320 
STATE OF THE BUSHMEN. 
[1820. 
in consequence of the scarcity of grass at that 
season in the high lands of Sneuwberg. Only a 
few slaves were left behind to guard the place, 
and two or three Bushmen families, who con- 
stantly reside there. 
These Bush people had as wretched an ap- 
pearance, and were as uncivilized in their man- 
ners as their countrymen, who live far beyond 
the habitations of white men. From their situa- 
tion, and that of hundreds of their nation, whom I 
had seen living in the same manner, in the vici- 
nity of other farmers, I felt more than ever con- 
vinced of the importance of connecting religious 
instruction with other exertions for civilizing the 
barbarous tribes. It has been uniformly found 
by the Missionaries, that those natives, whose 
minds were sincerely influenced by the truths of 
Scripture, were the most disposed to adopt the 
habits of civilized life.* 
* Since my return to Europe, I have been informed by a 
gentleman, who lately visited Nova Scotia in North America, 
that though the natives, or aborigines of that country, have 
lived for several generations amidst Europeans, and are ex- 
tremely fond of bread, potatoes, &c. which they have been ac- 
customed to see produced from the ground by a little labour ; 
and have long witnessed the comfortable houses erected by the 
English, yet they still live in huts constructed of bark in the 
rudest manner, and never cultivate the ground, but live en- 
tirely by the chase. A friend from Russia stated the same 
