and how? He began to explain, and mentioned Cagn.[1] He said, “Cagn made all things, and we pray to him.” I asked was he good or malicious? He said, “At first he was very very good and nice, but he got spoilt through fighting so many things.” I said, “How do you pray to him?” Answer, in a low imploring tone, “‘Cagn! O Cagn! are we not your children, do you not see our hunger? give us food,’ and he gives us both hands full.” I said, “Where is Cagn?” He answered, “We don’t know, but the elands do. Have you not hunted and heard his cry, when the elands suddenly start and run to his call? Where he is, elands are in droves like cattle.”[2] He had mentioned Coti, the wife of Cagn, and that Cagn was the first being. I asked, “Where then did Coti come from?” He said, “I don’t know, perhaps with those who brought the Sun: but you are now asking the secrets that are not spoken of.” I asked, “Do you know the secrets?” He said, “No, only the initiated men of that dance know these things.”
I shall string together Qing’s fragmentary stories as nearly as I can as he told them to me. I noted them down from him then and since; I only make them consecutive. They either varied a little, or I failed to understand him accurately, when speaking through different translators. The language he spoke best besides his own was that of the “Baputi,” a hybrid dialect between the Basuto and Ammazizi languages. Qing is a young man, and the stories seem in parts imperfect, perhaps owing to his not having learnt them well, or imperfect translation; perhaps they may be corrected if heard from other Bushmen of the same race in Basutoland, Kafirland, etc., or they may be different from those of other Bushmen tribes. These Bushmen were formerly very numerous, and the Basutos say they lived on good terms with them and among them before the game country became occupied. Nqasha’s father, Morosi, and his people were succoured by them through their skill in hunting, when the Basuto’s were impoverished and nearly starved by
