84 MANTID^ — SOOTHSAYERS, ETC. 



culpable neo^lect not to place it out of the way of any dan- 

 ger to which it seems exposed. 



The Turks and other Moslems have been much impressed 

 by the actions of the common Mantis, the religiosa,^ which 

 greatly resemble some of their own attitudes of prayer. 

 They readily recognize intelligence and pious intentions in 

 its actions, and accordingly treat it with respect and atten- 

 tion, not indeed as in itself an object of reverence or super- 

 stition, but as a fellow-worshiper of God, whom they be- 

 lieve that all creatures praise, with more or less conscious- 

 ness and intelligence.'^ 



But it is in Africa, and especially in Southern Africa, 

 that the Mantis (here the Mantis caustay receives its high- 

 est honors. The attention of the travelers and missiona- 

 ries in that quarter was necessarily much drawn to the kind 

 of religious veneration paid to an insect, and from their 

 accounts, though very contradictory, some carious informa- 

 tion may be collected. 



The authority of Peter Kolben, an early German traveler 

 to the Cape of Good Hope, is as follows : That the Hot- 

 tentots regard as a goad deity an insect of the "beetle-kind " 

 peculiar to their country. This "beetle-god" is described 

 by him to be "about the size of a child's little finger, the 

 back green, the belly speckled white and red, with two 

 wings and two horns." He also assures us that whenever 

 the Hottentots meet this insect, they pay it the highest 

 honor and veneration ; and that if it visits a kraal they 

 assemble about it as if a divinity had descended among 

 them; and even kill a sheep or two as a thank-ofifering, and 

 esteem it an omen of the greatest happiness and prosperity. 

 They believe, also, its appearance expiates all their guilt; 

 and if the insect lights upon one of them, such person is 

 looked upon as a saint, bo it man or woman, and ever after 

 treated with uncommon respect. The kraal then kills the 

 fattest ox for a thank-offering; and the caul, powdered with ' 

 bukhu, and twisted like a rope, is put on, like a collar, about 

 the neck, and there must remain till it rots off.* 



1 Carpenter's ZooL, ii. 142. 



2 Ppiw,/ Mag., 1841, 2d S. p. 436. 

 8 Cuvier, An. Kvtyd. — Inn., ii. 190. J 

 * Present St. of the C. of Good Hope, i. 99-100, Astley's Collec of 



'uy. and Tiav., iii. 3G0. 



