the jew's-harp, and, on account of its small size and consequent portability, it has almost superseded the native goura.

Two more musical instruments are or were used by these people.

One is the native guitar, or Rabouquin, which somewhat resembles the familiar "banjo" of the negro. It consists of a triangular piece of board, furnished with a bridge, over which are stretched three strings, made of the twisted intestines of animals. The strings are attached to pegs, by which they can be tightened or loosened so as to produce the required note. As Le Vaillant quaintly observes: "Any other person might perhaps produce some music from it and render it agreeable, but the native is content with drumming on the strings with his fingers at random, so that any musical effect is simply a matter of chance."

The last instrument which these natives possess is a kind of drum, made of a hollowed log over one end of which a piece of tanned skin is tightly stretched. The drum is sometimes beaten with the fists and sometimes with sticks, and a well-made drum will give out resonant notes which can be heard at a considerable distance. This drum is called by the name of Romelpot.

The effect of native music on an European ear has already been mentioned on page 293 Dr. Lichtenstein, himself a good musician, corroborates Burchell's account, and speaks ro less highly, though in more technical and scientific language, of that music, and the peculiar scale on which it is formed.

We were by degrees so accustomed to the monotonous sound that our sleep was never disturbed by it; nay, it rather lulled us to sleep. Heard at a distance, there is nothing unpleasant in it, but something plaintive and soothing. Although no more than six tones can be produced from it, which do not besides belong to our gamut, but for intervals quite foreign to it, yet the kind of vocal sound of these tones, the uncommon nature of the rhythm, and even the oddness, I may say wildness, of the harmony, give to this music a charm peculiar to itself.

"I venture to make use of the term 'harmony,' for so it may indeed be called, since. although the intervals be not the same as ours, they stand in a proportion perfectly regular and intelligible, as well as pleasing to the ear.

"Between the principal tones and the octave lie only three intervals; the first is at least somewhat deeper than our great third; the second lies in the middle, between the little and great fifth; and the third between the great sixth and little seventh; so that a person might imagine he hears the modulation first in the smallest seventh accord. Yet every one lies higher in proportion to the principal tone; the ear feels less the desire vi breaking off in the pure triple sound; it is even more satisfied without it.

"Practised players continue to draw out the second, sometimes even the third, interval, in the higher octave. Still these high tones are somewhat broken, and seldom pure octaves of the corresponding deep tones. Melodies, properly speaking, are never to be heard; it is only a change of the same tones long protracted, the principal tone being struck befor every one. It deserves to be remarked, that the intervals in question do not properly belong to the instrument; they are, in truth, the psalmodial music of the African savages, There is nothing more easy than to theorize, and nothing more difficult than to make the theory "hold water," as the saying is. I knew a learned philologist, who elaborates a theory on the structure of language, and illustrated it by careful watching of his suc cessive children, and noting the mode in which they struggled through their infantil lispings into expression.

First came inarticulate sounds, which none but the mother could understand, analogous to the cries of the lower animals, and employed because the yet undeveloped mind had not advanced beyond the animal stage of existence. Then came onomatopoeia, or intative sounds, and so, by regular degrees, through substantives, verbs, adjectives, and pronouns, the powers of language were systematically developed. This theory answered vers well with the first two children, but broke down utterly with the third, whose first utterance was, "Don't tease, go away."

So has it been with the Bosjesman race; and while they have been described as the most degraded of the great human family, signs have been discovered which show that they

have some knowledge of the rudiments of art. I allude here to the celebrated Bosjesman paintings which are scattered through the country, mostly in caves and on rocks near water springs, and which are often as well drawn as those produced so plentifully by the American Indians. They almost invariably represent figures of men and beasts, and in many cases the drawing is sufficiently good to enable the spectator to identify the particular animals which the native artist has intended to delineate.

The following account of some of these drawings is taken from the notes of Mr. Christie, which he has liberally placed at my disposal:

"I cannot add much to what is written of them, except to allude to what are termed Bushman paintings, found in caverns and on flat stone surfaces near some of their permanent water supplies. I have only met with two instances of the former paintings, and they were in a cave in the side of a krantz, in the north part of the Zwart Ruggens. I came upon them while hunting koodoos.

One side of the cavern was covered with outlines of animals. Only the upper part was distinguishable, and evidently represented the wildebeest, or gnoo, the koodoo, quagga, &c. The figures were very rudely drawn, and the colours used were dull red and black, and perhaps white; the latter may possibly have been a stalactite deposition from

water.

The other instance was near an outspan place on the Karroo road to Graff Reinet, known as Pickle Fountain, where there is a permanent spring of fresh water, near the course of an ancient stream now dry. On a flat piece of sandstone which had once formed part of the bank of the stream were the remains of a drawing, which may have been the utline of a man with a bow and arrow, and a dog, but it was so weather-worn that little more could be made out than the fact of its being a drawing. The colours used, as in the ave, were red and black.

"At the time of my seeing the drawings, I had with me a Bushman, named Booy (who was born near what is marked in the map as the Commissioners' Salt Pan), but he could ive me no information on the subject of the paintings, and I am rather inclined to think hat they are the work of one of the Hottentot tribes now extinct.

"My Bushman was a very shrewd fellow, but, although I had been at that time for me years among the natives, I had not become aware of the poverty of their intellect. nad shown them drawings numberless times, had described them, and listened to their emarks, but had not then discovered that even the most intelligent had no idea of a icture beyond a simple outline. They cannot understand the possibility of perspective, for how a curved surface can be shown on a flat sheet of paper.'

Together with this account, Mr. Christie kindly transmitted a copy of a similar rawing found in a cavern in the George district. The colour used in the drawings is red, pon a yellow ground-the latter tint being that of the stone on which they were de ineated. The diagonal marks represent veins in the rocks.

BOSJESMAN PAINTING.

The subject of the drawing is rather obscure. The figures are evidently intended to epresent inen, but they are unarmed, and present the peculiarity of wearing head-dresses,

such as are not used by any of the tribes with whom the Bosjesmans could have come in contact. They might have often seen the Kaffirs, with their war ornaments of feathers, and the Hottentots, with their rude skin caps, but no South African tribe wears a headdress which could in any way be identified with those which are represented in the drawing.

Partly on this account, and partly because the figures are not armed with bows and arrows, as is usual in figures that are intended to represent Bosjesmans, Mr. Christie is of opinion that many years ago a boat's crew may have landed on the coast, and that the Bosjesmans who saw them recorded the fact by this rock-picture.

The tools of the Bosjesman artist are simple enough, consisting of a feather dipped in grease, in which he has mixed coloured clays, and, as Mr. Baines well observes, he never fails to give the animals which he draws the proper complement of members. Like a child, he will place the horns and ears half down the neck, and distribute the legs impartially along the body; but he knows nothing of perspective, and has not the least idea of foreshortening, or of concealing one limb or horn behind another, as it would appear to the eye.

The same traveller rather differs from Mr. Christie in his estimation of the artistic powers of the Bosjesman, and his capability for comprehending a picture. According to him, a Bosjesman can understand a coloured drawing perfectly. He can name any tree, bird, animal, or insect, that has been drawn in colours, but does not seem to appreciate a perspective drawing in black and white. "When I showed them the oil-painting of the Damara family, their admiration knew no bounds. The forms, dress, and ornaments of the figures were freely commented on, and the distinctive characteristics between them and the group of Bushmen pointed out. The dead bird was called by its name, and, what I hardly expected, even the bit of wheel and fore part of the wagon was no difficulty to them. They enjoyed the sketch of Kobis greatly, and pointed out the figures in the group of men, horses, and oxen very readily. Leaves and flowers they had no difficulty with, and the only thing they failed in was the root of the markwhae. But when it is considered that if this, the real blessing of the desert, were lying on the surface, an inexperienced Englishman would not know it from a stone at a little distance, this is not to be wondered at. The dead animals drawn in perspective and foreshortened were also named as fast as I produced them, except a half-finished, uncoloured sketch of the brindled gnoo. They had an idea of its proper name, but, said they, 'We can see only one horn, and it may be a rhinoceros or a wild boar.""

THE following anecdotes have been kindly sent to me by Captain Drayson, R. A., who was engaged in the late Kaffir war :--

"The habits of the Bushman are those of a thoroughly wild hunter; to him cattle are merely an incumbrance, and to cultivate the soil is merely to do himself what Nature will do for him. The country in which he resides swarms with game, and to kill this is to a Bushman no trouble. His neighbours keep cattle, and that is as a last resource a means of subsistence; but, as the Bushman wanders over the country, and selects those spots in which the necessaries of life abound, he rarely suffers from want.

"If a young Bushman be captured, as sometimes happens when the Dutch Boers set out on an expedition against these thieves, the relatives at once track the captive to its prison, and sooner or later recover it. I once saw a Bushboy who had been eight years in a Dutchman's family, had learned to speak Dutch, to eat with a knife and fork, and to wear clothes; but at the end of that time the Bushboy disappeared. His clothes were found in the stables in the place of a horse which he had taken with him. The spoor being rapidly followed, was found to lead to the Draakensburg Mountains, among the fastnesses of which the Boers had no fancy to follow, for from every cranny and inaccessible ridge a poisonous arrow might be discharged, as the youth had evidently rejoined his longlost relatives.

"It was a great surprise to notice the effect on our Dutch sporting companions of the intimation of Bushmen near.' We were riding on an elevated spur of the Draakensburg, near the Mooi River, when a Boer suddenly reined up his horse, and exclaimed:

ANECDOTES OF BUSHMEN.

299

666

Cess, kek die spoor von verdamt Boschmen!'

Jumping off his horse he examined the ground, and then said: 'A man it is; one naked foot, the other with a velschoen.' The whole party immediately became intensely excited, they scattered in all directions like a pack of hounds in cover; some galloped to the nearest ridge, others followed on the spoor, all in search of the Bushman. 'He has not long gone,' said one of my companions; be ready.'

"Ready for what?' I inquired.

'Ready to shoot the schelm.'

"Would you shoot him?' I asked.

66 6 'Just so as I would a snake.'

"And then my companion explained to me that he had not long since bought at a great price a valuable horse which he had taken to his farm. In three weeks the horse was stolen by Bushmen. He followed quickly, and the animal being fat, begun to tire, so two Bushmen who were riding it jumped off, stabbed it with their arrows, and left it. The horse died that night. Again, a neighbour had about twenty oxen carried off. The Bushmen were the thieves, and on being followed closely stabbed all the oxen, most of which died.

"Many other similar tales were told, our informant winding up with these remarks :— "I have heard that every creature God makes is useful, and I think so too; but it is only useful in its place. A puff-adder is useful where there are too many toads or frogs; but when he comes into my house he is out of place, and I kill him. A Bushman near my farm is out of place, and I shoot him; for if I let him alone he poisons my horses and cattle, and very likely me too.'

Only twice did I ever see the Bushman at home; on the first occasion it was just after a fearful storm, and they had sought shelter in a kloof near our quarters. They emerged about 300 yards in advance of us, and immediately made off like the wind. Not to be unconventional, we sent a bullet after them, but high over their head: they stayed not for another.

"On a second occasion I was close to them, and was first made aware of their presence in consequence of an arrow striking a tree near; not aimed at me, but at some Daas, or rock-rabbits, which were on the rocks close by. With no little care and some speed I retreated from the neighbourhood of such implements as poisoned arrows, and then by aid of a glass saw the Bushmen first find their arrow and then my spoor, at which latter they took fright, and disappeared in a neighbouring kloof."

CHAPTER XXVII.

THE KORANNAS AND NAMAQUAS.

NOMAD CHARACTER OF THE TRIBE-THEIR GENERAL CHARACTER-DISTINCT FROM THE BOSJESMAN TRIBE-THEIR HORSES AND CATTLE-GOVERNMENT-DRESS OF THE KORANNAS-SINGULAR MODE OF DANCING-DESIRE OF OBTAINING KNOWLEDGE-THE MUSICAL ALPHABET—“ AULD LANG SYNE -TENACIOUS MEMORY OF A YOUNG KORANNA-HIS GROTESQUE APPEARANCE-FONDNESS FOR MEDICINE THE NAMAQUA TRIBE-CHARACTER OF GREAT NAMAQUA-LAND-VICISSITUDES OF THE CLIMATE-EFFECT ON THE INHABITANTS—AFRICANER, AND HIS HISTORY-DRESS OF THE NAMAQUAS THEIR IDEAS OF RELIGION-SUPERSTITIONS-STORY OF A NAMAQUA HUNTER AND A BOSJESMAN WOMAN-RAIN-MAKING-HEALING THE SICK THE DOCTOR'S PANACEA-POLYGAMY DIVORCE--CATTLE-TRAINING-CRUELTY TOWARDS THE INFIRM AND AGED-ADOPTION OF

AND

PARENTS.

In accordance with the plan of this work, we will now glance slightly at a few of the more conspicuous tribes which inhabit Southern Africa from the Cape to that part of the continent which is occupied by the negro races.

Among the offshoots of the Hottentots is a tribe called indifferently Kora, Koraqua, Korans, or Korannas. On account of their nomad habits, it is impossible to fix any particular locality for them, and besides it often happens that they extend their peregrinations into the territories of tribes more adherent to the soil, and for a time are as completely mixed up with them as if they belonged to the same tribe. Owing to their want of civilization, and general manners, some travellers have considered them as a rude tribe of Bosjesmans, but they have been satisfactorily proved to belong to the Hottentots. They seem to be quiet and well-behaved, and possessed of much curiosity. Burchell relates one or two anecdotes of the latter quality, and gives an amusing description of their astonishment at the sight of a coloured drawing which he had made of a yellow fish. One of them had struck one of these fishes, and Burchell had borrowed it in order to make a coloured drawing of it.

When the owner came to take it back, he happened to glance at the drawing, and was struck dumb with amazement, gazing at it with mouth and eyes wide open. At last he found his tongue, and called his companions to see the new wonder. At the sight of the drawing, they behaved much as a company of monkeys might be supposed to conduct themselves, turning the paper to look at the back of it, feeling it with their fingers, and being quite unable to comprehend how an object could at once be rounded to the eye. and flat to the touch.

Of the general character of the Koranna Hottentots, Dr. Lichtenstein has written so admirable an analysis in so small a compass, that I cannot do better than give his own words:

"These Korans are the oldest original inhabitants of the country; they are a tolerably numerous race, mild, and well-disposed, speaking almost the same language that was formerly spoken by the Hottentot tribes within the colony, but which has not hitherto