>77S- Ions, which they feemed to confider as a very magnificent .September. O v v / prefent. A few gun iliots from hence was feen an uncommonly large hut of a conic form. We were told, that in it there lived the Hottentot-Captain R u n d g an g e r . I then aiked my hoft, whether he belonged to the Captain’s company, or was under his command? To which he anfwered, with a fly farcaftic fmile, that the command o f a Hottentot Captain extended no farther than to his wife and children; and that, in fadl, he might with equal propriety be called Major, or what elfe you pleafe. Captain, fays he, is merely an empty title, formerly bellowed by the regency at the Cape on fome princes and patriarchs o f the Hottentots, and particularly on fuch, as had diftinguiihed themfelves by their fidelity to their allies, by betraying their countrymen, or by fome remarkable fervice. They have likewife had a Dutch furname, together with a commander’s itaff, bellowed upon them ; and both thefe, like letters patent of nobility, have afterwards defcended in the way o f inheritance to their fons. On the other hand, it is required of the Captain, that he ihall be a fpy on the other Hottentots ; and when" fearch is made after a deferter, he is inveiled by the regency at the Cape with the chief authority, and confequently trouble, throughout the whole of the bufinefs. On the receipt of this information, which fince has been confirmed to me by feveral others, we haflened hence, in order to pay our refpedls to a man of fo ancient and princely a family as R u n d g an g er . The patriarch was at that time fitting fitting and balking himfelf before the door of his tent, and Sep't^ er in this poflure waited till we came up- to him, in order to receive us. He was fomewhat above forty years o f age, and of fuch an embonpoint, as I never faw before nor fince in one of his; nation. This was in all probability occafion- ed by his great fuperiority o f wèalth in the article of cattle, by which means he could live better than another, and at the fame time lead a more indolènt life, void of care and anxiety. By means o f a little tobacco, and other trifling civilities, fhewn à-propos to this illuftrious family, we in a manner gained his confidence. He could not forbear (though with fome degree o f caution and in gentle terms) making complaints o f the Dutch, as unjuil invaders o f the Hottentots territories. For want o f ftrength and power, (he faid) thefe lattérWéfe now no longer in a condition to with- fland their encroachments ; almoll every daÿ fome Hottentot or other beingJ obliged fo remove vtith his cattle, whenever the paflure he was in poffeflion of, happened to fuit a co- lonifl. The' Hottentot Captains had, indéed, formerly; been left undifturbed 111 their poffeflions • but now they had likewife elbowed him, though a Captain, out of' a more eligible fituation ; and even began to grudge him the meagre and parched fields he was in poifeflion of nearer the feu-fhore; nétwithftanding that they were extremely dangerous for fheep' and cattle, both on account of the unhealthinefs of the fituation, and its beingexpofed to the incurfions of wild heaitsi 1 Hé likewife cbmplairied of his own countrymen,; that now-they could feldom agrée among themfelves, and were all particularly envious of him ; fo that he could' not ‘venture to fell a fupernumerary V o l . I-. I i ox
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