to fhelter them; for every thing is fuited to a people whofe conftitutions are proof against the feverett fatigue. If, however, they ftop any where to fojourn for a while, and find materials proper for conftructing huts, they then form a kraal; but they abandon it on their departure, as is the cafe with all the huts which they erect.

"This cuftom of labouring for others of their tribe announces a focial character and a benevolent difpofition. They are, indeed, not only affectionate hufbands and good fathers, but excellent companions. When they inhabit a kraal, there is no fuch thing among them as private property; whatever they poffefs is in common. If two hordes of the fame nation meet, the reception is on both fides friendly; they afford each other mutual protection, and confer reciprocal obligations. In short, they treat one another as brethren, though perhaps they are perfect ftrangers, and have never feen each other before. "Active and nimble by nature, the Houzouana confiders it as a mufement to climb mountains and the most elevated peaks; and their kill in this refpe&t was very advantageous to me. The rivulet near which I encamped had a coppery tafte and a naufeous fmell, which rendered it impoffible for me to drink the water. My cattle, accuftomed to the bad water of the country, were fatisfied with it: but I was afraid that it might injure my people; and I would, on that account, not permit them to use it. The Houzouanas had no milk to give me, as they poffeffed only a few wretched cows which they had plundered. Having asked them if they knew of any good fpring in the neighbourhood, to which I could fend my company to procure

1796.

a

fupply of water, they fet out themfelves in an inftant, without making me a reply, clambered up their mountains, and in lefs than two hours brought back all my leather bottles and veffels full of excellent water.

"During the whole time of my refidence on the rivulet, they rendered me the fame fervice, uniformly difplaying the fame zeal and the fame readinefs. One of these expeditions would have employed my Hottentots a whole day.

"When on a journey, fcarcity of water gives them no uneafinefs, even in the middle of a defert. By a particular art they can difco ver water that is concealed in the bowels of the earth; and their inftinct, in this point, is even fuperior to that of the other Africans. Animals, in like cafes of diftress, find water alfo; but it is only by the fmell. There must be a current of air to convey to them the exhalation which rifes from it; and confequently they must be to the windward. While I refided in the defert, during my first journey, my favages had fhown more than once the fame faculty; and I myfelf acquired it alfo from their inftruction, as I have mentioned in my narrative.

"The Houzouana, more expert, employs only his fight. He throws himself flat on the ground, takes a diftant view, and, if the space which he traverfes with his eye conceals any fubterranean fpring, he rifes and points with his finger to the fpot where it is to be found. The only thing by which he difcovers it is that ethereal and fubtile exhalation which evaporates from every current of water, when not funk to too great a depth.

"With regard to pools and other collections formed by the F

rain,

rain, as their evaporation is more fenfible, they are difcoverable even when hid by an eminence or a hill; and the vapour of ftreams, fuch as rivers or rivulets, being still more abundant, is fo diftinctly marked by it, that their courfe and even all their finuofities may be traced.

"I endeavoured to learn this art of the Houzouanas, during the time I refided amongst them. I followed their example, and praetifed their leffons; and was at length able to make fimilar difcoveries, and with as much certainty. My talent, however, was far from being fo extenfive as theirs; for, owing either to the natural weak nefs of my fight or the want of experience, I could diftinguifh water at no greater diftance than three hundred paces, while they could perceive it at a distance much more confiderable.

"The only arms of the Hou. zouanas are bows and arrows. The arrows, which are very fhort, are carried on the fhoulder in a quiver, about eight inches in length, and four in diameter, made of the bark of the aloe, and covered with the fkin of a large fpecies of lizard, which thefe wanderers find in all their rivers, particularly on the banks of Orange and Fish River.

"Obliged to maintain a numerous troop, and being defirous that the whole horde fhould participate in my game, of which I procured abundance, I went out daily to the chace, always accompanied by a great number of the Houzouanas. If I hunted in the mountains, I climbed the rocks with them. In the plain I used one of my horfes; but, whether they followed me or were employed in driving towards me the zebras and antelopes, they fhowed themfelves indefatigable;

and, however faft I rode, I always found them keep pace with me.

"My people, prejudiced againf this nation, were filled with alarm whenever they faw me thus occupied. Every report of my gun made them tremble. They conti nually imagined that the Houzouanas were in the act of affaffinating me, and that they should afterwards experience themselves the fame fate; and they never beheld me return to my camp without teftifying their joy, confidering me as a man escaped from death.

"For myself, being daily employed in rendering them services, and feeing thefe favages, on their part, ever ready to oblige me, I laughed at fuch vain terrors. In my way of judging, I had nothing to apprehend from a people who gained fo much by my prefence, and who would, confequently, have been confiderable lofers by my death.

During the long excurfions which we made together, they in no inftance belied their character. In many respects they appeared to refemble the Arabs, who, being alfo wanderers, and like them brave and addicted to rapine, adhere with unalterable fidelity to their engagements, and defend, even to the laft drop of their blood, the traveller who civilly purchases their fervices, and puts himself under their protection.

"If my plan of traverfing from fouth to north the whole of Africa was at all practicable, I repeat it, it could have been accomplished only with the Houzouanas. I am convinced that fifty men of this temperate, brave, and indefatigable nation would have been fufficient to enable me to carry it into execution; and I fhall always regret

that

that I became acquainted with them too late for the trial, and at a period when numberless misfortunes had compelled me, for a time at leaft, to renounce the idea."

"The Houzouanas, being known only by their incurfions and plundering, are in the colonies often confounded with the Bofhmen, and diftinguished by the fame appellation. Sometimes, however, from their tawny colour, they are called Chinese Hottentots; and, by means of this double denomination, illinformed travellers may easily be led into an error, of which the confequence muft be, that their narratives will be replete with abfurdity and falfehoods.

"Their real name, and the only one which they give themselves, is that of Houzouana; and they have nothing in common with the Bofh. men, who are not a diftinct people, but a mere collection of fugitives and free-booters. The Houzouanas form no alliances but among themselves. Being almost always at war with the furrounding nations, they never mix with them; and, if they confent at any time to admit a ftranger into their hordes, it is only after a long acquaintance, a fort of apprenticeship, during which he has given proofs of his fidelity, and establifhed his courage. The Hottentot whom 1 found there had fubmitted to this trial, and from the manner in which he had acquitted himfelf was held in the highest eftimation,

Though the Houzouanas are wanderers in their country, and fpend the greater part of the year in emigrations and diftant excurfions, they inhabit an immenfe diftrict, of which, indeed, they are almoft the fole inhabitants, and from which, in my opinion, no pation would be able to expel them.

It forms that part of Africa which, in a direction from east to west, extends from Caffraria to the country of the Greater Nimiquas. With regard to its breadth, from fouth to north, I am ignorant of its extent; but I believe it to be very confiderable; not only becaufe an immenfe territory is neceffary to fo wandering a people, but also becaufe I have reafon to think the individuals of this nation to be very

numerous.

What particularly infpired me with a predilection in their favour, was their open and smiling countenance. Such is the habitual state of their features, that the gloomy and dubious impreffion of uneafinefs and miftruft is never perceptible on them. The Houzouana, it is true, has violent paffions, and, when he is under their influence, they are depicted on his countenance in a forcible and striking manner: but the ftorm is of fhort duration; he foon comes to himself, and his face inftantly refumes the expreffion of his frank, unfufpecting, and loyal mind.

"Among all the other African nations, almoft without exception, I found an imbecile Rupidity, which made them enraptured with every thing I carried with me for my ufe. The Houzouanas contemplated them with those emotions of curiofity which every production of induftry would naturally excite in a people deftitute of arts; but this curiofity was neither ftupid admiration nor the childish desire of savages in general.

"Nothing filled them with real aftonishment but my fire-arms. During the whole time they were with me, these were the fubjects of their attention and difcourfe. But it is to be obferved, I had endeavoured to infpire them with the F2 greatest

greatest terror by difplaying their effects. I never fuffered them to touch my fufees, and I was particularly careful not to show them the mode of using them. When once they had imbibed the defire of poffefling them, perhaps it would not be long before they would contrive means of procuring them; and then how dangerous would be these mountaineers to the plantations, and even to the Cape itself; fince, fecure from attack in their mountains, and indefatigable in their expeditions, their nocturnal and unexpected attacks render them already irrefiftible enemies! Often have I rejoiced that the nation was one of the pooreft of Africa; and that, being deftitute of every thing, it had nothing to barter by way of trade. But for this, fuch of the colonists who follow the occupa

tion of traversing the deferts, would perhaps have penetrated as far as thefe people; perhaps would have fupplied them with powder and fire-arms, and certainly would have inftilled into them the defire of procuring them; and who can tell to what this defire would have led!

"Yet these formidable people infpired me with more love and efteem than any other tribe in Africa. With them I would have undertaken without fear to traverse the whole of that quarter of the globe, had my good fortune permitted me to know them fooner: and if ever circumftances allow me to refume the project, which it has been fo painful to me to relinquifh, they are the only ones that fhall be my companions in the enterprife, and to them alone will I direct my fteps without delay."

CLASSICAL