Public Ledger

The worst feature is, perhaps, a fly which is called tsetse, the bite of which is pronounced fatal to horses and oxen, thereby rendering travel very difficult, if not impossible, at certain seasons. The Boers, though originally pure Dutch, are now very considerably mixed by intermarriages with European refugees and emigrants from Cape Colony and Natal, as well as the natives. Still the Dutch characteristics largely predominate, and while the standard of education is said to be low, the people know enough to govern themselves and hate the foreign yoke. In religion they are Protestants of the strongest Calvinistic persuasion, and the bible and hymn-book are almost their only literature.