2. Congo, bounded N. by the river Zaire or Congo, which separates it from Loango; S. by Angola, from which it is separated by the river Dande.

3. Angola lies immediately south of Congo, and extends on the coast from the mouth of the Dande to that of the Coanza.

4. Benguela lies immediately south of Angola, and extends on the coast from Coanza river to cape Negro in 16° 5' S. lat.

Of the Climate of Congo.

Benguela, Angola, Congo, and Loango, are mostly under the dominion of the Portuguese, who have great numbers of negro princes subject to them. By giving some account of Congo, which is the most considerable nation, every thing interesting will be described belonging to them all.

Congo, though situated near the equator, enjoys a tolerably temperate climate. The winter begins in March, and their summer in September. The winds in winter, through all these regions, drive the clouds towards the mountains; where, being gathered and compressed, they are seen hovering on the tops, and soon after discharge themselves in showers. During their summer, the winds clear the southern skies, and drive the rain into the northern regions; thereby cooling the air, the heat of which would be otherwise insupportable.

Persons and Manners of the Congoese.

The aboriginal natives were in general black; but, since their intermarriages with the Portuguese, many of them are of an olive colour. Their hair is woolly, their eyes are of a lively black, and they have not either the flat noses or thick lips of the negro race. They are in general of a middle stature; and, though darker, resemble the Portuguese.

They are characterized as a courteous and affable people, open to conviction, and quick in apprehension; but, at the same time, proud and revengeful, frequently poisoning one another on the slightest provocation, though death be the certain consequence of detection. Before the arrival of the Portuguese, the natives wore a piece of palmtree cloth round their waists, and the skins of several animals in the form of aprons. The women wore small caps, which were also used by the other sex: but these modes of dress are, in general, become . obsolete.

Of their Knowledge, Arts and Amusements.

In learning and science, they are as ignorant as it is possible to conceive; not having any characters to express themselves in writing, they have neither records nor histories. They compute their years by winter seasons, their months by the full moon, and their days by the appearance of the sun; but they are ignorant of the inferior divisions of time.

Those artificers are most esteemed, who are capable of working in iron; from a tradition that the first blacksmith was elevated to the throne of Congo: nevertheless, even in this art, they have made lit tle improvemement.

Congo.

The Language of Congo and the neighbouring states, differs very terially from all the known languages of the negroes of Northern

Persons and Dress of the Inhabitants.

405

Africa; but, from the copious vocabularies obtained by Captain Tuckey, it would seem that there is a radical affinity between all the languages of Southern Africa, and that these languages have pervaded the greater part of that portion of the continent, and extended even to the eastern coast.

The principal amusements are music and dancing; and, in the latter, they are remarkable for their exact observance of time.

Religion and Government.

Idolatry is prevalent in a great part of the country; yet they acknowledge the existence of an omnipotent Being, whom they call Nzambian Pongu; but imagine that he commits the care of all sublunary things to subordinate deities, who preside over the various powers of nature. In the eastern part of the kingdom, where paganism is universal, the priests pretend to the gift of divination, to prevent the effect of charms, and to relieve the diseased. A great ecclesiastical officer, styled Shalome, presides over the priests, and is regarded as a kind of Pope, to whom oblation is made of the first fruits of the earth. Among other notions which the natives entertain of this high-priest, there is one which must lessen the pleasure he would otherwise derive from their veneration. They imagine that he is either exempt from death, or that if he were to die like other men, the world would be at an end; and to prevent the calmity, no sooner is his life in danger, either from age or disease, than his successor is ordered to despatch him with his own hand, after which he succeeds to this elevated but precarious office.

The government of this country is hereditary and despotic, the king commanding the lives and property of all his subjects: he is the sole proprietor of all lands within his dominions, which he confers on whom he pleases, reserving an annual tribute to himself; on failure of the payment of which, and not unfrequently to gratify a minister, the old possessors are turned out, and the affluent reduced to beggary.

CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.

The colony of the cape of Good Hope, now belonging to the British, is bounded N. and E. by Caffraria; S. by the Indian ocean, and W. by the Atlantic ocean. It is nearly 600 miles long from east to west, and on an average about 200 broad. The area is estimated at 120,000 square miles.

The population in 1810 was estimated at 81,000, of whom one third were whites, and the rest negroes or Hottentots.

Persons and Dress of the Inhabitants.

THE persons of the Hottentots are tall, but their hands and feet are small, in comparison of the other parts of their bodies, which may be considered as a characteristic mark of this nation. The root of their nose is very low, by means of which the distance of the eyes from each other is greater than in Europeans. Their skin is of a yellowish brown hue, resembling that of an European in one of the last stages the jaundice; this colour, however, is not observable in the whites of the eyes.

406

Hottentot Houses, Kraals, Food, and Oxen.

Their dress consists principally in besmearing their bodies all over with fat, in which there is mixed a little soot. This is never wiped off, so that as the dust and filth, with their sooty ointment, continually adheres to the skin, the natural hue is concealed, and changed from a bright amber brown to a browish yellow colour. Those who have occasionally seen a Hottentot completely cleansed, say, that one besmeared looks less naked, and is as it were more complete, than in his natural state; and that the skin of a Hottentot ungreased, seems to exhibit some defect in dress, like shoes that want blacking.

Of Hottentot Houses, Kraals, Food, and Oxen.

The huts of the natives are elliptical, being formed by fixing into the ground several large sticks, which are bent at the top, so as to describe an arch, and then covered with mats sewed together. The only opening into these huts is at the entrance, which is seldom more than three feet high, and answers the triple purpose of chimney, door, and window. Their whole furniture consists of a few earthen vessels for dressing their victuals, and holding their milk, butter, or water. The fire-place is in the middle of each hut, by which means the walls are not so much exposed to fire, and they derive this advantage, that when they sit or lie in a circle round it, the whole company equally enjoy the benefit of its warmth.

A kraal, or village, consists of twenty or more huts, placed near each other in a circular form, containing frequently three or four hundred persons, who live together with great harmony. If any family differences arise, the neighbous are as zealous to reconcile contending parties, as more enlightened nations are to check the appearance of public danger, never desisting till they have fully restored peace and tranquillity. By the circular form of the kraal, with the doors inwards, a kind of yard or court is made, in which the cattle are kept in the night. The milk, as soon as it is taken from the cow, is put to other milk that is curdled, and kept in a leathern sack, the hairy side being inwards, so that they never drink it while it is sweet. The only domestic animals are dogs; and there is hardly a hut withont one or more of these faithful creatures, which are absolutely necessary, as well to guard the cattle, as to prevent the approach of wild beasts.

The Hottentots have been stigmatized as a most filthy people, they eat the entrails of beasts, but not till after they have been washed, and boiled in the blood of the animal, or roasted on coals. They sometimes boil their meat, but more frequently eat it raw, tearing it to pieces with their fingers, and devouring it voraciously. When a young man is disposed to marry, and has obtained the consent of the parents, he selects two or three of his best oxen, and drives them to the house of his intended bride's relations, attended by as many friends as he can prevail upon to accompany him. The oxen are slain, and the whole assembly besmear themselves with the fat. The men then sit on the ground in a ring, the centre of which is occupied by the bridegroom; and the women form a similar ring round the bride. In this situation they continue, till the priest comes and per

forms the ceremonies.