36 THE BAKALAHARI. Chap. II 



The Bakalahari are supposed to be the oldest of the Be- 

 chuana tribes, and are said to have possessed enormous herds 

 of the large horned cattle mentioned by Bruce, until they 

 were driven into the Desert by a fresh migration of their 

 own nation. Living for centuries on the same plains with 

 the Bushmen, subjected to the same influences of climate, 

 enduring the same thirst, and subsisting on similar food, they 

 seem to supply a proof that locality is not always sufficient 

 to account for difference in races. The Bakalahari retain in 

 undying vigour the Bechuana love for agriculture and domestic 

 animals. They hoe their gardens annually, though often all 

 they can hope for is a supply of melons and pumpkins. They 

 carefully rear small herds of goats, and I have seen them lift 

 water for them out of small wells with a bit of ostrich egg- 

 shell. They generally attach themselves to influential men 

 in the different Bechuana tribes, adjacent to their desert 

 home, in order to obtain supplies of spears, knives, tobacco, 

 and dogs, in exchange for the skins of the animals they may 

 kill. These include two species of jackal, the dark and the 

 golden ; the former, " motlose " (Megalotis capensis or Capjefennec), 

 has the warmest fur the country yields ; the latter, " pukuye '' 

 (Canis mesomdas and C. aureus), is very handsome when made 

 into the mantle called kaross. Next in value follow the " tsipa " 

 or small ocelot (Felis nigripes), the " tuane " or lynx, the wild 

 cat, the spotted cat, and others. They procure in addition 

 great numbers of puti (duiker) and puruhuru (steinbuck) skins, 

 besides those of lions, leopards, panthers, and hyaenas. 

 During the time I was in the Bechuana country between 

 twenty and thirty thousand skins were made up into karosses. 

 Tart of them were worn by the inhabitants, and part sold to 

 traders : many, I believe, find their way to China. The 

 Bakwains bought tobacco from the eastern tribes, purchased 

 skins with it from the Bakalahari, tanned them, and sewed 

 them into karosses. When made up they carried them south 

 and purchased heifer-calves with them, cows being the 

 highest form of riches known. I have often been asked "it 

 Queen Victoria had many cows." Injustice is often per- 

 petrated by one tribe of Bechuanas compelling the Bakalahari 

 of another tribe to deliver up skins which they may be keep- 

 ing for their friends. They are a timid race, and in bodily 

 levelopment often resemble ihe aborigines of Australia. 



