178 
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 
separated from them only by a range of moun- 
tains, or the bed of a river, cannot understand. 
All their articulations, however, abound in 
" clicks," and assimilate nearest to that of the 
Hottentot tribes. This similarity is at least 
sufficiently apparent, to enable iis to class these 
people as being of common origin with the Hot- 
tentot nation. Some of their dialects are under- 
stood by the Hottentots ; whilst others, again, 
are not. But, with regard to this, much depends 
upon the localities of the respective tribes. 
Thus, a Korunna may be able to converse with 
a Bushman, living in his immediate neighbour- 
hood, though he might find it difficult, or even 
impossible, to converse with another, dwelling 
further into the interior of Africa. Their dialects 
are, however, perversions of those of the Hot- 
tentot ; whilst, in addition to the clicks and gut- 
teral enunciation of that language, the Bushmen, 
when they speak, make a still more unpleasant 
sound, of croaking in the throat. It seems, in- 
deed, more than probable, that no single dialect, 
in use amongst them, is spoken or understood 
in common by more than fifty or a lyimclred 
families ; a circumstance which, in itself, would 
be sufficient greatly to retard their general im- 
provement, but more especially so, when com- 
bined, as it is, with a restless disposition and 
roving and predatory habits. 
