AFRICA. i§i 
t( freei-booters, who give themfelves up to 
Continual rapine, to war and its concomitant 
dangers, in order to avoid hunger and find the 
means of appeafing it. But which is, iti re* 
ality, the greateft favage — he who has lands and 
flocks, who fixes himfelf to one fpot, who is 
acquainted with barter and fubfifts by the 
prad:ice of commerce ; or he who trcfts merely 
to his ftrength, and waits for the moment of 
need, before he thinks of procuring what he 
may have occafion for? Laws, civilization, 
and morals, muft undoubtedly have the pre- 
ference ; but the evils which they often bring 
in their train infinitely diminifh, in my eyes, 
the misfortune of inhabiting a defert and of 
being thereby ignorant of them. 
When my Hottentot arrived at the camp, 
his prefence occafioned a fort of ftupor. Had 
he fallen from the clouds, he could not, in my 
opinion, have produced more aftonifiiment. 
He was foon furrounded by my people, each 
wifliing to know by what Angular adventures 
he had got to fuch a diftance from his native 
country. So highly was their curiofity excit- 
ed that they never quitted him ; and, after they 
had given him fome refreihment, they em- 
VOL* III* M ployed 
