{"product_id":"2940013580176","title":"THE BUSH BOYS","description":"CHAPTER ONE.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTHE BOORS.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHendrik Von Bloom was a _boor_.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMy young English reader, do not suppose that I mean any disrespect to\u003cbr\u003eMynheer Von Bloom, by calling him a \"boor.\"  In our good Cape colony a\u003cbr\u003e\"boor\" is a farmer.  It is no reproach to be called a farmer.  Von Bloom\u003cbr\u003ewas one--a Dutch farmer of the Cape--a boor.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe boors of the Cape colony have figured very considerably in modern\u003cbr\u003ehistory.  Although naturally a people inclined to peace, they have been\u003cbr\u003eforced into various wars, both with native Africans and Europeans; and\u003cbr\u003ein these wars they have acquitted themselves admirably, and given proofs\u003cbr\u003ethat a pacific people when need be can fight just as well as those who\u003cbr\u003eare continually exulting in the ruffian glory of the soldier.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut the boors have been accused of cruelty in their wars--especially\u003cbr\u003ethose carried on against the native races.  In an abstract point of view\u003cbr\u003ethe accusation might appear just.  But when we come to consider the\u003cbr\u003eprovocation, received at the hands of these savage enemies, we learn to\u003cbr\u003elook more leniently upon the conduct of the Cape Dutch.  It is true they\u003cbr\u003ereduced the yellow Hottentots to a state of slavery; but at that same\u003cbr\u003etime, we, the English, were transporting ship-loads of black Guineamen\u003cbr\u003eacross the Atlantic, while the Spaniards and Portuguese were binding the\u003cbr\u003eRed men of America in fetters as tight and hard.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnother point to be considered is the character of the natives with whom\u003cbr\u003ethe Dutch boors had to deal.  The keenest cruelty inflicted upon them by\u003cbr\u003ethe colonists was mercy, compared with the treatment which these savages\u003cbr\u003ehad to bear at the hands of their own despots.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis does not justify the Dutch for having reduced the Hottentots to a\u003cbr\u003estate of slavery; but, all circumstances considered, there is no one of\u003cbr\u003ethe maritime nations who can gracefully accuse them of cruelty.  In\u003cbr\u003etheir dealings with the aborigines of the Cape, they have had to do with\u003cbr\u003esavages of a most wicked and degraded stamp; and the history of\u003cbr\u003ecolonisation, under such circumstances, could not be otherwise then full\u003cbr\u003eof unpleasant episodes.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eYoung reader, I could easily defend the conduct of the boors of Cape\u003cbr\u003ecolony, but I have not space here.  I can only give you my opinion; and\u003cbr\u003ethat is, that they are a brave, strong, healthy, moral, peace-loving,\u003cbr\u003eindustrious race--lovers of truth, and friends to republican freedom--in\u003cbr\u003eshort, a noble race of men.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47157742797040,"sku":"2940013580176","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013580176_p0.jpg?v=1763582995","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013580176","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}