History of the Bosjesmans, Or Bush People: The Aborigines of Southern Africa. With Copious Extracts from the Best Authors, Showing the Habits and Disposition of the Above-named Extraordinary Race of Human BeingsChapman, Elcoate,, 1847 - 48 pages |
Other editions - View all
History of the Bosjesmans, Or Bush People: The Aborigines of Southern Africa ... Anonymous No preview available - 2018 |
History Of The Bosjesmans, Or Bush People: The Aborigines Of Southern Africa ... Anonymous No preview available - 2015 |
History Of The Bosjesmans, Or Bush People: The Aborigines Of Southern Africa ... Anonymous No preview available - 2023 |
Common terms and phrases
aborigines Achang animals appeared astonishment Bechuana begged bone Bosjes Bosjieman brought Bush Bushmen Caffres called Cape Town carried cattle chase civilised colonists colony colour Coran dancing desert devoured Diodorus Siculus distance Ditto ditto Dutch Egyptian Hall European Exeter Hall exhibition extraordinary race eyes feet Field Cornet Fingo fire flocks Griquas habits hand head herds hordes horns Hottentot tribes human inhabitants interesting interior Janssens jesmans Kafir dress keub kind Knox language leather lecture live Liverpool manner means mountains native nature neighbourhood never night observed Orange River ostrich party peculiar pigmy race plunder poisoned arrows possessed present Puff adder quiver remarkable resemblance Roggeveld round savages Saxon scarcely seemed seen serpents sheep singular skin slaves smoke soon sort South Africa Southern Africa specimens spot stature stream tentot tobacco travellers Tulbagh waggon whole wild women wound
Popular passages
Page 29 - And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me?
Page 30 - Resistless rushing o'er th' enfeebled South, And gave the vanquish'd world another form. Not such the sons of Lapland : wisely they Despise th' insensate barbarous trade of war ; They ask no more than simple Nature gives; They love their mountains, and enjoy their storms. No false desires, no pride-created wants, Disturb the peaceful current of their time, And through the restless, ever-tortured maze Of pleasure or ambition bid it rage.
Page 26 - They are total strangers to domestic happiness. The men have several wives ; but conjugal affection is little known. They take no great care of their children, and never correct them except in a fit of rage, when they almost kill them by severe usage.
Page 27 - The neck and head of an ostrich are stuffed, and a small rod introduced. The Bushman intending to attack game, whitens his legs with any substance he can procure. He places the feathered saddle on his shoulders, takes the bottom part of the neck in his right hand, and his bow and poisoned arrows in his left. Such as the writer has seen were the most perfect mimics of the ostrich, and at a few hundred yards' distance it is not possible for the human eye to detect the fraud.
Page 26 - ... when they are in want of food, when the father of a child has forsaken its mother, or when obliged to flee from the farmers or others; in which case they will strangle them, smother them, cast them away in the desert, or bury them alive. There are instances of parents throwing their tender offspring to the hungry lion, who stands roaring before their cavern, refusing to depart till some peace-offering be made to him.
Page 29 - ... these Saabs, as they have been designated, bearing in their character a striking resemblance to the Sauneys, or Balala, (poor.) among the Bechuanas, have, with few exceptions, as already shown, been from time immemorial the sons of the field. Accustomed to a migratory life, and entirely dependent on the chase for a precarious subsistence, they have contracted habits which could scarcely be credited of human beings. These habits have by no means been improved by incessant conflict with their superior...
Page 27 - Such as the writer has seen were most perfect mimics of the ostrich, and at a few hundred yards' distance it is not possible for the eye to detect the fraud. This human bird appears to pick away at the verdure, turning the head as if keeping a sharp look-out, shakes his feathers, now walks, and then trots till he gets within bow-shot ; and when the flock runs from one receiving an arrow, he runs too. The male ostriches will, on some occasions, give chase to the strange bird, when he tries to elude...
Page 26 - Their manner of life is extremely wretched and disgusting. They delight to besmear their bodies with the fat of animals, mingled with ochre, and sometimes with grime. They are utter strangers to cleanliness, as they never wash their bodies, but suffer the dirt to accumulate, so that it will hang a considerable length from their elbows. Their huts are formed by digging a hole in the earth, about three feet deep, and then making a roof of reeds, which is however insufficient to keep off the rains.
Page 27 - Some of the Bushmen whom Mr. Smith baptized, had acquired very rational ideas of the principles of the Christian religion ; and appeared to feel its constraining influence on their habitual conduct. They were zealous in trying to convey the same inestimable blessing to their unhappy countrymen, who live without God and without hope in the world. It was delightful to hear the children sing the praises of Jehovah, and to witness the progress they had made in spelling and reading. These facts, which...
Page 27 - ... although its sounds are often responded to by the lion's roar or the hyena's howl. He knows no God, knows nothing of eternity, yet dreads death ; and has no shrine at which he leaves his cares or sorrows. We can scarcely conceive of human beings descending lower in the scale of ignorance and vice ; while yet there can be no question that they are children of one common parent with ourselves.