
28 KIDD’S OWN JOURNAL. 
LIFE IN SOUTH AFRICA. 
IN AN INTERESTING book of ‘Travels 
in Tropical South Africa,” by Francis Gal- 
ton, there are some curious facts detailed 
of the habits and manners of the people, 
that deserve attention. We have made two 
random extracts. The first refers to the 
savage nature of uncivilised man, and ex- 
hibits a lamentable picture of the human 
heart in a state of wildness. The Damaras 
are the peopie spoken of, and here is a 
_ Specimen of— 
NEGRO CRUELTY. 
It is very difficult to find out how many 
people are killed or wounded on occasions like 
these. Hyenas soon devour the dead bodies, and 
those who survive scatter in all directions ; so that 
no clue remains towards the numbers missing. I 
saw two poor women: one with both legs cut off 
at her ankle joints, and the other with one. They 
had crawled the whole way on that eventful 
night, from Schmelen’s Hope to Barmen, some 
twenty miles. The Hottentots had cut them off 
after their usual habit, in order to cut off the solid 
iron anklets that they wear. These wretched 
creatures showed me how they had stopped the 
blood, by poking the wounded stumps into the 
sand. A European would certainly have bled to 
death under such circumstances. 
One of Jonker’s sons, a hopeful youth, came 
to a child that had been dropped on the ground, 
and who lay screaming there; and he leisurely 
gouged out its eyes with a small stick. I saw 
another horrible sight on the way, which has 
often haunted me since. We had taken a short 
cut, and were a day and a half from our wagons ; 
when I observed some smoke in front, and rode 
to see what it was. An immense blackthorn tree 
was smouldering, and from the quantity of ashes 
about, there was all the appearance of its having 
burnt for along time. Near it were tracks that 
we could make nothing of; no foot-marks, only 
an impression of a hand here and there. We 
followed them, and found a wretched woman, 
most horribly emaciated; both her feet were 
burnt quite off, and the wounds were open and 
unhealed. Her account was, that many days 
back she and others were encamping there ; and 
when she was asleep, a dry but standing tree, 
which they had set fire to, fell down, and entan- 
gled her among its branches. There she was 
burnt before she could extricate herself, and her 
people left her. She had since lived on gum 
alone, of which there were vast quantities about. 
It oozes down from the trees, and forms large 
cakes in the sand. There was water close by, 
for she was on the edge of ariver bed. I did not 
know what to do with her; I had no means of 
conveying her anywhere, or any place to convey 
her to. 
The Damaras invariably kill useless and worn- 
out people. Even some smother their sick fathers; 
and death was evidently not far from her. I had 
three sheep with me; so I off-packed, and killed 
one. She seemed ravenous; and though I pur- 
posely had off-packed some two hundred yards 
from her, yet the poor wretch kept crawling and 
dragging herself up to me, and would not be 

withheld, for fear I should forget to give her the 
food I promised. When it was ready, and she 
had devoured what I gave her, the meat acted 
as it often does in such cases, and fairly intoxi- 
cated her. She attempted to stand, regardless of 
the pain; and sang, and tossed her lean arms 
about. It was perfectly sickening to witness the 
spectacle. Idid the only thing I could; I cut 
the rest of the meat in strips, and hung it within 
her reach, and where the sun would jerk (¢. e. dry 
and preserve) it. It was many days’ provisions for 
her. I saw she had water, firewood, and gum in 
abundance ; and then J left her to her fate. 
It appears that dancing is a very favorite 
pastime here ; and our second extract affords 
a graphic description of— 
A NEGRO BALL. 
Every night Nangoro gives a ball, to which 
the élite of Ovampo-land have a free entrée. He 
kindly sent me an invitation by Tippoo—that one 
of his three courtiers, under whose protection we 
had been especially placed. As soon as night 
sets in, the guests throng together from all sides ; 
and as the country is full of palms, one member 
of each party generally picks up a dried broken- 
off branch, and lights it asa torch. It gives a 
brilliant flame, and the effect of the many lights 
on every side is particularly pretty. 
I went, about eight o’clock, down the sanded 
walk, between quickset hedgerows, that leads to 
Nangoro’s palisading. When we had entered it, 
we turned to the right into the dancing court, 
which was already filled with people who talked 
and flirted just as though they were in an 
English ballroom. There was one man with a 
feeble guitar or banjo in one corner, and a 
powerful performer on the tom-tom in front of 
him. The first dance was remarkable as a display 
of dexterity, though I hardly think of elegance ; 
it was undertaken by twelve or fourteen gentle- 
men—all the others looking on. The dancers 
were ranked in double’ files, and dos-a-dos ; they 
then ‘‘ passéed” from side to side with a tripping 
operatic step, but a wary and cautious eye. Kvery 
now and then one of the performers spun sud- 
denly round, and gave a most terrific kick at the 
stern of the gentleman whom he then found in 
front of him. 
This was the dance ; there was a great deal of 
dexterity shown both in delivering and avoiding 
the kick, which, when successfully planted, hit 
with the force of a donkey’s hoof. I observed 
that the three courtiers danced very well and 
very successfully ; indeed, I would not have found 
myself dos-a-dos with Tippoo for any considera- 
tion. The ladies applauded the dance most 
vociferously. After this came a promenade ; we 
were all jammed together into a compact mass, 
and then stepped round and round the court to 
the sound of the tom-tom, tapping the ground 
with our feet in regular time. 
Dance number three was for the Bushmen—a 
large kraal of whom lay close by Nangoro’s pali- 
sading ; they are his body-guard. This dance 
was entirely mimicry, either of animal steps, or 
any thing else they liked; and then a grand pro- 
menade closed the evening. J saw only thirty 
or forty of Nangoro’s wives there. I suppose 



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