410 
THE LICHAKA, OR REED-PIPE. 
16, 17 July, 
it, I could not but consider as a circumstance of serious importance j 
and although it made on me a deep impression, I affected not to heed 
or understand it. I took no other notice, than merely replying that, 
we had much farther to go before we should turn our faces towards 
the Cape. 
Among the most timid of my men, was Platje : he was exceed- 
ingly anxious to quit this place. It was not, he said, fear, which 
made him so anxious, though his looks plainly proved the contrary ; 
but he felt his heart beat to see his wife and his dear children again, 
whom he had left in the Sneeuwbergen ; that after having been so 
long in a wild country, he thought it time to return home ; and that 
if we did not make haste to re-cross the Great-River, the drooge-tyd 
(dry season) would be gone by, and we should find that stream impas- 
sable for many months. 
lltJi. The Chief, now considering that the important affair of 
the gun was brought to a conclusion, dedicated the whole of this day, 
from seven in the morning till five in the afternoon, to dancing. As 
no intimation had been given me, that such an amusement was about 
to take place, I was surprised when awakened by the sound of music ; 
and on looking out of my waggon I saw the Chief and a number of 
his party, standing together tuning their pipes ready for a concert. 
These pipes, which they call lichdka, are simply reeds * of various 
sizes and lengths, tuned to concord generally by means of a small 
moveable plug in the lower end, and having their upper end, or 
mouth, cut transversely. This mouth is placed against the under 
lip, and the sound is produced by blowing into them, in the manner 
of a Pan's-reed. In order to keep the pipe steady, the forefinger 
rested above the upper lip, and the thumb against the cheek, while 
the other three fingers held the reed to its place. Each performer 
had but one pipe, and consequently was master of only one note of 
the scale ; although at the same time, there were among them, several 
pipes in unison ; and it seemed, that those notes of the gamut which 
* From the common reed {Amndo barbata) which grows in their rivers. 
