EUROPEAN OCCUPATION OF THE CAPE. 35 
Hottentots, and their custom of choosing their 
more settled locations in the caves and moun- 
tains, would, by consequence, lay them par- 
ticularly open to the temptation of theft, and of 
secreting therein the stolen property. This 
would account for the severe treatment they 
received from the colonists, whom they had 
robbed and plundered; whilst the lowlands, 
appearing thus to be unoccupied, might, on the 
other hand, naturally tempt the first Dutch 
boers to settle themselves in comfort on them; 
and the neighbourhoods of the springs of water 
would not fail to be selected as the most pro- 
mising sites — these thus becoming the objects 
and scenes of strife. 
This, we believe, was the early history of 
the European colonisation of the Cape, and the 
way in which the land changed ownership ; 
viz, not by any system of violence or cruelty 
on the part of the first Dutch settlers, but 
by the gradual absorption of the territories 
of the aborigines by a more settled, civilised, 
and industrious class of neighbours. That the 
Government were partly to blame, cannot either 
be doubted, by reason of their not having 
followed up the example, precepts, and orders of 
Yan Eiebeck, of always acquiring the lands 
first by treaty, or hy purchase, before allowing any 
individual colonist to settle thereon. But, even 
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