170 
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 
patience required to wait for the product of 
their labour, or the tardy paces of cattle, oblig- 
ing them, of necessity, to remain longer in one 
locality than they would desire, or even deem 
safe, prejudices them against either. 
They live by hunting and thieving, and, in 
the failure of these, on the larva of ants and 
grasshoppers, ostrich's eggs, locusts, roots, or 
indeed, almost anything ; for no kind of food, 
from the largest quadruped of the plain to the 
most disgusting reptile that crawls through the 
rocks, is disregarded by the cravings of a 
Bushman's hunger. And, in the sorest extre- 
mities of famine, when even these objects fail, 
"the girdle of famine," a belt of hide, drawn 
closely around the person, still enables them to 
cling to life, without experiencing the more 
acute agonies of gnawing hunger and privation. 
Mr. Thompson, of Cape Town, described to 
the author the use of this most necessary gar- 
ment, as he had seen it amongst these people, 
during his travels in the interior of Africa, 
in the year 1827. He spoke feelingly of the 
conclusive answers in the negative, the poor 
Bushmen gave to his enquiries after game, 
viz, " by exposing their persons and pointing 
to this strap pulled tightly round their emaci- 
ated bodies." 
Neither will it be thought so repugnant to our 
