1812. 
A CHILD NEARLY STARVED TO DEATH. 
473 
pained me to the heart, and I stood for some minutes shocked at 
the view of its emaciated and more than half-starved figure. Those 
who have seen a human skeleton of that age, may obtain an idea of 
this child's form, not greatly exaggerated, by imagining the bones 
of the body and limbs, to be wrapped round with a wet cloth. 
Those rounded shapes which are given to the human figure by flesh 
only, had dwindled quite away. The legs and arms were merely 
straight sticks ; the calf was entirely gone ; the Jibula and idna were 
plainly distinguishable ; and the knees and elbows were comparatively 
large knots. The abdomen was contracted in an extraordinary 
degree ; and behind, scarcely any flesh concealed the shape of the 
bones termed os sacrum, and os ilium. The collar-bones seemed to 
project unnaturally ; and the blade-bones, the spine and the ribs, 
were in appearance covered only with skin. In short, this miserable 
little boy, who from his age could not have been capable of harm, or 
guilty of offence, was on the point of being starved to death. 
A Bachapin who was sitting in the hut, seeing me look so 
attentively and compassionately on this object, told me that it was 
a Bushman s child, and belonged to him ; that in an attack upon a 
Bushman kraal, he had siezed him, and carried him off as ?i prisoner 
of war ; that he was therefore his by right ; and that, if I wished to 
buy him, I should have him for a sheep ! ! 
This is Man, without morality or religion ! This is the selfish 
savage, without feeling ! This man, because the unfortunate child 
was not his own, did not think him worth feeding, although he 
would gladly have sold him, for food to gratify his own gluttonous 
appetite, and to have enabled him and his family, for about two 
days, to feast without ceasing. Alas ! Man who vaunts himself the 
noblest work of the creation ; how closely does he approach to Brute, 
when reason lies dormant, or when the passions usurp its place ! 
The power of speech forms but a weakly distinctive character, for 
him whose intellect is never exerted. The boasted human form will 
hardly raise him in rank above some quadrupeds, when it serves no 
better purpose than that only of ministering to animal appetite. 
Other instances of want of feeling, are to be found in this 
VOL. II. 3 P 
