514 
CAFFRARIA. 
When 1 enquired of some of our Hottentots who had lived 
among the Catfres, if they had any conjectures among them 
concerning the nature of the heavenly bodies, they said the 
Caffres did not allow their thoughts to extend so far as the 
stars. 
Like the Matchappees, they have circumcision among 
them, though ignorant of what gave rise to the custom. 
They perform this ceremony on their young men at the age 
of fourteen years, or more. For this purpose they are 
caught, for they seldom submit willingly, and brought into a 
house, when the operation is forcibly performed; after which 
they are not permitted to sleep till they are healed, and to keep 
them awake, men are employed to beat them on the ends of 
their fingers. One man performs this office for a consider- 
able district, and is paid for his trouble by a calf or an 
assagay. They daub the person over with white, so that our 
Hottentots said, he looks like the devil. They likewise 
furnish him with an apron made from a plant which grows 
in the rivers of Caffraria, and the young men, thus painted 
and dressed, dance together at a distance from the Kraal, to 
which they are not admitted till perfectly recovered. When 
recovered, they wash off the clay in the river, and receive 
each a new garment as a present from the women Then 
the house in which they were confined and every thing in it 
is burned ; after which a young female is presented to each ; 
and being now considered as men, they are allowed to eat 
some parts of a beast, which are forbidden till that rite is 
performed. When the son of a Caffre chief is circumcised, 
he becomes chief of all the youth of the same age and 
under, and his father retains his authority over all others: 
thus the power is divided between the father and his 
eldest son. 
When a Caffre wishes to marry, he invites the female to 
whom he is partial to his house, and makes a feast. If 
pleased with her, he negotiates with the parents to marry 
her, which negotiation chiefly relates to the number of cattle 
to be given for her ; — if successful, a day is appointed for 
the celebration of the nuptials. On the morning of that day 
she appears, with only a little dress, in presence of the whole 
Kraal, walking past each person, with companions on each 
side of her. Then she turns her back towards her parents, 
intimating that to be the last time they shall see her in that 
state* Cattle are now killed, when they feast and dance as 
long as they last. 
Polygamy is very general among them. The common 
