so far rated as their own property, that they were sometimes, though
rarely, transferred to another master. This was done only when
their captor had a greater number of such servants than he required
or than he had the means of feeding : yet they were never, I believe,
sold to another tribe or nation. Whenever their parents desired to
have their children home again, which often was the case when they
were grown up, their masters never refused giving them up for a
certain ransom, which amounted usually to the value of an ox and a
cow, or a cow and two oxen.
It is true, this practice stands precisely at that critical point
where all which is wanting to ripen it into perfect slave-trade, is the
presence of one of those unfeeling Europeans who still continue to
disgrace, not only a civilized nation, but human nature itself; it
hangs on that nice balance, which may with equal facility be turned
either way: and here, the presence of a genuine and philanthropic
missionary might do some real and substantial good, by preaching
the doctrine (now apparently in disuse among a great portion
of mankind) of ‘ doing unto others, as we would have others do
unto us.’
In their political alliances and friendships, the Bachapins, it
would seem, are an inconstant people, guided only by selfish views
and the prospect of booty. There is scarcely a nation around them,
excepting the Bushmen, with which they have not at different times
been both on friendly terms, and in a state of hostility: one year
joining strength with some neighbouring tribe, to plunder another ;
and the next, perhaps, assisting that which they had robbed, to
plunder their late ally. With the Bushmen, they have never, I was
told, formed any alliance; but cherish always the recollection of the
losses which the Bachapins have sustained from these more successful
robbers, for whom they feel well-founded fear and a natural antipathy.
Nor had they at this period, a less antipathy for the Nuak-
ketsies, whom they always described to me, with evident hatred, as
the worst men of the country.
But a traveller visiting any of these nations, will always be
misled, if he depend on any one of them, for the character of the
other. In such misrepresentations, mercantile jealousy is largely
concerned; especially with the Bachapins; for, as these obtain from
the Cape Colony beads at first-hand, and at their own price as long
as they prevent a communication with any other tribe, they endea-r
vour to deter all visitors from the south, from penetrating farther
beyond them, by representing the natives in that quarter as men of
ferocious habits.
A short time before my coming into their country, the Bachapins
had joined with the Nudkketsies, in an expedition to plunder the
Morutzies. Thus far, they were friends ; and even till a few weeks
before my arrival, as Mokkaba (or Makkaba) their chief, had just
then sent Mattivi a present of several oxen: but since this, some
cause of enmity had arisen ; or rather perhaps, a jealousy on the part
of the latter, lest, by having any good opinion of the Nuakketsies,
I might become desirous of visiting their town. A great share of
cautious cunning, therefore, was set to work in filling my ears with
tales fabricated to their discredit; but these tales were so full of contradictions,
that they quite failed in their intended effect. One of
the Klaarwater Hottentots, who, with a party of his countrymen,
had about four or five years before, visited the Nuakketsies, told me
at Litakun, that he and his companions were received there in a
friendly manner, and, having bartered away their beads at a very
profitable rate, were invited to renew their visit and continue the
acquaintance. An English missionary was of this party, and was
equally successful in the object of his journey; that of trading for
jvory,
The Barolongs, though represented to me and my men, by
Mattivi, as a dangerous tribe, were found to be equally friendly;
and when they were subsequently visited by a missionary named Jan
Kok in company with another missionary, Makrakki their Chief was
exceedingly pleased to see them: but, from the same principle of
mercantile jealousy which had actuated the Bachapins, he objected
to their proceeding on to the next tribe beyond him, whither they
were desirous of going, with a view to further trading.
The story of this visit, as I had it from one of the party, clearly
illustrates what I have before asserted from my own knowledge
V O L . I I . 3 z