March.] WILD BUSHMAN COUNTRY. 
47 
we gave them some tobacco. Mr. M. wished to 
purchase a bamboos from the Captain, who re- 
plied he would give it in exchange for a tinder- 
box. On receiving it, he said he was an old man 
and a poor man, therefore he ought to have the 
tinder-box for nothing. Mr. M. replied that he 
was a young man, and poor, therefore the bam- 
boos should be given to him for nothing. The 
Coranna Captain laughed, and good humouredly 
gave it for the tinder-box. Mr. M. told him, 
as he had given it so freely, he should make him 
a present of a knife, which he thankfully received. 
They all asked for fire-water, (or spirits,) which 
they must have become acquainted with through 
the Griquas. 
They were particularly fond of looking at 
drawings of animals. On seeing a representation 
of Mr. Breda's house, in which I had lived at 
Cape Town, they could not conceive what it was. 
One of them, who could speak a little Dutch, 
asked me what it meant ? They expressed much 
wonder on being informed that it was a house in 
which white people lived. One of them had a 
long, wide incision across his back, which was 
not healed. It was made to cure a pain in his 
loins. Some had plasters of cow-dung covering 
the whole forehead as an ornament ; others had 
the forehead painted with red ochre. What a 
capricious thing is taste ? 
