CAFFRES. 



335 



cation and the infliction of a few blows with his 

 sjamboc (whip of rhinoceros hide), he carried the 

 man before Macomo. Here the piaster and slave 

 filed cross bills against each other. The slave pro- 

 duced witnesses to prove that his master had struck 

 and abused him without cause: the master accused 

 the slave of laziness, insolence and disobedience, 

 ami demanded that he should be punished by a se- 

 vere flogging. Macomo, after hearing both parties, 

 informed them that in CafFreland there were no 

 slaves; he must, therefore, consider them merely 

 as two men who had made a bargain with each 

 other. " Now it appears," said he to the English- 

 man, " that you have struck this man and other- 

 wise ill-treated him, but you can show no proof 

 that he had injured you by offering you violence. 

 I therefore declare your bargain at an end ; he is 

 free to go where he pleases ; and you shall pay him 

 an ox for the wrong you have done him." At this 

 decision our countryman was highly incensed, and 

 refused to submit. " He deserved punishment, not 

 reward," said he, " for his insolence." " You have 

 not proved that," said Macomo ; " but had it been 

 BO. you should have brought him to me. Why do 

 I sit here from sun-rise to sun-set, if need be ? It 

 is to decide between man and man, in cases where 

 their anger blinds them, and hinders their judgment. 

 If men use their hands in secret, instead of their 

 tongues before the judge or the old men, whose 

 life would be worth a husk of corn ?" 



The Caffres are admitted by most travellers, 

 to be a well formed, decent-featured, and comely 

 people. Their countenances are more European 

 than African, although their hair is woolly and their 

 colour dark brown. From their physical traits, 

 Barrow has drawn the inference of an Arabic ori- 

 gin for them. He says, they have not the smallest 

 resemblance to the negroes in either conformation 

 or features, and that they differ from the Arab su- 

 perficially in nothing but a deeper shade of com- 

 plexion ; and this theory is somewhat plausibly 

 confirmed in the view of this writer by their 

 nomadic habits, their hospitality, the shape of their 

 habitations, and especially their scrupulous observ- 

 ance of the rite of circumcision. Pringle also sup- 

 ports this opinion, and so does Mr Kay ; and they 

 both adduce additional facts in apparent confirma- 

 tion of it. There is nothing incredible, or even 

 improbable in the theory itself, especially since it 

 is well known that the wandering Bedouins have 

 penetrated into almost every section of the conti- 

 nent, and have even planted themselves on the 

 South African islands. 



The apparel of the Caffres is made wholly of 

 the skins of beasts, excepting those cases only 

 where the customs of their civilized neighbours 

 have been introduced among them. These changes 

 have occurred at and about the missionary stations, 

 and may generally be considered, taking into 

 view the attachment which all barbarians (as well 

 as some partly civilized people) feel for old cus- 

 toms, as a tolerably accurate indication of the 

 more important intellectual and moral advances 

 to which they commonly correspond. 



The imitative propensity, as well as the commu- 

 nicative, it is worth noting, are universally traits in 

 the African character, in which, by the way, they 

 differ diametrically from the Indians, arid such as 

 may he pronounced of the first interest, in refer- 

 ence to the competency and tendency of their pos- 

 sessors to a state of civilization. This social dis- 

 position is indeed often carried to an extent which 



most travellers, if not missionaries, would call 

 meddlesome and troublesome, not to say ridiculous. 

 The Landers were not a little amused by a native 

 who, after indulging his curiosity in an examination 

 of their premises, baggage and all, not meeting 

 with any thing which suited his taste better for a 

 hat, finally encircled his cranium with the tin top 

 of a jelly-pot, which was marked in large letters 

 " concentrated gravy," and in that guise strutted 

 about the encampment. The Caffre lady, in what 

 may be called the chrysalis stage of transmutation, 

 is not unfrequently seen promenading, in the vicin- 

 ity of the mission-houses, with an English petti- 

 coat suspended from the neck instead of the waist, 

 while the gentleman in attendance makes himself 

 nearly as conspicuous, by sporting for a gala .dress 

 a pair of leather trowsers, surmounted by a check 

 shirt. So they can get on any thing civilized, and 

 keep it on, it matters little of what material the 

 decorations may be made, or in what order they 

 are fastened to the frame of the wearers. The 

 aborigines of America have been much slower to 

 imitate, and still more awkward also in the process. 

 Witness the tradition transmitted by the Dutch 

 party who first landed on Manhattoes. They made 

 a donation of stockings and axes, two valuable 

 articles, to the chiefs of the party which enter- 

 tained them ; and when the visit was repeated the 

 next season, it was ascertained that the stockings 

 had been converted into tobacco-pouches, while the 

 axes were generally used for bosom-pins. In re- 

 gard to the taste of the Caffres in matters of dress, 

 ornaments of various kinds are extensively worn. 

 These consist chiefly of beads, bones, feathers, and 

 metallic bracelets, some thirty of the latter being 

 occasionally seen on the arms of a great man, that 

 is, a stout man ; to all which the same dignified 

 class often append, like the chiefs of the northern 

 African tribes, the elegant embellishment of a cow's 

 tail, swung from the knee. 



The wealth of the Caffres consists of their herds 

 and flocks, and their occupation, of the care of 

 them ; there being probably no barbarous nation 

 in the world, who are so systematically arid scien- 

 tifically devoted to grazing. The Caffre is never 

 so happy, as when engaged in something calculated 

 to increase the numbers or improve the appearance 

 of his cattle. Such is his perfect acquaintance 

 with his herd, that one of a thousand would be im- 

 mediately missed ; and he observes even the turn 

 of the horns, or the slightest spots on the hide, so 

 minutely, as to identify every individual almost in- 

 fallibly after seeing them two or three times. Cat- 

 tle-folds are constructed in every hamlet, gene- 

 rally on the sunny side of a hill, and are made 

 of circular hedges, so compact as to protect the 

 herd in winter from the cold in some measure, 

 as well as from the wild animals which infest the 

 country. 



It is a curious illustration of the dignity which 

 the grazing profession possesses in the view of the 

 Caffres, that the cattle-field is always used as the 

 place of public meetings and resort. Cattle con- 

 stitute the currency in a great degree. Brides also 

 are bought and sold for so many bullocks, the 

 proprietor in conversation frequently classing his 

 wife and his pack-ox together, and estimating his 

 property according to the joint amount of his herd 

 and his dauglrters. Indeed his conduct towards 

 his cattle is generally of a much more feeling char- 

 acter, than that which he sometimes evinces to- 

 wards the partner of his bosom. Travelling, in 



