TRUTTER AND SOMERVILLE, 216 



an effect very strikingly the reverse. In their condition, 

 too, they are, of all rational beings, perhaps the most for- 

 lorn and v^rretched. Their only mode of obtaining food is by 

 scrambling over the rocks after wild animals, digging the 

 earth for some unsavoury roots, devouring the larvae of 

 ants and locusts, and, finally, in wild foray, carrying off 

 the cattle from the adjoining plains. Yet the habits arising 

 from this precarious subsistence create a degree of energy 

 which does not arise when man slumbers in the lap of ease 

 and abundance. Hence, this people indulge even in an ex- 

 travagant gayety, which fonus a striking contrast to the 

 gloomy dejection of the enslaved Hottentots. On moon- 

 light nights they dance without intermission from sunset 

 till dawn ; and, on the prospect of fine weather, sometimes 

 continue this exercise for several days and nights. Their 

 little arrows, tipped with poison, are shot with surprising dex- 

 terity ; and the warriors bound from rock to rock with an 

 agility which baffles all European pu'ihuit. They endure long 

 fasts, which render their bodies usually very lank and meager ; 

 but when they make a capture of cattle or sheep, they 

 devour the flesh in a disgusting manner, and in the most 

 amazing quantities. Mr. Barrow having given to three of 

 Ihem a sheep about five in the evening, saw it entirely con- 

 sumed by twelve next day, when their formerly lank, lean 

 bellies were distended to an extraordinary size. The pic- 

 tures of animals, drawn on the rocks with no inconsiderable 

 spirit and correctness, showed at least the rudiments of art 

 and talent. 



The knowledge of Europeans respecting the Cape terri- 

 tory had hitherto been confined by the Karroo Desert, and 

 the formidable range of the Sneuwberg beyond it. In 

 1801, a scarcity of cattle being felt, Messrs. Trutter and 

 Somerville undertook an expedition, with the view of ob- 

 taining a supply in some of the more remote* districts. 

 Having passed the Snow mountain and the country of the 

 Bosjesmans, they came to the Orange river, a broad stream 

 flowing westward to the Atlantic, and on the banks of which 

 were the Koras or Koranas, a pastoral people with numerous 

 herds. The information here received induced them to 

 proceed into the country of the Boshuanas, which continued 

 to improve as they advanced, till, to their utter surprise, in 

 the midst of these savage wildernesses of &outhem Afirioa, 



