206 
BOOTCHUANA 
Old Cornelius Kok told me that he has known 
many of the Bootchuanas who wore a ferret, or 
some animal resembling it, about their bodies, 
because as a creature that is very retentive of 
life, it would keep them from being easily killed. 
When a woman has twins, one of the children 
is put to death. Should a cow have two calves, 
one of them is either killed or driven away. 
The first morning after the harvest is finished, 
the cows are allowed to leave the kraal without 
being milked, but they are milked at noon. On 
the same morning they fasten many stalks of 
corn in the hedges, which surround their houses, 
for their cattle to eat, to prevent their being 
made sick by eating the straw left in the fields. 
When cattle die by disease, the proprietors 
must stick up a reed on the fence at the door. 
If any of the family are sick, a similar signal is 
placed on the outside, intimating that none must 
enter, unless invited. 
This year a woman, pretending to great wisdom 
and foresight, told the inhabitants of Lattakoo 
that there was no occasion to sow corn near the 
river, nor in damp ground, for there would be a 
good harvest from seed sown on the more elevated 
parts. They immediately rewarded her for the 
