212 
STATURE OF BUSHMEN. 
19—21 May, 
there being so large a river in Africa : it contained, they said, more 
water than all the rivers of the Colony put together. To them this 
was the first stage of the journey ; and it was a circumstance not 
unimportant to me, that they felt pleasure at having, in our course 
hitherto, beheld and learnt many things which they thought inte- 
resting. The glory of shooting a ' sea-cow ' had long, in prospect, 
occupied their thoughts, and the moment, therefore, the baggage was 
unloaded, they ran down the steep bank of the river to discover if 
any were then within shot. As soon as they had taken supper, they 
posted themselves by the water-side, and remained on the watch 
during the greater part of the night ; but this eagerness was not 
repaid with success. The light of our fires, and the voices of so many 
people, had probably alarmed the animals and driven them, either 
higher up the stream, or, nearer the opposite bank. 
At this ford, the place of which is marked on the map by the 
words Ox-Ford, we found a Bushman kraal of ten huts, the inhabi- 
tants of which were of taller stature than the natives whom we had 
hitherto met with in the Cisgariepine. Or, to prevent any supposi- 
tion that these were tall men, which would be a notion quite false, as 
they are every where that small race which I have described, it ought 
rather to be said, that the Bushmen of the country between the Colony 
and the Gariep, are among the smallest of the Hottentot race. This 
difference of stature in those who inhabit the vicinity of the river, is 
probably to be attributed to a mixture of Kora blood : and the same 
difference has been observed in other places where the intermingling 
with other tribes may readily be supposed to have occasioned it : but 
the genuine Bushmen are all excessively small. 
'20th. At this ford the river is divided into two channels, by an 
island ; and before we attempted to pass with the whole party, we 
made some previous trials, and found the ford too deep to be prac- 
ticable without the aid of oxen ; and even then, the water flowed over 
their backs. As old Lucas and Cobus were supposed to be well 
acquainted with every part of the river hereabouts, we were guided 
by their opinion that this was the shallowest place ; and therefore pre- 
pared for crossing, by collecting together a quantity of dry wood for 
