their
amusement. Grabbing and diving for money thrown into the swimming bath
by the directors and managers form a lucrative sport for the natives,
and amusement for the lookers-on.
At
every gathering for dances, sports, or games of any kind there are more
lookers-on than participants, for the African dearly loves a spectacle
of any kind, and is commonly well pleased to stand or loll on the
ground where he can get a view of the contributors to his
entertainment. Some of these indolent ones will be smoking cheap
cigars, and more rarely pipes. A native usually puts the lighted end of
a cigar in his mouth, inhaling and blowing out the smoke, and shifting
the hold of his teeth as the tobacco burns. Sometimes sets of boys are
seen squatting on the ground and passing from mouth to mouth a lighted
pipe filled with dry dagga, a native herb similar to the Indian hemp,
that burns with pungent and stupefying fumes. The natives inhale the
smoke, and, after a few puffs, a fit of violent coughing comes on which
brings tears to their eyes. The use of this herb is not so extended as
to cause any serious ill effect, but the native becomes stupefied for a
time, though he soon recovers.
