SOUTHERN AFRICA. 
201 
The country inhabited by the people whom the colonifts 
diflinguifh by the name of Ksffers, is bounded on the foutli 
by the fea-coaft ; on the eaft, by a tribe of the fame kind of 
people who call themfelves 'Tambook'ies ; on the north, by the 
favage Bosjefmans ; and on the wePi, by the colony of the Gape. 
With the Tambookies they live on friendly terms ; but, like the 
Dutch peafantry, they have declared perpetual war againft the 
Bosjefmans. Their expeditions, however, againft thefe favages 
are not attended with the fame fuccefs as thofe of the colonifts. 
Th^ Bosjefmans care as little for a Haflagai as they dread a 
mufquet. The principal weapon ufed by the KafTers is an iron 
fpear from nine inches to a foot in length, fixed at the end of a 
tapering (haft about four feet long. Such an inftrument is called 
by the Hottentots a haflagai, but the Fyaffer name is omkontoo. 
In throwing this fpear they grafp it with the palm of the hand, 
and raifmg the arm above the head, and giving the fhaft a qui- 
vering motion to find the proper point of equilibrium, it is 
delivered with the fore-finger and the thumb. At the diftance 
of fifty or fixty paces they can throw at a mark with a tolerable 
degree of exadnefs ; but beyond that diftance they have no 
kind of certainty. It appears to be a very indifferent fort of 
weapjon, and eafily to be avoided. In battle they receive the 
point of the haflagai upon an oval fhield about four feet in 
depth, made from the hide of a bullock. Their other weapon, 
the keerie^ is lefs formidable than the hafl~agai : this is a ftick 
about two feet and a half long, with a round knob at the end 
about two inches In diameter, and very weighty, being the root 
of fome fhrub. They throw it in the fame manner as the Haf- 
fagai, and are very expert in killing birds and the fmaller fort 
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