An Account of the Cape of Good Hope, by Mr. John Maxwell: Communicated by the Reverend Dr. John Harris, F. R. S.

Reverse within the Garter of the Order is this Legend. CAROL. M. B. REGIS. FILIUS CAROL. PRINC. INAUGURATUR. XXII. MAII. MDCXXXIX. The Inscription at Boscobel reminds me of one I had from the late Reverend Mr. Illingsworth, President of Emanuel College in Cambridge, which was Inscribed upon a Pillar erected by the Sea side. *Siste, viator, iter, vestigia prima secundus Posuit hic Carolus, quem redit exilio.* VII. An Account of the Cape of Good Hope, by Mr. John Maxwell: Communicated by the Reverend Dr. John Harris, F. R. S. THE Cape of Good Hope, which is part of Monomotapa, and the Southernmost part of Africa, lies in the Latitude of 34 Degrees 30 Minutes South, and 16 Degrees 15 Minutes East of London. It was first, that we know of, discovered by Bartholomew Diaz, A.D. 1493, under John II. King of Portugal. He gave it the Name of the Cape of Tempests, because of the Storms he met with there, with which 'tis not strange that it is sometimes troubled; as likewise with a Sea that runs very high, and makes it ill riding at Anchor there when the Wind is at North-West, seeing it is a Shread of Land stretch'd out into a vast Ocean on each side; but King John gave it the Name of Bona Esperanca, or of Good Hope, which it still retains; because that when that Cape was doubled, he had good hopes of finding out a way by Sea to the East Indies, about which he was then very solicitous. The Hottentots, Natives of this Place, are a Race of Men distinct both from Negroes and European Whites, for their Hair is Woolly, Short and Frizzled, their Noses flat, and their Lips thick, but their Skin is naturally as White as ours, as appear'd by a Hottentot Child brought up by the Dutch in their Fort here. Their Stature is universally of a middle Size; they are clean limb'd, well proportion'd, and very nimble. I never saw a Fat Person among them. They besmear their Faces and Bodies all over with Suet, or other Oleaginous Stuff, which, together with exposing their Bodies to a warm Sun, makes their Skin of a Tawny Colour, and causes them to stink so, that one may smell 'em at a considerable distance to the Windward; they adorn their Hair, which is always clotted with Greate and nastiness like the Thrums of a Mop, with Shells, pieces of Copper, &c. Both Sexes are clad with the Skin commonly of a Sheep, but sometimes of such Wild Beasts as they happen to kill, the Hairy side outward in Summer, and inward in Winter, off which I have seen 'em pick and eat the Lice in the Streets: The Women wear Skins cut in Thongs about their Legs, to the length of a great many Yards; which when dry, with the inside out, look so like Sheeps Guts, that most Strangers mistake 'em for such. The Men hang their Privities in a Bag, and the Women cover theirs with a Flap or Apron made of Skin. The Women wear a Cap of Skin just dried and stitch'd together, whereas the Men commonly go bareheaded; they go bare-footed, except that when they Travel they wear a piece of a Skin fasten'd about their Feet. Their Weapons are Javelins, with which they are very dextrous at hitting the Mark, and Bows with Poyson'd Arrows, which which kill, as I am inform'd, upon drawing Blood, but what they are envenom'd with I could not learn: their Houses are Hemispherical, made of Mats, supported with Stakes, so low that a Tall Man cannot stand upright in one of them; These they remove upon occasion, as the Ancient Nomades did their Tents. By all that I have seen and heard of them and other Nations, they are the most Lazy and Ignorant part of Mankind; by virtue of which two most excellent Qualifications, there are no manner of Arts practised among them, no Plowing or Sowing, no going to Sea in so much as a Boat, no use of Iron or Money, no Notion of God, Providence, or of a future State, no Tradition of Creation or a Flood, no Prayers or Sacrifices, no Magical Rites; nor, in fine, any Notion of any Invisible Being capable of doing them either good or harm, upon the strictest Enquiry that I could make of Men of Sense that had liv'd some time upon the Place; so that I believe their Ignorance hardly can be parallel'd: The only thing that looks like the least knowledge of any thing of this kind among 'em (in as much as I could learn) is a Custom they have in Moonshiny Nights of Dancing in the Fields, of which, if you ask 'em the reason, all their Answer is, that it is a Custom of the Hottentots, and was so of their Forfathers; and that is all they can tell you of the matter; now whether it be that they rejoice in its Light, which dispels that darkness of which they are then most sensible, or whether they think it a Rational Being endowed with freedom of Will, because of its various change of Forms, or for what other reason I will not pretend to determine; however as to no other thing, so neither to this do they Pray or Sacrifice: Nevertheless some Voyagers have upon this ground, how truly I will not say, confidently writ, that they worship'd the Moon; and upon Enquiry I could not find that they took so much, nor indeed indeed any such notice of the Sun or Stars; which former at least one would think a People so grofly ignorant would pay some respect to, if they worship'd any God, that being the most Glorious Object of their Senses; and accordingly we find it affected all Heathen Nations, as well the more Barbarous as the most Polite; in which single Obj. &c., if we may believe Macrobius, all their Worshiping center'd: Their great Ignorance, I suppose, may be in part caus'd by Africa's being Peop'ld (as is probable) by that end of it which joyns to Asia; so that the more the Inhabitants spread themselves towards this Southern Extream, the more they were cut off from conversing with the more Civiliz'd part of the World; it is probable, I think, that they were propagated to this Place by the Eastern Coast of Africa, the Western being now, and always having been, as far as we know, inhabited by Negroes, from whom it is not very probable, that these of so different a Colour should have sprung. All the Resemblance they have of Government is, that in every Neighbourhood the Eldest is first in Order and Dignity; his Advice as to what concerns the whole being most follow'd, as having most Experience. The Ceremony of Marriage is perform'd among them by the Eldest Person in the Company's sprinkling the Persons to be Married with his Urine, upon which, and cutting out one of the Man's Testicles, the Business is over; this several that lived in the Place affirm'd to me for a certain truth. Being inquisitive to know the truth of this, I had the Curiosity to search several of 'em, (who will readily suffer you for a double Stiver to do it) in two of which I could find but one Testicle, they (I suppose) being Marry'd, as the rest who had two were not; which however shews the mistake of Nienhoff and others, who assert, That the Hottentots cut out one of the Testicles of all their Male Children as soon as they are born (accord- ing to Nieuhoff,) or at the Age of nine or ten Years (according to others,) and that, forsooth, to make 'em the more swift and nimble; but how that fancy should come into their Heads, I cannot tell. When a Woman bears Twins among them, she exposes one to Death by Hunger or Cold, and nurses the other; the Reason of which two last Customs is alledg'd by some, how truly I know not, to be the fear they have of their Nations growing too numerous: The Custom of revenging, rather than punishing Adultery with Death, has prevail'd among them. I was inform'd there, that they abhorr'd Polygamy, tho' some Writers have asserted the contrary, but (perhaps) they are as well mistaken in that, as in the Semicastration of all their Males. When any Person grows decrepid with Age, their Children, or nearest Relations, shut 'em up in their Houses, and starve 'em to Death. They Bury their Dead with the Skins they wore when alive about them. Their Food is for the most part Roots, but chiefly one by the Dutch call'd Ontee, which is roundish, about the bigness of ones little Finger, and hot in the Mouth; their Drink is Milk and Water; when they kill a Sheep, or a Cow, they Eat the Guts and Garbidge, either lightly broil'd or quite raw; they are great Lovers of Tobacco and Brandy, to purchase which from the Dutch, is all the use they have of Money. They are not Cannibals. There was a Hottentot, who had liv'd for some considerable time in Holland and the East Indies, and had learned to speak Dutch and Portuguze very well, whom, upon his return home, his Wife, Children, or Friends, could not endure, nor would they converse with him, till upon returning his Ancient Habit, Diet, and Customs, he had returned to their way of Living. Notwithstanding their great Ignorance, they distinguish several of the more remarkable Stars by Names of their own. own impoting: Nevertheless they have no distinction of Weeks, of Months, or of Years, any otherwise than by their Rainy Seasons (of which afterward;) for if you ask a Hottentot how Old he is, he answers, so many Rains. They watch the Elephants where they use to Water, whom they shoot in the Eye, where only they can wound 'em. This Country produces Lyons, Tygers, Elephants, Rhinocerots, Elks (whose Hoots here are said not to have that Virtue ascribed to 'em in Northern Climates,) Leopards, Wild Asses, of which one sort is finely streak'd with White and dark Brown; several sorts of Beautiful Wild Goats, Jackals, Baboons, Monkeys, Deer, large Cows, and large Sheep without Horns, with Hair like a Goat, instead of Wool, and with large Tails, but not (in as much as I have seen) so large as some report 'em, viz. of 25 l. weight, (the Flesh however of both which is very good;) Small Horses, &c. Ostriches, Pellicans, Hawks, Magpies, Wild Peacocks, Cranes, Guiney Hens, Pengwins, Flemingo's, Rock Ducks, Partridges, Pheasants, Geese, common Hens, Turkeys, and Ducks, &c. Here are likewise Manatees or Sea Cows, they are low, very thick and ill shap'd, have very short Feet, and yet are very swift, have no Hair but what grows about their Nostrils, have large Teeth, but are no Enemy to Man; they are not easily wounded, live much in Rivers, and are very shy. Here are Serpents of various kinds, with which however they are not much infested. Their Soil produces most sorts of Fruits and Plants that grow with us, as Grapes of several kinds, Apples, Quinces, Olives, Oranges, Apricots, Cherries, Aloes of great many kinds, but none (that I saw) of the right sort, such as Socotra produces, Pompions in abundance, Cabbages, &c. Corn, as Wheat, Barley, &c. of Dutch Cultivation. Here are likewise Lizards, Salamanders and Porcupines. This place is is fit to produce whatsoever is planted in it, the Soil and Climate conspiring to its Advantage. The Dutch East-India Company are said to have bought this Place of the Natives; but seeing they have no Government, to whom in that case could they apply themselves? Or of whom could they buy it? But if they did, they certainly had a good Bargain of it for a little Tobacco and Brandy: But the Dutch, who are no better than their Neighbours, are not so very scrupulous as to trouble themselves much about buying, in such cases, what they can take by force. Here however they have settled for the convenience of a Rendezvous for their homeward bound East India Fleet; and they have possessed themselves of the Country 60 Miles from the Place of their first Settlement: Beside their principal Town in Table Valley (so call'd from a neighbouring Hill, call'd The Table Land, because of it's Figure, from whence also the adjoining Bay is call'd Table Bay) where they have a Fort, an Hospital, a supplied Church with about 300 Families; they have two other small Towns in the Country, call'd Dragenstein and Stallambuss, inhabited for the most part by French Protestants, who make most of the Wine the Place produces, which is not inconsiderable, either for Quantity, Quality or Variety, resembling French Claret, Rhenish, Burgundy, &c. they are about 120 Families, and have one Minister between both Villages, a Dutchman who speaks French. In this place are reckon'd about 2000 Persons fit to bear Arms, and about 600 Soldiers; no Person that is not in their own Service, tho' a Dutchman, is admitted into their Fort. They have prohibited the English to set up among them, tho' they have served the usual time of five Years in their Service, which Liberty they deny not to those of any other Nation; and this, I am inform'd, is their practice in all their East India Settlements: However when any English Ship happens to touch here disabled in Masts, Rigging, Anchors, &c. they supply 'em for their Money out of their Stores. Instead of Customs and Excise, they use Monopolies; for the Monopolies of Wine of the Growth of the Place this Year 1706, was paid 39000 Gilders; imported Brandy 3000, and so of the rest. All the Publick Payments they make, are either for the Watch, or for killing of Lyons, 20 Dollars Reward being given for killing a Lyon, and 10 for a Tyger; the latter they Hunt, but the former they only dare attempt by Stratagem, whom they thus destroy: When a Lyon in the Night time gets among their Cattle, he commonly kills more than he eats at that time, whether he seldom fails to return the next Night to eat up the rest; but before he comes, they take care to set Snares about the Prey with Musquets so dispos'd, that in coming at it, he must of necessity draw the Trickers, the Muzzles being so planted, as that they seldom miss him; but if he be not kill'd out right, the poor Musquets are sure to feel his Fury, for he gnaws the Stocks, and imprints the marks of his Teeth in the very Iron; and tho' they are able to go away, there they are known to watch for two or three days to see who comes to look after the Execution, whom they set upon if they be not well aware. A sort of Pilgrims in the East Indies, whom they call Fonquiers, and who often have occasion to Travel thro' Deserts, have a strange dexterity in killing these Wild Beasts; for when he sees one of them making towards him, he faces him, kneeling on one Knee, and holds towards him a short Spear in his Left Hand, upon which, the Beast making a Leap at him, pitches and fixes his body, and then he runs down his Throat a Ponyard which he carries in his Walking Staff, and so kills him. I had the following concerning a Tyger, from an Eye Witness. The Colchester, an English East India Man, was at that time in Rogues River in Bengal; it was Night when several of the Ships Company happen'd to be athoar in a Tent they had pitch'd to be merry in: Mr. Ravenscraft the Second-Mate had just put on a clean Shirt, he happen'd to be the farthest in the Company from the Door, with his Face opposite to it, when a Tyger rushed in among them, seiz'd him and carried him off in spight of them without having so much as a squeek for his Life: I suppose the glaring of the White Shirt, affecting the Tygre the most sensibly of the Objects that were before him, made him fix upon him rather than the rest; the next day, upon search, they found some Remnants of his Body in an adjacent Wood. When a Tyger leaps at a Man, if his first Aim be avoided, he never, as they say, makes a second Attempt. The Winds which blow at the Cape of Good Hope, are of that kind which are call'd Monsoons; for between the beginnings of March and September, (which is their Winter) the Wind blows for the most part between the North and the West, during which time they have not much fair Weather, from which Rainy Season the Hottentots compute their Year; but during the other half Year, the Wind generally blows between the South and the East, accompanied with very fair Weather: There oftentimes comes down from the Neighbouring Hills most sudden and violent Guits of Wind upon the Neighbouring Parts. The Companies Garden, which is about 970 of my Paces long, and 230 broad, is not now in that fine order it was in during this Governour's Father's time, when it was divided into four parts, in each grew abundance of the more remarkable Vegetables belonging to its corresponding Quarter of the World; but tho' the Climate, Soil and Situation are very favourable, 'tis now much neglected. neglected both in respect of its Plants and Walks, neither of which are extraordinary. I met here with one Teunis Gerbrantzen, Master of a Dutch Ship, who in the Year 1690, was at Terra di Natal on the Eastern Coast of Africa, in the Latitude of 30 Degrees South, distant from the Cape of Good Hope about 800 Miles, where he said he bought the Place for the Dutch East India Company, for 20000 Florins. Coasting thence to the Cape of Good Hope, his Ship was cast away, but they all got safe ashore, who to the number of 18, set out by Land for the Cape distant about 200 Miles, where only four of them arriv'd, all the rest dying by the way, through extremity of Hunger, Thirst or Heat, except two or three that were kill'd by the Hottentots; they met with no Wild Beasts by the way, Elephants excepted, whom they saw in great Numbers. In Year 1705, Gerbrantzen went again to Terra di Natal, the late King's Son then reigning, to whom he spake of the former Agreement with his Father: My Father, answers he, is dead, his Skins (i.e. Cloaths) are Buried with him in the Floor of his House, which is Burn'd over him, and the place is fenced in, over which none now must pass; and as to what he agreed to, it was for himself, I have nothing to say to it. So Gerbrantzen urg'd it no farther, having no Orders concerning it from the Company. At his last being there, he met with an English Man who was left there A.D. 1698; he had two Hottentot Wifes, and Children by 'em, but would not return with him to Europe, lest his Wives and Children should be slain in his Absence. When I was at the Cape of Good Hope, I met with one Mr. Kolbe, who was sent thither by a Prussian Lord, the Baron Krofick, who likewise sent another to the Northward, each of 'em to take Observations, especially of Celestial Phænomena, for the improving Astronomy, and Natural Philosophy; but Astronomy and Natural Philosophy Philosophy will not, I believe, be much improv'd by this Mission. This Gentleman told me, That the common Salt there made use of by the Dutch, was left in hollow Places of the Earth's Surface, after the Sun had evaporated the Rain Water; the matter of fact to me seems hardly credible: But if it be so, I think it can hardly proceed from any other Cause than the Rains dissolving a Salt contain'd in the Earth, which, upon the Rains being evaporated, remains in the Bottom; which is the more probable, because that within five Leagues of the Fort is the Salt Bay, which has its Name from the vast quantity of Salt digg'd near it. The Variation of the Compass, or Magnetical Needle, in the Atlantick and Ethiopick Oceans, Anno Dom. 1706. | Variation | Latitude | Longit.from London | |-----------|----------|-------------------| | 8° 32' W. | 49° 18' N. | 07 29' W. | | 6 42 | 44 31 | 13 45 | | 5 30 | 41 06 | 15 08 | | 5 04 | 40 22 | 14 54 | | 4 22 | 39 11 | 15 35 | | 3 30 | 32 21 | 15 39 | | 3 35 | 32 42 | 15 38 | | 1 20 | 18 50 | 20 52 | | 1 14 | 09 26 | 17 59 | | 1 10 | 09 49 | 18 42 | | 1 00 | 01 09 S. | 18 58 | | 0 16 | 02 32 | 19 48 | | 0 00 | 03 17 | 20 05 | Variation. | Variation | Latitude | Long. from London | |-----------|----------|-------------------| | 0° 40' East | 03° 58' South | 20° 27' West | | 1° 02 | 05° 09 | 21° 39 | | 1° 30 | 06° 21 | 22° 08 | | 1° 50 | 08° 03 | 23° 15 | | 2° 10 | 09° 07 | 27° 35 | | 3° 32 | 12° 03 | 25° 03 | | 6° 04 | 18° 53 | 26° 30 | | 6° 19 | 19° 51 | 27° 02 | | 6° 20 | 21° 26 | 28° 14 | | 6° 30 | 21° 48 | 28° 10 | | 7° 00 | 21° 58 | 28° 23 | | 6° 45 | 24° 45 | 27° 56 | | 6° 36 | 27° 11 | 27° 17 | | 5° 04 | 33° 53 | 16° 58 | | 0° 00 | 34° 21 | 01° 29 30" | | 1° 00 West | 34° 15 | 01° 33 East | | 4° 16 | 33° 41 | 06° 23 | | 8° 46 | 34° 39 | 13° 02 | | 11° 56 | 34° 30 | 16° 15 at the Cape | | 11° 30 | 32° 51 | 13° 41 of Good | | 10° 00 | 30° 21 | 11° 46 Hope | | 09° 44 | 29° 51 | 11° 44 | | 09° 34 | 29° 28 | 11° 31 | | 09° 22 | 28° 56 | 11° 05 | | 09° 04 | 27° 38 | 10° 01 | | 08° 30 | 26° 55 | 08° 45 | | 08° 02 | 25° 41 | 07° 22 | | 07° 32 | 24° 32 | 05° 43 | | 01° 52 | 16° 00 | 06° 30 West at the | | | | Isle of St. Helena | VIII