I next introduced myself to a female party, and without further
ceremony sat down in the midst of the group. It was a mixture of
young and old, of mothers and daughters. They were engaged in
no occupation, excepting that of talk; and in this, my presence was
very far from being an interruption; it doubled their loquacious
industry. But I have great pleasure in making the remark, that the
natural bashful reserve of youth and innocence is to be seen as much
among these savages, as in more polished nations: and the young
girls, though wanting but little of being perfectly naked, evinced as
just a sense of modesty, as the most rigid and careful education could
have given them. _
Their mothers allowed themselves more privileges, and felt no
hesitation in. answering my questions relative to .their marriage
customs. Such characters as men and women passing their lives
in a state of celibacy, do not exist among the wild nations of
Southern Africa; and in this particular, savages hold a superiority
over the most polished nations of Europe. The women informed
me that girls are most commonly betrothed when not older than
a child whom they pointed out to me, and whose age appeared
to be about seven years; that is, the husband early bespeaks her,
in order to preclude every other man, in the meanwhile, from all
pretensions, and from all hope of gaming her: and, as these men
generally take a second wife, as soon as the first becomes somewhat
advanced in years, this custom of securing another beforehand,
is perhaps necessary, in order to avoid those contentions which might
otherwise arise in cases of this nature, and where the girl herself is
seldom allowed a voice in choosing her husband. In two or three
years, or less, according to circumstances, after being thus betrothed,
the girl changes her abode, from her mother’s hut to that of the
bridegroom. These bargains are made with her parents only, and
without ever consulting the wishes (even if she had any) of the
daughter. They are made by offering them a leathern bag, or some
similar article, which, if accepted, ratifies and confirms the match.
I saw at this kraal several mothers, who could not have been more
than ten or twelve years old.
When it happens, which is not often the case, that' a girl has
grown up to womanhood without having previously been betrothed,
her lover must gain her own approbation, as well as that of the parents;
and on this occasion his attentions are received with an affectation of
great alarm and disinclination on her part, and with some squabbling
on the part of her friends.
Several of these girls might be said to be pretty, more on account
of their youth and the pleasing expression of their countenances,
than of any beauty of features: but it is doubtful whether, throughout
the whole nation, one could be found whom a European could deem
handsome. When, in the morning, they came to the general distribution
of tobacco, they had not yet performed the duties of their toilet;
but I now had the pleasure of beholding them as fine and as captivating
as buleu and red-ochre could make them. The former, as a
green powder, was sprinkled over their head and neck, and the latter,
mixed with grease, was applied in daubs or streaks over or along the
nose, and across the cheek-bones: and what was thought by these
simple Africans to be the most graceful and fascinating style of
adorning themselves, was precisely the same as that which the clowns
and buffoons at our fairs, have adopted in order to render their appearance
absurd and ridiculous.
Many of the women were distinguished by having the hair of
the forehead, by the constant accumulation of grease and red-ochre,
clotted into large red lumps, like stone: this was not through neglect
of cleaning it away, but from a fancy that it was highly becoming,
and that it added greatly to their charms. Some had the crown of
their heads shaved, or, rather, scraped bald, (as represented by the
vignette at page 1.) and a row of buttons fastened round the remaining
hair which had been left in its natural state. All of - them wore
bracelets, either of leather, or of twisted sinew, or copper; and most
of them were decorated with some kind of ornament hanaina from
the ear. Their stature was extremely small, and their figure in
general delicate ; their height being universally less than five feet.
I noticed a singularity of figure, which I had not hitherto observed
among Hottentots; nor was it since found to be, in any tribe,
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