142 that' 



They generally had but one mast, 

 on the top of which was a round 

 gallery, where a man stood on 

 the "look out." At the stern 

 they carried a light; and their 

 rigging consisted only of a few 

 ropes, and one large sail. 



On doubling Cape Horn, we 

 enter the South Atlantic Ocean, 

 and steering in a north-easterly 

 direction, we reach the shores of 

 Africa, 226, that wonderful divi- 

 vision of the world, which for 

 five hundred years, at least, has 

 been the object of constant dis- 

 covery, and yet remains unex- 

 plored in many of its parts. On 

 the southern extremity af Africa 

 lies tha Cape of Good Hope, an 



13 



457. 



extensive territory, colonized by 

 the British. The original inha- 

 bitants of southern Africa con- 



S IT; 



sist of two distinct races of 

 negroes — the Hottentots and the 

 Kaffirs — and these are subdivided 

 into ten or twelve different tribes. 

 The Kaffirs are a tall and well 

 formed people, having regular 

 features, and well developed fore- 

 heads ; with skins varying from 

 black to copper colour, and 

 crisped woolly hair, like that of 

 the negro, only growing in small 

 detached tufts. With these peo- 

 ple and the European settlers 

 many terrible conflicts have taken 

 place. The clothing of the Kaffirs 

 consists of skins, or blankets. 

 They wear armlets and necklaces 

 made of animals' teeth or beads. 

 They are also fond of wearing 

 brass rings on their arms. Their 

 war dress, 13, is more elaborate, 

 consisting of kilts of skins, and 

 head-dresses of feathers of various 

 kinds. Their weapons are a kind 

 of spear, in other cases a club ; 

 they carry shields made of hides. 

 They have lately acquired fire- 

 arms, and use them with con- 

 siderable skill. 



In their savage state, the Kafirs have little 

 sense of religion. They believe in a Being who 

 made the world ; but that now, if not extinct, 

 he takes no heed of its government. They con- 

 ceive that the spirits of their forefathers exer- 

 cise an influence over them, and they have a 

 strong belief in witchcraft. The witch-doctor, 

 who professes to discover wizards and witches, 

 plays a prominent part in their social and poli- 

 tical system. He is the ready instrument of 

 oppression in the hands of the chief, who, when- 

 ever he dislikes or fears any of his subjects, or 

 covets their property, employs the " doctor " to 

 accuse them of witchcraft, for which they are 

 killed, and their cattle is seized by the chief. 

 They practise circumcision, eschew pork as food, 

 and have other customs similar to those of the 

 Jews, from whom, some have supposed, they 

 were borrowed ; but similarity of climate, and 

 other external circumstances, will produce 

 similar habits in men. The Kafirs also abstain 

 from eating fish, fowls, or eggs. They cultivate 

 Indian corn, pumpkins, and a kind of millet. 

 They chit fly live upon these articles and milk, 

 eating little meat except in war time, when they 

 freely kill their cattle. Their language is sin- 

 gularly soft and harmonious. 



