made his appearance at the head of a party to that amount, each
armed with a hafCagay or fpear.
On being told how neceffary it was, for the fake of preferring
-tranquillity, that he ibould quit his prefent ftation among the
boors, he replied, with great firmnefs, that the ground he then
flood upon was his own by inheritance, for that his father had
been cheated out of it by a Dutch Landroft of Graaf Reynet;
that, however, being defiroua of remaining in friendihip with
■the Engliih, he would remove eaftward in the courfe,of,three
-days; but that it was impoifible for him to crois the Great
Fifh River, ys there was a deadly hatred;, or, as he exprcffed it,
.there was blood, between Qatka and himjilf; and that Gaika .was
then much too powerful for him*
The decided tone in which he fp.oke, at .the head of his Email .
party, when furrounded by Britifli tropp?; his prepoffeffing countenance,
and tall mqfcular figure, could not fail to excite a
,'ftrong interpft in his favour. An open and manly deportment,
free from fufpipiop, fear," or embarraffment, teems to characterize
the fiaiFer chief?. Thoygh extremely good-hijmoured, benevolent,
and hpfpitable, they are neither fo pliant nor fo paf-
five as the Hottentot, The poorer fort are fometimes led to
feet for fervice amopg the boors, and engage themfeives for fo
many mpons in confideration of fo many head of cattle • and
.they never fuffer themfeives to be duped out of their hire like
"the eafy Hottentots, The converfation with Congo ended by
recommending him to withdraw his people and their cattle from
the
' the banks of the Sunday River, to which he gave a kind of re-
ludant aflent.
The whole of the party that accompanied this chief were tall,
upright, and well made men ; affording a clear proof that'animal
food is by no means necefiary to promote the growth of
the human fpecies; or to add ftrength of fibre to the mufcular
parts of the body ; on the contrary, reaibning from the general
make and ftature of the Dutch boors, who gorge themfeives
with animal food floating in fat, from morning till night,
one would be apt to conclude, that lb far from being neceffary,
it is not even conducive to ftrength of mufcle; but that its only
tendency was to produce a laxity of the fibres, a fluggilh habit
of body, and extreme corpulency; for the Dutch boors, though
o f a monftrous fize, poffefs neither ftrength nor activity. Perhaps,
indeed, thefe two qualities may be confidered as correlatives,
and that the defe£t of the former may be more owing to
a want of the latter than to the nature of their food. Thofe,
perhaps, who have been accuftomed to obferve the peafantry on
the north-weft coaft of Ireland, a tall, ftrong, and brawny race
of men, fubfifting on butter-milk and potatoes, will think it un-
neceffary to produce the Kaflers as inftanoes of the above remark;
it may ferve, however, to ihew that difference of climate
has no power to alter the general principle, and that the
fame caufe produces the fame effe£t in the northern parts of Europe
and in the fouthern corner of Africa.
, Milk in a curdled ftate is the principal food of the Kaffers.
T o this they fometimes add a few gramineous roots, berries of
Vox. ii. various