

NATIVE HUNTERS. 63 



the above methods is eaten by the human family or 

 carnivora without producing any evil effects. 



It is customary for us, the inhabitants of civi- 

 lized countries, to bewail the ignorance of the 

 savage, and shudder when we think of the difficul- 

 ties that surround his existence. There is no 

 necessity, I can assure my gentle, philanthropic 

 readers, for this ; for where game has not been 

 driven off by the white man's weapons, the Bush- 

 man is seldom without an abundance of food, and 

 feasts to actual gluttony where one of our country- 

 men would starve. One reason for this is that the 

 people of these wastes have lived for generations 

 among the wild beasts, and thus are so conversant 

 with their habits that it requires but slight efforts 

 of chicanery on their part to circumvent them. 



Our most profound scientists could be taught 

 the natural history of the quadrupeds and birds 

 that inhabit the countries of the Bechuanas and 

 Makalakas by the bona fide untutored savage, 

 and it is this knowledge that makes these people 

 so successful as hunters. 



No doubt our ancestors, in Druid days, a long 

 time since equalled, if not excelled, the Bushman of 

 the present time in hunting, and, with scant gar- 

 ments, as often as not with none, scoured the plain 

 at racing pace in pursuit of their wounded quarry. 

 But, strange as it may appear, the descendants of 

 I the most polished members of society will relapse 



