260 
LIFE OF C. KOK. 
the increasing feebleness of age, transferred his 
captain's staff to Cornelius, his eldest son, the 
subject of this memoir, 
Cornelius was born at Picket Mountain. 
When a boy, he said, no boor lived farther north on 
the west side of the colony than Elephant River ; 
all beyond that river were Namaquas. The Bush- 
men to the eastward of Namaqua land were 
always at war, both with the colony and the 
Namaquas ; but his father, by gentle treatment, 
was the means of bringing them to live in peace. 
At that time both Bushmen and Namaquas were 
much more numerous than at present. Many 
of the former were carried off by disease, others 
removed higher up the river to the eastward ; a 
considerable number of the latter crossed the 
river, and took up their residence in Great 
Namaqua land. No person, at that time, beyond 
or north of the Elephant River, possessed a 
waggon, except his father. On his first arrival 
at the Great River, he found Coranna kraals on 
its banks, and never heard of any individuals of 
that nation living within the limits of the colony. 
Like his father, Cornelius found gentle means 
the most successful in maintaining peace among 
the natives ; such as shooting game for them, 
and sometimes presenting them with a sheep, 
or some tobacco. 
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