The Saabs are described as having constitutions "so much enfeebled by the dissolute life they lead, and the constant smoking of dacha, that nearly all, including the young people, look old and wrinkled; nevertheless, they are remarkable for vanity, and decorate their ears, legs, and arms with beads, and iron, copper, or brass rings. The women likewise stain their faces red, or paint them, either wholly or in part. Their clothing consists of a few sheepskins, which hang about their bodies, and thus form the mantle or covering, commonly called a kaross. This is their only clothing by day or night. The men wear old hats, which they obtain from the farmers, or else caps of their own manufacture. The women wear caps of skins, which they stiffen and finish with a high peak, and adorn with beads and metal rings. The dwelling of the Bushman is either a low wretched hut, or a circular cavity, on the open plain, into which, at night, he creeps with his wife and[73] children, and which, though it shelters him from the wind, leaves him exposed to the rain. In this neighbourhood, in which rocks abound, they had formerly their habitations in them, as is proved by the many rude figures of oxen, horses, serpents, &c. still existing. It is not a little interesting to see these poor degraded people, who formerly were considered and treated as little better than wild beasts in their rocky retreats. Many of those who have forsaken us live in such cavities not far from our settlement, and we have thus an opportunity of observing them in their natural condition. Several who, when they came to us from the farmers, were decently clothed and possessed a flock of sheep, which they had earned, in a short time returned to their fastnesses in a state of nakedness and indigence, rejoicing that they had got free from the farmers, and could live as they pleased in the indulgence of their sensual appetites. Such fugitives from civilised life, I have never seen otherwise occupied than with their bows and arrows. The bows are small, but made of good elastic wood; the arrows are formed of small reeds, the points furnished with a well-wrought piece of bone, and a double barb, which is steeped in a potent poison of a resiny appearance. This poison is distilled from the leaves of an indigenous tree. Many prefer these arrows to fire-arms, under the idea that they can kill more[74] game by means of a weapon that makes no report. On their return from the chase, they feast till they are tired and drowsy, and hunger alone rouses them to renewed exertion. In seasons of scarcity they devour all kinds of wild roots, ants, ants' eggs, locusts, snakes, and even roasted skins. Three women of this singular tribe were not long since met with, several days' journey from this place, who had forsaken their husbands, and lived very contentedly on wild honey and locusts. As enemies, the Bushmen are not to be despised. They are adepts in stealing cattle and sheep; and the wounds they inflict when pursued, are ordinarily fatal if the wounded part is not immediately cut out. The animals they are unable to carry off, they kill or mutilate.
"To our great comfort, even some of these poor outcasts have shown eagerness to become acquainted with the way of salvation. The children of such as are inhabitants of the settlement, attend the school diligently, and of them we have the best hopes.
"The language of the Bushman has not one pleasing feature; it seems to consist of a collection of snapping, hissing, grunting, sounds; all more or less nasal. Of their religious creed it is difficult to obtain any information; as far as I have been able to learn, they have a name for the Supreme Being; and the Kaffre word tixo is[75] derived from the tixme of the Bushmen. Sorcerers exist among them. One of the Bushmen residing here being sick, a sorceress was sent for before we were aware of it, who pretended, by the virtue of mystic dance, to extract an antelope horn from the head of the patient."[20]
The Griquas.—The Griquas, called also Baastaards, are a pastoral population, upwards of 15,000 in number, on the north side of the great bend of the Orange River. They are the descendants of Dutch fathers and Hottentot mothers.
A mixture of Griquas and Hottentots occurs also on the Kat River, a feeder of the Great Fish River, in the district of Somerset, and on the Kaffre frontier. Here they are distributed in a series of district locations, amid the dales and fastnesses of the eastern frontier. A great proportion of them are discharged soldiers—so that in reality, like the borderers of old, they form a sort of military colony.
2. The Kaffres.—The British districts in contact with the Kaffre populations are the eastern, and of these Albany and Somerset most especially. The Kaffre nation in most immediate contact with Albany and Somerset is—
The Amakosa.—This is the population which constituted the authority of Hintza, and to which[76] Pato, Gaika, and the other chiefs of the last war belonged. To this, too, belong the troublesome chiefs of the present. Next to the Amakosa, and in alliance with them, come—
The Amatembu, or Tambuki (Tambookies), occupants of the upper part of the river Kei, as the Amakosa are of the lower Keiskamma.
Between the Amatembu and Port Natal lie the Amaponda, or Mambuki (Mambookies), the northern extremity of which reaches the country of—
The Amazulu, or Zulu (Zooloos), the chief frontagers (conjointly with the Mambuki) of Port Natal.