Europeans, and subsequently for many years, may be learnt from the following statement.

"When the Portuguese first visited the Cape of Good Hope, they found the inhabitants rich in cattle, living in a happy and comfortable manner, and possessed of sufficient spirit to repel aggression and to resent unjust treatment. From the slight intercourse held with them, chiefly for the purpose of procuring water and refreshments for their ships, they were led to entertain very favourable notions of the character of these natives. It was said, that they were remarkable for the excellence of their morals, that they kept the law of nations better than most civilized people, and that they were valiant in arms. Of this latter quality, they gave a memorable proof in the year 1510, when Francisco Almeida, first viceroy of the Portuguese in India, was defeated and killed in an obstinate engagement with the Hottentots, near the Salt River, in the neighbourhood of the place where Cape Town now stands.

"When the Dutch took possession of the Cape, in 1652, the natives ap. pear to have been much more numerous than they now are, and to have possessed large herds of cattle. And although some of the early writers who had visited the Cape previous to the colonization of the Dutch, seem to have given exaggerated accounts of the number and wealth of this people, yet from documents to which I have had access, it is evident that the numbers and wealth of the Hottentots were very soon much diminished by their contiguity to their European neighbours. So rapid indeed was this diminution, occasioned by the trade carried on between them and the new settlers, that it arrested the attention of the government; and it appears from the minutes of an investigation before the governor, Vander Stell, in the commencement of the eighteenth century, that a single Hottentot village had been robbed of cattle by the colonists, to the amount of two thousand head. It appears, also, from the returns made by the officers commanding the parties sent against the Bushmen, so late as the year 1770; that their villages frequently contained from one hundred to two hundred men; and these villages were, at that time, in the possession of cattle.

"All the records of the colony, during the first fifty years of the Dutch occupation, which I have seen, agree in praising the virtues of the Hottentots; and such was the admiration extorted by these virtues from the colonists, that all the Hottentot tribes were distinguished by the appellation of "The good men." It is related, on the authority of Bogaert, that, during the whole of that period, the natives had never in one instance been detected in committing an act of theft on the property of the colonists. The first that took place happened in the year 1700, and the party who suffered by it had so high an opinion of the honesty of the Hottentots, that the blame was laid upon the slaves, and the real thief was not so much as suspected. The article stolen was a waistcoat with silver buttons, and could not easily

be concealed among savages. Accordingly, a short time after the affair had taken place, the waistcoat was found in the possession of a Hottentot, belonging to a kraal at a small distance from Cape Town. The discovery was no sooner made than the offender was seized by his countrymen, who brought him to town and delivered him over to the magistrates. And so great a disgrace did they consider this act to their nation, that they demanded that he should be punished, as the only means of wiping off the stain his crime had fixed upon them: and not satisfied with his getting a severe flogging, they banished him from their village, as unworthy to live among them.

"The injuries inflicted upon the Hottentots by the colonists, must have had a deteriorating influence on their character, in the course of one hundred and fifty years, during which time they had been driven from the most fertile tracts of country, and deprived of that independence to which they were passionately attached; yet so much of the character ascribed to them by the early writers, remained visible even at the time when Mr. Barrow travelled among them, that we hesitate not to receive, as accurate, descriptions that might otherwise have been thought too flattering. "A Hottentot,” says this intelligent writer, "is capable of strong attachments; with a readiness to acknowledge, he possesses the mind to feel the force of a benevolent action. I never found that any little act of kindness or attention was thrown away upon a Hottentot; but, on the contrary, I have frequently had occasion to remark the joy that sparkled in his countenance whenever an opportunity occurred to enable him to discharge his debt of gratitude. I give full credit to all that M. Le Vaillant has said with regard to the fidelity and attachment he experienced from this race of men, of whom the natural character and disposition seem to approach nearer to those of the Hindûs than of any other nation." That the following tribute paid to the honour of the Hottentot character by the same traveller was well merited, I have been fully satisfied by my own observation and experience during my residence in South Africa; and I never knew an individual who was acquainted with the manners of this people, who did not acknowledge its justice. "A Hottentot, among the many good qualities he possesses, has one which he is master of in an eminent degree,—I mean a rigid adherence to truth. When accused of a crime of which he has been guilty, with native simplicity, he always states the fact as it happened: but, at the same time, he has always a justification at hand for what he has done. From lying and stealing, the predominant and inseparable vices of the condition of slavery, the Hottentot may be considered as exempt. In the whole course of my travels, and in the midst of the numerous attendants of this nation with which I was constantly surrounded, I can with safety declare that I never was robbed or deceived by any of them."

Like other tribes in an uncivilized state, the Hottentots lived together in their kraals, or villages, like members of the same family, having their cat

tle and chief property as a sort of common stock, to which all had an equal right. When an individual killed an ox or a sheep, the slaughtered animal afforded a common feast; and the person to whom it belonged had as little food in his house on the next day, or the day following, as any of his neighbours. The same practice, it may be observed, obtains still among the Caffers, the Bushmen, and the Namaquas. If a dozen of people leave a kraal to hunt game, and one only is successful, the fortunate individual shares his provision with his less successful companions of the chase.

I never have been able to discover from my intercourse with the natives, or from any other source, that this nation had ever attained any distinct notion of a Supreme Being, or that an idea of a future state of existence had at any period prevailed among them. Africaner, the most intelligent savage I have ever met with, declared that, previous to his acquaintance with the Missionaries, he had no idea of a Spirit, Creator, or Supreme Ruler.— In his intercourse with the colonists, he had heard, as he observed to me, 'that they had a God; but he never saw him in the winds, in the thunder, in the lightning, in the heavens, nor in any of his works; and so contracted were his views on this subject, that, by the God of the white people, he only understood something under that name which they might carry about with them in their pockets.' Being asked if it never occurred to him to inquire how the world was made, or who formed the sun and the stars and the clouds, his reply was, 'I was always so engrossed with my cattle and my wars, that I never lifted my thoughts so high; or if, at any time, a question arose in my mind on these subjects, the difficulty of solving it was so great that it no sooner presented itself than it was dismissed.' But the conclusive argument on this point is the fact, that neither they nor the Bushmen had any word in their language to express the Deity. The only name which the Hottentots have for him (and this is by no means general) is Thuike, or Utìka, an appellation of which the derivation and meaning are very uncertain.*

"But whatever their opinions may have been on this subject, they were not entirely without moral restraints. Before they were corrupted by their intercourse with Europeans, adultery and fornication were considered among them as crimes." (To be continued.)

Letters from the African Institution.

The following letters have been received from the African Institution, in reply to Communications soliciting the late Reports of that Society, and

The Missionary Brownlee, who is a respectable authority, states, that the Caffers have some idea of a Supreme Being, whom they call Uhlanga; but that until the Missionaries went among them, they had no conception of a state of future rewards or punishments.

suggesting the mutual benefits which might result from a regular exchange of publications and a friendly correspondence.

}

AFRICAN INSTITUTION OFFICE, FLUDYER STREET, LONDON, JUNE 2d, 1829. SIR, I have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 19th April last. The pamphlets by order of the American Colonization Society, which you mention, have not yet been received.

I very much regret to find that a letter written by the order of the Board of Directors of this Institution, dated the 14th July last, acknowledging your favour of the 1st December preceding, had not been received by you. I now enclose a copy of that letter, together with a few copies of such Reports as appear not yet to have reached you.

I beg leave to thank you for the letters and pamphlets you have now sent, and to assure you that any communication from your valuable and interesting Society will prove highly gratify." ing to the Directors of this Institution. I shall not fail to transmit to you copies of any publications of this Institution; and requesting a continuance of your correspondence,

I have the honour to be, Sir,

Your most obedient Servant.

ROBERT STOKES, Dep. Sec.

OFFICE OF AFRICAN INSTITUTION, JULY 14th, 1828.

SIR,-I hope you have received our Reports subsequent to the nineteenth: they were forwarded immediately upon the receipt of the letter and the pamphlets with which you so kindly opened your communication with the African Institution.

I was absent from London, in consequence of ill health, at the time of the arrival of your letter; or, together with the Reports, I should have transmitted to the Directors of the American Colonization Society, those assurances of cordial esteem and co-operation with which, on the part of the Directors of the African Institution, I am instructed to acknowledge this welcome testimony of your earnestness in our common cause.

We have watched the progress of your settlement at Liberia with great anxiety, and congratulate you upon its success.

We rejoice at the favourable growth of public opinion in America. The African Institution, in consequence of the deficiency

and lateness of the parliamentary papers, and of other general information respecting the present slave-trade, has published no Report this year. Confident that ere long the labours of our two Societies must be brought to a successful close, and sincerely gratified by the opportunity of mutual information and encouragement which your most friendly Institution affords us in furtherance of this important object,

I have the honour to remain, Sir,

Your obedient faithful Servant.

W. EMPSON, Secretary.

Extracts from Correspondence.

From a Gentleman in New Jersey.

A whole year has elapsed since I hoped to have given you the information which I now communicate, of the organization of a County Auxiliary Colonization Society. Unfortunately, some other matters, much to be regretted, diverted my attention from it. When the difficulties connected with these had in some measure subsided, there came a succession of claims upon our active charity, which rendered it imprudent, so far as the Presbyterian Church was concerned, to broach the subject. Having sounded the feelings of the people, however, and found good hopes of success, I drew up subscription papers, and had the pleasure to see, in a short time, about thirty of the most respectable names in the town upon the list. A meeting was then called, and a Committee appointed to draft a Constitution, in order that it might be presented and adopted on the Fourth of July. The day was unfavourable, and we were obliged to adjourn to another day, the 18th inst. On this day the friends met, and the Society is organized, auxiliary to the State Colonization Society. From the comparative ease with which this Society has been formed, among a people of widely differing sentiments on almost every other subject, a proper estimate may be made of the growing popularity of the Parent Society. I think the time is not far distant, when the power of public opinion will bend the attention of our Legislatures to the important