122 Dr. Smith's Observations relative to the 



races themselves. The number of inhabitants is small, com- 

 pared with the great extent of country over which they are 

 scattered, and which consists of the whole of that extensive 

 plain lying between the northern boundary of the colony 

 the Kamiesberg range of mountains, and the confines of the 

 Orange River. The distribution of the population varies 

 according to the season of the year, the supply of game, and 

 the relation of the tribes to the surrounding inhabitants. In 

 situations where nature is liberal of productions convertible to 

 the support of man, something like small communities are 

 occasionally met with; but in places again, where food is 

 scanty, or water defective, it is rare to find more than one or 

 at least two families together; and those having little or no 

 intercourse with their neighbours, unless when self-defence, or 

 the spoils of some marauding expedition bring them for a time 

 into contact. The fact of their being usually dispersed in 

 such small parties when friendly and well disposed, and of 

 their associating in hordes or troops when projecting and 

 executing mischief, or enjoying the spoils often consequent 

 upon that, frequently furnishes the farmer with a fair guide for 

 judging of their views, and often enables him to discover the 

 retreat of thieves, where those themselves had in the first 

 instance escaped detection. 



The little intercourse which they thus have with each other, 

 and the absence of almost every kind of property, render 

 them quite strangers to the great objects of laws, and con- 

 sequently unconscious of the benefits of a regular Government. 

 They have, therefore, really either hereditary or permanently 

 elected rulers; and few, if any, of them are disposed to acknow- 

 ledge any superiority, except that which physical strength may 

 secure. In situations where a temporary leader is advan- 

 tageous, and which they consider as only so in war or the 

 chace, they unconsciously give place in the former to the 

 bravest and most dexterous, and in the latter to the most ex- 

 perienced and cunning. They have no established laws by 

 which offences are tried, nor determined punishments by which 

 aggressions are avenged; every individual is his own lawgiver, 

 and every crime is punished according to the caprice of the 

 sufferer, or the relative positions and relations of the impli- 

 cated parties. The absence of everything like system ren- 

 ders punishments amongst them very unequal, and often ex- 

 tremely disproportionate to the crimes they are employed 

 to retribute. It permits injuries of the highest order often to 

 be inflicted with impunity, and others of the most insignifi- 

 cant character to be visited with the most hideous vengeance; 



yet, 



