month,
were now so stuffed that they could hardly walk, and their lean stomachs
were distended as round as balls. The Bushman who had been tossed by
the buffalo came up and asked for a little tobacco, at the same time
smiling and patting his stomach, which was distended to a most
extraordinary size.

"Yes, let us give them some," said Alexander; "it will complete their
day's happiness. Did you ever see a fellow so stuffed? I wonder he
does not burst."

"It is their custom. They starve for days, and then gorge in this way
when an opportunity offers, which is but seldom. Their calendar, such
as it is, is mainly from recollections of feasting; and I will answer
for it, that if one Bushman were on some future day to ask another when
such a thing took place, he would reply, just before or just after the
white men killed the buffaloes."

"How do they live in general?"

"They live upon roots at certain seasons of the year; upon locusts when
a flight takes place; upon lizards, beetles--anything. Occasionally
they procure game, but not very often. They are obliged to lie in wait
for it, and wound it with their poisoned arrows, and then they follow
its track and look for it the next day. Subtle as the poison is, they
only cut out the part near the wound, and eat the rest of the animal.
They dig pit-holes for the hippopotamus and rhinoceros, and occasionally
take them. They poison the pools for the game also; but their living is
very precarious, and they often suffer the extremities of hunger."

"Is that the cause, do you imagine, of their being so diminutive a race,
Swinton?"

"No doubt of it. Continual privation and hard ships from generation to
generation have, I have no doubt, dwindled them down to what you see."

"How is it that these Bushmen are so familiar? I thought that they were
savage and irreclaimable."

"They are what are termed tame Bushmen; that is, they have lived near
the farmers, and have, by degrees, become less afraid of the Europeans.
Treated kindly, they have done good in return to the farmers by watching
their sheep, and performing other little services, and have been
rewarded with tobacco. This has given them confidence to a certain
degree. But we must expect to meet with others that are equally wild,
and who will be very mischievous; attempting to drive off our cattle,
and watching in ambush all round our caravan, ready for any pilfering
that they can successfully accomplish; and the