way; but I am persuaded that the sore place in the heart,' as they themselves would phrase it, was occasioned by the forcible seizure of their lands. Residing in Caffraria at the time, I had opportunities of observing how greatly the Caffers were exasperated; and, if Makomo could have persuaded the other Chiefs to unite with him, I have no doubt, that disasters similar to those we now deplore would have happened some time ago. "It was doubtless every way just and expedient that lands should be granted to the industrious and deserving portion of the Hottentots at the period to which I have alluded; but it always appeared to me, and many other persons, that the friends of that race placed themselves in a false position, when they concurred in the acceptance by the Hottentots of lands, the title to which, to say the least, was of a very equivocal nature. For, assuming that Makomo and his Chiefs were mistaken as to the question of boundaries, still the ground had been ceded as Neutral Territory;' and we certainly could have no right to occupy the country with British subjects, without the consent of at least the Chiefs who had been parties to the original arrangement in 1819. "In making these statements, I beg leave to disclaim the slightest intention of imputing blame to any individual. These border affairs were originally rendered obscure and difficult to be understood by the want of system; and as no regular method of 142 CAUSE OF THE RECENT DISTURBANCE. conducting them has ever yet been introduced, they have, of course, gradually become so entangled, that no Governor of the Colony, resident in Cape Town, and constantly receiving from the frontier the most conflicting statements, how great soever his talent and tact for business, can possibly obtain a thorough acquaintance with them. If, therefore, serious errors have been committed, instead of imputing them to highly distinguished persons who have held the reins of Government at the Cape, I would account for them by referring to the impracticable nature of their duties, so far as concerns our border policy; occasioned principally by the great distance of the seat of Government (six or seven hundred miles) from the boundaries of the Colony. "Thus you will perceive that I attribute the present disturbed state of the Caffer border, not to any cruelties perpetrated by the British settlers upon the Caffers; not to any want of humanity in the British officers in their treatment of the native tribes, or of zeal and activity in the protection of British lives and property; but to the moral state and predatory habits of the Caffers, the evil tendencies of which have been aggravated by the exceedingly mischievous character of our border policy." 145 APPENDIX. No. 1. Some particulars of the Expedition lately dispatched from Cape Town, Cape of Good Hope, for the purpose of exploring Central Africa. -Account of the Progress of Discovery in South Africa, up to the period of the departure of the Expedition. WITHIN the last few years a vast fund of information has been obtained, relative to the country lying to the north and east of Litakou, from the various trading parties who have from time to time succeeded in exploring those regions which have so long lain as a blank on all our Maps of Southern Africa. A-party, under the direction of Messrs. Hume and Muller, returned to the colony in 1833, after having been absent nearly two years, during which period they succeeded in penetrating to the tropic; and from the favourable descriptions given of the country and its productions, a party of gentlemen, members of the South African Literary and Scientific Institution, were induced to form an association in Cape Town, under the patronage of his Excellency Sir Lowry Cole, then Governor of the Cape, for the purpose of sending a scientific expedition to explore those regions, with the object of elucidating their geography, the nature of their productions, and the advantages they might offer to VOL. II. L |