312 f)n tlie Condition of the Inhabitants 



character, but this is the worst. Not satisfied with defraud- 

 ing them of the Httle earnings of their industry, and inflict- 

 ing the most cruel and In-utal punishments for every trifling 

 fauh, they have a constant practice of retaining the wife 

 and children and turninir adrift the husband ; thus dissoh-- 

 ing the tender ties of social intercourse, and cutting off even 



tunity to revenge themselves on these niihappy crca^uas. Led on by a 

 ■veld cornet of the niiiie of Burgers, rlicv fti?,od the wh.ole company, who 

 suspected no ill; and, notwithstaiulinL; all the proofs in their favour, it 

 was agreed that they were criminals, and that ihev miiit be tre.neJ ac- 

 cordingly. The boorish court of jii$!ice resolved, therefore, to bind thtm 

 to a tree, ;nd to draw from them bv torture a confession of ciinies of 

 which a thought had never entered into their heads; to r,;itersted blows 

 and inhuman tortures they held our promises of forgiveness if they wjuld 

 confess all that was required of them ; and by these means they forced 

 from them the unfoitun.'.te declaration that tliev came with an intention 

 to plunder the neighboarhcod. The only concern of the conn was, to 

 write down a confession, which the application of the torture, and the hope 

 of being set r-t liberty, had wrungfrom the^e innocent \ictims. The boors 

 pjt their names to this declaration as an attest ition of the trutii, and 

 made an end of the business bv voting for ti-.cir death. The sentence v/as 

 instantly put in execution, and the poor Hotrento's were shot. — A whole 

 half year has passed away since this event, and justice hitherto has noL 

 interfered, I should not dare to say wherefore." 



I shall extract another instance I'f the savage brutality of an African 

 boor, recorded in this painphlet, which, if possible, exceeds all that have 

 yet been given: — " As soon as the Enehsh had abandcred the foit (at 

 Algoa Bay), » boor named Ferreira, of a Portuguese familv, made hun- 

 self master of it, and kept possession till the arrival of a detailimcnt of 

 troops, which government sent thither under the command of major von 

 Gilten, who'is still there. The Kafters, fully peisuaded that the late 

 peace had put :;a end to all disturljances between them, sent to the new 

 commander of the fort a builock to be slain, as the test of reconci'iation 

 and friendship. The Kaffer sent on ihe occasion pnt hiinself under tlie 

 guide of a Hottentot; and Ferreira, by w.iv cf returning the kind inten- 

 tion, laid hold of the KatTcr and broiled him alive ; bound the poor Hot- 

 tentot to a tree, cut a piece of ficsh out of his thigh, made him cat it raw, 

 and then released him !" 



' If any one should be disposed to think that I have exagger.ited the 

 cruelties committed by these inhuman brutes I only request of them to 

 read the pamphlet written by the private secretary to the present govLruur 

 Jansens. 



Nothing can be more deplorable than the state of ihe colony as de- 

 scribed in this pamphlet, which was written ju^t before they had heard 

 of the war ; and nothing can exceed the disappointment of the Dutch 

 in their expectations with regard to the Cape. The Hotttiuot corj« was 

 disbanded ; most of them fied into the interior to join tl;cir oppressed 

 countrymen ; the KafFers were in arms against the boors ; the garrison in 

 a state of complete insubordination; the people detesting the government, 

 and the government afraid of the troops ; its credit destroyed, money dis- 

 appeared, commerce ruined, bankruptcies without end ; and they wanted 

 only a war to cjmplete their misery. Under such circumstances, how 

 cheaply n;i^hl England rcgam possession of this important settlement ' 



the 



