THE ENGRAVED ROCK OF LOE. 533 



positions of the white and t!ie black man ; therefore it seems worth 

 recording. 



After Matsieng and all the other people had come out of Loe, an 

 order was sent to him by Modimo (the Supreme Being), he being then 

 the chief of all men, to await his coming, that he might teach them what 

 to do in order to procure future happiness. After a long and fruitless wait, 

 Matsieng saw some vultures swooping down on a carcase. Being by 

 this time very hungry, he called upon the people to follow him, that they 

 might go shares with the vultures. But only the black ones followed. 



They found the carcase of a wildebeest, and after their meal returned 

 to Loe, only to find that during their absence Modimo had arrived with 

 the intention of teaching the black men wisdom in order to give them 

 sovereignty over the earth. But finding that they had not obeyed him, 

 Modimo gave all these gifts to the whites, leaving to the blacks only 

 cattle and game, since their lust for meat had caused their disobedience. 



Other versions of this legend are given by R. Moffat* and 

 S. S. Dornan.f 



Bushman legends of a like nature are not known to the 

 writer, nor, according to Miss D. Bleek, are there any in the 

 unpublished MSS. of the late W. H. I. Bleek and Miss L. C. 

 Lloyd. 



To continue with Mr. Knobel's narrative : — 



There are said to be at least two more such places, but in the Bechuana 

 tales they play a less important role than does Loe. They lie some t2 

 miles W.N.W. of Loe, near a hill called Kgope , which can be seen from 

 Mochudi Station, and they are called Tamoge and Ntsebe. They are 

 close together and also bear the imprints of human beings and of 

 animals. There is also in each case the single footprint of the giant. 



Since this was written Mr. Knobel has made diligent search 

 for the engravings, but so far without success. Both places are 

 well-known to J\Irs. Harbor, and she declares there are no en- 

 gravings there. Nevertheless, further investigations will be made 

 here, and also at another creation site just lately reported. 



In other parts of British South Africa no spot resembling 

 Loe is known to the writer, and even at places where there are- 

 large numbers of engravings depicting humans and animals, 

 spoors of humans or of animals are rare. Thus at Kinderdam, 

 Vryburg, there are a few human spoors scattered about among 

 a very large number of engravings ; and at Amandel Kop, ■ 

 Jacobsdal, Orange Free State, there is a little footprint^ while 

 Dr. L. Peringueyi has published a couple from some locality not 

 stated. 



From South-West Africa, however, W. Branco§ has 

 described and figured what he at first mistook for the actual 

 footprints of human beings and of animals occurring in the 

 rocks near Gaub, in the neighbourhood of Grootfontein. In 

 an appendix he announces the discovery, at the same spot, of 

 hundreds of similar engravings, but as no^ details are given 



* " Missionary Labours and Scenes in Southern Africa," 1842, 262. 



t" Native Ideas of Cosmology," Rept. S.A. A.A.S. (1917), I79- 



i " On rock-engravings of animals and the human figure, found in 

 South Africa," Trans. S.A. Phil. Soc, 18, 401-419, Pis. 11. 



t" Fragliche Reste und Fussfahrten des tertiaren Menschen " [Deutsch 

 Sudwest-Afrika, 121] Zeits. Deutsch. gcol. Gcsdlschaft 56 (1904), B, 97. 



