t nothing, and the planter could procure
another. In short, the life of a Hottentot was considered as of no
value, and there is no denying that they were shot by their masters or
employers upon the most trifling offense."

"How dreadful! but did the Dutch government suffer this?"

"They could not well help it, and therefore were compelled to wink at
it; the criminals were beyond its reach. But now I will proceed to give
you some further insight, by describing the Dutch boors, or planters,
who usurped and stood in the shoes of the poor Hottentots.

"The Dutch government seized upon all the land belonging to the
Hottentots, and gave it away in grants to their own countrymen, who now
became herdsmen, and possessed of a large quantity of cattle; they also
cultivated the ground to a certain extent round about their
habitations. As the colony increased, so did the demand for land, until
the whole of the country that was worth having was disposed of as far as
to the country of the Caffres, a fine, warlike race, of whom we will
speak hereafter. It must not, however, be supposed that the whole of the
Hottentot tribes became serfs to the soil. Some few drove away their
cattle to the northward, out of reach of the Dutch, to the borders of
the Caffre land; others, deprived of their property, left the plains,
and took to the mountains, living by the chase and by plunder. This
portion were termed boshmen, or bushmen, and have still retained that
appellation: living in extreme destitution, sleeping in caves,
constantly in a state of starvation, they soon dwindled down to a very
diminutive race, and have continued so ever since.

"The Dutch boors, or planters, who lived in the interior, and far away
from Cape Town, had many enemies to contend with: they had the various
beasts of the forest, from the lion to the jackal, which devastated
their flocks and herds, and also these bushmen, who lived upon plunder.
Continually in danger, they were never without their muskets in their
hands, and they and their descendants became an athletic, powerful, and
bulky race, courageous, and skilled in the use of fire-arms, but at the
same time cruel and avaricious to the highest degree. The absolute power
they possessed over the slaves and Hottentots demoralized them, and made
them tyrannical and blood-thirsty. At too great a distance from the seat
of government for its power to reach them, they defied it and knew no
law but their own imperious wills