Notes on the Bushmen of Basutoland. 443 



Tlie men and women ate separately, a custom common amongst 

 Bantu tribes, which persists long after the latter have become to 

 some extent civilised. The game was killed by the men, but in 

 times of scarcity various kinds of edible roots and tubers were col- 

 lected, as well as the seeds of certain grasses. These were pounded 

 up with stones. The roots were dug up with a digging stick called 

 the Qibi, a straight, tough piece of wood about three feet long, 

 pointed at the end. It was inserted in a circular stone and wedged 

 tight. The labour taken to round and bore these stones with no 

 tools but their hands must have been immense. 



The flesh of animals was preserved in the following manner. 

 They cut off the fat, boiled it, and placed it in a skin. Then they 

 took the lean portions, pounded them up with stones into fine 

 powder, w^hich they spread out to dry. When thoroughly dried they 

 preserved it in a skin. In this way they could keep it for a long 

 time. When they wanted to eat it, they mixed the fat and powder 

 together and boiled it. Of course this method of preserving meat 

 prevailed mostly after they had been driven away from their ancestral 

 hunting grounds into the mountainous portions of the country, 

 where game was scarce and hunting attended with considerable risk 

 of attack. When the Bushman had plenty to eat, and when there 

 was abundance of game to be killed, he was not troubled with much 

 thought about making provision for the future. He spent his time, 

 together with his neighbours, feasting and making merry, and only 

 bestirred himself when the pangs of hunger were too great to be 

 resisted any longer. 



Another method of cooking meat was to make a hole in the 

 ground, line it w4th stones, light a fire, take out the ashes, and 

 then put in the meat. The hole was then covered with a large 

 flat stone. After some hours the meat was taken out perfectly 

 cooked. They made their own clay pots, but what pottery they 

 made was coarse and brittle, being only limited to the barest 

 necessaries. 



The Bushman religion was a sort of nature worship. The prin- 

 cipal power was Qeng, the exact meaning of which cannot be deter- 

 mined, but it seems to have been no more than the storm spirit. In 

 common with many Bantu tribes, the Bushman was in the habit of 

 cursing the demon of the thunderstorm when it lasted too long to be 

 pleasant. If it rained too long he was very angry, as it prevented 

 him hunting, but if after a long drought a thunderstorm of great 

 intensity came up suddenly, as it very often does in this country, he 

 was particularly pleased, as it meant new grass, and grass meant 

 game and times of plenty. I have never heard that the Bushmen 



