342 CHARACTER. 



had some notion of a Deity. Even Kolben admits that they 

 had not "any institution of worship/' The older writers, 

 indeed, considered certain dances as being religious cere- 

 monies. This was stoutly denied by the natives themselves,* 

 in spite of which Kolben assures us that they were "acts of 

 their religion/' adding candidly, "let the Hottentots say 

 what they will." They are very fond of smoking, and are 

 great drunkards. It is only fair to say that Kolben gives 

 them a good character for integrity, chastity, fidelity, and 

 liberality, assuring us that they "are certainly the most 

 friendly, the most liberal, and the most benevolent people to 

 one another that ever appeared upon earth. f At the same 

 time it is difficult to see how he can reconcile this statement 

 with the admitted fact that as soon as any man or woman is so 

 enfeebled by old age that he or she is unable to work, and can 

 " no longer " I am quoting from Kolben himself " be of 

 any manner of service in anything, they are thrust out of 

 the society and confined to a solitary hut at a considerable 

 distance from the kraal, there, with a small stock of provi- 

 sions placed within their reach, but without any one to 

 comfort or assist 'em, to die either of age or hunger, or be 

 devoured by some wild beast." J This, it must be remem- 

 bered, was no exceptional atrocity, but a general custom, and 

 applied to the rich as well as the poor, for if an old man had 

 property it was taken away from him. Infanticide, again, was 

 very common among them, and was not regarded as a crime. 

 Girls were generally the victims, and if a woman had twins, 

 the ugliest of them was almost always exposed or buried alive. 

 This was done with the consent of "the whole kraal, which 

 generally allows it without taking much pains to look into 

 it." The poverty and the hardships which they had to 

 undergo may perhaps plead as some excuse for these two 



Sparrman, vol. i., p. 212 ; Kolben, I.e. f I.e. p. 334. 



} I.e. p. 321. I.e. p. 144. 



