n LIFE OF D4 VID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



Animals of various kinds abound in seasons of plenty, and are at all times 

 to be met with in considerable numbers. The elephant, the rhinoceros, the 

 giraffe, the eland, the gnu and many other varieties of antelopes, associate 

 together in herds, and are preyed upon by lions, hyaenas, jackals, and leo- 

 pards. Smaller varieties of felines, snakes, poisonous and non-poisonous, are 

 plentiful, and feed on the various rodents which are numerous in all dry dis- 

 tricts in Central Africa. Ants and several varieties of ant-eaters abound. A 

 large caterpillar, which feeds during the night on the leaves of a kind of 

 acacia-tree called mivato, and buries itself in the sand during the day, is dug 

 for by the natives, and roasted and eaten. But for the want of water the 

 passage of this vast tract of country would be comparatively easy, but as days 

 frequently passed without so much as a single drop being found, the priva- 

 tions of Livingstone and his companions, and the oxen which drew their 

 waggons, were severe in the extreme. No white man had ever succeeded in 

 crossing it before, but the resolute men who now attempted it were not to be 

 daunted by difficulty. 



Tribes of Bushmen, whom Livingstone imagines to be the aborigines of 

 South Africa, inhabit the desert, and a tribe of Bechuanas, called Bakalahari, 

 who had been driven into the desert by the more powerful tribes of their own 

 nation, he also found settled there enjoying that liberty which was denied 

 them in more salubrious regions. The Bushmen are nomadic in their habits, 

 never cultivating the soil but following the herds of game from place to place. 

 Their only domestic animal is a breed of native dogs which assist them in 

 hunting, and which have sadly deteriorated in consequence of the privations 

 to which they along with their masters are exposed. 



The Bakalahari cultivate the scanty and inhospitable soil, and grow 

 melons and other tuberous plants, and breed goats and other domestic 

 animals. They settle at a distance from water, which diminishes the chance 

 of visits from unfriendly Bechuanas. The water is carried by their women 

 from a distant well or spring, and is stored up in the shells of the eggs of the 

 ostrich and buried in the earth. The Bakalahari and the Bushmen hunt the vari- 

 ous wild animals for their skins, which they exchange with the tribes to the east- 

 ward for tobacco and other luxuries, spears, knives, dogs, etc; receiving in most 

 cases a very inadequate price for them. Some idea of the extent of the busi- 

 ness done, and the abundance of animals in the desert, may be formed from 

 the fact that twenty thousand skins were purchased by the Bechuanas during 

 Livingstone's stay in their country, and these were principally those of the 

 felinse, (lions, leopards, tiger-cats, &c.) The Bakalahari are mild and gentle 

 in their habits, and are frequently tyrannized over by the powerful tribes of 

 the Bechuanas with whom they deal. The Bushmen, although inferior to 

 them in every way, are treated with more respect, their ready use of the bow 

 and the poisoned arrow securing them from pillage and annoyance. 



