CHAPTER XXII

A TREK THROUGH THE DOPPER' COUNTRY-RELIEF WORKS-KEKEWICH'S FIGHT AT MOEDWILL-BOER APPRECIATION OF LORD METHUEN-IN THE BUSH VELDT-KRUGER'S GRANDCHILDREN AT THE ENGLISH SCHOOLSTEENBOKFONTEIN-OLD-WORLD BOERS-THE CONCILIATORY GRAMAPHONE-THE BRAK FONTEIN FIGHT THE AUSTRALIANS' GALLANT DEFENCE-A BOER JOB.

ON my return from Rustenburg after my tour through the Pilandsberg I set out for Mafeking, not taking the direct route, but zigzagging among the byways, and visiting districts that lie far back from the frequented roads. Between Pretoria and Mafeking I trekked in all about four hundred miles-a very interesting journey at this juncture, for I was wandering through the districts of Rustenburg and Marico, the most fruitful in the Transvaal, containing the true old Boer population, men simple, ignorant, and unspoilt-dour 'Doppers,' with grizzled voortrekkers among them, many of whom have never seen a town or travelled on a railway; a population that before the war was the most Anti-British of the whole country. People maintain that no one can form any idea of the Transvaal and its inhabitants until he has visited these regions. Repeatedly I hear expressions of regret that Mr. Chamberlain was not taken through these beautiful rich vales of the granary of the Transvaal, the heart of Boerdom and cradle of 'Dopperdom,' instead of across the treeless, desolate, high veldt that lies between Potchefstroom and Mafeking.

'The Colonial Secretary will have carried away but a poor opinion of our country,' say the farmers of the fruitful lowlands.

I set out from Rustenburg on April 11. Fortunately, Captain Burstall and Major Priddle, the principal medical officer of the Western Transvaal Division of the Constabulary, with whom I had travelled to the Pilandsberg, were again starting on a tour of inspection among the scattered police camps, and as we were bound partly in the same direction I was enabled to accompany them for the first three days of my journey, during which we wandered far off the main road, following rough veldt tracks in order to reach the various spots at which the police are stationed. Our waggons and Cape carts rattled down the long tree-shaded street of the little town, a street that was now in much better condition than it had ever been under the old régime; for now daily were to be seen here-to one who knew the old Transvaal a strange sight significative of the times-a number of Boers, young and old, working with pick and shovel in the thoroughfare. The Boers are beginning to understand that to labour with one's hands is not disgraceful nor beneath the dignity of the white man. The Repatriation Board was rightly refusing rations to able-bodied men, for whom there was Government work available. The wage given by the Government to the distressed Boers who are employed as navvies is 10s. a day for a ganger, 6s. for a man, and 3s. for a boy. The men can buy what they need at cheap rates from the Repatriation Board. The bulk of the money earned is devoted by these men to the support of their womenkind and children. Thus I found that in nearly every case a man out of his 6s. a day was spending 1s. 6d. on his own rations and other necessaries, while he sent

4s. 6d. worth of meat, flour, &c., bought at repatriation prices, to his family. The navvies work cheerfully and well, and in this and in other respects the Boer, since the war, has upset as to his attitude all the forecasts formed by those who thought that they understood best his certainly puzzling nature.

We accomplished thirty miles in our first day's trek. First, we followed the main Zeerust road, crossing the Magaliesberg range by Magato Nek, the name of which will be familiar to all who have followed the history of the war. It was throughout this region that Lord Methuen did such splendid work. The local Boers who fought against him thoroughly appreciate his worth as a soldier. In farm after farm I have heard the fighting ex-burghers speak with the keenest admiration of his generalship-and they ought to be good judges-while his chivalrous nature has won their affection. When the Boers of the Western Transvaal talk of Methuen it is in the same strain that the British in Africa speak of Delarey. Close to Magato Nek and sixteen miles from Rustenburg is the now historic farm of Moedwill. Here we outspanned for a couple of hours near the Constabulary camp, where about half a dozen troopers of the corps were stationed. We saw the spot where Kekewich with his little force so splendidly held his own against the fierce attack made by Delarey on September 30, 1901. The British position was a strong one, having the steep Selous Spruit on one side of it and a donga on the other. But the Boers rushed in at dawn, drove in our outposts from the river bed, and lining ridges that commanded the British camp made of it a death-trap. The story of the wounded Kekewich gallantly leading his men in the splendid charge that drove Delarey's force from its position and hurled

the burghers into full retreat has been fully told in the histories of the war.

In the ranks of the South African Constabulary are many young Boers who fought against us to the end, and who now-another clear sign of the gradual reconciliation are doing excellent service as mounted police, having as their comrades the British troopers who were so recently their foemen, and with whom in friendly talk they often fight their old battles over again. Captain Burstall had with him on this tour of inspection a young Boer trooper of the Constabulary who had fought against us under Delarey. He had been present at the Moedwill action and told us the whole story of it as seen from the Boer side. He pointed out to us the positions that were held by the enemy and described the method of the plucky onslaught at dawn, in which he had taken part. We saw the little enclosure on the open veldt where are the graves of the three officers and forty-four men of Kekewich's force who lost their lives in that gallant defence. One cannot take a day's march in any direction in this portion of the country without coming across the groups of little crosses that cover the British slain.

Close to the scene of the Moedwill fight there is a countryside store kept by a Boer who, after he had fought against us for some time, realised, like many others, that further resistance was useless and meant the ruin of the people. He therefore surrendered and served in our Intelligence Department, which, in the eyes of the stalwarts who held out to the end, was but a little less iniquitous thing to do than to serve in the National Scouts. He is living amid a purely Boer population, and it says much for the way things are settling down that we found in his establishment half a

IN THE BUSH VELDT

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dozen farmers making purchases and chatting with him in friendly fashion. Only a few months before his neighbours would have refused to speak to him or shake hands with him. There was no boycotting here. The man told us that he had no difficulty with the people. Only one old irreconcilable Dopper' still refused to enter his store, but even he, though he would not go himself, sent his daughter to the store to purchase what he required.

On leaving Moedwill we turned off the main road and drove across country for fourteen miles in a southerly direction. We were now in the bush veldt, and the closely-grown mimosas covered hill and dale. We passed a few little roofless homesteads, where the people were re-establishing themselves as rapidly as they were able. All were courteous and friendly and showed no signs of bitter feeling. A few months ago the men, on their return from Ceylon, brought face to face with their wrecked homes, and expecting nothing from the Repatriation Board, which had not yet properly organised its work of relief, looked with despair at the future, made no attempt to re-establish themselves, and were bitter indeed. Now they have plucked up heart, look hopefully to the future, have settled down to work, and are grateful to a Government which, as they have come to realise, is anxious to help them.

We stopped for a little while at Waterkloof, where there are several homesteads. Here the Government has established one of its farm schools, which is under the direction of an English lady. Close to it is a rival Dutch private school, supported by the fund of which I have spoken. This is a district in which many of Kruger's descendants live. The best farms are in their hands, and Kruger and Eloff are the commonest names