Page:George McCall Theal, Ethnography and condition of South Africa before A.D. 1505 (2nd ed, 1919).djvu/53

Rh there were no men of sufficient education and inclination wealthy enough to afford the time requisite to conduct the necessary researches. When at length, under the auspices of the late Sir Bartle Frere, a philosophical association came into existence, its pecuniary resources were too limited to render any aid, and it was obliged to confine its attention to other subjects. These are the reasons why long and close research regarding the inner life of the Bushmen was not commenced until the nineteenth century was far advanced.

Scattered about in the early records of the Cape Colony there are many references to the Bushmen besides those relating to war with them, and though these are of considerable value, none of them give all the particulars that a student would like to know. Thus in the journal of Commander Simon van der Stel's expedition to Namaqualand in 1685 it is related that on a certain occasion five Bushmen were met, to whom a sheep was presented, which they killed and ate, rejecting nothing but the gall and four little pieces from the thighs. Beyond stating that they gave as a reason for not eating these little pieces that it was their custom to reject them, no information is given, or probably was obtained, concerning the matter. Recent research by Dr. Bleek and Miss Lloyd fills in this gap, however. The wild people believed that animals and men could change their forms, and that these particular pieces remained part of the human body.

Many travellers and missionaries have also given accounts of the habits and mode of life of the Bushmen, but none of them remained in contact with the savages long enough to learn their language or penetrate into their innermost minds.

The reverend J. J. Kicherer, a missionary of the London Society, was the first to attempt to establish a station purely for the benefit of Bushmen. With a party of assistants, including