SOUTHERN AFRICA. 399 
"be a man idolized by tiie people ; and the consequence is, 
that he has the nomination of a successor. From the elders 
of the society he is informed of the general sentiments of the 
people ; and with their advice such rules and regulations are 
framed or altered as are best calculated to give general satis- 
faction, and consequently to make himself popular. No 
young man can be admitted into the King's council, which is 
established on the principles of true jDrimitive simplicity, 
when, in ahnost every nation and language, age and authority 
were synonymous terms. If any man in the society feels 
himself aggrieved, and is not satisfied with the decision of the 
council, he is at full liberty to settle his affairs and leave the 
horde with his whole property. 
It does not appear that they have any particular form of 
religious worship, in the strict sense of the term as applied 
by Europeans, though, as a custom handed down from their 
forefathers, they religiously observe the practising of circum- 
cision on all male children, and of dancing in a circle the 
whole night of the full moon. Few nations are so savage as 
not to be conscious that there is a power which directs the 
operations of nature, which is infinitely superior to them- 
selves, and to whose influence they are subject. Some na- 
tions have ascril)ed to this power a variety of attributes in the 
same individual, and others have supposed a distinct person 
presiding over each attribute. Most have acknowledged a 
good and an evil spirit : the one recognised in the cheering 
warmth of the sun, in the soft silvery light of the moon, and 
in fertilizing showers ; the other in the terrific roar of thunder^ 
