THE KORAH VILLAGE. 
THE BOSJESMEN HOTTENTOTS. 
THE GNOO. 
N" l. 
N° 2. 
N° 3. 
The village that-appears in this view is on the Gareep or Orange River, and inhabited 
by Hottentots of a tribe denominated Korahs, settled on the south bank of that river, 
and who are, perhaps, the best featured of all the different nations or hordes of this 
extraordinary race of human beings. Their huts are composed of rush mattings 
spread over bended sticks ; they are of an hemispherical form, about six feet high, 
and eighteen in diameter, with an aperture on the side for an entrance. The trees 
on each side of the river, in the vicinity of this village, are tall and spreading: 
among which a species of Mimosa was the most abundant. Their manner of swim- 
ming across the river with their sheep and goats, as introduced in this plate, ap- 
peared somewhat singular. A man lays himself on the trunk or branch of a large 
tree, about six or seven feet in length, into which at a few inches distance from 
one of its extremities, a pin is fixed, which the swimmer holds perpendicularly with 
one hand, while the other is employed in keeping the head of the animal he carries 
with him above water. By directing the point of the log obliquely against the cur- 
rent, and at the same time striking with his feet, he, in some degree, prevents his 
float from drifting with the stream. This place was the first from the boundary of 
the Cape Colony that presented the traces of human habitation, - a journey of up- 
wards of thirty days from Cape Town ; and it was the more interesting, from the 
circumstance of meeting with some members of the Christian mission, who had here 
commenced their generous labours. They had been lately deputed from that 
respectable body the Missionary Society in Europe ; a society which, though chiefly 
English, includes the pious and benevolent of different countries, and whose exer- 
tions to promulgate the truths of the Gospel in the South of Africa, already promise, 
by the zealous endeavours of Mr. Keikerer, and Dr. Van Der Kemp, to be rewarded 
with extraordinary success. 
The Bosjesmen or Bushmen Hottentots may be justly classed among the lowest and 
most miserable of human beings. They neither till the ground nor breed cattle, but 
live from day to day on the precarious spoils of the chace, the stolen cattle of the 
colonists, or on lizards, snakes, white ants, wild honey, caterpillars, and locusts; 
and when all these fail them, they have recourse to the roots of vegetables : yet 
some of them attain a great age, and, what is very remarkable, they seldom lose 
any of their teeth, though they are worn down by use and age to mere stumps. 
Numbers of these people were observed to be blind of an eye, which was said to be 
chiefly owing to sparks flying from fires when they were children. Many of them 
also had the first joint of the little finger wanting, which had purposely been taken 
off when young, either as a charm against misfortune, or a preventive against dis- 
ease. So little notion have they of the value of property, that whenever they are 
so successful as to carry off a whole herd of cattle from the colonists, they kill them 
all at once, and without quitting the place of slaughter, feast together, till the whole 
is either consumed or turned into a mass of putrefaction. They then set out, equip- 
ped like the two figures here represented, in quest of some new prey, carrying with 
them their whole property, which consists of a bow and quiver of arrows, some of 
which, probably for convenience, they wear fantastically stuck round their heads. 
Their stature is very diminutive, seldom exceeding four feet and a half, and the 
women still shorter. 
Naturalists having observed that the greater part, though not all, of the Ante- 
lope tribe, had a gland under the interior angle of the eye, which they call the sub- 
ocular sinus, agreed to consider it as a characteristic of the genus ; and the animal, 
of which the annexed is an accurate representation, being found to possess such 
gland, has accordingly been classed among the Antelopes. A common observer 
would consider it rather as belonging to the Bovine tribe. In fact it seems to be of 
a mixed nature, made up of the bull, the horse, and the antelope. The Gnoo is 
the Hottentot name. Of all the animals that scour the plains of southern Africa the 
Gnoo is the swiftest, and from its fierce and restless disposition, the Dutch colonists 
have given it the name of Wildebeest. In order to convey some idea of its extra- 
ordinary celerity, it may be noticed, that the .individual, from which the annexed 
drawing was made, had one of its fore legs completely broken above the knee joint 
by a musket ball, yet, although pursued on horseback in full speed, it was a con- 
siderable time before it could be overtaken, in which situation he turned, and be- 
came so furious, as to be dangerous to come near him. When a herd is disturbed, 
they invariably begin to sport and bound, and butt each other for some time before 
they gallop off. Their action on such occasions is so free, various, and elegant, 
that all the other wild animals, even the leaping Spring-Bok, may be called clumsy 
and awkward, when compared with the Gnoo. The usual height of this animal is 
three feet eight inches, and its length five feet eight inches. They are commonly 
seen in herds from fifty to an hundred, though not unfrequently found feeding with 
Hartebeests, Ostriches, Quachas, and Elands. They are seldom shot by the Colo- 
nists on account of their swiftness ; but the native Hottentots, with great patience 
and perseverance, creep among the low bushes till they get near enough to wound 
them with their poisoned arrows. 
A more particular description of this extraordinary creature may be found in 
Barrow's Travels in Southern Africa. 
