A FRIENDLY CUSTOM. 
555 
say they are too poor to give. The owner of a hundred cows, after 
begging for, and obtaining, a present of tobacco, will, if asked for a 
little milk, answer either, Ka Jcwona maashe (I have not got any milk), 
or Maashi kddio (the milk is all gone). 
Yet they have among them a custom, which at first sight has 
somewhat of a hospitable appearance ; but which on nearer examin- 
ation is discovered to be merely an affair of convenience, and much 
resembling in principle that of mercantile friendships, which end in 
an even balance of accounts. It obtains only, I believe, between 
them and the Klaarwater Hottentots, and consists in the selection 
of a particular person as the friend from whom they are to procure 
whatever they require. These favors are, either returned in kind, 
when the other party makes a journey into the country of him whom 
he has thus befriended, or they are repaid at the time with a present 
of equal value, if the Hottentot be the party who has received them. 
Thus, a Hottentot from that village, when he visits Litakun, which 
he never does but for the purpose of barter, goes directly to the 
house of his correspondent, whom he calls his maat (a Dutch word 
identical with, ' mate') who supplies him with milk and assists him 
in making his purchases of oxen or ivory, and even engages to secure, 
or collect for him, a quantity of these articles ready at the time of his 
next visit. From what has been stated of the selfish character of the 
Bachapins, it will readily be supposed that this generosity is not in- 
tended as gratuitous, and he does, in fact, receive in tobacco or other 
things, what in his estimation is quadruple the value of his trouble, 
for on their time, these people set no value. On the other hand, if 
the Bachapin visits the Hottentot village, he lives with his maat' 
at free quarters ; besides the advantage of accompanying the latter 
from Litakun, on which occasions he himself takes no provisions for 
their journey. I am unable to say whether this be a general custom 
between all the Bichuana tribes ; but even so far as it has already 
been traced, it is sufficiently interesting, as it exhibits the first dawn 
of one of the essential principles of international traffic, and shows 
us what mercantile agency is in its infancy, or at its birth. 
The character of the Bachapins, as it relates to their natural 
4 B 2 
