CIGAR. 215 



mighty Nimrod was not generally popular amongst 

 white men ; but the fault was not his. Thus the 

 missionaries objected to him because he refused to 

 be converted, or even, more important still in their 

 eyes, to profess that he was ; the traders disliked him, 

 because he declined to work for them, at any of the 

 numerous crafts he was acquainted with, for smaller 

 wages than were paid to colonial or European 

 artisans. If I had believed all that was told to me 

 in depreciation of this man's character I never should 

 have known him ; but, with a spirit of independence, 

 and a resolution to learn for myself this Hottentot's 

 character, I gave him a trial, and never regretted 

 having done so. True, he was the coffee colour of 

 his race, and his head was ornamented with in- 

 numerable peppercorns of wool, while his cheek- 

 bones were high, his nose flat, and the white of the 

 eyes stained to a muddy tinge, all of which pecu- 

 liarities the reader will allow detract much from a 

 human being's personal appearance. Still, saddled as 

 he was with all these unprepossessing insignia of his 

 race, I never in my life encountered a braver, truer, 

 or more devoted friend. By this panegyric I do not 

 mean to say that Cigar was faultless ; but his error 



