NAMAQUA BUSHMEN. 
169 
them to perish by slow torture, sometimes mere- 
ly giving them the shell of an ostrich's egg 
filled with water, and a small piece of meat to 
support life, and sometimes nothing at all. 
To the other coloured races around them, they 
seem to bear a more deadly hatred than to the 
white man; for if, perchance, an isolated and un- 
protected Hottentot or Fingoe should fall into 
their hands, they subject them to the most cruel 
torture, putting them to a slow and lingering 
death, in the most excruciating manner. Mr. 
Shaw in his "Memorials of Southern Africa," 
gives the instance of a Hottentot, who had the 
misfortune to fall into the ruthless clutches of a 
party of these wild people. " They placed him 
up to the neck in a trench, and then wedged 
him in, on all sides, with earth and stones, so 
that he was incapable of moving. In this di- 
lemma he remained all night, and the greater 
part of the next day ; when, happily for him, 
some of his companions, passing that way, ef- 
fected his release. The poor fellow stated that 
he had been under the necessity of keeping his 
eyes and mouth in constant motion during the 
whole day, to prevent the birds of prey from 
devouring him." 
As may be inferred from the general des- 
cription of their habits, agriculture or cattle 
breeding are wholly unknown to them. The 
