isn. 
A KORA CUSTOM. 
the waggon-maker had persuaded me to believe. Several parts were 
either decayed, or nearly worn out ; and the new fellies proved, by their 
shrinking so much more than the other wheels, that they had been 
made of timber not properly seasoned. We were therefore obliged 
to drive wedges of wood into the openings, and, as well as we were 
able, repair what was out of order ; and, to preserve the wheels and 
the carriage part, we covered them over with a double coat of 
boiled tar. 
9th. Having yesterday remained without meat, Philip went out at 
day-light this morning with his musket, to try his luck in the chace. 
At noon he returned for some one to assist him in fetching home a 
large Springbuck he had shot ; from which, at night, we made our 
breakfast ; but, it being an old animal, the meat bade defiance to all 
mastication ; and what the teeth were unable to accomplish, the di- 
gestion was obliged to perform. 
We had the misfortune to find the fourth part of our stock of 
rice quite unfit for use. It had become mouldy from having been 
wetted by the leaking of the keg of wine. 
lOth. When a Ko7'a dies without children, it is the custom for 
his brother to take whatever property he may have left behind liim ; 
while the widow is entitled only to that share of it, which has been 
gained by her own labor and management. A case of this nature 
occurred not long before my arrival ; in which a Bushwoman, wife of 
a Koj'Qna, had, by collecting a quantity of certain roots or leaves 
used for chewing as a substitute for tobacco, acquired about a dozen 
sheep ; which, on the death of her husband, were unjustly taken pos- 
session of by his brother. The woman, remonstrating in vain, and 
unable to obtain justice, was at this time collecting together her 
Bushman friends ; who, exasperated at the unfair treatment she had 
received, were resolved to seek justice with the aid of the bow and 
the hassagay. The Koi'a was taking exactly the same steps to 
defend himself, and to retain what he had unlawfully seized. For, 
among them, as among civilized and polished nations, he who is hi 
the wrong will always find some false argument to prove that he is 
in the right. The mode in which this ' trial by battle' was to be de- 
