Kru people

“ The Kru have force and vigor; they are splendid canoe-men and fishers; they are the chief dependence of coast commerce, loading and unloading the steamer cargoes. The men and boys almost all know English, some have a smattering of French or German; the women confine themselves largely to their native language, though girls in school all learn English. The Kru are workers; they like activity. There are schools in Krutown, but the Kru boys, after they have finished their studies in them, go up to the College of West Africa, in Monrovia. ”

“ To anyone who has studied the Boers and their ways and policy ... it must be clear that President Kruger does more than represent the opinion of the people and execute their policy: he moulds them in the form he wills. By the force of his own strong convictions and prejudices, and of his indomitable will, he has made the Boers a people whom he regards as the germ of the Afrikander nation; a people chastened, selected, welded, and strong enough to attract and assimilate all their kindred in South Africa, and thus to realize the dream of a Dutch Republic from the Zambesi to Cape Town. ”

“ An attempt should be made gradually to induce the hinterland chiefs to adopt the Kru social system, wherein every man serves so many years as a labourer, then, about the age of thirty, joins the army and becomes a compound soldier-policeman, ending up in honour and glory as a local magistrate. But it must be remembered that domestic slavery is not a great institution among the Kru tribes, as it is amongst the hinterland tribes in our colonies ”

“ Immediately after the ultimatum Natal and the Cape Colony were invaded by the Boers both of the Transvaal and the Free State. Yet one of the most memorable utterances made by Kruger at the Bloemfontein conference was couched in the following terms: “We follow out what God says, ‘Accursed be he that removeth his neighbour’s landmark.’ As long as your Excellency lives you will see that we shall never be the attacking party on another man’s land.” The course of the war that followed is described under Transvaal. ”

“ I do not suppose there are any people in the world so well represented by a single prominent man as the Boers of South Africa are represented by Mr Kruger. He is pre-eminently the Boer of Boers in character, in intellect, and in disposition, and that is one reason why he has such absolute control over his people. His obstinacy—and no man with a face like his could be otherwise than obstinate—his people call strength. ”

“ Mr Kruger’s ideas of government are to divide the people into two classes—those who get their living from the surface soil and those who get it underground. He himself favours the former. According to him they only are entitled to have any voice in the Government, and to be considered as citizens of the Republic. ”

“ Kruger, the man who could spoof Great Britain, and drive his own people like a flock of sheep, appeared, before they saw him in their imagination, to be almost as colossal a character as their ideal hero, Cecil Rhodes. Throughout Africa these two giants stood facing each other, while the rest of the world watched and waited the result of their deadly duel. Kruger, the champion of everything that was despicable, oppressive, and false; Rhodes, the champion of chivalry, humanity, and progress. ”

“ Parsons.
"If the Boers weren't deceived by that old villain Kruger, they'd never have fought us."
"The Boers are strange people," replied James. "They actually prefer their independence to all the privileges and advantages of subjection.... The wonderful thing to me is that people should really think Mr. Kruger a hypocrite. A ruler who didn't honestly believe in himself and in his mission would never have had such influence. If a man wants power he must have self-faith ”

“ Distant, a naturalist, who visited the Transvaal about eight years ago. He said:—"President Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger was born on the 10th October 1825, in the district of Colesburg in the Cape Colony, and is without doubt the greatest and most representative man that the Boers have yet produced. Uneducated, or self-educated, he possesses a very large amount of that natural wisdom so often denied to men of great learning and of literary cultivation. With many prejudices, he is fearless, stubborn, and resolute, and he really understands Englishmen little better than they understand him. ”

“ In these gatherings there is the idea of an association of people endowed with particular powers and operating more or less jointly for the benefit of the community. In short, this fringe of Central tribes beyond the border of the Kuksu Cult evince some of the psychology and motives of the Cult, but without the definite organization of the latter, and also without some of its specific practices, such as god-impersonation. ”

“ And free from pride, wrath and covetousness, they rejoiced in perfectly innocent sports. And the capital of the Kurus, full as the ocean, was a second Amaravati, teeming with hundreds of palaces and mansions, and possessing gates and arches dark as the clouds. And men in great cheerfulness sported constantly on rivers, lakes and tanks, and in fine groves and charming woods. And the southern Kurus, in their virtuous rivalry with their northern kinsmen, walked about in the company of Siddhas and Charanas and Rishis. ”

“ His immediate task lay in South Africa, where, from the moment of his entry upon public life, he became the leader of the British cause as Kruger was the leader of the Dutch: millionaire-dreamer and shrewd, obstinate farmer, they form a strange contrast. The one stood for South African unity based upon equality of the white races: the other also for unity, but for unity based upon the ascendancy of one of the white races. ”

“ The president and the evil genius of the Transvaal through this epoch was Stephanus Paulus Johannes Kruger, born in Cape Colony on October 10, 1825. He was a man of indomitable courage and extraordinary force of character—a fighting man from his youth up. His coolness was shown on one occasion, when, out hunting, he suddenly one day, from the top of a kopje—a hillock such as cover the surface of the upland plains of South Africa—saw a large number of Kaffirs evidently advancing to attack him. ”

“ Englishmen have always been welcome among us. We have nothing to do with the Transvaal quarrel. Why shouldn't the Uitlanders have a vote, as our people have in Natal and Cape Colony? Kruger has been working for it for years, and if—as he says, and those fellows who are shouting over there think—we can drive all the British out, it is the Transvaal people who will have all the power. We know how Kruger's gang has piled up money by monopolies. ”

“ The explanation of the change, I take it, is that Kruger has great difficulties to contend with among his own people. The apparent object is to prove that people of Johannesburg have not fulfilled the conditions which were to precede the handing over of the prisoners and consideration of grievances. ”

“ We find that the early authors suddenly cease to refer to them, and the problem is presented: What fate had befallen the Purus? Professor Oldenberg, whose view is accepted by Professor Macdonell, Oxford, explains that the Purus merged in the Kuru coalition. The Kurus gave their name to Kuru-kshetra, the famous battlefield of the epic Mahábhárata; they had already fused with the Panchala tribe and formed the Kuru-Panchala nation in Madhyadesa, the “Middle Country”, the home of Brahmanic culture, the birthplace of the famous old Upanishads. ”

“ The Boers have endowed Kruger with almost absolute power, and if up to seventy-two years of age Kruger has been the incarnation of hostility to England, it would be a miracle indeed if in his extreme old age he should be converted. ”

“ He was Krug of the Cave Dwellers, and this was his home. Behind him was a bustle and Ngeel, the chief, came out on the ledge. He was a stocky, powerful man, wearing the leopard skin of authority, plus a bustling official manner, plus a belief that his tribesmen were his by right.
Ngeel squatted down beside Krug and chuckled deep in his throat. "They come, the Forest Men," he grunted. "They think to kill. We shall kill many and there will be much feasting." ”

“ Remember, Kruger is not omnipotent, and Van Zwieten is powerful. The President may not care to offend him. Besides, you can see for yourself, from this letter, that the man is still in love with you. Once he got you into his power he would stick at nothing that would make you a free woman."
"In that case I would die with Harold. But I don't believe the Boers are so uncivilized. Kruger will help me--I feel sure of it. You say he is a good man."
"He is," Mr. Scarse said. He was one of the few people who had fallen into this error. "Yes, if anything can be done, Kruger is the man who will do it." ”

“ Kruger has been canvassing and stimulating the Boers to be ready for any emergency, and has been metaphorically planting a war-beacon on every hill. All scrutiny and inquiry fail to discover that he has uttered one single word which can be described as an emollient to the present critical situation. He has pandered rather to the worst racial passions of the Boer, instead of using the enormous responsibility resting upon him in the direction of mediation. ”

“ The quondam assumption that the word is identical with Krug (1) , “because formerly an actual or a carved pitcher was hung in front of a tavern,” is demolished by the fact that Krug, ‘urceus,’ is entirely unknown to Low German (and Dutch) ; the Old Saxon term krûka was used. On the other hand, Krug, ‘alehouse,’ was originally wanting in High German, in which Krug, ‘pitcher,’ was current at the earliest period. ”

“ He is a man of quite 75 years of age now, and his big massive frame is bent, but in his youth he possessed enormous strength, and many extraordinary feats are told of him. Once seen he is not easily forgotten. He has a certain natural dignity of bearing, and I think his character is clearly to be read in his face—strength of will and cunning, with the dulness of expression one sees in peasants' faces. 'Manners none, and customs beastly,' might have been a life-like description of Kruger. The habit of constantly expectorating, which so many Boers have, he has never lost. ”

“ I own that Kruger’s country is not easy to get out of, when the owners want to keep you. One thing this ride has done, I fear—closed a good road in or out for any future trekker. By Jove! there will be a nice kick-up over this affair, and no mistake. You’ll have to make yourselves scarce for a while.”
“But surely we are quite safe in Rhodesia?” asked Ned.
“Well, that remains to be seen. Kruger will make a mountain out of this ant-hill. Cables will be sent to the Home Government, demanding their prisoners to be arrested and returned to them, and large indemnities for the potted burghers.” ”

“ Kruger's Views on the Question The initial point at which President Kruger stood through these negotiations, in which he had ample and honorable opportunities to make peace, was that the great communities of English-speaking people were composed of strangers and aliens who must be inferiors. ”

“ June 10.—The whole of South Africa is appealing to President Kruger to let the leaders free. The entire white population—two millions of people—give voice to this desire and hope of United South Africa. ”

“ The majority of the population is composed of Uitlanders, and their complete exclusion from any share in the government of the country is an admitted grievance which is publicly recognised as such by the friends of the Republic as well as by the opinion of civilised Europe. There will always be a danger of internal disturbance so long as this grievance exists, and I desire that you will earnestly impress on President Kruger the wisdom of making concessions in the interests alike of the South African Republic and of South Africa as a whole. ”

“ Of course our people have had their hopes raised owing to the fact that their case has been taken up at last by the home authorities. They are convinced that Kruger, who, by all accounts, is one of the most obstinate and conceited old brutes that ever lived, will never give way an inch, and that, in fact, he will fight rather than do so. Indeed, they believe that he is bent on forcing on a war; and the Boers say openly that in another year the Rooineks will have to go—Rooineks means English. So it will be much more pleasant for us to travel together. ”

“ They did not spare him out of any idea of pity; but because so many men and boys had died that the tribe had become seriously weakened, and it seemed foolish to kill a strong and healthy fellow like Kur-bo-roo. It was very important for a tribe to keep up its fighting strength, for there was always a chance that another band of blacks might come upon them and want to fight: in which case the weaker tribe might be swallowed up. So boy babies were thought a good deal of, and for that reason the blacks did not make an end of little Kur-bo-roo. ”

“ He went to Krutbruma; and, joining his hands, said with many supplications, “O great king! I have acted by your advice, and Shree Krishnù and Bulram are now enraged against me, I have, therefore, fled and come to seek an asylum with you, appoint me some place to reside in.” Krutbruma replied, “I can do nothing for you; whoever is at enmity with Shree Krishnù Chund, is cut off from the rest of mankind. Did you not know, that Krishnù is very powerful; and that you would be a loser by being at enmity with him? ”

“ The industry of Professor Krug has been indefatigable, and the versatility of his talents is prodigious. For the last forty years, scarcely an event has occurred, scarcely an opinion has been broached in Germany, without his having come forward and taken part in the discussion. No subject comes amiss to his band, from the philosophy of ancient down to the liberation of modern Greece. ”