Specimens of Bushman Folklore

by W.H.I. Bleek and L.C. Lloyd

1911

[Transcription notes: The stories in this document are translations from Bushman. The Bushman were nomadic hunter-gatherers who inhabited the Kalihari desert in the area of western South Africa known as Namiba and neighboring regions of Angola. The Bushman language, which has many rare phonemes including clicks, is transcribed in the original using typographic symbols which have no correspondence to available character sets. All Bushman transliterations are given in italics. For the purposes of this transcription, we use the following symbols for the clicks and other phonemes:

| is a dental click. This is sounded by pressing the tip of the tongue against the front teeth of the upper jaw, and then suddenly and forcibly withdrawing it. It resembles our interjection of annoyance.
! is a cerebral click. This is sounded by curling up the tip of the tongue against the roof of the palette, and withdrawing it suddenly and forcibly.
|| is a lateral click. This is pronounced by covering with the tongue the whole of the palette, and producing the sound as far back as possible, at the gutteral part of the palette. A similar sound is often made use of in urging a horse forward.
# is a palatal click. The palatal click is sounded by pressing the tip of the tongue with as flat a surface as possible against the termination of the palate at the gums, and removing it in the same manner as during the articulation of the other clicks.
@ is a labial click. This sounds like a kiss.
X is an aspirated gutteral, like German ch.
Y is a strong croaking sound in the throat.
U is a gentle croaking sound in the throat.

All other diacritics have been omitted; however, the dotted n is transcribed as 'ng'.

This transcription presents the English translations only of the stories. The original book has Bushman text on the facing pages.]

SPECIMENS

OF

BUSHMAN FOLKLORE

PREFACE.

With all its shortcomings, after many and great difficulties, this volume of specimens of Bushman folk-lore is laid before the public. As will be seen from the lists given in Dr. Bleek's "Brief Account of Bushman Folk-lore and other Texts", Cape Town, 1875, and in my "Short Account of Further Bushman Material collected", London, 1889, the selections which have been made for it form but a very small portion of the Bushman native literature collected. Whether future days will see the remainder of the manuscripts, as well as the fine collection of copies of Bushman pictures made by the late Mr. G. W. Stow, also published is a question that only time can answer.

In the spelling of the native text in the volume now completed, various irregularities will be observed. These have their source chiefly in two causes. One of these was the endeavour always to write down, as nearly as possible, the sounds heard at the time; the other, that Dr. Bleek's orthography was of a more scientific kind than that of the other collector, whose ear had been mainly accustomed to English sounds.

In a few instances, the "new lines" in the native text and translation do not correspond; as the Bushman and English proofs had often to be sent over separately to Germany for correction.

The corresponding marginal numbers, by the side of the native texts and the translation (which refer to the pages in the original manuscripts), will, it is hoped, be of material assistance to those wishing to study the Bushman language from this volume.

With regard to the extra signs used in printing the Bushman texts, it should be explained that Dr. Block, in order to avoid still further confusion in the signs used to represent clicks, adopted the four marks for these which had already been employed by some of the missionaries in printing Hottentot. He added a horizontal line at the top of the mark |, used for the dental click, for the sake of additional clearness in writing (see the table of signs on page 438 of the Appendix). This addition he intended to discontinue when the time for printing should come; and it no longer appears in the table of signs he prepared for the printer in 1874. The sequence of the clicks, in this last table, he has also somewhat altered; and has substituted the mark @, instead of the previously used @ for the "gentle croaking sound in the throat".

| indicates the dental click.
! cerebral click.
|| lateral click.
# palatal click.
@ labial click.
X an aspirated guttural, like German ch.
Y a strong croaking sonud in the throat.
U a gentle croaking sound in the throat.
~ the nasal pronunciation of a syllable.
= under vowels, indicates a, rough, deep pronunciation of them.
\ indicates the raised tone.[1]
= indicates that the syllable under which it stands has a musical intonation.
` indicates an arrest of breath (as in tt'uara).

[1. The tone is occasionally the only distinguishing feature in words spelt otherwise alike, but having a different meaning.]

o placed under a letter, indicates a very short pronunciation of it.
- under a vowel, indicates a more or less open pronunciation of it.
ng indicates a ringing pronunciation of the n, as in "song" in English.
r placed over n indicates that the pronunciation is between that of the two consonants. There is also occasionally a consonantal sound met with in Bushman between r, n, and l.

[Transcribers note: see the top of this file for the actual transcription used in this e-text].

A description of how to make the first four clicks, in this list, follows; taken from Dr. Bleek's "Comparative Grammar of South African Languages", Part I, Phonology, pp. 12 and 13.

The dental click | is sounded by pressing the "tip of the tongue against the front teeth of the upper jaw, and then suddenly and forcibly withdrawing it". (Tindall.) It resembles our interjection of annoyance.

The cerebral click ! is "sounded by curling up the tip of the tongue against the roof of the palate, and withdrawing it suddenly and forcibly" (Tindall.)

The lateral click || is, according to Tinddall, in Nama Hottentot generally articulated by covering with the tongue the whole of the palate, and producing the sound as far back as possible, either at what Lepsius calls the faucal or the guttaral point of the palate. European learners, however, imitate the sound by placing the tongue against the side teeth and then withdrawing it." * * * "A similar sound is often made use of in urging forward a horse."

The palatal click = is "sounded by pressing the tip of the tongue with as flat a surface as possible against the termination of the palate at the gums, and removing it in the same manner as during the articulation of the other clicks".

The labial click, marked by Dr. Bleek @, sounds like a kiss.

In the arrangement of these specimens of Bushman folk-lore, Dr. Bleek's division has been followed. The figures at the head of each piece refer to its number in one or other of the two Bushman Reports inentioned above. The letter B. or L. has been added, to show in which report it was originally included.

"The Resurrection of the Ostrich," and the parsing of a portion of it, were not finally prepared for the printer when Dr. Bleek died; and it was, here and there, very difficult to be sure of what had been his exact intention, especially in the parsing; but the papers were too important to be omitted.

The givers of the native literature in the "Specimens" are as follows:-

|a!kungta (who contributes two pieces) was a youth who came from a part of the country in or near the Strontbergen (lat. 30 deg S., long. 22 deg E.). He was with Dr. Bleek at Mowbray from August 29th, 1870, to October 15th, 1873.

||kabbo or "Dream" (who furnishes fifteen pieces) was from the same neighbourbood as |a!kungta. He was an excellent narrator, and patiently watched until a sentence had been written down, before proceeding with what he was telling. He much enjoyed the thought that the Bushman stories would become known by means of books. He was with Dr. Bleck from February 16th, 1871, to October 15th,

1873. He intended to return, later, to help us at Mowbray, but, died before he could do so, |hang#kass'o or "Klein Jantje" (son-in-law to ||kabbo) contributes thirty-four pieces to this volume. He also was an excellent narrator; and remained with us from January 10th, 1878, to December, 1879.

Dia!kwain gives fifteen pieces, wbich are in the Katkop dialect, which Dr. Bleek found to vary slightly from that spoken by ||kabbo and |a!kungta. He came from the Katkop Mountains, north of Calvinia (about 200 miles to the west of the homes of |a!kungta and ||kabbo). He was at Mowbray from before Christmas, 1873, to March 18th, 1874, returning on June 13th, 1874, and remaining until March 7th, 1875.

!kweiten ta ||ken (a sister of Dia!kwain's) contributes three pieces, also in the Katkop dialect. She remained at Mowbray from June 13th, 1874, to January 13th, 1875.

|Xaken-ang, an old Bushman woman (fifth in a group of Bushman men and women, taken, at Salt River, in 1884), contributes one short fragment. She was with us, for a little while, in 1884; but, could not make herself happy at Mowbray. She longed to return to her own country, so that she might be buried with her forefathers.

To the pieces of native literature dictated by ||kabbo, no giver's name has been prefixed. To those supplied by the other native informants, their respective names have been added.

Portraits of ||kabbo, Dia!kwain, his sister, !kweiten ta ||ken, |hang#kass'o, and |Xaken-au will be seen among the illustrations; from which, by an unfortunate oversight, that of |a!kungta has been omitted.

The few texts in the language of the "Bushmen" calling themselves !kung, met with beyond Damaraland, which are given in the Appendix, are accompanied by as adequate an English translation as can at present be supplied. These texts were furnished by two lads, whose portraits will also be found among the illustrations. The extract given below, from the Bushman Report of 1889, sent in to the Cape Government, will explain a little more about them. The additional signs required for the printing of the !kung texts are almost similar to those employed in printing the Specimens of Bushman Folk-lore, but fewer in number.

"It had been greatly desired by Dr. Bleek to gain information regarding the language spoken by the Bushmen met with beyond Damaraland; and, through the most kind assistance of Mr. W. Coates Palgrave (to whom this wish was known), two boys of this race (called by itself !kung), from the country to the north-east of Damaraland, were, on the 1st of September, 1879, placed with us, for a time, at Mowbray. They were finally, according to promise, sent back to Damaraland, on their way to their own country, under the kind care of Mr. Eriksson, on the 28th of March, 1882. From these lads, named respectively !nanni and Tamme, much valuable information was obtained. They were, while with us, joined, for a time, by permission of the authorities, on the 25th of March 1880 by two younger boys from the same region named |uma and Da. The latter was very young at the time of his arrival; and was believed by the elder boys to belong to a different tribe of !kung. |uma left us, for an employer found for him by Mr. George Stevens, on the 12th of December, 11 1881, and Da was replaced in Mr. Stevens' kind care on the 29th of March, 1884. The language spoken by these lads (the two elder of whom, coming from a distance of fifty miles or so apart, differed slightly, dialectically, from each other) proved unintelligible to |hang#kass'o, as was his to them. They looked upon the Bushmen of the Cape Colony as being another kind of !kung; and |hang#kass'o, before he left us, remarked upon the existence of a partial resemblance between the language of the Grass Bushmen, and that spoken by the !kung. As far as I could observe, the language spoken by these lads appears to contain four clicks only; the labial click, in use among the Bushmen of the Cape Colony, etc., being the one absent; and the lateral click being pronounced in a slightly different manner.[1] The degree of relationship between the language spoken by the !kung and that of the Bushmen of the Cape Colony (in which the main portion of our collections had been made) has still to be determined. The two elder lads were fortunately also able to furnish some specimens of their native traditionary lore; the chief figure in which appears to be a small personage, possessed of magic power, and able to assume almost any form; who, although differently named, bears a good deal of resemblance to the Mantis, in the mythology of the Bushmen. The

[1. It will be observed that, in some instances, in the earliercollected !kung texts, given in the Appendix, the mark !! has been used to denote the lateral click, in words where this differed slightly in its pronunciation from the ordinary lateral click, ||. Later, this attempt to distinguish these two sounds apart was discontinued.]

power of imitating sounds, both familiar and unfamiliar to them, as well as the actions of animals, possessed by these boys, was astonishing. They also showed a certain power of representation, by brush and pencil. The arrows made by them were differently feathered, and more elaborately so than those in common use among the Bushmen of the Cape Colony."[1]

As the suggestion has been advanced that the painters and sculptors were from different divisions of the Bushman race, the following facts will be, of interest. One evening, at Mowbray, in 1875, Dr. Bleek asked Dia!kwain if he could make pictures. The latter smiled and looked pleased; but what he said has been forgotten. The following morning, early, as Dr. Bleek passed through the back porch of his house on his way to Cape Town, he perceived a small drawing, representing a family of ostriches, pinned to the porch wall, as Dia!kwain reply to his question. (See illustration thirty-three.) The same Bushman also told me, on a later occasion, that his father, Xua-tting, had himself chipped pictures of gemsbok, quaggas, ostriches, etc., at a place named !kann where these animals used to drink before the coming of the Boers. Some other drawings made by Dia!kwain, as well as a few by |hang#kass'o, and the !kung boys, will be found among the illustrations. In the arrangement of these, it has not, been easy to place them appropriately as regards

[1. Taken from "A Short Account of further Bushman Material" collected By L. C. Lloyd.-Third Report concerning Bushman Researches, presented to both Houses of the Parliament of the Cape of Good Hope, ".-London: David Nutt, 270, Strand. - 1889. pp. 4 & 5.]

the text, as anything standing between text and translation would materially hinder the usefulness of the latter; and, for this reason, the main portion of the illustrations will be placed at the end of the volume.

To show the living activity of Bushman beliefs, the following instances may be given. Some little time after Dr. Bleek's death, a child, who slept in a small room by herself, had been startled by an owl making a sound, like breathing, outside her window in the night. This was mentioned to Dia!kwain, who said, with a much-pleased expression of countenance, did I not think that Dr. Bleek would come to see how his little children were getting on?

Later, I brought a splendid red fungus home from a wood in the neighbourhood of the Camp Ground, in order to ascertain its native name. After several days, fearing lest it should decay, I asked |hang#kass'o, who was then with us, to throw it away. Shortly afterwards, some unusually violent storms of wind and rain occurred. Something was said to him about the weather; and |hang#kass'o asked me If I did not remember telling him to throw the fungus away. He said, he had not done so, but had "put it gently down". He explained that the fungus was "a rain's thing"; and evidently ascribed the very bad weather, we were then having, to my having told him to "throw it away".

To Dr. Theal, for his most kind interest in this work, and for his untiring help with regard to its publication, to Professor von Luschan, for his kind efforts to promote the publication of the copies of Bushman pictures made by the late Mr. G. W. Stow, to Herrn Regierungsbaumeister a.d., H. Werdelmann, for the copies of Bushman implements that he was so good as to make for us, to my niece, Doris Bleek, for her invaluable help in copying many of the manuscripts and making the Index to this volume, and to my niece, Edith Bleek, for much kind, assistance , my most grateful thanks are due.

L. C. LLOYD.

CHARLOTTENBURG, GERMANY.

May, 1911.

INTRODUCTION.

THE Bushmen were members of a division of the human species that in all probability once occupied the whole, or nearly the whole, of the African continent. It would seem that they were either totally exterminated or partly exterminated and partly absorbed by more robust races pressing down from the north, except in a few secluded localities where they could manage to hold their own, and that as a distinct people they bad disappeared from nearly the whole of Northern and Central Africa before white men made their first appearance there. Schweinfurth, Junker, Stanley, Von Wissmann,[1] and other explorers and residents in the equatorial

[1. The following volumes may be referred to:-

Schweinfurth, Dr. George: The Heart of Africa, Three Years' Travels and.Adventures in the Unexplored Regions of Central Africa, from 1868 to 1871. Two crown octavo volumes, published in London (date not given).

Junkier, Dr. Wilhelm: Travels in Africa during the Years 1875-1886. Translated from the German by A. H. Keane, F.R.G.S. Three demy octavo volumes, published in London in 1890-2.

Stanley, Henry N1.: In Darkest Africa or the Quest, Resuce, and Retreat of Emin, Governor of Equatoria. Two demy octavo volumes, published in London in 1890.

von Wissinann, Hermann: My Second Journey through Equatorial Africa from the Congo to the Zambesi in the Years 1886 and 1887. Translated from the German by Minna J. A. Bergmann. A demy octavo volume, published in London in 1891.

Casati, Major Gaetano: Ten Years in Equatoria and the Return with Emin Pasha. Translated from the original Italian Manuscript by the Hon. Mrs. J. Randolph Clay assisted by Mr. I. Walter Savage Lauder. Two royal octavo volumes, published at London aud New York in 1891.

Burrows, Captain Guy: The Land of the Pygmies. A demy octavo volume, published in London in 1898.]

regions, who have had intercourse with the pygmies still existing in the depths of the dark forest west of the Albert Nyanza, have given descriptions of these people which show almost beyond a doubt that they and the Bushmen of South Africa are one in race. All the physical characteristics are the same, if we allow for the full open eye of the northern pygmy being due to his living in forest gloom, and the sunken half-closed eye of the southern Bushman to his life being passed in the glare of an unclouded sun.

The average height of adult male Bushmen, as given by Fritsch and other observers from careful measurement, is 144.4 centimetres or 56-85 inches. Von Wissmann gives the height of some pygmies that he measured as from 140 to 145 centimetres, or about the same.

Schweinfurth's description not only of the bodily but of the mental characteristics of his pygmy would hold good for one of the southern stock, Junker's photographs might have been taken on the Orange river; and no one acquainted with Bushman can read the charming account of the imp Blasiyo, given by Mrs. R. B. Fisher in lier book On the Borders of Pygmy Land, without recognising the aborigine of South Africa. Whether he is blowing a great horn and capering under the dining-room window, or caning the big Bantu men in the class which he is teaching to read in the mission school at Kabarole, in order to make them respect him, the portrait in words which Mrs. Fisher has given of that exceedingly interesting pygmy is true to the life of one of those with whom this volume deals.

But those isolated remnants of a race that there is every reason to believe was once widely spread do not offer to ethnologists such an excellent subject for study as might at first thought be supposed, for it would appear from the observations of travellers that they have lost their original language, though this is not altogether certain. Savages though having the passions and the bodily strength of men, are children in mind and children in the facility with which they acquire other forms of speech than those of their parents. The rapidity with which a Bushman learned to speak Dutch or English, when he was brought into contact with white people in South Africa, was regarded as almost marvellous in the early days of the Cape Colony. And so the Bushmen or pygmies of the north, hemmed in by Bantu, although not on friendly terms with them, learned to speak Bantu dialects and may have lost their own ancient tongue. This is to be gathered from what travellers have related, but no one has yet lived long enough with them to be able to say definitely that among themselves they do not speak a distinct language, and use a corrupt Bantu dialect when conversing with strangers. But whether this be so or not, they must have lost much of their original lore, or it must at least have changed its form.

South of the Zambesi and Kunene rivers, in addition to the Bushmen, two races had penetrated before our own. One of those was composed of the people termed by us Hottentots, who at a very remote time probably had Bushmen as one of its ancestral stocks, and certainly in recent centuries had incorporated great numbers of Bushman girls. But these people never went far from the coast, though they continued their migrations along the border of the ocean all the way round f rom the Kunene to a little beyond the Umzimvubu, where their further progress was stopped by the Bantu advancing on that side. Where they originally resided cannot be stated positively, but there is strong reason for believing that in ancient times they occupied the territory now called Somaliland. The references to Punt in early Egyptian history, and the portrait of the queen of that country so often described by different writers, may be mentioned as one of the indications leading to this belief. Another, and perhaps stronger, indication is the large number of drilled stones of the exact size and pattern of those used by the Hottentots in South Africa- different in form from those manufactured by Bushmen-that have been found in Somaliland, an excellent collection of which can, be seen in the ethnological museum in Berlin. The Hottentots, according to their own traditions, came from some far distant country in the northeast, and they cannot have crossed the Kunene many centuries before Europeans made their first appearance at the extremity of the continent. This is conclusively proved by the fact that the dialects spoken by the tribes in Namaqualand and beyond Algoa Bay on the south-eastern coast differed slightly that the people of one could understand the people of the other without much difficulty, which would certainly not have been the case if they had been many centuries separated. They had no intercourse with each other, and yet towards the close of the seventeenth century an interpreter belonging to a tribe in the neighbourbood of the Cape peninsula, when accompanying Dutch trading parties, conversed with ease with them all.

In our present state of knowledge it is impossible to say when the Bantu first crossed the Zambesi, because it is altogether uncertain whether there were, or were not, tribes of black men in the territory now termed Rhodesia before the ancestors of the present occupants moved down from the north; but those at present in the country cannot claim a possession of more than seven or eight hundred years. When the Europeans formed their first settlements, the area occupied by the Bantu was small compared with what it is to-day, and a vast region inland from the Kathlamba mountains nearly to the Atlantic shore was inhabited exclusively by Bushmen. That region included the whole of the present Cape province except the coast belt, the whole of Basutoland and the Orange Free State, the greater part, if not the whole, of the Transvaal province, and much of Betshuanaland, the Kalahari, and Hereroland. The paintings on rocks found in Southern Rhodesia at the present day afford proof of a not very remote occupation by Bushmen of that territory, but they give evidence also that the big dark-coloured Bantu were already there as well.

By the Hottentots and the Bantu the Bushmen were regarded simply as noxious animals, and though young girls were usually spared and incorporated in the tribes of their captors to lead a life of drudgery and shame, all others who could be entrapped or hunted down were destroyed with as little mercy as if they had been hyenas. On the immediate border of the Hottentot and Bantu settlements there was thus constant strife with the ancient race, but away from that frontier line the Bushmen pursued their game and drank the waters that their fathers had drunk from time immemorial, without even the knowledge that men differing from themselves existed in the world.

This was the condition of things when in the year 1652 the Dutch East India Company formed a station for refreshing the crews of its fleets on the shore of Table Bay, a station that has grown into the present British South Africa. The Portuguese had established themselves at Sofala a hundred and forty-seven years earlier, but they had never penetrated the country beyond the Bantu belt, and consequently never made the acquaintance of Bushmen. From 1652 onward there was an opportunity for a thorough study of the mode of living, the power of thought, the form of speech, the religious ideas, and all else that can be known of one of the most interesting savage races of the earth, a race that there is good reason to believe once extended not only over Africa, but over a large part of Europe, over South-Eastern Asia,where many scientists maintain it is now represented by the Semang in the Malay peninsula, the Andamanese, and some of the natives of the Philippine islands,-and possibly over a much greater portion of the world's surface, a race that had made little, if any, advance since the far distant days when members of it shot their flint-headed arrows at reindeer in France, and carved the figures of mammoths and other now extinct animals on tusks of ivory in the same fair land. It was truly an ancient race, one of the most primitive that time had left on the face of the earth.

But there were no ethnologists aniong the early white settlers, whose sole object was to earn their bread and make homes for themselves in the new country where their lot was cast. They too soon came to regard the wild Bushmen as the Hottentots and the Bantu regarded them, as beings without a right to the soil over which they roamed, as untamable robbers whom it was not only their interest but their duty to destroy. They took possession of the fountains wherever they chose, shot the game that the pygmies depended upon for food, and when these retaliated by driving off oxen and sheep, made open war upon the so-called marauders. It was impossible for pastoral white men and savage Bushmen who neither cultivated the ground nor owned domestic cattle of any kind to live side by side in amity and peace. And so, slowly but surely, the Europeans, whether Dutch or English, extended their possessions inland, the Hottentots-Koranas and Griquas,-abandoning the coast, made their way also into the interior, and the Bantu spread themselves ever farther and farther, until to-day there is not an acre of land in all South Africa left to the ancient race. Every man's hand was against them, and so they passed out of sight, but perished fighting stubbornly, disdaining compromise or quarter to the very last. There is no longer room on the globe for palæolithic man.

When I say every man's hand was against them, I do not mean to imply that no efforts at all were ever made by white men to save them from absolute extinction, or that no European cast an eye of pity upon the unfortunate wanderers. On more than one occasion about the beginning of the nineteenth century benevolent frontier farmers collected horned cattle, sheep, and goats, and endeavoured to induce parties of Bushmen to adopt a pastoral life, but always without success. They could not change their habits suddenly, and so the stock presented to them was soon consumed. The London Missionary Society stationed teachers at different points among them, but could not prevail upon them to remain at any one place longer than they were supplied with food. In the middle of the same century the government of the Orange River Sovereignty set apart reserves for two little bands of them, but by some blunder located a Korana clan between them, and that effort failed. Then many frontier farmers engaged families of Bushmen to tend their flocks and herds, which they did as a rule with the greatest fidelity until they became weary of such a monotonous life, and then they wandered away again. Other instances might be added, but they all ended in the same manner. The advance of the white man, as well as of the Hottentots and the Bantu, was unavoidably accompanied with the disappearance of the wild people.

On the farms where a number of Bushman families lived white children often learned to speak their language, with all its clicks, and smacking of the lips, and guttural sounds, but this knowledge was of no use to anyone but themselves, and it died with them. They were incompetent to reduce it to writing and too ill-educated to realise the value of the information they possessed. Here and there a traveller of scientific attainments, such as Dr. H. Lichtenstein, or a missionary of talent, such as the reverend T. Arbousset, tried to form a vocabulary of Bushman words, but as they did not understand the language theinselves, and there were no recognised symbols to represent the various sounds, their lists are almost worthless to philologists.

So matters stood in 1857, when the late Dr. Wilhelm H. I. Bleek (Ph.D.), who was born at Berlin in 1827, and educated at the universities of Bonn and Berlin, commenced his researches in connection with the Bushmen. He was eminently qualified for the task, as his natural bent was in the direction of philology, and his training had been of the very best kind, in that he had learned from it not to cease study upon obtaining his degree, but to continue educating himself. For many years after 1857, however, he did not devote himself entirely, or even mainly, to investigations regarding the Bushmen, because of the difficulty of obtaining material, and also because he was intently engaged upon the work with which his reputation as a philologist inust ever be connected, A Comparative Granmar of South African Languages. In this book he deals with the Hottentot language and with the Bantu, the last divided into a large number of dialects. In 1862 the first part of his valuable work appeared, in 1864 a small volume followed entitled Renyard the Fox in South Africa, or Hottentot Fables and Tales, and in 1869 the first section of the second part of his Comparative Grammar was published. That work, regarded by everyone since its issue as of the highest value, and which must always remain tlie standard authority on its subject, was never completed, for in 1870 a favourable opportunity of studying the Bushman language occurred, of which Dr. Bleek at once availed himself, knowing that in the few wild people left he had before him the fast dying remnant of a primitive race, and that if any reliable record of that race was to be preserved, not a day must be lost in securing it.

To abandon a work in which fame had been gained, which offered still further celebrity in its prosecution, and to devote himself entirely to a new object, simply because the one could be completed by somebody else at a future time, and the other, if neglected then, could never be done at all, shows such utter devotion to science, such entire forgetfulness of self, that the name of Dr. Bleek should be uttered not only with the deepest respect, but with a feeling akin to reverence. How many men of science are there in the world today who would follow so noble an example?

The task now before him was by no means a simple or an easy one. The few pure Bushmen that remained alive were scattered in the wildest and most inaccessible parts of the country, and it would have been useless to search for them there. A traveller indeed, who was prepared to live in a very rough manner himself, might have found a few of thein, but his intercourse with them would necessarily have been so short that he could not study thenithoroughly. But, fortunately for science, unfortunately for the wretched creatures themselves, the majesty of European law had brought several of them within reach. That law, by a proclamation of the earl of Caledon, governor of the Cape Colony, issued on the 1st of November 1809, had confounded them with the Hottentots, and made all of them within the recognised boundaries British subjects, but had placed them under certain restraints, which were intended to prevent them from roaming about at will. It had very little effect upon the wild people, however, who were almost as difficult to arrest on the thinly occupied border as if they had been baboons. Then, in April 1812, by a proclamation of Governor Sir John Cradock, their children, when eight years of age, if they had lived on a farm since their buth, were apprenticed by the local magistrate for ten years longer. In this proclamation also they were confounded with Hottentots, and it really had a considerable effect upon them, because it was no uncommon circumstance for Bushman parents to leave their infant children on farms where they had been in service, and not return perhaps for a couple of years.

By a colonial ordinance of the 17th of July 1828 all restraints of every kind were removed from these people, and they had thereafter exactly the same amount of freedom and of political rights as Europeans. It seems absurd to speak of Bushmen having political rights, for their ideas of government were so crude that their chiefs were merely leaders in war and the chase, and had no judicial powers, each individual liaving the right to avenge his own wrongs; but so, the law determined. It determined also that the ground upon which their ancestors for ages had hunted should be parcelled out in farms and allotted to European settlers, and that if they went there afterwards and killed or drove away an ox or a score of sheep, they could be sentenced to penal servitude for several years. It seems hard on the face of it, but progress is remorseless, and there was no other way of extending civilisation inland. The pygmy hunter with his bow and poisoned arrows could not be permitted to block the way.

But he, though he could not argue the matter, and regarded it as the most natural thing in the world for the strong to despoil the weak, being the feeble one himself resented this treatment. He was hungry too, terribly hungry, for the means of sustenance in the arid wastes where be was making his last stand were of the scantiest, and he longed for meat, such meat as his fathers had eaten before the Hottentots and the big black men and the white farmers came into the country and slaughtered all the game and nearly all of his kin. And so he tightened his hunger belt, and crept stealthily to a hill-top, where he could make observations without anyone noticing him, and when night fell he stole down to the farmer's fold and before day dawned again he and his companions were gorged with flesh. When the farmer arose and discovered his loss there was a big hunt as a matter of course. Man and horse and dog were pressed into the chase, and yet so wily was the little imp, so expert in taking cover, and it must be added so feared were his poisoned arrows, that it was a rare thing for him to be captured. Once in a while, however, he was made a prisoner, and then if it could be proved that he had killed a shepherd he was hanged, but if he could be convicted of nothing more than slaughtering other men's oxen and sheep he was sent to a convict station for a few years.

So it came about that Dr. Bleek found at the convict station close to Capetown several of the men he wanted. There were two in particular, whose terms of imprisonment bad nearly expired, and who were physically unfit for hard labour. The government permitted him to take these men to his own residence, on condition of locking them up at night until the remainder of their sentences expired. After they had returned to the place of their birth, two other Bushmen were obtained, who ere long were induced to proceed to their old haunts and prevail upon some of their relatives to accompany them back again, so that at one time a whole family could be seen on Dr. Bleck's grounds.

The material was thus obtained to work with, but first the language of the primitive people had to be learned, a language containing so many clicks and other strange sounds that at first it seemed almost impossible for all adult European tongue to master it. To this task Dr. Bleek and his sister-in-law Miss Lucy C. Lloyd, who had boundless patience, untiring zeal, and a particularly acute ear, devoted themselves, and persevered until their efforts were crowned with success. Symbols were adopted to represent the different sounds that are foreign to the European ear, and then it became possible to take down the exact words used by the Bushman narrators and to have the manuscript checked by repetition.

Before the results of such prolonged labour were ready for publication, but not until a very large quantity of valuable matter had been collected, to the great loss of students of man everywhere Dr. Bleek died, 17th of August 1875, Miss Lloyd then continued during some years to collect further material frorn. various individuals of the Bushman race, and after adding greatly to the stock on hand at her brother-in-law's death in 1887 she proceeded to Europe with a view to arranging it properly and ptiblishing it. For nine years she endeavoured, but in vain to carry out this design, the subject not being considered by publishers one that would attract readers in sufficient number to repay the cost of printing, as that cost would necessarily be large, owing to the style of the Bushman text. In 1896 Messrs. Swan Sonnenschein & Co. undertook to get out a volume, but then, unfortunately, Miss Lloyd fell ill, and her impaired strength has since that time delayed the completion of the work. It has only been at long intervals and by dint of much exertion that what is here presented to the reader, with much more that may perhaps follow, has been got ready. This is a brief account of the manner in which the material was collected, and of the causes which have delayed its publication for so many years. It would be quite impossible to gather such information now.

As to the value for scientific purposes (if the contents of this volume, a great deal might be stated, but it cannot be necessary to say much here, as the book speaks for itself. The religion of the Bushmen is made as clear from their own recitals as such a subject can be, when it is remembered that the minds of the narrators were like those of little children in all matters not connected with their immediate bodily wants. Their views concerning the sun, moon, and stars seem utterly absurd, but a European child five or six years of age, if not informed, would probably give no better explanation. Their faith too, that is, their unreasoning belief in many things adult European seem ridiculous, is seen to be that of mere infants. Every reader of this book has gone through the same stage of thought and mental power him or herself, and our own far remote ancestors must have had beliefs similar to those of Bushmen. The civilised European at different stages of his existence is a representative of the whole human species in its progress upward from the lowest savagery. We may therefore pity the ignorant pygmy, but we are not justified in despising him.

On many of their customs a flood of light is thrown in this volume, but I shall only refer to one here. In the early Dutch records of the Cape Colony there is an account of some Bushmen eating almost the whole of an animal, the intestines included, rejecting only two little pieces of flesh containing the sinews of the thighs. When questioned concerning this, they merely replied that it was their custom. not to eat those parts, beyond which no information is given. Who could have imagined the cause of such a custom? They had devoured parts tougher to masticate, so it certainly was not to spare their teeth. That is all that could be said of it, but here in this volume the reason is given, and how well it fits in with the belief of the wild people that certain men and animals could exchange their forms, that some animals in former times were men, and some men in former times were animals.

Probably, however, the value of this volume will be greatest to the philologist, as the original Bushman text, which will be unintelligible to the general reader, is printed side by side with the English translation. Students of the growth of language have thus the means of ascertaining how ideas were expressed by a race of people so low in culture as the Bushmen. Their vocabulary, it will be seen, was ample for their needs. What is surprising is that, though they had no word for a numeral higher than three, and though the plurals of many of their nouns were formed in such a simple manner as by reduplication, their verbs were almost, if not quite, as complete and expressive as our own. The myths indicate a people in the condition of early childhood, but from the language it is evident that in the great chain of human life on this earth the pygmy savages represented a link much closer to the modern European end than to that of the first beings worthy of the name of men.

GEO. McCALL THEAL.

LONDON, 1911.

A. MYTHOLOGY, FABLES, LEGENDS, AND POETRY

I. The Mantis.

THE MANTIS ASSUMES THE FORM OF A HARTEBEEST.

The Mantis is one who cheated the children, by becoming a hartebeest, by resembling a dead-hartebeest. He feigning death lay in front of the children, when the children went to seek gambroo (|kui, a sort of cucumber); because he thought (wished) that the children should cut him up with a stone knife, as these children did not possess metal knives.

The children perceived him, when he had laid himself stretched out, while his horns were turned backwards. The children then said to each other: "It is a hartebeest that yonder lies; it is dead." The children jumped for joy (saying): "Our hartebeest! we shall eat great meat." They broke off stone knives by striking (one stone against another), they skinned the Mantis. The skin of the Mantis snatched itself quickly out of the children's hands. They say to each other: "Hold thou strongly fast for me the hartebeest skin!" Another child said: "The hartebeest skin pulled at me."

Her elder sister said: "It does seem that the hartebeest has not a wound from the people who shot it; for, the hartebeest appears to have died of itself. Although the hartebeest is fat, (yet) the hartebeest has no shooting wound."

Her elder sister cut off a shoulder of the hartebeest, and put it down (on a bush). The hartebeest's shoulder arose by itself, it sat down nicely (on the other side of the bush), while it placed itself nicely. She (then) cut off a thigh of the hartebeest, and put it down (on a bush); it placed itself nicely on the bush. She cut off another shoulder of the hartebeest, and put it upon (another) bush. It arose, and sat upon a soft (portion of the) bush; as it felt that the bush (upon which the child had laid it) pricked it.

Another elder sister cut off the other thigh of the hartebeest. They spoke thus: "This hartebeest's flesh does move;[1] that must be why it shrinks away."

They arrange their burdens; one says to the other: "Cut and break off the hartebeest's neck, so that (thy) younger sister may carry the hartebeest's head, for, (thy) yonder sitting elder sister, she shall carry the hartebeest's back, she who is a big girl. For, we must carrying return (home); for, we came (and) cut up this hartebeest. Its flesh moves;

[1. The children truly thought that the hartebeest's flesh moved. The hartebeest's flesh seemed as if it was not hartebeest; for, the hartebeest's flesh was like a man's flesh, it moved.

(As regards) a man's flesh, when another man shoots him, the poison enters the body. The people cutting break away his flesh, while they cutting take away the mouth of the poisonous wound. The people set aside the man's flesh; it remains quivering, while the other part of the flesh moves (quivers) in his body,-that (flesh) which he sits in (literally "which he possesses sitting"),that which the people cutting broke. This it is which moves in the (cut out) wound's mouth, while the flesh feels that the flesh is warm. Therefore, the flesh moves, as (while) the flesh (feels that the flesh) is alive; hence it is warm. As (while) the man (feels that he) warms himself at the fire, all his flesh is warm, while it (feels that it) lives. The thing (reason) on account of which he really dies is that his flesh feels cool. While it feels that it is cold, his flesh becomes very cold. This is the reason why his flesh dies.]

its flesh snatches itself out of our hand. |atta![1] it of itself places itself nicely."

They take up the flesh of the Mantis; they say to the child: "Carry the hartebeest's head, that father may put it to roast for you." The child slung on the hartebeest's head, she called to her sisters "Taking hold help me up;[2] this hartebeest's head is not light." Her sisters taking hold of her help her up.

They go away, they return (home). The hartebeest's head slips downwards, because the Mantis's head wishes to stand on the ground. The child lifts it up (with her shoulders), the hartebeest's head (by turning a little) removes the thong from the hartebeest's eye. The hartebeest's head was whispering, it whispering said to the child: "O child! the thong is standing in front of my eye. Take away for me the thong; the thong is shutting my eye." The child looked behind her; the Mantis winked at the child. The child whimpered; her elder sister looked back at her. Her elder sister called to her: "Come forward quickly; we return (home)."

The child exclaimed: "This hartebeest's head is able to speak." Her elder sister scolded her: "Lying come forward; we go. Art thou not coming deceiving (us) about the hartebeest's head?"

The child said to her elder sister: "The hartebeest has winked at me with the hartebeest's eye; the hartebeest desired that I should take away the thong

[1. This seems to be an exclamation, the meaning of which is not yet known to the editor.

2. The child lay upon her back upon the hartebeest's head.]

from his eye. Thus it was that the hartebeest's head lay looking behind my back."

The child looked back at the hartebeest's head, the hartebeest opened and shut its eyes. The child said to her elder sister: "The hartebeest's head must be alive, for it is opening and shutting its eyes."

The child, walking on, unloosened the thong; the child let fall the hartebeest's head. The Mantis scolded the child, he complained about his head. He scolded the child: "Oh! oh! my head![1] Oh! bad little person![2] hurting me in my head."

Her sisters let fall the flesh of the Mantis. The flesh of the Mantis sprang together, it quickly joined itself to the lower part of the Mantis's back. The head of the Mantis quickly joined (itself) upon the top of the neck of the Mantis. The neck of the Mantis quickly joined (itself) upon the upper part of the Mantis's spine. The upper part of the Mantis's spine joined itself to the Mantis's back. The thigh of the Mantis sprang forward,.[3] it joined itself to the Mantis's back. His other thigh ran forward, racing it joined itself to the other side of the Mantis's back. The chest of the Mantis ran forward, it joined itself to the front side of the upper part of the Mantis's spine. The shoulder blade of the Mantis ran forward, it joined itself on to the ribs of the Mantis.

[1. He was merely complaining about his head.

2 Mantis pronunciation of |nu!kui@ua wwe. The cursing of the Flat Bushmen. When a Flat Bushman is angry with another, then it is that he is wont to say |nu!kui, resembling |nussa!e (the name by which the Flat Bushmen call the Grass Bushmen), for the other one's name. When he loves another person he is wont to say 'mate'; lie is wont to say 'brother' when they love each other.

3. The Mantis's thigh sprang forward like a frog.]

The other shoulder blade of the Mantis ran forward, while it felt that the ribs of the Mantis had joined themselves on, when they raced.

The children still ran on; he (the Mantis, arose from the ground and) ran, while be chased the children,-he being whole,-his head being round,while he felt that he was a man.[1] Therefore, he was stepping along with (his) shoes, while he jogged with his shoulder blade.[2]

He saw that the children had reached home; he quickly turned about, be, jogging with his shoulder blade, descended to the river. He went along the river bed, making a noise as he stepped in the soft sand; he yonder went quickly out of the river bed. He returned, coming out at a different side of the house (ie. his own house) he returned, passing in front of the house.

The children said: "We have been (and) seen a hartebeest which was dead. That hartebeest, it was the one which we cut up with stone knives; its flesh quivered. The hartebeest's flesh quickly snatched itself out of our hands. It by itself was placing itself nicely upon bushes which were comfortable; while the hartebeest felt that the hartebeest's head would go along whispering. While the child who sits (there) carried it, it talking stood behind the child's back."

The child said to her father "O papa! Dost thou seem to think that the hartebeest's head did not talk to me? For the hartebeest's head felt that it would be looking at my hole above the nape of the

[1. He became a man while he was putting himself together again.

2. With his left shoulder blade, he being a left-handed man.]

neck, as I went along; and then it was that the hartebeest's head told me that I should take away for him the thong from his eye. For, the thong lay in front of his eye."

Her father said to them: "Have you been and cut up the old man, the Mantis, while he lay pretending to be dead in front of you?"

The children said: "We thought that the hartebeest's horns were there, the hartebeest had hair. The hartebeest was one which had not an arrow's wound; while the hartebeest felt that the hartebeest would talk. Therefore, the hartebeest came and chased us, when we bad put down the hartebeest's flesh. The hartebeest's flesh jumped together, while it springing gathered (itself) together, that it might mend, that it might mending hold together to the hartebeest's back. The hartebeest's back also joined on.

"Therefore, the hartebeest ran forward, while his body was red, when he had no hair (that coat of hair in which he had been lying down), as he ran, swinging his arm like a man.

"And when he saw that we reached the house, he whisked round, He ran, kicking up his heels (showing the white soles of his shoes), while running went before the wind, while the sun shone upon his feet's face (soles), while he ran with -all his might into the little river (bed), that he might pass behind the back of the hill lying yonder."

Tlieir parents said to the children You are those who went and cut up the old man 'Tinderbox Owner.' He, there behind, was one who gently came out from the place there behind."

The children said to their fathers: "He has gone round, he ran fast. He always seems as if he would come over the little hill lying yonder when he sees that we are just reaching home. While this little daughter, she was the one to whom the hartebeest's head, going along, talked; and then she told us. Therefore, we let fall the hartebeest's flesh; we laid our karosses on our shoulders, that we might run very fast.

"While its flesh running came together on its back, it finished mending itself. He arose and ran forward, he, quickly moving his arms, chased us. Therefore, we did thus, we became tired from it, on account of the running with which he had chased us, whil e he did verily move his arms fast.

"Then he descended into the small river,-while he thought that he would, moving his arms fast, run along the small river. Then he thus did, he, picking up wood, came out; while we sat, feeling the fatigue; because he had been deceiving. While he felt that all the people saw him, when we came carrying his thighs, when he went to die lying in front of us; while he wished that we should feel this fatigue, while this child here, it carried his head,he looked up with fixed eyes. He was as if he was dead; he was (afterwards) opening and shutting his eyes; he afar lay talking (while the children were running off). He talked while be mended his body; his head talked, while he mended his body. His head talking reached his back; it came to join upon the top (of his neck).

"He ran forward; lie yonder will sit deceiving,(at home), while we did cut him up with stone knives (splinters). |a-tta! he went feigning death to lie in front of us, that we might do so, we run.

"This fatigue, it is that which we are feeling; and our hearts burnt on account of it. Therefore, we shall not hunt (for food), for we shall altogether remain at home."

!GAUNU-TSAXAU (THE SON OF THE MANTIS), THE BABOONS, AND THE MANTIS.

!gaunu-tsaxau [1] formerly went to fetch for his father sticks, that his father might take aim at the people who sit upon (their) heels. Fetching, he went up to them (the baboons) as they were going along feeding. Therefore, a baboon who feeding went past him,-he who was an older baboon,-he was the one to whom !gaunu-tsaxau came. Then he questioned !gaunu-tsaxau. And !gaunu-tsaxau told him about it, that he must fetch for his father sticks, that his father might take aim at the people who sit upon (their) heels. Therefore, he (the baboon) exclaimed [2] "Hie! Come to listen to this child." And the other one said:

"First going
I listen,
To the child yonder.
First going
I listen,
To the child yonder."

[1 !gaunu-tsaxau was a son of the Mantis.

2. I must (the narrator here explained) speak in my language, because I feel that the speech of the baboons is not easy."]

And he reached them. He said: "What does this child say?" And the child said: "I must fetch for my father sticks (bushes?), that my father may take aim at the people who sit upon (their) heels." Then the baboon said: "Tell the old man yonder that he must come to hear this child." Then the baboon called out: "Hie! Come to hear this child." Then the other one said:

First going
I listen,
To the child yonder."

And he came up (to them); he exclaimed: " What does this child say? " And the other one answered: "This child, he wishes, he says, to fetch sticks for his father, that his father may take aim at the people who sit upon (their) heels." And this baboon said: "Tell the old man yonder that he must come to hear this child." Then this (other) baboon called out: "O person passing across in front! come to listen to this child." Therefore, the other one said:

First going
I listen,
To the child yonder."

And he came up (to them). He said: "What does this child say?" And the other one answered: "This child wants, he says, to fetch sticks [1] for his father, that his father may take aim at the people who sit upon (their) heels." Therefore, this baboon

[1. In a paper entitled "A Glimpse into the Mythology of the Maluti Bushmen," which appeared in the Cape Monthly Magazine for July, 1874, written by Mr. J. M. Orpen. (at that time Chief Magistrate, St. John's Territory), we find, on p. 8, that the Mantis sent one of his sons to cut sticks to make bows, and that he was caught and killed by the baboons.]

exclaimed It is ourselves! Thou shalt tell the old man yonder that he sball come to listen to this child." Therefore, this other baboon called out: "Ho! come to listen to this child." Then the other one said:

First going
I listen,
To the child yonder."

He came up to the other people on account of it. He said: "What does this child say?" And the other one answered: "This child, he wants, he says, to fetch[1] sticks for his father, that his father may take aim at the people who sit upon (their) heels." Therefore, this baboon exclaimed (with a sneering kind of laugh): "O ho! It is ourselves! Thou shalt quiekly go to tell the old man yonder, that he may come to listen to this child." And the other one called out: "O person passing across in front! come to listen to this child." And the other said:

First going
I listen,
To the child yonder."

And he went up to the other people; he said: "What does this child say?" And the other one answered: "This child, he wants, he says, to fetch sticks for his father, that his father may take aim at the people who sit upon their heels."

Then that baboon,-he felt that he was an old

[1. Note by the narrator. He had sent his son, that his son should go to construct things for him. I think that they were sticks (bushes?). He wished his son to go (and) make them for him, that he might come (and) work them, in order that he might make war upon the baboons.]

baboon -therefore) he said, when the other one had said, "This child wanted, he said, to fetch sticks for his father," therefore the other one (the old baboon) exclaimed: "What? it is we ourselves; ourselves it is! Ye shall strike the child with your fists."

Therefore, they were striking !gaunu-tsaxau with their fists on account of it; they hit with their fists, breaking (his) head. And another struck with his fist, knocking out !gaunu-tsaxau's eye, the and the child's eye in this manner sprang (or rolled) away. Then this baboon exclaimed: "My ball! my ball! "Therefore, they began to play a game at ball,[2] while the child died; the child lay still. They said (sang):

And I want it,
Whose ball is it?
And I want it,
Whose ball is it?
And I want it."

The other people said:

My companion's ball it is,
And I want it,
My companion's ball it is,
And I want it,"

while they were playing at ball there with the child's eye.

The Mantis was waiting for the child. Therefore, the Mantis lay down at noon. Therefore, the Mantis

[1 (They) were playing at ball.

My ball,
My ball it is,
And I want it.
My companion's ball it is,
And I want it,
My companion's ball,
And I want it."]

was dreaming about the child, that the baboons were those who had killed the child; that they had made a ball of the child's eye; that he went to the baboons, while the baboons played at ball there with the child's eye.

Therefore, he arose; he took up the quiver, he slung on the quiver; be said, "Rattling along,[1] rattling along," while he felt that he used formerly -to do so, he used to say, Rattling along." Then, when he came into sight. he perceived the baboons' dust, while the baboons were playing at ball there with the child's eye. Then the Mantis cried on account of it, because the baboons appeared really to have killed the child. Therefore, they were playing at ball there with the child's eye. Therefore, when he came into sight, he perceived the baboons' dust, while the baboons were playing at ball there with the child's eye. Therefore he cried about it. And he quickly shut his mouth; he thoroughly dried the tears from his eyes, while he desired that the baboons should not perceive tears in his eyes; that he appeared to have come crying, hence tears were in his eyes; so that he might go to play at ball with the baboons, while his eyes had no tears in them.

Then he, running, came up to the baboons, while the baboons stared at him, because they were startled at him.[2] Then, while the baboons were still staring at him, he came running to a place where he

[1 The arrows they were, the arrows which were in the quiver; they made a rattling noise, because they stirred inside (it). Therefore, he said, "Rattling along, rattling along."

2. They were not in the habit of seeing him; therefore they stared at him.]

laid down the quiver; he took off (his) kaross (i.e. skin cloak), he put down the kaross, he, grasping, drew out the feather brush which he had put into the bag, he shook out the brush, he played with (?) the ball. He called out to the baboons, why was it that the baboons were staring at him, while the baboons did not play with (?) the ball, that the baboons might throw it to him.

Then the baboons looked at one another, because they suspected why he spoke thus. Then he caught hold of the ball, when the ball had merely flown to another baboon, when this (the first) baboon had thrown the ball to the other. Then the child's eye, because the child's eye felt that it was startled (?), on account of his father's scent, it went playing about; the baboons trying to get it, missed it. Then one baboon, he was the one who caught hold of it, he threw it towards another. Then the Mantis merely sprang out from this place, the Mantis caught hold of the child's eye, the Mantis, snatching, took the child's eye. Then the Mantis whirled around the child's eye; he anointed the child's eye with (the perspiration of) his armpits. Then he threw the child's eye towards the baboons, the child's eye ascended, the child's eye went about in the sky; the baboons beheld it above, as it played about above in the sky. And the child's eye went to stand yonder opposite to the quiver; it appeared as if it sprang over the quiver, while it stood inside the quiver's bag.[1]

[1. He tied, placing a little bag at the side of the quiver; therefore it is the quiver's bag; while it feels that it is a little bag which is tied at the side of the quiver; he had laid the bow upon it; it was the one that he tied, placing it by the side of the quiver. That bag, it was the one that the child's eye was in. That bag, it was the one that he laid the bow upon.]

Then the baboons went to seek for it. The Mantis also sought for it, while the baboons sought for it. Then all the baboons were altogether seeking for the child's eye. They said: "Give my companion the ball."[1] The baboon whose ball it was, he said: "Give me the ball."[2] The Mantis said: "Behold ye! I have not got the ball." The baboons said: "Give my companion the ball." The baboon whose ball it was, he said: "Give me the ball." Then the baboons[3] said that the Mantis must shake the bag, for the ball seemed to be inside the bag. And the Mantis exclaimed: "Behold ye! Behold ye! the ball is not inside the bag. Behold ye!" while he grasped the child's eye, he shook, turning the bag inside out. He said: "Behold ye! Behold ye! the ball cannot be inside the bag."

Then this baboon exclaimed: " Hit the old man with (your) fists." Then the other one exclaimed: "Give my companion the ball! "while he struck the head of the Mantis. Then the Mantis exclaimed: "I have not got the ball," while he struck the baboon's head. Therefore, they were all striking the Mantis with their fists; the Mantis was striking them with his fist. Then the Mantis got the worst of it; the Mantis exclaimed: "Ow! Hartebeest's Children![4] ye must go! !kau

[1. "Give my companion the ball."

2. "Give me the ball."

3. It is uncertain whether this should be singular or plural here.

4. "Hartebeest's Children," here, may refer to a bag made from the skin of young hartebeests, which the Mantis had with him.]

!Yerriggu![1] ye must go!" while the baboons watched him ascend; as he flew up, as he flew to the water. Then he popped into the water on account of it; while he exclaimed: "I |ke, tten !khwaiten!khwaiten, !kui ha i |ka!"[2] "Then he walked out of the water; he sat down; he felt inside (his) bag; he took out the child's eye; he walked on as he held it; he walked, coming up to the grass at the top of the water's bank[3]; he sat down. He exclaimed: "Oh wwi ho!"[4] as he put the child's eye into the water.

"Thou must grow out, that thou mayest become like that which thou hast been."[5] "Then he walked on; he went to take up (his) kaross, he threw it over his shoulder; be took up the quiver, he slung on the quiver; and, in this manner, he returning went, while he returning arrived at home.

Then the young Ichneumon exclaimed: "Who can have done thus to my grandfather, the Mantis, that the Mantis is covered with wounds? "Then the Mantis replied: "The baboons were those who killed grandson, !gaunu-tsaxau; I went [the Mantis speaks very sadly and slowly here], as they were

[1. The meaning of !kau !Yerri-ggu is at present unknown to the translator, but the Mantis is still addressing some of his possessions, and ordering them to leave the scene of his defeat.

2. Of these words of the Mantis (which frequently appear in stories concerning him) the narrators were not able to furnish a sufficiently clear explanation, so the original text is given.

3. It is grass; the grass which stands upon the top of the water's bank; it is that which the Bushmen call |kannung-a-sse.

4. At the same time, putting the first finger of his right hand into his mouth, against his left cheek, and drawing it forcibly out; the eye being meanwhile in the palm of his right hand, shut down by his other fingers.

5 He desired that the child should live; that it should living return.]

playing at ball there with grandson's eye; I went to play at ball with them. Then grandson's eye vanished. Therefore, the baboons said (that) I was the one who had it; the baboons were fighting me; therefore, I was fighting them; and I thus did, I flying came."

Then |kuammang-a said: "I desire thee to say to grandfather, Why is it that grandfather continues to go among strangers [literally, people who are different]?" Then the Mantis answered: "Thou dost appear to think that yearning was not that on account of which I went among the baboons; "while he did not tell |kuammang-a and the others that he came (and) put the child's eye into the water.

Then he remained there (i.e. at home), while he did not go to the water. Then he went there, while he went to look at the place where he had put in the child's eye. And he approached gently, while he wished that he might not make a rustling noise. Therefore, he gently came. And the child heard him, because he had not come gently when afar off; and the child jumped up, it splashed into the water. Then the Mantis was laughing about it, while his heart yearned (for the child). And he returned; altogether returned.

Then the child grew; it became like that which it had (formerly) been. Then the Mantis came; while he came to look; and be in this manner walking came. While he came walking and looking, he espied the child, as the child was sitting in the sun. Then the child heard him, as be came rustling (along); the child sprang up, the child entered the water. And he looking stood, he went back. he went; he went to make for the child a front kaross (or apron), that and a ||koroko.[1] He put the things aside; then he put the front kaross (into a bag), that and the ||koroko; he in this manner went; he in this manner came he approached gently. And, as he approached gently, he espied the child lying in the sun, as the child lay yonder, in the sun, opposite the water. Therefore, he gently came up to the child. And the child heard him, as his father gently came. And the Mantis, when the child intended to get up, the Mantis sprang forward, he caught hold of the child. And he anointed the child with his scent; he anointed the child; be said: "Why art thou afraid of me? I am thy father; I who am the Mantis, I am here; thou art my son, thou art !gaunu-tsaxau; I am the Mantis, I whose son thou art; the father is myself." And the child sat down, on account of it; and he took out the front kaross, he took out the ||koroko. He put the front kaross on to the child; he put the ||koroko on to the child; he put the front kaross on to the child. Then he took the child with him; they, in this manner, returning went; they returning arrived at home.

Then the young Ichneumon exclaimed: "What person can it be who comes with the Mantis?" And |kuammang-a replied: "Hast thou not just(?) heard that grandfather said he had gone to the baboons, while they were playing at ball there with the child's eye? while grandfather must have been playing before us; his son comes yonder with him! "And they returned, reaching the house. Then the young Ichneumon spoke; he said: "Why did my grandfather, the Mantis, first say that the

[1. Another article for the child to wear.]

baboons were those who killed the child, while the child is here Then the Mantis said: Hast thou not seen (that) he is not strong? while he feels that I came to put his eye into the water; while I wished that I might see whether the thing would not accomplish itself for me; therefore, I came to put his eye into the water. He came out of the water; therefore, thou seest (that) he is not strong. Therefore, I wished that I might wait, taking care of him; that I may see whether he will not become strong."

THE STORY OF THE LEOPARD TORTOISE.[1]

The people had gone hunting: she was ill; and she perceived a man [2] who came up to her hut; he had been hunting around.

She asked the man to rub her neck a little with fat for her; for, it ached. The man rubbed it with fat for her. And she altogether held the man firmly with it.[3] The man's hands altogether decayed away in it. [4]

Again, she espied another man, who came hunting. And she also spoke, she said.: "Rub me with fat a little."

And the man whose hands had decayed away in

[1. Testudo pardalis.

2. The narrator explains that this misfortune happened to men of the Early Race.

3. By drawing in her neck.

4. The flesh decayed away and came off, as well as the skin and nails, leaving, the narrator says, merely the bones.]

her neck, he was hiding his hands,[1] so that the other man should not perceive them, namely, that they had decayed away in it. And he said: "Yes; O my mate! rub our elder sister a little with fat; for, the moon has been cut,[2] while our elder sister lies ill. Thou shalt also rub our elder sister with fat." He was hiding his hands, so that the other one should not perceive them.

The Leopard Tortoise said Rubbing with fat, put (thy hands) into my neck. And he, rubbing with fat, put in his hands upon the Leopard Tortoise's neck; and the Leopard Tortoise drew in her head upon her neck; while his hands were altogether in her neck; and he dashed the Leopard Tortoise upon the ground, on account of it; while he desired, he thought, that he should, by dashing (it) upon the ground, break the Leopard Tortoise. And the Leopard Tortoise held him fast.

The other one had taken out his bands (from behind his back); and he exclaimed: "Feel (thou) that which I did also feel! " and he showed the other one his hands; and the other one's hands were altogether inside the Leopard Tortoise's neck. And he arose, he returned home. And the other one was dashing the Leopard Tortoise upon the ground; while he returning went; and he said that the other, one also felt what he had felt. A pleasant thing

[1. He sat, putting his hands behind him, when the other man came, taking them out from the Leopard Tortise's neck.

2. The moon 'died', and another moon came, while she still lay ill, the narrator explains. "Whilst in the preceeding myths of the Mantis, the Moon, according to its origin, is only a piece of leather (a shoe of the Mantis),-in Bushman astrological mythology the Moon is looked upon as a man who incurrs the wrath of the Sun, and is consequently pierced by the knife (i.e rays) of the latter. This process is repeated until almost the whole of the Moon is cut away, and only one little piece left; which the Moon piteously implores the Sun to spare for his (the Moon's) children. (As mentioned above, the Moon is in Bushman mythology a male being.) From this little piece, the Moon gradually grows again until it becomes a full moon, when the Sun's stabbing and cutting processes recommence." ("A Brief Account of Bushman Folk-lore and other Texts." By W.H.I. Bleek, Ph.D. Cape Town, 1875. p. 9, §16.)]

(it) was not, in which he had been! He yonder returning went; (he) arrived at home.

The people exclaimed: "Where hast thou been? And he, answering, said that the Leopard Tortoise had been the one in whose neck his hands had been; that was why he had not returned home, The people said: "Art thou a fool? Did not (thy) parents instruct thee? The Leopard Tortoise always seems as if she would die; while she is deceiving us."

II. Sun and Moon.

THE CHILDREN ARE SENT TO THROW THE SLEEPING SUN INTO THE SKY.

The children were those who approached geutly to lift up the Sun-armpit, while the Sun-armpit lay sleeping.

The children felt that their mother was the one who spoke; therefore, the children went to the Sun; while the Sun shone, at the place where the Sun lay, sleeping lay.

Another old woman was the one who talked to the other about it; therefore, the other one spoke to the other one's children.[1] The other old woman said to the other, that, the other one's children should approach gently to lift up the Sun-armpit, that they should throw up the Sun-armpit, that the Bushman rice might become dry for them, that the Sun might make bright the whole place; while the Sun felt that the Sun went (along), it went over the whole sky, it made all places bright; therefore, it made all the ground bright; while it felt that the children were those who had coaxed (?) him; because an old woman was the one who spoke to the other about it, therefore, the other one said: "O children! ye must wait for the Sun, that the Sun may lie down to sleep, for, we are cold. Ye shall gently approach to lift

[1. Another old woman was the one who said to the other, that the other should tell the other one's children; for, she (herself) had no young male children; for, the other was the one who had young male children who were clever, those who would understand nicely, when they went to that old man.]

him up, while he lies asleep; ye shall take hold of him, all together, all together ye lift him up, that ye may throw him up into the sky." They, in this manner, spoke; the old woman, in this manner, she spoke to the other; therefore, the other in this manner spoke to her, she also, in this manner, spoke to her children. The other said to her: "This (is the) story which I tell thee, ye must wait for the Sun."

The children came, the children went away; the old woman said: "Ye must go to sit down, when ye have looked at him, (to see) whether he lies looking; ye must go to sit down, while ye wait for him." Therefore, the children went to sit down, while the children waited for him; he lay down, he lifted up his elbow, his armpit shone upon the ground, as he lay. Therefore, the children threw him up into the sky, -while they felt that the old woman had spoken to them. The old woman said to the children: "O children going yonder! ye must speak to him, when ye throw him -up." The old woman said to the children: "O children going yonder! ye must tell him, that, he must altogether become the Sun, that he may go forward, while he feels that he is altogether the Sun, which is hot; therefore, the Bushman rice becomes dry, while he is hot, passing along in the sky; he is hot, while he stands above in the sky."

The old woman was the one who told the children about it, while she felt that her head was white; the children were listening to her, they were listening to their mamma, their mothex; their mother told them about it, that which the old woman in this manner said. Therefore, they thought in this manner. Therefore, they went to sit down. An older child spoke to another, therefore, they went to sit down, while they waited for him (the Sun), they went to sit down.

They arose, going on, they stealthily approached him, they stood still, they looked at him, they went forward; they stealthily reached him, they took hold of him) they all took hold of him together, lifted him up, they raised him, while he felt hot. Then, they threw him up, while he felt hot; they spoke to him while he felt hot: "O Sun! thou must altogether stand fast, thou must go along, thou must stand fast) while thou art hot."

The old woman said (that) they seemed to have thrown him up, he seemed to be standing fast above. They thus spoke, they in this manner spoke. Her (apparently the mother's) husband said: "The Suns' armpit is standing fast above yonder, he whom the children have thrown up; he lay, he intended to sleep; therefore, the children have thrown him up."

The children returned. Then, the children came (and) said: " (Our) companion who is here, he took hold of him, I also was taking hold of him; my younger brother was taking hold of him, my other younger brother was also taking bold of him; (our) companion who is here, his other younger brother was also taking hold of him. I said: 'Ye must grasp him firmly.' I, in this manner, spoke; I said: 'Throw ye him up!' Then, the children threw him up. I said to the children: 'Grasp ye the old man firmly!' I said to the children: 'Throw ye up the old man!' Then, the children threw up the old man; that old man, the Sun; while they felt that the old woman was the one who spoke."

An older child spoke, while he felt that he was a youth; the other also was a youth, they were young men (?), they went to throw up the Sun-armpit. They came to speak, the youth spoke, the youth talked to his grandmother: "O my grandmother! we threw him up, we told him, that, he should altogether become the Sun, which is hot; for, we are cold. We said: 'O my grandfather, Sun-armpit! Remain (at that) place; become thou the Sun which is hot; that the Bushman rice may dry for us; that thou mayst make the whole earth light; that the whole earth may become warm in the summer; that thou mayst altogether make heat. Therefore, thou must altogether shine, taking away the darkness; thou must come, the darkness go away.'"

The Sun comes, the darkness goes away, the Sun comes, the Sun sets, the darkness comes, the moon comes at night. The day breaks, the Sun comes out, the darkness goes away, the Sun comes. The moon comes out, the moon brightens the darkness, the darkness departs; the moon comes out, the moon shines, taking away the darkness; it goes along, it has made bright the darkness, it sets. The Sun comes out, the Sun follows (drives away?) the darkness, the Sun takes away the moon, the moon stands, the Sun pierces it, with the Sun's knife, as it stands; therefore, it decays away on account of it. Therefore, it says: "O Sun! leave for the children the backbone!" Therefore, the Sun leaves the backbone for the children; the Sun does so. Therefore, the Sun says that the Sun will leave the backbone for the children, while the Sun assents to him; the Sun leaves the backbone for the children; therefore, the moon painfully goes away, he painfully returns home, while he painfully goes along; therefore, the Sun desists, while he feels that the Sun has left for the children the backbone, while the Sun assents to him; therefore, the Sun leaves the backbone; while the Sun feels that the Sun assents to him; therefore, the Sun desists on account of it; he (the moon) painfully goes away, he painfully returns home; he again, he goes to become another moon, which is whole; he again, be lives; he again, be lives, while he feels that he had seemed to die. Therefore, he becomes a new moon; while he feels that he has again put on a stomach; he becomes large; while he feels that he is a moon which is whole; therefore, he is large; he comes, while he is alive. He goes along at night, he feels that he is the moon which goes by night, while he feels that he is a shoe[1]; therefore, he walks in the night.

The Sun is here, all the earth is bright; the Sun is here, the people walk while the place is light, the earth is light; the people perceive the bushes, they see the other people; they see the meat, which they are eating; they also see the springbok, they also head the springbok, in summer; they also head the ostrich, while they feel that the Sun shines; they also head the ostrich in summer; they are shooting the springbok in summer, while they feel that the Sun shines, they see the springbok; they also steal up to the gemsbok; they also steal up to the kudu, while they feel that the whole place is bright; they also visit each other, while they feel that the Sun shines, the earth also is bright, the Sun shines upon the path. They also travel in summer; they

[1. The Mantis formerly, when inconvenienced by darkness, took off one of his shoes and threw it into the sky, ordering it to become the Moon.]

are shooting in summer; they hunt in summer; they espy the springbok in summer; they go round to head the springbok; they lie down; they feel that they lie in a little house of bushes; they scratch up the earth in the little house of bushes, they lie down, while the springbok come.

The second version of the preceeding myth, which is unfortunately too long to be conveniently included in the present volume, contains a few interesting notes, furnished by the narrator, ||kabbo ("Dream"), which are given below. ||kabbo further explained that the Sun was a man; but, not one of the early race of people who preceded the Flat Bushmen in their country. He only gave forth brightness for a space around his own dwelling. Before the children threw him up, he had not been in the sky, but, had lived at his own house, on earth. As his shining had been confined to a certain space at, and round his own dwelling, the rest of the country seemed as if the sky were very cloudy; as it looks now, when the Sun is behind thick clouds. The sky was black (dark?). Thee shining came from one of the Sun's armpits, as he lay with one arm lifted up. When he put down his arm, darkness fell everywhere; when he lifted it up again, it was as if day came. In the day, the Sun's light used to be white; but, at night, it was red, like a fire. When the Sun was thrown up into the sky it became round, and never was a man afterwards.

The First Bushmen[1] were those who first inhabited the earth. Therefore, their children were those who worked with the Sun. Therefore, the people who [later] inhabited their country, are those who say that the children worked, making the Sun to ascend, while they felt that their mothers had agreed together that they should throw up, for them, the Sun; that the Sun might warm the earth for them; that they-might feel the Sun's warmth, that they might be able to sit in the Sun.

[1. The men of the early race.]

When the first Bushmen had passed away, the Flat Bushmen inhabited their ground. Therefore, the Flat Bushmen taught their children about the stories of the First Bushmen.

The Sun had been a man, he talked; they all talked, also the other one, the Moon. Therefore, they used to live upon the earth; while they felt that they spoke. They do not talk, now that they live in the sky.

THE ORIGIN OF DEATH; PRECEDED BY A PRAYER ADDRESSED TO THE YOUNG MOON.

We, when the Moon has newly returned alive, when another person has shown us the Moon, we look towards the place at which the other has shown us the Moon, and, when we look thither, we perceive the Moon, and when we perceive it, we shut our eyes with our hands, we exclaim: "!kabbi-a yonder! Take my face yonder! Thou shalt give me thy face yonder! Thou shalt take my face yonder! That which does not feel pleasant. Thou shalt give me thy face,-(with) which thou, when thou hast died, thou dost again, living return, when we did not perceive thee, thou dost again lying down come,-that I may also resemble thee. For, the joy yonder, thou dost always possess it yonder, that is, that thou art wont again to return alive, when we did not perceive thee; while the hare told thee about it, that thou shouldst do thus. Thou didst formerly say, that we should also again return alive, when we died."

The hare was the one who thus did. He spoke, he said, that he would not be silent, for, his mother would not again living return; for his mother was altogether dead. Therefore, he would cry greatly for his mother.

The Moon replying, said to the hare about it that the hare should leave off crying; for, his mother was not altogether dead. For, his mother meant that she would again living return. The hare replying, said that he was not willing to be silent; for, he know that his mother would not again return alive. For, she was altogether dead.

And the Moon became angry about it, that the hare[1] spoke thus, while he did not assent to him (the Moon). And he hit with his fist, cleaving the hare's mouth; and while he hit the hare's mouth with his fist, he exclaimed: "This person, his mouth which is here, his mouth shall altogether be like this, even -when he is a hare;[2] he shall always bear a scar on his niouth; he shall spring away, he shall do-doubling (?) come back. The dogs shall chase him; they shall, when they have caught him, they shall grasping tear him to pieces,[3] he shall altogether die.

"And they who are men, they shall altogether dying go away, when they die.[4] For, he was not

[1. It was a young male hare, the narrator explained.

2. The hare had also been a person; but, the Moon cursed him, ordering that he should altogether become a hare.

3. Or, bite, tearing him to pieces.

4. The people shall, when they die, they shall altogether dying go away; while they do not again living return. For the hare was the one who thus spoke; he said that his mother would not again living return.]

willing to agree with me, when I told him about it, that he should not cry for his mother; for, his mother would again live; he said to me, that, his mother would not again living return. Therefore, he shall altogether become a hare. And the people, they shall altogether die. For, he was the one who said that his mother would not again living return. I said to him about it, that they (the people) should also be like me; that which I do; that I, when I am dead, I again living return. He contradicted me, when I had told him about it."

Therefore, our mothers said to me, that the hare was formerly a man; when he had acted in this manner, then it was that the Moon cursed him, that he should altogether become a hare. Our mothers told me, that, the hare has human flesh at his ||katten-ttu[1]; therefore, we, when we have killed a hare, when we intend to eat the hare, we take out the "biltong flesh"[2] yonder, which is human flesh, we leave it; while we feel that he who is the hare, his flesh it is not. For, flesh (belonging to) the time when he formerly was a man, it is.

Therefore, our mothers were not willing for us to eat that small piece of meat; while they felt that it is this piece of meat with which the hare was formerly a man. Our mothers said to us about it, did we not feel that our stomachs were uneasy if we

[1 The meaning of ||katten-ttu is not yet clear; and the endeavors tobotain a hare, that it might be exactly ascertained from the Bushmen which piece of meat was meant, were unsuccesful. The ttu at the end of the word shows that some sort of hollow of the human body is indicated.

Since these sheets have gone to press, Dr. J.N.W. Loubser, to whom I had applied for information regarding this particular piece of meat, was so good as to send me the following lines, accompanied by a diagram, which unfortunately it was already too late for me to include in the illustrations for this volume:-

"As regards the 'biltong flesh', I have often watched my mother cutting biltong, and know that each leg of beef contains really only one real biltong, i.e. the piece of flesh need not be cut into the usual oblong shape, bat has this a priori. In other words, it is a muscle of this form. From my anatomical knowledge I can only find it to correspond to the museulus bicelis femoris of the man. It will therefore be a muscle sitting rather high up the thigh (B of Figure)."

2 The narrator explained |kwaii to be "biltong flesh " (i.e., lean meat that can be cut into strips and sun-dried, making "biltong").]

ate that little piece of meat, while we felt that it was human flesh; it is not hare's flesh; for, flesh which is still in the hare it is; while it feels that the hare was formerly a man. Therefore, it is still in the hare; while the hare's doings are those on account of which the Moon cursed us; that we should altogether die. For, we should, when we died, we should have again living returned; the hare was the one who did not assent to the Moon, when the Moon was willing to talk to him about it; he contradicted the Moon.

Therefore, the Moon spoke, he said: "Ye who are people, ye shall, when ye die, altogether dying vanish away. For, I said, that, ye should, when ye died, ye should again arise, ye should not altogether die. For, I, when I am dead, I again living return. I had intended, that, ye who are men, ye should also resemble me (and) do the things that I do; that I do not altogether dying go away. Ye, who are men, are those who did this deed; therefore, I had thought that I (would) give you joy. The hare, when I intended to tell him about it,-while I felt that I knew that the hare's mother had not really died, for, she slept,-the hare was the one who said to me, that his mother did not sleep; for, his mother had altogether died. These were the things that I became angry about; while I had thought that the hare would say: 'Yes; my mother is asleep.'"

For, on account of these things, he (the Moon) became angry with the hare; that the hare should have spoken in this manner, while the hare did not say: " Yes, my mother lies sleeping; she will presently arise." If the hare had assented to the Moon, then, we who are people, we should have resembled the Moon; for, the Moon had formerly said, that we should not altogether die. The hare's doings were those on account of which the Moon cursed us, and we die altogether; on account of the story which the hare was the one who told him. That story is the one on account of which we altogether die (and) go away; on account of the hare's doings; when he was the one who did not assent to the Moon; when the Moon intended to tell him about it; he contradicted the Moon, when the Moon intended to tell him about it.

The Moon spoke, saying that he (the hare) should lie upon a bare place; vermin should be those who were biting him, at the place where he was lying; he should not inhabit the bushes; for, he should lie upon a bare place; while he did not lie under a tree. He should be lying upon a bare place. Therefore, the hare is used, when he springs up, he goes along shaking his head; while he shakes out, making to fall the vermin from his head, in which the vermin had been hanging; while he feels that the vermin hung abundantly in his head. Therefore, he shakes his head, so that the other vermin may fall out for him.

(This, among the different versions of the Moon and Hare story called "The Origin of Death", has been selected on account of the prayer to the young Moon with which it begins.)

THE MOON IS NOT TO BE LOOKED AT WHEN GAME HAS BEEIN SHOT.

We may not look at the Moon, when we have shot game; for, we look, lowering our head, while we do not look up, towards the sky; while we are afraid of the Moon's shining. It is that which we fear. For, our mothers used to tell us about it, that the Moon is not a good person, if we look at him.

For, if we look at him, when we have shot game, the beasts of prey will eat the game, when the game lies dying, if we look at the Moon. When the game does not die, the Moon's water is that which causes the game to live. For, our mothers used to tell us about it, that, the Moon's water yonder, (that) we see, which is on a bush, it resembles liquid honey. It is that which falls upon the game; the game arises, when it has fallen upon the game. It makes cool the poison with which we shot the game; and the game arises, it goes on, while it does not show signs of poison[1]; even if it had -appeared as if it would die. The Moon's water is that which cures it. And it lives, on account of it.

Therefore, our mothers did not wish us to be looking about, we should not look at the things which are in the sky; while our mothers used to tell us about it, that the Moon, if we had looked at him, the game which we had shot, would also go along like the Moon, Our mothers said to us about it, did we

[1. Literally, "make," or "become poison."]

not see the Moon's manner of going? he was not in the habit of going to a place near at hand, for, the day was used to break, while he was still going along. The game would also do the same, if we had looked at the Moon. The day would break, while the game was still going along; while it resembled the Moon, at which we had looked. Therefore, we feared to look at the Moon; while we felt that our mothers used to tell us about it, that the game would desire to take us away to a place where no water was. We could (?) go to die of thirst, while it, leading us astray, took us away to a place where no water was.

THE GIRL OF THE EARLY RACE, WHO MADE STARS.[1]

My mother was the one who told me that the girl arose; she put her hands into the wood ashes; she threw up the wood ashes into the sky. She said to the wood ashes: "The wood ashes which are here, they must altogether become the Milky Way. They must white lie along in the sky, that the stars may stand outside of the Milky Way, while the Milky Way is the Milky Way, while it used to be wood ashes." They (the ashes) altogether become the Milky Way. The Milky Way must go round with the stars; while the Milky Way feels that, the Milky Way lies going round; while the stars sail along; therefore, the Milky Way, lying, goes along with the stars. The Milky Way, when the Milky Way stands upon the earth, the Milky Way turns across in front, while the Milky Way means to wait(?), While the Milky Way feels that the Stars are turning back; while the Stars feel that the Sun is the one who has turned back; he is upon his path; the Stars turn back; while they go to fetch the daybreak; that they may lie nicely, while the Milky Way lies nicely. The Stars shall also stand nicely around.

[1. This girl is said to have been one of the people of the early race (!Xwe-|na-ssho-!ke) and the 'first' girl; and to have acted ill. She was finally shot by her husband. These !Xwe-|na-ssho-!ke are said to have been stupid, and not to have understood things well.]

They shall sail along upon their footprints, which they, always sailing along, are following. While they feel that, they are the Stars which descend.

The Milky Way lying comes to its place, to which the girl threw up the wood ashes, that it may descend nicely; it had lying gone along, while it felt that it lay upon the sky. It had lying gone round, while it felt that the Stars also turned round. They turning round passed over the sky. The sky lies (still); the Stars are those which go along; while they feel that they sail. They had been setting; they had, again, been coming out; they had, sailing along, been following their footprints. They become white, when the Sun comes out. The Sun sets, they stand around above; while they feel that they did turning follow the Sun.

The darkness comes out; they (the Stars) wax red, while they had at first been white. They feel that they stand brightly around; that they may sail along; while they feel that it is night. Then, the people go by night; while they feel that the ground is made light. While they feel that the Stars shine a little. Darkness is upon the ground. The Milky Way gently glows; while it feels that it is wood ashes. Therefore, it gently glows. While it feels that the girl was the one who said that the Milky Way should give a little light for the people, that they might return home by night, in the middle of the night. For, the earth would not have been a little light, bad not the Milky Way been there. It and the Stars.

The girl thought that she would throw up (into the air) roots of the !huing, in order that the !huing roots should become Stars; therefore, the Stars are red; while they feel that (they) are !huing roots.[1]

She first gently threw up wood ashes into the sky, that she might presently throw up !huing roots; while she felt that she was angry with her mother, because her mother had not given her many !huing roots, that she might eat abundantly; for, she was in the hut. She did not herself go out to seek food; that she might get(?) !huing for herself; that she might be bringing it (home) for herself; that she might eat; for, she was hungry; while she lay ill in the hut. Her mothers were those who went out. They were those who sought for food. They were 'bringing home !huing, that they might eat. She lay in her little hut, which her mother had made for her. Her stick stood there; because she did not yet dig out food. And, she was still in the hut. Her mother was the one who was bringing her food. That she might be eating, lying in the little hut; while her mother thought that she (the girl) did not eat the young men's game (ie. game killed by them). For, she ate the game of her father, who was an old man. While she thought that the hands of the young men would become cool. Then, the arrow would become cool. The arrow head which is at the top, it would be cold; while the arrow head felt that the bow was cold; while the bow felt that his

[1. She threw up a scented root (eaten by some Bushmen) called !huing, which became stars; the red (or old) !huing making red stars, the white or young !huing making white stars. This root is, ||kabbo says, eaten by baboons and also by the porcupine.

The same girl also made locusts, by throwing up into the sky the peel of the !kuissi [an edible root] which she was eating.

2. ||kabbo here explained that, when a girl has 'grown', she is put into a tiny hut, made by her mother, with a very small arpeture for the door; which her mother closes upon her. When she goes out, she looks upon the ground; and when she returns to the hut, she sits and looks down. She does not go far, or walk about at this time. When presently she becomes a, 'big girl', she is allowed to look about, and to look afar again; being, on the first occasion, allowed to look afar over her mother's hand. She leaves the small hut, when allowed to look about and around again; and she then walks about like the other women. During the time she is in retreat, she must not look at the springbok, lest they should become wild.]

(the young man's) hands were cold. While the girl thought of her saliva, which, eating, she had put into the springbok meat; this saliva would go into the bow, the inside of the bow would become cool; she, in this manner, thought. Therefore, she feared the young men's game. Her father was the one from whom she alone ate (game). While she felt that she had worked (i.e. treated) her father's hands: she had worked, taking away her saliva (from them).

THE GREAT STAR, !GAUNU, WHICH, SINGING, NAMED THE STARS.

!gaunu,[1] he was formerly a great Star; therefore, his name is !gaunu; while he feels that he was the one who formerly spoke (lit. "called") the Stars' names; while he feels that he is a great one. Therefore, be called the Stars' names. Therefore, the Stars possess their names; while they feel that !gaunu was the one who called their names. He formerly sang, while he uttered the Stars' names. He said "||Xwahai"[2] to (some) Stars which are very small; they are those of which be made ||Xwhai; their small, fine ones are those which are ||Xwhai.

[1. My (paternal) grandfather, |Xugen-ddi, was the one who told me star's stories."

2. The stars ||Xwahai |aiti and ||Xwhai-@pua were identified as "Altair" or "Alpha Aquilae", and "Gamma Aquilae", respectively, by the late Mr. George Maclear and Mr. Finlay of the Royal Observatory, on October 10, 1873, at Mowbray. ||Xwhai gwai was behind a tree and too low to be distinguished.]

Therefore, the porcupine, when these Stars have, sitting, turned back, he will not remain on the hunting ground; for, be knows that it is dawn, when ||Xwhai has, lying, turned back. He returns home; for, he is used to look at these Stars; they are those which he watches; while he feels that he knows that the dawn's Stars they are.

WHAT THE STARS SAY, AND A PRAYER TO A STAR.

They (the Bushmen) wish, that they may also perceive things.[1] Therefore, they say that the Star shall take their heart, with which they do not a little hunger; the Star shall give them the Star's heart, the Star's heart,-with which the Star sits in plenty. For the Star is not small; the Star seems as if it had food. Therefore, they say, that the Star shall give them of the Star's heart, that they may not hunger.

The Stars are wont to call, "Tsau! Tsau!" therefore the Bushmen are wont to say, that the Stars curse for them the springboks' eyes; the Stars say, "Tsau!" they say, "Tsau! Tsau!" I am one who was listening to them. I questioned my grandfather (Tsatsi), what things it could be that spoke thus. My grandfather said to me that the Stars were those who spoke thus. The Stars were those who said, Tsau! while they cursed for the people

[1. i.e. things which their dogs may kill.]

the springboks' eyes. Therefore, when I grew up, I was listening to them. The Stars said, "Tsau! Tsau!" Summer is (the time) when they sound.

Because I used to sleep with my grandfather, I was the one who sat with my grandfather, when he sat in the coolness outside. Therefore) I questioned him, about the things which spoke thus. He said, the Stars were those who spoke thus; they cursed for the people the springboks' eyes.[1]

My grandfather used to speak to Canopus, when Canopus had newly come out; he said: "Thou shalt give me thy heart, with which thou dost sit in plenty, thou shalt take my heart,-my heart,-with which I am desperately hungry. That I might also be full, like thee. For, I hunger. For, thou seemest to be satisfied (with food); hence thou art not small. For, I am hungry. Thou shalt give me thy stomach, with which thou art satisfied. Thou shalt take my stomach, that thou mayst also hunger. Give thou me also thy arm, thou shalt take my arm, with which I do not kill. For, I miss my aim. Thou shalt give me thy arm. For, my arm which is here, I miss my aim with it." He desired that the arrow might hit the springbok for him; hence, he wished the Star to give him the Star's arm, while the Star took his arm, with which he missed his aim.

He shut his mouth, he moved away, he sat down; while he felt that he wished to sit and sharpen an arrow.

[1. I think that it was all the springbok.]

!KO-G!NUING-TARA, WIFE OF THE DAWN'S-HEART STAR, JUPITER.

They sought for !haken,[1] they were digging out !haken. They went about, sifting !haken, while they were digging out !haken. And, when the larvæ of the, !haken were intending to go in (to the earth which was underneath the little hillock), they collected together, they sifted the larvæ of the !haken on the hunting ground.

And the hyena[2] took the blackened perspiration of her armpits, she put it into the !haken. And they[3] gave to !ko-g!nuing-tara of the !hagen. And !ko-g!nuing-tara exclaimed, she said to her younger sister: "Thou shalt leave this !haken alone; I will be the one who eats it. For, thou art the one who shalt take care of the child.[4] For, this !haken, its smell is not nice."

Therefore, as !ko-g!nuing-tara sat, eating the !haken,

[1. !haken resembles " rice " (i.e. " Bushman rice "); its larvæ are like (those of) "Bushman rice". !haken is a thing to eat; there is nothing as nice as it is, when it is fresh.

2. A female hyena.

3. The hyenas (it) was, with the jackals, the blue cranes (and) the black crows.

4. It was !ko-g!nuing-tara's child. The Dawn's-Heart was the one who buried the child away from his wife, under the !huing (a plant with a handsome green top, and little bulbous roots at the end of fibres in the ground. The roots are eaten by the Bushmen raw, and also roasted and made into meal, which is said to be excellent, |hang#kass'o thinks that the flower is red; but has not seen the plant since he was a child).]

the ornaments[1] (ie., earrings, bracelets, leglets, anklets) of themselves ) came off.[2] The kaross (skin cloak) also unloosened (itself), the kaross also sat down. The skin petticoat also unloosened (itself), the skin petticoat sat down. The shoes ilso unloosened (themselves). Therefore, she sprang up,.[3] she in this manner trotted away. Her younger sister, shrieking, followed her.[4] She went; she went into the reeds. She went to sit in the reeds.

Her younger sister exclaimed: "O !ko-g!nuing-tara! wilt thou not first allow the child to suck?" And she (the elder sister) said: "Thou shalt bring it, that it may suck; I would altogether talk to thee, while my thinking-strings still stand." Therefore, she spoke., she said to her younger sister: "Thou must be quickly bringing the child, while I am still conscious; and thou shalt bring the child to-morrow morning."

Her younger sister returned home, also the hyena, when the hyena bad put on the ornaments; they returned home, while the Dawn's-Heart and the rest[5] were (still) out hunting. The Dawn's-Heart returned home, as the child cried there, while his younger sister-in-law was the one who had the child.

He came, he exclaimed: "Why is it, that !ko-g!nuing-tara is not attending to the child, while the child cries there?" The hyena did not speak.

[1. Bracelet, anklet, leglet.

2. (They) came off, they sat down upon the ground.

3. She felt that she became a beast of prey.

4. Because she wanted to run to catch hold of her elder sister.

5. I think that he was with other people. I think that they seem to have been the jackals' husbands, and the quaggas, and the wildebeests with the ostriches.]

|Xe-dde-Yoe[1] was soothing the child. She waited; her elder sister's husband went to hunt; and she took the child upon her back. She went to her elder sister; she walked, arriving at the reeds. She exclaimed: "O !ko-g!nuing-tara! let the child suck." And her elder sister sprang out of the reeds; her elder sister, in this manner, came running; her elder sister caught hold of her, she turning (her body on one side) gave her ) elder sister the child. She said: "I am here" And her elder sister allowed the child to suck. She said: "Thou must quickly bring the child (again), while I am still conscious; for, I feel as if my thinking-strings would fall down." And her younger sister took the child upon her back, she returned home; while her elder sister went into the reeds.

And, near sunset, she went to her elder sister; while she felt that her elder sister was the one who had thus spoken to her about it; her elder sister said: "Thou must quickly bring the child, for, I feel. as if I should forget you, while I feel that I do not know." And, her younger sister took the child near sunset, she went to her elder sister, she stood. She exclaimed: "O !ko-g!nuing-tara! let the child suck." Her elder sister sprang out of the reeds; she ran up to her younger sister. And she caught hold of her younger sister. Her younger sister said: "I am here! I am here!" She allowed the child to suck. She said: "Thou must quickly come (again); for, I feel as if I should forget you, (as if) I should not any longer think of you." Her

[1. The name of the younger sister of !ko-g!nuing-tara was |Xe-dde-Yoe. She was a (one of the early race).]

younger sister returned home, while she went into the reeds.

Her younger sister, on the morrow, she went to her elder sister; she walked, coming, coming, coming, coming, she stood. And she exclaimed:"O !ko-g!nuing-tara!" let the child suck." And her elder sister sprang out of the reeds, she ran up to her younger sister, she caught hold of her younger sister. Her younger sister, springing aside, gave her the child. Her younger sister said: "I am here!" Therefore, she (the elder sister) spoke, she said to her younger sister: "Thou must not continue to come to me; for, I do not any longer feel that I know." And her younger sister returned home.

And they went to make a !ku[1] there (at the house). They played. The men played with them, while the women were those who clapped their hands, while the men were those who nodded their heads, while the women were those who clapped their hands for them. Then, the Dawn's-Heart, nodding his head, went up to his younger sister-in-law, he laid his hand on his younger sister-in-law (on her shoulder). Then his younger sister-in-law swerved aside. She exclaimed: "Leave me alone! your wives, the old she-hyenas,[2] may clap their hands for you."

Then the Dawn's-Heart ran to the hyena; he took

[1. This is a dance or game of the Bushmen, which |hang#kass'o has not himself seen, but has heard of from Tuani-ang and #kammi, two of Tsatsi's wives. They used to say that their fathers made a !ku (and) played. Their mothers were those who clapped their hands, clapped their hands for the men; the men nodded their heads.

2. She said !gwai |e-tara, a from anger; anger was that on account of which she said !gwai |e-tara.]

aim (with his assegai),[1] he pierced the place where the hyena had been sitting,[2] while the hyena sprang out, she trod, burning herself in the fire, while she sprang away; while the ornaments remained at the place where she had been sitting, and where she had been wearing them. She sprang away, while they remained.

And the Dawn's-Heart scolded his younger sister-in-law, why was it that his younger sister-in-law had not quickly told him about it; she had concealed from him about the hyena; as if this was not why he had seen that the woman had been sitting with her back towards bim, she had not been sitting with her face towards him. She had been sitting with her back towards him; the (i.e. his) wife had been sitting with her face towards him. A different person, she must be the one who was here, she had sat with her back towards him.[3] And he said that his younger sister-in-law should quickly explain to him about the place where the (his) wife seemed to be. His younger sister-in-law said: "Thou shalt wait, that the place may become light[4]; for, thou dost seem to think that (thy) wife is still like that which she used to be. We will go to (thy) wife, when the sun has come out."

[1. (He) brought himself to a stand (in order to take aim).

2. She sat in the house, being afraid. Therefore, she took off the bracelets from her wrists, while she desired that she might sit quietly; while she felt that she left the things. She suspected that the people were making a !ku (on her account), therefore she did not go to the !ku, while she felt that she had been wearing !ko-g!nuing-tara things.

3. Because he had married the hyena, because he thought that it was !ko-g!nuing-tara.

4. Because it was night.]

Therefore, on the morrow, he said that his younger sister-in-law must quickly allow them to go. Then his younger sister-in-law said: "We ought to drive, taking goats, that we may take goats to (thy) wife." Therefore, they drove, taking goats. They drove along goats, drove along goats; they took the goats to the reeds. And they drove the goats to a stand.[1]

|Xe-dde-Yoe[1] directed her elder sister's husband, she said that her elder sister's husband should stand behind her back, the other people must stand behind her elder sister's husband's back, while she must be the one to stand beside the goats. Then she exclaimed: !ko-g!nuing-tara! let the child suck."

Then her elder sister sprang out of the reeds; she, in this manner, she running came. She, when she had run to her younger sister, she perceived the goats, she turned aside to the goats. She caught hold of a goat. The Dawn's-Heart caught hold of (his) wife, while the wife caught hold of the goat; while his younger sister-in-law, |Xe-dde-Yoe, also took hold of the wife. All the people altogether caught hold of her. Other people were catching hold of the goats; they out the goats open, they took out the contents of the stomach, they anointed !ko-g!nuing-tara with the contents of the stomachs. They, taking hold, rubbed off the hair[3] (from her skin). Therefore, when she sat down, she said: "Ye must, pulling, leave the hair on the tips of my ears; for, in that

[1. They left off (driving), in order that the goats might stand still.

2. |Xe is a young girl. What the whole of |Xe-dde-Yoe's name means, the narrator does not know.

3. The hair, with which she had become a lynx.]

manner I shall come to hear; for, I do not feel as if I should hear." Therefore, the man (her husband), pulling off, left the hair on the tips of her ears, that hair which is thus[2] on the tips of the ears, standing on the top of them.

Therefore, the Dawn's-Heart used, when he was returning home,[3] to put an arrow on the bow, he walked, sticking the end of his assegai into the ground, as lie returning came. His eyes were large, as he came walking along; they resembled fires. The people were afraid of him as he came, on account of his eyes; while they felt that his eyes resembled fires, as he came walking along. The jackals were afraid of him, as he returning came.

In order to throw more light on that portion of the story of !ko-gnuing-tara which is contained in the version here given, the following extract is supplied from page 11 of Dr. Bleek's "Second Report concerning Bushman Researches", printed at Cape Town, in 1875:-

"The "Dawn's-Heart" (the star Jupiter) has a daughter, who is identified with some neighboring star preceding Jupiter (at the time when we asked, it was Regulus or Alpha Leonis). Her name is the "Dawn's-Heart-child," and her relation to her father is somewhat mysterious. He calls her "my heart," he swallows her, then walks alone as the only Dawn's-Heart Star, and, when she is grown up, he spits her out again. She then herself becomes another (female) Dawn's-Heart, and spits out another Dawn's-Heart-child, which follows the male and female Dawn's-Heart. The mother of the latter, the