NAMAQUA BUSHMEN. 
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specting children also prevails amongst them. 
When a mother dies, whose infant is too young 
to supply its own wants, it is, without any 
ceremony, buried alive with the corpse of its 
mother. " 
Eespecting their domestic habits, if indeed 
they can be said to have any, little is known, ex- 
cept from Missionaries who have been amongst 
them. Polygamy is universal, while conjugal 
affection seems totally unknown. They appear 
to care little for their children, seldom correct- 
ing them for offences, and when they do so, it 
is merely in a fit of passion, when they near- 
ly kill them. The children appear to be the 
scape-goats on which are visited their parents' 
offences; for when a father deserts the mother, 
or in the case of a quarrel between father and 
mother, or the several wives of a husband, the 
deserted and defeated party always wreak their 
vengeance by murdering their opponent's child. 
" There are even instances," says Mr. Kicherer, 
a most zealous Missionary, who lived for some 
time amongst them, "of parents throwing their 
tender offspring to the hungry lion, who stood 
roaring before their cavern, refusing to depart 
till some peace-offering be made to him." " In 
general," he adds, " their children cease to be 
the objects of a mother's care, as soon as they 
are able to crawl about in the field. In some 
