grove of mimosas ;: erected an altar on which he encouraged
these silly people to make their offerings selected from
the best of their flocks and herds ; with solemn mummery he
burned part of the victim, and appropriated the rest to himself;
sometimes taking the advantage of a thunder-storm, of.
of the overflowing of the river, he was more exorbitant in
his demands, and even found it expedient to require the
young damsels to be brought to the temple. He carried this
religious mockery still farther. At a little distance behind the
wood there was a mountain of a considerable height, which
this high priest of his own constituted religion regularly
ascended every morning quite alone, on the summit ©f which
he was generally seen wrapped in a volume of smoke, occasioned
by his setting fire to the dry grass, or making a blaze
with gunpowder. He ascended this mountain,, as he pretended
to the ignorant Hottentots, in order to receive his
instructions from heaven ; but the real fact was that, independent
of the view he had of imposing on the* simple
Koras, he marched to the summit ©f this hill, commanding
an extensive view over the plains to the southward, to ascertain
whether the officers of justice were in pursuit of him,, am
event of which the appearance of waggons, at a distance
would have given him timely notice to effect his escape.
These impious proceedings being at length, communicated
to the missionaries of the-gospel, they resolved, if possible, to»
seize the culprit, and to deliver, him into the hands of justice;,
but this sly impostor being apprized of their design, abandoned
his temple and his flock, and fled towards the western-
4
coast of the continent, where, on the confines of the colony,
he was recognized by a Dutch boor and taken prisoner; to
whom, indeed, he pretended to surrender himself, as being
desirous to give himself up at the Cape. The boor allowed
him to sleep in his own waggon, whose kindness he one night
repaid by cutting the throat of his host with a razor, and
stole away to the lower part of the Orange river, where he
joined the noted marauder Africaaner.
Thus in all probability, had not the zeal and the exertions
of the missionaries defeated his purpose, would this impious
wretch have succeeded in establishing a new and motley religion,
partly Hebrew and partly Greek, a t the head of
whieh, as the pater Deorum, the name of Stephanos might
in after ages have been rendered eminent among the ignorant
Hottentots: and to what learned speculations on the origin
of this society might not the future discovery of so heterogeneous
a mixture of religions have given rise P Such is the
danger of being led astray, to which the unthinking multitude
of all nations is exposed, if once they forsake the customs
and opinions of their forefathers, and commit themselves to
the impostures of artful and designing men.
At Kok’s kraal the complaints and the execrations were so
general against the two robbers, that the commissioners were
i n d u c e d to afford this society whatever assistance they were
able to give in conducting an expedition against such notorious
offenders, with a view, if possible, to get hold of them
either dead or alive. Mr. Somerville and Mr. Darnell ac-
3 i 2