84 MANTID^ — SOOTHSAYERS, ETC. 



culpable neglect not to place it out of the way of any dan- 

 ger to which it seems ex))osed. 



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 (liere the Mantis caustaf 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 curious 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-offering, 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, be 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 /'rnn>/ Mag., 18il, 2d S. p. 4-36. 



3 Cuvier, An. Ki^igd.—Im^., ii. 190. 



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

 Voy. and Trav., iii. 366. 



