Chap. XVI.] SOUTHERN AFRICA. 131 



found ignorance of the nature and extent of our sup- 

 plies. To have permitted him to see the contents 

 of the waggons, would most assuredly have tempted 

 him to practise every unfair and extortionate strata- 

 gem to obtain possession of them. We only there- 

 fore placed in his way, as baits, those trinkets that 

 we designed he should take, and these, as well as 

 everything else that met his eye, he never failed to 

 appropriate. A pair of my shoes having been 

 casually exposed, though much too small, were in- 

 stantly seized and donned, and the operation of 

 trying them on was highly diverting. A silken 

 waist-cord was quickly transferred from my Indian 

 sleeping drawers to his own neck, the tassels dang- 

 ling in front ; a red woollen night-cap was drawn 

 over his bald pate, and a comforter over his shoul- 

 ders, and he repeatedly desired the interpreters to 

 explain that "he liked all and everything!" He 

 crawled through the waggons, and diligently rum- 

 maged in every corner for beads, of which he fre- 

 quently spoke. On this most important topic with 

 all savages, he was particularly urgent ; he said he 

 liked every colour and size, sending at the same time 

 to his seraglio for a vast variety, that we might dis- 

 tinctly comprehend his wishes on the subject. With 

 the greatest reluctance, he at last prevailed upon 

 himself to part with a single grain of each colour, 

 as a sample to guide our selection when we should 

 next visit him, and having gained this victory over 

 his niggard nature, he repeated several times sig- 

 nificantly, that we " now knew exactly what he 



