The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1897-05-24
RAoE Apour EXTINCT.
Few Survivors OF the south African Bush
men Lett.

/ Onc of the most interesting races In the
world, from an c,hnologist's point of view,
| IS on the point OF extinction. For many
years Tast the bushmon of South Africa
/ have been dwlndlng i'm numbers till the
survivors may almost be counted on one :
fingers The bushman is first cousin 10 the
diminutive race OF pygmies found by the
great explorer Du Chaillu in the ooastlands
OF western Africa, near the equator, and
closely resembles the dwarfs found by
Stanley in the great Aruwhimi forest. In
all probability they are the remnants Of
the aboriginal race of Africa which has
been driven into the corners of the African
earth by successive invasions of Hottentot,
Bantu and negro tribes. Their existence
I'm Africa is mentioned as far back as 1880
by Andrew Battell one of the earliest of
Africa's English explorers He describes
them as mo bigger than boys of IL years
DID, but very thick, and they live only upon
flesh, which they kill in the woods with
their bows and their darts.
The bushman is one of the lowest types
of humanity, not many degrees removed
from the animal. He is of small stature
but not dwarfed and, with high cheek
bones, his deep set eyes have an exceedingly
cunning look. Bushmen are troglodytes,
and, remaining in their caves by day, sally
forth at night from their mountain fast
nesses and harass the nearest farmers by
Staying their stock with arrows composed
of reeds tipped with bone or iron saturated
in the fatal juice of the euphorbia tree
mixed with the poison of snakes and spi-
ders. So troublesome did they become in
Natal during the early history of the col
ony that n special fort was built-now
known as Fort OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES ex-
petitions were organized against these
diminutive marauders. Still later war
of determination was waged against them |
by band Of farmers under the Drakens- |
berg who raided their haunts in the wild |
mountains and succeeded in freeing them |
selves from this troublesome pest. Every |
bushman fought for himself, and they rec
ogniZed no chief, much less any primitive |
system of government such as prevails |
among the Bantu race.
1t is a singular thing that, though so low |
in the social scale, the bushman possesses
the power of illustration totally unknown
TO his more civilized SUCCESSORS and very
representations of Glands, dingos,
snakes, and even scenes of hunting and
battle are TO be found in the caves of
above the sources of the
Bushman river. Several of the drawings
have been removed to the library at PETER
where they form a valuable
collection for the colonial antiquary. The
bushman's language is mainly composed
Of clicks, of which there are six distinct
kinds, but it is impossible on hearing one
If this pygmy race talk to do otherwise
han set him down as an animal. There is
/ local tradition in Natal that 1.-THE last of
he bushmcn" was a farm laborer at one
If the homesteads under the Drakensberg,
md, falling sick of fever, his end was de-
'outly looked for by local scientist who,
N the desired contamination, obtained
us bones and forwarded them TO England, !
where they are now exposed to public gaze
n the South Kensington museum. Chi
ago Chronicle