94 CHIEF WATERBOER. 



frontier ; for large numbers among the original Griquas 

 had as little scruple about robbing farmers of cattle as the 

 Caffres are reputed to have. On the election of Water- 

 boer to the chieftainship, he distinctly declared that no 

 marauding should be allowed. As the government of 

 none of these tribes is despotic, some of his principal men, 

 in spite of this declaration, plundered some villages of 

 Corannas living to the south of the Orange river. He imme- 

 diately seized six of the ringleaders, and, though the step 

 put his own position in jeopardy, he summoned his council, 

 tried, condemned and publicly executed the whole six. 

 This produced an insurrection, and the insurgents twice 

 attacked his capital, Griqua Town, with the intention of 

 deposing him ; but he bravely defeated both attempts, smd 

 from that day forth, during his long reign of thirty years, 

 not a single plundering expedition ever left his territory. 

 Having witnessed the deleterious effects of the introduction 

 of ardent spirits among his people, he, with characteristic 

 energy, decreed that any Boer or Griqua bringing brandy 

 into the country should have his property in ardent spirits 

 confiscated and poured out on the ground. The Griqua 

 chiefs living farther east were unable to carry this law into 

 effect as he did, hence the greater facility with which Boers 

 in that direction got the Griquas to part with their farms. 



Ten years after he was firmly established in power he 

 entered into a treaty -with the Colonial Government ; and, 

 dining the twenty years which followed, not a single charge 

 was ever brought against either him or his people ; on the 

 contrary, his faithful adherence to the stipulated pro- 

 visions elicited numerous expressions of approbation from 

 successive governments. A late Governor, however, of 

 whom it is impossible to speak without respect, in a 

 paroxysm of generalship which might have been good, 

 had it not been totally inappropriate to the case, set about 

 conciliating a band of rebellious British subjects (Boers), 

 who murdered the Hon. Captain Murray, by proclaiming 

 their independence while still in open rebellion, and not 

 only abrogated the treaty with the Griquas, but engaged 

 to stop the long-accustomed supplies of gunpowder for the 

 defence of the frontier, and even to prevent them from pur- 

 chasing it for their own defence by lawful trade. 



If it had been necessary to prevent supplies of ammu- 

 nition from finding their way into the country, as it pro- 

 bably was, one might imagine that the exception should 



