The great "thirst-veldt" of the Kalahari Desert lies to the north-west of their land, which is about the size of England, and with a very similar climate, and to the south, beyond the Drakensberg Mountains, lies Natal, Kaffraria and Zululand.
The story of the Transvaal is the story of the Boers--a stalwart, patriotic and deeply religious race, whose history began one April day in 1652, about the time when Cromwell was at the height of his power, when four Dutch ships, under the daring Jan Van Riebek, entered the bay of Table Mountain and made their first landing at the Cape of Good Hope.
We have all read of the splendid valor of the Boers. Their history is as full of romance as it is of pathos and struggle. Such names as "Oom Paul" Kruger--four times president--General Botha, and General Joubert, come to us at once when we think of the Transvaal.
But there are other great names associated with this land; such remarkable ones as those of Livingstone the "Pathfinder," and "Messenger of God," as he was called; and of Cecil Rhodes, the "Empire Builder," whose dream it was to build the great north road--now nearing completion--which will stretch like a ribbon across the whole African continent from the Cape to the Mediterranean.
Perhaps, in this little story, you may gain a glimpse of the surroundings, the wholesome out-of-door farm-life, work and play of our little Boer cousins--boys and girls of the antipodes, and of the bright future which awaits the Transvaal.
CHAPTER PAGE PREFACE vii I. PETRUS JOUBERT 1 II. AT "WELTEFREDEN" 17 III. A TRANSVAAL "MODEL FARM" 34 IV. THE GREAT "TREK" 51 V. A BOER "NACHTMAAL" 71 VI. OVER THE "GREAT KARROO" TO CAPE TOWN 81 VII. A KAFIR PARTY AT THE CHIEF'S KRAAL 94 VIII. A STORM ON THE DRAKENSBERG 107 IX. A ZULU WAR-DANCE 120 X. PETRUS THE HERO 135
PAGE "PETRUS BUSIED HIMSELF STEEPING BULLOCK'S HIDE IN WATER." (_See page 19_) _Frontispiece_
"THE LIEUTENANT AGAIN TOOK CAREFUL AIM AND FIRED" 13
"IT WAS A LONG, LOW, ONE-STORY COTTAGE, HALF-HIDDEN BY THE ROADSIDE TREES" 79
"THE SEARCHING PARTY . . . CARRIED GREAT TORCHES" 109
"PILING GREAT BEAMS OF WOOD IN ORDERLY ROWS ON THE WHARF" 122
"THE WHOLE YELLING MASS MADE ANOTHER WILD CHARGE" 131
It was spring in the Transvaal. Already the wattle-trees beside the farm-schoolhouse door were thickly covered with a mass of golden bloom, and the little blue pan--or lake--down among the willows, again reflected the sky and clouds as the Boer children trooped past it.