AFRICA. 45 
trid — a grofs error, which deferves to be 
buried m oblivion with the works by whicli 
it has been propagated. It has fometimes 
happened, perhaps, that a Hottentot, prefled 
by hunger, may have employed this refoiirce 
as the only means of preferving his exift- 
ence, and devoured both his thongs and his 
fandals but, becaufe the horrors of a liege 
have compelled civilized people to contend 
for the vllefl: food, muft we conclude that 
uncivilized nations eat rags and naftinefs? 
At firft, thefe bandages of leather and 
reeds with which the Hottentots furrounded 
their legs were only an indifpenfable pre- 
fervative againft the pricking of briars and 
thorns, and the biting of ferpents, which 
abound in thele regions of Africa ; but lux- 
ury transforms into abules the moft ufeful 
inventions. In place of thofe pieces of (kin 
which were fo ferviceable, the women have 
fubftituted beads, which, on account of their 
fragility, are not of long duration. Thus, 
among favages, as among the moft enlight- 
ened nations, the wifeft and the beft com- 
bined mftitutlons are at length perverted and 
corrupted. The luxury of the Hottentots, 
however ill underftood it may appear, fufB- 
ciently 
