226 LIFE OF DA VID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



" The cause of the difference observed in tribes inhabiting the same 

 localities, though it spoils the poetry of the thing, consists in certain spots 

 being the choice of the race or family. So when we see certain characters 

 assembled on particular spots, it may be more precise to sa\ &e see the 

 antecedent disposition manifested in the selection, rather than that the part 

 chosen produced a subsequent disposition. This may be evident when I say 

 that, in the case of the Bakalahari and Bushmen, we have instau^os of com- 

 pulsion and choice. The Bakalahari were the first body of Bechuana 

 emigrants who came into the country. They possessed large herds of very 

 long-horned cattle, the remains of which are now at Ngami. A second 

 migration of Bechuanas deprived them of their cattle and drove them into 

 the desert. They still cleave most tenaciously to the tastes of their race; 

 while, for the Bushman, the desert is his choice, and ever has been from near 

 the Coanza to the Cape. When we see a choice fallen on mountains, it means 

 only that the race meant to defend itself. Their progenitors recognised the 

 principle, acknowledged universally, except when Kaffre police or Hottentots 

 rebel, viz., that none deserve liberty except those who are willing to fight 

 for it. This principle gathers strength from locality, tradition develops it 

 more and more, yet still I think the principle was first, foremost, and 

 alone vital. 



" In reference to the origin of all these tribes, I feel fully convinced, from 

 the very great similarity in all their dialects, that they are essentially one race 

 of men : the structure, or we may say the skeletons, of the dialects of Kaffre, 

 Bechuana, Bayeiye, Barotse, Batoka, Batonga or people of the Zambesi, 

 Mashona, Babisa, the negroes of Londa, Angola, and people on the west coast 

 are all wonderfully alike. A great proportion of the roots is identical in all. 



" The Bushman tongue seems an exception, but this, from the little lean 

 collect of it, is more apparent than real. While all the others are developed 

 in one and nearly the same direction, this deviates into a series of remarkable 

 klicks. The syllable on which, in other dialects, the chief emphasis is put, in 

 this sometimes constitutes the whole word. But though the variations He in 

 klicks, the development is greater than in the other dialects. They have for 

 instance, the singular, plural, and dual numbers ; the masculine, feminine, and 

 neuter genders ; and the aorist tense ; which the others have not. 



" Tending in the same way as this indisposition to diseases which 

 decimate tribes which are passing away, is the fact that the Africans are 

 wonderfully prolific. The Bushmen are equally so, but the Bechuanas are an 

 exception which the introduction of Christianity may remove. As this has 

 not, it is reported, happened in the Pacific, the data on which our hopes are 

 founded may prove deceptive. 



" With respect to the perpetuity of the African race, we have stronger 

 hope than in the case of the South Sea Islanders, and other savage nations in 



