TRAVELS IN 
A Hottentot is capable of ftrong attachments ; with a readi- 
nefs to acknowledge, he poffefles the mind to feel, the force of 
a benevolent adion. I never found that any little a£t of kind- 
nefs or attention was thrown away upon a Hottentot j but, on 
the contrary, I have frequently had occafion to remark the joy 
that fparkled on his countenance, whenever an opportunity oc- 
curred to enable him to difcharge his debt of gratitude. I give 
full credit to all that Monfieur Le Vaillant has faid with regard 
to the fidelity and attachment he experienced from this race of 
men ; of whom the natural charadler and difpofition feem to ap- 
proach nearer to thofe of the Hindus than of any other nation. 
Is it not then a moft unaccountable circumftance, that 
the Dutch fhould have given the preference to a race of men, 
of talents much inferior, and whofe temper, always capricious, 
becomes on flight provocations cruel and revengeful? — I mean 
the Malay flaves. The negroes of Mofambique and of Mada- 
gafcar are harmlefs and ftupid on their firfl; arrival, buc foon 
become cunning and diflioneft by intercourfe with their elder 
brethren. In full pofTeffion of all the vices that muft infallibly 
refult from the condition of flavery, there is yet no part of the 
world where the domeftic flaves of every defcription are fo 
\vell treated, and fo much trufl:ed, as at the Cape of Good Hope. 
They are better clothed, better fed, and infinitely more comfort- 
able than any of the peafantry of Europe. Yet fuch are the 
bad efFedls, which the condition of flavery produces on the 
mind, that they are incapable of feeling the leafl fpark of gra- 
titude for good and gentle ufage, whilft, under the fevere hand 
of a rigid and cruel matter, they become the beft of flaves. It 
I is 
