are necessary aswell asthe farmer himself. The load usually consists of 2 vats of
butter (1000
lb. in all) and 400 to 500 lbs. soap.s?
There were no schools in the trekboer areas, and the first clergyman did
not arrive at Zwartland (Malmesbury), forty miles north of Cape Town,
until 1745, nor at Graaff-Reinet until 1792. As far as literacy was main-
tained-and
in many cases it was not-it
was transmitted
within the
family. Former company employees made a living as traveling teachers,
attaching themselves to trekboer families for several months at a time; but
most were so incompetent that the word Meester (teacher) acquired a
derogatory meaning.
Trekboers were more egalitarian among themselves than the burghers in
Cape Town and the arable southwest. Even so, some people used the
perquisites of the offices of heemraad and veldkornet to acquire more
property than their fellows, and at the other extreme there were people who
lacked the capital, the ability, or the will to farm independently. A few
moved beyond the settled white community and lived as hunters and trad-
ers in indigenous societies. Others became bijwoners-tenant
farmers,
caring for their employers' stock in return for a share. Some bijwoners
remained in an underclass; others eventually accumulated sufficient live-