104 A BLACK COQUETTE. [chap. iv. 



one of them for the chiefs wife. There were plenty 

 of utensils ahout, such as wooden milk-bowls, pipes, 

 and so on : there was a stuffed ottoman, and the whole 

 place had a great appearance of comfort. The chief 

 was a gentleman, and very courteous. Though 

 Hottentot was his language, yet he spoke a httle 

 Damara, in which language we talked to him. He had 

 a charming daughter, the greatest belle among the 

 blacks that I had ever seen, and a most thorough- 

 paced coquette. Her main piece of finery, and one 

 that she flirted about in a most captivating manner, 

 was a shell of the size of a penny-piece. She had 

 fastened it to the end of a lock of front hair, which 

 was of such a length as to permit the shell to dangle to 

 the precise level of her eyes. She had learnt to move 

 her head with so great precision as to throw the shell 

 exactly over whichever eye she pleased, and the lady's 

 winning grace consisted in this feat of bo-peei>, first 

 eclipsing one eye and languishing out of the other, and 

 then with an elegant toss of the head reversing the 

 proceedings. 



Her papa would sell me no oxen nor sheep ; he 

 insisted that he had none, though the place was fuU 

 of tracks. But these people are very cunning to 

 strangers, lest the stranger should think proper to 

 steal their cattle. I very much regretted that I had 

 not a good interpreter, as I had taken a fancy to the 

 chief, and should have liked to have had a long con- 

 versation with him. He was not paramount over the 

 mountain, but there were one or two more captains. 

 Indeed, he assured me he could not give me guides 



