Statement of Silayi. 
437 
the choice parts of each, and went on From there we travelled to 
Kowe (Slang Kiver), and slaughtered two more oxen — fat, fat as 
they could be. 
It is a custom of the Bush people, when any expedition like that I am 
describing is away, for the women and children, in searching for roots and 
anything they require, always to take the direction in which the men have 
gone, and they will travel a long way in this manner. As we returned 
this day with the cattle we were met by the women and children, and 
there was great joy over our success. That time the rain helped us, 
and no spoor of the cattle was ever traced. 
We moved down the Gubenxa, and were attacked there by some 
Tembus. We then went to the Drakensberg again, near Hlankomo. 
After that seven of us, under the leadership of Ngqika, went again to the 
Waschbank and stole eighteen head of cattle, among them a big red and 
white ox. This time the Boers followed the spoor. They came up to us 
at the head of Maxongo's Hoek. We drove the cattle into an almost 
inaccessible place, and hid in some caves. They attacked us in them. 
Three of us were wounded with shot. We fought with bows and arrows ; 
we shot a white horse belonging to them and killed it. Night came on, 
and they left us. We found the cattle where we had put them, and drove 
on in the dark. The next morning, from a neighbouring mountain, we 
saw the Boers following the track again, and we moved on further into 
the mountains and got away. 
We had many expeditions of the kind I have described. Some of 
them we used to make into the Colony, right away to the inland districts. 
The Boers inland were not so sharp after us as those on the border. We 
lived on sheep and other stock as we went along, taking them one at 
a time, often in broad daylight while the herds were with the flocks, and 
got away unobserved. A Bushman with a skin over his shoulders would 
start down a donga, perhaps, and wait until the flock crossed it. He 
would then catch one and get away quietly ; our movements were always 
careful. Every man we saw not of our tribe was considered and treated 
as an enemy. We hunted the eland, buffalo, hartebeest, and other game, 
and lived on it as well as on stolen cattle and horses. 
The Bushmen were friendly with the neighbouring tribes, although 
they often stole stock from them. Sometimes a party would visit a 
Kafir kraal, and while some of the party asked for milk and so on, the 
young men would follow up from the mountain and get away with a 
fat ox or cow from the herd. We would afterwards pretend to assist 
in the search, and so throw them off the scent. 
Q. What customs did they observe regarding marriage ? 
A. They "lobala" (pay dowry). A young man must present the 
father of the girl with the breast and heart of an eland before he can 
