VIII 
liHXHHAL HUM AUKS 
as their weapon the* arrow ; tin* Kafir and the Bechuana, their masters, took the assagai* for theirs,” Thus we conclude 
that the Hottentots, or pale-coloured race, were the original possessors of the soil, until scattered, broken up, and 
extinguished, by the gradual pressing on of two superior nations. 
“ And dins they fade and wittier. 
Like to tlir autumn leaves driven by the wind, 
Until, ere long, tbe memory of their rare 
Will be tin idle tale.” 
The other great division, or family, inhabiting Africa south of the tropic, comprises, under the general term of Kafirs, 
all the people occupying the rich and fertile country between the mountains and the Indian Ocean, known as Kaffraria, 
stretching from the Fish River to Natal, and divided into the various tribes of Amakosa, Amatembu, and Amupomla Kafirs; 
the Fingoes.f who originally possessed the districts about Port Natal, until driven out by the conquering hosts of Chaka, 
after which they placed themselves under the protection of the Colonial Government; the Amazuln, inhabiting the country 
between Natal and Delagoa Bay, who, under their kings, Chaka and Dingaan, rose to be the most powerful and warlike 
people of South Africa; and the Beebuaua* tribes of the interior, which include the Basutos, Baralongs, Manta tees, and 
the people as far up as the Baquaine country, where a tribe has lately been discovered who use the distaff and spindle, 
and manufacture a beautiful cotton cloth; they are also skilled in the art of working gold and brass. The term “Kafir” 
in Arabic signifies an infidel , and it was probably applied by their Mahommedan neighbours on the coast to the most 
northern tribes, and afterwards extended to their more southern kindred. How far the Kafirs really extend northward, 
coastwise, is unknown ; old Portuguese writers apply that name to the tribes on the Zambezi in latitude eighteen degrees 
south, and even still further north. 
The Kafirs are a tall, athletic, handsome race of men, approaching nearer to Europeans in the height of their stature, 
in the elegance of their form, in the shape of the skull, and in their general intelligence; but their dark skin and crisp 
woolly locks give them a strong resemblance to the Negroes. The rite of circumcision practised amongst some of the 
tribes, and several other traditionary customs, such as purification, together with an indication in their manners of having 
sprung from a people of higher civilisation, would lead us to suppose something like an Eastern descent. They have a 
confused idea of a Supreme Being; but, of all their beliefs, that in sorcery or witchcraft is the most general, and appears 
to possess a powerful and almost unlimited influence over this people; its results being attended with constant acts of 
cruelty and bloodshed. There is a great affinity existing between the languages spoken by all the Kafir aud Bcchuana 
tribes; whereas the Seroa, or Hottentot language, presents too little resemblance to permit the supposition that it can have 
sprung from the same primitive as they. The disagreeable “click” of the tongue, so constant in the Seroa, is only to be 
met with in Kafir, where it is comparatively rare; and never in Scsnto, which is spoken by the Beehuanas. It is 
questionable whether the “click” may not have been introduced into the language of the frontier Kafirs from the Serna, 
as well as a number of words apparently the same in both languages. 
Besides the two great aboriginal divisions, under one or the other of which the inhabitants of Southern Africa are 
comprised, the Cape Colony is peopled by the representatives of many other races, who have been transplanted to its 
shores, and who have, in many instances, so intermingled with each other as to produce a mixed race, varying in every 
gradation of colour and feature, from the European to the Negro of tropical Africa. From Asia an extensive immigration 
of the Malay and Malabar races took place during the Dutch government of the Cape of Good Hope. The descendants 
of these Asiatics (who still adhere to the Mahommedan faith) comprise, at least, one-tliird of the population of Cape Town 
and the surrounding villages. Negroes from both coasts, but more especially from Mozambique, as well as natives of 
Madagascar, have, from time to time, been imported into the colony; so that, as regards the population of the towns 
especially, perhaps few parts of the world present a greater variety of the different races of mankind, dwelling within a 
certain limit, than does the colony of the Cape of Good Hope. 
* Auutgni, a long spear or javelin, with an iron head, uud sharpened «n both aides; it is, together with a short flub, tiallt-tl hiui, tin <hi<f winpun 
employed In Katir warfare. 
f Fingo mean* literally “ a dog." 
1 The miuie liechmmu probably originated in the mistake of some former traveller, who, having asked the inhabitant* rrapeeitng tlmr neighbours, 
recoin si the reply. Bn chu/tnn “They are all t tie same. 
