As the European colonists increased in numbers, they gradually advanced
northward and eastward, either driving back the natives or subjugating
them as slaves to their service. In 1806 the colony passed into the
hands of the English, and, after a season of conflict, the Hottentots
within the British territory were emancipated. This act of justice took
place on 17th July, 1828.

In the early years of the present century, the natives of South Africa
comprised--besides the Hottentots, who occupied the southern portion of
the country, and were thinly scattered, to the north-west, in Great
Namaqualand--the Kafirs, who dwelt in the south-east, beyond the Fish
River; the Basutos, whose kraals were south of the Orange River; the
Bechwanas and kindred tribes to the north of that river; and far away to
the north-west, beyond Namaqualand, the Damara tribes, of whom but
little was known at that time. Besides these, there were the Bushmen, a
roving people, small in stature, and sunk to the lowest depths of
barbarism, hunted down by the Dutch farmers like wild beasts, who had
their hands turned against every man, and every man's hand turned
against them.

To the Moravians belongs the honour of first seeking to bring the
natives of South Africa under the influences of Christianity. In 1737
George Schmidt, who had been sent forth by the small Moravian church of
Herrnhut, arrived in Cape Colony, and at Genadendal (the Vale of Grace),
then known as Bavian's Kloof (the Glen of Baboons), established a
mission station, where he laboured among the despised and oppressed
Hottentots with much success for seven years. His work excited
considerable opposition and persecution. He gathered a small Christian
community and a school; but the Boers, or Dutch farmers, becoming