Litchfield enquirer., 1862-01-23
THE BUsHMEM OF SOUTH AFRICA

THE BUsHMEM OF SOUTH AFRICA
 On the Hanks and in the valleys Of the Snow. oerg or Snowy Mountains, which form the north ern boundary of the Cape, huudahity is found in the very lowest state of degradition in which it has ever been exhibited. The Bosjesmana or Bushmen, two or three specimens of which race were brought to this country a few years no. present an exaggeration even of the hideous form which characterizes the Hottentot. Hunrer, and cold, and nakedness, and every description of privation. and distress, have 30 dwarfed their forms, and depravsd their minds, that they pre- sent spectacle painfal to look upon. The sla- rarely exceeds four feet, or four feet two inches Thieves by profession, cruel and treacherous, without fixed habitation, without society, with. out any sort of common interest or government, and living only from day to day, and from hand to mouth, they were objects of loathing te neigh. boring tribes, even before Europeans had ap. preached their country. The mora civilized of the Hottentets and Kafirs waged deadly var Agaiast them aud the sight of ans af. lhssD affirmative savages is said to rouse the bzssion of that race to an uncomfortable fury. Many years since, Kaffir saw in the Government House at Cape Town, among other domestics, . Bushman, eleven years of age. With the i'm pulse of breast of prey he darted upon him, and transfxed him with his aggressai.
 The little intelligence which the Bushmen pos. sess is displayed chiefly in robbery and the chase. Rivallng the antelope in Heetness, and the monkey in agility, they accompany their wild, half-famished, savage dogs until they come within bowshot of theirigame, or run down the ob- ject of their pursuit. Arrayed generally with . bow, quiver full of arrows, a hat and belt, leather sandals, a sheep's fleece, gourd, or the shell of an ostrichs egg, to carry water, these puny creatures wander over their parched and desolate plains, supported by food which, un- less when occasionally varied by the luxuries of the chase, consists entirely of roots berries ant eggs, grass-hoppers, mice, toads lizards and snakes. They smear their arrows which they use for hunting and in war, with Q poison which, extracted from bulb. and mingled witha venom drawn from the jaws of the yellow serpent, forms & compound of the most noxious character, for no creature was ever pierced by dart prepared with the deadly virus, and lived They have an. other poison more fearful in it's effects, which is extracted from caterpilla. The agony produ. ced by it, Dr. Livingstone says is so intense, that the person wounded cut himself with knives, aud flies from human habitations, rav- ing maniac. The effect upon the lion is equally terrible. He is heard moaning in distress, be- comes furious, and bites trees and the ground in his rage.
 They are said to be totally void of natural ai. lection "and there are instances" adds mis. sionary (Mr. Kicherer) who lived for some time in their ncighborhood, "of parents throwing their tender offspring to the hungry lion who stood roaring before their cavern, refusing to depart until some peace-oifering was made to him."- They shun the face of strangers, concealing themselves among rocks and bushes, and even throwing themselves over precipiees rather than fall into the hands of their enemies. But they have been known, when escape has been cut of, to fight with the most determined resolution Religion they have none. They regard the thun- der as the voice of an angry demon, and they re- ply to it with curses and imprecatiOns. Their language is inartioulate to all but themselves {; aissi thsre appears to ue suareoiy of either civilizing or converting them. In tho northeast of Natal, where the Bashmen appear in their lowest type, they reside in holes of the earth scraped out with their nails or rather with claws. They will not receive kindness" says a close observer of their character; "or if they do, they only make return of treachery, robbery and murder. No presents of cattle or corn, no inducements to locate and settle, can prevail up- on them to relinquish their wild life, or to make , ny approach towards civilization" The only satisfactory thought connected with them is the belief of their gradual extinction. They exist in the meantime, an awful proof of degradation to which humanity, in it's gradual deterioration, can fall and an instance of physical and moral de- generucy probably unparalleled in the world.- London Quarterly.