XX ENDURANCE OF BUSHMEN 345 



tinuously for several months together. On many 

 and many a night I have slept in their encampments 

 without even any Kafir attendants, and though I was 

 entirely in their power, I always felt perfectly safe 

 amongst them. As most of the men spoke Sechwana, 

 I was able to converse with them, and found them 

 very intelligent companions, full of knowledge con- 

 cerning the habits of all the wild animals inhabiting 

 the country in which they lived. I found the 

 Bushmen very good-tempered people, and they are 

 undoubtedly the best of all the natives of South 

 Africa to have with one when in pursuit of game, as 

 they are such wonderful trackers, and so intimately 

 acquainted with the habits of every kind of wild 

 animal. To be seen at their best they must be 

 hungry, but not starving. They will then be capable 

 of marvellous feats of endurance. I have known a 

 Bushman run on elephant spoor in front of my horse 

 for five hours, only very occasionally slowing down 

 to a walk for a few minutes. He ran till it 

 got dark, and as we had neither blankets nor food, 

 which had been left with the Kafirs far behind, we 

 lit a big fire, beside which we sat all night, not 

 daring to lie down and sleep, for fear lest lions 

 should kill my horse, which we had to watch whilst 

 it fed round near the fire. When we took up the 

 elephant tracks again the next morning, we had 

 been twenty-four hours without food, and it was 

 late in the afternoon before we were making a 

 meal off elephant's heart. During the two days 

 this Bushman must have walked and run for at 

 least eighty miles without food or sleep, and he never 

 showed the least sign of exhaustion. Living as they 

 do in families or small communities, Bushmen have 

 not developed any warlike qualities, and I cannot 

 imagine any of them I have known being anxious 

 **to seek the bubble reputation even in the cannon's 

 mouth " ; but for all that they are certainly more 



