78 
enlightened and luxurious of our country- 
men. 
The natives who received us oil the 
shore, and whose humanity we experienced 
in the hour of our misfortune, are a Caffree 
tribe, known by the appellation of Tam- 
bouki or Tambuckees. They have been 
described as the most ferocious, vindictive, 
and detestable class of beings that inhabit 
the vast and fertile territory of CafFraria, 
not yielding even to the Boshismen in 
every act of massacre, inhumanity, and de- 
vastation. 
A calumny so undeserved, so atrocious, 
and possibly so mischievous in its tendency, 
I cannot suffer to pass v/ithout censure and 
contradiction ; nor can I at this moment 
reflect on the genuine character of these 
people without considering their calum- 
niators as a banditti of christian ruffians, 
who propagate these slanders for the pur- 
pose of covering their enormities ; and 
which, if not stopped by the hand of power, 
must eventually lead to a total extirpation 
of a harmless and unoffending race. Had 
they really been savages, and felt, like their 
