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consent, stands very high in the highest grade of classical scholars, not merely of this country, but of all Europe. It is also generally known that his critical powers have been chiefly exercised on the Greek Poets: and most of our readers must have heard of his LEXICON GRECO-PROSODIACUM, a work which, though professedly an improvement on Dr. Morell's The saurus Græcæ Poeseos, might almost claim the praise of a new performance. It may, at all events, be classed among those works, which, in the language of Dr. Johnson, it were 66 V useless to praise," having long been acknowledged to be quite indispensable to all who would hope to acquire any correct knowledge on the subjects of Greek prosody and poetry. It was, however, from its great bulk, and consequently high price, not adapted to the use of schools; and perhaps was, in other respects, not quite calculated to be employed in the work of scholastic instruction. It had, therefore, long been the wish, not only of the masters of our public schools, but of the respectable proprietors of the Lexicon, that the learned Author shouldhimself supply this want, by abridging his own performance, and otherwise adapt. ing it to the use of schools, so that it might, in some measure, correspond to a work which had long been provided for the service of Latin poetry, under the quaint title of Gradus ad Parnassum. The pressure, however, of the Author's important professional engagements and studies long prevented him from attending to this suggestion, or carrying his intentions into execution. Meanwhile, a work of this nature was, by another hand, hastily got up, to serve, as it did, a temporary purpose. At length, however, Dr. Maltby has himself furnished, in the present work, that great desideratum so long called for, namely a short but comprehensive Poetical Lexicon of the Greek Language, for the use of schools. As Dr. Maltby's profound erudition is well known to be united with qualities which do not always accompany it, great judgment and refined taste, and, what is more, remarkable accuracy, and a diligence rarely exceeded (as the Lexicon amply testified); and as the work in question has been executed with the greatest care and deliberation, the public may be fully prepared to expect that it

27

should prove everything that can be desired. And in point of fact, after a close inspection, we can pronounce it to be a performance which must very soon attain, and very long preserve, such a place among the publications of its class as will be sufficient to exclude all competition.

We feel peculiar satisfaction in remarking that the present work tends so signally to refute a very prevalent notion (no doubt originally produced, and always encouraged, by the persons interested in its belief), that Compendiums of this kind are best executed by dull painstaking plodders. Let it, too, be remembered, that men of great learning and information can rarely have become such without a more than average portion of diligence. And, assuredly, if such persons do condescend to plod, they will not fail, with any thing like habits of regularity (and such Dr. Maltby possesses in a remarkable degree), to accomplish, if not as much in a given time as the plodder, yet such sort of work as it would be vain to expect from the greatest diligence of the mere compiler. Look at some of the specimens of this kind produced, by Samuel Johnson and Edmund Burke, as compared with those of the tribe of the Guthries, &c. &c. Let it not, however, be supposed that the present work is merely an abridgment of the Lexicon; it possesses some advantages even over that work, containing certain matter not there to be found; such, we presume, as was supplied by the use of some valuable classical works, chiefly continental, which had not appeared, or which Dr. Maltby had not had the opportunity of seeing, when he constructed his Lexicon. Moreover, the explanations are now expressed in English as well as Latin; which is greatly preferable to having them either in Latin, or in English only. There is also a brief, but very select and comprehensive English-Greek Vocabulary, which, could the limits of the work have permitted, might have been enlarged, with advantage to the student. There is also prefixed a very brief, but neatly formed, treatise on the principal rules for ascertaining the quantity of Greek syllables, and on the most popular Greek metres. In short, the work is, we repeat, not a mere abridgment of the Lexicon, but has, as the author himself assures us, so much alteration

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of arrangement, and addition of matter, as to have occasioned the labour, if it may not claim the merit, of a work entirely new. And no wonder; for we have rarely seen a work in which so much important matter has been condensed into so small a compass. Among other advantages which the practised skill of the Author enabled him to attain, has been this, that the

ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF THE BY ANDREW SMITH, THAT the genuine Hottentot, at least in an uncivilized state, will doubtless, ere long, only be known to us through the pages of history, is a position tenable, upon the rapid decay of the race, its intermixture with other varieties, and the gradual extension of civilized life, all now in active progress, having a strong tendency to produce the state, and hurry on to the period in anticipation. This apparent certainty of the approaching extinction, of at least the savage portion of the race, points out the present as the latest stage calculated for observing and recording information concerning the peculiarities of their character and organization.

The Aborigines of South Africa, under whatever local names they may have passed, consist only of two distinct races, namely, those of the Hottentot and Caffer. The first of these, or that which from the circumstances above alluded to has the greatest claim upon our immediate attention, was, and to a certain extent is, even now divided into distinct tribes or hordes; each having its own distinctive appellation, and, more or less, governed by its own laws. Amongst those, one division has always held, and still continues to hold, a most conspicuous position, and has ever been proverbial with the rest, on account of its troublesome character, and universally outrageous conduct. To this the other tribes, as well as its own members, apply the name of Saap or Saan; and history describes a portion thereof under the appellation of Bushmen, to which, as a subdivision of the former, the following remarks are intended to apply.

The term Bushman, or more properly Bosjiesman, is of Dutch origin, and commonly employed at present by the colonists to designate a native of the wild and savage tribes residing immediately beyond the northern boundary of the colony, and supporting themselves either by plunder or the spontaneous productions of nature. Considering the manner in which their numbers are at present occasionally increased, we may, without much danger of error, attribute their origin partly to the consequences

Abridged from the South African Quarterly Journal,

[July,

quotations are almost always made And complete in metre or in sense. to advert to minor points, we cannot but admire the consummate accuracy with which this work has been brought out. We have not observed a single error worth notice. This, in a work intended for young students, is really a matter of consequence. The work is also beautifully printed.

BUSHMEN OF SOUTH AFRICA.
M.D. M.w.s. &c.*

of war and poverty, and partly to the association of characters whom crime induced to seek a refuge in the desert, or the habits of a better state of society expelled from its haunts. In very early times the part of the country now known to us as the chief resort of the Bushmen was more densely populated than at present, and the outrages and violences perpetrated by its inhabitants were, according to tradition, even more frequent and horrible than at present.

The majority of the Bushmen population, according to the restricted sense in which the term is here to be understood, consists of pure Hottentots; and the remainder of blacks, either the offspring of an intercourse with the former and other coloured persons, or else the actual outcasts of other races themselves. The number of inhabitants is small, compared with the great extent of country over which they are scattered, and which consists of the whole of that extensive plain lying between the northern boundary of the colony-the Kamiesberg range of mountains, and the confines of the Orange river. The distribution of the population varies according to the season of the year, the supply of game, and the relation of the tribes to the surrounding inhabitants. In situations where nature is liberal of productions convertible to the support of man, something like small communities are occasionally met with; but in places again, where food is scanty, or water defective, it is rare to find more than one, or at least two families together; and those having little or no intercourse with their neighbours, unless when self-defence, or the spoils of some marauding expedition bring them for a time into contact. The fact of their being usually dispersed in such small parties when friendly and well disposed, and of their associating in hordes or troops when projecting and executing mischief, or enjoying the spoils often consequent upon that, frequently furnishes the farmer with a fair guide for judging of their views, and often enables him to discover the retreat of thieves, where those themselves had in the first instance escaped detection.

The little intercourse which they thus have with each other, and the absence of

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almost every kind of property, render them quite strangers to the great objects of laws, and consequently unconscious of the benefits of a regular government. Few, if any of them, are disposed to acknowledge any superiority, except that which physical strength may

secure.

In situations where a temporary leader is advantageous, and which they consider as only so in war or the chace, they unconsciously give place in the former to the bravest and most dexterous, and in the latter to the most experienced and cunning. They have no established laws by which offences are tried, nor determined punishments by which aggressions are avenged; every individual is his own lawgiver, and every crime is punished according to the caprice of the sufferer, or the relative positions and relations of the implicated parties. The absence of every thing like system renders punishments amongst them very unequal, and often extremely disproportionate to the crimes they are employed to retribute. It permits injuries of the highest order often to be inflicted with impunity, and others of the most insignificant character to be visited with the most hideous vengeance; yet, nevertheless, such is the satisfaction of all with their present circumstances, in relation to such points, that they cannot be persuaded that it is better to be governed and protected by acknowledged and constituted regulations, than be subject to the varying whims of every mind.

as

The Hottentot Bushman presents most of the physical characters of the race exemplified in other situations, and the mixed description, according to circumstances, exhibits more or less of the appearances of the Negro or Caffer. In size and strength, the former is at the very least equal to the Hottentot elsewhere, and is certainly not, as has been generally affirmed, of inferior stature to the members of the savage tribes by whom he is partially surrounded. All have an expression of acuteness and energy beyond that of their coloured neighbours, and a gait and activity peculiarly striking. Their eyes bespeak a habit of watchfulness and scrutiny particularly characteristic, and their demeanour indicates a constant habit of apprehension and fear. They appear to survey every stranger as an actual enemy, and only waiting a favourable opportunity to injure them; and they do not, until after very considerable intercourse, appear easy in such company. This evidently arises from a consciousness of

29

their offences, and a conviction that their habits and general conduct towards all other nations or tribes are of such a character as warrant any thing but the kindness or friendship of strangers.

Though well aware of the inferiority of their own weapons, when compared with fire-arms, yet when they discover that it is necessary to oppose the latter, they manifest a remarkable degree of courage, and a perseverance and coolness which only the absence of fear could enable them to support. On such occasions, instances have been known of individuals who have had their left arms completely disabled, employing their toes to fix their bows, so as to be able to continue their defence; and many have been observed to persevere in resistance, after being wounded or maimed in such a way as to occasion almost immediate dissolution. Such violent opposition, and often absurd inflexibility, appear to be excited partly by the influence of their unconquerable passions, and partly by the dread they entertain of falling into the power of enemies, whom they believe as certain either to destroy them at the instant, or convert them into slaves. The coolness and indifference with which almost the whole of the Hottentot race regard the approach of death, has often been commented upon; and though it must be acknowledged to be strongly marked in all of them, yet from what I have myself seen as well as heard, I feel disposed to consider it as most conspicuous amongst the Bushmen.

Cruelty is familiar to the Bushmen in its most shocking forms, and is exercised without remorse upon all such as, under untoward circumstances, fall within their reach. The love of revenge is one of the strongest feelings to which they are obnoxious; it urges often to the most barbarous proceedings, and induces to outrages of the most hideous character, merely to satisfy momentary irritation, or the ranklings of a longfostered malice. Under such ascendancies, pitiable is the individual who falls within their power, as he is certain of being subjected to the most agonizing tortures while life exists, and to mutilations and disfigurations the most intolerable to sympathy, and appalling to observation. Several instances have come within my own knowledge, where parents were destroyed by their own children, as well as examples of the most decided inhumanity of the former to their offspring, both of which were boasted of by themselves, and lauded by their companions.*

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In mixed society, the Bushmen are less talkative and frolicksome than other Hottentots, which appears to arise from their want of confidence in persons of any cominunity, save of their own. Unlike others of their race, who unheedingly enjoy themselves in all societies, and in every situation, they exhibit signs of constant uneasiness and watchfulness; and instead of receiving with pleasure and cordiality the jokes of their associates, they seem to experience annoyance therefrom, and almost an inclination to acts of resentment. They are capricious in the extreme, and uncertain in every situation, and it is not without explanation that many of their proceedings can appear accountable to strangers.

They are notoriously patient of toil, and vigorous in a very high degree; and so accustomed are they to exercise of an active description, that their swiftness becomes remarkable, and their power of continuing it truly astonishing, being such as to enable most of them to keep pace with horses even for days in succession, and often to drive off cattle with more celerity than pursuers can follow. The disposition to laziness, so decidedly characteristic of the more regular Hottentots, is equally developed in the Bush men; and were it not the absolute necessity of daily exertion to procure the scanty means of subsistence, they would doubtless pass their time in indolent practices, similar to those pursued where resources are more certain and productive.

The continual use to which they apply the eyes and ears, not only as means of discovering their food, but also as useful agents in self-preservation, renders their senses of seeing and hearing amazingly acute, and capable of furnishing a degree of assistance quite unknown to the inhabitants of quiet and civilized countries.

The language spoken by the Bushmen is decidedly a dialect or dialects of that in use amongst the Hottentots elsewhere; but in most situations is so altered and modified, that its origin and dependence can scarcely be traced. That clapping noise, occasioned by various motions of the tongue, and which is truly characteristic of the Hottentot language, is particularly conspicuous amongst the Bushmen, and by many is so incessantly employed, as to make it appear that they gave utterance to no articulate sounds, but only an uninterrupted succession of claps, apparently unfitted for conveying any meaning, and yet completely recognised and understood by those to whom they are directed.

:

[July,

Their articles of clothing are very simple, rude, and inefficient. A kaross, somewhat in the form of a mantle, is suspended over the shoulders, and is, according to the season of the year, or the temperature of the moment, either permitted to hang loose behind the body, or made to envelope as much thereof as its usual scanty dimensions will possibly effect. Such is usually composed of sheep-skin, with the woolly side inwards, and forms almost their only protection against the weather, being required to answer all the purposes of a dress by day, and all the offices of a covering by night. Besides that, both sexes have a more limited and partial one for hiding what the dictates of modesty forbid to be exposed. In the men, a portion of skin, usually either of a jackal or of a wild cat, is suspended in front of the body from a leathern girdle, which encircles the loins, and frequently a portion of dried leather hangs from the same behind to conceal at least a portion of the afterparts, when the principal article of covering is too short to perform that office. Amongst the women, the article in question is more extensive, and commonly consists of some ragged skins or pieces of leather, variously fixed together, and attached round the loins, thereby enveloping more or less the whole of the parts between those and the middle of the thighs. The members of this sex also universally endeavour to procure some sort of covering for their heads, which they usually compose of the same article as that which forms the other parts of their dress; and if obtainable of sufficient size, apply it somewhat like a turban. The men, on the other hand, generally appear bareheaded, unless when hunting, or exposed to the influence of a very strong sun, on which occasions they usually employ a sort of cap, made of the dried skin of some animal they may have killed in the chase.

The inefficiency, however, of such clothing, induces them to have recourse to other means of protection besides those which have been detailed, and particularly to that of anointing their bodies and limbs with fat, either pure or variously adulterated. In the practice of this, they have always a twofold object in view, namely, the protection of their skin against the parching effects of heat and wind, and the agility and pliability ensured to the muscles and joints; and whatever may be said against the custom, it is certainly a necessary and highly beneficial one to such as are without those complete coverings, which more civilized life supplies. The necessity of often exposing themselves