caff RES. -—AVARS. 
20‘?. 
Their houses are scattered by the sides of rivers, and have planta- 
tions around them. They are built with small posts set upright, about 
seven feet high, hurdled with sticks, and daubed over with earth. The 
men clear the plantations, and the women cultivate them. The girls pick 
and spin cotton,'which the women weave into cloth for their hammocks. 
The men make baskets very neatly with canes, reeds, and palmetto 
leaves, dyed of different colours. Each man has several wives, who 
live together in great harmony. They dance to the sound of a pipe 
or drum, and are expert at tumbling. When they go a- hunting, the 
women carry baskets full of plantains, bananas, yams, potatoes, and 
cassava roots, ready roasted. Rivers are no interruption to their 
expeditions, men, women, and children being equally expert at swim- 
ming. They have no distinction of weeks, but reckon their time by 
the course of the moon. 
Caffres. 
These are the natives of Caffraria, whom Mr.Walker thus describes : 
“ The Caffres are tall, active, and strong, and evince great courage 
in attacking lions, and other beasts of prey. Their complexions are 
black : their clothing consists of hides of oxen, which are as pliant 
as cloth.” Perhaps this kind of clothing has led voyagers to con- 
found them with the Hottentots. “'Industry is the leading trait in the 
character of the Caffres. The men employ much of their time in 
hunting, the women in cultivating the land. They also make 
earthenware, and curious baskets. They have a high opinion of the 
supreme Being, and of his power ; believe in a future state of rewards 
and punishments ; and think that the world had no beginning, and 
will be everlasting. They have no form of prayers nor priests, yet 
undergo, at nine years of age, the initiatory rite of the Hebrews. 
Their government is limited monarchy, and their king is often poorer 
than his subjects. He is allowed a plurality of wives.” 
Avars. 
These were a tribe of Sarmatian origin, deriving their name 
which signifies far distant, from their remote eastern situation with 
regard to Europe. Their name and their nation were unknown to 
the civilized world, till in the sixth century they revealed their exist- 
ence to it by the terrors they inspired, and connected their history 
with its revolutions and its downfall. Driven before a tribe more 
fierce and powerful than themselves, they emerged from their pri- 
meval wilds, and appeared on the confines of the Eastern empire in 
the reign of Justinian. Their pride was not tamed by their defeats, 
nor their confidence dismayed by the appearance of a civilized and 
pow'erful state. Their ambassadors having gained admittance to the 
Roman emperor, represented their nation as the most powerful and 
most warlike people on the earth, as invincible when attacked, or 
irresistible when aggressors. Upon the faith of this character, they 
offered their services to the empire, and demanded gifts and riches as 
their reward. Instead of endeavouring to dispel this cloud of bar- 
