41G Mr. Bain's Visit to the Interior Tribes 



tive or affirmation to'tfny question I put to him. To aton^ 

 for his silence, however, one of his right-hand men was very 

 eloquent in answering questions I never asked, especially 

 some long-winded stories about the Mantatees being in the 

 country of the Bawanketzie, (the Nuaketzies of Burchell, and 

 Wankets of Campbell,) for they had already learned our in- 

 tention of visiting that country. I paid no attention to the 

 terrific tidings respecting either the Mantatees or Bawanket- 

 zie, as I had good reasons for disbelieving them ; and would 

 have suffered this orator to have exercised his tongue for the 

 benefit of the crowd, had not I seen that his eloquence began 

 to make a strong impression on the countenance of poor Polo- 

 holo, whose credulity was seldom proof against a well got up 

 Mantatee story, and seldom failed to communicate the same, 

 with many additions and improvements, to the rest of our 

 people ; so that our enterprise was frequently in danger of 

 being upset by their refusing to penetrate further with us. 



The king was at last pleased to open his mouth, by asking 

 when the wagons would come up, and seemed pleased, when I 

 told him in reply, that I expected them in a few minutes. 



I then took a ramble about the town on foot, the children 

 crying, and dogs barking at the sight of such an unusual 

 object, and the women hiding themselves behind their screens, 

 in order to have, without danger, a peep at the Macooa, or 

 white man. However, finding that I was quite a tame ani- 

 mal, they mustered courage enough to approach Avithin a few 

 yards of me to beg tobacco ; and, on giving a bit to one, I 

 had no peace from all the rest until my whole stock was ex- 

 pended; for on such occasions I always had my pockets full 

 of pieces about two inches long. 



Returning to Toovan, I found him sitting on his hams, 

 smoking a Bichuana hooka, a rude instrument made of a thick 

 gemsbok horn, about the middle of which a large stone bowl 

 of a pipe was inserted. This horn being filled with water, 

 his majesty applied his mouth to the wide end of it, holding 

 his hand on the rest of the aperture, which was too large for 

 his mouth to cover ; then inhaling the delicious fumes of the 

 tobacco through this aqueous passage, he seemed for a mo- 

 ment lost in pleasure, until he raised his head again, when 

 dense clouds of smoke issued from his royal nose and mouth. 

 He sat with his back to me without speaking a word, hut at 

 the end of every whiff, took a draught of diity water out of a 

 filthy wooden platter. After regaling himself for some time 

 with this amusement, he handed the pipe to his son, a good 

 looking youth, who, after taking a couple of whiffs, passed it 

 to the rest of the gentlemen present, who in their turns each 

 enjoyed a share of this luxury. 



When our wagons arrived, we unyoked at some distance 



