publication.]




PHYSIQUE AND HABITS


We have noted in former pages that the Boers' ancestry some two
centuries ago was composed of about two-thirds of sturdy Dutch peasants,
artizans, etc., while the other third consisted mostly of French
Huguenots.

It is known that the immigrant class, though generally somewhat poor,
are uniformly men and women endowed with an adventurous, self-reliant
spirit and with unimpaired health. Naturally none but robust persons
were permitted to join the Dutch settlement at the Cape of Good Hope.

We see in that combination the patient, resolute quality prevailing in
Holland and the more ardent, vivacious, and chivalrous character found
with the French people. The Huguenot refugees belonged undisputably to
the cream of that impulsive nation--intellectual, educated, and
fearless--whilst both portions were pervaded with deep-rooted religious
fervour and habituated to moral and temperate lives.

Those combined qualities and habits would naturally be transmitted to
the progeny; prosperity and splendid climatic conditions tended still
further to develop a virile physique of first order. The moral and
physical standards were maintained by the practice of men and women
marrying early in life, and by occupations which required the people to