364 
BIRTHS. — CATTLE. — HONEY-BEER. 
Oct. 
By a register of births and deaths it appears that the former 
exceed the latter ; but I could not learn in what proportion. These 
Hottentots pretend that their wives are never duly obedient till they 
have undergone, what they consider, a salutary castigation ; and I 
was assured that it was not easy to find a man who did not occa- 
sionally beat his wife. 
The number of cattle belonging to the Klaarwater Hottentots is 
guessed at three thousand, including oxen, cows, and calves. The 
price of an ox is ten or twelve rix dollars ; and of a sheep, two. By 
barter for beads and tobacco, they annually obtain from the Bachapins 
(called Briquas or Goat-men, in the Hottentot language), a number 
of oxen ; most of which they sell in the colony at the average rate of 
twenty rix dollars each. Of sheep and goats they possess a large 
number ; and of horses, between eighty and ninety. Of dogs there is 
a sufficient proportion, but they have neither cats nor pigs. A little 
poultry is kept by one or two families only ; but the missionaries 
have a few domestic fowls, ducks, geese, and Guinea hens or Pin- 
tadoes, which are called by the quaint name of Jan Tadentaal. This 
bird is found wild in many parts of the country. 
These Hottentots have nothing that deserves to be considered 
as a garden producing fruit and esculent vegetables ; but those 
who are not too indolent cultivate tobacco. They are fond of 
brandy, but their distance from the colony prevents their being 
gratified to the extent of their wishes or means. An attempt at dis- 
tilling a spirit from the berries of, what they therefore call, the 
Br^andewyn-bosch (Brandy-bush*) had succeeded ; but the trouble 
of collecting a sufficient quantity of the berries, was a check to its 
being too often made. They supply themselves more plentifully, 
and at an easier rate, with a fermented liquor, which they call 
" honey-beer," made with honey and water, and which answers 
sufficiently well for the purpose of intoxication. All are exceedingly 
fond of tea, and when the Chinese kind is not to be procured, they 
make use of the leaves of various wild plants : next to tobacco and 
* Grexmia Jlava. 
