J02 TRAVELS IN 
fliould ftiU find feveral deferted habitations* 
They told me alfo that the proprietors of thefe 
diiFerent houfes had collected themfelves inta 
one body, to oppofe the enemy; but that 
they had formed a refolution of abandoning 
their country and poffelEons entirely, with a 
view ©f getting nearer to the Dutch fettle- 
ments ; and that the Caffres, who were ftill 
in the field, had fworn not to leave one of 
them remaining, 
I paffed the night in converfation of this 
nature ; and I learned from thefe people every 
thing that I wdfhed to know : but I was 
the lefs inclined to confider the CafFres as 
ferocious animals thirfting after blood, who 
fpared neither fex, age, nor their neighbours, 
as I was too well acquainted with the planters 
to confide in their veracity, or to afcribe to 
them a part of thofe horrid cruelties of which 
they always afFefted to complain. 
But why fhould a people fo mild as the 
Hottentots, and who lead a life both peaceable 
and precarious, be concerned in thefe horrid 
wars, had they not fufficient caufe for fliew- 
ing their refentment and revenge ? The 
Caffres naturally are not a mifchievous peo- 
ple. They live, like the other favages of this 
part 
