98 TRAVELS IN 
only be the effects of pleasurable sensations floating in his 
mind : in a civilized state, they are arts acquired by study, 
followed by fashion, and practised at appointed times, with- 
out having any reference to the passions. If dancing and 
singing were the tests by which the happiness of a Hottentot 
was to be tried, he would be found among the most miser- 
able of all human beings ; I mean those Hottentots living 
with the farmers of Graaff Reynet in a state of bondage. 
It is rare to observe the muscles of his face relaxed into a 
smile. A depressed melancholy and deep gloom constantly 
overspread his countenance. A Ghonaqua man and a young 
Hottentot girl from Sneuwberg, both of them in the service 
of one of the farmers who crossed the desert with us, were 
the only two I had hitherto met with who seemed to have 
any taste for music. They had different instruments; one 
w^as a kind of guittar with three strings stretched over a 
piece of hollow wood with a long handle ; it was called in 
their language gabowie. The other inftrument was extremely 
simple : it consisted of a piece of sinew or intestine twisted 
into a small cord, and fastened to a hollow stick about three 
feet in length, at one end to a small peg, w^hich, by turning, 
brings the string to the proper degree of tension, and at the 
other to a piece of quill fixed into the stick. The tones of 
this instrument are produced by applying the mouth to the 
quill, and are varied according as the vibratory motion is 
given to the quill and string by inspiration or expiration. 
It sounds like the faint murmurs of distant music that 
" comes o'er the ear," without any distinct note being 
made out by that organ. This instrument was called the 
gowra. 2 
