KOC K. I'AINTINGS nl- Tilli TK,ANSVAAL. 569 



vided these pigmy artists with at least one colour. This theory, 

 however, has been challenged by the Magistrate n[ I'olcla, who 

 reported to the Department of Justice as follows : — 



The paints used l)y ilic Bushmen are a lost secret with the excep- 

 tion of dark red, which i have found in two places. The paint is a 

 greasy substance interleaved with yellow sandstone, and when exposed 

 to the air hardens very quickly. . . . The fine, rather sandy, sub- 

 stance often found inside round stones in the bed of the rivers, and so 

 often asserted by many people to be the real' Bnshnian paint, is no such 

 thing, although the same colour can l)e obtained, for this reason — that, 

 however many coats be applied, and no matter how long it be left to 

 dry, it can be immediately rubbed off." 



The natives of the Makabene confidently assert that the 

 white paint of the Bushmen was obtained from the milky kernel 

 of the Stamvruchtc [C'lirysophyJluui )iia(/aIismo}itaHum, Sond.), 

 and this appears to agree with the testimony of a native who 

 traces his descent from the Bushmen in Natal, who stated that 

 the paints of his forefathers were of vegetable origin. These 

 native theories, however, are wanting in confirmation. During a 

 visit to the Makabene I had the good fortune, however, to un- 

 earth a store of Bushman i^aints in the course of excavating one 

 of the caves, and these confirm the testimony of Stow, who 

 declared that as much care was exercised in the manufacture of 

 their paints as was shown in the production of their [XMSons, 

 or the chipping of their implements of stone. f Among the 

 specimens now in my ])Ossession there are several which bear 

 unmistakeable evidence of having been carefully scraped, ap- 

 ])arently for the j^urpose of obtaining a fine powder. The 

 material in most cases is of low specific gravity, and is brick- 

 like in texture, as thotigh the original ingredients had been finel}' 

 compounded and then artificiall)- dried by heat. When paint 

 was required, a qtiantit\ of this fine powder was presumably 

 scraped from one of the cakes and mixed with ( raw ? ) fat or 

 other medium, and stored in little pots ready for use.| 



It is possible that the blood of the animals they hunted may 

 have formed one of the ingredients, for reasons which will be 

 ■ihown later. 



The meaifing and piu'post^ of these rock-])aintin,t:s ])rovides 

 another problem which has exercised the minds of many sttidents. 



* Vide Pretoria Xeics, I'^ebruary )3th. 1913. 



t There were certain secrets among many of the tribes, which were 

 not known to every member of them. . . . This seems to have been 

 especially the case not only in the manipulation and preparation of their 

 l)oisons and the antidotes thereto, but even in a more marked manner 

 amongr those tribes that produced the great artists of their race, the 

 proper mixture and employment of colours was only known to the few. 

 and not to the manv " ( Stow, " The Xative Races of South Africa," 

 p. 76). 



J Stow describes a ])ainter's outfit as follows : " The last-known 

 Rushman artist of the Malutis was shot in the Witteberg Native Reserve, 

 where be had been on a marauding expedition and had captured some 

 horses. ... He had ten small liorn i)Ots hanging from a belt, each 

 of whicli contained a coloured paint ( " Xative Races of South Xfrica. 

 I>. 230 I. 



