SOUTHERN AFRICA. 129 
one hundrecTand fifty. Fortunately the Rattlefnake was ftill 
in the bay, and I obtained from Captain Gooch twenty armed 
feamen ; and, the more efFedually to keep the contending par- 
ties in order, I caufed a fwivcl gun to be mounted on a poft Im- 
mediately between the boors and the Hottentots. 
In this ftale, after many days anxiety, in which none pafled 
xvithout quarrels and bickerings between the boors and Hotten- 
tots, I received a letter from General Vandeleur, ftating, that the 
Kaffers, infligated by the rebel boors, had been led to the bold 
meafure of attacking his camp near Bosjefman's River, for the 
fake, as he fuppofed, of obtaining a fupply of gunpowder ; that 
the latter had kept up a pretty hn{k fire from behind the bufhes, 
but that the Kaffers finding it ufelefs to oppofe their long mif- 
fiie weapons againfl mufquetry, retired for a moment but foon 
appeared again, rufhing forward upon the open plain, with the 
iron part only of the HafTagai in their hands. That, however, 
after feveral rounds of grape from the field-pieces, and the fire 
of the infantry, by which numbers were killed, they retreated 
into the thickets. 
Thefe people foon perceived of how much greater advantage 
was a fhort weapon to a mufcular arm, than a long mifTile fpear, 
whofe flow motion through the air makes it eafily to be avoided. 
The blade of the Roman fword, which once conquered the 
world, was only about fifteen inches long, and fuch a fword 
would, perhaps, at this awful moment, be well fuited for the 
nervous arm and the bold and invincible fpirit of a Briton, 
VOL. IL s The 
