*775- A u g u it . a barbarous cuftom. It has been thought> for example, that thefe latter were, at the age o f ten years, by a kind of caftration, deprived o f one of thofe organs, which nature gives to every male, as being abfolutely ne- ceffary for the propagation of his fpecies; and that the former, or the women, have before their privy parts a natural veil or covering, a circumftance unheard of in the females of any other part of the globe. Deferring to a farther opportunity the arguments which are deducible from the abfurdity o f the thing itfelf, and the little dependence to be had on the teftimony of the relater, I ihall only in this place prefent the reader with what I am in a condition to relate with abfolute certainty, being the refult of the enquiries, which out of a due regard to truth, and in re- fpecSt to the importance of the fubjedt, I thought myfelf obliged to make. The men are at prefent by no means monorchides, though, perhaps, the time has been when they were fo ; fome other time, however, I ihall make a ftridter enquiry into the matter, and thus give my readers an opportunity of judg- - ing for themfelves. The women have no parts uncommon to the reft of their fe x ; but the clitoris and nympha, particularly o f thofe who are paft their youth, are in general pretty much elongated ; a peculiarity which undoubtedly has got footing iff this nation, in confequence of the relaxation neceffarily produced by the method they have of befmearing their bodies, their ilothfulnefs, and the warmth of the climate. In order to finiih the pidture I have here given o f the Hottentots, the next thing I have to defcribe is their drefs, and and method of painting themfelves. This latter (if paint- *775- ing it may be called) confifts in befmearing their bodies all over moft copioufly with fat, in which there is mixed up a little foot. This is never wiped off; on the contrary, I never faw them ufe any thing to clean their lkins, excepting that when, in grealing the wheels of their waggons, their hands were befmeared with tar and pitch, they ufed to get it off very eafily with cow-dung, at the fame time rubbing their arms into the bargain up to the ihoulders with this cofmetic : fo that as the duft and other filth, together with their footy ointment and the fweat o f their bodies, muft neceffarily, notwithftanding it is continually wearing off, in fome meafure adhere to the ikin, it contributes not a little to conceal the natural hue of the latter, and at the fame time to change it from a bright umber brown to a brownilh-yellow colour obfcured with filth and naftinefs. What has enabled me to determine the natural complexion o f the Hottentots to be o f an umber-yellow colour, was merely the fcrupulous nicety o f fome few farmers wives, who made one or two o f their Hottentot girls foower their fkins, that they might not be too filthy to look after their children, or to do any other bufinefs jfoat required cleanlinefs. It is affected by many o f the colonifts, that by this fcowering and wafhing the Hottentots looks are not at all improved. They feem to think, that their natural yellow brown hue was to the full as difagreeable as that which is produced by their befmearing themfelves ; and that a befmeared Hottentot looks lefs naked, as it were, and more complete,
27f 72-1
To see the actual publication please follow the link above