114 Transactions of the Boyal Society of So2Uh Africa. 
the curls 2 or 3 inches in length, and fastening to them with their 
own hair little bits of stone and bone shaped according to their own fancy. 
They shape these stones and bones by rubbing them on another stone. 
The women are very fond of painting their faces with a certain kind of 
stone which they find in certain localities — no doubt hematite ; they 
powder this on a flat stone by means of a round pounder or pestle about 
3 inches in diameter. Another paint — a most favourite one with the 
Bushmen — is derived from a species of mushroom which grows in the 
shade under trees and bushes in Fraserburg and Calvinia districts, and 
called by them " Ajous " ; it contains a fine red powder which they mix 
with the fat of an animal. Preferably ostrich fat is used by them for 
painting on rocks with this ajous powder, as this special fat is said to 
cause the paint to become lasting and hard, imparting with age a dark 
brownish colour similar to enamel. 
The men use only bows and arrows (2). The string of the bow is made 
out of the sinews of some animal ; the favourite stick for the bow is of 
a certain thickness and is taken from the Karree-tree (Bhus sp.). They 
thin the ends of the stick with a flint stone which is used instead of a 
knife ; these flints are also used when slaughtering an animal and cutting 
up the flesh. The bows are also used as musical instruments ; the Bush- 
men sit on the ground with crossed legs, put the one end of the bow 
against the right shoulder, and the other between their feet, and then 
strike the end of the bow with their forefingers. Their musical faculty 
consists in imitating most cleverly the sounds made by running animals, 
as animals are foremost in their thoughts and nature ; they imitate the 
galloping, trotting, and cantering of a horse so perfectly that one imagines 
he hears the animal. They imitate the sounds made by the feet of the 
hare when running, preferably to all other sounds. They go out for long 
distances hunting for game, carrying their store of water in the cleaned 
stomach of a springbuck. When they go out for this purpose they 
generally go in parties. If their hunt is successful, they send mes- 
sengers back to the waiting families ordering them to proceed to the 
hunting-ground ; the trek is an easy matter, for the Bushmen possess 
no domestic animals, and they build no permanent huts. They live and 
feed on the meat as long as it lasts. When they have plenty of food they 
sleep during the day and dance through the night. 
The following incident will illustrate some of their cunning, wanton 
cruelty, and wastefulness. In the district of Calvinia some Bushmen 
watched a herd of springbuck numbering from 5,000 to 6,000, feeding 
on a plateau which rose gradually on one side and ended in a steep 
precipice on the other. They drove the springbuck towards the precipice 
and wounded the one nearest the edge. The poor animal jumped to 
inevitable death and the rest followed, being driven on by the Bushmen 
