330 
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 
caution against the influence of the sun's rays in 
so parched a climate. In the females, the ex- 
change of dried skins for beads, metal buttons, 
and other such ornaments, is considered as by no 
means a prudent alteration. The Hottentots, of 
both sexes, when young, are by no means deficient 
in personal appearance ; but as they grow old, the 
two sexes, females especially, lose their shape, and 
become immoderately fat. The number of Hot- 
tentots in the district of Graaf Reynet is estimat- 
ed at 10,000. 
The mission now set out for Caffreland. A 
party of armed colonists offered to accompany 
them, solely, it was suspected, with a view to 
amusement, and secretly perhaps to plunder j but; 
the party courageously resolved tp trust to the 
good character of the Caffres, and shew no symp- 
toms of fear. They soon arrived at a party of 
about three hundred. The men appeared the fin- 
est figures they had ever seen, tall, robust, and 
muscular, with a firm carriage and an open manly 
countenance. The women were pf low stature, 
strong limbed, and by no means handsome ; but their 
extreme gaiety and good humour, without any mix- 
ture of immodesty, prepossessed our travellers much 
in their favour. The habitations were merely twigs 
bent into the form of a parabola, covered with grass 
and branches of trees, and were evidently built on-? 
Ip for temporary use. The mission having com- 
