74 TRAVELS IN 
three articles of merchandlfe particularly In re- 
queft among the favages ; hardware, brandy, 
and tobacco. Yet I feared the diforder and 
negleift of difcipline which fuch a man might 
introduce into my company ; and he foon con- 
vinced me that my apprehenfions were not 
without foundation. He had brought with 
him three barrels of that inferior kind of 
brandy, which is made and fold by the colonifts : 
but, from the fondnefs he fhowed for it, his 
cargo would be confiderably dimlniflied before 
he reached the Nimiquas. That very evening 
he took fuch a dofe, as completely to drown 
the little fhare of fenfe he pofTefTed ; and, in 
this ftate, his calks were left at the difcretion 
of the Hottentots, who regaled my whole ca- 
ravan with their contents, fo that before night 
both his people and mine were as drunk as 
himfelf. In the midft of thefe difgufting re- 
vels, Pinar, though unable to fpeak plain, en- 
deavoured to feduce my Hottentots, and per- 
fuade them to quit my fervice for his. The 
fight of the three barrels that were abroach was 
a powerful temptation ; and I bbferved an in- 
ftant when their ancient attachment to me was 
on 
