He has been calumniated as neglecting the civilization of the Hottentots; but a man of his character, whe could go into a common brick-yard, as he did in the vicinity of London, and there learn the mechanical part of this trade to benefit the natives of Africa, cannot be expected to have neglected other practicable and useful arts. Nor does the history of Bethelsdorp lead to that conclusion, since before Dr. Vanderkemp's death there were no fewer than eighteen different trades. carried on in that place; and though the ground is very sterile, agriculture has been prosecuted to very. considerable extent. That Dr. Vanderkemp was not sufficiently aware of the importance of neatness, refinement, and external appearance generally; and that the settlement at Bethelsdorp presented a different as pect from that of the united Brethren among the same people is probably the fact. The missionary descended to the level of the natives in many respects, instead of lifting them to his elevation. He married (as did his colleague) a Hottentot convert, and conformed too much to their manner of life. But there are spots on the sun. His principal calumniator, Dr. Lichtenstein, who travelled through the country, and viewed Bethelsdorp, amidst some proof of what has now been alluded to, gives the following picture of the humility of this excellent man. "On our arrival at Algoa Bay, the commissary general received a visit from Dr. Vanderkemp. In the very hottest part of the morning we saw a waggon, such as is used in husbandry, drawn by four meagre oxen, coming slowly along the sandy downs. Vanderkemp sat upon a plank laid across it, without a hat; his venerable bald head exposed to the burning rays of the sun. He was dressed in a thread-. bare black coat, waistcoat, and breeches; without shirt, neck cloth or stockings; and leather sandals bound. upon his feet, the same as are worn by the Hottentots. The commissary-general hastened to meet, and receive him with the utmost kindness. He descended from his car; and approached with slow and measur ed steps, presenting to our view a tall, meagre, yet venerable figure. In his serene countenance might be traced the remains of former beauty, and in his eye, still full of fire, was plainly to be discerned the powers of mind which had distinguished his early years. Instead of the usual salutations, he uttered a short prayer in which he begged a blessing upon our chief and his company, and the protection of Heaven during the remainder of our journey. He then accompanied us into the house, when he entered into conversation, freely, upon many subjects, without any supercilious or affected solemnity.* It need only be added, so anxious was Dr. Vanderkemp to lighten the burdens of the Missionary Society, that he principally supported himself, and within three years he paid from his own resources about 5000 dol lars to redeem seven miserable slaves from the hands of their cruel masters. "Such circumstances," it has been well said, "illustrate the character of a man more forcibly, than any laboured description it is possible to draw." CHAPE CHAPER IV. SOUTH AFRICA CONTINUED. Character of the natives-Mr. Kicherer among the Bushmen-Visit to the Cape--Conversion of the Hottentot John-Cornelius-New station-Powerful influence of the Spirit--False Prophet-Mr. Kicherer. visits Europe-Storm on his return-Abandons Zak river-Mr. Anderson with the Corannas. It will be recollected that Messrs. Kicherer and Edwards were left at Rodezand. After returning to the Cape, where they were detained some time, they proceeded to their place of destination among the Bushe * Lichtenstein's Travels, p. 237., men. These are a wild tribe, whose country stretches along the eastern and northern boundaries of the Colony. They are more degraded, than either the Hottentots or Caffres. They are said indeed to have intellect superior to the Hottentot; but they are more emphatically in a state of nature. While the Hottentot shows a little sense of decency, especially the female with her apron and kaross,* the Bushman is contented with a state of perfect nudity, if we except a few shreds cut from the skin of some animal, worn occasionally by the female, which answer no purpose of covering. The Hottentot, too, has a kind of cabin, in the centre of which is a fire; and though enveloped in smoke, which has no way of escape but a little door about three feet high, he can lie and sleep for days in succession, roused only by the calls of hunger; and these are appeased by a strip of flesh warmed upon the coals, and eaten with the ashes attached to it in the place of salt: but the Bushman literally burrows in the ground, a whole family occupying a hole in the earth or rocks, perhaps three feet in depth, and four or five in diameter, covered with a few open reeds; and suffers equally from cold and hunger, the latter often impelling to eat the most disgusting reptiles. Hottentots have likewise some idea of domestic happiness, some conjugal affection, and seldom destroy their children except in a fit of rage; but the Bushmen frequently kill their children without remorse. When they are ill shaped, when they are in want of food, when the father of a child has forsaken its mother, or when obliged to flee from their enemies; they smother them, cast them away in the desert, or bury them alive. They frequently forsake their aged relations, leaving them with a piece of meat, and an ostrich shell of water that, when this is consumed, they may die with hunger, or be devoured by wild beasts.t The As to religion, all the native inhabitants of South AfA sheep skin attached to the waist so as to cover the hinder parts of the body. + Miss. Trans. Vol. II. rica, are perhaps in a similar situation. They seem. to have no idea of a Supreme Being, and no worship except a superstitious reverence for an insect called the creeping leaf; a sight of which indicates good for. tune, and to kill it, would induce a curse. In every sense of the declaration, they are "without hope and without God in the world." 66 My readers will, perhaps, willingly be spared the trouble of accompanying the missionaries on their journey to this people. They may easily conceive what it must be, if they picture to themselves a large bag. gage waggon, made convenient both for riding and sleeping; and drawn by ten or twelve oxen at the rate of three miles an hour-the vehicle guided by a Hottentot leader in front, and a driver in the rear, the last of whom, with a whip four or five yards in length, manages the team with due generalship-while around are Hottentot servants and loose oxen kept along as a corps de reserve:" the whole passing through a country, which for sterility might vie with any of our pine plains, and for roughness, any of our shrub-oak hills; differing in this, the almost entire absence of water, and the presence of numerous wild beasts of prey to the no small annoyance of our travellers. They made but one considerable stop, which was, at the end of a fortnight, with Florus Fischer, the pious colonist, who negociated the peace with the Bushmen. While there, they preached to many, who came four days journey to hear them, which was not so far as they sometimes went, eight days journey to Rodezand, there being no church nearer these colonists. On leaving this place, they were kindly brought on the way, by Mr. Fischer, and other farmers with their servants to the number of about fifty, and had in their train five waggons full of provisions, thirty four horses, sixty oxen, and near two hundred sheep-the generous presents of the colonists. They travelled seven days through a perfect wilderness, in which they did not meet a hu man being; and at length arrived at Zak river, where they fixed on a spot for settlement. It was near two fine springs of water, and was a good piece of ground for cultivation; but the surrouuding country was barren, and the inhabitants were few. The company first fell on their knees and devoted the place to God; then began to prepare a garden, and build huts of reeds. After a few days Mr. Fischer, and their other friends, left them. Mr. Kicherer and his associate were now alone among a savage people, at the distance of eight hundred miles from the Cape, where only was a civil power able to protect them. It was a season of sad. ness-a time when every thing is deeply felt. A small circumstance, merely the falling down of their reed house, seems to have affected them. "I well remember," says Mr. Kicherer, "how much my spirits were depressed about this time, and how insupportable my situation would have been, separated as I found myself. from all I loved in this world, had not urgent business dispersed my gloomy reflections; and had not the Lord, whom I served, condescended to pacify my troubled heart, when I spread my complaints before him. This was especially the case one evening, when sitting on a stone in a circle of Bushmen, I attempted to convey the first instructions to their untutored minds." The number of Bushmen, who came to live with the missionaries, soon increased to more than sixty. It was affecting to see how amazed they were when told of a God, and the resurrection. They knew not how to express their astonishment, in language sufficiently. strong, that they should have lived so many years without ever having thought of a Supreme Being. They called Mr. Kicherer their Ebo, or Father. One of them began to pray, "O Lord Jesus Christ, thou hast made the sun, the moon, the hills, the rivers, the bushes; therefore, thou hast power also, to change my heart; O, be pleased to make it entirely new." Others told the missionaries they could not sleep on account of of their sins, and were forced to rise up in the night to pray. Several discovered some tokens of a work of |