tif the Cape of Good Hope. 313 



the natural resources of wretchedness and sorrow. It is ia 

 vain for the liolfcntot to complain. I'o whom, indeed, 

 should he complain ? The landrost is a mere cyplier, and 

 must either enter into all the views of the boojs, or lead a 

 most uncomfortable life. The last, who was a very honest 

 man, and anxious to fulfil the duties ol'his office, was turned 

 out of his district, and afterwards threatened to be put to 

 death by these unpriutiplcd people, because he would m-t 

 give them his permission to make war upon theKatler?; 

 iind because he heard the complaints of the injured Hot- 

 tentots. The boor, indeed, is al)ove all law. At the di- 

 stance of five or six hundred miles from the seat of govern- 

 ment he knows he is not to be compelled to do what is 

 right, nor prohibited from putting in practice what is wrong. 

 To be debarred from visiting the Cape is no punishment to 

 him. His wants, as we have seen, are very few, nor is he 

 nice in his choice of substitutes for those which he cannot 

 conveniently obtain. Perhaps the only indispensable arti- 

 cles are gunpowder and lead. Without these a boor would 

 not live one moment alone ; and \\ ilh these he knows him- 

 self more than a match for the native Hottentots and for 

 beasts of prev. 



The produce of the grazier is subject to no colonial tax- 

 whatsoever. The butcher sends his servants round the 

 country to collect sheep and cattle, and gives the boors 

 notes upon his master, which are, paid on their coming to 

 the Cape. They hxg, subject only to a small parochial as- 

 sessment, proportioned to their stock. For every hundred 

 .sheep he pays a florin, or sixteen-pcncc, and for every ox 

 or cow one penny. With the utmost diificuiLV fcovernnient 

 has been able to CGllcet about two-thirds annually of the 

 rent of their loan farms, which is only i24 rix dollars a year. 

 Under the idea that thev had been dreadfully opprcssexl by 

 the Dutch government, and tliat their poverty u as the sole 

 cause of their running in arrears with their rent, the British 

 government forgave the district of Graaf Heynet the suui of 

 'JOG, 000 rix dollars, the amount to which their arrears had 

 accumulated. By descending a little closer, to particulars 

 wc shall be able to form a better judgment of the condition 

 of these people, and how far their poverty entitled them to 

 the above-mentioned indulgence. 



The district of Graaf Keynet, as we have already observed, 

 contains about 700 families. Among these are distri!/uted, 

 according to the cp^uiaj}' (and they \vould not give in more 

 than they had, bet-ig liable to an assessment according 1o 

 the -number), 116,30C head of cattle, and 78'-' '?.'74 fih^ep, 



which. 



