“ of them fpeak Englifh tolerably well. We were told that
H fo great was their propenfity to' drunkennefs, we ihould ne-
“ ver be able to redpce them to order or difcipline, and that the
“ habit of roving was fo rooted in their difpofition, we mull
“ expe£t the whole corps would defert, the moment they had
“ received their clothing. ■ With refpect to the firft, I do not
“ find they are more given to the vice of drinking than
V our own people; and, as to their pretended propenfity to
“ roving, that charge is fully confuted by the circumftance of
% only one man haying, left us fince I firft adopted the meafure
“ of affembling them, and he was urged to this ftep from hav-
“ ing accidently loft his firelock.”— “ Of all the qualities,” he
further obferves, “ that can be afcribed to a Hottentot, it will
“ little be expected I ihould expatiate upon their cleanlinefs; and
“ yet it is certain that, at this moment, our Hottentot parade
“ would not fuffer in a comparifon with that of fome of our re-
“ gular regiments. Their clothing may, perhaps, have fuf-
“ fered more than it ought to have done, in the time fince it
“ was ifliied to them, from their ignorance of the means of
“ preferving i t ; but th'ofe articles, which are capable of being
“ kept clean by waihing, together with their arms and accou-
“ trements, which they have been taught to keep bright, are
“ always in good order. They are now, likewife, cleanly in
“ their perfons; • the pra&ice of fmearing themfelves with
“ greafe being entirely left off. I have frequently obferved
“ them waihing themfelves in a rivulet, where they could have
“ in view no other objed but cleanlinefs.” It will be no lefs
fatisfadory to the reader, than it is gratifying to myfelf, in
thus having an opportunity of adding, in fupport of my former
J defcripdefcription
of the moral character of this people, the opinion of
fuch high and refpedable authority,
None felt more fincere regret and uneafinefs at that article in
the treaty of peace, which ceded, the Cape tcj its former
owners, than thefe worthy miflionaries. From the malignant
fpirit of the boors, they had every thing to apprehend. The
friends of humanity, however, will rejoice to learn, that this
afylum for an innocent and oppreffed race of men continues to
receive the countenance and protedion of the prefent government
; the two leading members of which appear to be aduated
by views and fentiments very different from thofe of the majority
of the people, over which they are appointed to rule;
It is obvious, indeed, to every man of common underftanding,
that an inftitution fo encouraged cannot fail to prove of infinite
advantage to a colony where ufefu} labour is fo much wanted.
If any example were capable of roufing the fluggifh fettlers,
that of fix hundred people being fubfifted on the fame fpace of
ground, which every individual family among them occupies,
for they had nothing more till very lately than a common Joan
farm of three miles in diameter, would be fufficient to ftimulate
them to habits of induftry.
Other miflionaries, but of different focieties, have lately proceeded
to very diftant parts of the colony, and fome even much
beyond it, both among the Kaffers to the eaftward, and the
Bosjefman Hottentots to the' northward. The latter they re-
prefent as a docile and tradable people, of innocent manners,
and grateful to their benefadors beyond expreflion; but the
H 2 Kaffers,