250 
AFRICA AND ITS EXPLORATION. 
between the Matabeles on the north and the Bechuanas 
on the south. The former race look upon them as 
outlaws, and a young warrior would think little of 
testing the sharpness of his spear by pinning a Bush¬ 
man to the earth with it. The Bushmen may be said 
to be the gipsies of South Africa, for they have much 
the same wandering instincts as those outcasts of 
Europe, and never seem able to accustom themselves 
to a settled dwelling-place. They are very clever in 
the preparation of concealed pitfalls, in which they 
entrap game of all kinds ; and when meat fails them, 
they live upon bulbous roots and wild honey. They 
can hit a partridge or a guinea hen whether running 
or on the wing ; vultures guide them to the place 
where lions have brought down their prey the night 
before, leaving many a juicy marrow-bone for those 
who come after them; in a word, Bushmen can support 
themselves where Europeans would starve. They have 
to pay a tribute out of the skins of the wild animals 
they destroy, but it is very irregularly exacted. 
Ostriches and elephants, on account of their feathers 
and tusks respectively, are the monopoly of the chief, 
and Bushmen are forbidden to kill them; but the 
wilderness is wide and the aborigines crafty, so that 
these costly articles can often be bought from them. 
It was three o’clock in the afternoon when we finally 
packed up our belongings. After an hour and a half’s 
march we came to some huts made of branches and 
foliage, with the smoke from the fires curling upwards ; 
then we heard human voices, and two little black 
fellows, Ramurpisi’s children, in costumes au naturel, 
ran out to meet their father, but seeing a white man, 
whom they evidently looked upon as a monster, they 
fled away yelling like hunted game. 
The Bushman, however, soon reassured the frightened 
children, giving them some glass beads which he had 
received from me at the camp. To my surprise, 
Madame Ramurpisi was not nearly so ugly as I 
expected, in fact, she was almost good-looking, with 
thin lips and a slightly hooked nose ; and I mentally 
