Page:George McCall Theal, Ethnography and condition of South Africa before A.D. 1505 (2nd ed, 1919).djvu/88

64 respects, however, he showed considerable ability, and there was certainly an enormous gulf between him and the highest of the brute creation. He possessed extraordinary powers of mimicry. Enclosed in a framework covered with the skin and plumage of an ostrich, he was in the habit of stalking game, and by carefully keeping his prey to windward, was able to approach within shooting distance, when the poison of his arrow completed the task. This, though the commonest disguise of a hunter, was but one of many, which varied according to circumstances. He could imitate the peculiarities of individuals of other races with whom he came in contact, and was fond of creating mirth by exhibiting them in the drollest manner.

In recent times travellers have noticed that the Bushmen are fond of showing their superiority to the large black men whenever they can do so. Thus in rainy weather when a number of Bakwena are endeavouring in vain to kindle a fire in the open air, a Bushman will look on with a smile of contempt until they desist, when he will produce his fire sticks and accomplish what they could not do. Or if they fail to find water on the border of the desert, he will wait till they are almost speechless from thirst, and then apparently by some instinct lead the way to a place where a little may be obtained by digging. In such cases he exhibits great satisfaction and pride.

And what is most remarkable in a being whose ordinary habits were not much more elevated than those of animals, he was an artist. In caverns, on the walls of caves, and on the sheltered sides of great rocks he drew pictures in profile of the animals with which he was acquainted, and then painted the spaces outlined. The tints were made with different kinds of ochre having considerable capability of withstanding the decay of time, and they were mixed with grease, so that they penetrated the rock more or less deeply according to its porousness. There are caves on the margins of rivers containing paintings which have been exposed to the action of water during occasional floods for at least a hundred