lead the life of pariahs, and are hated and chased by all other natives of South Africa. They are hunters and diggers for roots, while the Hottentots, perhaps their kinsmen, are cattle-breeders.[1] Being so ill-nourished, the Bushmen are very small, but sturdy. They dwell in, or rather wander through, countries which have been touched by some ancient civilisation, as is proved by the mysterious mines and roads of the Transvaal. It is singular that the Bushmen possess a tradition according to which they could once "make stone things that flew over rivers." They possess remarkable artistic powers, and their drawings of men and animals on the walls of caves are often not inferior to the designs on early Greek vases.[2]
Thus we must regard the Bushmen as almost certainly degenerated from a higher status, though there is nothing (except perhaps the tradition about bridge-making) to show that it was more exalted than that of their more prosperous neighbours, the Hottentots. The myths of the Bushmen, however, are almost on the lowest known level. A very good and authentic example of Bushman cosmogonic myth was given to Mr. Orpen, chief magistrate of St. John's territory, by Qing, king Nqusha's huntsman. Qing "had never seen a white man, but in fighting," till he became acquainted with Mr. Orpen.[3] The chief force in Bushman myth is the mantis, a sort of large
- ↑ Hahu, Tsuni Goam, p. 4. See other accounts in Waitz, Anthropologie, ii. 328.
- ↑ Custom and Myth, where illustrations of Bushman art are given, pp. 290–295.
- ↑ Cape Monthly Magazine, July 1874.
