Almost any kind of food is acceptable to Hottentots; they eat roots, ants, grass, mice, toads, &c. They can long abstain from food, and can eat an enormous quantity without injury. All the tribes are fond of tobacco, which for the want of a better pipe, they smoke through the shank bone of a sheep. They smoke also the leaves of a kind of hemp called dacha, which stupefies and intoxicates. Much brandy is drank which is spread over the colony by means of traveling pedlars. Some of the wines of the Cape are excellent. There are one hundred and fifty varieties, some of which have a deleterious mixture of brandy. [252] The manner of traveling among the Colonists is in wagons drawn by six or seven yoke of oxen. As there are no taverns or places for refreshments, they carry sheep and other provisions with them. The Caffres are a plundering people, robbing each other at every possible opportunity. They are excellent herdsmen and have their herds so well trained that they are guided altogether by a shrill whistle. The punishments for offence are whipping with rods—exposure to a cluster of black ants—burning with hot stones—and death inflicted by clubs, or drowning. In their huts they sit on the skulls of cattle, with the horns attached, serving as arm pieces. We weighed anchor and proceeded on our voyage, passing through the Mozambique Channel. This channel separates the island of Madagascar from the main land, and is of about one thousand miles in length. Its waters are very swift and extremely rough, and are infested with hordes of pirates, who adhere to the island of Madagascar principally. Here we spoke several vessels, the Clinton of New York, and the Brazen Head of Liverpool. Nothing of interest occurred till we reached the soundings off the river Hoogly, or Little Ganges. These soundings or banks extend from the mouth of the river out to the distance of from sixty to a hundred miles. Innumerable numbers of pilots are stationed on them at all seasons and all hours. The Ganges, one of the noblest streams in the world, rises in the vast mountains of Thibet and is supposed by the natives to possess virtues capable of purifying them from every sin and transgression. At sunset they[253] light tapers and throw into the river, which are so constructed as to stand erect as they float on with the current. Thousands of them are thrown in at a time, affording a scene which is without a parallel in interest and singularity. Crowds of Hindoos are seen at all times washing in its water and saying their prayers in a kneeling posture on its banks. The waters of the Ganges are carried in great quantities to all parts of India, and are sworn by in courts of justice.