SOUTHERN AFRICA. 95 
into the legs and thighs of a Hottentot is a punishment not 
unknown to some of the monsters who inhabit the neighbour- 
hood of Camtoos river. And though death is not unfre- 
quentlj the consequence of punishing these poor wretches in 
a moment of rage, yet this gives httle concern to the farmer ; 
for though they are to all intents and purposes his slaves, yet 
they are not transferable property. It is this circumstance 
which, in his mind, makes their lives less valuable, and their 
treatment more inhuman. 
In offences of too small moment to stir up the phlegm of a 
Dutch peasant, the coolness and tranquillity displayed at the 
punishment of his slave or Hottentot is highly ridiculous, 
yet at the same time indicative of a savage disposition to 
unfeehng cruelty lurking in his heart. He flogs them, not 
by any given number of lashes, but by time ; and as they 
have no clocks nor substitutes for them capable of marking 
the smaller divisions of time, he has invented an excuse for 
the indulgence of one of his most favorite sensualities, by 
flogging them till he has smoked as many pipes of tobacco 
as he may judge the magnitude of the crime to deserve. The 
government of Malacca, according to the manuscript journal 
of an intelligent officer in the expedition against that settle- 
ment, has adopted the same custom of flogging by pipes ; and 
the fiscal or chief magistrate, or some of his deputies, are the 
smokers on such occasions. 
By a resolution of the old government, as unjust as it was 
inhuman, a peasant was. allowed to claim as his property, till 
