We had not travelled many miles beyond the Haflagai-bofch
river till the difcovery of the whole fiirface of the country in
flames indicated our approach to fome of the Rations o f the
Kaffers. We pitched our tents in fadt at night on the banks of
the Kareeka, amidft feveral hundreds of thefe people, who, on
our approach, came fwarming out of the thick ihrubbery that
ikirted the river. A party o f women were the firft who advanced
to lalute us, laughing and dancing round the waggons,
and putting on all the coaxing manners they could invent, in
order to. procure from us tobacco and brafs buttons. Good
temper, animation, and a cheerful turn of mind, beamed in all
their countenances. We found them to b e . modeft without
referve; extremely curious without being troublefome ; lively
but not impudent; and fportive without the leaft ihadow of
being lafcivious. Their perfonal charms were not of a very
captivating nature, though, getting over the prejudice of color;
which was that of a dark gloflfy brown verging bn black, feveral
of them might have been accounted handfome. The rapid
movement of their dark fparkling eyes gave animation to their
countenances : their teeth were beautifully white and regular;
they had neither the thick lips nor flat nofes of Africans in
general; and the whole contour o f the face and head was
equally well formed as thofe of Europeans ; but the mod ftrik-
ing feature in their charadter was a degree o f fprightlinefs,
activity, and vivacity, that diftinguiihed them from the women
of mod nations but little civilized, who are generally referved
to ftrangers. Bordering upon the country of the Hottentot's,
their manners, their perfons, and their whole charadter
feemed to be as widely removed from this phlegmatic race as
the
the equator from the pole. The Hottentot young women had
much the advantage, however, of the Kaffers in point of figure.
The latter were moftly of low ftature, very ftrong-limbed, and
particularly mufcular in the leg ; but the good humor that con-
ftantly beamed upon their countenances made ample amends for
any defedt in their perfons.
The men, on the contrary, were the fineft figures I ever
beheld : they were tall, robuft, and mufcular; their habits of
life had induced a firmnefs of carriage, and an open, manly manner,
which, added to the good nature that overfpread their features,
ihewed them at once to be equally unconfcious. o f fear,
fufpicion, and treachery. A young man about twenty, of fix
feet ten inches high, was one of the fineft figures that perhaps
was ever created. He was a perfedt Hercules; and a caft from
his body would not have difgraced the pedeftal o f that deity in
the Farnefe palace. Many of them had indeed very much the
appearance of bronze figures. Their ikins, which were nearly
black, and their ftxort curling hair, were rubbed over with a
folution of red ochre, and the tint it produced on the dark
ground was very far from having any difagreeable effedt. Some
few were covered with ikin-cloaks, but the greater part were
entirely naked. The women wore long cloaks that extended
below the calf of the leg ; and their heads were covered with
leather-caps ornamented with beads, with ihells, and with
pieces of poliihed copper and iron, that were difpofed in a
variety of forms; but the falhion of the cap was nearly the
fame in all.
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