OUR COLONIES. 677 



secretaries, and five under-secretaries; and these will be speedily fol- 

 lowed by a sixth. What can be expected from this state of things at 

 head-quarters, but the most inoperative and vacillating government. 

 And neither had any of the Colonial secretaries, above-mentioned, any 

 particular recommendation to the office, beyond their political 

 position ; and what opinions they held and do hold on our Colonies, 

 were, and are, of very opposite tendencies. The dispatches which 

 have therefore issued from the Colonial Office, during the last two 

 years, are of the most diverse character ; and before answers could 

 be received, much more before the measures recommended could be 

 carried into effect, the men have been gone, from whose wisdom or 

 folly, as the case might be, the dispatches had issued. What has 

 been the consequence ? Evil, necessarily ; and it requires no par- 

 ticular stretch of prophetic power to vaticinate, that all our conti- 

 nental American possessions will be the price paid for our folly. 

 Again, the most miserable policy has prevailed as to different 

 Colonies, no general plan has governed them the West Indies 

 protected at the expense of the East ; the Cape sacrificed, in a great 

 measure, to the absurd cry of free-trade and reciprocity good terms 

 in themselves, and well meant, but most ridiculously worked out 

 the whole being a strange medley of ignorance, presumption, preju- 

 dice, and self-interest. 



Mr. Martin's account of the Cape of Good Hope embraces all 

 that has been hitherto known, with very considerable additions 

 drawn from his own personal experience. The fierce and bloody 

 warfare, which has lately threatened the extinction of this promising 

 Colony, gives a peculiar interest to this division of his Work. 



" The Kaffres," says Mr. Martin, "are a fine pastoral race of men, 

 located along the eastern frontier, and deserve much attention. Except- 

 ing the woolly hair, the Kaffre exhibits no similarity to the Hottentot or 

 the Negro race ; for, although the colour is dark brown, nearly black, the 

 features are regular, having an Asiatic cast, and the form symmetrical, 

 the men particularly, being of a fair average height, and extremely well 

 proportioned. The head is not, generally speaking, more elongated than 

 that of an European : the frontal and occipital bones form nearly a semi- 

 circle ; and a line from the forehead to the chin, drawn over the nose, is, 

 in some instances, as finely rounded and as convex as the profile of a 

 Grecian or Roman countenance. Their women are short of stature, very 

 strong-limbed and muscular ; and they attribute the keeping up the 

 standard of the men to their frequent intermarriages with strangers, 

 whom they purchase of the neighbouring tribes the barter of cattle for 

 young women forming one of the principal articles of their trade ; all the 

 chiefs choosing to purchase Tambookie (who are short and stout, with 

 muscular legs, and without a taint of Hottentot, or African negro) wives 

 in preference to their own people. 



** Unlike the Hottentots, they are remarkably cheerful, frank, and 

 animated, placing implicit confidence in visitors, and using every means 

 to entertain them. The Kaffres prefer a state of nudity, with a scanty 

 apron in the warm season ; but in winter a cloak is used, made of the 

 skins of wild beasts, admirably curried. Their arms are the javelin, a 

 large shield of buffalo-hide, and a short club; but their wars generally 

 arising about disputed pasture-ground, are generally decided without 



