t bOAIl FItE CÈ II. 154 drive but of a Hottentot's head, but that the arrival of táis insect iii a village, brings happiness and prosperity to all thé inhabitants. They believe that all their offences; to that moment, are buried in oblivion, and all their iniquitiesdone away If this insect happens to light upon a Hottentot; he is looked upon as a man without guilt, and distingnishbd and reverenced as a saint, and the delight of the deity ever after. His neighbours glory that they have so holy a man among them, and publish the matter far and near. The fattest ox belonging to the village is immediately killed for a thank-offering ; and the time is turned into.a festivity in honóur of the deity and the saint. This insect I have often seen; and beheld the Hòttentots more than once at thesolemnities. The Hottentots likewise pay religious veneration té their saints, and men of renown departed: They honour them not with tombs; statues, or inscriptións; but cdnsecrate woods, moun- tains, , fields, and rivers, to their memory. When they past by these places, they implore the protection of the dead; for them and their. cattle, they muffle their heads in their mantles, and sometimes they dance round those places, singing and clapping their hands. They worship also an evil deity, whom they look upon as thefather of mischief; and the source of all their plagues: They call him Touquoa: and say he is a little crabbed inferior captain, whose malice against the Hottentots Will seldom let hint rest, and who never did, nor had in his nature to do any good to any body: 'They worship him therefore, say they, in order to sweeten him and avert his malice. It is this Touquoa, say they; who stirs up enemies against them. It is he who frus- trates all their good designs. Ít is he who sends all pain and vexation. It is he who afflicts them and their cattle with diseases, and sets oti the wild beasts to devour them. It is he who is the authorof all ill luck. And it is he; say they, who teaches the wicked Hottentots the Cursed art of witchcraft: by which they believe innumerable mischiefs aredone to the per- sons and cattle of the good. They therefore coax him upon any apprehension of danger or misfortune, with the offering of anox or a sheep ; and at other times, perfòrm divers ceremonies of worship, to wheedle andkeep him quiet, Father Tachait hath delivered. their worship of this deity very well in the followingwords : We honour Touquoa at times, sny the Hottentots; by killing a feat ox or a sheep, according to our apprehensions of his designs to plague us. With the fatwe anoint Bur bodies, and with the flesh we regale one another ; this being tire way to 'please or reconcile him to us, if we have offended, thoughwe know not how we have offended. He reckons what he pleases an offence, and plagues us when he pleases, and it has been always a custom amongst us that to appease him. I have now given, saith my author, the whole system of the Hottentot relt- èf2
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