SOUTHERN AFRICA. 407 
adrift the hufband j thus diflblving the tender ties of fecial in- 
tercourfe, and cutting off even the natural refources of wretch- 
ednefs and forrow. It is in vain for the Hottentot to complain. 
To whom, indeed, fhould he complain ? The Landroft is a mere 
cypher, and muft either enter Into all the vievv^s of the boors, 
or lead a moft uncomfortable life. The laft, who was a very 
honeft man, and anxious to fulfil the duties of his office, was 
turned out of his diftrid, and afterwards threatened to be put 
to death by thefe unprincipled people, becaufe he would not 
give them his permiffion to make war upon the Kaffers ; and 
becaufe he heard the complaints of the injured Hottentots. The 
boor, indeed, is above all law. At the diftance of five or fix 
hundred miles from the feat of Government he knows he is 
not to be compelled to do what is right, nor prohibited from 
putting in pradice what is wrong. To be debarred from vifit- 
ing the Cape is no punifhment to him. His wants, as we have 
feen, are very few, nor is he nice in his choice of fubftitutes 
for thofe which he cannot conveniently obtain. Perhaps the 
cnly indifpenfable articles are gunpowder and lead. Without 
thefe a boor would not live one moment alone, and with thefe 
he knows himfelf more than a match for the native Hottentots 
and for beafts of prey. 
The produce of the grazier is fubjed to no colonial tax 
whatfoever. The butcher fends his fervants round the country 
to colled: fheep and cattle, and gives the boors notes upon his 
mafter, which are paid on their coming to the Cape. They 
are fubjed only to a fmall parochial affeffment, proportioned to 
their 
