Their wars are almost all predatory incursions undertaken for the sake of plunder, and their conduct to their prisoners is characterised with great ferocity and cruelty.

Mateebé has a great share of natural shrewdness and cunning, and he has got his ideas somewhat liberalized

the labours of the missionaries, but he is a savage still. In 1823, Lattakoo was threatened by an immense horde of savages, who had devastated the whole country over which they had passed, till they were checked by the Griquas, who came promptly to the assistance of Mateebé and his people, at the solicitation of the missionaries. It will excite no surprise that Mateebé and his followers, who acted a very cowardly part in the engagement, should have shown the most savage cruelty to the prisoners after the action. If humanity is not always the associate of courage, cruelty is the inseparable attendant of cowardice.

The Griqua chiefs, seeing the Bechuanas in the field after the battle, and hearing that they were committing indiscriminate slaughter upon the prisoners, and sparing neither age nor sex, sent a message to Mateebé, stating that the women and children who had been saved by them, and whom he and his people were murdering, must be given up. This reasonable and humane message was no sooner delivered to Mateebé, than he started up in a rage, and with a large stone, knocked down one woman, and one of his attendants immediately stabbed to the heart a male prisoner standing by him. "The dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of horrid cruelty.'

The prevalence of the Bechuana language over a vast portion of the continent of Africa, is a circumstance

which adds greatly to the importance of this mission. The different tribes, inhabiting the extensive regions beyond the colony of the Cape of Good Hope, extending from the twentieth and twenty-first degrees of south latitude, and stretching from the eastern to the western shores, are known to speak different dialects merely of the same language.

When the independent state of these tribes is considered, the manner in which they understand each other is matter of surprise. When Captain Owen, of H. M. ship Leven, was employed in surveying the eastern coast of Africa, he lost so many of his men by the un healthiness of the climate, that he found it necessary to supply their places by natives from Delagoa Bay, whom he engaged, for stipulated wages, to assist in bringing round his vessel to the Cape, where he expected to procure British sailors. While the surveying squadron remained at Simon's Bay, I had several opportunities of conversing with these men; and, on one occasion, Captain Owen brought a number of them to Cape Town, that I might have a full opportunity of eliciting from them such information as might throw some light on this and other subjects connected with the inhabitants of Southern Africa. After taking down from their lips their numerals, and many of their words, in order to compare them with those I had collected belonging to the Caffer and Bechuana tribes, I introduced them to one of Gaika's Caffers from the Keiskamma, in order to try if they could understand each other. The person in question was a young man in the service of the Rev. William Wright. Mr. Wright was himself present when this experiment was made. The Caffer had been apprised of our design by his master; and, in

the first instance, was shy of the natives of Delagoa Bay, and pretended not to understand any thing they said. Though his disclaimer was made with apparent confidence, and frequently repeated, it was accompanied with an expression of countenance which led me to doubt his sincerity; and, finding nothing could be made of him at this time, I requested him to remain in the room, while we renewed our conversation with the strangers. After putting several questions to them about their opinions and customs, and the power of their chiefs, we asked them to favour us with one of their war-songs. Among all barbarous tribes war is their principal occupation, and their war-songs have the most commanding influence over their passions. The experiment was tried and succeeded. Our young Caffer, unable to suppress his feelings, as the tune and action began to increase, threw aside all his reserve, and, leaping up upon his feet, joined in the exercise.. After this act, he could no longer deny his knowledge of the language; and we found that they could converse together, on common subjects, so as to be understood by each other.

Another fact, in corroboration of the sentiment I have advanced on this subject, which, though it did not come under my own observation, having been related to me on good authority, may be introduced in this place. The captain of a trading vessel belonging to the Cape of Good Hope, which made several voyages to Delagoa Bay, and having a few of the Delagoa Bay people acting as seamen on board his ship, had occasion to make a trading voyage to Walvisch, or Whale Bay, on the western coast of Africa, in the twenty-second degree of south latitude, he found that, immediately on

coming in contact with the natives, he could carry on trade with them through the medium of the Delagoa Bay people.

An additional illustration of the same subject has already been related, in the preceding pages of this work, in describing the unexpected rencontre I had with an interesting group of Bechuanas, or Caffers, on the banks of the Cradock river, who had come into the colony in quest of cattle, &c., which had been taken from them by the Bergenaars. The place at which they resided was above five hundred miles from the colony, and at a still greater distance from Lattakoo; yet, the moment they entered into conversation with Marootze, who had been one of the subjects of Mateebé, they understood each other without the least difficulty. To the above facts may be added some of a decisive character, which have come under the observation of our missionaries among the Bechuanas, in the journies of Mr. Campbell and Mr. Moffat, which have extended above three hundred miles, in a north-easterly direction from Lattakoo. The different tribes they visited in their interesting tours understood the Bechuanas who accompanied them as well as they were understood among their own people. In like manner the people at Kurrichane, and the Wankeets, the subjects of Makabba, were acquainted with the tribes three hundred miles beyond them,—and they stated that all the people known to them, so far in the interior, spoke the same language with themselves.

The history of the immense horde of savages which threatened Lattakoo, and were repulsed by the Griquas, furnishes a still stronger case in point. This aggrega

VOL. II.

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tion of savages, whose origin is yet but imperfectly known, dividing themselves into two parts, desolated the whole Bechuana country from old Lattakoo to Delagoa Bay. The distance from which they had travelled was so great, that the rumour of their approach reached the Wankeets and the people of Kurrichane several weeks before their arrival; and, notwithstanding this circumstance, and though the people attacked by them were entirely ignorant of their character and country, yet, after the defeat at Lattakoo, it was discovered that they spoke the same language, with nearly as little difference in the pronunciation as is discernible in the dialects of two English counties.

More facts, and several documents, might be adduced in further illustration of this subject; but, as it is not my intention to go further into it, at present, than is necessary to show the importance of our missions among that people, I shall reserve the materials relating to it, now in my possession, till I shall be favoured with better opportunities of extending my inquiries.

It is obvious, from the preceding details, that the missionaries have had many difficulties to encounter in the pursuit of the great object of their mission among the Bechuanas; and should they be enabled to persevere in their labours, notwithstanding the ground which has been gained, they will still have many obstacles to overcome. But it is a question with me whether there are many parts of the heathen world where we shall have fewer difficulties, with a greater prospect of success. When we have considered the unprotected state of the native population without the missionaries; the extensive regions throughout which the Bechuana language may be understood; and the desire manifested by the nu