T R A V E L S IN AFRICA. nity of plundering the inhabitants of their cattle, my excuriions I fell in with a party of thefe favages 1777- November. and made Haves of. Their weapons are poifoned arrows, which, Ihot out of a fmall bow, will fly to the diftance of two hundred paces ; and will hit a mark with a tolorable degree of certainty, at the diftance of fifty, or even a hundred paces. From this diftance they can by ftealth, as it were-, convey death to the game they hunt for food, as well as to their foes, and even to fo large and tremendous a beaft as the lion: this noble animal thus falling by a weapon which, perhaps, it defpifed, or even did not take notice of. The Hottentot, in the mean time, concealed and fafe in his ambuih, is abfolutely certain of the operation of his poifon, which he always fele&s of the moll virulent kind ; and it is faid, he has only to wait a few minutes, in order to fee the wild beaft languiih and die. I mentioned that their bows were fmall; they are, in fail, hardly a yard long, being at the fame time fcarcely of the thicknefs of an inch in the middle, and very much pointed at both ends. What kind of wood they are made of I cannot fay, but it does not feem to be of a remarkably elaftic nature. The firings of the bows that I faw were made fome of them of finews, others of a kind of hemp, or the inner bark of fome vegetable, and moil of them are made in a very flo- venly manner ; which fhows, that thefe archers depend; more on the poifon of the weapons, than on any exa&nefs in the formation of them, or any other perfection in them. Their arrows are a foot and a half long. They are made of a reed one foot in length, which, at the bafe, or the end that receives the bow-ftring, has a notch of a proper fize to fit it. Juft above this notch there is a joint in the reed, about which firings made of finews are wound, in order to ftrengthen it. The other end of the reed armed with a highly polifhed bone, five or fix inches long. At the diftance of an inch or two from the tip of this bone, a piece of a quill is bound on very fail with finews. This is done, in order that the arrow fhall not be eafily drawn out of the flefh : and thus there may be fo much the longer time for the poifon, which is fpread on of a thick confidence like that of an extrail, to be diftblved, and infed the wound. I t is not' common, however, for an arrow to be headed in the manner above-mentioned, with a pointed bone only ; this latter being ufually cut off fquare at the top, and a thin triangular piece of iron fixed into it. As the bone has no cavity whatever, I do not profefs to know what animal it is taken from. In the ftate in which it is feen, as it makes part of the arrow, it is of a dark brown colour, full of fmall grooves and ribs, and does not appear ever to have been as white as ivory ; though* for one of the arrows which I brought with me, it would feem as if ivory had been really made ufe of. Hence we may conclude, that on fuch arrows as are headed with iron, the bone is employed chiefly for giving this weapon a kind of weight and poife : and likewife, that thefe arrows coft the Hottentots a great deal of labour. Their quivers are two feet long and four, inches in diameter. I f one may form any conclu- fiori from thofe I have feen, and from, two that I have brought home with me, they are made of a branch of a tree hollowed o u t; or, ftill more probable, of the bark of one of thefe branches taken off whole and entire, the bottom and cover to which are compofed of leather. On the outfide behaved very well, only making figns for tobacco, which I No^ ^ er gave th em ; and they in return offered me fome honey, which '—»—' outfide it is bedaubed with an un£luous matter, that grows hard when dry. Both the quivers I brought with me, are lined about the aperture with a ferpent’s ikin ; and, as I was told, with the ikin of the yellow ferpent, which is confidered as the moft venemous of any in that country. Befides a dozen of arrows, every quiver contains a flender hone of fand-ftone for whetting the iron head upon, and a bruih for laying on the poifon, together with a few wooden flicks, differing in thicknefs, but all of the fame length with the arrows. For what ufe they are de- figned, I am entirely ignorant. The poifon is taken from feveral different kinds of ferpents, the more venemous the better ; whether their arrows are to be employed againft their foes, or are only defigned for fhooting game ; for, as I have obferved before, the Hottentos know very well, that taken internally it is quite harmlefs. The dwellings of thefe foes to a paftoral life are generally not more agreeable, than their maxims and manners. Like the wild beafts, bufhes and clifts in rocks by turns ferve them in- flead of Houfes ; and fome of them are faid to be fo far worfe than beafts, that their foil has been found clofe to their habitations. A great many of them are entirely naked ; but fuch as have been able to procure the ikin of any fort of animal, great or fmall, cover their bodies with it from the fhoulders downwards as far as it will reach, wearing it till it falls off their backs in rags. As ignorant of agriculture as apes and monkies, like them they are obliged to wander about over hills and dales after certain wild roots, berries and plants, (which they eat raw) in order to fuftain a life that this miferable food would foon extinguifh and deftroy, were they ufed to better fare. Their table, however, is fometimes compofed of feveral other difhes, among which may be reckoned the larva; of infeils, or thofe kind of caterpillars from which butterflies are generated | and in like manner a fort of white ants, (the termes j graihoppers, fnakes, and fome fort of fpi- ders. With all thefe changes of diet, the Boihiefman is neverthelefs frequently in want, and to fuch a degree, as to wafte almoft to a ihadow. It was with no fmall aftonifhment, that I for the firft time faw in Lange Kloof a lad belonging to this race of men, with his face, arms, legs and body fo monftroufly fmall and withered, that I could not have been induced to fuppofe but that he had been brought to that ftate by the fever that was epidemic in thofe parts, had I not feen him at the fame time run like a lapwing. It required but a few weeks to bring one of thefe flarvelings' to a thriving ftate,. and even to make him f a t; their ftomachs being ftrong enough to digeft the great quantity of food with which they are crammed, as they may rather be faid to bolt than e a t; it fometimes happens, indeed, that they cannot long retain what they have taken in ; but this circumftance, it is faid, does not hinder them from beginning again upon a frefh fcore. The capture of flaves from among this race of men is by no means a difficult matter, and is effeiled in the following manner. Several farmers, that are, in want of fervants, join together, and take a journey to that part of the country where the Boihiefmen live. They themfelves, as well as their Lego-Hottentots, or elfe fuch Boihiefmen as have been caught fome time before, and have been trained up to fidelity in their fervice, endeavour to fpy out where the wild Boihiefmen
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