Describing the volatile relationship between European settlers and the indigenous Khoisan peoples in eighteenth-century southern Africa, this book explores the underlying causes of this pervasive violence in the eastern Cape, and considers the fate of the many women and children captured by Boer commandos and then assimilated to the condition of captive labor. It also offers a detailed analysis of the frontier economy, linking it to the markets and merchants of Cape Town, and revealing its subservience to the commercial policies of the Dutch East India Company.