finiihed with great neatnefs ; in the bafkets placed in the rivers
for the purpofe of taking fiih, ingenioufly contrived, and very
well executed ; in the mats o f .graft, of which their huts were
compofed; and in their imitations of different animals, defigned
on the fmooth faces of the rooks. Being queftioned with re-
fpe£t to thefe drawings, it appeared that they were generally
the work of a numerous tribe o f their countrymen that lived a
little to the northward, on the other fide of a very large river.
The nature o f their language is the fame as that o f the Hottentots,
though they are not able to underftand each other.
In the latter, the action of the tongue againft the roof of the
mouth, or the teeth, is feldom ufed on more than one fyllable
o f a word. In the language of the Bosjefman, there is fcarcely
a fyllable enunciated without it j and this adion is performed
by them much more forcibly than by the Hottentots. Not-
withftanding the difficulty for an European to acquire fuch a
language, feveral of the Sneuwbergers fpeak it as fluently as the
natives, from their having been committed, in their infancy,
to the care of Bosjefmans’ nurfes.
It were greatly to be wiffied that the peafantry would fee the
policy of putting an end to their expeditions againft this mifer-
able people, and adopt in their place a lenient mode of treatment.
They might not perhaps fucceed in reclaiming them at
once from their rooted habits of life ; but their, hatred towards
the colonifts, which aims at their lives, might certainly be
abated. The firft ftep towards it would be to abolilh the inhuman
pradice of carrying. into captivity their women and
children.
children. This, in fad, is the “ lethalis arundo” that rankles
in their breafts, and excites that ipirit of vengeance which they
perpetually denounce againft the Chriftians. The condition of
thofe who are made prifoners by the farmers is, in fad, much
worfe than that of flavery; for, not being transferable property,
they have no claims upon their intereft. An attempt
indeed was lately made at Graaff Reynet to induce the government
to grant them leave to fell fuch Bosjefmans as lhould be
taken prifoners, on condition o f ten rixdollars being paid into
the treafury for every fuch Have fold. This humane propofal,
“ made,” as it is ftated in the records, “ for the purpofe of
“ roufing the military ardor o f the farmers, which o f late was
“ obferved to have abated,” was unanimoufly carried in the
Council, but did not receive the fandion o f the Government
at the Cape.
Forty years ago, it appears from living teftimony, the BoC.
jefmans frequented the colony boldly and openly, begged, and
ftole, and were troublefome, juft as the Kaffers now are; but
they never attempted the life of any one. They proceeded not
to this extremity until the government had unwifely and un-
juftly fuffered the peafantry to exercife an unlimited power
over the lives of thofe who were taken prifoners. It failed, at
the fame time, to fix any bounds to the extent of the expeditions
made againft them, which certainly ought not to go beyond
the limits of the colony. Nothing could be more unwarrantable,
becaufe cruel arid unjuft, than the attack made by our
party upon the kraal; and the only palliation it could admit o f