52 TRAVELS IN 
that (he herfelf, about fixteen or feventeen 
years before, found in the quarter of 
*^ Swellendam a Hottentot child wrapped 
*^ up in fkins, tied faft to a tree, near the 
place where its mother had been recently 
interred. Enough of life was ftill remain- 
ing in this child to be faved, and it was 
carried away by Mrs. Kock*s relations ; but 
*^ it died at the age of eight or nine. It re- 
fults from this inftance, and from feveral 
*' others which I learned from the planters," 
&c. 
We muft conclude, from the words of this 
botanifl:, that he faw nothing of what he re- 
lates, fince he declares, as he does through- 
out his whole work, that he received his 
information from the planters. He muft 
have been too much in their company to be 
ignorant how far one ought to depend on 
their memories or their judgment 3 and on 
this account he might have fpared us the 
trouble of reading a great number of fables 
which ought to have been exploded. It is 
not by hearfay that we are to judge of peo- 
ple, or to compare them with others. In 
the moft faithful and juft relation how many 
circumftances efcape us which would throw 
light 
