When iuccefsful in bringing to the horde a herd o f cattle, they
41ay them in fuch numbers that the kraal foon becomes a maf¡¡.
of putrefaction, and the whole'air tainted with the fmell. , The
number of vultures that are attracted by the remains of the
dead carcafes are frequently the means of difcovering to the
colonifts the kraals of Bosjefmans. Like thefe voracious birds,
they are equally filthy and gluttonous.. The three who accompanied
us to our waggons had a iheep given to them about five
in the evening, which was entirely confumed by them before
the noon of the following day. They continued, however, to
eat all night, without ileep and without intermifiion, till they
had finiihed the whole animal. After this their lank bellies
were diftended to fuch a degree, that they looked lefs like
human creatures than before. Accuftomed to food of a ftrong
and pungent quality, fimple water feemed to have no reliih for
them : they prepared a beverage that was exceflively difguft-
in g : having cut the throat o f the iheep, they opened the belly
to let the blood run among the entrails -r then cutting thefe
with a knife, and pouring in a quantity of water, they ftirred
up all together, and drank the naufeous mixture with an appetite
that fufficiently ihewed it to be fuited to their tafte.
It did not appear that they were in the habit of applying
unftuous fubftances to the body any farther than wiping their
greafy hands on their Ikin ; but the hair and faces of many of
them had been rubbed with red ochre after the manner o f the
Kaffers, and a few had the face painted black, in the ihape of a
mark: this they do with the kernel o f a fmall nut burnt in the
fire. The oil exprefled from this nut is confideréd by them as
a prea
preventive againft ftiffhefs in the joints, and by the colonifts
as the beft application for rheumatic complaints. Indeed thl
oil bears a very ftrong refemblance to that called cajapoota,
which has obtained a high character o f being ufeful in the fame
diforder. The Hottentot name of the plant is kai; and the nut
refembles the feed of the tea-ihrub.
The conftitutions o f this pigmy race are much ftronger, and
their lives o f longer duration, than thofe of the Hottentots.
Many inftances of longevity are found among thofe who live
with the peafantry. In every ficknefs, of what kind foever, it
is ufual with them to take off the extreme joints of the fingers,
beginning with the little finger of the left hand as the leaft ufeful.
This operation is performed under the idea that the dif-
eafe will run out with the effufion of blood.
It is cuftomary with them to inter their dead, and, like
the Hottentots, to cover the graves with piles o f ftones. Some
o f thefe were fo large, and on grafly plains where not a ftone
was naturally to be found, that the amafling o f them together
muft have occafioned a very confiderable degree o f labor.
The temper o f a Bosjefman is widely different from that of
a Hottentot who lives in the colony. The latter, for a life of
indolence, would barter all that he poffeffed in the world; a
ftate of inactivity would be to the former intolerable. The
powers of the mind, in one, are languid, and difficultly brought
into aCtion ; in the other, they feem capable of great exertion.
Their mechanical ikill appeared in their arrows, which were
P P finiihed