848 The Roads to the feveral Marts of India, Book L 
it cannot be faici that either the Heat, or the Situation of 
the Climate, make thefe Gaffes- fo black. Being defirous 
to know the Reafon, and why they flunk fo terribly, I 
learnt it from a Girl, that was bred up in the Fort, who 
was taken from her Mother as boon as lire was born, and 
was white, like our Women in Europe ': She told me, that 
the Reafon was, becaufe the Cafres rub themfeives with a 
Greafe, or Ointment, compofed of feveral forts of Drugs, 
wherewith fliould they not anoint themfeives very often, 
and fo foon as they were born, they would become hy- 
dropfical, as the Blacks of Africa and the Ambyffmians are, 
or like the People of Saba, that never live above forty Years, 
and are always troubled with one Leg twice as big as the 
other. Thefe Cafres , as bruitifli as they are, have yet 
fome Knowledge of Simples, which they know how to 
apply to feveral Difeafes, which the Dutch have feveral 
Times experienced. Of nineteen, fick Perfons that we had in 
bur Ship, fifteen were committed to the Cafres , being 
troubled with Ulcers in their Legs, and old Wounds 
which they had received in the Wars ; and, in lefs than 
fifteen. Days, they were perfectly cured. Every one of 
thefe had two Cafres to look after him, and according to 
the Condition of the Wound or Ulcer, they went and 
fetched Simples, which they bruifed between two Stones, 
and applied to the Sore. As for the other four, they 
were fo far gone with the Pox, that they would not truft 
the Cafres with them, having been given over at Batavia , 
and fo they all died between the Cape and Saint Hel- 
tens. 
In the Year 1661, a Gentleman of Britanny , being at 
Batavia , was fo bit by the Gnats in the Night, that his 
Leg exulcerated prefently, in fuch a Manner as to puzzle 
all the Art and Skill of the Chirurgeons of that Town. 
When he came to the Cape of Good-Hope , the Captain of 
the Ship fending him on Shore, the Cafres came about 
him, and after they had beheld him, they told him, if he 
would truft to them, they would cure him ; the Captain 
therefore committed him to their Care, who cured him, 
and made him a found Man in lefs than fifteen Days. 
When a Ship comes to an Anchor in the Cape, it is the 
Cuftom for him that commands the Ship, to give Leave 
to fome Part of the Mariners and Soldiers to go afhore to 
refrefti themfeives. The fickly have firft Leave by Turns, 
and go to the Town, where they are dieted and lodged 
for feven or eight Sous a Day, and are very well ufed. It 
is the Cuftom of the Dutch , when they ftay here, to fend 
out Parties of Soldiers upon the Difcovery of the up-land 
Country, and they that go fartheft, are beft rewarded. 
With this Defign a Party of Soldiers, under the Com- 
mand of a Serjeant, far advanced in the Country, and 
Night coming on, they made a great Fire, as well to keep 
themfeives from the Lions, as to warm themfeives, and fo 
lay down to fleep round about it ; being afleep, a Lion feiz- 
ed one of the Soldier’s Arms, which the Serjeant perceiv- 
ing, immediately fhot the Lion with his Carbine; but, 
when he was dead, they had much ado to open the Lion's 
Mouth to get out the Soldier’s Arm. 
Thus it appears a vulgar Error, to think that Lions 
will not come near the Fire. As for the Soldier, the Caf- 
res cured him in twelve Days. There are in the Fort 
abundance of Lions and Tygers Skins ; among the reft, 
there was the Skin of a Horfe which the Cafres had killed ; 
it was white, crofted With black Streaks, fpotted like a 
Leopard, without a Tail. Two or three Leagues frorii 
the Dutch Fort, there was a Lion found dead, with foqr 
Porcupine Quills in his Body, the third Part whereof had 
pierced his Flefh ; fo that it was judged that the Porcupine 
had killed the Lion. The Skin, with the Quills in it, 
are kept at the Fort. A League from this Fort is a fair 
Town, that grov/s bigger every Day. 
When the Dutch Company arrive there with their Ships, 
if any Soldier or Mariner will live there, they are glad of 
it. They have as much Ground as they can manage, where 
they have all forts of Herbs, and Pulfe, and as much Rice, 
and as many Grapes, as they can defire. They have alfo 
young Gftriches, Beef, Sea-fifh, and fweet Water to catch 
the Oftriches when they pleafe ; they get their Nefts when 
they are young, and driving a Stake in the Ground, tie the 
Birds by : one Leg to the Stake, and when they are old 
enough, they come and take them out of the Neft, from 
whence it is impoffible to fly away. When the Dutch be gan 
to inhabit the Cape , they took a young Girl from her Jkfo- 
ther as foon as file was born ; fhe is white, only her Nofe 
is a little fiat. A Frenchman got her with Child, and would 
na’ve married hei ; but the Company were fo far from per- 
mitting him, that they took away above one hundred Livres 
of the Maid's Wages from her, to punilh her for the Mis- 
demeanor, which was fomewhat hard. 
There are great Numbers of Lions and Tygers, which 
the Dutch have a pretty Invention to take ; they fallen a 
Carbine to a Stake driven into the Earth, and lay Meat 
round about the Gun, which Meat is fattened with a String 
to the Trigger, fo that when the Beaft fnatches the Meatt 
the String pulls the Trigger, and the Gun goes off, hits 
the Lion either in the Throat or Breaft. The Cafres feed 
upon a Root like our Carrots, which they roaft, and make 
Bread of. Sometimes they grind it into Flour, and then 
it taftes like a Walnut; for their Food they eat the fame 
Root raw, with raw Flefh, and with the Entrails of Beafts, 
out of which they only fqueeze the Ordure. As for the 
Bowels of the wild Beafts, the Women wear them dried 
about their Legs, efpecially the Bowels of thofe Beafts their 
Hufbands kill, which they look upon as a kind of Orna- 
ment. 
They alfo feed upon Tortoifes, when they have fo far 
heated them at the Fire, as to make the Shells come off, 
They are very expert in darting their Azagayas, and thofe 
that have none make ufe of painted Sticks, which they will 
launce a great way ; with thefe they go down to the Sea- 
fide, and as foon as ever they fpy a Fifh near the Top of 
the Water, they will not fail to ftrike him. As for their 
Birds, which are like our Ducks, whofe Eggs are without 
any Yolk, they breed in fuch great Quantities in the Coun- 
try, that in a Bay, about eighteen Leagues from the Cape $ 
you may knock them on the Head with a Stick. The 
Dutch once carried a young Cafre to the General at Batavia^ 
who bred him carefully up, teaching him to underftand the 
Dutch and Portugueze Languages perfectly well. At length, 
being defirous to return to his own Country, the General 
gave him very good Cloaths, and good Linneft, hoping 
that he would have lived among the Dutch , and have 
been ferviceable to them in the Difcovery of the Country ; 
but fo foon as he got home, he flung his Cloaths into the 
Sea, and returned wild among his fellow Natives, eating 
raw Flefh as he did before, and quite forgetting his Bene^ 
factors. 
When the Cafres go a Hunting, they go in great Num- 
bers together, and make fuch a prodigious howling and yell- 
ing, that they fright the very Beafts themfeives, and in that 
Affright with Eafe deftroy them ; and I have been affured, 
that their Cries terrify the Lions themfeives. The Women 
are of fo hotaConftitution of Body, that if at the Times their 
Monthly Cuftoms are upon them, they happen to make 
Water, and that an European chances to fet his Feet upon 
it, it caufes an immediate Head-ach and Fever, which 
many times turns to the Plague. 
16. Having flayed twenty-two Days at the Qape of Good 
Hope , feeing that the Wind was favourable, we weighed 
Anchor, and fleered for St. Hellens ; when we were under 
Sail, the Mariners cried out, they would fleep till they came 
into St. Hellen’s Road ; for the Wind is very conftant, and 
carries you in fixteen or eighteen Days to the Road of the 
Ifland. All the Trouble that our Mariners had was, that 
in fourteen Days after our Departure from the Cape , they 
were often forced to the Top-maft Plead, upon Difcovery 
of the Ifland ; for as foon as you difcover the Ifland, the 
Pilot muft take care to fleer to the North-fide of the Ifland, 
becaufe there is no calling Anchor but on that Side of the 
Ifland, and that very near the Shore too, by reafon of the 
Deepnefs of the Water ; for if the Anchors come not to 
take hold, the Current of the Whiter and the Wind carries 
the Ship quite out of the Road, which there is no recover- 
ing again, becaufe the Wind never changes. 
So foon as the Ship came to an Anchor, part of the Sea- 
men were fent on Shore to get wild Hogs, of which there 
are great Plenty, and to gather Sorrel, which grows in 
great abundance ; and indeed they not only fent the Sea- 
men, but all the Pigs, Sheep, Geefe, Ducks, and Pullets 
aboard 
