420 



NOTES ON SOME BUSHMAN PAINTINGS. 



elands were painted over them. 



On other parts of the rock again are a number of smaller 

 animals depicted in groups or singly in a variety of attitudes — 

 elands, smaller antelopes, jackals, birds. They are coloured in 

 various shades of red, yellovv^-ochre and sienna and in cream, and 

 the drawing is often very spirited and unconventional. 



The pair of beautiful blue cranes {Tetrapteryx paradisea), re- 

 produced by Miss Tongue,* belong to this series. 



Some of them may be older than the elands, some may be of 

 the same age ; others are undoubtedly of more recent date. 



Of later date again than these is a collection of battle-scenes, 

 raids, processions of human beings, single pygmies, monkeys, 

 snakes and winged creatures that fill up the spaces between the 

 older paintings, but do not seem to encroach on them. 



The pygmies and the animals are of very inferior technique, 

 and are in various shades of dull, dark-red, burnt umber, yellow- 

 ochre and in white. Unfortunately many of them have not only 

 been damaged in a variety of ways, but they have been touched 

 up, with white paint, it is to be feared by some European artist ! 



The winged creatures are so extraordinary that they baffle 

 description, but some have been copied by Miss Tonguef and 

 the writer. The snakes too cannot be said to slavishly imitate 

 nature. I 



Of extremely inferior technique and much damaged are the 

 battle-scenes and processions, but they are nevertheless of great 

 interest, as some of them seem to illustrate a chapter in the history 

 of the Basuto — their invasion of the country of the Bushman, their 

 wars with other Bantu tribes. 



A couple of these have been copied, at least in part, by the 

 writer ; of the others it seemed impossible, at any rate in the short 

 time available, to make connected pictures. 



One shews what appears to be Bushman in ambush, and the 

 victorious Bantu raider going off with prisoners ; in the other lines 

 '^1 Bantu warriors are drawn up in battle array ; while Miss 

 Tongue has reproduced a number of natives in blankets. || The 

 figures here are all small. 



The drawing is beneath contempt, but allowance should be 

 made for the probablv greatly harried artists. The pigment is 

 monotonous, being of the, common dull dark-red, often, however, 

 much faded. 



As for the age of the paintings, the old chiefs of the district, 

 men of at least sixty years old, declare that even when they were 

 little children, no Bushmen were living near them ; that they had 

 all moved off " yonder," pointing to Machache, and only occa- 

 sionally came down to raid their cattle. 



The most recent paintings must therefore be over 50 years old, 

 and we have seen that there are at least four periods of them. 



The paintings have been destroyed wantonly by native herd- 



*l.c., p. 32, pi. XLI., No. 7Q. 



tl.c, pi. XIX., No. loi : pi. XLV., No. So. 



:i.c., pi. XIX., No. loi. 



Ill.c, pi. XV., No. 102. 



