30 EXPEDITION INTO [Chap. V. 



no one could have supposed that the abode of man 

 was to be found in a region, apparently so deserted 

 and inhospitable. 



A chilly mist overtaking us, we resolved to halt 

 for the night at a kraal* of Fin goes or tame Kafirs, 

 where barely a sufficient quantity of fuel, from a 

 shrub called the rhinoceros bush, could be obtain- 

 ed for culinary purposes. Although still within the 

 Cape Colony, our tobacco proved of use in the pur- 

 chase of goats' milk ; and I may here remark that 

 this precious weed, which may be denominated the 

 current coin of the realm, is carried about in Africa 

 twisted in long thin ropes, which are coiled up in 

 rolls. A roll is considered a splendid oblation to a 

 prince, and an inch a handsome present to a 

 commoner ; it is in fact a univei'sal favourite, and, 

 meted out by the span in traffic, will purchase 

 whatever this most benighted of countries can pro- 

 duce, when almost every other commodity is re- 

 jected with disdain. 



The following day, after passing the residence of 

 Piet Van-der Merwe, yclept Dickwang, or double- 

 chin, — a soubriquet with which a large wen on the 

 throat has saddled him, as a distinction from his 

 neighbours of the same name — we cleared the 

 Sneuwbergen, and arrived at a deserted farm, named 



* Notwithstanding that it has been the habit to employ the 

 terms Kraal, Caross, and Assegai, as respectivelj' indicating a 

 native village or cattlefold, a skin cloak, and a dart or spear — not 

 one of them have any signification in the native languages, but 

 are supposed to be a corruption of Dutch and Hottentot . 



