It was from that I contracted a fondness for the latter
amusing writings, which has never left me. Burns I never cared for so
much, probably because of the Scottish dialect which repelled me. What
little education I got was from my father, but I never had much leaning
towards books, nor he much time to teach them to me. On the other hand,
I was always a keen observer of the ways of men and nature. By the time
that I was twenty I could speak Dutch and three or four Kaffir dialects
perfectly, and I doubt if there was anybody in South Africa who
understood native ways of thought and action more completely than I
did. Also I was really a very good shot and horseman, and I think--as,
indeed, my subsequent career proves to have been the case--a great deal
tougher than the majority of men. Though I was then, as now, light and
small, nothing seemed to tire me. I could bear any amount of exposure
and privation, and I never met the native who was my master in feats
of endurance. Of course, all that is different now, I am speaking of my
early manhood.
It may be wondered that I did not run absolutely wild in such
surroundings, but I was held back from this by my father's society.
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