24 BUSHMAN PIPE. — HARDSHIPS OF SAVAGE LIFE. 1, 2 March, 
Only one of the Bushmen had kept up with us ; all the rest 
having parted company during the rain. As soon as we halted, his 
chief care was to make a call to his companions, to inform them 
where we were ; and for this purpose he continued for some time at 
intervals to blow his pipe. This was nothing more than the tibia, or 
shin-bone, of one of the smaller antelopes, into which he blew at one 
end, in the manner of a * Pan's reed.' It produced an exceedingly 
sharp and shrill sound, which might easily, in so open a plain, have 
been heard at a great distance. To this noise we added a shout from 
our whole party at once. 
But these signals were not answered, nor did any of the Bush- 
men join us that night ; having either missed our track in the rain, 
or preferred remaining under shelter during the heavy showers. As 
two of the women were loaded, each with an infant at her back, I 
could not but feel compassion for them, exposed all night, perhaps 
without shelter, food, or fire. I was, however, wrong in measuring 
their sufferings by the standard of European hardships : they are 
accustomed, from their birth, to such a mode of life, and have been 
gradually inured to all the inclemencies of the weather. They feel, 
possibly, much less of these hardships than we may suppose ; because 
they are never made sensible of them by the contrast of luxuries en- 
joyed at other times. But to a European, the case is widely different ; 
and some powerful feelings of the mind are required for supporting 
the body through all the inconveniences and privations of savage life. 
The rain had ceased ; but lightning at a distance in every quarter, 
made us to look around for materials to form some shelter from the 
gathering storm ; but nothing could be found suitable to this purpose, 
and the threethorns, being scantily furnished with leaves, were not 
better than dead sticks. Our cattle supped sufficient water from the 
puddles, but we ourselves remained without any till the morning. 
Philip and Nieuwveld were sent to explore a narrow beaten 
track which had been made by the wild animals. From the long- 
trodden appearance of this path, we knew that it would conduct us 
ultimately to water, but in the dusk of the evening, they were unable 
