Chap. Till. LEAVE BAKWAIN COUNTRY. 159 



where. But, though they all possess a distinct knowledge of a 

 deity and of a future state, they show so little reverence, and feel 

 so little connexion with either, that it is not surprising that some 

 have supposed them entirely ignorant on the subject. At Lotla- 

 kani we met an old Bushman who at first seemed to have no 

 conception of morality whatever ; when his heart was warmed by 

 our presents of meat, he sat by the fire relating his early adven- 

 tures : among these was killing five other Bushmen. " Two," 

 said he, counting on his fingers, " were females, one a male, and 

 the other two calves." — "What a villain you are to boast of 

 killing women and children of your own nation ! what will God 

 say when you appear before him ?" — " He will say," replied he, 

 " that I was a very clever fellow." This man now appeared to 

 me as without any conscience, and, of course, responsibility, but, 

 on trying to enlighten him by further conversation, I discovered 

 that, though he was employing the word which is used among 

 the Bakwains when speaking of the Deity, he had only the idea 

 of a chief, and was all the while referring to Sekomi, while his 

 victims were a party of rebel Bushmen against whom he had 

 been sent. If I had known the name of God in the Bushman 

 tongue the mistake could scarcely have occurred. It must, however, 

 be recollected, while reflecting on the degradation of the natives 

 of South Africa, that the farther north, the more distinct do the 

 native ideas on religious subjects become, and I have not had any 

 intercourse with either Caffres or Bushmen in their own tongues. 

 Leaving Motlatsa on the 8th February, 1853, we passed 

 down the Mokoko, which, in the memory of persons now liviug, 

 was a flowing stream. We ourselves once saw a heavy thunder- 

 shower make it assume its ancient appearance of running to 

 the north. Between Lotlakani and Nchokotsa we passed the 

 small well named Orapa; and another called Thutsa lay a 

 little to our right — its water is salt and purgative ; the salt-pan 

 Chuantsa, having a cake of salt one inch and a half in thickness, 

 is about ten miles to the north-east of Orapa. This deposit 

 contains a bitter salt in addition, probably the nitrate of lime ; 

 the natives, in order to render it palatable and wholesome, mix 

 the salt with the juice of a gummy plant, then place it in the 

 sand and bake it by making a fire over it ; the linie then becomes 

 insoluble and tasteless. 



