We diftributed a quantity of tobacco among the women,
who carried it to their fathers and huihands. Thefe had not
proved fuch fuccefsful pleaders as the females. In the evening
they fent us in return fome baikets of milk. Thefe bafkets
were made from a fpecies of cyperus, a ftrong reedy grafs that
grew in the fprings of Zuure Veld. The workmanfhip was
exceedingly clever and neat, and the texture fo clofe that they
were capable of containing the thinneft fluid. The women
informed us that the making of thefe baikets was one part o f
their employment ; and they feemed to feel a pleafure in our
admiration of them. They were all nearly made after one
model, which in Qiape was that of a common beehive; As
they are never walhed nor cleaned, the milk thrown into them
almoft immediately coagulates, in which fíate it is always ufed
by this people, and never fweet from the animal. Having no
bread, nor vegetables, nor roots, but fuch as grew fpontaneoufly
in the country, and as they feldom kill any of their cattle for
the fake of the flelh, the neceflity of taking fomething folid into
the ftomach led them, perhaps, to adopt this manner o f drinking
their milk; and the beft proof of its nutritious quality, in
fuch a fíate, was the general healthy appearance and vigor of
their perfons.
Towards the fetting o f the fun the whole plain was covered
with cattle, which in vaft herds were brought in from every
quarter at the fignal of command, which was a particular kind
"of whiftling noife made with the mouth; at another whiftle
the cows feparated from the herd, and came forward to have
their milk drawn from them. This, and the management of
the
the dairy, form a part of the employment of the men. In the
morning a third iignal fent them out to graze. The Kaffers
and their cattle feemed perfe£tly to underftand each other.
Though at this place there could not be fewer than three
hundred men and women, exclufive of a numerous troop of
young boys and girls who were obliged to keep at a diftance;
yet not a hut of any kind was to be feen. Thefe were all concealed
in the midft of the ihrubbery; they confifted only of
a few living twigs, whofe tops were bent and interwoven into
each other, forming a frame, of the ihape of a parabola, about
five feet high and.eight in diameter. Thefe frames were rudely
covered over with branches of trees and long grafs, and were
evidently intended only as temporary abodes.
A chief o f the name of Teoley paid us a vifit, drank a few
glafles of wine which he feemed very much to relilh, and
received a fmall prefent of beads and tobacco *, but the objeft
that feemed mod to engage his attention was the wiih to procure
for himfelf a pair of breeches. Among our party were a
few tolerably ftout and tall men, yet none of their breeches
would fuffer Tooley’s thighs to enter into them. He was a
ftrong mufcular man, of fix feet in height, and well made. He
was good-humored and cheerful, but did not appear to be pof-
fefled o f much intelled. He declined entering into any con-
verfation that led to the purport o f our journey, and faid that
his brother Malloo, who was one o f the firft o f the KafFer
chiefs, would talk to us on that fubjea. An exprefs was
therefore fent for Malloo, who was at a little diftance on the
z 2 upper