Page:George McCall Theal, Ethnography and condition of South Africa before A.D. 1505 (2nd ed, 1919).djvu/147

Rh played against the rest. This one concealed the pebble in either of his hands, and then threw both arms out against his opponent, at the same time calling out that he met or that he evaded. His opponent threw his arms out in the same manner, so that his right hand was opposite the first player's left, and his left opposite the first player's right. The clenched hands were then opened, and if the pebbles were found to meet, the first player won if he had called out that he met, or lost if he had called out that he evaded. When there were many players, one after another was beaten until only two were left. These two then played against each other, when the one who was beaten was laughed at and the winner was applauded. In playing, the arms were thrown out very quickly, and the words were rapidly uttered, so that a stranger might have fancied there was neither order nor rule observed. Young men and boys often spent whole nights in this childish amusement, which had the same hold upon them as dice upon many Europeans.

Probably, if intellectual enjoyment be excluded, the Hottentots were among the happiest people in existence. They generally lived until old age without serious illness. They did not allow possible future troubles to disturb them, and a sufficiency of food was all that was needed to make them as merry and lighthearted as children at play.

They were capable of adopting the habits of Europeans, though the process required to be so gradual that the training needed two centuries and a half to complete it. They have learned to cultivate the ground, to use the same food as white people, to wear European clothing, and to act as rough handicraftsmen, but there is no instance on record of one of them having ever attained a position that required either much intellectual power or much mechanical skill. They were capable of being drilled into good soldiers, especially into light cavalrymen, and in that capacity they never showed deficiency of courage in the field. For three quarters of a century a regiment of Hottentots was maintained in the Cape Colony, and on many occasions it performed excellent