338 HOTTENTOTS. 



this not being the case, none of our travellers having observed 

 any ruins, or other traces of a more advanced civilisation, 

 there does not appear to be any sufficient reason for sup- 

 posing these miserable beings to be at all inferior to the 

 ancestors from whom they are descended. 



The Hottentots. 



Speaking generally, we may say that the use of metal has 

 been long known throughout Europe, Asia, and Africa, while 

 in America, in Australia, and in the Oceanic Islands, all im- 

 plements and weapons were, until within the last three hundred 

 years, made of wood, bone, stone, or other similar materials. 



The semi- civilised nations of Central America formed, 

 indeed, a striking exception to the rule, since they were 

 acquainted with the use of bronze. The North American 

 Indians also had copper hatchets, but these were simply 

 hammered into shape, without the assistance of heat. Here, 

 therefore, we seem to get a glimpse of the manner in which 

 our ancestors may have acquired the knowledge of metal. No 

 doubt the possession of iron generally marks a great advance 

 in civilisation ; still the process is very gradual, and there are 

 some nations which, though provided with metal implements 

 are, nevertheless, but little removed from a state of barbarism. 



Thus the Hottentots, who were not only acquainted with 

 the use, but even with the manufacture, of iron, and who 

 possessed large numbers of sheep and cattle, were yet in 

 many respects among the most disgusting of savages. Even 

 Kolben, who generally takes a favorable view of them, 

 admits that they are in many respects the filthiest people in 

 the world.* We might go farther, and say the filthiest 

 animals ; I think no species of mammal could be fairly 

 compared with them in this respect. Their bodies were 

 covered with grease, their clothes were never washed, and 

 * Kolben's History of the Cape of Good Hope, vol. i., p. 47. 



