Such of the Hottentots as have submitted to the Hollanders are called the Company's Hottentots. The Dutch send every year fifty or sixty persons to trade among the Hottentots, who purchase their cattle, giving them in exchange arrack, tobacco, hemp, and such other things as they have occasion for; by which means a good understanding is kept up. These Hottentots of the Company are often attacked by the other tribes, and, when no longer able to defend themselves, their king or chief comes down to the Cape, attended by a small escort of his subjects, to demand assistance. He goes immediately to the governor, having in his hand the staff of command given him by the Company, decorated with their arms, and holding it in his hand, demands assistance. If the governor does not think proper to grant his request, but endeavours to shift him off with fair words, he throws down his staff saying, in bad Dutch, Voor my, niet meer Compagnies Hottentot; that is, "For me, I will no more be the Company's Hottentot." The governor generally sends him home with an escort of troops, as it is the interest of the company to be on good terms with these chiefs, who are always ready to do any service required of them.
The Hottentots are a very stupid and brutal people. They rub their bodies all over with rancid grease, which gives them a very bad smell, so that you may nose them at a considerable distance. Their children are all born perfectly white; but being constantly rubbed with grease, and exposed to the sun, they grow by degrees quite brown, and almost black. When a woman brings forth twins, one of them is immediately condemned to death, and is tied to a tree, where it is left to expire. Some of them have a custom of extirpating one testicle in their male children, as soon as they are able to bear the operation, in hope of preventing them afterwards from begetting twins. They seem to have little or no religion; yet they frequently look with admiration at the heavenly bodies, saying, "He who governs these is certainly a being of infinite power and wisdom." In many respects they are more like beasts than men, being abominably nasty in their persons, and, taking them altogether, they are certainly one of the meanest nations on the face of the earth. They are short and thick-set, with flat noses like a Dutch pug dog, very thick lips, and large mouths, having very white teeth, but very long and ill set, some of them sticking out of their mouths like boar's tusks. Their hair is black, and curled like wool. They are very nimble, and run with incredible speed. They are generally covered with a sheep's skin, each man having a quiver full of arrows on his back, and a bow in his hand. Immediately on coming in sight of an enemy, they set up a dreadful cry, leaping, dancing, and skipping about, and throwing themselves into the most frightful postures.
The seventh nation is named the Caffres, who are certainly the Anthropophagi who have made so much noise in the world[3]. The Hottentots are much afraid of them, and take care to keep out of their way as much as possible, for fear of being roasted or boiled if taken prisoners. This abominable nation has never entered into any kind of commerce with the Christians; but, on the contrary, takes all the pains they can to entrap and murder them, in order, as is generally believed, to eat them. It is reported that they have grown somewhat more tractable of late years, and will enter into some sort of trade with such as venture among them. They are a potent and warlike nation, strong and well-made; and though black, and having curled hair like other negroes, they have better faces, and a much more manly appearance.
At the distance of about eighteen leagues from the Cape, there is another port called Saldanha Bay, which is, in all respects, an infinitely better harbour than Table Bay, except in wanting fresh water, which prevents it from being frequented. The animals of this country are many. The lion is common here, and in hard winters often comes very near the habitations of the colonists. He is reputed the king of beasts, because he never eats a man till he has beaten out his breath with his paws. Before attacking a man he roars terribly, and shakes his mane; and if he does not give these signals of rage, there is no danger in passing him. Tigers and leopards are also very common, and do a vast deal of mischief; and it is probable these animals would be much more numerous, were it not for a race of wild dogs, which hunt in packs, and are so bold that they often weary out and worry a lion. They often destroy tigers, leopards, and wolves, and it is said that they will allow a man to take their prey from them when they have killed it. Travellers are never afraid when they fall in with these wild dogs, but rather rejoice, because they are sure that no ferocious animal is in the neighbourhood. There are many elephants in this country, and of as great size, as any in the world, being often from twelve to fifteen feet high or better, their teeth weighing from sixty to an hundred and twenty pounds. The rhinoceros is also often met with. This animal is rather less than the elephant, but stronger. His skin is prodigiously thick, and so hard that scarcely any weapon can pierce it. His snout is like that of a hog, on which grows a solid horn, ten or twelve inches long, which is much valued, because esteemed an excellent medicine in convulsions.
There are two animals peculiar to this country, which therefore deserve notice. One is a species of wild ass, which resembles the common ass in nothing but the length of its ears. It is as large as an ordinary horse, and is the most beautiful animal in the world. His hair is very soft, and from the ridge of the back descends in coloured streaks to the belly, forming so many circles. It is a brisk and lively creature, which runs more swiftly than any horse. It is very difficult to take alive, and when taken cannot be tamed; yet sells at a prodigious price, and is thought a fit present for a sovereign prince, from its rarity and exquisite beauty[4]. The other creature, found in no other country, is called by the Dutch the Stinkbungsen, or Stinking-Badger. This is of the size of an ordinary dog, but is shaped like a ferret. When pursued by man or beast, it retreats but slowly, and when its enemy draws near, discharges backwards a so intolerably fetid wind, that dogs tear up the ground and hide their noses in it, to avoid the smell. When killed, it stinks so abominably that there is no approaching the carcass, which is therefore left to consume where it falls.
It is impossible to describe all the creatures that are seen in the vast forests of Africa, as the inhabitants see new animals every year that are utterly unknown to them. They allege that, in the middle of summer, when the wild animals are almost raging mad with thirst, they resort in vast multitudes to the rivers named Salt, Elephants, and St John's rivers, where the males and females of different species intermixing, produce strange beasts that seem to be new species. The Hottentots in the service of the Company frequently carry the skins of these monsters to the governor; and our author assures us that he saw one of the following description, that had been killed not long before. It was about the size of a calf of six months old, and seemed to have had four eyes. The head resembled that of a lion, but the hair was quite smooth, and of a dark grey colour. It had tusks like a boar. The fore-feet resembled those of that creature; but the hind-feet were like those of a tiger.
The birds of this country are in a manner infinite in numbers and sorts; and though they have not been observed often to intermingle species, yet hybrids are sometimes remarked among them. The largest and strongest birds are to be found in Africa, among which is the ostrich, the largest of all, being commonly seven feet high. The beak is short and pointed, but the neck is very long. The feathers of the male are white and black only, while those of the female are mixed white, black, and grey. Those of the former are most esteemed, as their large feathers are better spread, and their down much softer. This bird is prodigiously swift of foot, and is hunted down by hounds. Their wings do not serve them to fly, but assist them in running, especially when they have the wind with them. The common opinion of their being able to digest iron is totally false. They swallow pieces of iron indeed, but then it is only to bruise the food in their gizzards, just as other birds swallow stones for the same purpose. They are also said to leave their eggs uncovered on the sand, and to take no care of their young. But those of the Cape country hide their eggs in the sand, and are so tender of their young, that, though naturally timorous, if one of them is missing, they become quite furious, so that it is not safe to go near them. There are abundance of eagles of all sorts at the Cape, which are very bold, and frequently do a great deal of mischief. They are not very large, yet are incredibly strong, so that they often kill and devour cattle when returning home from work, when they come in great flocks. of fifty or an hundred at once, single out a beast as it feeds among the flock, and falling upon it all at once, kill and devour it.
Some years before our author was at the Cape, there was seen on Table Mountain a bird as large in the body as a horse, having grey and black plumage. His beak and talons were like those of an eagle, but of a most dreadful size. He sat and hovered about that mountain for a long time, and the people were persuaded it was a griffin. It frequently carried off sheep and calves, and at length began to destroy the cows, on which orders were given to destroy it, and it was accordingly shot, its skin stuffed, and sent home as a curiosity to the Company. No such bird, has been seen since, and the oldest people of the colony do not remember to have heard of any such before.[5]
Africa has been long famous for serpents, and there are such vast numbers of them in the neighbourhood of the Cape, that many of them have no names. Most of them are extremely venomous, and the colonists would suffer much more than they do from them, were it not that they have a specific remedy for their bites, not known in Europe. This remedy is the serpent-stone, allowed to be factitious, and is brought from India, where they are made by the bramins who have the secret of composing them, which they so carefully conceal, that no Europeans have hitherto been able to discover how they are made. The serpent-stone is about the size of a bean, white in the middle, but of a fine sky-blue on the outside. When a person is bitten by a serpent, this stone is applied to the wound, to which it soon sticks fast of itself, without the aid of any bandage or plaister. The part bitten begins immediately to swell and becomes inflamed. The stone also swells till it becomes full of the venom, and then drops off. It is then put into warm milk, where it soon purges itself from the venom, and resumes its natural colour, after which it is again applied to the wound, where it sticks as before, till a second time full, and so on till all the venom is extracted and the cure perfected.