422 SYMMETRY OF FIGURE, AND BUSHMAN LIBERTY. 2 Nov. 
man whom Speelman had sent to conduct us; judging, from the 
clapping of our whip, that we had lost our way. The distance 
at which he had heard us, could not have been less than two miles : 
a proof of the sharp and powerful sound which such a whip is 
capable of producing. Innumerable proofs of this kind, and among 
them some which would be thought almost incredible by those who 
have never heard a Cape whip, were given during my travels. The 
openness of the country is indeed favorable to the wide extension of 
the sonorific undulations of the air ; and, besides this, the river, in 
the present instance, operated as a conductor, notwithstanding the 
thick woods by which its banks were covered. 
As we rode onwards, I could not cease admiring the beautiful 
symmetrical form of our Bushman guide, who walked, and sometimes 
ran, before us, with a gait the most easy and free that I had ever beheld. 
All the limbs, unshackled by clothing, moved with a grace never 
perhaps seen in Europe. The contemplation of his well-propor- 
tioned, although small and delicate figure ; his upright, manly port ; 
his firm and bold step ; and the consciousness of liberty, which 
beamed in his countenance ; afforded an indescribable pleasure : and 
I envied the Bushmen the uncontrouled freedom of their lives, till 
a thought of the superior mental advantages of civilized society, arose 
and rendered less irksome the idea of constraint which the formality 
of laws and a regular government seem, at first sight, to create. Un- 
fortunate, that civilization and this species of liberty, cannot, hand in 
hand, journey through the nations of the world, to make mankind 
more happy in proportion as they acquire the arts and improvements 
of social life. But the Wisdom of Providence scatters its blessings 
over the globe, with, perhaps, an even hand ; yet, if not, that secret 
influence of Nature, which teaches every nation to view their native 
soil and customs as superior to all around them, perfectly regu- 
lates the balance of worldly enjoyments. 
After a journey of twenty miles, we arrived at the place where 
Speelman and Willem Berends were stationed. The Hippopotamus 
was already cut up, and the surrounding bushes were now covered 
with the meat. In the waggon a vat had been formed with a large 
