316 
SOUTHERN AFRICA, 
der to the dead, and the dread of ghosts, shew 
some secret belief of it. 
The Hottentots, in Kolben's time, were not en- 
tirely without government. A hereditary chief, 
called Konquer, commanded in war, negotiated 
peace, and presided at the public assemblies. A 
second officer, also hereditary, called Captain, 
judged the people in peace, and, in war, com- 
manded under the Konquer. Both these func- 
tionaries, at their accession, came under an oath 
to attempt nothing against the rights of each other, 
or of the people. The Hottentots were then a 
warlike race. On the slightest injury, they flew to 
arms. Their wars, like those of all savages, were 
short, tumultuary, and irregular. They formed al- 
liances with each other, and seemed even to study 
a sort of balance of power. The Dutch were fre- 
quently called in by the weaker party ; an occur- 
rence which they always succeeded in turning to 
their own advantage. 
Kolben gives many particulars of the natural 
history of the Cape, though they cannot now be 
considered as of much value. He notices the spe- 
cies of sheep with tails of extraordinary magnitude, 
composed entirely of fat, and weighing often fifteen 
or twenty pounds. He describes particularly the 
elephant, the rhinoceros, the leopard, and the buf- 
falo. But the most beautiful animal he saw was 
the zebra, which he knows under no other name 
