which lot he favoured who was full of the folklore 



stories and superstitions of his strange and dying race, 



which he half humorously and half seriously blended 



with his own knowledge and hunting experiences. Jantje 



had the ugly wrinkled dry-leather face of his breed, with 



hollow cheeks, high cheek-bones, and little pinched eyes, 



so small and so deeply set that no one ever saw the 



colour of them ; the pepper-corns of tight wiry wool 



that did duty for hair were sparsely scattered over 



his head like the stunted bushes in the desert ; and his 



face and head were seamed with scars too numerous 



to count, the souvenirs of his drunken brawls. He 



resembled a tame monkey rather than a human 



creature, being, like so many of his kind without the 



moral side or qualities of human nature which go to 



mark the distinction between man and monkey. He 



was normally most cheery and obliging ; but it meant 



nothing, for in a moment the monkey would peep 



out, vicious, treacherous and unrestrained. Honesty, 



sobriety, gratitude, truth, fidelity, and humanity were 



impossible to him : it seemed as if even the germs 



were not there to cultivate, and the material with which 



to work did not exist. He had certain make-believe 



substitutes, which had in a sense been grafted on to his 



nature, and appeared to work, while there was no real 



use for them ; they made a show, until they were 



tested ; one took them for granted, as long as they 



were not disproved : it was a skin graft only, and there 



seemed to be no real ' union ' possible between them 



and the tough alien stock. He differed in character 



and nature from the Zulu as much as he did from the 



343 



