SOUTHERN AFRICA. 205 
horses, though small, go through a great deal of hard ser- 
vice. In many parts thej are subject to a peculiar dis- 
ease which proves fatal to great numbers. This disease, 
however, is entirely local. At one farm there may not be a 
single instance of a horse having taken it, whilst at another, 
not more than six miles from it, they can scarcely keep a 
horse alive ; which may be considered as a proof of its being 
occasioned by certain plants whose leaves, or flowers, or 
fruits, possess a deleterious quality. The Bosjesnians are well 
aware of the time when the horse-distemper rages, and are 
then particularly bold and troublesome, knowing that the 
farmers will not risk a pursuit after them on foot. 
Such are the advantages and the calamities of which the 
people of Sneuwberg are alternately susceptible. Sensible of 
the former, they bear the latter with a degree of patience which 
borders on indifference, but meet them, however, with becom- 
ing fortitude. The boors of Sneuwberg appear to be in general 
a better description of men than those wlio inhabit the sea- 
coast. They are a peaceable, obliging, and orderly people ; 
a brave and hardy race of men. The constant danger to 
which their persons and their property are exposed will less 
admit a life of idleness and inactivity ; and it is not in the 
men alone that their dangerous situation has called forth the 
active powers, but the women also evidently possess more 
animation, and lead a less sedentary and listless life, than 
those of the lower divisions. Remarkable instances of female 
fortitude have here occasionally been shewn. The wife of 
one of our party having received intelligence, in the absence 
of her husband, that the Bosjesmans bad carried off a troop 
