Series 03: Joseph Banks - Endeavour journal, 25 August 1768 - 12 July 1771 (vol. 2) - No. 0667
Primary tabs
Transcription
[Page 667]
563.
Some account of the Cape of Good Hope
the Cape in which they retaind their original Customs those who come to the Cape which are in number not a few are all Servants of the Dutch farmers whose cattle they take care of & generaly run before their waggons these no doubt are the lowest & meanest of them & those alone I can describe
These were in general slim in make & rather lean than at all plump or fat in size equal to Europeans some as tall as 6 feet & more their eyes not expressive of any liveliness but rather dull & unmeaning the Colour of their skins nearest to that of soot owing in great measure to the Dirt which by long use was ingraind into it for I beleive that they never wash themselves their hair curld in very fine rings like that of Negroes or a Persian Lambs skin but hanging in falling ringlets 7 or 8 inches long their Cloths consisted of a skin generaly of a sheep