ABORIGINES OF EASTERN rROVINCE. olo 



work oi the artists of Iliiyter's tribe, and Ruyter himself is 

 represented as " the last g-reat chief of the Coast BiishmeiJ, 

 the one who made the last expiring" effort to ruaintain the 

 independence of his race in that part of the ancient hunting- 

 grounds of his forefathers which bordered on the Sea Coast." 

 Yet we know from Sparrman's account that Ruyter was not 

 a native of this region, but came from the Koggeveld as a 

 fugitive slave after murdering his companion. The people 

 over whom he ruled were probably for the most part the 

 impoverished remnants of Gonaqua tribes, driven desperate by 

 ill treatment. At the same time, it seems clear that Sparrman 

 did actually meet several Bushmen at the Sundays Eiver, and 

 I think it a reasonable inference from the somewhat confused 

 narrative that these Bushmen had settled down to a pastoral 

 life Avith a small tribe of Gonaqua Hottentots. 



At the end of the eighteenth century, the aboriginal tribes 

 as independent settlements had entirely disappeared from the 

 regions west of the Great Fish River. John Barrow, who 

 tiavelled in 1797 and 1798, says: "20 years ago, if we 

 may credit the travellers of that day, the country beyond (i.e., 

 east of) Gamtoos Eiver, which was then the eastern limit of 

 the Colony, abounded with kraals or villages of Hottentots, 

 out of which the inhabitants came to meet them by hundreds 

 in a groupe. Some of these villages might still have been 

 expected to remain in this remote and not very populous part 

 of the Colony. Not one, however, was to be found. There is 

 not in the whole extensive district of Graaf Reynet a single 

 horde of independent Hottentots." Incidentally, we learn 

 from his accoimt that a tribe of several hundred Kaffirs, witli 

 their herds of cattle, had established themselves on the banks 

 of the Kareeka, but their abodes were of temporary nature. 

 These people were indeed refugees from Kaffir land. 



Tlie fate of the Gonaqua was described by Barrow as 

 follows : — 



" On the upper part of the JBosje.smans River (perhaps near 

 Alicedale) we receiverl a visit from the Chief of the Gonaqua, 

 followed by tlie last remains of this mixed tribe of Kaffir and 

 Hottentot, consisting of about a dozen people. The name of 

 Gonaqua, like those of the numerous tribes of Hottentots now 

 extinct, is just on the eve of oblivion. Driven out of their ancient 

 possessions in the Zuur Veldt by the Colonists, they yet found an 

 asylum from the father of Gaika in one of the most fertile districts 

 of his kingdom, watered by the river Kaapna. Here they were 

 .suffered to remain in quiet till the late distiu'bances among the 

 Kaffirs. Unwilling to act, or undecided which part to take, they 

 became a common enemy, and those who remained in the country 

 were plundered and massacred by both parties, whilst those who 

 fled across the Gt. Fish River met with the same treatment from 

 the Dutch farmers." 



The Gonaqiui, however, were not quite exterminated. We 

 hear of them later (1825) in a report written from Chumie 

 mission station by Rev. W. R. Thomson, who refers to them 

 «nder the name of Ghona. The Ghonas had gradually amalga- 

 mated with the Kaffir population, but were still in considerable 



