In the winter months both fexes cover themfelves with cloaks
made of ikins.
The cuftom of greafing the body and wrapping it in flrins
has been the conftant theme of abufe againft this race of people
by thofe who have written on the fubjeft. There are always
two ways of reprefenting things, and unfortunately for the poor
Hottentot his charadler has been painted in the worft light.
T o cover the body with fome undtuous matter in a hot climate
where water was extremely fcarce, was a very natural refource
to prevent the ikin from being fhrivelled and parched by the
fcorching rays of the fun, and has been adopted by moft nations
fituated in or near the torrid zone. The oil that ran fo pro-
fufely down “ Aaron’s beard even to the ikirts of his garment,”
was in all probability animal fa t; for during the forty years
that he and Mofes occupied the Children of Ifrael in the defert
with a promifed land, it is not very likely they had a fupply of
vegetable oil ; and though fome late celebrated hillorical painters
have clothed thefe leaders of the Children of Ifrael in high-
colored garments trimmed with fringe and lace, it may be
doubted i f they had any other clothing than fuch as the ikins
of their fheep, and calves, and goats, fupplied them with. If
the pradlice of fmearing the body with fat were adopted in
South America, there would not probably be fuch numbers of
objeffs in the ftreets of Rio de Janeiro laboring under that moft
difgufting and dreadful diforder the elephantiafis. The Hottentots
know nothing of fuch a complaint; nor did I perceive
that any kind of cutaneous difeafe was prevalent among them-
The
The perfon o f a Hottentot while young is by no means void
of fymmetry. They are clean-limbed, well-proportioned, and
ere£t. Their joints, hands, and feet are remarkably fmall. No
protuberance of mufcle to indicate ftrength ; but a body delicately
formed as that of a woman marks the inactive and effeminate
mind of a Hottentot. The face is in general extremely
u g ly ; but this differs very materially in different families, particularly
in the nofe, fome of which are remarkably flat and
others confiderably raifed. The color of the eye is a deep
chefnut: they are very long and narrow, removed to a great
diftance from each other ; and the eyelids at the extremity next
the nofe,. inftead of forming an angle, as in Europeans, are
rounded into each other exaftly like thofe of the Chinefe, to
whom indeed in many other points they bear a phyfical refem-
blance that is fufflciently linking. The cheek-bones are high
and prominent, and with the narrow-pointed chin form nearly
a triangle. Their teeth are beautifully white. The color of
the ikin is that of a yellowiih brown or a faded leaf, but very
different from the fickly hue of a perfon in the jaundice, which
it has been defcribed to refemble. The hair is of a very Angular
nature : it does not cover the whole furface of the fcalp, but
grows in fmall tufts at certain diftances from each other, and,
when kept ihort, has the appearance and feel of a hard ihoe-
bruih, with this difference, that it is curled and twilled into fmall
round lumps about the fize of a marrowfat-pea. When fuffered
to grow, it hangs in the neck in hard twilled taffels like fringe.
Some, of the women when young, and previous to childbearing,
might ferve as models of perfedtion in the human