The money that paffes here is the fame as in Holland, viz. ftivers, doublekees, fkellings, and rix-dollars. Two ftivers make one doublekee, three doublekees one fkelling, eight fkellings one rix-dollar.-Note: that if you pay away your English crowns or Spanish dollars, they will take them at no more than eight fkellings a-piece, which is twenty-five per cent. lofs: therefore if you defign to touch at the Cape outward-bound, I would advise you to stock yourself with fuch goods in England as may be proper for that market, to supply your wants, or otherwife you must furnish yourfelf with Dutch money; though goods, if properly chofen, may produce forty or fifty per cent. profit. Small pale ale in cafks of about fix pounds per tun, ftrong beer in bottles, tobacco, butter, cheefe, flint-glaffes, watches, and other proper fortment of clock-work, with flight fcarlet, black, or fky-colour ftockings, will turn to as good account as any thing you can carry thither.

Though fo many accounts have been given of the Hottentots, or Hotmendods, as our failors vulgarly call them, by perfons of greater capacities than I can pretend to, yet I cannot leave the place without faying fomething of them: they inhabit the country adjacent to the Cape, being the ancient inhabitants, or aborigines thereof. They are called Hottentots from their frequent repetitions of that word in their dancings; the men are tall, ftrong fet, and very fwift runners; having broad flat nofes, blubber lips, great heads, difagreeable features, fhort frizzled hair, and take them altogether nothing can be more ugly. Their fkin is like our chimney-sweepers, not that they are naturally fo black, but they make themselves fo by daubing themselves with foot and stinking grease, which makes them smell most intolerably, and wherewith their fhort curled hair is fo clodded and stiff, that I can compare it to nothing better than a frozen mop; they wear no cloaths, but throw a fheep's fkin, or the hide of fome other beast over their shoulders, the hairy fide being turned inward. They cover their privy parts with a cafe of proportionable length made of the fame stuff as the aforefaid mantle, which sticks out in a moft unfeemly manner. They bruife to pieces the left tefticle of their male children when young, for what reason I know not, unless it be in hopes that they may beget more males than females: being perhaps of the opinion of fome naturalifts, who hold that the male femen comes from the right testicle, and the female from the left. The women are generally short squat creatures, but ftrong built, altogether as ugly in their kind as the men, having long flabby breafts, odiously dangling down to their waist; which they can tofs over their shoulders for their children to fuck, whom they generally carry on their backs: they wear the fame garb, and cover their privities with a small flap of skin about five or fix inches fquare, tied round their waist with a thong of leather: they befmear themselves as the men do, in order to have their bodies as fweetly perfumed, and their complexion as well painted as they. However they surpass them in one point of drefs, for they adorn their legs and arms with raw sheeps' guts, not as much as washed from the ordure, but blown up with wind, and hung to the fun till they are pure dry and stinking. These they wear by way of ornament, though if they happen to be hungry they will foon ftrip them off, and make a hearty meal of them. You may guess that these filthy animals, for they hardly deserve the name of rational creatures, if at London, would be much greater customers to our butchers, kitchen-wenches, and chimney-sweepers, for their drefs, &c. than to the mercers, perfumers, &c. of Ludgate-hill or Covent-garden. There is no carrion fo tainted and naufeous but what they will make a dainty meal of; which makes me think that they are born without the benefit of either smell or tafte, for they covet not better food than what I mentioned before. They are great lovers of tobacco and

arrack,

arrack, or any other fort of strong spirits: and what is remarkable, and fhews a good temper in them, is, that when one of them has earned two or three doublekees, he fails not to call others of his acquaintance to partake with him, and will surely spend it all before night in tobacco and arrack, fitting down in the streets; where they get drunk, and fleep all night, though the weather be fometimes very cold. They are not really unlike monkeys or baboons in their gestures and postures, especially when they fit funning themselves, as they often do in great numbers. I could not learn that they have any religion; neither did I fee any thing like a priest among them; fo that I am apt to believe they are wholly ftrangers to any manner of divine worship. However, they are very serviceable fellows; they serve in town as porters: neither will they willingly fuffer a stranger to carry any burden, but will endeavour to fnatch it away in spite of him, and carry it where it ought to be, as one of them did to a failor of mine, crying, "you Englishman, you no Hottentot:" fo that they look upon themfelves to have the privilege of being ticket-porters at the Cape. They are fo honeft, that you may truft them almoft with any thing; and they will carry it safely where directed, though nobody follows, or looks after them. This fhews the afperfion to be groundless which fome authors (particularly Mr. Morden, in his book of Geography Rectified) caft upon them, faying, that they are fuch great thieves that they will steal with their feet, while they ftare in your face: others affirm, (and particularly Dr. Heylin) that they feed upon human carcafes: it is true, their diet is very beastly; but upon inquiry, I never could find that to be true.

Their language is fo very harsh and guttural, that I never heard of any European that could pronounce scarce any one word of it; and when they fpeak, they feem rather to cackle like hens or turkeis, than speak like men. However, those that live near the Cape, do generally speak a little Dutch, and fome few words of English, which they pronounce intelligibly enough.

The Dutch do never punish them for any crime, but fend the delinquents to their own people, by whom they are punished, for striking or quarrelling with a Dutchman, but more feverely if they have offered to steal. By the Dutch laws it is death for a Dutchman to lie with a Hottentot women; though I think they need not have laid that restriction upon them, the very fmell and looks of fuch hideous creatures being a fufficient antidote against lechery. The arms of war are generally fmall javelins; but I was informed, that the inland people ufe the long-bow and arrow very dexterously.

Having completed my affairs here, I failed away on the 12th of May, for the ifland of St. Helena, according to the orders I had from the Honourable Eaft-India Company. We had a ftout fouth-eaft gale which run us the length of Penguin ifland and then fell calm. This ifland is fmall, low and fandy, lying at the entrance of the bay. The inhabitants are only Dutchmen, who, for offences not punishable with death, are banished thither from the Cape for ninety-nine years. And as a farther addition to their misfortunes, they are denied the privilege of any women to live among them: their task is to gather baskets full of fhells every day, of which they make lime. Those that are guilty of capital crimes, are punished by racking, impaling on spit or stake, burning and hanging; for the Dutch governor and council have a power of life and death. This island takes its name from a bird fo called, which, as I am informed, is an amphibious creature, walks upright like a man when on shore, and has fhort wings, but cannot fly, his wings being only an affiftance to him in running. It lives wholly on fifh; there are many hereabout, though I faw but one at a distance wimming in the fea.

We

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We spent fourteen days in very tempeftuous weather, which made our paffage the longer; but on the ninth of June at five in the evening, we got fight of the island of St. Helena, and about eleven the next day we anchored at Chappel-Valley.

The island of St. Helena is fo called, because it was firft discovered by the Portuguese on St. Helena's day, being the 20th of April. It lies in the latitude of fixteen degrees fouth, and longitude from London three hundred and fifty-three degrees forty-three minutes, being about twenty two miles in circumference. When it was first discovered, it had not only no inhabitants, but even not as much as a four-footed beaft, fruit, or any eatable herb except wild purflain, with which it abounds: but the Portuguese stored it with goats, hogs, hens, &c, and alfo with fig, orange, and lemon trees, &c. which have throve there ever fince very well.

The Spaniards took it from the Portuguese, and afterwards it was alternately poffeffed by the English and Dutch; till at laft the Cape of Good-Hope being quitted to the latter, the English remained fole poffeffors of this ifland, though the Cape be preferable by far to it. But he that was chief of the English fettlement at the Cape being, as I am informed, bribed by the Dutch, reprefented to the government of England, that the natives were cannibals, and moft terrible cruel creatures, fo that it was impoffible to hold out against them, (which was utterly falfe) he had orders to quit it. Whereupon the Dutch settled themselves there, and have kept it ever fince in a moft flourishing condition.

The air of this island is very wholesome, and recovers very foon those persons that are fet on fhore there fick, their diftemper being generally either a fever, or the fcurvy. The inhabitants are all English, except their flaves; whereof they have a great number. The women, even thofe born there, (as most of them are,) have generally a very fair complexion, notwithstanding the heat of the climate. They all have a great defire to fee England, which they call home, though many of them never faw it, nor can have any true idea thereof.

The island is so high, hilly, and of fuch difficult afcent, that it is a common faying, that a man may chufe whether he will break his heart in going up, or his neck in coming down. It is very strong by nature, because of the steepness of the rocks, and the impoffibility of landing, except in those places which have of late been fo fortified, that it is in a manner impregnable. We were formerly forced to ascend by a rope ladder, which gave the place the name of ladder-hill; but now the ascent is made much eafier by the care of the prefent governor Pike, especially that path where the ladder was. His whole ftudy is employed for the advantage of the island, and the Company's intereft; of which I could give feveral inftances, which I omit, as being foreign to the prefent purpose.

The country is very pleasant, and affords almost all things neceffary for the use of man, as oxen, hogs, goats, and fome fheep lately tranfported thither, whereof the governor takes care to improve the breed; alfo hens, turkeys, ducks, partridges, pigeons, larks, moor-hens, and a fort of long-legged birds like our wheat-ears, which eat very fweet, but are not fo fat as ours. Here is a great variety of fea-fowl; and at certain feafons you may fill your boat with their eggs, which you find on the rocks. They are fo tame, that they will fuffer you (when they lie on their eggs) to take them up with your hands. But more of this when I come to the island of Afcenfion. The gardens abound with fruit, as pomegranates, figs, apples, &c. and the valleys with lemons and oranges. It is in vain they fay, to fow corn, for there is fuch a multitude of rats, that they would devour the feed before it would have time to fpring up. Here are also a vast number of cats, that went away from the houfes,

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