440 
CONVERSATION WITH SERRAKUTU. 
21 July, 
me a visit, and sat for about half an hour with me. When I 
inquired why he had remained so long without coming to the 
waggons, he answered, that he had been very busy making a kobo. 
On my remarking that I was always glad to see him ; he replied that he 
felt particularly desirous that we should become very intimate friends : 
and, to conclude these complimentary speeches, I rejoined that there 
was no doubt that such would be the case, as soon as we were a 
little more acquainted. In the mean time I would give him, I said, 
an opportunity of proving his sincerity by ordering some of his 
people to get me the skin of a khaaka, for which I offered him a foot 
and a half of tobacco. He made no promise that he would procure 
me the skin ; but wished that the offer should be made in beads 
instead of tobacco. This was a proposal which could not prudently be 
complied with, as it was now evident that no purchase could be made 
in the Interior without beads, and my teams were still incomplete. 
I invited him to make a journey to Cape Town, where he would, I 
assured him, not only get beads in abundance, but would behold so 
many extraordinary and handsome things, that he would never after- 
wards find time enough for relating to the people of Litakun all the 
wonders which he had seen. Yet all my representations seemed to 
have little effect in exciting any desire for such a journey : he re- 
plied ; ' At home I have two wives, who prepare for me every meal ; 
but if I go to the Cape, who will then cook my food, if I do not 
take them along with me ?' He was, however, a man of as much 
quickness of understanding as any of his countrymen ; but, as he 
found his present situation and mode of life suit his habits better 
than those of the makwd-mashu (white-men), he seemed not much 
inclined to risk any experiment with a view to ameliorate his condi- 
tion, or merely to acquire knowledge ; deeming, perhaps, all which 
white-men regarded as fine things and strong temptations, to be of 
little importance to him, excepting the beads. He ended these re- 
marks by reminding me that I had a day or two before, promised 
him some tobacco. I gave him, therefore, a piece of three inches, 
but desired that he would let no one know of it. He was 
equally anxious himself to conceal it, fearing that his friends would 
