LICHTENSTEIN. 217 



country. The first party whom they met accosted them 

 with such demonstrations of kindness and cordiality, as 

 impressed our traveller with the most favourable opinion 

 of their character, and relieved some apprehensions under 

 which he had laboured. The inhabitants, too, of the first 

 village at which they arrived received them in a manner 

 quite frank and hospitable, though they showed rather an 

 excessive eagerness to obtain a supply of tobacco. Cross- 

 ing the river Kuruhman, and proceeding by a winding path 

 through a noble forest, they reached Lattakoo. The cu- 

 riosity excited by their arrival soon attracted a crowd so 

 immense, as to make it impossible for the wagons to pro- 

 ceed ; but still the multitude appeared to be animated by 

 the most friendly sentiments. The venerable old king next 

 appeared, and promised to pay them an early visit. On a 

 pipe of tobacco being presented, he began to inhale the 

 smoke by large drafts, and after being satisfied, handed it 

 to his prime minister, who transmitted it to the next in dig- 

 nity ; thus it passed from mouth to mouth, till it reached 

 the lowest of the attendants. The king afterward intro- 

 duced the Doctor to his two wives, of whom the principal 

 one, Makaitshoah, dazzled him by the beauty which had 

 raised her from a low degree to the station that she now 

 occupied. She was loaded with a profiision of African 

 finery, — a mantle trimmed with rich furs, and fastened to 

 the shoulder by a bundle of cats' tails, sundry necklaces of 

 bone, copper, and coral, and on one arm no less than 

 seventy-two copper rings, on which she seemed to set the 

 highest value ; she displayed, and saw them counted with 

 peculiar delighjt. The ladies paid a very long visit, but 

 showed little regard for tea, which was at first presented as 

 most suitable to their rank and sex ; while wine, and more 

 especially brandy, were highly relished by them. In the 

 course of a long conversation, the lot of European wives, 

 in harving each a husband to herself, became, as usual, the 

 favourite theme ; but Makaitshoah, though she approved 

 of the system in general, thought that in Africa, where 

 the WEiste of war was so great, polygamy, to a certain ex- 

 tent, was necessary to keep up the numbers of the nation. 



Dr. Lichtenstein had intended to proceed considerably 

 farther into the interior ; but his views were changed, by a 

 proposal earnestly pressed upon him by the king to accom- 



