48 
MUTUAL CONFIDENCE. — ESTIMATE OF PRESENTS. 6 March, 
their good-will ; and which pleased them the more, as they had been 
unused to witness in the conduct of white-men, so unequivocal a 
mark of amicable intentions. They had never seen these dangerous 
strangers within the limits of their country, but in large and sti'ong 
bodies, which, though they commanded their respect, always excited 
their fears and mistrust. They were satisfied that from me, they had 
nothing to fear ; and it was tlie novelty of this circumstance which 
gave me, in their eyes, a character of peculiar interest ; while the 
evident desire I showed, of obliging them as far as it was in my power, 
won their good opinion without any aid from the false oratory of mere 
verbal professions, and dispensed with the necessity of language to ' 
convince them of what was rendered much more intelligible by facts. 
It was by facts and conduct only, that I could hold communication 
with the tribe ; for my ignorance of the language, as for the purpose 
of conversation without the intervention of an interpreter, rendered 
the power of pleasing words, unavailable in this case. 
Kaabi their chief now made his appearance in a more dis- 
tinguished manner, wearing a white hat which by some means he had 
obtained out of the Colony. Whether it was the vanity of giving 
himself a more important character in my sight, or the desire of 
paying a compliment by proving that he admired and valued the 
dress of white-men, which induced him to dress different from all the 
inhabitants of his village, I could not ascertain; but I am more 
disposed to regard the former, as his real motive. 
For the purpose of giving an idea of the quantity of tobacco 
distributed on such occasions, and to show what these poor creatures 
considered as a handsome 2^^^sent, it is necessary here to explain 
the form into which the tobacco of the Cape colony is generally 
manufactured. 
After the leaves of the plant are properly dried and divested of 
the stalk and midrib, they undergo the usual process of steeping, and 
are then twisted into long ropes of the customary thickness of about 
an inch, sometimes thicker, but oftener thinner. These ropes are coiled 
up in the form of r^olls of various sizes, weighing from five to eight 
or ten pounds. Among the boors, these are sold by the pound : but 
