290 
TRAVELS IN 
finlflied with great neatnefs ; in the bafkets placed in the rivers 
for the purpofe of taking fifh, ingenioufly contrived, and very- 
well executed ; in the mats of grafs, of which their huts were 
compofed j and in their imitations of different animals, defigned 
on the fmooth faces of the rocks. Being queftioned with re- 
fpedt to thefe drawings, it appeared that they were generally 
the work of a numerous tribe of their countrymen that lived a 
little to the northward, on the other fide of a very large river. 
The nature of their language is the fame as that of the Hot- 
tentots, though they are not able to underftand each other. 
In the latter, the a<5tion of the tongue againft the roof of the 
mouth, or the teeth, is feldom ufed on more than one fyllable 
of a word. In the language of the Bosjefman, there is fcarcely 
a fyllable enunciated without it ; and this adion is performed 
by them much more forcibly than by the Hottentots. Not- 
withftanding the difficulty for an European to acquire fuch a 
language, feveral of the Sneuwbergers fpeak it as fluently as the 
natives, from their having been committed, in their infancy, 
to the care of Bosjefmans' nurfes. 
It were greatly to be wifhed that the peafantry would fee the 
policy of putting an end to their expeditions againft this mifer- 
able people, and adopt in their place a lenient mode of treat- 
ment. They might not perhaps fucceed in reclaiming them at 
once from their rooted habits of life ; but their hatred towards 
the colonifts, which aims at their lives, might certainly be 
abated. The lirft ftep towards it would be to abolifh the in- 
human pradice of carrying into captivity their women and 
children. 
