are skilful stock-raisers, and keep sheep and cattle, the former being driven within the kraal at night, the latter tied outside of it. The male animals are generally castrated; the uncastrated hulls are kept for breeding and in order to be let loose upon the enemy in war, and the others are used as beasts of burden. In order to make them tractable the nose is pierced and a plug inserted in the hole. They ride on them, and in their migrations pack on them everything they possess, even their huts. But they also bestow care upon their animals: a few persons from the kraal act as shepherds and always accompany them to the pasturage. There are also veterinary surgeons, to whom many rem edies are known. The very young lambs and calves are put into a roomy hut built in the middle of the kraal. The manner of milking is the same as that which Herodotus observed among the Scythians, who milked their mares, and which may at present occasionally be observed among the Mongolians. While milking the cows which are poor in milk they blow into the vagina and thus cause the milk to flow.
Food: Preparation and rarely eat the flesh of their herds, only at feasts or when an animal has died. Their chief food is the product of the chase, onions, fruit, fish, etc. The tribes on \Valfisch Bay and the I-Iau-Koin eat principally of the fruit of a Cucurbita. The food is cooked or baked on hot stones in holes in the ground, but is mostly devoured half raw. The men of each kraal eat together, as also the women and children; and there are various prohibitions of food for both sexes. The hare, for instance, is forbidden to the men, and we shall later on meet with it as a sacred animal (p.3or). During migrations and in cases of famine everything that can be found, insects, larva; etc., is eaten, and, according to Kolbe, even the leather rings worn by the women around the legs. Milk is drank, but only that of the cows is allowed to all, as sheep's milk is prohibited to the men. It is well known that the Bush men can fast for a long time, but, on the other hand, when provisions are plentiful the voracity of the Koi-Koin knows no bound.
formerly smoked wild hemp (dacha) as a stimulant, and still do so, although tobacco is now known to them; they smoke it from long earthen pipes which they themselves manufacture, and, like most nations in a state of nature, they swallow the smoke. After this enjoyment they are especially voracious. Through the Europeans they have become accustomed to the use of spirituous drinks.
Agriculture, Hunting, and they carried on no agriculture whatever, but learned it later from the Europeans, especially the missionaries. They practise it where the character of the country
permits it; but, as the Europeans have taken the most fertile districts, their agriculture does not amount to much. They fully deserve their ancient fame for skill in hunting. Besides their spears and arrows, they employ pits, which they carefully cover; they catch fish with pointed sticks, with hooks, or with large nets. They are good swimmers—not after our method, but by treading the water and keeping the arms free. The men attend to the chase, the fishing, the care of the stock, and the house building, at which, however, the women assist. The latter have charge of the cooking and of the house, assist at keeping the animals, dig edible roots, and attend the children.
Jitarriage: its Ceremonies and is permitted, but was never extensively practised; the most ancient reports mention three wives as being the maximum number. Marriage is contracted very simply: the father of the groom speaks to the father of the bride at a solemn smoking of dacha: the groom, if rich, contributes several head of cattle to the festive meal, and the contract is complete. Among those tribes which are not in contact with Europeans, and everywhere in former times, both groom and bride were before their marriage sprinkled with holy water" by the priest of the kraal—that is, he urinated on them and this water was rubbed into the greasy crust over the skin. This loathsome act must have had some religious signification, for the Hot tentots were otherwise very decent in matters of this kind. Relatives in the second degree cannot marry each other. Adultery and incest were punished by death, and consequently dissoluteness occurred but rarely: however, matrimony was easily dissolved.
Ilfrila and Allending. in labor are assisted by other women, and each kraal has a midwife. Dacha or tobacco boiled in milk is used to quicken the birth. The husband is not allowed to enter the house during his wife's confinement, lest lie should become polluted. Twin sons are received with joy; of twin girls, one is generally cast out or buried alive, and the same fate awaits a girl horn with a twin brother. New-born children, especially girls, are not unfrequently destroyed; more than three children are rarely ever brought up. The Bushmen show still less regard for the lives of their children, especially if they themselves are in danger or want. Onarrels between the parents often result in the murder of the children, and deformed children are always destroyed.