name of Griquas, from their having taken
possession of the Griqua country. They are the mixed race between the
Hottentots and the whites. By the Dutch colonial law, these people could
not hold possession of any land in the colony; and this act of injustice
and folly has deprived us of a very valuable race of men, who might have
added much to the prosperity of the colony. Brave and intelligent,
industrious to a great degree, they, finding themselves despised on
account of the Hottentot blood in their veins, have migrated from the
colony and settled beyond the boundaries. Being tolerably well provided
with fire-arms, those who are peaceably inclined can protect themselves,
while those who are otherwise commit great depredations upon the poor
savages, following the example shown them by the colonists, and sweeping
off their cattle and their property, in defiance of law and justice. You
now perceive, Alexander, how it is that there has been a pressure from
the southward."

"That is very evident," replied the Major.

"Perhaps I had better proceed to the northward by degrees, and make some
mention of the Caffre tribes, which are those who have suffered from
being, as it were, pressed between encroachments from the north and the
south. The Caffre race is very numerous. The origin of the general term
Caffre, which means Infidel, and no more, is not known, any more than is
that of the term Hottentot."

"A proof of what we found out at school," observed the Major, "that
nicknames, as they are termed, stick longer than real ones."

"Precisely," replied Swinton; "our acquaintance is mostly with the more
southern Caffres, who occupy the land bordering on the east coast of
Africa, from the Cape boundary to Port Natal. These are the Amakosa
tribe, whose warriors have just left us; the Tambookies, whose territory
we have recently quitted, and to the northward of them by Port Natal,
the Hambonas. These are the Eastern Caffres.

"On the other side of the Mambookei chain of mountains, and in the
central portion of Africa, below the tropic, are the Bechuanas, who
inhabit an extent of country as yet imperfectly known to us. These may
be termed the Central Caffres.

"On the western side of the African coast, and above Namaqua Land, whose
inhabitants are probably chiefly of the Hottentot race, we have the
Damaras, who may be classed as the Western Caffres; with these we have
had little or no communication.

"All these tribes speak th