insect was almost the only object of superstitious reverence among them. "Do not kill that fly, for it is the Hottentot's god," said a mother to her infant daughter, who with infantine eagerness was pursuing the little idol her mother worshipped.

At the return of the Pleiades, the Hottentots held an annual meeting. As soon as these made their appearance in the East, the mothers, who had been watching for the auspicious omen, then flew to awake their children, whom they caught up in their arms, ran with them into the open air, pointed out the beautiful stars, and taught them to hold forth their little hands in admiration. Then the inhabitants of the kraal assembled to dance and sing an ancient strain, of which this was the burden:-O Sista! thou father over our heads! give us showers, that our fruit may ripen, and that we may have plenty of food: send us a good year, that we may not be forced to rob the white men, nor they be for ced to kill us!" Thus the true Father of all the families of the earth left not even those his stray offspring "without witness of himself, in that he gave them rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling their hearts with food and gladness."

It was a remarkable characteristic of these destitute savages, that in general they were very honest; for even when pinched with hunger, they were rarely tempted to steal. This refers exclusively to the genuine Hottentots, who appear to have been a distinct people, from the numerous tribes who lived northward of the colony. Their own tradition of their origin was this: In a remote age a house of passage, (a ship or canoe,) arrived near the present situation of Cape-Town, containing a man, his wife, two boys, and a girl; a bull, a cow, with three calves, two more bulls, and a heifer; a ram and a ewe, with three lambs; two other rams, and a ewe without offspring. These were the progenitors of the Hottentots, and all their cattle. Whence the vessel came they new not; but it had been conjectured, from the resemblance between certain words in their language, to some in the Hindoo dialects, but especially from the correspondence between the tricks of their sorcerers, and those of the Nicobar Islands, that their ancestors came from the East.

George, at every interval of labour, sought out the objects of his compassion, and solicited their confidence. Their intercourse indeed at first was not much more intelligible than if he

had assembled around him the elephants and giraffes of the neighbourhood, and endeavoured to make them sensible of his good will towards them, by such gestures, looks and accents, as might be supposed conciliatory and agreeable to them, while they in return, addressed him with equal familiarity, in the growling tones, and boisterous freedom of corporeal action, by which they converse with one another. But the language of love is simple, brief, and expressive, nor can it long be misunderstood between man and his fellows, though the dissimilarity of language and intellect be as wide in appearance, as between man and brute.— Love talks, looks, and moves, with meaning of his own, which all can comprehend, who are capable of loving, or being beloved. A kind word, a kind deed, even a kind intention, is soon felt and acknowledged. The barbarians, it is true, were so unaccustomed to these in Europeans, that when they found a white man who spake kindly to them, caressed their children, and concerned himself with their poor affairs, they wondered, and scarcely knew how to believe the evidence of their own senses, or the testimony of their own bosoms in favour of his sincerity. The thing was new in Caffraria, and slowly and warily they met his advances. It was to them, as if the tiger had quitted the forest, and had come to domesticate with them; as if the leopard had brought his prey to the kraal, and laid it at their feet, presenting his back to be fondled, while his spots darkened, and his skin glistened, as their infants patted his sides, or rolled with him on the grass. It was the children, in fact, that led the way to affability between them; he soon won their artless affections, and found the way to the hearts of the parents through the breasts of these little ones. Formerly, every sport, or occupation, was suspended when the stranger approached; now the young shouted at the sight of him, and ran from their mother's sides to meet him, and conduct him to their homes. Labour went on more diligently in his presence; and recreation, if checked in its violence, was more innocently and delightfully pursued when he took part in it.

From the time of his arrival, he had been endeavouring hard to gain some practical knowledge of their language, the mechanism of which resembled nothing that he had ever heard, being clicked with the tongue, and guggled in the throat, in such a

manner, that neither could his ear distinguish the rabble sounds, nor his unpractised organs form any successful imitation of them. There was not a cry of bird, beast, or insect, which he could not more readily have learned, and made subservient to the purpose of communicating with the species that employed it, than the unutterable gutturals of Hottentot speech; yet such is the flexibility of voice, and delicacy of ear, among the natives themselves, that since in a latter age, they have received Christianity, their devotional singing, in a dialect not their own,* is so sweet and harmonious, that an exquisite judge, and eminent composer of sacred music, has called them "the smooththroated nation.” Finding therefore the mastery of their language unattainable, George conceived the bold design of teaching them his own, or rather, the Low Dutch spoken by the colonists. Most of the barbarians, with whom he had correspondence, knew enough of it already to qualify them to act as herdsmen and labourers to the boors; he determined to teach them as much more, as should enable them in the plainest words to understand those truths of Revelation, which all must become little children to learn. Old, middle-aged, and young, eagerly offered themselves to be taught; and, by indefatigable diligence in bestowing instruction on minds, as little prepared to receive instruction as their own rocks were for culture, he so far succeeded as to render many well able to hold discourse with him, and some to read the Scriptures; whereby it may be averred, a few were in due time made "wise unto salvation."

It was indeed a simple tale that he told, but he told it so of ten, and told it so earnestly, that they were sure he believed it himself; and when, with a voice faultering through tenderness, hands stretched forth in affectionate entreaty, and eyes sparkling amidst tears, yet looking as if he could see into their very souls, he pressed the message home to their consciences, the most stupid among them could not but hearken. And hearken they did, with wonder, incredulity, and scorn at first; but alarm, conviction, resentment, shame, or compunction, alternately ran through the multitude as he proceeded, till, in the sequel, now one, then another,

* The Low Dutch, which, though the colony is now in possession of the English, is the general language both of Whites and Hottentots.

found hope, joy, and peace in believing. In a word, his auditories in sheep-skins received the Gospel with the same conflicting emotions, and various issues, which usually accompany the plain declarations of the truths of the Gospel to men of the most enlightened minds; and this was the sum of our preacher's discourses: "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

He dwelt especially on the sufferings of Christ, and the glory which shall be revealed. Then when he adjured them by the agony and bloody sweat, by the cross and passion, by the precious death and burial, by the glorious resurrection, and ascension of the Redeemer, to be reconciled to God;--then indeed, there were some who said in themselves with the disciples at Emmaus, "Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the Scriptures?" The general number of George's catechumens amounted to about fifty persons, besides casual hearers. Of these, seven were baptized by him, and while he remained in Africa, they walked worthily according to their profession.

Thus was there a Christian Church founded in the wilderness, where hundreds of generations, following each other like the succession of unconscious plants and dumb animals there, had lived and died in brute ignorance, and insensibility of sin, and judgment to come. Thus too was this portion of the earth, which before seemed cursed and abandoned for the primal offence, converted into a field which the Lord had blessed.

With prejudice, enmity, and inveterate opposition, did many of the Dutch boors behold these admirable changes in their neighborhood, the resurrection of intellect, melioration of character, and apparent refinement of manners among the gross Hottentots. The miracles of Moses were not more strange in the eyes of the Israelites, than were the marvellous effects of the Gospel among the Heathen, to men who called themselves believers in it, who having come to Caffraria for purposes of commerce and agriculture, had not an idea of the natives beyond playing upon their stupidity, and making their arms and legs implements of husbandry, or machinery for locomotion. These very naturally, and yet foolishly, became alarmed at the symptoms of reformation among

their dependents, to which they could not remain blind; for ignorance is instinctively afraid of knowledge, and christian instruction being the communication of the best knowledge, domineering ignorance in heathen lands is more opposed to it than all the idolatries under the sun. The boors, not aware that this scriptural mode of civilizing barbarians would necessarily make them gentle, peaceable, kindly-affectioned one to another, and meekly obedient to their superiors, were shrewd enough to perceive, that their serfs would soon be as intelligent as themselves; and thence they concluded, that being the majority, they would of course combine and drive their masters out of the country. The planters, therefore, conspired at first to get rid of the preacher. This they attempted by insinuating jealousies between him and the poor creatures whom he was daily laying down his life to serve, and by exciting prejudice on the part of the colonial government against its best subject. Before the latter, they brought railing accusations, and preposterous complaints, as though he were endangering the safety of the Company's dominions, by instilling into the population principles, which would not only lead to rebellion, but would render them more formidable enemies than they could be in their present state, by making them as wise to do evil as the Europeans themselves: for of being made wise to do any thing else they had no conception. George on these occasions repeatedly went to CapeTown to answer the charges laid against him, which he always did to the satisfaction of the governor, and the silencing of his adversaries, for a time at least. But they were not thus to be baffled-they persevered in their hostility to his plans of peace, and so vexed and harassed his righteous soul by their persecuting machinations, that he found himself under the necessity of returning to Europe, to sue for redress at the head of authority, the colonial legislature being impotent to protect him in the exercise of his undoubted rights and privileges, as a settler, under the East India Company's own sanction. He took back with him this testimony from the governor, that "though he was only a poor plain farmer, he had done more good to the miserable Hottentots than any man in the colony beside him had ever done."

But though the justice which he claimed in Holland was readily promised, it was so long delayed, that the delay became denial, and a timid and bigoted policy so far prevailed, that in the