360 AFRICAN" PAINTINGS. 



Leigh Hunt a cockney, and was supposed to have killed 

 " Johnny Keats." Far from killing Humboldt, its 

 absurd attempt to slash his "Yoj^age" only amused him. 

 The very extracts that the scribbler quoted, proved his 

 own incompetency and malice. To think of Humboldt 

 knowing nothing of mineralogy ! 



The origin of the difficulty between the traveller 

 and the reviewer, for there vjas a difficulty, is to be 

 found in the preceding volume of the Quarterly, in 

 the number for July, 1815. It was this passage which 

 occurs in a review of Campbell's "Travels in South 

 Africa :" 



" 'Having heard,' says Mr. Campbell, 'of some paint- 

 ings in Salakooto's h')use, we went after breakfast to 

 view them. We found them very rough, representations 

 of the camel-leopard, rhinoceros, elephant, lion, tiger, 

 and stein buck, which Salakooto's wife had drawn on 

 the clay wall, with white and black paint; however, 

 they were as well done as we expected, and may lead 

 to something better.' 



" If any credit were due to the authority of M. Hum- 

 boldt, they have already ' something better.' ' Mr. 

 Tr liter relates,' says the traveller, ' that in the southern 

 extremity of Africa, among the Betjuanas, he saw chil- 

 dren busy in tracing on a rock, with some sharp instru- 

 ment, characters which bore the most perfect resemblance 

 to the P and M of the Roman alphabet, notwithstanding 

 which, these rude tribes were perfectly ignorant of writ- 

 ing.' JSTo such passage, nor any allusion to such a cir- 

 cumstance occurs in the only journal which Mr. Triiter 

 Avrote; we take it upon ourselves to assert this posi- 

 tively, having examined the original rnanuscript with 



