SOUTHERN AFRICA. 241 
the baneful qualities of this black matter, from having expe- 
rienced the fatal efFe*5ls of it on feveral of their companions, 
who had fuffered lingering deaths from wounds received with 
arrows poifoned by the kUp g'lft^ or rock poifon. Not having 
as yet the opportunity of trying the deleterious quality of the 
fubftance, I cannot pretend to fay whether this account of the 
peafantry be ftridly true. 
In the courfe of the day we arrived at the houfe of Kriiger, 
the commandant of Sneuwberg, who kindly offered his fervices 
to be of our party, though he had but juft returned from an 
expedition againft the Bosjefmans. He had at this time with 
him in the houfe one of thefe wild men, with his two wives 
and a little child, which had come to him by lot, out of forty 
that had been taken prifoners. The man was only four feet 
five inches high, and his wives were ftill of a fliorter ftature, 
one being four feet two, and the other four feet three inches. 
He reprefented to us the condition of his countrymen as truly 
deplorable. That for feveral months in the year, when the 
froft and fnow prevented them from making their excurfions 
againft the farmers, their fufferings from cold and want of food 
were indefcribable : that they frequently beheld their wives 
and children perifhing with hunger, without being able to give 
them any relief. The good feafon even brought little allevia- 
tion to their mifery. They knew themfelves to be hated by 
all mankind, and that every nation around them was an enemy 
planning their deftru£tion. Not a breath of wind ruftled 
through the leaves, not a bird fcreamed, that were not fup- 
pofed to announce danger. Hunted thus like hearts of prey, 
I I and 
