ds of cattle, sheep, and
goats, which ranged the extensive pastures of the country. The history
of the founding of one colony is, I fear, the history of most, if not
all--commencing in doing all that is possible to obtain the good-will of
the people until a firm footing has been obtained in the land, and then
treating them with barbarity and injustice.

"The Hottentots, won over by kindness and presents, thought it of little
consequence that strangers should possess a small portion of their
extensive territory, and willingly consented that the settlement should
be made. They, for the first time in their lives, tasted what proved
the cause of their ruin and subsequent slavery--tobacco and strong
liquors. These two poisons, offered gratuitously, till the poor
Hottentots had acquired a passion for them, then became an object of
barter--a pipe of tobacco or a glass of brandy was the price of an ox;
and thus daily were the colonists becoming enriched, and the Hottentots
poor.

"The colony rapidly increased, until it was so strong, that the governor
made no ceremony of seizing upon such land as the government wished to
retain or to give away; and the Hottentots soon discovered that not only
their cattle, but the means of feeding them, were taken from them.
Eventually, they were stripped of everything except their passion for
tobacco and spirits, which they could not get rid of. Unwilling to
leave the land of their fore-fathers, and seeing no other way of
procuring the means of intoxication which they coveted, they sold
themselves and their services to the white colonists, content to take
care of those herds which had once been their own, and to lead them out
to pasture on the very lands which had once been their birthright."

"Did they then become slaves?" inquired Alexander.

"No; although much worse treated, they never were slaves, and I wish to
point that out; but they became a sort of feudal property of the Dutch,
compelled to hire themselves out, and to work for them upon nominal
wages, which they seldom or never received, and liable to every species
of harsh treatment and cruelty, for which they could obtain no redress.
Yet still they were not bought and sold as were the slaves which were
subsequently introduced into the colony from the east coast of Africa
and Madagascar. The position of the slaves was, in my opinion,
infinitely superior, merely from the self-interest of the owner, who
would not kill or risk t