23 KLOOF AND KARROO. 



clothing. These North African people, in defending 

 themselves, " stuck their poisoned arrows within 

 a fillet bound round the head, which, projecting like 

 so many rays, formed a kind of crown. The 

 Bosjesmans do exactly the same thing ; and they 

 place themselves in this manner for the double 

 purpose of expeditious shooting, and of striking 

 terror into the minds of their enemies." 



As I gazed then upon the little Bushwoman 

 squatting in the blazing sunshine at Jansenville, I 

 could not but regard her with some feelings of 

 curiosity and interest. There is one feature I 

 should mention in this somewhat long digression 

 concerning these little people ; they have the most 

 beautiful hands and feet, small and delicately 

 formed. As a set-off, their forms are often not 

 remarkable for beauty, and their spines are singu- 

 larly curved, giving them the outline of the letter S. 



Another curiosity we noticed at Jansenville. 

 This was the most primitive billiard-room I suppose 

 to be found in any corner of the earth. Just behind 

 the inn was a large conical Kaffir hut. Into the 

 top of this hut a skylight had been fitted, and a 

 small billiard-table was placed in the centre, under- 

 neath the light. How the table got there, and 

 whether the hut was built over it, and who were 

 the local Roberts's and Cook's that patronised it, 

 I know not. Perhaps the Bushman lady sometimes 

 took up a cue ! We had a knock-up for a few 

 minutes, but the table was not a perfect one, 

 and we soon quitted it. At Jansenville we had a 

 delicious bathe in the Sunday River, which runs by. 

 The river was very shallow, and did not admit of 

 a swim, but we lay flat in the swift current upon a 



