BY WALTER E. ROTH, M.R.C.S., B.A., OXON. 51 



Bon-du signified the truth, ku-thum a lie, and ku-lin a liar. On 

 the other hand, there was hardly any cheating ; these blacks 

 would give to one another practically anything that might be 

 envied. Gluttony was regarded as very unpardonable, and in 

 this way they were very self-sacrificing ; it was well that such 

 was the case indeed, because an individual might be lucky in 

 hunting on the one day, and yet be unsuccessful on the morrow. 

 Only occasionally, and in secret, would the native be gluttonous ; 

 thus, an aboriginal contaminated by whites would ask yon not 

 to give him so-and-so before another, as he would probably have 

 to part with it — but such conduct was always considered most 

 reprehensible and mean. On the whole, they were a chivalrous 

 people, and cowardice brought the delinquent into supreme 

 conlempt. They were very good to their aged and weak, would 

 tend their sicl\, and carry them about from place to place ; if 

 circumstances prevented this, some one would be left behind to 

 give them every attention. 



A father could do what he pleased with his own children, 

 but neither parent would ever strike a boy ; if beaten, the latter 

 was supposed to lose courage. The mother taught her girls, 

 looked after their chastity, and, when considered necessary, 

 beat them.. The grown-up lads slept together, separate from 

 the others. 



Among the party of men who landed with R. Austin on 

 that coast was a young architect, one Greensfll, who was sup- 

 posed to resemble one of their tribe lately deceased : the blacks 

 immediately gave him the name of wor-kap, that of the deceased 

 individual in question. As a rule, they never mentioned the 

 names of their deceased, but in this case they believed that this 

 young gentleman in question was their own mate returned to 

 them in the guise of a white man. Austin subsequently found 

 it to be a general impression among them that deceased blacks 

 were wont to return to their own habitats in the form and shape 

 of whites, and that this was how they accounted for the Euro- 

 peans coming to visit their country. As already mentioned, 

 this district had been settled only a few years previously. In 

 several places, a similar form of nomenclature in vogue, was 

 met with, and Austin invariably did his best to destroy this 

 belief of theirs. They also had an idea that the spirit of the 

 departed hovered round about the grave, and, though their 

 feelings could not be thoroughly analysed, they certainly had a 

 fear of approaching it for some time subsequently to burial. At 



