on the ground, chatting and exchanging pipes with the lowest of his people. Although, of course, their manners can boast no great refinement, they are neither boisterous nor vulgar; but a frank and easy deportment distinguishes all classes. Industry is held in honour; the chiefs tend and even milk the cows, while the women build the houses, cultivate the ground, and prepare clothes and furniture. On one occasion they gave good proof of their honesty; for, when the traveller's cattle had run away and mingled with immense herds of their own, they sought them out and brought them back to him. In begging, however, they are most ceaseless and importunate. At Mr. Burchell's first entrance they observed a certain degree of ceremony, and only one solitary cry for tobacco was heard; but this feeling of delicacy or decorum soon gave way. Mattivi himself made a private request that the presents intended for him should not be seen by the people at large, by whom they would soon be all begged away. They seemed to have more pride in what they procured by solicitation than in a thing of greater value if received as a spontaneous gift. There was hardly any appearance of police; even murder passed with impunity, though among themselves it was not frequent. They had no temples, and nothing which Mr. Burchell thinks can be called religious worship; but, in return, they had every form of superstition, which is generally the sole substitute for religion in unenlightened societies. The last visiter to Lattakoo was Mr. Thompson, who, in 1823, found that city in a state of great danger and alarm. Rumours poured in of an immense host of black warriors coming from the north and the east, who were said to be plundering and destroying every thing before them. They had already sacked Kureechane; and being repulsed from Melita, capital of the Wanketzens, were marching directly upon Old Lattakoo. whence, it was apprehended, they would advance to the modern city. It was added that they were cannibals, and were led by a giantess with one eye; but, amid all this exaggeration and falsehood, the reality of the danger was undoubted. The Boshuanas immediately summoned a peetso, and formed the manly resolution of going out to meet the invader; but all who knew them were aware that they would fight only by ambuscade and under cover, and would take to flight as soon as the enemy should make a serious attack. The missionaries, in this extremity, made great exertions to save the nation. One of them hastened back to implore the aid of the Griquas, a people bordering on the English colony, and who had learned the use of firearms from the Europeans. Mr. Thompson and another went out to trace and report the progress of this formidable inroad. On reaching Old Lattakoo they found it silent and uninhabited, like the most desolate wilderness; while the pots boiling on the fires showed that its desertion was recent, and that the enemy were probably at a very short distance. Notwithstanding, they continued to ride on, till, arriving at the top of a hill, their guide cried out, "the Mantatees!" who were in fact seen moving in an immense mass along the valley beneath. It was necessary to put spurs to their horses, in order to escape the hazard of being surrounded. The arrival of Mr. Thompson at Lattakoo spread a general alarm; for so rapid was the Mantatee march, that only a little time could elapse before they would reach the city. The queen, with her female attendants and the principal chiefs, rushed into the house to ask the advice of the missionaries in this fearful crisis. The general opinion was in favour of flight. Even the warriors, who had been poisoning their arrows and dancing the war-dance whole nights without intermission, gave up all hopes of successful resistance, and were preparing to follow the long files of oxen, on which the inhabitants were already placing their most valuable effects. Suddenly a cloud of dust was seen in the south, which, on its nearer approach, announced the first division of Griqua horse coming to their aid. Hereupon, all who were endued with any portion of courage determined to remain and face the enemy. The allies were received with unbounded exultation; many oxen were killed and roasted, and even at this critical moment the two parties gave themselves up to feasting and jollity. Their security increased, when notice was received that the Mantatees still remained at Old Lattakoo, consuming the cattle and provisions which they had found in that place. Several of the missionaries then set out to endeavour to open a negotiation. On coming within sight of the enemy they rode forward in a peaceful manner, inviting them by signs to a conference; when instantly that savage host raised a hideous yell, and rushed forward so rapidly, throwing their spears and clubs, that the Christian plenipotentiaries found the utmost difficulty in galloping out of their reach. The allied force now came up, and on the following morning offered battle to the vast army of the Mantatees. Their aspect was truly frightful. They were almost quite black, with only a girdle round their loins; their heads were crowned with plumes of ostrich feathers; they had numerous brass rings about their neck and legs, and were armed with spears, javelins, battle-axes, and clubs. Their whole body, which was supposed to amount to at least 40,000, rushed forward in an extended line, endeavouring to enclose the little troop opposed to them. The Boshuanas gave way as soon as they were seriously attacked; the Griquas, on the contrary, kept up a close fire, which stunned the enemy, who still, however, continued to advance. The horsemen galloped back to some distance, then alighted, and again alternately fired and retreated, repeating this manœuvre for several miles. The Mantatees pressed on with the utmost fury, confident, if they could once come to close quarters, of annihilating in an instant the handful of troops opposed to them; but finding that all their efforts were vain, and seeing their bravest warriors falling rapidly, they paused, and began slowly to retire. The Griquas pursued, but were several times exposed to extreme danger by the enemy turning suddenly round and renewing the combat. At length the Mantatees set fire to Lattakoo, and retreated through the flames. The missionaries were now deeply shocked by the base and barbarous conduct of the Boshuanas, who, after their pusillanimous behaviour in the field, began not only to plunder, but to butcher the wounded as well as the women and children left on the field; nor was it without great difficulty that they succeeded in saving some of these defenceless objects. The name Mantatee, which signifies wanderer, applies, it is said, in no other respect to this desolating horde. They appear to be a Caffre tribe, inhabiting the country near Cape Natal, along the lower course of the river Mapoota. They were impelled to this inroad, in consequence of having been driven from their own possessions by the Zoolas, a still more fierce and warlike race, who, on that occasion, were |