122 
A COLONIAL CUSTOM. 
20, 21 March, 
which good-breeding pays as readily to the inferior as to the equal. 
This however the good old father-in-law would not allow, and though 
the feebleness of seventy, might have excused his moving, he rose 
from his chair, and fetching my hat, put it on my head, saying, he 
feared that I should take cold in the same manner as they themselves 
had done. 
After tea, I was required in my turn, to tell the wonders of the 
Bushmen's country. My account of the treatment which I had 
received amongst the savages, did not fail to interest and surprise 
them. The old people, to whom more particularly, anecdotes of 
Bushmen were subjects of a novel kind, listened with the greatest 
attention ; and would have forgotten the hour of the night, if supper 
had not put an end to the conversation, and brought me a respite : 
for at last, the onus loquendi rested entirely upon myself. Both before 
and after supper, a pretty long grace was said, or rather sung, by one 
of the younger branches of the family. 
I now for the first time, had an opportunity of witnessing the old 
colonial custom, of washing feet after supper. A maid-servant carried 
round to each member of the family in turn, according to age, a small 
tub of water, in which all washed in the same water. It must be 
regarded as a proof of their good sense, that they showed respect to 
the habits of a foreigner, by not pressing me to join in this ceremony : 
the tub was merely offered to me, and then passed on. But this 
custom is, I believe, gradually wearing away, throughout the colony. 
Its utility was more evident in former times, when the colonists went 
without stockings, as indeed many do at the present time ; but since 
the country has become so much richer, that almost every person can 
afford to clothe himself more completely, this practice is falling into 
disuse. 
The whole house formed but a single room ; and in this a large 
fireplace atone endservedfor kitchen, where slaves, and some Hottentot 
maids, sat within the chimney, cooking both for the company and for 
themselves. At the other end a screen of mats parted off a bed-room 
for the female part of the family ; while a few blankets spread upon 
