328 
TRAVELS IN 
xvhich would give them reafon to talk of me 
for a long time, and make me known to their 
nation, if, as I hoped, I fliould revifit it. 
My propofal was received with a fhout of 
joy. The ITottentot alone appeared diflatisfied 
with It, becaufe, confcious he was the leaft ex- 
pert markfman, he defpaired of obtaining a 
prize. If I had received fervices from the 
Houzouanas, I was more indebted for thefe 
fervices to their natural difpofmon than to him, 
who, being a ftranger lately fettled in the horde, 
could have little influence with regard to their 
treatment of me. Yer, as he had been ufeful 
to me in the charader of an interpreter, and as 
it was he who had principally given me an ac- 
count of the nation, I conceived that I owed 
him fome acknowledgment, and therefore 
promifed him a knife. 
Our fire-arms are fo certain, in confequence 
of their fight and the manner in which they 
may be pointed at an object, that in reality" 
it is almoft a difgrace to a man not to be dex- 
terous in the ufe of them. It is not fo with the 
bow ; and, unlefs the favage £hoat at an obje£l 
perpendicularly over his head, the fufileer has 
an infinite advantage over him, particularly if 
the 
