^G Mr. Morgan s Accovnl of t.hr Amahosae, 



tnc hones and lim^if, they hnrn a preparation similar to t]ic 

 moxa : they have hitcly suhstitutcd gunpowder, if it can be 

 obtained. If the complaint does not leave them under this 

 treatment, or it is of a nature that is not very common or 

 generally known, they attribute it to the act of witchcraft. 

 Attacks of colic not unfreqnently seize some of them : if the 

 sufferer be a chief or person of note, it is attributed to some 

 charm of an evil-disposed person, and the effect of an evil eye 

 is a cause often assigned by them for the various local com- 

 plaints to which the human frame is subject. 



The general disposition of ihe Caffer is gay, with an apparent 

 carolo?sness of the future. They are very hospitable, and in 

 their intercourse with each other they appear friendly and jovial : 

 Avith strangers they are reserved though pleasant, and attentive 

 and ready to oblige. 



A regidar union between the sexes and the rights of marriage 

 are recognised. There is a plurality of wives allowed by 

 custom. The number taken depends upon the inclination and 

 wealth of the man only. The marriage contract is a purchase ; 

 the man buys the woman of the parents, and the equivalent 

 given is cattle. Thongli the condition of their women is not so 

 deorading as that of many other rude nations, yet they arc 

 treated with a sort of coolness and insensibility that proves it to 

 be more like the union of a master and his slave than of equals 

 united by affection and interest. They arc affectionate and 

 appear much attached to their offspring, but the affection, like 

 the instinctive fondness of animals, seems to cease as soon as 

 they attain maturity. Little instruction is necessary to fit them 

 for that life which they enjoy. Their inheritance is the free 

 gift of the parent, who commonly sets by a part of his flock as 

 a gift for his children, and though, when the child is young, 

 they dispose of this part at their own pleasure, or it is liable to 

 be taken by their chiefs, yet when the youth takes the manage- 

 ment of them in his own hands the parent has no claim on them, 

 nor has t'lc chief any claim to interfere with them more than 

 with the property of any other ; they are by all esteemed 

 the right of the person M'ho has so acquired them. The 

 wealth of each individual consists in the number of cattle he 

 possesses. This is the standard of the wealth of the whole 

 nation, for being a pastoral people no other species of property 

 confers the acknowledgment of riches on the possessor. 



The ornament of their persons consist of buttons, beads, 

 ivory, and brass rings. These are acquired by the sale of 

 cattle, hides, ivory, and the produce of their lands to each 

 other, and (o Europcau traders. Their dresses, and their 

 weapons of war, and tliose used in the chase, arn also liighly 

 l)rizcd by them. The assagai or javelin is the property of the 



