fore, of other, and very different, occupations, the task fell upon me
to direct and superintend the business of caulking the joints with,
either pieces of canvas dipped in hot pitch, or with small wedges of
wood. I employed others of my people in casting musket-balls, and
some in making cartridges.
In the meantime Andries, whose turn it was to attend our few
remaining sheep while at pasture, seemed desirous of giving me proofs
of his worthlessness, and so totally neglected his duty, that, at an early
hour, it was discovered that they had strayed away. Two Hottentots
were sent in search, and after a few hours, brought them home.
But, determined on putting my patience to another trial, he suffered
them, in the course of the afternoon, again to stray so far that they
could not be found that night. On the next morning, men were sent
out to follow their track; and it was very unexpected good fortune,
that they were all met with and brought back by noon. It was seldom
that' my Hottentots would condemn, or give evidence against each
other ; but this time they all exclaimed loudly against Andries, as he
had given them so much trouble in repairing his neglect, and
recommended that his rations of tobacco should be withheld : a
recommendation to which I readily attended ; as we had on several
occasions ascertained that it was a mode of correction in which there
was considerable efficacy.
Desiring my men to wake me at a little after midnight, I pointed
out to one of them, who was at that hour to be on guard, the star
Arctums, and ordered him to call me when he saw it setting. I
thought it useful to show by my occasional presence at such times,
that I did not impose on them any hardship, in which I was not
willing to bear a share, as I conceived that it might lead them to
think lighter of the task,
The night was exceedingly chilly ; and, being now in a part of
the country where Bushmen seldom came, we were not, as hitherto,
prevented, by the fear of betraying our position, from keeping up a
large fire ; and those whose watch was ended, not being inclined to
sleep, the number of the party round the fire continued increasing till
the morning. They amused both themselves and me, by relating to
each other their various adventures, and accounts of Bushmen; and
among their descriptions, one given by Keyser, of a Hottentot of
Sneeuwberg being pierced by so many arrows that when they found
his body he looked more like a porcupine than a man, was in the
genuine style of African anecdote.
Few Hottentots knew more histories of this kind, than Keyser;
and being of short stature, in features not unlike a- Bushman, and
speaking that language fluently, his companions would sometimes
teaze him, by pretending to believe that he was really a wild Bushman
who had been caught when young, and brought up in a boor’s family.
He was, however, a Colonial Hottentot; and from much experience
in such affairs, his anecdotes relative to the colonists proved that these
had frequently suffered great losses in cattle, from the incursions of the
Bushmen ; but that they had sometimes taken unsparing vengeance
on the offenders. He asserted from his own knowledge, that a Hottentot,
who had gradually and by small doses habituated himself to
the practice of swallowing the poison of snakes, for the purpose of
rendering his blood unsusceptible of its effects, was once severely
wounded by a Bushman’s arrow ; yet though the wound would otherwise
have been certainly mortal, he did not die. That the blood may
be thus fortified against the consequences of a poisoned wound, is a
very common belief among Hottentots; but it did not appear that
they often tried this mode, as those few who ventured, were particularly
distinguished among them as gift-drinkers (poison-drinkers).
The Hottentots of that part of the Colony northward of Graaff-
reynet, call the bordering tribes of Bushmen, Sdqua or Saakwa; but
the Klaarwater Hottentots, and the Koras, as Muchunka told me,
designate the Bushmen living southward of the Gariep by the names
of ’Kxsa’kykwa or Kisa’kwa (Kowsaqua), which imply ‘ men beyond
the river.’ Those who inhabit the northern side of that river, are
called Nksakwa (Noosaqua), a name of correspondent import.
1th. I was visited by a Bachapin, apparently of a poorer class
than those whom we had last seen. I offered him some snuff, and
learnt by his refusal, that, however general the custom of taking snuff
may be among his countrymen, it is not universal. Tobacco, for
u u 2