The habit of greasing their bodies probably originated, as it did in other warm climates, in the scarcity of water, and the necessity of some protection from the rays of the sun. Barrow suggests that this practice introduced into South America would prove a salutary check to the prevalence of that loathsome disorder called the elephantiasis. When a Hottentot wishes to marry, he drives two or three of his best oxen or sheep to the house of the bride’s relations, accompanied by as many friends as he can collect together. The animals are slain, and the whole assembly rub themselves with the fat. The men sit in a circle round the bridegroom, and the women round the bride. A blessing is then pronounced on the young couple, which principally consists in the hope that their sons will be expert huntsmen, and prove a comfort to their old age. A feast is then prepared, and when they have all eaten voraciously, a pipe is lighted, of which each one smokes a few whiffs, and then passes it to his neighbor. Feasting is sometimes kept up for several days; but they have no music or dancing. Men and women always eat separately. When an infant is born, they rub it gently with fresh cow-dung, believing it to possess certain medicinal qualities; they then bruise the stalks of wild figs and wash the child in the juice; and when this is dry, fat, or butter, is liberally applied. After this the parents give it a name, which is generally the appellation of some favorite animal. A feast is given, of which all the inhabitants of the kraal, or village, partake, except the mother, who receives some of the fat for the use of herself and child. Large numbers of the Hottentot women are childless, and a family of six is considered a wonderful prodigy. The half European and half Hottentot children are remarkably vigorous and healthy, and become tall, well-proportioned men and women. This mixed race, somewhat remarkable for brightness and activity, seem likely to supplant the natives entirely. It rarely happens that a Hottentot woman has twins, but when this is the case one of them is barbarously exposed in the woods, to be starved, or devoured by wild beasts, as the case may be. Very old people are sometimes exposed in the same way. All the other African tribes are distinguished for great respect and tenderness toward the aged. When the Hottentot boys are eighteen years old, they are formally admitted into the society of men. The company of women, even that of their own mothers, is ever after considered a disgrace to them; and being released from all maternal authority, they not unfrequently beat their mothers and sisters, merely to show manly independence. The women howl and lament for the dead, in the same manner that prevails in other portions of the continent.