GUNPOWDER MEDICINE. 235 



of firing being to withdraw the face from the gun, from 

 a natural impulse of fear, before drawing the trigger, 

 and to look back over the left shoulder instead of at 

 the animal they expect to kill. The cause of their 

 missing they at once ascribed to the powder, which 

 they affirmed required medicine. Accordingly, the 

 chief and all the long-headed men in Booby assembled 

 in the forum ; and having placed the unworthy gun- 

 powder upon a large kaross, they all sat round it, and 

 commenced a variety of ceremonies and incantations 

 with a view of imparting to it that power which they 

 considered it had lost. At length some wiseacre among 

 the soothsayers informed the king that the presence of 

 fire was indispensable on the occasion. Fire was ac- 

 cordingly introduced along with the other medicines, 

 and a censer of hot embers was passed frequently over 

 the powder. Suddenly, however, an unlucky spark 

 sprang from the (jenser into the heap of powder, which of 

 course instantly exploded, and, the quantity being very 

 considerable, the Booby men and their chief were blown 

 heels over head on every side — several of the party, and 

 among others the chief, being so severely burned that 

 they shortly died. So much for Bechuana medicines. 

 The kraal of Booby is encompassed on three sides 

 by rocky hills, which to their summits are densely clad 

 with sandal- wood trees. The sides of these mountains 

 in parts are extremely precipitous, and are the abodes 

 of baboons and klipspringers. On the march, as we 

 approached Booby, I took my rifle and ascended to the 

 base of one of these precipices, where I shot two im- 

 mense baboons. One of them was sitting on the shelf 

 of a rock very high above me ; and on receiving the 

 shot, he fell about a hundred feet without a break. 

 The valleys between the mountains are extensively 



