SIO On the Condition of the Inhabilants 



baked in the sun, sometimes sods and poles, and frequently 

 a sort of wattling plastered over with a mixture of earth 

 and cow-dung, both within and without; and they are 

 rudely covered with a thatch of reeds that is rarely water- 

 proof. 



Their clothing is very slight ; the men wear generally 

 a broad brimmed hat, a blue shirt, and leather pantaloons, 

 no stockings, but a pair of dried skin shoes. The women 

 have a thick quilted cap that ties with two broad flaps under 

 the chin, and falls behind across the shoulders ; and this is 

 constantly worn in the hottest weather ; a short jacket and 

 a petticoat, no stockings, and frequently without shoes. 

 The bed for the master and mistress of the family is an ob- 

 long frame of wood, supported on four feet, and reticulated 

 with thongs of a bullock's hide, so as to support a kind 

 of mattress made of skins sewed together, and sometimes 

 stuffed with wool. In winter they use woollen blankets. 

 If they have a table it is generally of the boor's own mak- 

 ' ing, but very often the large chest that is fitted across the 

 end of their ox waggon serves for this purpose. The bot- 

 toms of their chairs or stools are net-work of leather thongs. 

 A large iron pot serves both to boil and to broil their meat. 

 They use no linen for the table; no knives, forks, nor spoons. 

 The boor carries in the pocket of his leather breeches a large 

 knife, with which he carves for the rest of the family, and 

 which stands him in as many and various services as the 

 little dagger of Hudibras. 



Their huts and their persons are equally dirty, and their 

 whole appearance betrays an indolence of body and a low 

 grovelling mind. Their most urgent wants are satisfied in 

 the easiest possible manner ; and for this end they employ 

 means nearly as gross as the original natives, whom they 

 affect so much to despise. If necessity did not sometimes 

 set the invention to u ork, the Cape boor would feel no spur 

 to assist himself in any thing; if the surface of the country 

 was not covered with sharp pebbles, he would not even 

 make tor himself his skin shoes. The women, as invaria- 

 bly happens in societies that are little advanced in civiliza- 

 tion, are much greater drudges than the men, yet are far 

 from being iudustrious ; they make soap and candles, the 

 former to send to Cape Town in exchange for tea and sugar, 

 and the latter for home consumption. But all the little 

 trifling things that a slate of refinement so sensibly feels 

 the want of, are readily dispensed with by the Cape boor. 

 Thongs cut from skins serve, on all occasions, as a succe- 

 daneum for rope ; and the tendons of wild animals, divided 



into 



