LAAGERS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8233, 10 September 1906, Page 3

LAAGERS.

ALL ABOUT THEM.

Laftger ia a fine woid. There is -something essentially South African •about it. it reeks of the veldt, of the long whip, the lumbering oxwaggon, the and cow-dung fire. Like -ail those harsh Boor terms it is vividly suggestive of the danger, and fasoiation of the frontier, of the continual struggle aganist Nature's children, of the •seemingly poor returns for heroio sacrifices, the grim squalid, pathetic beginnings of the new oiviliaition in •a savage laud. The original laager oonsisted of a number of waggons •drawn up in a hollow square, but latterly the word Las been used to denote any crude fortification other than earth-works. Most of the laageis in Natal to-day are probably in the markbt-places of the little tin-roofed townships, and have ati their main defence primitive barbed-wire entanglements. Gaols, too, which are usually substantially built and big enough to accommodate the whole town, ore •convenient rallying-points—rattier BUggestive, perhaps, but none the less efficient. Almost any group •of buildings can be mudo to serve 'the mirposo, provided there is an open space round them and a sufficior general lumbar to link them together. The day for the waggon laager is really over, save perhaps away on tbe Ehodesian frontier, 2UOO miles to tbe north. I

THE LAAGER BELONGS ENTIRELY TO NATIVE WARE ARE, It would be an utterly futile defenoe against oivilised trcopa armed with modern rifles. Its purpose is to stop a rush, to prevent tho savage from getting to close quarters with Jbis stabbing assegai. So long as that ■end is gained the settlors trouble little; they know that the rifle tire of the enemy is never likely to disturb them greatly. One sees some curious sights in a laager. The man who only knows the big towns or thp mines can have no conception of this phase of life. The Boer element generally predominates for the Dutch still form the bulk of that wandering population which congregates together at such times. When a native outbreak occurs the Briton usually wants to join some irregular force and come to grips with the enemy. \ „ The Boer is more restful—wiser, per- '¥ haps. He is not so fond of looking for trouble, and, moreover, be is usually hampered with a wife and children—many children. So he treka to the laager, and sits down tc t>moke and drink coffee until the natives shall be unwise enough tc jcoine WITHIN RANGE OF HIS. RIFLE. He likes a laager. It suits bis disposition. He meets all bis old friends there; has unlimited time 1 to talk to them. There is some eatisJaotion in such a gathering; be is not hurried unduly, as on the transport road, where a day's wait for tho exohange of news is all a rran can usually spare. One can rest in a laager. There is no possible work to b*» done. The women attend to the cooking; the youngsters herd the cattle. So the men can puff at „ tbejbig pipes all the day and sleep all uight with a perfect dear cousci enoe, which is an ideal existence to the Boer. Somehow or other there Sp usually plenty to eat in a laager. There is .always plenty to drink.. Even during the Matabelo revolt, which came immediately after tho rinderpest had obliterated the transport oxen, they never ran short of whisky in Rhodesia. Moreover, in these times of excitement store.nepers are apt to be more sympathetic, and give longer credit than usual. So a man need nover want, and the laager IS NOT A BAD PLACE for those who are not in a hurrj, or in other words, for the wise people of Africa, it is a welcome change from the lonliness of the transport road or the prospectors' camp; end while the stores cud the credit last the Boers at least axe usually loth to break the laager up, even when all chance of an attack is over. Some communities contract a mania for laagers; go into laager on the very smallest provocation, and resolutely decline to leave. In 1899 one of the Dutch districts in Rhodesia professed to take alarm at the attitude of the neighbouring tribeß, collected all its household .gear into its waggons trekked to the miserable collection of shanties wbiob was misnamed a township, and proceeded to form a laager. The natives were greatly interested, and came up in large numbers not to fight, but to trade fowls and pumpkins. The Government waxed wroth . and remonstrated, but TjhE DUTCH DECLINED TC BUDGE.; They were very comfortable, and time is of no account up there. Even if one did plant crops, the locusts weie sure to eat them, aad there was. no transport to be ridden. Again the authoriies remonstrated, vehemently, emphatically, ineffotually. Finally a force of police was aent not to relieve a beleagured laager, but to break up a wholly nnneoesasry one. Other laagers have gained equal celebrity, as, for instance, that in Buluwayo market plaoe, where one bar had over a thousand pounds' worth of bad debts in a month and yet made a huge profit. In Gwelo, too, during that same Matabele revolt they claimed to have reached the very zenith of insobriety when, in consequence of a sudden alarm, they kept the MAXIMS AND RIFJLES going through the great part of one long, anxious night, found in the morning a single dead donkey, riddled like a sieve. Yot can hear scores of these laager stories round the camp fires on the transport roads, and the present rising will add to the number. Like all South African tales there is generally sumo ghastly squalid note of tragedy in them; someone died of drink or fever, or was shot in a fit of jealousy. But you will hear of few attacks on them by the na- '. tivee. One can only hope that it will be the same in the present case.