2l6 
TRAVELS IN 
A greater degree of amufement feems to be derived by the 
women from the practice of tatooing^ or marking the body by 
raifing the epidermis from the cuticle ; a cuftom that has been 
found to exift among moft of the unciviUzed nations inhabit- 
ing warm countries, and which probably owes its origin to a 
total want of mental refources, and of the employment of time. 
By flightly irritating, it conveys to the body pleafurable fenfa- 
tions. In KafFer-land it has pafTed into a general fafliion. No 
woman is without a tatooed fkin ; and their ingenuity is 
chiefly exercifed between the breafts and on the arms. 
The temperate manner of living among thefe people, their 
fimple diet and their duly- proportioned quantity of exercife, 
fubjedt them to few complaints. A limited number of fimples 
compofe the difpenfary of all nations where phyfic is not a 
profeflion. The Kaffers make ufe of very few plants, and thefe 
chiefly in embrocations for fprains and bruifes. The mother 
of Gaika was fo folicltous to procure from us a quantity of 
common fait, to be applied as a purgative, that fhe fent a per- 
fon to our waggons, fifteen miles difl:ant, for it. They are not 
fubje£t to any cutaneous difeafes. The fmall-pox was once 
brought among them by a veiTel that was fl:randed on their 
coaft, and carried oflf great numbers. The marks of this dif- 
order were apparent on the faces of many of the elder people. 
They have no fermented nor diftilled liquors to impair the con- 
ftitution. The only two intoxicating articles of which they 
have any knowledge are tobacco and hemp. The effe<Sts pro- 
duced from fmoaking the latter are laid to be fully as narcotic 
as 
