270 
HOTTENTOTS AT THEIR FIRE —PARTRIDGES. 19 — 24 A 
During these days, the weather was remarkably variable : some- 
times very hot, the thermometer at 80°, and, at other times, down 
to the freezing point ; attended with rain or hail, and violent winds, 
generally from the south-west quarter. The only shelter my men 
could find, was a few bushes, against which a mat was placed. Here 
they sat the whole day, their chief employment being smoking, talk- 
ing, keeping up the fire, or attending their pot. Each in his jas 
(great-coat) defied the weather, and sat quite at ease. The brim of 
Speehians grand hat was now let down, and, during the rain, com- 
pletely answered the purpose of an umbrella. Hannah, wrapped in 
her kaross, seldom stirred from her seat under the bush ; while 
Philip, to show his greater degree of civilization and polish, seated 
himself on one of the water-casks, leaving Gert to take advantage of 
a small mound of earth near the fire. As I sat in my waggon, 
I made a drawing of this party : it which forms the subject of 
the vignette at the head of the chapter. 
Here I obtained a sort of Partridge *, of a uniform ash-brown 
color, every where marked with fine white lines, excepting the quill- 
feathers and the head. The feathers of the breast, each with a white 
stripe down the middle the beak and legs of a bright red : but the 
ridge of the upper mandible, the nails, and the eyes, were black, and 
had two nasal caruncles, of a blackish ash-color. It was called by 
the colonists Faisdnt (Pheasant), a name, in this instance, quite 
misapplied. 
The Schaapwagteiije (the Little Shepherd), so called from its 
familiarity in approaching the Hottentots while tending their sheep, 
is a bird common in all the open country of this part of Africa, f 
Here we received the information that Africaander, a noted 
Hottentot freebooter, had forced one of the missionaries in Nama- 
qualand to fly from his station on the Orange river (Gariep), and take 
refuge within the colony. This name has been rendered more formid- 
* Perdix Capensis. 
•f- It is Le Traquet Pdtre of Le Vaillant, Ois. d'Afr. pi. 180.; and, perhaps, the 
Motacilla aurantia, Sys. Nat. ed. Gm. 
