The history of the condition of women in various ages and nations : $b Vol. 1 (of 2), Comprising the women of Asia and AfricaChild, Lydia Maria
History
The history of the condition of women in various ages and nations : $b Vol. 1 (of 2), Comprising the women of Asia and Africa
Child, Lydia Maria
Women -- History; Women -- Social conditions
A Hottentot kraal, or village, consists of a circle of low dirty
huts, which at a little distance resemble a cluster of bee-hives. The
employments of the women are such as generally fall to their lot in a
savage state. A great many of them are slaves to the Dutch boors, and
of course perform all their most menial and laborious occupations.
Their patience and fortitude under suffering are truly wonderful.
Low as the Hottentots are in the scale of humanity, they are by no
means destitute of good and agreeable qualities. They are very mild,
inoffensive, open-hearted, honest, and grateful. Their affection for
each other is so strong, that they will at any moment share their
last morsel of food with a distressed companion; and they very seldom
quarrel, or speak unkindly to their associates. They seem to be
entirely destitute of cunning, and when they have committed a fault
rarely fail to tell of it with the utmost simplicity.
M. Vaillant says: “They are the best, the kindest, and the most
hospitable of people. Whoever travels among them may be sure of finding
food and lodging; and though they will receive presents, they never
ask for any thing. If they learn that the traveller has a long journey
to accomplish, they will supply him with provisions as far as their
circumstances will allow, and with every thing else necessary to
enable him to reach the place of his destination. Such did these people
appear to me, in all the innocent manners of pastoral life. They excite
the idea of mankind in a state of infancy.”
The Hernhüters, or Moravian missionaries, have had a most blessed
influence on this poor persecuted race. These missionaries cultivate
gardens and fields in the neatest manner, and are themselves engaged
in various mechanical trades. The Hottentots by kindness and punctual
wages are induced to come and work for them, and the good fathers are
ever ready to instruct them in agriculture and the mechanical arts.
In 1824, nearly two thousand Hottentots lived in small huts, under
the protecting influence of the missionaries, each one cultivating a
little patch of ground to raise vegetables for his family. Some of them
employed their leisure moments in making mats and brooms, while others
obtained a comfortable subsistence by the sale of poultry, eggs, and
cattle.
Three hundred of their children attended Sunday school; and they
contributed five hundred six dollars to the missionary establishment
by voluntary subscriptions. Under the fostering care of true-hearted,
humble Christians, their habits of indolence and filth disappeared, and
they became distinguished for industry and cleanliness. By the last
accounts, about sixty Hottentots were communicants of the church.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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