondered why the English came there at all, when he was just beginning to develop a great country.  But he did not, of course, know then what he knows now, namely, that the English are insatiable land-grabbers!  He looked upon their advent more in the light of a huge slice of impertinence.  He knew also that it was dangerous to meddle or contend with them, so he merely looked on with a suspicious eye.  He watched their every movement, and he also very probably looked for the day of their departure.  But they did not depart; they had come to stay.

The Boer did not like his English neighbours from the start; there was far too much of the go-ahead persuasion about them.  He wanted to jog along quietly and cautiously, and he very naturally resented the presence of people in whom the desire for progression was strong.  So long as the Boer was left to himself he was not aware of his own tardiness.  He was very much in the position of a cyclist on the track; it needed a ‘pacer’ to show how slowly he was travelling.  The ‘pacer’ in this instance brought with him no commendation in the eyes of the Boer; he merely created suspicion and ill-feeling, which ultimately developed into rancour.

When suspicion lays hold of a man it invariably changes the whole of that man’s character.  It did so in the case of the Boer.  It debarred any chance of reconciliation with the English for the future.  The Boer does not know the meaning of compromise, and if he did, it would go against his grain to entertain it.  His nature is stubborn; he cannot bring himself to look at a question from any other view-point than his own.  He will argue a point for hours, and although he may be in the wrong, it is a moral impossibility to convince him that he is not in the right.  His consummate ignorance may largely account for this; but even semi-educated Boers are not much better in this respect.