682 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



inch in length, the entrails of which furnished a poison so rapid 

 in action that it was employed in hunting the lion. The 

 strength of these poisons is said, however, to vary very con- 

 siderably; sometimes, like wines, with the year; sometimes 

 with the weather. The poison, when ready for use, resembled 

 a mass of brown or black wax. It was carried in a skin pouch 

 and applied to the arrow by means of a poison-stone, a smooth 

 flat pebble with a deep groove down the middle to hold the 

 poison. This stone was one of the most precious possessions 

 of the Bushman ; it is said he would die rather than part with it. 

 The shaft of the arrow was a slender reed, its head a pointed 

 bone, often the leg-bone of an ostrich, which was ground 

 straight and smooth by a grooved piece of sandstone. It was 

 made to fit the shaft, and firmly bound on with animal sinew. 

 A strip of quill was sometimes attached as a barb, and as far 

 down as this the head was carefully covered with poison. 

 Passarge describes the head as consisting of two parts : the 

 pointed poisoned extremity is sheathed point downwards in the 

 basal part till it is required for use. This poisoned extremity 

 was sometimes replaced by a flake of chalcedony or other hard 

 stone, and in later times by iron or bottle-glass. 



The arrows were carried in a quiver, furnished with a lid 

 to prevent accidents, though a self-inflicted wound might in 

 many cases have caused no more than a passing inconvenience, 

 since the hunters were acquainted with appropriate antidotes ; 

 one of these was prepared from the tuber of a plant, the 

 'Kalahetlue, which grows wherever the poison grub 'Tha is 

 found. They also possessed antidotes of sufficient efficacy to 

 protect them even against snake bites. 



Armed with bow and arrows the Bushmen laid the whole 

 animal world under contribution, and defended themselves from 

 their foes, whether lion or Kaffir, with equal courage and 

 success. In approaching their quarry they were practised in all 

 kinds of cunning. Disguise was a common device ; sometimes 

 with a bundle of grass tied on over the head they would glide 

 by fits and starts through the grass so imperceptibly that the 

 feeding herd had no suspicion of their presence. In stalking 

 the wary quagga, the hunter disguised himself as an ostrich, 

 simulated its gait, stopping every now and again to peck and 

 feed, till he approached near enough to let fly his poisoned 

 arrow. For large game they set traps, digging carefully con- 



