668 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



journeys far beyond the northern limits of the Transvaal, makes 

 frequent mention of them and discriminates four distinct types, 

 noticing especially a very light-colored variety only found in the 

 Drakensberg Mountains and the ranges west of them. There 

 seems to be a tradition of hostility between the Bushmen and 

 Hottentots, and the difference between them in pursuits and hab- 

 its has always been sharply marked ; but the fact of their affinity 

 has seldom or never been questioned. Moffat distinctly states 

 his belief (supported by the analogy of the Balala or outcast 

 Bechuanas) that they are the descendants of Hottentots driven 

 by want and the hostility of stronger neighbors into the desert. 

 Generations of perpetual living on the edge of starvation have 

 made of them the gauntest and skinniest of shapes — seemingly 

 designed by Nature to show what human beings can endure in 

 that line and live — and developed in them, in spite or because of 

 their physical weakness and insignificance, a cunning and an inti- 

 mate knowledge of nature that to the savage mind seems little 

 short of superhuman. Some of the Kafirs believe that the Bush- 

 men can understand the language of the baboons, and countless 

 instances of their skill in tracking game and finding water are 

 on record. They possess a wonderful gift of mimicry, can imi- 

 tate to the life the action of any man or animal, and have a pas- 

 sionate love of music. They can evolve from their primitive 

 instruments — the gorali, with its catgut and quill, or the hollow 

 gourd-shell, with strings stretched across it — plaintive melodies 

 of a surprising sweetness, very different from the hideous iinta- 

 niarre of horns and tomtoms which delights the heart of the 

 average African. Moreover, having a quick ear and a retentive 

 memory, they will pick up and repeat any civilized tune once 

 heard — whether the Chorales of the German Mission or the more 

 secular ditty sung by the wandering traders. Their poisoned 

 arrows, and their noiseless, furtive ways of coming and going, 

 inspire the stronger races with a vague dread of them, strength- 

 ened no doubt by that uncanny something which, as Mr. F. Boyle 

 remarks, " makes a Bush-boy resemble a bird the more, the more 

 he shows a simian intelligence." 



"We have thus, in a hasty and imperfect manner, surveyed the 

 known fragments of the aboriginal African race. We have seen 

 that they resemble each other to a great extent in physical con- 

 formation and in manners and customs ; the differences being for 

 the most part due (like the extremely poor development and de- 

 graded way of life of the Bushmen) to differences in habitat and 

 environment. The Hottentot and San or Saab (Bushman) lan- 

 guages we have seen to be related, though distinct ; and they are 

 radically different from every known Bantu tongue. Some have 

 even denied that they are articulate speech at all. The peculiarity 



