Observations on the Origin of the Bushmen. 185 



of such treatment, they are considered as prepared and adapted 

 for food. In this state they are not unpalatable, and it is only 

 the knowledge of their nature that gives any thing like a 

 disinclination to relish them. 



By the Bushmen, the food under consideration is highly 

 esteemed, and that and the ostrich egg are perhaps the most 

 admired articles of their subsistence. After what has been 

 stated as to the variety of articles employed in diet, it will 

 doubtless appear a little strange, that on many occasions they 

 are scarcely able to exist. »Such evidently arises from the 

 scantiness with which the varieties alluded to are distributed, 

 particularly at certain seasons, as well as from the difficulty 

 with which many of them are obtained. It matters little, how- 

 ever, what the cause or causes are, as the fact is established, 

 and is what doubtless induces them to plunder both the colo- 

 nists and their various Hottentot neighbours. Least, however, 

 this remark should be construed as expressing my belief, that 

 unavoidable want is the only incentive to plunder, I may ob- 

 serve, that I am quite convinced that laziness and a love of 

 animal food, are very often what alone urge them to thieving. 



In the art of carrying off their pillage, they are extremely 

 dexterous; and in the practices of deception on such occasions, 

 they are peculiarly expert. They sometimes commit their 

 depredations during the day, when the flock and herds are dis- 

 persed in the fields, but more frequently at night, when they 

 are collected for rest. Should necessity permit of their exer- 

 cising a choice as to time, they commoniy prefer the decline 

 of the moon, so as to have the benefit of darkness to assist 

 them in the commission of the act, and the aid of light to 

 facilitate in the carrying away of the spoil. The existence of 

 rainy weather, they also regard as favourable for such pursuits, 

 on account of fire-arms being then less available; but, never- 

 theless, the circumstance of footmarks of every description 

 being more distinctly imprinted at such limes, whereby they 

 can be more readily traced, often prevents them from availing 

 themselves of the advantage in question. Having once got 

 possession of cattle, they invariably carry them across the 

 most parched and arid spots, and regularly in the directions 

 where water is least abundant, in order to incommode their 

 followers, or render pursuit impossible. If at the time they 

 commit their outrages, the country through which they intend 

 to return be very dry and destitute of water, they furnish 

 themselves before they commence the expedition, with a num- 

 ber of ostrich shells filled with that fluid, and those they de- 

 posit successively in holes of the ground during the approach 

 to the scene of their intended operations, whereby they supply 

 themselves on their return with what may be necessary to 

 quench their thirst. By these arrangements, they readily con- 



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