130 TRAVELS IN 
defl:ru6lion of all : but, if I deceived myfelf, 
I had only to reproach my own judgment. 
The Hottentots are reprefented as a mi- 
ferable and poor nation, fuperftitious, feroci- 
ous, and indolent, and exceffively dirty ; in a 
word, they are vilified in every poffible man- 
ner. Were there in thefe affertions evert 
one that approached truth, it would be bet- 
ter, in order to fupprefs extravagant exagge- 
ration, to adhere fimply to the tales, already 
fo abfurd, of thofe tirefome planters, who 
always delight in deceiving a ftranger by 
th ings which the latter hopes to receive in* 
ftn idtion from, whilft liftening to them. 
Peo^ple ought to fpeak from their own expe- 
rient 'e, and advance nothing more than what 
they .have feen. Had thefe maxims been ad- 
hered to in fuch a work as that of Dodlor 
Sparma nn, for example — a work valuable in 
more re. fpeits than one — interefting obferva- 
tions, vfK "11 written, would not have been in- 
undated with a deluge of very apocryphal 
relations <. ^f hunting lions, elephants, &c. ; 
each more ' improbable and ridiculous than 
another. .He would not then have fpoken 
of a licorn, delineated perhaps by a planter 
xipon fome i uninhabited rock ; and he would 
4 not 
