equilateral triangle ; and thè fame firing of fmews that bound
this tight to the bone, ferved alfo to contain the poifon between
the threads and over the furface, which was applied in the ccm-
fiftence o f wax or varnifh. The firing tied in alfo at the fame
time a piece o f iharp quill pointed towards the oppofite end of
the arrow, which was not only meant to increafe the difficulty
o f drawing it out, but alfo to rankle and tear the flelh, and to
bring the poifon more in contadi; with the blood. The whole
length of the arrow was barely two feet. There are feveral
plants in South Africa from which the Hottentots extradt their
poifons by macerating the leaves or branches, and infpiffating
the juices, either by boiling or by expofure to the heat of the
fun ; but the poifon taken from the heads of fnakes, mixed
with the juices o f certain bulbous-rooted plants, is what they
tnoftly depend upon. This party o f old men had killed a
hartebeeft with a poifoned arrow by wounding it in the thigh.
The animal had run about half an hour after receiving the
wound before it fell. They immediately cut away the flelh
round the wound, when it has been made with a poifoned
arrow, and fqueeze out the blood from the carcafe, in which
fiate they know from experience that the flefh taken into the
ftomach will do them no injury.
The ancient manners and primitive charadter of this extraordinary
race of men are, no doubt, much changed fince their
conneftion with the colonifts ; and the nearer they are found
to the capital and the parts mod inhabited by Europeans, the
lefs they retain o f them. I f at any time they compofed
focieties governed by laws, fwayed by cuftoms, and obfervant
of
of religious ceremonies, many of which, as related among the
fables of ancient voyagers, and revived by fome modem travellers,
were fo abfurd and extremely ridiculous as to create
ftrong doubts of their exiftence, they have now fo completely
loft them that no one trace remains behind. The name even
that has been given to this people is a fabrication. Hottentot is
a word that has no place nor meaning in their language; and
they take to themfelves the name under the idea of its being a
Dutch word. When they were fpread over the foutherp angle
of Africa, each horde had its particular name ; but that by
which the whole nation was diftinguiihed, and which at this
moment they bear among themfelves in every part o f the country,
is Quaiqua. from living together in particular clans, and,
in later times, from mixing with different people, the Hottentots
of ope diftrift differ very confiderably from thofe of another.
The part of the country we now were in, being the
Iaft that was colonized, was inhabited moft probably by fuch
as had retained more of their original charafter than the others;
and it is thofe to whom the following remarks are meant to apply.
Low as they are funk in the fcale of humanity, their characr
ter feems to have been very much traduced and mifreprefented.
It is true there is nothing prepoffeffing in the appearance of a
Hottentot, but infinitely lefs fo in the many ridiculous and falfe
relations by which the public have beep abufed. They are a
mild, quiet, and timid people; perfectly harmlefs, honeft, faithful
; and, though extremely phlegmatic, they are kind and
affeftionate to each other, and not incapable of ftrong attachments.
A Hottentot would fhare his laft morfel with his companions.