HOTTENTOTS

HOTTENTOTS, a people in the southern part of Africa, whose country surrounds the empire of Monomotapa, in form of a horse-shoe, extending, according to Magin, from the Negroes of Cabo as far as the Cape of Good Hope; and from thence northward to the river Magnica, or Rio de St. Spirita, including Mattatan a distinct kingdom. According to Sanutus, this coast, beginning at the Mountains of the Moon under the tropic of Capricorn in $23\backslash frac\{1\}\{2\}$ S. Lat. extends north beyond the Cape to the coast of Zanguebar; having the Indian sea on the east, the Ethiopic on the west, the southern ocean on the south; and on the north the kingdoms of Mattatan, Monomotapa, and the coast of Zanguebar, or rather the Mountains of the Moon, which divide it from the rest of the continent.

The Europeans first became acquainted with this country in the year 1493, when Bartholomew Diaz, a Portuguese admiral, discovered the most southerly point of Africa now called the Cape of Good Hope, but by him Cabo dos tolos tormentos, or Cape of all Plagues, on account of the storms he met with in the neighbourhood; but John, then king of Portugal, having from the account of Diaz concluded that a passage to the East Indies was now discovered, changed the name to that of the Cape of Good Hope, which it still retains. In 1497, it was circumnavigated by Vasco de Gama, who made a voyage to India that way; however, it remained useless to Europeans till the year 1650, when Van Riebeck a Dutch surgeon first saw the advantages that would accrue to the East India company in Holland, from a settlement at such a convenient distance both from home and from India. The colony which he planted has ever since continued in the hands of the Dutch, has greatly increased in value, and is visited by all the European ships trading to the East Indies.

The country now possessed by the Dutch is of pretty considerable extent, and comprehends that part of the African coast on the west called Terra de Natal. It is naturally barren and mountainous; but the industry of the Dutch hath overcome all natural difficulties, and it now produces not only a sufficiency of all the necessaries of life for the inhabitants, but also for the refreshment of all the Europeans who pass and repass that way.

The coast abounds in capes, bays, and roads. Thirty leagues to the east of the Cape of Good Hope, in S. Lat. 34. 21. is another Cape which runs out beyond $35^\{\backslash circ\}$, called by the Portuguese, who first doubled it, Cabo dos Agulhas, or the Cape of Needles, on account of some strange variations in the magnetic needle observed as they came near it. Near this Cape is a flat shore, with plenty of fish: it begins in the west near a fresh-water river, and, extending 15 leagues in the main sea, ends in the east near Fish-bay. Cabo Falso, so called by the Portuguese, who returning from India mistook it for the Cape of Good Hope, lies to the eastward between these two capes, about eight or nine leagues beyond that of Good Hope. Along the coasts, on both sides of the Cape of Good Hope, are many fine bays, where ships may ride in the greatest

safety. Twenty-seven leagues to the northwest is Sal-donha bay, so named from a Portuguese captain ship-wrecked on the coast. The largest and most commodious is Table or Vasel Bay, on the south, and near the mountain of that name, six leagues in circumference, with four-fathom water close to the beach, and sheltered from all but northwest winds, which blow straight up. Opposite to this bay is Robu Eilan, or the Island of Rabbits, in 34. 30. S. Lat. 67 leagues east from the Cape of Good Hope. Peter Both, in 1661, discovered a bay, which he named Uleeft, sheltered only from north winds, in which is a small island, and on the west a rivulet of fresh water extremely convenient for European mariners. Twenty-five or thirty leagues farther east, Both discovered Marshall Bay, afterwards named by the Portuguese Seno Formoso. Next to this is Seno de Lago, from its resemblance to a lake. There are several roads in this bay, and an island called Ilha dos Caos. Cabo de S. Francisco, and Cabo das Serras are marked upon charts between these two bays. Near the latter of these capes is Cabo de Are-cito, and the island Contento; and something more north-east is St. Christopher's river, called San Christopherano by the Portuguese, and by the Hottentots Nagod. The country beyond this river, was called by the Portuguese, who discovered it on the day of our Lord's nativity, Terra de Natal. Between the Cape of Good Hope and Cabo das Agulhas are the Sweet, Salt, and Jagulina rivers, which run into the sea, and Sweet-water river flows from the Table-mountain.

The most remarkable mountains in this country are Table-hill, Lion-hill, Wind-hill, and the Tiger-hills. The three first lie near Table-bay, and surround Table-valley, where the Cape-town stands. The first is the highest, and extends to the south and a little west, from the centre of the valley. Kolben determined its height to be 1857 feet. Mr. Forster, who lately visited this part of the world, informs us, that "the extremity of Africa towards the south is a mass of high mountains, of which the outermost are craggy, black, and barren, consisting of a coarse granite, which contains no heterogeneous parts, such as petrified shells, &c. nor any volcanic productions. The ground gradually rises on all sides towards the three mountains which lie round the bottom of the bay, keeping low and level only near the sea-side, and growing somewhat marshy in the lillimus between Falso and Table Bays, where a salt rivulet falls into the latter. The marshy part has some verdure, but intermixed with a great deal of sand. The higher grounds, which, from the sea-side, have a parched and dreary appearance, are, however, covered with an immense variety of plants, among which are a prodigious number of shrubs, but scarce one or two species that deserve the name of trees. There are also a few small plantations wherever a little run of water moistens the ground. The ascent of Table-mount is very steep and difficult, on account of the number of loose stones which roll away under the feet of the traveller. About the middle of the mountain is a bold, grand chasm, whose walls are perpendicular and often impending rocks, piled up in strata. Small rills of water ooze out of crevices, or fall from precipices in drops, giving life to hundreds of plants and low shrubs,

Hottentots. shrubs in the chasm. The summit of the mountain is nearly level, very barren, and bare of soil; several cavities, however, are filled with rain water, or contain a small quantity of vegetable earth, from whence a few odoriferous plants draw their nourishment. Some antelopes, howling baboons, solitary vultures, and toads, are sometimes to be met with on the mountain. The view from thence is very extensive and picturesque. The bay seems a small pond or basin, and the ships in it dwindled to little boats; the town under our feet, and the regular compartments of its gardens, look like the work of children."

Most accounts of this country that have been published mention a surprising phenomenon which is annually to be seen on the top of Table-hill from September to March; namely, a white cloud hovering on its top, and is reckoned the cause of those terrible south-east winds with which the Cape is infested. This cloud, called by sailors The Devil's table-cloth, is said by some to appear at first no bigger than a barley-corn; then increases to the size of a walnut, and soon after covers the whole top of the mount. But, according to Mr Kolben, it is never less, even on its first appearance, than the size of a large ox; often bigger. It hangs in several fleeces over the Table-hill, and the Wind or Devil's-hill; which fleeces, at last uniting, form a large cloud that covers the summits of these two hills. After this has rested for some time without change or motion, the wind bursts out suddenly from it with the utmost fury. The skirts of the cloud are white, but seem much more compact than the matter of common clouds; the upper parts are of a leaden colour. No rain falls from it, but sometimes it discovers a great deal of humidity; at which times it is of a darker colour, and the wind issuing from it is broken, raging by fits of short continuance. In its usual state, the wind keeps up its first fury unabated for one, two, three, or eight days; and sometimes for a whole month together. The cloud seems all the while undiminished, though little fleeces are from time to time detached from it, and hurried down the sides of the hills, vanishing when they reach the bottom, so that during the storm the cloud seems to be supplied with new matter. When the cloud begins to brighten up, these supplies fail, and the wind proportionably abates. At length, the cloud growing transparent, the wind ceases. During the continuance of these south-east winds, the Table-valley is torn by furious whirlwinds. If they blow warm, they are generally of short duration; and in this case, the cloud soon disappears. This wind rarely blows till after sunset, and never longer than till towards midnight, though the cloud remains, but then it is thin and clear: but when the wind blows cold, it is a sure sign that it will last for some time, an hour at noon and midnight excepted; when it seems to lie still to recover itself, and then lets loose its fury anew.

The Europeans at the Cape consider the year as divided into two seasons, which they term monsoons. The wet monsoon or winter, and the dry one or summer. The first begins with our spring in March; the latter with September, when our summer ends. In the summer monsoon reign the south-east winds already mentioned; which, though they clear and render the air more healthy, yet make it difficult for ships outward

bound to enter Table-bay. In the bad season, the Cape is much subject to fogs; and the north-west winds and rain make the inhabitants stay much at home. But there are frequent intermissions and many clear days till June and July; when it rains almost continually, and from thence till summer. The weather in winter is cold, raw, and unpleasant; but never more rigorous than autumn in Germany. Water never freezes to above the thickness of half a crown; and as soon as the sun appears, the ice is dissolved. The Cape is rarely visited by thunder and lightning, excepting a little near the turn of the seasons, which never does any hurt. During the continuance of the south-east winds which rage in summer, the sky is free of all clouds except that on the Table and Wind Hills already mentioned; but during the north-west winds, the air is thick, and loaded with heavy clouds big with rain. If the south-east winds should cease for any length of time, the air becomes sickly by reason of the sea-weeds driving ashore and rotting; hence the Europeans are at such times affected with head-achs and other disorders: but, on the other hand, the violence of those winds subjects them to inflammations of their eyes, &c.

The natives of this country are called Hottentots, in their own language; a word of which it is vain to inquire the meaning, since the language of this country can scarcely be learned by any other nation. The Hottentot language is indeed said to be a composition of the most strange and disagreeable sounds, deemed by many the disgrace of speech, without human sound or articulation, resembling rather the noise of irritated turkies, the chattering of magpies, hooting of owls, and depending on extraordinary vibrations, inflexions, and clashings of the tongue against the palate.—If this account is true, however, it is obvious, that all the relations we have concerning the religion, &c. of the Hottentots derived from themselves, must fall to the ground, as nobody can pretend to understand a language in itself unintelligible. The manners and customs of those people, however, are easily observable, whether they themselves give the relation or not; and if their language is conformable to them, it is no doubt of a nature sufficiently wonderful.

The Hottentots, according to the most authentic accounts, are, of all human creatures, the most nasty. Human urine, the excrements of beasts, entrails, and garbage, foot, grease, &c. are their sole delight, and even used as symbols of honour and dignity. As soon as a child is born, they rub it all over with fresh cow-dung; which when dried they rub off, and then wash it with the juice of the Hottentot fig. When this juice has dried up, they rub the child over with sheep's grease, or melted butter; and when it has well soaked, they sprinkle on the powder of Buchu (the herb SPIREA), which now sticks all over like a crust. When her time has expired, the mother in like manner purifies herself first with cow-dung, and then with grease and buchu; after which she is restored to the embraces of her husband, who must previously undergo a purification of the same kind. They are of an olive colour when born: but the parents take care to make their children as black as possible by a dailyunction with a mixture of grease and foot: a ceremony which is continued during the rest of their lives, and

Hottentots. and which makes them appear much blacker than they really are. As soon as the child is born, the women break down the bridge of the nose with their thumbs, looking upon a high nose as a great deformity; and hence it hath been pretty generally believed among Europeans, that the Hottentots are born with flat noses.

Every male, when arrived at the age of eight or ten years, according to Hottentot law, ought to be deprived of the left testicle; but in cases where the parents are poor, this ceremony is deferred till they are able to answer the expence. The origin of a custom so very extraordinary would no doubt afford entertainment to the curious; but nothing satisfactory hath been said upon the subject. Most authors are of opinion, that this is done to make them run the swifter; and many of the natives themselves assign the same reason: but Kolben was informed by some of the most intelligent Hottentots, that it has been a law among them from time immemorial, "that no man should be allowed to have carnal knowledge of a woman, till deprived of his left testicle." Should any marry without this necessary mutilation, both parties would lie at the mercy of the rulers, and the woman perhaps be torn in pieces by her own sex; among whom it is a prevailing opinion, that a man with two testicles constantly begets twins. This extraordinary ceremony is performed in the following manner. The patient being daubed over with the fat of a sheep newly killed, lies on his back on the ground at full length, with his hands and feet tied. His friends lie upon him, in order to keep him from moving. The operator then, with a common table or case knife, laying hold of the left testicle, makes an orifice in the scrotum about an inch and an half long. Thro' this orifice he squeezes out the testicle in a moment, ties up the vessels, thrusts in a little ball of the size of the testicle, composed of sheep's fat and several herbs pulverised. He then stitches up the wound with a thread made of a sheep's sinew, and a needle in the form of an awl. The bands of the patient being then unloosed, the operator anoints him again with the warm fat of the sheep, turning him sometimes on his back and sometimes on his belly, while the poor boy is sweating and almost convulsed with pain. After this, he puffs all over him, rubbing the precious liquor into his skin as well as he can; and the ceremony being thus ended, the patient crawls to a little hut raised for the purpose, and in two or three days becomes as well as ever.

The next essential ceremony is the receiving the youth into the society of men. This is performed when they have arrived at the age of 18. Before this time they are confined to the tuition of their mothers, whom they constantly follow, and dare not, before the performance of the ceremony, converse even with their own fathers. The appointed time being arrived, the inhabitants are assembled, and the men seated in a circle, and the candidate ordered to sit down without upon his hams or heels, but in such a manner as not to touch the ground by at least three inches. The oldest man then rises, and, having obtained consent for the youth's admission, steps up to him and acquaints him, that he must thenceforward forsake his mother, and the company of the women, with every childish

amusement, and learn to behave as a man, both in his words and actions. The candidate then, being previously bedaubed with grease and soot, squats down to receive the smoking inundation of urine, which the orator discharges all over him with great formality. The old men then congratulate him on the honour done him, and add the following benedictions, "Good luck attend thee;—Live to be old;—Increase and multiply;—May thy beard grow soon."

This ceremony is usually followed by the young man's marriage. All overtures of the matrimonial kind among the Hottentots, are made by the father or nearest relation of the man, to the father or nearest relation of the woman. The father and his son wait on the woman's friends; and the lover is first employed in preparing and presenting the company with tobacco. They all smoke, and nothing is said about the matter till their heads become giddy with the fume: then the father opens the business to the woman's father, and demands her for his son. The other leaves the room to consult with his wife; but quickly returns with a positive answer; which is seldom in the negative, unless in case of a prior engagement. If the young woman does not like the match which her parents have agreed to, she has only one chance to avoid it; namely, to lie down with her lover on the ground, and play with him all night at pinching, tickling, and whipping. If she conquers, she fairly gets rid of him; but if he subdues her, which is generally the case, she must marry him. After this the young fellow goes to the habitation of the bride, attended by all his relations and friends, male and female, driving before them one or more oxen, according to their wealth. They are received with great joy; and the oxen being killed, they besmear themselves plentifully with the fat, powdering themselves thick all over with buchu, and the women paint their cheeks, forehead, and chin, with red chalk. This being done, they perform the wedding ceremony in the following manner. The men squat themselves in a circle, in the centre of which the bridegroom is seated in the same posture. At some little distance the women do the same round the bride. Then the priest, or master of religious ceremonies, enters the mens circle, and coming up to the bridegroom puffs a little on him, who with his long nails (for the Hottentots never pare their nails) makes furrows in the grease and buchu with which he is covered, that the urine may penetrate the better. He then does the same kindness to the bride; returning from the one to the other, till his whole Rock is exhausted, pronouncing all the time short blessings to the following purpose: "May you live happily together; may you have a son before the year's end; may he be a good huntsman and a warrior."

The Hottentots have an honourable order among them, consisting of such as have singly encountered and slain a lion, tyger, leopard, elephant, rhinoceros, or elk. The hero, after his return from the exploit to the village, retires to his own hut, where he has not sat long, till an old man, deputed by the inhabitants of the kraal or village, comes to invite him to receive the honours due to his merit. The champion rises and follows his conductor to the middle of the village, where all the men are assembled and waiting his arrival. He there squats down on a mat prepared for him; while all

Hottentots. all the old men squat in a circle round him. The old deputy then marches up to him, and pisses upon him from head to foot, pronouncing certain words. If the deputy is the hero's friend, he lays him under a deluge of water; for the more plentifully he is besprinkled, the greater is the honour; and the urine is rubbed in by the hero himself with the greatest eagerness. The deputy then lights a pipe of tobacco, which he circulates through the company till nothing but ashes remain in the pipe. These the deputy shakes on the new knight, who is congratulated on the high honour he has received and the service he has done his country. After this he takes three days rest, during which his wife is forbidden to come near him. On the third day he kills a sheep, receives his wife again, and rejoices with his friends and neighbours; wearing ever after the bladder of the beast he has killed, fastened to his hair, as a mark of honour. The Hottentots express greater joy at the destruction of a tyger than of any other wild beast.

The dress of the Hottentots is perfectly agreeable to the nastiness of those customs already described. The skin of a wild beast, or sheep, prepared with cowdung and grease, hangs like a mantle over the shoulders, high or low, open or closed, according to the season of the year, or the customs of the tribe. The men, who have no covering but a composition of fat, soot, and dirt, in the most raging heats, wear cat or lamb-skin caps in cold and wet seasons. The face and forepart of the neck are always bare; and, the pudenda excepted, which are covered with a kind of apron, they go naked from the hips downwards. Leather stockings, and sandals cut out of the raw hides of oxen or elephants, are used occasionally in driving their herds to pasture, or in passing sands or rocks. A greasy pouch hangs about their necks, with a knife, pipe, tobacco, and a small piece of wood called fusa, burnt at both ends, as an amulet against witchcraft. Three ivory rings adorn the left arm; to which, on journeys, is fastened a bag with provisions. The kirri and rackbum sticks (which they use in hunting) are in the right hand; and another is carried in the left, with the bushy tail of a wild cat, fox, or other animal, fastened to it for a handkerchief. The honours or captains, who were formerly distinguished only by fair skins of tygers or wild-cats, now appear at the head of the army, in councils, and on every solemn occasion, with brass crowns, and brass-headed canes. These ornaments were presented by the Dutch to the chiefs and captains of the nations in alliance with them; and are now annexed to descend with, and are esteemed an unalienable property and distinctive badge of their dignity.

Most writers have affirmed that the Hottentot women wear the guts of sheep and other animals by way of ornament about their legs; but this is a mistake. The girls from their infancy to about 12 years old, wear bulrushes tied in rings about their legs from the knee down to the ankle. When they pass that age, they change the matter of these rings, from bulrushes to slips of sheep and calf-skin, of the thickness of the little finger. They singe off the hair, and then turn inwards the side on which it grew. Some grown women have above 100 of these rings on the leg, so nicely wound about and fitted, that they look like one continued swathe, and by long wearing assume the hard-

ness of wood. These rings are kept from falling down by large wrappers of leather or rushes about the ankles; and serve both as an ornamental distinction to the sex, and for preserving the legs from being scratched or torn in the fields. Like other savages, the Hottentots are very fond of brass buttons, bits of looking-glasses, &c. and some wear on their foreheads a small plate of polished iron in the shape of a half-moon.

The diet of the Hottentots is the flesh and entrails of their cattle, and certain wild beasts, with roots and fruits of different kinds. But, excepting at their public feasts, they rarely kill any cattle for their own eating, unless in cases of great necessity. Yet if any of their cows or sheep die naturally, they make no scruple to eat them, and esteem them as wholesome food. If the men are not contented with the roots, fruits, or milk, which the women take care to provide, they go out a-hunting, or, if near the sea, a-fishing. They always hunt in large companies. The entrails of cattle, or of such wild beasts as they kill for food, are looked upon as most exquisite eating, after they have been boiled in beasts blood mingled with milk. Sometimes they broil them; but in general they eat them half raw. In either case, they devour their victuals in a very furious and ravenous manner, without any regard to decency. They have no set meals; but eat as their appetite or humour directs, either by night or day. In fair weather, they eat in the open air; in wind or rain, in their huts. They have traditional laws as to abstaining from certain meats. Swines flesh, and fish without scales, are prohibited to both sexes: hares and rabbits are forbidden to the men, but not to the women: the pure blood of beasts, and the flesh of the mole, are forbidden to the women, but not to the men.

The nastiness of the Hottentots makes them swarm with lice, some of which are exceedingly big. These last they eat, throwing away the unsizeable ones; and if they are asked how they can devour such detestable vermin, they plead the law of retaliation, and urge that it is no shame to eat those who would eat them. The Europeans at the Cape have a sort of field-shoes, cut out of the raw hide of an ox or stag, with the hairy side outwards. These, when thrown away, the Hottentots gather and lay up against a rainy day, when their provisions fall short, and eat them heartily; first singeing off the hair, then soaking them in water, and lastly broiling them on the fire.

These are the customs which chiefly distinguish the Hottentots from all other people on earth; but besides these, they have others in common with the generality of barbarous nations. If a woman is delivered of female twins, they generally destroy the worst-favoured; or if the children are male and female, the latter perishes, by being exposed on the bough of a tree, or buried alive with the consent of the whole village. Some of these deserted infants have been found by the Europeans, and educated by them; yet it is said, that, when arrived at the years of maturity, they always renounced the European manners, apparel, and religion, to conform to those of their own people. After a youth is discharged from the tuition of his mother in the manner already mentioned, he may insult, and even beat her, whenever he pleases; for which he receives applause instead of reproof. Nay, it is usual for them to go and abuse their mothers immediately.

Hottentots. immediately after their being admitted into the order of men, to shew their contempt for the conversation of females. If the eldest son, or, in default of sons, the next male relation, determines to get rid of his father, mother, or other relation, who are considered as superannuated, and incapable of any useful domestic performance, the village is convoked, and informed of the condition and request of the heir. Consent is never refused; and a day is immediately appointed for the removal of the superannuated man or woman. There is now no distinction of persons; the wealthiest man, or the captain of the village, must submit as well as the meanest, and is compelled to surrender his whole estate to the claimant. The whole village accompany him to a lonely hut, where he is left with a small quantity of provisions set within his reach, where he soon perishes, or is devoured by wild beasts. Adultery among the Hottentots is always punished with death: but they allow divorce, if the husband can shew sufficient cause for it; and of the sufficiency of which the rest of the village are the judges. In this case, the men may marry again, but the woman is not allowed to do so while her husband lives. If a widow marries, she cuts off a joint of her finger, beginning with the little one, for every husband after the first.

In other respects, the Hottentots are the most lazy people in the world: they esteem thinking a labour, and avoid both as capital plagues; passing three parts in four of their lives in the most shameful stupidity and idleness. Occasionally, however, they are surprisingly active. In swiftness, they are said to surpass the fleetest horse; and are famed for their dexterity in discharging their arrows, javelins, &c. Though unacquainted with agriculture and the qualities of tobacco before the arrival of the Europeans, they excel, and are consulted by most of those resident in their country, concerning the management of lands and the choice of tobacco. Their mutual affection, liberality, and benevolence, extend to each other in the most friendly manner; and, naturally compassionating distress, they are extremely hospitable to strangers of every nation. They are of good sense and integrity in the execution of justice, and in chastity excel almost all other nations in the world.

Besides the methods of fighting with bows and arrows, darts, &c. common to all barbarous nations, the Hottentots have a kind of oxen trained to war. These they call Bakkeleyers, or fighting oxen; and the skill of the Hottentot generals is chiefly displayed by choosing the most proper time and place for driving in the beasts among the enemy. These animals stamp, kick, and gore, with incredible fury; and, if well followed by the men, speedily rout the enemy. A battle decides the war; for an Hottentot army once routed never rallies again. The conquerors triumph and pursue the enemy with astonishing shouts and exclamations. All prisoners are killed; and both armies bury their dead, which are never insulted or plundered. Deserters and spies are immediately put to death.

The Hottentots are very shy of entering upon any discourse concerning their religion; whence it hath been doubted whether they have any at all. Kolben, however, assures us, that they believe in a God, the author of all things. This supreme power they call

the God of gods; and say, "he is a good man, who does nobody any hurt, and from whom none need be apprehensive of any, and that he lives far beyond the moon." But it does not appear, that they have any institution of worship directly regarding this supreme deity. They excuse themselves when pressed on this head, by a tradition, that their first parents so grievously offended this great God, that he cursed them and their posterity with hardness of heart; so that they know little about him, and have less inclination to serve him. They adore the moon, by assembling at night in the fields, killing cattle, and offering milk and flesh. This they do constantly at the full and change. They welcome her; and then invoke her for favourable weather, to grant them fodder for their cattle, &c. They also regard as a good deity an insect of the beetle kind, peculiar to these countries. It is about the size of a child's little finger, the back green, the belly speckled red and white, with two wings and two horns. Wherever they meet this animal, they pay it the highest honour and veneration. If it visits a village, they assemble about it in troops as if a divinity had appeared among them; they kill a sheep or two as a thank-offering, and esteem it as an omen of the greatest happiness and prosperity. They believe its appearance expiates all their guilt. If the insect lights upon a Hottentot, the person is looked upon as a saint, and ever after treated with uncommon respect. The village kills the fattest ox for a thank-offering; and the caul powdered with buchú, and twisted like a rope, is put collar-wise about the saint's neck, and there must remain till it rots off. A sort of veneration is also paid to deceased saints or heroes. They believe in an evil deity, whom they represent as a little, malicious, ill-natured being, a great enemy to Hottentots, and the author of all the mischiefs which befall them in this world, beyond which he hath no power. They therefore worship and offer sacrifices to him, in order to soften and bring him into better temper. Some of them even pretend, that they have seen him in the shape of a deformed, hairy, frightful monster, dressed in white, with a head and feet like those of a horse. All sudden pain, crops accidents, and sickness, are by the Hottentots ascribed to witchcraft; so that charms and amulets are in high esteem among them. They seem to have no notion of a future state, either good or bad, after death, much less of a resurrection; yet that they believe the immortality of the soul, seems evident from the following particulars. 1. They offer prayers and praises to the good Hottentots deceased. 2. They are apprehensive of the return of departed spirits to molest them; for which reason they remove their village on the death of any of its inhabitants. 3. They believe it is in the power of wizards and witches to lay these spirits. But they seem to think these departed souls remain in or about those places where the body was inhabited by them; for of a heaven or hell, rewards or punishments, they have not the least notion.

This appears to be the whole that can be collected concerning the Hottentot religion, and to which they are invincibly attached. If you attempt to reason with them, they hear you fully, or quit you abruptly. They avoid, if possible, any religious subject. Some of them have pretended a belief of Christianity;

Hottentots. nity: but when the motive was removed, they always returned to their former idolatry; and, in spite of all the endeavours of the Dutch missionaries at the Cape, they have never been able to make a single convert.

Of the cape-town and country adjacent peopled by the Dutch, Mr Foster gives the following account: "The town is neat and well built; looks white at a distance, and seems to rise out of a desert surrounded by broken masses of black and dreary mountains. The storehouses of the Dutch East-India company are all situated nearest the water, and the private buildings lie beyond them in a gentle ascent. The fort which commands the road, is on the east side of the town, but seems not to be of great strength; besides which, there are several batteries on both sides. The streets in the town are broad, and regular; all the principal ones are planted with oaks; and some have in their middle a canal of running water, which, on account of its small quantity, they are obliged to husband by sluices, so that parts of it are sometimes entirely drained, and occasion no very pleasant smell. The national character of the Dutch strongly manifests itself in this particular; their settlements being always supplied with canals, though reason and common sense evidently prove their noxious influence on the health of the inhabitants, especially at Batavia.

"The houses are built of brick, and many of them are white-washed on the outside. The rooms are in general lofty and spacious, and very airy, which the hot climate requires. There is but one church in the whole town; and that is extremely plain, and seems to be rather too small for the congregation. That spirit of toleration, which has been so beneficial to the Dutch government at home, is not to be met with in their colonies. It is but very lately that they have suffered even the Lutherans to build churches at Batavia, and at this place; and at the present time, a clergyman of that persuasion is not tolerated at the Cape, but the inhabitants are obliged to content themselves with the chaplains of Danish and Swedish East-India-men, who give them a sermon, and administer the sacrament once or twice a year, and are very handsomely rewarded. The government and the inhabitants do not give themselves the trouble to attend to a circumstance of so little consequence in their eyes as the religion of their slaves, who in general seem to have none at all. A few of them follow the Mahomedan rite; and weekly meet in a private house belonging to a free Mahomedan, in order to read or rather chant several prayers and chapters of the Khoran. As they have no priest among them, they cannot partake of any other acts of worship (A).

"The slaves belonging to the company, who amount to several hundreds, are lodged and boarded in a spacious house erected for that purpose, where they are likewise kept at work. Another great building serves as a hospital for the sailors belonging to the Dutch East-India ships, which touch here, and commonly have prodigious numbers of sick on board, on their

voyage from Europe towards India. The vast number of men, sometimes six, seven, or eight hundred, which these ships carry out to supply the military in India, the small room to which they are confined, and the short allowance of water and salt provision they receive, on a long voyage through the torrid zone, generally make considerable havoc among them: it is therefore no uncommon circumstance at the Cape, that a ship on her passage thither from Europe, loses eighty or a hundred men, and sends between two and three hundred others dangerously ill to the hospital. A fact no less deplorable than certain, is, that the small expence and facility with which the ziel-verkoopers actually carry on their infamous trade of supplying the India company with recruits, makes them less attentive to the preservation of health among these poor people. Nothing is more common, in this and other Dutch colonies, than to meet with soldiers in the company's service, who, upon inquiry, acknowledge they have been kidnapped in Holland. There is an apothecary's shop belonging to the hospital, where the most necessary remedies are prepared, but no expensive drugs are to be found in it; and the method of administering to all the patients indiscriminately out of two or three huge bottles, full of different preparations, suffices to convince us, that the fresh air of the land, and the fresh provisions here, contribute much more to the recovery of the sick, than the skill of their physicians. Patients who are able to walk, are ordered to go up and down the streets every fair morning; and all kinds of greens, pot-herbs, fallads, and antiseorbotics, are raised for their use, in an adjacent garden belonging to the company. Travellers have sometimes praised and sometimes deprecated this garden, according to the different points of view in which it has been considered. It is true, a few regular walks of indifferent oaks, encompassed with elm and myrtle hedges, are not objects engaging enough to those who are used to admire the perfection of gardening in England, or who contemplate in Holland and France cypresses, box, and yew-trees cut out into vases, statues, and pyramids, or charmilles turned into pieces of architecture! But considering that the trees were planted in the beginning of this century, more for use than ornament; that they shelter the kitchen-herbs for the hospital, against the destructive violence of storms; and that they form the only shady and airy walks, comfortable to voyagers and sick persons in this hot climate: I cannot wonder that some should extol as "a delightful spot," what others contemptuously call "a friar's garden."

"The governor depends immediately upon the East-India company, and has the rank of an edele heer, the title given to the members of the supreme council of Batavia. He presides here over a council, consisting of a second or deputy-governor, the fiscal, the major (who commands the fort), the secretary, the treasurer, the comptroller of provisions, the comptroller of liquors, and the book-keeper; each of which has a branch of the company's commerce assigned to his

Hottentots. his care. This council has the whole management of the civil and military departments; but the deputy-governor presides over another, named the court of justice, which tries all offences and crimes, and consists of some of the members of the former; but no two relations can sit and vote in the same council, to prevent the influence of parties.

"The income of the governor is very considerable; for, besides a fixed appointment, and the use of houses, gardens, proper furniture, and every thing that belongs to his table, he receives about 10 dollars for every leagre of wine which the company buy of the farmer, in order to be exported to Batavia. The company allows the sum of 40 dollars for each leagre, of which the farmer receives but 24: what remains is shared between the governor, and second or deputy; the former taking two-thirds, which sometimes are said to amount to 4000 dollars per annum. The deputy-governor has the direction of the company's whole commerce here, and signs all orders to the different departments under him, as well as the governor to others. He and the fiscal have the rank of upper koopman. The fiscal is at the head of the police, and sees the penal laws put in execution: his income consists of fines, and of the duties laid on certain articles of commerce; but if he be strict in exacting them, he is universally detested. The sound policy of the Dutch has likewise found it necessary to place the fiscal as a check, to overawe the other officers of the company, that they may not counteract the interests of their masters, or infringe the laws of the mother-country. He is, to that end, commonly well versed in juridical affairs, and depends solely upon the mother-country. The major (at present Mr Von Prehn, who received us with great politeness) has the rank of koopman or merchant: this circumstance surprises a stranger, who, in all other European states, is used to see military honours confer distinction and precedence; and appears still more singular to one who knows the contrast in this particular between Holland and Russia, where the idea of military rank is annexed to every place, even that of a professor at the university. The number of regular soldiers at this colony amounts to about 700; of which 400 form the garrison of the fort, near the Cape-town. The inhabitants capable of bearing arms form a militia of 4000 men; of whom a considerable part may be assembled in a few hours, by means of signals made from alarm-places in different parts of the country. We may from hence make some estimate of the number of white people in this colony, which is at present so extensive, that the distant settlements are above a month's journey from the Cape; but these remote parts lie sometimes more than a day's journey from each other, are surrounded by various nations of Hottentots, and too frequently feel the want of protection from their own government at that distance. The slaves in this colony are at least in the proportion of five or more to one white person. The principal inhabitants at the Cape have sometimes from 20 to 30 slaves, which are in general treated with great lenity, and sometimes become great favourites with their masters, who give them very good clothing, but oblige them to wear neither shoes nor stockings,

reserving these articles to themselves. The slaves are chiefly brought from Madagascar, and a little vessel annually goes from the Cape thither on that trade; there are, however, besides them, a number of Malays and Bengalese, and some negroes. The colonists themselves are for the greatest part Germans, with some families of Dutch, and some of French Protestants. The character of the inhabitants of the town is mixed. They are industrious, but fond of good living, hospitable, and social; though accustomed to hire their apartments to strangers, for the time they touch at this settlement, and used to be complimented with rich presents of stuffs, &c. by the officers of merchant ships. They have no great opportunities of acquiring knowledge, there being no public schools of note at the Cape: their young men are therefore commonly sent to Holland for improvement, and their female education is too much neglected. A kind of dislike to reading, and the want of public amusements, make their conversation uninteresting, and too frequently turn it upon scandal, which is commonly carried to a degree of inveteracy peculiar to little towns. The French, English, Portuguese, and Malay languages, are very commonly spoken, and many of the ladies have acquired them. This circumstance, together with the accomplishments of singing, dancing, and playing a tune on the lute, frequently united in an agreeable person, make amends for the want of refined manners and delicacy of sentiment. There are, however, among the principal inhabitants, persons of both sexes, whose whole deportment, extensive reading, and well-cultivated understanding would be admired and distinguished even in Europe. Their circumstances are in general easy, and often very affluent, on account of the cheap rate at which the necessaries of life are to be procured: but they seldom amass such prodigious riches here as at Batavia; and I was told the greatest private fortune at the Cape did not exceed 100,000 dollars, or about 22,500 l. sterling.

"The farmers in the country are very plain hospitable people; but those who dwell in the remotest settlements seldom come to town, and are said to be very ignorant; this may easily be conceived, because they have no better company than Hottentots, their dwellings being often several days journey asunder, which must in a great measure preclude all intercourse. The vine is cultivated in plantations within the compass of a few days journey from the town; which were established by the first colonists, and of which the ground was given in perpetual property to them and their heirs. The company at present never part with the property of the ground, but let the surface to the farmer for an annual rent, which, though extremely moderate, being only 25 dollars for 60 acres*, yet does not give sufficient encouragement to plant vineyards. The distant settlements, therefore, chiefly raise corn and rear cattle; nay, many of the settlers entirely follow the latter branch of rustic employment, and some have very numerous flocks. We were told there were two farmers who had each 15,000 sheep, and oxen in proportion; and several who possessed 6000 or 8000 sheep, of which they drive great droves to town every year: but lions and buffaloes, and the fa-

21 I 2 tigue

Hottentots. tigue of the journey, destroy numbers of their cattle before they can bring them so far. They commonly take their families with them in large waggons covered with linen or leather, spread over hoops, and drawn by 8, 10, and sometimes 12 pair of oxen. They bring butter, mutton-tallow, the flesh and skins of seacows (hippopotamus), together with lion and rhinoceros' skins, to sell. They have several slaves, and commonly engage in their service several Hottentots of the poorer sort, and (as we were told) of the tribe called Boschemans, or Bushmen, who have no cattle of their own, but commonly subsist by hunting, or by committing depredations on their neighbours. The opulent farmers set up a young beginner by intrusting to his care a flock of 400 or 500 sheep, which he leads to a distant spot, where he finds plenty of good grass and water; the one-half of all the lambs which are yeared fall to his share, by which means he soon becomes as rich as his benefactor.

"Though the Dutch company seem evidently to discourage all new settlers, by granting no lands in private property; yet the products of the country have of late years sufficed not only to supply the isles of France and Bourbon with corn, but likewise to furnish the mother-country with several ship-loads. These exports would certainly be made at an easier rate than at present, if the settlements did not extend so far into the country, from whence the products must be brought to the Table-bay by land-carriage, on roads which are almost impassable. The intermediate spaces of uncultivated land between the different settlements are very extensive, and contain many spots fit for agriculture; but one of the chief reasons why the colonists are so much divided and scattered throughout the country, is to be met with in another regulation of the company, which forbids every new settler to establish himself within a mile of another. It is evident, that if this settlement were in the hands of the commonwealth, it would have attained to a great population, and a degree of opulence and splendor, of which it has not the least hopes at present: but a private company of East-India merchants find their account much better in keeping all the landed property to themselves, and tying down the colonist, lest he should become too great and powerful.

"The wines made at the Cape are of the greatest variety possible. The best, which is made at M. Vander Spy's plantation of Constantia, is spoken of in Europe, more by report than from real knowledge; 30 leagres (a) at the utmost are annually raised of this kind, and each leagre sells for about 50 l. on the spot. The vines from which it is made were originally brought from Shiraz in Persia. Several other sorts grow in the neighbourhood of that plantation, which produce a sweet rich wine, that generally passes for genuine Constantia in Europe. French plants of burgundy, muscade, and frontignan, have likewise been tried, and have succeeded extremely well, sometimes producing wines superior to those of the original soil. An excellent dry wine, which has a slight agreeable tartness, is commonly drunk in the principal families, and is made of Madeira vines transplanted to the Cape. Several low sorts, not entirely disagreeable, are raised

in great plenty, and sold at a very cheap rate; so that the sailors of the East-India ships commonly indulge themselves very plentifully in them whenever they come ashore.

"The products of the country supply with provisions the ships of all nations which touch at the Cape. Corn, flour, biscuit, salted beef, brandy, and wine, are to be had in abundance, and at moderate prices; and their fresh greens, fine fruits (c), good mutton and beef, are excellent restoratives to seamen who have made a long voyage."