C A F F R A R I A. 



20.5 



3. Lat. on the cast. Some geographer! have dilated 

 ' these boundaries, and have applied the name to the 

 whole country lying south of Cape Negro and the 

 river Del Spiritu Santo, and reaching toward the 

 north, lu-tsv. rii Lower Guinea and Monomatapa, as 

 high as the equator. But the appellation Caffraria 

 must be confined to that portion of country inhabit- 

 ed by the Caffres, from whom it takes its name ; and 

 as this people differ very widely in appearance, in dis- 

 position, and in manners, both from the negroes on 

 the north, and the Hottentots on the south, the ex- 

 tent of their territories has been ascertained with con- 

 siderable accuracy. 



Of this country, however, our knowledge is as yet 

 very defective. No travellers have penetrated far 

 enough into the interior, so as to be enabled to give 

 a correct description of its productions and inhabi- 

 tants. Their excursions have been confined to some 

 particular hordes ; and from the manners and appear- 

 ance of these have been drawn the general character 

 of the nation. The Booshuanas, Barroloos, Dama- 

 ras, Tambookies, and the inhabitants of CafFerland, 

 who are particularly distinguished by the colonists 

 of the Cape of Good Hope by the name of Caffres, 

 are the only tribes of which we have any account : and 

 it is to the latter of these that the descriptions of Pa- 

 terson, Sparmann, Vaillant, and Barrow, chiefly refer. 



This country towards the east is in many places 

 extremely fertile. The mountains are covered with 

 immense forests. The plains are clothed with a luxu- 

 riant herbage, and refreshed and fertilized by innume- 

 rable streams. But towards the west, in the country 

 of the Damaras, it is a perfect desert. The inhabi- 

 tants keep no kind of cattle. Their country, in fact, 

 is so totally barren and sandy, that no cattle could ex- 

 ist upon it ; and the whole subsistence of the tribe de- 

 pends upon the exchanging of copper rings and beads 

 for provisions with the Booshuanas on the east, and the 

 Namaqua Hottentots on the south. These articles 

 they themselves manufacture from the copper ore, 

 which is found in great abundance, in a chain of 

 mountains extending from the Orange river to the 

 tropic. The climate is very variable, but it seldom 

 rains, except in summer, when it is attended with 

 thunder and lightning. On the banks of the Great 

 Fish river, which is the boundary between the colo- 

 ny and CafFerland, Mr Barrow experienced a very re- 

 markable variation in the temperature of the air, du- 

 ring the space of two days. When descending the 

 heights towards the level of the river, the thermome- 

 ter, which, on the preceding night, was as low as 52, 

 and which, at noon, had stood at 72, in the course 

 of an hour ascended to 102 in the shade, and to 

 106 when exposed to the direct rays of the sun. 

 The wind, he observes, was due north, and remark- 

 ably strong, and the stream of air was so heated, that 

 it was scarcely possible to bear exposure to it fo- 

 any length of time. On the following day, however, 

 on the same spot, and with the same wind, but less 

 strong, the thermometer was no higher than 71. 



The inhabitants of this country, though generally 

 denominated Caffres, call themselves Koussis. They 

 know no such word as Caffre ; in fact, they are un- 

 able to pronounce it, as they have no sound for the 

 letter R in their language. The name is derived 



from the Arabic cnjir, tignifying infidel. It was ap- Caffraria, 

 plied by the Arabi as a term of reproach to all who * ' 

 did not profess the religion of Islam; and the 1' 

 tugnettc, taking it in a general sense, have extended 

 it to all those nations of Africa who seem to have no 

 knowledge of a Deity. That the Caffres are not the 

 original inhabitants of this country, appears perfectly 

 evident, from their great dissimilarity, in almost every 

 respect, to the other nations that surround them ; 

 and we cannot but agree with Mr Barrow, that they 

 are of Arabic origin, though we may somewhat differ 

 from that intelligent traveller in proving their affinity 

 to that nation. They possess many features of resem- 

 blance, both in shape and in manners, U> the nomadizing 

 tribes of the Arabian desert. They have the same 

 contour of visage, the same pastoral habits, and the 

 same hospitable disposition ; and what fixes their af- 

 finity still stronger, they practise the same rite of 

 circumcision. But it becomes a Question not unde- 

 serving of a solution, (though we do not pretend to 

 give one altogethtr satisfactory,) how came they in- 

 to their present insulated situation ? Had they ever 

 constituted a part of the armies of the Mahometan 

 caliphs, which overran the northern shores of Africa, 

 and extended their conquests along the eastern boun- 

 daries of this continent, we cannot suppose that they 

 could have been so separated from their companions, 

 as to forget the very name of the nation to which they 

 originally belonged, and to retain no traces of that re- 

 ligion which they had laboured to propagate and main- 

 tain. We know that when Vasco de Gama visited 

 this country, in the end of the 15th century, the 

 Arabs had possession of all the coast from Cape Co- 

 rientes to the Red Sea. It is consequently very im- 

 probable, that a people of the same language, of the 

 same religion, and inhabiting the adjacent country, 

 should have been so completely cut off from all com- 

 munication with their brethren. Were we to form a 

 conjecture upon this subject, we should date the 

 emigration of this people prior to the final subju- 

 gation of Arabia to the Mahometan faith. '1 he 

 opposition which the religion of the impostor expe- 

 rienced from his countrymen, on his first appearance 

 as a reformer ; the difficulties which he afterwards 

 met with in the prosecution of his schemes through- 

 out the peninsula ; and the circumstance that there 

 are some of the Arab nations who, even to this day, 

 have withstood the power of the Mahometans, and 

 are still idolaters ; induce us to suppose, that some 

 of the independent tribes would prefer to forsake 

 their country, rather than the religion of their fathers. 

 These passing over into Ethiopia, might wander south- 

 ward in search of new settlements ; and, driven before 

 the swords of the conquering Moslems, might receive 

 the appellation of injidcls, which they still retain, 

 and which might prevent all intercourse between them 

 and their oppressors. Their adherence to the rite of 

 circumcision cannot be urged, as is done by Mr Bar- 

 row, as any proof whatever of their having formerly 

 professed the religion of Islam. This rite is not pe- 

 culiar to that religion, but was practised by the de- 

 scendents of Ishmael long before the appearance of 

 Mahomet ; and, according to Josephus, was perform, 

 ed, not on the eighth day, as was the custom of the 

 Jews, but when about twelve or thirteen years old, 



