Nov.] HOTTENTOT EPICURES. 299 



Though the sole wealth of this people consists of cattle and sheep, 

 they derive much of their sustenance from the ocean. Their imple- 

 ments for fishing and hunting are the spear and the bow ; the former 

 is made of a heavy hard wood, and is generally about sixteen feet in 

 < length : this wood resembles our yellow ebony, but the grain is not 

 ' quite so fine. Their bows are made of the same kind of wood, and 

 measure about five feet in length, being two inches wide in the centre. 

 The arrows are of reed, about three feet long, and pointed with hard 

 wood and flint. Both sexes are very expert with these weapons. I 

 have frequently seen them shoot gulls on the wing at fifty yards' dis- 

 tance ; and they seldom fail of placing the arrow in the body of the 

 bird. They are equally expert with the spear in catching fish, — fre- 

 quently striking one of seven to ten pounds' weight at the distance of 

 twenty-five to thirty yards. Their fishing excursions generally detain 

 them from home three or four days : they salt all the fish which they 

 take over and above what they consume on the spot, which they al- 

 ways eat raw, and the small ones are devoured without even divesting 

 them of their entrails. They procure their salt from the springs at the 

 head of the bay. 



In appeasing the cravings of hunger these people are, in fact, hor- 

 ribly disgusting to a civilized person, — being actually fonder of the 

 entrails of cattle and sheep than of any other part. On my killing 

 some of these animals on the beach for the use of our crew, the na- 

 tives devoured the entrails raw, before they were cold. I offered them 

 some of the beef, but they refused it, and gave me to understand that 

 the entrails were the best part of the creature in their estimation. In 

 eating eggs, their fastidious delicacy is even more conspicuous ; for 

 they will not touch one until incubation is nearly perfected, protesting 

 that fresh eggs are not fit for food. At their villages I observed that 

 they roasted their beef, as they did also the flesh of wild beasts. The 

 entrails, however, were seldom cooked, as the luxurious epicures pre- 

 ferred them warm from the animal. 



When they have been successful in taking a great number of oceanic 

 birds, which is often the case in the laying season, they bury them in 

 the sand, with their entrails in them, until they become quite green. 

 This takes all the fishy taste from them, and they become very tender. 

 They then take out the entrails, skin the birds, and dry their bodies in 

 the sun, which will so effectually cure them in forty-eight hours, that 

 they may be laid away for twelve months without receiving any injury. 

 Indeed, such is the purity of the air on this part of the coast, that I 

 have had a quarter of fresh beef, weighing two hundred weight, hang- 

 ing in the rigging until it became perfectly dry, without becoming 

 tainted in the slightest degree, even next to the bone. What stronger 

 evidence need be adduced to prove the excellence of this location for 

 jerking beef? The atmosphere is pure, warm, and dry ; and for ten 

 months of the year there is scarcely a drop of rain. Very little falls 

 during the other two months. 



