African Society in London for the propagation of the gospel
among the heathen. How far the subjects of faith, of re-'
generation, of the Trinity and other mystical doctrines, can
consistently be preached with advantage, either temporal or
spiritual, to a lace of men the most savage and the most
miserable perhaps on the face of the earth, the missionaries
themselves ought to be the best judges; but from their own
account of them it would appear that, their zeal is wofully
misapplied, and that the benevolent intentions of the society
at home, after an enormous expence, can only end
in disappointment. The condition, indeed, of the poor
wretches which compose the congregation of these mis,
sionaries is such as to require worldly comforts rather than
spiritual consolation. “ They take no great care of their
“ children/’ says Mr. Kicherer, “ and never correct them
“ except in a fit of rage, when they almost kill them by se-
“ vere usage. In a quarrel between father and mother, or
“ the several wives of a husband * the defeated party wreaks
“ his or her vengeance on the child of the conqueror, which
“ in general loses its life. The Bosjesmans will kill their
“ children without remorse on various occasions, as when
“ they are ill-shaped, when they are in want of food,, when.
“ the father of a child has forsaken its mother, or when
“ obliged to fly from the boors or others; in which case they
“ will strangle them, smother them, cast them away in the-
“ desert, or bury them alive.. There are instances of parents
“ throwing their tender offspring to the hungry lion, who
“ stands roaring before their cavern, refusing to depart till
“ some peace-offering be made to him. They also frequentlv
“ forsake their aged relations, leaving the old person with a
u piece of meat and an ostrich egg-shell full of water: as
** soon as this little stock is exhausted, the poor deserted
“ creature must perish by hunger or become the prey of wild
“ beasts. Many o f these wild Hottentots live by plunder
“ and murder, and are guilty of the most horrid and atro-
“ cious actions. Such,” says he, “ are the people to whom
** the providence of God has directed our course.”
Setting aside the sheer nonsense of the lion roaring before
the cavern, which the easy credulity of Mr. Kicherer led him
to believe as a fact, it is evident on the face of the above
statement that the chief, and perhaps the sole, motive for
destroying or abandoning the helpless and the destitute, the
infants and the aged, is their extreme indigence. Without
any covering to protect his body from the vicissitudes of the
weather, without possessions or property of any kind except
his bow and his quiver of arrows, the Bosjesman exists from
day to day on what the fortune of the chase may throw within
his reach, on a few bulbous roots which the barren soil
scantily supplies, on the eggs of ants and the larvae of locusts-;
and when these all fail, he is glad to have recourse to toads,
mice, snakes, and lizards. To satisfy the present craving of
the stomach is his grand object •; and this accomplished in its
fullest extent, he seems to enjoy a short-lived species of happiness,
which either shews itself in an exhilaration of spirits-
not unlike that which usually attends the first stage of intoxication,
or, throws him into a profound sleep. Among such a
people it is, not surprizing that infants and aged persons
should be left to perish. If the dread of pinching poverty
and the horrors of absolute, want are sufficient, to urge the
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