AFRICA.! 19 
tempted to carry away Ibme of my effects, even 
before my face ; and to prevent their rapacity, 
I was obliged either to watch over, or to depo- 
fit them in fome place of fafety, where they 
could no longer afford temptation, 
Thefe people are tall, and confequently of 
greater ftaturethan the Kottentots of the colo- 
nies. My Hottentots, for iaftance, reached 
only to their ffioulders ; but, notwithilan ding 
this difference of fize, and that of their cheeks 
which are lefs prominent, and though their 
Ikins are blacker, I believe them to be defcended 
from the fame race. At any rate they have 
the fame language and cuftoms as the Nimi- 
quas their neighbours, vv^ho are certainly of 
Hottentot extradion. 
Their drefs alfo is the fame In form as that 
of the Niniiquas, though it differs in the fub- 
fiance, being compofcd of the fldn of the 
hysena, and particularly of that of the jackal, 
an animal found in great abundance in thofe 
barren regions. With regard to the fkins of 
the buffaloe and the giraffe, as they are too 
thick to be ufed for dreffes, they employ them 
only to cover their huts. 
As the exceffive drynefs of the country 
C 2 renders 
