Chap. V. 
THE GEIQUA CHIEF WATEEBOEE. 
105 
possess in some degree the characteristics of both parents. They 
were governed for many years by an elected chief named Water- 
boer; who, by treaty, received a small sum per annum from the 
Colonial Government for the support of schools in liis country, 
and proved a most efficient guard of our north-west boundary. 
Cattle-steahng was totally unhnown during the whole period of 
this able clnefs reign; and he actually drove back, smgle-handed, 
a formidable force of marauding Mantatees that threatened to 
invade the colony.* But for that brave Christian man, Water- 
boer, there is every human probability that the north-west would 
have given the colonists as much trouble as the eastern frontier; 
for large numbers among the origiual Griquas had as httle scruple 
about robbing farmers of cattle as the Caffres are reputed to have. 
On the election of Waterboer to the chieftamship, he distinctly 
declared that no marauding should he allowed. As the govern¬ 
ment of none of these tribes is despotic, some of his principal men, 
in spite of this declaration, plundered some villages of Corannas 
living to the south of the Orange river. He immediately seized 
siK of the ringleaders, and, though the step put his own position 
in jeopardy, he summoned his council, tried, condemned, and 
pubhcly executed the whole six. Tins produced an insurrection, 
and the insurgents twice attacked his capital, Griqua Town, with 
the intention of deposing him; but he bravely defeated both 
attempts, and from that day forth, during Ins long reign of thirty 
years, not a single plundering expedition ever left liis territory. 
Having witnessed the deleterious effects of the introduction of 
ardent spirits among his people, he, with characteristic energy, 
decreed that any Boer or Griqua bringing brandy into the coun¬ 
try should have liis property in ardent spirits confiscated and 
poured out on the ground. The Griqua chiefs Hving farther east 
were unable to carry this law into effect as he did, hence the 
greater facility with which Boers in that direction got the Griquas 
to part with then- farms. 
Ten years after he was firmly estabhshed in power he entered 
into a treaty ivith the Colonial Government; and, during the 
twenty years which followed, not a single charge was ever brought 
against either him or his people; on the contrary, his faithful 
* For an account of this see Moffat’s ‘ Scenes and Labours in South 
Africa.’ 
