124 TRAVELS IN 
G/ionaquas, a tribe of people [)roducecI between KafFers and 
Hottentots, but living under the former ; had taken posses- 
sion of the eboicest part of their country, well watered by twa 
plentiful streams, the Kat and the Kaapua ; had laid out the 
extent of ground that each meant to occupy; planted vines and 
other fruits; and, making themselves certain that the avaricious 
and unjust views of the government would keepequal pace with 
their own, joined by twenty or thirt}' names that they con- 
trived to muster from different parts of the colony, they had 
the audacity to petition Sir James Craig to grant them, as 
an indemniiication for their losses by the Bosjesmans and the 
Kaffers, a small piece of ground on the Kaapna; and that 
it would still further oblige them if he could extend it to the 
Kat river. This small piece of ground is only about five-and- 
forty miles beyond the present boundary. The daring and 
impudent falsehoods on which the letter was grounded were 
easily seen through by Sir James Craig, and their petition 
was very properly rejected. The eyes, in fact, of the colo- 
nists have long been directed towards the two rivers, the 
Kat and the Kaapna. A native voyager m this country, 
whose mind seemed only to be occupied in hunting elephants, 
shooting sea-cows, and collecting gold dust, could not pass 
without noticing this part of Kaffer-land. In a journal, 
which has been published by Captain Rio, it is observed : 
" We came to a vast plain extending as far as a river called 
" Kaapna, or fine meadows, which name it highly merits 
" from its delightful situation. The whole country is inter- 
" sected with rivulets capable of overflowing the adjacent 
" meadows, and possesses every requisite for becoming a 
** most convenient and chariNlng settlement." Such a descrip- 
