176 TRAVELS IN 
Africa which, in a direftion from eaft to Weft^ 
extends from GafFraria to the country of thd 
Greater Nimiqiias. With regard to its breadth, 
from fouth to north, I am ignorant of its ex- 
tent ; but I beUeve it to be very confiderable ; 
Hot only becaufe an immenfe territory is ne- 
ceffary to fo wandering a people, but alfo be- 
caufe I have reafon to think the individuals of 
this nation to be very numerous. 
It is fuppofed at the Cape that their popu- 
latipn is fmall ; and the reafon of this opinion 
is, that when they emigrate to the weftern 
coafts, whether for the purpofe of fubfifting 
there for a time or to plunder, they are never 
feen in large bodies. But with thefe people 
this is only a ftratagem. Afraid of being 
attacked, were their number knowri, they con- 
ceal their march as much as poffible. They 
purfue their courfe through the narroweft de- 
files, or over the tops of mountains ; and fre- 
quently even they travel only by night. This 
caufes them to be the more dreaded ; and it is 
often imagined that they are already in the 
neighbourhood, when they are a hundred or 
perhaps two hundred leagues diftant. 
I am inclined to believe that the Houzou- 
7 anag 
