SOUTHERN AFRICA. 97 
had been guilty of fuch unmanly cruelty, until the fate of the 
fufferer was decldetl. Owing to a good conftltution fhe gra- 
dually recovered ; and the fellow was fuffered to depart, after 
making her a pecuniary compenfation ; had the wounds proved 
mortal, the perpetrator would, no doubt, have afforded the 
firft inftance of retributive juftice for the numberlefs inftances 
of murder that have been committed with impunity on this un- 
fortunate race of men. The only crime alleged againft her was 
the attempt to follow her huiband, who was among the number 
of thofe of his countrymen that had determined to throw them- 
selves upon the protedion of the Englifli. 
The next houfe we halted at upon the road prefented us with 
a ftili more horrid inftance of brutality. We obferved a fine 
Hottentot boy, about eight years of age, fitting at the corner 
of the houfe, with a pair of iron rings clenched upon his legs, 
of the weight of ten or twelve pounds ; and they had remained 
in one fituation for fuch a length of time, that they appeared to 
be funk into the leg, the mufcle being tumefied both above and 
below the rings. The poor creature was fo benumbed and op- 
preffed with the weight, that, being unable to walk with eafe„ 
he crawled on the ground. It appeared, on inquiry, that they 
had been rivetted to his legs more than ten months ago. What 
was to be done in a cafe of fuch wanton and deliberate cruelty ? 
It was fcarcely in human nature to behold an innocent boy for 
ever maimed in fo barbarous a manner j and at the fame time 
to look upon the cold blooded perpetrator without feeling a 
fentiment of horror mingled with exafperation, — a fentiment 
that feemed to fay it would ferve the caufe of humanity to rid 
VOL. II. Q the. 
