AFRICA. 55 
drop. The author whom I have already 
quoted is ftrongly incHned to believe all 
thefe rhapfodies on the fimple relation of 
the planters, v^^hen he fays that thefe mar- 
riage rites are not deftitute of foundation ; 
but that this cuftom is no longer practifed 
except in the interior part of the kraals, 
and never in prefence of the planters. 
Kolben has fpoken of this ceremony in 
the minuteft manner ; and he has even ex- 
pofed it to the eyes of his readers in an en- 
graving, in order to give it a kind of authen- 
ticity. Other ignorant writers have copied 
Ko.ben, and even the author of the French 
tranilation pF Dr. Sparmann ; to which he 
has been pleafed to add, in order to com- 
plete the kft volume, I know not what 
extradt from ^ New Syjlem of Geography. 
I indeed never read any voyage to Africa in 
which the abfurd reveries of Kolben have 
not been adopted. This plagiarifm, which 
difgraces the work of a refpeilable writer, 
deferves no credit. The dreams of the fe- 
dentary traveller who wrote above eighty 
years ago, are there related 'word for vvord, 
not only refpeding the marriage ceremony 
of the Hottentots, but alfo concerning their 
E 4 reception" 
