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LV. Observations relative to the Origin and History of the 

 Bushmen. By ANDREW SMITH, M.D. M.W.S. $c. 



[Continued from page 200.] 



Tj^OR subsistence, the Bushmen, as has alreadybeen observed, 

 * trust principally to the fruits of the earth, and to the game 

 which their plains afford : but when either of those are found 

 deficient, few have any hesitation in supplying their wants from 

 the flocks of the neighbouring farmers. With even such a 

 variety of resources, they are nevertheless often sufferers from 

 extreme want, and are thereby necessitated to consume almost 

 every article which is to be found within the range of their 

 retreats. Of the vegetable productions, many roots, both 

 fibrous, fleshy, and bulbous, form articles of their food ; and 

 of berries and other fruits, they employ almost all that are met 

 with whose qualities are not prejudicial to health, and many 

 of which are doubtless possessed of no properties beyond those 

 of filling and distending the stomach. Amongst the most 

 useful and nutritious of the vegetable products, is the seed of 

 a species of grass which grows in their country, as well as in 

 the northern parts of the colony, and which, when cleaned and 

 boiled, has considerable resemblance in taste to barley similarly 

 prepared. This at the proper season occurs in considerable 

 quantities, and is acquired in two ways, either by directly 

 collecting the tops of the grass and then separating the seed, 

 or by robbing the black ants which there occur, and who carry 

 quantities of it as food to their subterranean abodes. 



Subservient as the vegetable kingdom is thus rendered, the 

 animal one is made not less so ; for, from the largest quadrupeds 

 that inhabit their wastes, to the most disgusting reptile or the 

 smallest insect, almost all are in some way or other employed 

 as articles of provision. The hippopotami, zebras, quaggas, dif- 

 ferent species of antelopes, jackals, &c. as well as the ostrich and 

 bustard, form the favourite objects of pursuit with the men; and 

 the pursuit of the hares, dassies, moles, rats, snakes, lizards, 

 grasshoppers, ants, and such like forms, the occupation of the 

 women and boys. There is scarcely a four-footed animal which 

 they can destroy that they do not convert to food, and there is 

 hardly a portion of any one of those, with the exception of the 

 bones, that they do not devour. The flesh in every situation 

 they greedily consume ; the stomach and intestines they esteem 

 as delicacies; the liver and kidneys they often swallow even raw, 

 and the contents of the stomachs of many animals they drink 

 or eat either pure or diluted with water. The blood of most 

 animals they highly prize, and though usually cooked before 



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