MERCANTILE VISIT TO THE NUAKKETSIES. 
.537 
concerned ; especially with the Bachapins ; for, as these obtain from 
the Cape Colony beads at first-hand, and at their own price as long 
as they prevent a communication with any other tribe, they endea- 
vour to deter all visitors from the south, from penetrating farther 
beyond them, by representing the natives in that quarter as men of 
ferocious habits. 
A short time before my coming into their country, the Bacha- 
pins had joined with the Niidkketsies, in an expedition to plunder the 
Morutzies. Thus far, they were friends ; and even till a few weeks 
before my arrival, as Mokkaba (or Makkaba) their chief, had just 
then sent Mattivi a present of several oxen : but since this, some 
cause of enmity had arisen ; or rather perhaps, a jealousy on the part 
of the latter, lest, by having any good opinion of the Nuakketsies, 
I might become desirous of visiting their town. A great share of 
cautious cunning, therefore, was set to work in filling my ears with 
tales fabricated to their discredit ; but these tales were so full of con- 
tradictions, that they quite failed in their intended effect. One of 
the Klaarwater Hottentots, who, with a party of his countrymen, 
had about four or five years before, visited the Nuakketsies, told me 
at Litakun, that he and his companions were received there in a 
friendly manner, and, having bartered away their beads at a very 
profitable rate, were invited to renew their visit and continue the 
acquaintance. An English missionary was of this party, and was 
equally successful in the object of his journey j that of trading for 
ivory. 
The Barolongs, though represented to me and my men, by 
Mattivi, as a dangerous tribe, were found to be equally friendly ; 
and when they were subsequently visited by a missionary named Jan 
Kok in company with another missionary, Makrakki their Chief was 
exceedingly pleased to see them : but, from the same principle of 
mercantile jealousy which had actuated the Bachapins, he objected 
to their proceeding on to the next tribe beyond him, whither they 
were desirous of going, with a view to further trading. 
The story of this visit, as I had it from one of the party, clearly 
illustrates what I have before asserted from my own knowledge 
VOL. II. , 3 z 
