depth in the scale of human beings ; they are among
the poorest specimens of the genus homo. Fritsch
affirms that those who gave them their name, " men of the
bush," wished to intimate that they are creatures inter-
mediate between the man and the ape. Without shelter,
even the most rudimentary hut, without chiefs, laws,
or worship, neither tillers of the soil nor shepherds,
wandering in small clans or isolated families, they live
solely by hunting and pillage, on roots, fruit, honey,
ostrich eggs, the larvae of ants, locusts, reptiles, &c.,
gathered by the women. Always hungry, they eat
all that they can find, and their flattened bellies
become enormous in a short time, to return to their
original condition in a few hours. These alternations
of repletion and inanition furrow their skin into pro-
found wrinkles, in which collects the grease with
which tbey anoint their bodies as a protection against
mosquitoes. They weave a few mats, and manufacture
their weapons, which, however, they do not forge ; they
work the cold iron with flints. The dog is their only
domestic animal. The Bushman is little, pot-bellied,
his skin of a dirty yellowish-brown. His forehead is
straight, but his brain very small ; his thin hair is
rolled up into little balls like pepper-corns ; his nose
flat, his mouth protruding ; his chin retreating under
his thick lips, which do not meet. The women are
frightful ; tlie famous Hottentot which may be seen
at the Museum is a faithful copy of the form of a
Bosjesman woman who died in one of our hospitals.
