There were a few Boer farmers in the neighbourhood, and gradually a little settlement of whites gathered round our mission station--a drunken Scotch blacksmith and wheelwright was about the most interesting character, who, when he was sober, could quote the Scottish poet Burns and the Ingoldsby Legends, then recently published, literally by the page.

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.