66 ASPECTS OF TROPICAL NATURE 



small difficulty, since the dread of hostile visits from the 

 adjacent Bechuana tribes makes them choose their abode far 

 from the nearest spring or pool, and leads them not unfre- 

 quently to hide their supplies by filling the pits with sand 

 and making a fire over the spot. When they wish to draw 

 water for use, the women come with twenty or thirty of their 

 water vessels in a bag or net on their backs. These water 

 vessels consist of ostrich egg shells, with a hole in the end of 

 each, such as would admit one's finger. The women tie a bunch 

 of grass to one end of a reed about two feet long, which they 

 insert in a hole dug as deep as the arm will reach, and then ram 

 down the wet sand firmly round it. Applying the mouth to 

 the free end of the reed, they form a vacuum in the grass 

 beneath, in which the water collects, and in a short time rises 

 into the mouth. An egg-shell is placed on the gi'ound along- 

 side the reed, some inches below the mouth of the sucker. A 

 straw guides the water into the hole of the vessel as she draws 

 mouthful after mouthful from below ; and thus the whole stock 

 of water passes through her mouth as a pump, and when taken 

 home is carefully buried to prevent its loss by evaporation. A 

 short stay among the thirsty Bakalaharis might teach us better 

 to appreciate the blessings of an abundant supply of water. 



These poor people generally attach themselves to influential 

 men in the different Bechuana tribes near to their desert home, 

 in order to obtain supplies of spears, knives, tobacco, and dogs, 

 in exchange for the skins of animals which they kill. These 

 are small carnivora of the feline race, including two species of 

 jackal, the dark and the golden, the former of which has the 

 warmest fur the country yields, while the latter is very hand- 

 some when made into the skin-mantle called kavoss. Next in 

 value follow the small ocelot, the lynx, the wild and the spotted 

 cat. Great numbers of duiker and steinbuck skins are also- 

 obtained, besides those of lions, leopards, panthers, and hyaenas* 



During Dr. Livingstone's stay in the Bechuana country, 

 between twenty and thirty thousand skins were made up into 

 harosses ; part of them were worn by the inhabitants, and part 

 sold to traders, many ultimately finding their way to China. 

 The Bechuanas buy tobacco from the eastern tribes, then, pur- 

 chasing skins with it from the Bakalahari, tan and sew them 

 into karosses ; and these go south to purchase heifer-calves, — 



