1812. JACKAL'S TAIL.— BULB-BAG. — LONGEVITY. 57 
Many carried constantly in their hand aJackaVs tail, which they 
frequently drew across their eyes, for the purpose, as I was told, of 
improving their sight, agreeably to their belief that it possesses a virtue 
of that kind : but I think the benefit which it does them, by wiping 
away the dust, is a sufficient reason for the practice. 
The reticule is with the Bushmen, as with us, a fashionable and 
useful appendage in their morning walks, and differs from ours only 
by its want of cleanliness and elegance, and in being called a bulb-bag 
{uyentje-zak). No Bushman goes abroad to collect roots, without a 
bag of this kind. But it is, in most instances, worn constantly, and 
is with them what pockets are with us. It is generally suspended 
at their side by a leathern strap passing over the opposite shoulder, 
and is more commonly ornamented with a great number of strings 
similar, though shorter, to those which form the fore-kaross, or front 
apron of the women. * 
I noticed many persons, both men and women, who had every 
appearance of great age. Their skin, which resembled old leather, 
hung about them in loose wrinkles ; and the dirt with which they 
were covered, together with their clotted hair, proved how disgusting 
human beings may render themselves by neglect of personal clean- 
liness. Whether they were really so old as I thought them to be, 
was a question which they themselves could not have determined, 
since a nation who only live from day to day, and look no farther 
forward than from one meal to the next, can have no inducement for 
burtliening their memory with accounts of years that have passed, 
or of days that are behind them. I have had occasion before "f to 
remark how early in life they begin to assume the looks of age j and 
this consideration renders it still more difficult to guess how old a 
Bushman may be. Yet it should not therefore be concluded that 
their lives are, on the average, shorter than the natural term, or that 
many examples of longevity may not exist among them. 
* A more particular description of the Hottentot dress, between which and that of 
the Bushmen there is scarcely any difference, has been given at page 395 to 398. of the 
first volume ; and may now be referred to. 
f At page 415. of the first volume. 
VOL. II. I 
