104 TRAVELS IN 
not entirely naked, have hit upon a less effectual plan for 
such a purpose than that of the Hottentot. If the real 
design of it originated in an idea of decency, it would seem 
that he has widely missed his aim, as it is certainly one of 
the most immodest objects, situated as he has thought fit to 
place it, that could well have been contrived. From the 
back part of the belt or girdle hangs a piece of stiff dried 
skin, reaching scarcely to the middle of the thigh, which is 
cut into the shape of an acute isosceles triangle with the 
point uppermost. Some wear a couple of such pieces. 
This contrivance as a covering is no better than the other; 
for when he walks quickly or musters up a running pace, it 
flies from one side to the other, and flaps backwards and 
forwards in such a manner as to conceal no particular part of 
the body, which indeed does not seem to have been the pur- 
pose exactly for which it is worn. Nature having given to 
most animals a tail to fan themselves in hot weather and to 
lash away troublesome insects, and having left the Hottentot 
■without one, his ingenuity has contrived an artificial appen- 
dage with a view to its answering the same end. These 
articles constitute the whole of their summer dress. A great 
beau will probably fasten a bracelet of beads or a ring of 
copper round his wrist : but such trinkets are more properl}- 
the ornaments which belong to the other sex. 
The Hottentot women, fond of finery like those of most na- 
tions, by their immoderate rage for dress accelerated the ruin 
of their husbands, which they themselves had brought on by 
as strong a rage for ardent spirits and tobacco. These two 
articles, brass buttonsand glass beads, were ex-changed for their 
