286 
JOURNAL OF A 
Governor, he could not tell. He added, that there was now not 
land enough for pasture, and that if, according to my recommenda- 
tion, still more were to be brought under tillage for fields and gar- 
dens, they must keep few er cattle, and that, if those spots, which 
appeared fit for the rearing of corn, were ploughed and sown, they 
would be surrounded by pasture-ground, and the produce trodden 
down by beasts. 
He therefore wished me to apply to the English Government, to 
restore to the Hottentots the two farms in question. Brother Leit- 
ner being interpreter, I explained to him, that the English Govern- 
ment must and would act justly; that they had already greatly fa- 
voured the Christian Hottentots; that what I said about the land 
being given " to the Brethren,"' for the Hottentots, was strictly 
true, for they had the right granted them of giving it to, or with- 
holding it from, any Hottentot, at their discretion; and that the 
occupation of it by the Brethren, as landlords, was the only sure 
way of preserving it for the use of the Hottentots ; for he must know, 
that but for the English Government, not only the two farms he 
mentioned, but Bavians-kloof itself, w^ould have been seized upon 
hy some w-hite landholder. Moreover, that the English Govern- 
ment could not in justice dispossess the farmers of their property, 
unless by purchase, which could not be expected. Brother Leitner 
then showed, that the Brethren had spent above a thousand rix- 
dollars, in securing land for the Hottentots, and could do no more, 
since they received no interest or benefit whatever from it. 
With these explanations they appeared quite satisfied, but added 
some very sensible remarks on the present degraded state of their 
counti'^'men, who lived w ith the boors, since all the country had been 
taken from them, and was possessed by intruders, I endeavoured 
to make them understand, " that though I by no means meant to 
justify such encroachment and robbery, yet they might, as Christ- 
ian people, find some consolation in the reliection, that, had it not 
been for the occupation of their country by Europeans, they would 
have remained in gross ignorance and darkness, and been ' led cap-> 
