FIRST J O U R N E Y. 
13 
feveral pleafant farms, and in a day’s journey arrived at the oaJbe'i 
fir ft HottentoF'' Kraal, which confifted of fix huts built in a ^ 
* Speaking of the Hottentots, Mr. Sparman, fays, “ With regard to their perfons, they arc* 
as tall as moft Europeans; and as for their being in- general more llender, this proceeds from, 
their being more hinted and curtailed in their food, and-likewife from their not ufing themfelves- 
to hard labour. But that they have fmall hands and feet compared with the.other parts of tlieir 
bodies, has been remarked by no one before, and may, perhaps, be looked upon as a ci.arac- 
teriftic mark of this nation. 
The root of the nofe is for the mod: part very low, by which means the didance of the eyes 
from each other appears to be greater than in Europeans. The tip of the nofe likewife is pretty- 
flat. The iris is fcarcely ever of a light colour, but has a dark brown cad, which fometimea 
apfs'oaches to black.^ 
Their fkin is of a yellowidi brown hue, which fomething refembles that of an Europeart 
who has the jaundice in a high-degree ; however, this colour is not in the lead obfervable in the 
whites of the eyes. One does not find fuch thick lips among the Hottentots as among their 
neighbours the Negroes, the Cafires, and the Mozambiques. In fine, their mouths are of a 
middling fize, and almod always furnllhed with a fet of the fined teeth that can be feen; andy 
taken together with the red of their features, as well as their fhape, carriage, and every motion, 
in fhort their tout enfemble, indicates health and content, or at lead an air of fans fouci. At 
the fame time, this carelefs mien difcovers marks of alacrity and rcfolutionj qualities which tbs 
Hottentots, in faH, can exhibit upon occafion. 
Their heads one wmuld fuppofe to be covered with a black,, thougli not very clofe, frizzled 
kind of wool, if the natural harlhnefs of it did not fhow, that it was hair, if poflible, more 
woolly than that of the negroes,. If in other refpedls there Ihould, by great chance, be oblerved. 
any traces of a beard, or of hair on any other parts of the body, fuch as are feen on. the Europeans, 
it is, however, very trifling, and generally of the fame kind as that on the head.” 
He then refutes an erroneous opinion concerning the men being diflerent from others, and adds, 
“ The women have no parts uncommon to the red of their fex.” Withrefpecl to their drefs, and 
method of painting themfelves, he remarks-; “ the latter (if painting it may be called) confids iu 
befmearing their bodies all over modcopioufly with fat, in which tf.ere is mixed up a little foot. 
This is never wiped off; on the contrary, I never faw them ufe any thing to clean their fkins, ex-^ 
cepting that when, in greafing the wheels of their waggons, their hands were befmeared with tar 
and pitch, they ufed to get it off very eafily with cow-dung, at the fame time rubbing their 
arms into the bargain up to the fhoulders with this cofmetic: fo that as the dud and other filth, 
together wnth their footy ointment and tire fweat of their bodies, mud necefl'arily, notwithdand- 
ing it is continually wearing off, in fome meafure adhere to the Ikin, it contributes not a little to 
co.nceal the natural hue of the latter, and at the fame time to change it from a bright umber- 
brown to a brownidi-yel’ow colour obfcured with filth and nadinefs. 
Befides the pleafure the Hottentots enjoy in befmearing their bodies from head to foot, they 
likewife perfume themfelves with powder of herbs, with which they powder both their lieads 
and bodies, rubbing it in all over them when they befmear themfelves. I'he cdour of it is at the 
fa ms 
