SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS


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A SINGULAR LETTER FROM SOUTHERN AFRICA.

_Communicated by Mr. Hogg, the Ettrick Shepherd_.


MY DEAR FRIEND,

In my last I related to you all the circumstances of our settlement
here, and the prospect that we had of a peaceful and pleasant
habitation. In truth, it is a fine country, and inhabited by a fine race
of people, for the Kousies, as far as I have seen of them, are a simple
and ingenuous race.

You knew my Agnes from her childhood--you were at our wedding at
Beattock, and cannot but remember what an amiable and lovely girl she
then was; and when she was going about our new settlement with our
little boy in her arms, I have often fancied that I never saw so lovely
a human being.

The chief Karoo came to me one day with his interpreter, whom he caused
to make a long palaver about his power, and dominion, and virtues, and
his great desire to do much good. The language of this fellow being a
mixture of Kaffre, High Dutch, and English, was peculiarly ludicrous,