36 TRAVELS IN 
is in the months of May and June ; and of harvest, from No- 
vember to January, The grain is trodden out by horses on 
circular floors in the open air ; and the straw is left to rot or 
to be scattered about by the winds. But of their economy 
and condition I shall have occasion to speak hereafter. 
We remained a couple of days in the Ilex-river valley in 
making preparations for crossing the desert, and in ^?aiting the 
arrival of two grazing farmers of GraafFReynct who were to 
meet us by appointment at this place. These people were not 
only likely to be useful in pointing out the places where water 
•was generally to be found, but they were also a considerable 
addition to our strength in case of an attack from a savage 
tribe of Hottentots known in the colony by the name of Bos- 
jesmans, or men of the thickets, because, lurking in the cover 
of the shrubbery, they are said to shoot their poisoned arrows 
against the unguarded traveller, for the sake of plundering him 
of his cattle. To oppose these Bosjesmans the farmers gene- 
rally cross the desert in parties, and strongly armed. The poor 
savage, driven by imperious want to carry off an ox or sheep 
to his starving family, who has no other abode than the ca- 
verns of the mountains, often pays in the attempt the forfeit 
of his life ; but it rarely happens that any of the colonists fall 
by his hands. Yet the name of Bosjesman is held in horror 
and detestation ; and a farmer thinks he cannot proclaim a 
more meritorious action than the murder of one of these 
people. Having asked a boor from Graaff Reynet a few daj^s 
before we left the town, if the savages were numerous or 
troublesome on the road, he told me he had only shot four of 
them, with as much composure and indifference as if he had 
2 
