178 
THE NEW AFRICA 
hood, and in what direction to look for it. In fact their know- 
edge of field and forest lore reaches the highest pitch of per¬ 
fection, and were it not for their unstable characters, they would 
make invaluable associates of all the classes of mankind that 
have to seek their existence in the desert. But I believe that 
there is hardly a case on record where a Mosaro has associated 
for any extended length of time with either a native tribe or a 
white hunter. Influenced by the invisible power of some un¬ 
known attraction in the desert, a Mosaro will leave the best 
employer without warning, and, not taking anything he is not 
entitled to in the shape of goods, will simply disappear like a 
phantom into the vast sand-belts probably, like an animal, 
under the influence of season, to pluck some favourite berries 
now approaching maturity, or to take up the track of an 
ostrich, to follow her to her nest, because the laying season is 
approaching, or for any one of the other hundred reasons that 
form a part of his life in the wilds. 
When they are on the move they travel stupendous distances 
on foot across the sandy wastes without water. The men go first, 
and the women and children follow after as best they can. No 
thought of those behind seems to trouble the foremost as they 
trudge along, nor are they influenced by any such trivial circum¬ 
stances as illness to delay a journey. The sick woman with the 
young child, probably born on the journey, takes her chance 
with the rest. Such a mere detail as bringing a child into 
the world by the way does not trouble her much. She may be 
detained half an hour or so through the fact; but, retiring behind 
a convenient bush to fulfil this natural duty, she manages by 
herself, unseen, and unhelped by the tender assistance from one 
of her own sex; and when her troubles are over, and they usually 
are over immediately the child is born, she slmgs the little one 
on to her hack, and follows on the faint trail of the receding 
party as securely as one of us threads his way along a crowded 
thoroughfare. Should the child not survive this rough treat¬ 
ment, or the burden, added to the other things she carries, prove 
too heavy, and perhaps the water too distant to reach easily with 
