Part 3 (1/2)

”I think it would be a very good plan if Mr Swinton would venture to go where you are bound, Mr Wilmot, but you can talk of that another day, when you have been longer together There is nothing that requirescompanion; any serious imperfection of temper may make a journey very miserable Now, Wile it for the painful history of human nature, I areat pleasure, sir”

”I hope you have no objection tothe benefit also?” said Mr

Swinton

”Oh, h I fear you will not gain much information, as you have been at the Cape before In a former conversation with Mr Wilmot I have pointed out the manner in which the Cape was first settled, and how the settlers had gradually reduced the original possessors of the land to a state of serfdom; I will now continue

”The Dutch boors, as they increased their wealth in cattle, requiredthe whole of the land south of the Caffre country: the Caffres are wild, courageous savages, whose wealth consists chiefly in cattle, but in some points they may be considered superior to the Hottentots

”The weapon of the Hottentot may be said to be the bow and arrow, but the Caffre scorns this warfare, or indeed any treachery; his weapons are his assaguay, or spear, and his shi+eld; he fights openly and bravely

The Caffres also cultivate their land to a certain extent, and are more cleanly and civilized The boors on the Caffre frontier were often plundered by the bushmen, and perhaps occasionally by some few of the Caffres ere in a lawless state on the frontier; but if any complaint was iven: this, however, did not suit the Dutch boors

”They had entered the Caffre country, and had perceived that the Caffres possessed large herds of cattle, and their avarice pointed out to the the cattle of the Caffres than by rearing them themselves If the bushmen stole a few head of cattle, complaints were immediately forwarded to Cape Town, and permission asked to raise a force, and recover them from the Caffres

”The force raised was termed a _Commando_, and was composed of all the Dutch boors and their servants, well armed and mounted; these would make an incursion into the Caffre territory, and because a few head of cattle had been stolen by parties unknown, they would pour down upon the Caffres, who had but their assaguays to oppose to destructive fire-ares in flames, murder indiscriminately man, woman, and child, and carry off, by way of inde loss, perhaps so to the Caffres

”The Caffres, naturally indignant at such outrage and robbery, made attacks upon the boors to recover the cattle, but with this difference between the Christian boor and the untutored savage: the boors murdered women and children wantonly, the Caffres never harmed them, and did not even kill men, if they could obtain possession of their property without bloodshed”

”But how could the Dutch government peroverniven in consequence It is true that afterward the government attempted to put a stop to these horrors, but the boors were beyond their control; and in one instance in which the hoovernment had insisted that punishe on the part of the boors, the Cape governor returned for answer, that he could not venture to do as they wished, as the system was so extensive and so common, that all the principal people in the colony were implicated, and would have to be punished

”Such was therefore the condition of the colony at the tilish--the Hottentots serfs to the land, and treated as the beasts of the field; the slave-trader supplying slaves; and continual war carried on between the boors and the Caffres”

”I trust that our government soon put an end to such barbarous iniquities”

”That was not so easy; the frontier boors rose in arovern patient, now fled and joined the Caffres These people made a combined attack upon the frontier boors, burned their houses to the ground, carried off the cattle, and possessed thereat force; another combat took place, in which the Hottentots and Caffres were victorious, killing the leader of the boors, and pursuing thehter, till they were stopped by the advance of the English troops But I can not dwell long upon this period of the Cape history; these wars continued until the natives, throwing thelish, were induced to lay down their arms, and the Hottentots to return to their foriven up to the Dutch, and remained with them until the year 1806, when it was finally annexed to the British empire The Dutch had not learned wisdom from what had occurred; they treated the Hottentots worse than before,theoverne was soon to take place”

”Not before it was necessary, at all events,” said Alexander

”It was by the ht about; they had penetrated into the interior, and saith their own eyes the system of cruelty and rapine that was carried on; they wrote horeat alteration To the astonishnation of the boors, laas introduced where it had always been set at defiance; they were told that the life of a Hottentot was as important in the eye of God, and in the eye of the law, as that of a Dutch boor, and that the government would hold it as such

Thus was the first blow struck; but another and a heavier was soon to fall upon those who had so long sported with the lives of their fellow-creatures The press was called to the aid of the Hottentot, and a work published by a missionary roused the attention of the public at home to their situation Their cause was pleaded in the House of Commons, and the Hottentot was emancipated forever”

”Thank God!” exclai at the description which you have been giving Nohen I hear that the poor Hottentot is a free ain”

”Perhaps it will be as well to leave off just now, Mr Wilmot,” said Mr

Fairburn; ”ill renew our conversation to-morrow, if wind and weather permit, as the seamen say”

CHAPTER V

The next day the shi+p was off Rio, and immediately sent her boats for provisions and supplies; the passengers did not land, as the captain stated that he would not stay an hour longer than was necessary, and on the second evening after their arrival they againin nu every thing edible which was thrown overboard, and the conversation turned upon aquatic birds

”What difference is there in the feathers of aquatic birds and others?”