800 AFRICAN PAINTINGS. 



Leigh Hunt a cockney, and was supposed to have killed 

 11 Johnny Keats." Far from killing Humboldt, its 

 absurd attempt to slash his "Voyage" 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 luas 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 house, w r e 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. 

 Triiter 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.' No such passage, nor any allusion to such a cir- 

 cumstance occurs in the only journal which Mr. Triiter 

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

 tively, having examined the original manuscript with 



