270 
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 
remarkable. ISTor is it, perhaps^ so great a 
matter of wonder, that they should he found 
so over-clothed with the inseparable concomi- 
tants of barbarity and heathenism, vice, immor- 
ality, and cruelty ; rather is it more singular, 
that though cast out and forsaken, forgotten, 
neglected, and despised, a race of beings should 
yet be found, (after so many years spent in 
barbarism,) so exclusively national, and so dis- 
tinguished through their traceable traditionary 
observances, as these Kaffirs are. They excite 
admiration in the mind of every traveller who 
visits them and their country, and a still more 
lively interest in the breast of every Missionary 
who investigates their origin, usages, and cus- 
toms, or seeks their civilization and conversion 
to Christianity. 
But ere turning to say a few words on the 
brighter picture of Missionary work amongst 
them, we must give a short outline of those 
hideous orgies of superstition and cruelty, which 
the advent of this Better Testament is cal- 
culated to remove, and we shall close this 
chapter with a few remarks on the supersti- 
tions which they believe in and practice, in 
connection with the " witch-doctor " and the 
u rain-maker." 
These two miscreants, who are always to be 
found attached to every tribe, are intimately 
