PORT ELIZABETH AND WALMER. 17 



thick mass of the oldest and filthiest rags imaginable. 

 How they hold together has always been a mystery to 

 me ; for they flap and flutter ominously in the almost 

 incessant wind, and seem threatening to wing their 

 way across the common and invade the verandahs and 

 gardens of Walmer. Although I have ventured into 

 a good many queer human habitations in different 

 parts of the world, I have never felt inclined to 

 explore the interior of one of these huts, which look 

 as forbidding as their ugly, yellow-skinned inmates. 

 There is no window, no proper outlet for smoke, no 

 room for any one of average figure to stand upright, 

 and the hole which serves as a door is much too low 

 for any more dignified entrance than on all fours 

 an attitude which, though quite worth while when 

 threading the passages of the Great Pyramid, would 

 hardly be repaid by the sight of the Hottentot in his 

 home ; and by the possible acquaintance of creeping, 

 crawling and hopping legions. Numbers of dirty, 

 monkey-like children, and ugly, aggressive dogs of 

 the pariah type, swarm round these huts ; the dogs 

 often taking the trouble to pursue the passer-by a 

 long distance on his way, irritating his horse and him- 

 self by their clamour, and always keeping just out of 

 reach of the whip. 



With the exception of the few remaining Bushmen, 

 the Hottentots are the ugliest and most degraded of 

 all the South African natives. The Kaffirs are much 

 pleasanter to look at, some of the young girls being 

 rather nice-looking, with graceful figures, on which 



