474 
MORUNA, THE KARRIKARRI TRADER. 
26 July, 
land, and the first which commonly meet a traveller's eye, are 
the wretched half-starved dogs, which, driven by hunger, prowl 
around him to devour every piece of animal substance which they 
can find ; and unless he be every evening carefiil to place his riems, 
trekfouws, and even his shoes, out of their reach, he will most pro- 
bably find them, in the morning, gnawed to pieces, or perhaps even 
carried off entirely. That the cattle belonging to this nation, are 
more fortunate, with respect to food, than the domestic animals, is to 
be accounted for solely by their living on grass, and not on any sub- 
stance which their owners can convert into food for themselves. 
As Berends and Hendrik had visited several Bichuana nations 
of whom little was hitherto known, and were of the first and only 
party which had advanced so far into the Interior, I took the oppor- 
tunity of gleaning from them, all the information they were able to 
give, and engaged them in my waggon the greater part of the fore- 
noon. What they now related, was afterwards found useful as a clue 
to further inquiries among the natives themselves ; from whose testi- 
mony I was enabled to confirm the principal part of their account. 
They mentioned a Bichuana of the name of Moruna, as a person 
who could give some information relative to a distant tribe called 
Kdrrikarri, very little known and living to the north-north-west of 
Litakun. At my request they went to his house, to bring him to 
me ; but he could not be found. They learnt that he was about to 
set out on the following day or the day after, on a journey to the 
Karrikarri country, for the purpose of bartering for the skins of 
jackals, and kaamas, and various smaller skins used for making the 
fur-cloaks. His visits to that tribe, were regular and frequent, 
perhaps every year; and his stay amongst them was usually a month 
or two, which he employed in collecting together a quantity of these 
skins sufficient for the loading of two or three oxen. 
I am satisfied to rely on Hendrik alone, as a confirmation 
from the natives could not of course be obtained, for a botanical 
fact which is exceedingly interesting: that in the country of the 
Nuakketsis he had seen the wagenboom, which he pronounced to be 
exactly the same tree as the one which is known by that name in the 
