precious treasure of aftronomical knowledge which was dif played in the famous map that was publifhed at his return by the Academy of Sciences. Thefe amazing efforts of industry, of which the detail, as it is here given, appears beyond the power of human capacity and application, were diverfified by other occupations; fuch were his obfervations, made at the Cape, on aftronomical refractions, on the meridian height of the fun and the ftars, on the oppofition of Saturn and Mars to the fun, on the eclipfes of the moon, and the eclipfes of the ftars by the moon :-fuch were his measures of degrees, so useful in perfecting the science of navigation, his researches concerning the direction of the meridian, the winds, the tempera ture of the climate, the ftorms, thunder, the periodical rains, the variations of the barometer, the twilights, the loadstone, and the tides;-fuch were his inquiries and obfervations relative to natural hiftory; for, during his refidence at the Cape, he went about the country, examining plants, trees, flowers, fimples, birds, reptiles, infects; and enriched the King's collection with treafures of this kind, unknown before in Europe. On his return from the Cape, he paffed fome time in the Ifles of France and Bourbon, where he received orders to draw maps of those places.

On his arrival in France, he entered the capital with that modefty, which often accompanies rare merit. Inftead of fhewing any difpofition to draw the attention or collect the fuffrages of the public, he hid himself in the circle of his friends, avoiding applaufe as others avoid cenfure. When the academy met, he was expected there with the fame curiofity with which aftronomers lie in wait to behold a ftar on its paffage; but his appearance bespoke no conscioufnefs of merit; his looks and gefture only difcovered embarraffment and timidity; which, contrary to his intention, increafed the admiration of that illuftrious affembly.

He was determined to retire into the fouth of France, that he might give himself up to ftudy, with le's interruption. He' had formed the defign of compofing a compleat history of aftro-, nomy, from its firt commencement to the prefent time; and had alfo promifed his affiftance in the compofition of an hiftorical treatife of the navigation of the French in ancient times ;but death prevented the execution of thefe projects; and his pious refignation in his last moments, to the order of Providence, founded on a perfuafion of the truth of the Chriftian religion, and of the reality and grandeur of its promifes, gave a fingular afpect of dignity to the conclufion of a life, which had been dedicated to the purfuit of true philofophy, and the practice of substantial virtue. What a ftriking difference between fuch Nn 4

a man

a man, and the greatest part of that frothy and cloud-capt fect, who call themselves philofophers, and are toiling through life, for a few moments, amidst broken ideas, and crude incoherent fyftems of fpeculation, with annihilation before them, or at best a leap in the dark.

The hiftorical difcourfe from whence we have been giving fome few lines of the life, genius and character of this excellent man, is followed with feveral notes, that contain curious anec dotes relative to the incredible fatigues and perfeverance which he fuffered and practifed in his obfervations at the Cape, and more efpecially in that arduous operation of measuring geometrically (in order to afcertain the figure of the earth) a degree of the meridian (i. e. a fpace of 139,338 yards) without any other affiftance than that of the negroes; and that in a strait line acrofs rugged mountains and burning defarts, from Klipfonteyn to the Cape, &c. &c,

Thefe notes are followed by the Historical Journal, compofed by the Abbé himself, of his Voyage to the Cape. He fet out from Paris in 1750, and during the whole navigation, he obferved every day the latitudes and longitudes, and inferted them in his journal. His defcription of Rio-Janeiro is curious and entertaining, and exhibits a ftriking mixture of opulence, defpotifm, debauchery and devotion. The details of this journal, which relate to the Ifle of France, are divided into two parts, of which the first contains the geometrical operations of M. de la Caille, and the fecond exhibits a defcription of the island itself. This defcription was inferted in the Memoirs of the academy, and is re-published in the work before us, as also an account of the Ifles of Bourbon and Afcenfion, which is neither new, circumftantial, nor highly interesting.

The pieces entitled, Remarks on the Customs of the Hottentots, and of the Inhabitants of the Cape of Good Hope-and Notes and critical Reflections on the Defcription of the Cape of Good Hope, which was published by PETER KOLBEN, are inftructive, and deferve to be made more particularly known to our Readers.

Before his departure from the Cape, the Abbé de la Caille had committed to writing a certain number of remarks, to ferve as materials for an Hiftorical Treatife concerning the manners and cuftoms of the inhabitants of that place, and of the Hottentots, which the importunate folicitations of his friends had determined him to undertake. His death, however, prevented the execution of this defign, among many others: but his remarks (which are valuable on account of the inflexible veracity and the fagacious difcernment of the obferver) are here published, together with his critical notes, on the relation of Kolben, who has too long deceived Europe by his falle repre

fentations

fentations of the country he defcribes, after the fuggeftions of a set of men, whofe views he was employed to ferve *.

The Remarks relate to a variety of objects; the first that prefents itself here, is the foil of the Cape, which, in general, is not very good, though interfperfed here and there with excellent fpots, which have been judiciously chofen by the colonists. It is to this choice, to the temperature of the climate, which removes all apprehenfions from froft and hail (which are only felt on the tops of mountains) and to the excellent manure, produced by the great numbers of fheep that are fed in the colony, that we must attribute (fays the Abbé) the abundance which reigns at the Cape. It is fingular enough, that amidst the plenty of fresh provifions (fleth and fifh) which the colonists enjoy, the chief articles of table-luxury are stock-fifh, and bacon, and hams, exported, (half corrupted and rancid) from Europe. Every kind of garden-ftuff grows well at the Cape, except the. afparagus and celery; and yet in that fine climate where the peaches and apricots are good, the ftrawberries excellent, the grapes exquifite beyond expreffion, the figs (which to our ignorance appears a caprice in the system of vegetation) are indiffe

As the Description of the Cape by Peter Kolben, in three volumes, was in great repute, the Abbé de la Caille took this book with him as his guide, but was greatly furprized to find, by comparing it with the objects it defcribes, that it was full of inaccuracies and falfehoods, and deferved rather to be confidered as a series of fables, than as an exact relation. The truth is: that Kolben having paffed the whole time of his miffion with his bottle and his pipe, was perplexed to find that he had nothing to fhew in Europe, as the fruits of his fuppofed labours, and therefore engaged fome inhabitants of the Cape to draw up for him that defcription of the colony, which he impofed upon the public as his own. The colonifts ferved themselves, as well as Kolben, by this defcription. They made ufe of it to convey to the States General, their complaints of the bad administration at the Cape, which had been intercepted by thofe, whofe intereft it was to fupprefs them. They therefore put all they had to fay into the mouth of Kolben, on whom they impofed, and who knew nothing of the country; and embellished their defcription with marvellous flories drawn from imagination, and with fome anecdotes relative to the Hottentots, taken from the compilation of Grevenbroek, formerly fecretary to the court of Justice at the Cape. Kolben, delighted at the thoughts of being an author, with fo little trouble, published his work in the Dutch language, as if tranflated from his own, the German; and no work was ever read with more avidity. It made a furprizing impreffion in Holland, and as the political complaints it contained, were well founded, though its accounts of other matters were inaccurate and fabulous, the Dutch government recalled, on reading it, the principal officers of the colony, and punished fome of them. The work was tranflated into English, and the authors of the Modern Univ. Hiftory have followed it, as a guide, in their accounts of the Cape.

rent,

rent, the oranges inferior to thofe of Portugal, the apples tolerable, few currants and no plumbs at all.

The Winter is the fineft feafon of the year in this region, as it is generally exempt from thofe cold winds and burning funs, that are equally difagreeable during the Summer. The income of the colonists, who live in the neighbourhood of the Cape, confifts in the profits they make by the fale of their cattle and butter: thofe of the Cape derive their principal revenues from their excellent wines. They do not, however, draw from this article fo much advantage as it might produce, if they knew better the art both of making and preferving their wines. The ordinary wine of the Cape would furpafs the French wines of Frontignan and Lunel, if they did not manure their vineyards too often, and employ fulphur too freely to preferve their wines.

Tho' the best corn in the world grows in this country, the bread, which the greateft part of the inhabitants eat, is much worfe than indifferent, as their mills are bad, their corn il ground, their flour mixed with bran, and their dough ill kneaded. This however is not univerfal, for good bread is to be found in feveral places.

The wild beasts are, at prefent, at a confiderable distance from the Cape. In all that space, which is included within the chain of mountains extending from the Eaftern entrance of the Fallo-Bay to the Bay of St. Helen's, there are neither elephants, lions, elks, wild horfes, nor affes: fometimes, ne vertheless, about the months of December and January, a few elephants come fo far as Berg-River, becaufe the Weftern coast of the Cape is dry and parching, and ill-watered. If a lion were found in the fpace now mentioned, the alarm would be univerfal. There are, indeed, in the more remote diftricts of the Dutch territory, wild beafts, but they attack nobody, and will even fly at the fight of a man, if they are not fuddenly furprized in their fkulking-places. Hence travellers, when they approach the banks of a river, where thefe animals generally lie hid, make a noife or fire a gun, which rouzes the beat, and makes him provide for his fafety by flight. But thefe crea tures, efpecially the tyger, the wolf, the wild dogs and the jacalls, make fad havock among the fheep, who, on the ap proach of one of these animals, fly into a corner, and mount one upon another until they perifh by fuffocation, through the fear of being devoured. If it be true, that a lion can knock down an ox with a ftroke of his paw, and then carry it off on his back without drawing the victim along the ground, this is a

fingular inftance of ftrength and dexterity.

The complaints which the inhabitants of the Cape form against their governors, turn upon the following articles: 1ft, That they are not permitted to fell their corn to ftrangers,

nor

zály, To arm fome coafting fhips to traffic with their neighbours, and particulary to procure wood for building and making houshold furniture. 3dly, They complain of the high intereft of money. And 4thly, That the Chinese, who have been ba-* nished from Batavia, are fuffered to refide at the Cape, where they fubfift by the thefts of the flaves, whom they encourage to sob their mafters, by buying from them ftolen goods, and retailing them again to the firft comer.

There is little relative to the Hottentots in thefe Remarks; but they are preceded by Preliminary Obfervations upon the Manners' and Customs of that people, compofed by the Editor of this work (who is anonymous) and published as the observations of the Abbe de la Caille, who had repeated them frequently in conversation.

According to thefe Obfervations, the life of the Hottentots is pretty much the fame with that of the favage Gauls, of whom Cæfar makes mention in his commentaries. They form hordes or clans, near rivers and forefts, and each clan conftitutes a fort of village and independent republic, compofed of a certain number of huts, ranged in a circular form. Thefe huts are so low,' that the inhabitants cannot enter them but by creeping on their knees. They are indeed chiefly used for keeping provifions: and houfhold furniture; for the Hottentot never enters into his house but when it rains: when he is not at work, he passes his hours in fleep and indolence at the door of his hut, lying on his belly, with his back expofed to the fun and open air. Now and then he fmoaks a kind of strong herb, which has an effect fimilar to that of tobacco.

The Hottentot is a fhepherd by profeffion. His principal and almoft only occupation is the care of his fheep and oxen, of which each village has a flock and a herd in common. Each inhabitant prefides by rotation, in the paftoral charge of defending the flock from the leopards, wolves and tygers, who, impelled by hunger, make excurfions from remote forefts in queft of prey. He fends fcouts all around to fee if there be any wild beaft in the canton, and when notice is brought him of the approach of any, he alarms and affembles all the inhabitants of the village, who march against the enemy, feek out his fkulking place, and perform a chafe, conducted by fixed rules of difcipline, and which always concludes by the death of the aggreffor.

The inhabitants of each village live in peace and fraternal union, but take cruel vengeance of the neighbouring clans, upon any provocation received from them. A ftolen fheep, or even a fufpicion of thievifh defigns, is fufficient to produce a war, which is determined in council, carried on by furprize

and