TRAVELS IN 
contraction, they are beaten with stones till they become soft 
and pHant. In this state the interior side is scraped with 
sharp stones, and smeared with red ochre, till a nap, like that 
on cloth, is raised over the whole surface : they are then cut 
into proper sliapes, and sewed together exactly in the same 
manner that the shoemakers of Europe stitch together two 
pieces of leather. Their bodkin is a piece of polished iron, 
and the thread is the fibres of the tendons of the long dorsal 
muscle taken from various animals ; those in a wild state are 
preferred, as furnishing a much stronger thread than such 
as are domesticated. The Hottentots sew together their 
sheep-skins with the same material ; and the colonists, fol- 
lowing the example of the natives, have recourse to the same 
article as a substitute for flaxen thread, which, when the Eng- 
lish took possession of the settlement, bore a profit on the 
prime cost of a thousand pei^ cent. 
The progress of their agriculture, as observed by the king, 
had lately been checked by internal dissentions, and the en- 
croachments of a rival power. They seem however to be much 
more inclined to the pastoral than the agricultural life, — a 
circumstance which will materially retard their advancement in 
civilization. The husbandman finds leisure to sit down and 
reflect; the herdsman is never stationary, but wanders from 
place to place in search of food for his cattle. The chace 
employs the greatest portion of the time which the Kaffers 
have to spare. In their country the larger kinds of game, 
particularly the elephant and the buffalo, are become very 
scarce ; and not an ostrich nor a springbok is now to be found 
there. These two animals, keeping generally upon the plains^ 
