320 
BACHAPIN HUNTING-PARTIES. 
5 July, 
came away. They further mformed me that the Bachapins intended 
to have a grand hunt in about a month, and in which all the principal 
inhabitants of the town were to assist. 
These grand hunting-parties are conducted with great regularity ; 
and sometimes not less than five hundred men are ensao-ed in them. 
Their mode of proceeding consists in making a wide circuit, so as 
to enclose a portion of the country, many miles in extent. This 
circle of hunters gradually contracts itself, while the wild animals of 
every sort, are driven towards its centre, and the ring closes and at 
last becomes a thick and continued line of men. The animals, finding 
themselves thus surrounded, make a push to escape, and at the 
moment of their passing through this line, the hunters throw their 
hassagays, and sometimes kill a considerable number. 
The countenance of one of these men in particular, of him who 
was so ready to give me the above information, was exceedingly 
animated, and very expressive of a keenness of understanding. It 
was, it must be owned, a complete contrast to the general expres- 
sion of a Hottentot countenance ; and, after their wearisome apathy, 
the liveliness of these visitors recommended them strongly to my good 
opinion, and began to prepossess me in favor of their nation. This 
mode of judging, though a very common one, was not, indeed, very 
philosophical, or altogether just, since it often happens that under a 
dull or reserved exterior, much goodness of heart may lie concealed, 
and even some talents ; but the comparison often made their cold- 
ness seem tedious, and I rejoiced at the prospect oF finding the 
Bachapins to be a race of men possessed of more animation. 
These men addressed me by the title of Hdrra (father), which is 
their usual and most respectful mode in speaking to a superior. 
They seemed much pleased at having fallen in with us, and exhibited 
no surprise at the sight of a white-man, which, probably, was not 
altogether new to them. They appeared to be of a higher class than the 
two poor half-starved herdsmen who came to us at the Kruman j and 
their spirits would not have been so good, had they, like them, been 
living in want of the necessary food: but their bodies exhibited the best 
