THE MUQUICES. 895 



loins, and are a quiet and inoffensive tribe. They are said to be gradually- 

 dying out. 



A still more curious tribe are the Muquices, of whom only a few remain. 

 They are found near the sea, between Mossamedes and Carumjamba. They 

 do not keep sheep or cattle, or any live-stock whatever, and never cultivate 

 the ground or build huts to live in. Their food is principally fish, which 

 they catch with hook and line, and shell-fish, particularly mussels, which 

 are very abundant and fine on the rocks, and oysters. They cook their food 

 by roasting it at a fire, and at night they each make a small half circle of 

 stones about a foot high, against which they curl up like dogs as a shelter 

 from the wind, very often on the bare tops of the cliffs overhanging the sea. 

 They also take advantage of the ledges of rock and open caves or holes to 

 sleep in; but they are always on the move, never remaining more than a few 

 days at each place. 



"I often saw these encampments, "says Monteiro, "with the usual ac- 

 companiments of heaps of mussel-shells and ashes, the remains of their food 

 and fires on the cliffs. I once saw a party of eight of these Muquices at Point 

 Giraul, the northern end of Mossamedes Bay, where I had gone with some 

 friends for a day's pic-nic of fish, oysters, and mussels off the rocks. This 

 was the largest number I had ever seen together. They were living in a 

 large hole in the soft rock, and were very pleased to have a talk, and get a 

 drink and a few small presents. They are rather light-coloured, with very de- 

 cided obliquely-set eyes, which gives them a singular expression — a Chinese ex- 

 pression of face. They are slow and gentle in their manner, and are said 

 to be what their appearance indicates, very quiet and inoffensive. The 

 Portuguese often employ them as letter-carriers up and down that part of the 

 coast. Their constantly roving habits do not allow them to have old or infirm 

 people. When these cannot walk or keep up with the rest, they are killed by 

 being knocked on the head from behind with a stick. The eldest son, or 

 nearest male relative, does the deed, and the victim is not apprised beforehand 

 of his fate." 



That most singular plant, the Welwitschia mirabilis, grows about Mossa- 

 medes. Monteiro sent some specimens to the Kew Museum, and Dr. Hooker 

 thus describes the plant: — " The Welwitschia is a woody plant, said to attain 

 a century in duration, with an obconic trunk, about two feet long, of which 

 a few inches rise above the soil, presenting the appearance of a flat, two-lobed, 

 depressed mass, sometimes (according to Dr. Welwitsch) attaining fourteen 

 feet in circumference, and looking like a round table. When full grown it is 

 dark-brown, hard, and cracked over the whole surface, much like the burnt 

 crust of a loaf of bread ; the lower portion forms a stout top-root, buried in 

 the soil, and branching downwards at the end. From deep grooves in the 

 circumference of the depressed mass two enormous leaves are given off, each 



