h when they were taking their
afternoon _siesta_, they have been known to receive travellers lying
quite still and motionless, excepting that they have very civilly
pointed out the road by moving their foot to the right or left....
Among a set of beings so devoted to their ease, one might naturally
expect to meet with a variety of the most commodious easy-chairs and
sofas; but the truth is, that they find it much more commodious to
avoid the trouble of inventing and making them.... Nor did the
inhabitants exhibit much less simplicity and moderation; or, to
speak more properly, slovenliness and penury in their dress than in
their furniture.... The distance at which they are from the Cape
may, indeed, be some excuse for their having no other earthenware or
china in their houses but what was cracked or broken; but this,
methinks, should not prevent them being in possession of more than
one or two old pewter pots, and some few plates of the same metal;
so that two people are frequently obliged to eat out of one dish,
besides using it for every different article of food that comes upon
the table. Each guest must bring his knife with him, and for forks
they frequently make use of their fingers. The most wealthy farmer
here is considered as being well dressed in a jacket of home-made
cloth, or something of the kind made of any other coarse cloth,
breeches of undressed leather, woollen stockings, a striped
waistcoat, a cotton handkerchief about his neck, a coarse calico
shirt, Hottentot field-shoes, or else leathern shoes with brass
buckles, and a coarse hat. Indeed, it is not in dress, but in the
number and thriving condition of their cattle, and chiefly in the
stoutness of their draught oxen, that these peasants vie with each
other. It is likewise by activity and manly actions, and by other
qualities that render a man fit for the married state, and the
rearing of a family, that the youth chiefly obtain the esteem of the
fair sex.... A plain close cap and a coarse cotton gown, virtue and
good housewifery, are looked upon by the fair sex as sufficient
ornaments for their persons; a flirting disposition, coquetry and
paint would have very little effect in making conquests of young men
brought up in so hardy a manner, and who have had so homely and
artless an education as the youth in this place. In short, here, if
anywhere in the world, one may lead an innocent, virtuous, and happy
life."

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