SOUTHERN AFRICA. 207 
inftance, a young woman be afked whether fhe be married, not 
content with giving the fimple negative, fhe throws open her 
cloak and difplays her bofom ; and, as moft frequently fhe has 
no other covering beneath, fhe perhaps may difcover at the 
fame time, though unintentionally, more of her charms. 
Inftances of infidelity are very rare ; and, when they do oc- 
cur, are accidental rather than premeditated. The punifhment 
is a fine, and, if the man choofes it, difmiifal of his wife ; but 
fhould a hufband furprife his wife in the a6t of adultery, the 
law would juflify him in putting the parties to death. Their 
laws in general appear to be very fimple, and grounded lefs on 
policy than on natural principles. If a murder fhould appear 
to be premeditated, the perpetrator is inflantly put to death. 
If a man fhould kill another in his own defence, in a quarrel, 
or by accident, he mufl pay to the relations of the deceafed, as 
a compenfation for their lofs, a certain fine, which is either 
agreed to among themfelves, or fettled by the chief and elders 
of the horde. In doing this, the value that the deceafed bore in 
the fociety is taken only into confideration. A chief has no 
power over the lives of his fubjefts : fhould he by defign, or in 
the heat of palfion, put a man to death, he would occur the 
hazard of being expelled by the community. For theft there 
is no other punifhment than that of reflitution. They know 
nothing of the pradice of imprifonment for any crime. 
The ancients were of opinion that the face was always the 
index of the mind. Modern phyfiognomifts have gone a ftep 
farther, and fay, that a fine form, perfed in all its parts, cannot 
contain 
