ther with accurate and fpirited figures of the quadrupeds mentioned
in my former volume, with others hitherto undefcribed.
How far thé belt of country extends in width acrofs the
fouthern part of Africa, inhabited by the Kaffers, is not exactly
known, but the points on each coaft are fufficiently afcertained
to which they do not extend- To the iouthward of the Portu-
gueze fettlement of Rio de la Goa, thé natives are Kaffers ; but
from the defcription given of them they appear to be a degenerated
race. They are however free ; nor has Portugueze
avarice yet dared to attempt to make them flavea. This is not
the cafe to the northward. At Mozambique and SofFala the
black people are all negroes, not, however, at the prefent day,
natives of the fea*coaft, but fuch as are brought down from the
interior as articles of trade. From Mozambique they have now,
as appears from the information of a Portugueze Have merchant,
a dire£t communication acrofs the continent with their feulements
of Congo, Loango, and Benguela, on the weft coaft, between
which negro merchants are eftabiilhed in different parts
of the country. So that there-are no Kaffers in the iine of this
route,
The commiffioners, from whofe report 'I have above quoted,
were informed at Leetahoo that another powerful tribe of the fame
nation, called the Barolooi dwelt at the diftance o f eight or ten
days’ journey farther-to the northward. Reckoning the average
o f a day's journey to be twenty miles, we ihall find the Betrokos
inhabiting the country under the fouthern tropic ; and we may
conclude, from the following information which Mr. Trüter
received
recei ved of this ¡people, that they are not the laft to the northward.
He was told, “ That they were of a. kind and friendly
“ difpofition ; that their town was fo extenfive, that if a perfoa
u fet out in the morning from one extremity, and travelled
“ to the other, he would not be able to return before the fol-
“ lowing day; that this town contained many thoufand inha-
“ bitants ; that the ppople were very ingenious in carving o f
“ wqod, and that they had furnaces for fmelting both copper
“ and iron; that they were exceedingly rich in cattle; their
“ gardens and lands were better cultivated, and their dwellings
“ much foperior to thofe of Leetakoo. The Damaras alfo
whom I mentioned in my former travels to be in poffeffion of
the art of fmelting copper from the ore, as well as I could collect
from report, are inhabitants of the.Tropic; and they are complete
Kaffers, differing in nothing from thofe on the eaftern
coaft. I ihould fuppofe, therefore, that a line drawn from the
24th parallel of latitude on the eaft coaft, to the 20th on the
weft, may mark the boundary, or nearly fo, between-the Kaffers
and the negroes.
The late Colonel Gordon was of opinion, that a line from
Cape Negro, on the weft coaft, to Cape Corientes on foe eaft*
marked the boundaries between foe Kaffers and the negroes;,
but in this he was obvioufly miftaken; a line from thefe two
points including Portugueze fettlements on both fides, that on
foe eaft coaft being known to be inhabited by the lame kind of
ftupid negroes that are natives of Mofambique. Nor have wo
any reafon for fuppofing that, by the Portugueze taking pof-
leffion of Rio de la Goa* the Kaffers have been driven in to»
wards