FIRST JOURNEY. 
13 
feveral pleafant farms, and in a clay's journey arrived at the q'^JJJJj. 
firft Hottentot'^" Kraal, which conlilled of fix huts built in a ' — ' — ■ 
* Speakirrr of the Hottentots, Mr. Sparman, fays, " With regard to then" perfons, they are 
as tall as moft Europeans ; and as for their being in general more llender, this proceeds from 
their being more ftinted and curtailed in their food, and likewife from their not ufing themfclves 
to hard labour. But that they have fmall 1 ands and feet compared with the other parts of their 
bodies, has been remarked by no one before, and may, perhaps, be looked upon as a c' arac- 
teriiHc mark of t^iis nation. 
The root of the nofe is for the moft part very low, by which means the diftance of the eyes 
from each other appears to be greater than in Europeans. The tip of the nofe likewife is pretty 
flat. The iris is fcarcely ever of a light colour, but has a dark brown caft, which fometimes 
approaches to black. 
Their {kin is of a yellowifh brown hue, which fomething refembles that of an European 
who has the jaundice in a high degree ; however, this colour is not in the leaft obfervable in the 
whites of the eyes. One does not find fuch thick lips among the Hottentots as among their 
neighbours the Negroes, the CafFres, and the Mozambiques. In fine, their mouths are of a 
V middling fize, and almoft always furnifhed with a fet of the fineft teeth that can be feen; and, 
taken together with the reft of their features, as well as their ihape, carriage, and every motion, 
in fhort their tout enfemble, indicates health and content, or at leaft an air of fans fouci. At 
the fame time, this carelefs mien difcovers marks of alacrity and refolution; qualities which the 
Hottentots, in fa£l, can exhibit upon occafion. 
Their heads one would fuppofe to be covered with a black, though not very clofe, frizzled 
kind of wool, if the natural harfhnefs of it did not diow, that it was hair, if poflible, more 
woolly than that of the negroes. If in other refpefts there fhould, by great chance, be obferved 
any traces of a beard, or of hair on any other parts of the body, fuch as are feen on the Europeans, 
it is, however, very trifling, and generally of the fame kind as that on the head." 
He then refutes an erroneous opinion concerning the men being different from others, and adds, 
*' The women have no parts uncommon to the reft of their fex." Withrefpect to their drefs, and 
method of painting themfclves, he remarks ; " the latter (if painting it may be called) conufts in 
befmearing their bodies all over moft copioufly with fat, in which there is mixed up a little foot. 
This is never wiped off ; on the contrary, I never faw them ufe any thing to clean their fkins, ex- 
cepting that when, in greafingthe wheels of their waggons, their hands were befmeared with tar 
and pitch, they ufed to get it off very eafily with cow-dung, at the fame time rubbing their 
arms into the bargain up to the ftioulders with this cofmetic : fo that as the duft and other filth, 
together with their footy ointment and the fweat of their bodies, muft neceffarily, notwithftand- 
ing it is continually wearing off, in fome meafure adhere to the fkin, it contributes not a little to 
conceal the natural hue of the latter, and at the fame time to change it from a bright umber- 
browm to a brownifti-yellow colour obfcurcd with filth and naftinefs. 
Befides the pleafure the Hottentots enjoy in befmearing their bodies from head to foot, they 
likewife perfume themfelves with powder of herbs, with wh.ich they powder both their heads 
and bodies, rubbing it in all over them when they befmear then\felYes. The c<lour of it is at the ^ 
fame 
