VI SUMMARY JUSTICE 103 



hin(l-(|u.'irt(!r.s on .1 flat i^raniU: rock, c lose; to where 

 my cart was standinor. [ then made my bed on the 

 groimd clos(t to th(; Hat rock, and, as the moonh^ht 

 was so bri^dit, never troiihlcxl to surround my camp 

 with any kind of fcMice. PulHn^ th(; blanket ()V(;r 

 my h(^'id, I soon went fast asleej). Durin^ the nij^ht 

 I woke up, and was astonished to fmd that it was 

 dark. This I soon saw was owing to a complete 

 ecli[)se of the moon. When ihit shadow had passed, 

 and it once more bc;came lijij^ht, 1 found that the 

 choice piece of antelope* meat which 1 had placed 

 on the stone close behind my h(;ad was j^one, and I 

 have no doubt that it had bc^en carried off by a 

 hya:na during the (!clipse of thct moon. 



IIya:nas arci always far bolder and more 

 dangcTous in ihr. neighbourhood of natives villages 

 than th(;y are in th(! uninhabitc^d wilclernc^ss. 



In th(i y(;ar 1872 a Bushman Hottentot who had 

 shot a Kafir in cold blood, was beaten to death with 

 clubs by friends of the murdered man close to where 

 my wagLU)n was standing n(!ar the- jomani river, in a 

 wild, uninhabited part of l^astern Matalxthtland. I 

 did not know anything about this summary adminis- 

 tration of justic(! until it was ovc-r, as it took plac(; at 

 th(t waggons of somct (iriejua hunters who w(!re 

 campc'd near me. Th(^ body of tlu^ I lottentot was 

 then (lragg(td to a spot h^ss than three hundred 

 yards from my waggon, and (\u\Ut close to the (iricjua 

 encampment. That night several hyanas laughed 

 and cackled and howk^d round the corj)S(t from dark 

 to daylight, but th(ty nevf^r touched it. On the 

 sciconcl niglit they onc(^ more left it alone, but on 

 th(! third th(;y dev()ur(^d it. I do not know why 

 these hyaenas waited until the third m'ght before 

 making a nutal off th(t body of this dead I lottentot, 

 but 1 imagiiK! that it was Ix^cause they were hya-nas 

 of th(! wilderiKtss, unaccustomed to, and then^fore 

 suspicious of the smell of a human being. I have 



