THE MOST PRIMATIYE MEN

Hokitika Guardian, 3 October 1928, Page 8

THE MOST PRIMATIYE MEN

VANISHING RACE OF BUSHMEN. MURDER A FINE ART. (■From W. J. MAKIN, the “Daily Mail’* special correspondent with the Imperial Government Kalahari Expedition. He lias already described the conquest of this “world’s worst desert” by the party of six white men travelling in two Morris six-wheeled commercial motor-trucks. In the folowing despatch die relates some of the peculiar customs of the Bushmen of the Desert.)

GHANZI, on the edge of the Kalahari Desert, July 3. Often, in Europe, I have listened to professorial lectures on primitive man. Inevitably, a picture of a Bushman has been displayed as an example ot the most primitive form of man alive. During the past few days I have met and talked' with the few survivors of this fast disappearing race and learned that their contempt of civilisation' has some justification. ! It is not many years ago that German colonists in South-West Africa were allowed to shoot Bushmen on sight like wild animals. Those Bushmen who have .. found a . sanctuary in the Kalahari Desert are naturally suspicious of any white man they * may meet. We met many types of Bushmen in this so-called cradle of mankind. Their small bodies are most gracefully formed, and their speech has a soft musical lilt not unattractive. We found several digging ostrich eggs containing their water from the sand, and these same shells possessed delightful little designs, which showed that the art of the Bushmen is not lost. An art critic has said that the ancient Bushman paintings in caves are the ionlv true art, in ' South Africa. The Bushmen we met were also artists in their living, possessed of all the lazy and careless habits of a civilised ’bohemian. But. unlike most artists, they have a straight-laced morality. They have no use for the philanderer. , Tie is murdered. And:.murder, among the Bushmen, is a fine art, an affair of secret vegetables .poisons or a. stalking of the victim with bow and arrow. There is no difficulty in. disposing of the corpse, the great problem of the civilisied murdei'er. In the Kalahari it is left in the sand, and wolves, jackals, and; vultures remove all traces of the crime’within a night. . Naturally in such a spacious and desolate area it is difficult for the British authorities to discover evidence or even news of a. crime. I suppose this is the one part of the world where a murderer is never sentenced to moi e than 18 months’ imprisonment. “They simply pine away and die in captivity if wo keep them longer,” Captain Clifford explained to me. The other day I sat and watched a white-magistrate try two murder cases in which;Bushmen were concerned. The first murderer was a wizened little Bushman who .seemed wholly indifferent to the ; solemn proceedings around him. “Are you guilty or not guilty?” ■ asked the magistrate. TMs wrts interpreted into a series of clicks. “Oh, yes, I killed the man,” said the Bushman readily,, with a v charming smile. “He wanted my wife.” He was obviously pleased at the whole affair. The rest of the evidence was purely formal. “Eighteen months,” said the magistrate, and with another smile the Bushman disappeared. The next case was a Bushwoman accused of killing her child by burying it alive in the sand. With a. mask-like face she admitted the crime. The child was deformed in one leg. The Bushmen, again the artists, have a horror of any deformity. The woman was only acting up to the \ tradition of the -tribe in killing her child. “Six months,” was the sentence, and the woman heard it unmoved. The members of the expedition tried in every way to discover the secret of that vegetable poison with which the Bushmen tip their arrows, and which brings death quicker than the bite of the black mamba snake. All our questions were met with stony silence. It still remains one of the secrets of tlie Kalahari.

SUPERB TRACKERS. In the art of hunting the Bushmen are supreme. 1 hey can follow. tho spoor of an animal for miles and tell you within how many hours it passed and any peculiar physical points of the heast. Our expedition came across several pits dug in the desert. In these the Bushmen crouch for hours, waiting patiently for their prey. They are adepts at camouflaging themselves and can get within closer range of a herd of animals than any other human being. They deliberately burn big patches of grassland so that in time the grass there grows greener and fresher than in other parts of the plains. It attracts the animals, unconscious of the hidcliCn Bushmen and their deadly bows and arrows.

■Other and more powerful native tribes in this vast territory used to hunt the Bushmen, capture thorn, and take them back as slaves to the big native kraals. Recently the subject of slavery in Africa occupied the minds of many internationalists, and the League of Nations addressed a questionnaire on the matter to the British authorities in Bechuanaland. One of of the objects of our expedition was to investigate this so-called slavery of the Bushman. During the present expedition across the Kalahari Captain Clifford closely questioned Ppsbmen regarding their

relations With other tribes. There was a Bushman we found in one village who had crossed the desert from Serowe in order* to see some of his nomad relations. He had not thought Nit even to give notice to his master that he was leaving. He intended to return and present is master with the skin of n buck 110 had killed.

SERFDOM TRADITIONAL. It is difficult to- discover tangible evidence of slavery in this wasteland. The natives cannot understand why Serfdom should not be tolerated. It is traditional with them. At the same time, in those parts of Bechuanaland within the jurisdiction of white magistrates the native now enjoy complete liberty of and possessions.. Moreover, the laws 01 this territory aro promulgated strictly for the benefit of the natives themselves.